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A World at War — 85 Years Ago, the Beginning of World War
by A. Bernstein
Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Part I
Seventy-nine years have passed since the end of the worst war in world history. Among Jews, this war is often called the "Holocaust," because of the six million Jews who were murdered. Without entering into questions of what was the main part of the Nazi plan and what was not, many things happened that were not directly connected to the Nazi genocide of the Jewish people.
The Nazis sought to establish a German empire that would dominate all of Europe. Even as the storm clouds gathered, in America, across the Atlantic Ocean, many people argued that it was only an internal European affair, and they therefore preferred to adopt an isolationist policy. Even the Polish neighbors of Germany only adopted a ten-year plan to upgrade their army against the German threat.
This year marks the seventy-ninth anniversary of the end of that terrible war. We present here a short review of the major events of those years.
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On the second of Shvat, 5693 (1933), the arch-murderer, Hitler, yimach shemo was appointed Chancellor of Germany. Adolph Hitler, who had no higher education, but did have a criminal record, had nevertheless risen to power as the leader of the German nation — one of the most powerful positions in the world. It was he who later caused the deaths of tens of millions of people all over Europe and millions of Jews and destroyed Europe.
Ten days prior to Hitler's appointment, in a clear act of Hashgacha, Franklin D. Roosevelt was sworn in as President of the United States of America. Hashem had preceded the terrible wound with a remedy.
Despite the harsh criticism heaped against him during the first years of the war, President Roosevelt was a brave man, who succeeded, in the end, in vanquishing Hitler and in bringing about the victory of the Allies.
Who was the person, whom Hashgacha had chosen to head the Allies, to vanquish Hitler, and to crush the soldiers of the mighty, aggressive and suicidal Japanese Navy?
During his youth, Roosevelt was stricken with infantile paralysis (polio). Throughout his meteoric political career, pictures showing that he "could already sit," "could already stand" and was finally "no longer bound" by his physical limitations, accompanied him. Hashgacha's hand raised him and propelled him to the position of president, so that he could save the world from the dangers of total German victory and from the Japanese conquests, which were about to devastate the Far East.
German Troops Marching in Warsaw
The War Begins
On Friday, the 17th of Elul, 5699 (1939), the terrible war began. Germany attacked Poland without making a serious declaration of war. By this time, more than two-thirds of the Jews who had lived in Germany at the time Hitler rose to power, had left the country.
Germany's mighty army and air force invaded Poland from three directions, with tremendous power. Cruelly and crushingly, Germany totally paralyzed the Polish army, and conquered Poland's west. In a blitzkrieg (lightning-war), that lasted for only three weeks (until about Yom Kippur), Poland ceased functioning as an independent nation.
At the same time, Poland's eastern border was invaded by Russia's Red Army according to the terms of a German-Russian agreement known as the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact. Hitler hoped that England and France would resign themselves to the Polish conquest, but instead both declared war on Germany as per their treaty obligations.
In Poland, millions of Jews were now under Nazi rule. They were forced to pin yellow badges in the form of Stars of David on their clothing, so that they could be identified immediately. They were shoved into ghettos, which were surrounded by carefully guarded walls and fences. Only those who were employed by Germans were permitted to leave the ghetto during working hours.
Thousands of Jews died in the ghetto, and most of those who remained alive were later transferred to the horrible concentration camps. By 1940, the Germans already captured Denmark, Norway, Holland, Belgium and France. Their purpose was to "purge" Europe of non-Aryan elements and to gain control over it. The German air force even bombarded England.
The Actions of the United States
During the years 1935-1937, the American government, headed by Roosevelt, passed a series of laws regarding neutrality during wartime. These laws, known as the Neutrality Act, obliged the U.S. President to ban all shipments of arms to any of the warring nations. It was forbidden to buy and sell weapons to or from any of these nations. Exporting weapons to them was also forbidden, and American ships were not even permitted to transport ammunition to the fighters.
The practical effect of the Neutrality Act was to favor the German side, since, as the aggressor, it was well-prepared to fight an extensive war. America's traditional European allies and trading partners were far less prepared for a big fight, and felt the inability to receive American supplies much more acutely.
When the Second World War broke out, a conference of the countries of the Western Hemisphere was held in Panama, at which it was decided to maintain both solidarity and neutrality.
Still, three weeks after the outbreak of the war, President Roosevelt asked Congress, which had been summoned to a special session, to repeal the ammunition ban. Regarding the entire Neutrality Act he said: "I am sorry that the Congress passed that law."
Roosevelt would have preferred the outright repeal of the entire Neutrality Act, but the isolationist mood in the United States was still too strong. "If you attempt to repeal it, you'll be fortunate if you receive five votes in my committee," Senator Pitman told him.
The President was forced to compromise on a bill that included the new principle of "Cash and Carry," that did allow the U.S. to sell ammunition to her European allies. Even for this bill, he was harshly criticized by the isolationists. Still, after six weeks of vehement debate, the Congress did cancel the ammunition ban, and substituted it with the "Cash and Carry" principle regarding both weapons and raw materials.
The events in Europe drew the United States one step closer to war. However, the parties that opposed the war were still strong enough to include a clause which forbade American ships to sail to the ports of the belligerent countries, even if the President determined that this new law also pertained to battle zones. The Neutrality Act of 1939 had abolished the principle of free navigation, which had been effective since the Napoleon Wars and the invasions of the Barbary Coast by the pirates.
The American nation still did not feel that its own security was threatened by the events in Europe. As long it did not sense this, many Americans firmly opposed taking on additional obligations. Even after the Russian attack on Finland, in November, this firm resolve wasn't shaken.
The war at that time, seemed more like a siege. A number of Americans even complained that the war was "dull" and lacked excitement. Because the war seemed so unrealistic, hope grew that Hitler would be vanquished in a war of attrition, and that the United States would be able to become the quartermaster of the Allies (with the attending profits), without endangering herself.
In the beginning of April 1940, the "dull war" came to a dramatic end. Without warning, Germany invaded Denmark, which had recently signed a treaty with Hitler, in which he promised not to attack her. Then he invaded Norway. Denmark fell within a few hours, and Norway in less than two months.
Afterwards, on the 10th of May, the Germans invaded the Low Countries. Holland was conquered in five days. Antwerp fell within three days. Armored German divisions, known as Panzers, penetrated the Ardennes forest, surrounded the French battalions and advanced, with great force, toward the canal harbors. On the 21st of May, only eleven days after the attack on Holland, the Germans reached La Manche Canal, where they isolated the British divisions, which had been dispatched to help Belgium and France.
A week later, Belgium surrendered, and the British troops that had come to help were abandoned to fate. Their evacuation justly became known as "the miracle of Dunkirk."
All available vessels, such as warships, yachts, ferries, gunboats, fishing boats and motor boats were recruited for the effort. While one brave division was still holding the line against the advancing Nazi troops, and the planes of the Royal Air Force were bombarding the region, 338,000 soldiers were evacuated to England. However, they hadn't been able to take their weapons with them, and, in general, one does not win wars with evacuation campaigns.
The German army now turned southward, and within two weeks it vanquished the French army. On the 10th of June, 1940, Mussolini, the Prime Minister of Italy, joined the war. Five days later, Paris fell, and the desperate Prime Minister Reynaud pleaded with Roosevelt to dispatch "clouds of planes."
Roosevelt, however, could offer only sympathy, and a new French government, which had been assembled with haste, under the leadership of the aged Marshal Petain, sought peace.
Hitler demanded a heavy price. He took direct control of the northern half of France's territory, and left the southern half under the rule of Henri-Phillipe Petain and Pierre Laval. These two agreed to cooperate with the victors by recruiting laborers for the German war industry and handing over the Jews of France to death and torture.
In one month, Hitler's soldiers accomplished what the forces of Wilhelm the Second had not been able to do in four years.
Initial German success in Europe
The Nazi blitzkrieg also crushed the illusions of the United States regarding the results of the war in Europe and her own immunity. After France surrendered, and Britain was liable to fall soon. Walter Lipmann wrote: "It is our obligation to begin to act immediately, on the basis of the assumption that the Allies might lose the war this summer, and that before the snow begins to fall, we are liable once more to find ourselves alone and isolated, as the last large democracy on earth."
By then, even Roosevelt's harshest opponents had begun to support him as the leader of the nation under crisis. Within a year after the invasion of the Low Countries, Congress allotted 37 billion dollars to the war effort and to helping the Allies — a sum which exceeded what the United States had spent during the First World War.
In order to take advantage of the support of both of the political parties, Roosevelt, a Democrat, replaced his ministers of war and of naval affairs with two famous Republicans.
On the 10th of June, at Charlottesville, Virginia, the President said, "Our policy is to give all possible material aid to the nations which still resist aggression across the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans." Congress agreed that although it was necessary to strengthen the defenses of the United States, they should not be overly eager to help Britain.
Only thirty percent of the Americans continued to believe that the Allies would win the war, and the military advisors of the President warned him that because the defense resources of America were low, America would herself be in jeopardy if she were to extend aid to Britain. If America dispatched military aid to Britain, and Britain then surrendered, this would leave the United States without adequate ammunition to face the anticipated invasion of the Axis powers. If this were the case, Roosevelt would find it very difficult to justify his decisions.
Nevertheless, Roosevelt offered the Allies planes, ammunition and gunpowder. He even went so far as to make an exchange agreement with Britain, which Churchill later described as "a definitely non-neutral measure which, according to all historical criteria, would justify any war declarations Germany would make against the United States."
In the beginning of September 1940, the President announced that an arrangement had been made, in which the United States transferred five warships to Britain which had been used by the Navy during World War One, and received in return rental contracts for ninety-nine years, for a series of naval and air bases in the British West Indies (the Argentine bases in Newfoundland and Bermuda were gifts). The American Navy also gave Britain ten gunboats.
The 1940 Election in the United States
Pre-election time dawned in the thick of a stormy debate about Roosevelt's foreign policy.
The German blitzkriegs made it clear to the Republicans that it would not be wise to select an isolationist candidate for the presidency. Because of that, an opportunity was available to a politician of lesser stature: Wendel Wilkie, a Wall Street attorney, who was one of the sharpest critics of the New Deal, but an open supporter of the Allies.
In June, when the Republican committee convened, the veteran politicians did not manage to curb the rising support for Wilkie, even though at the end of April, barely two months earlier, not even one person had been in his camp.
The events in Europe also assured Roosevelt of the Democratic nomination for a third term. Roosevelt pressured the representatives to accept the liberal Henry Wallace, a former Republican, as his vice president. The President proved to those who thought that he had lost control during the purging of 1938, that he still ruled the Democratic Party.
In the elections in November, Roosevelt received 449 electoral votes, while Wilkie received only 82. Still, Roosevelt's share in the overall tally of votes was below 55%. Nevertheless, he continued to amass popularity in low income areas.
When he analyzed the results of the election, an observer at the time wrote: "It seems as if the New Dealers accomplished what the Socialists, the Communists and the worldwide labor parties never came close to achieving. He wove a class line across the face of American politics."
1941: A Decisive Year
The President interpreted his reelection as an approval of his policies. When the Congress convened, in the beginning of 1941, Roosevelt turned to it and asked it to support the warring nations on the grounds that they deserved the Four Freedoms: Freedom of speech, Freedom of religion, Freedom from want and Freedom from fear.
Four days later, the President submitted a program, which stemmed from an urgent, unprecedented message which he had received a month prior to his election. The British Prime Minister, Churchill, had written to him that his country was in great jeopardy, and that she would soon reach the point where she would no longer be able to pay in cash for the tremendous amounts of American ammunition she required.
In reaction to this, Roosevelt made a new proposal: to loan them the ammunition directly, on the basis of the understanding that at the end of the war, the ammunition would either be returned or replaced. "What I am trying to do," he explained "is to erase the dollar sign."
The Lend Lease Program aroused strong opposition. "Loaning war equipment is much like loaning chewing gum," Senator Taft declared. "You don't want to get it back."
The Senator from Montana called the Lend Lease Program, "New Deal style foreign policy which will result in the burial of every fourth American." (Roosevelt told the media two days later: "This is the basest statement ever uttered in the public life of our era.")
However, in the middle of January 1941, over 70% of the participants in a public opinion survey supported aid to Britain, even at the risk of drawing the United States into the war. In March, when the members of Congress were called upon to vote, the Lend Lease Program was approved by a large majority.
The new law authorized the President "to sell, transfer, exchange, lend and borrow" every security item he deemed fit "to the government of every country whose defense was vital for the security of the United States." The law also made available to those nations the port services of the United States.
By the end of the month, the Congress had approved the phenomenal sum of seven billion dollars, as a first payment, in the mighty program of aid to the Allies. In the end, the entire program cost the United States 50 billion dollars.
Now events began to unfold rapidly. A few weeks after the passage of the Lend Lease Law, the United States seized all of the ships of the Axis powers that were then in American ports.
In 1941, it took Greenland under its aegis, and announced that its Navy would patrol the seaways in security zones. In May, after the Nazis sank an American submarine, Roosevelt declared a "national emergency" without time limits. In June, the United States froze all of the assets of the Axis powers.
On the 24th of June the President declared that the Lend Lease Law would include a new ally, Russia, because on the 27th of Sivan — the 22nd of June — Hitler violated his treaty with the Russians and set out to conquer their vast territories.
In this Hitler made a tremendous mistake. By violating his treaty with Russia, he caused Russia to become an ally with England and France. With Russia on their side, the German army would have to fight on two fronts. The Communist party in the United States, which until then had opposed the imperialistic war, now demanded American participation.
Roosevelt, like Wilson in the previous generation, tried to secure a declaration of common war aims from the Allies. On the 14th of August, 1941, he met with Winston Churchill on a ship in the Gulf in Newfoundland, and together they formulated the Atlantic Treaty. Its purposes included the four avowed freedoms: freedom from territorialism, the right to independent rule, freedom of trade and the right to secure raw materials.
The Atlantic Ocean seemed like the most logical place for the United States to be drawn into the Second World War. On the 4th of September, a German submarine torpedoed the American warship, Greer, in the waters of Iceland, which had been manned by American soldiers only a few weeks before.
The President ordered the U.S. Navy to, "Shoot on sight at the snakes of the Atlantic Ocean," and bitterly declared: "I am telling you the truth. The Germans opened fire on the American warship without warning, in order to sink it."
In fact, the President wasn't completely candid in this case. The Greer not only reported to a British plane about the presence of the submarine, but also pursued it and broadcasted its location for three and a half hours. During that time, the British warplane dropped four depth charges against the sub, and only then did the submarine shoot in the direction of the Greer.
Two days after Roosevelt had ordered his men "to shoot on sight," the Atlantic fleet of the American Navy was ordered to protect every ship which cruised between North America and Iceland, including convoys which did not contain even one American ship. Because the fleet was also instructed to destroy every Nazi ship it spotted, the order of the 13th of September drew the American Navy into the overall, unofficial war in this zone.
On the ninth of October, the president asked Congress to repeal the "paralyzing clauses" of the Neutrality Act of 1939. The isolationists prepared for a long-term struggle to topple the President, but they didn't take into account the feelings stirred up by the events in the northern part of the Atlantic Ocean.
On the 17th of October, it became known that the war destroyer Kearny had been torpedoed west of Iceland. Eleven sailors were killed. Three days later, the destroyer, Robin James became the first armed ship of the United States, to be sunk by the Germans. 96 sailors were killed.
Within two weeks, Congress approved the abolishment of the two restricting clauses in the Neutrality Act, and from then on, the President was free to despatch ships directly to the war zones. It is no wonder that the attention of the nation focused on the war in Europe. However, America's eventual direct involvement in the war, wasn't the result of the developments in the Atlantic Ocean, but rather the result of more crucial ones in the Pacific Ocean.
End of Part I
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