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World War II (1939-45) was the largest and most cataclysmic war in human history. It was a long war, although not neaely the longest. It was the first truly world war. It began in Europe and spread from there. (If one does not include the early Japanese aggressions.) There had throughout history been devestation on a local level, but never as much destruction and loss of life on a global scale. More people were killed than ever before. And in contrast to World War I, it was civilians who suffered more than the military. This was abnormal, usually it is the soldiers who suffer most. There were enornous civilian casualties primarily because it was an actual Axis policy (primarily German and Japanese) to murder civilans in large numbers in horific killing operations.
Civilians also were killed as a result illnesses or starvation--conditions created on purpose by the Axix--such as the NAZI Hunger Plab. Millions perished in concentration and slave labor camps. Jews were the most obvious victims, but non-Jews also perished in huge numbers. And long with that mass mirder was equally horfic destruction. And unlike World War I the devestation was not largely limited to the relativeky narrow band that scared northern France and southern Belgium--the Trench Line. The destruction and loss of life was on a scale never before exerienced by humanity. Whole cities were destroyed. The piles of rubble and glowing embers left by Allied bombers that had once been German and Japanese cities was the most obvious, but there was also widespread destructioin in major battkefield areas, especially Eastern Europe and Italy. In the East, the Soviets conducted scorched earth destructioin as they retreated. The Germans destroyed as they bboth advanced and retrated. Europe as a result was in deperate condition after the War. Again famine and starvation was ony prevented by American food aid. Econonomists after the War believed that it might take Europe and other devestated countries a generation to recover. To the surpise of almost everyone, however, within only a few years an amazing recovery began, although it was highly varried. The immediate post-Wars years were very difficult. This began to change about 1948, in part because of American aid and in part by domestic policy ininitatives in each county. Most surprising of all was the starteling pace of recovry in Germany and Japan, countries with cities that were left piles of rubble and cinders after the War.
Austria was largely untouched by the War until the last year of the War. The adverse impact on Austrians were the people targeted by the NAZIs, primarily Jews and Gypseys. This changed when Austria finally camne within range of Allied bombers (1944). This was when most of the phyical danage was done, primarily in Vienna. Other Austrianbs cities, especislly Innsbruck were also hit and the transport system destroyed. Despite the extensive distruction, loss of village was limited because of the efficient German civil defense system. More damage occured when the Red Army entered Austria (April 1945). The primary fighting occured as part of the battle for Vienna. There was more phyical damage, but this was when most of the Austrians were killed, both soldiers and civilians. There was also an orgy of rape and theft that turned what was left of Vienna abd other cities and towns into a hellish nightmare. The Western Allies entered western Austria 2 weeks after Vienna fell. But there was little or no resistance and fighting. In fact the primary interest of German soldiers was to surrender so they would not be taken into Soviet captivity. Wjile the Wesern Allies caused little addiutuinal damage, the bombing left Austrian cities badly danmage and Vienna in ruins. In addution the trabnsport sudtemn was vurtually destroyed.
The critical phase of the Luftwaffe onslaught ended in September. The Lutwaffe eventually was forced to shift to nightime raids. Night bombing made it impossible to hit actually military and industrial targets, only cities could be targetted. The Germans would later rail agains similar raids on theie cities saying that they were babaric and war crimes. We see not such quams when they are boming other countries. Hitler was still not convinced that the bombing would not force the British sue for terms. "He told an Italian visitor pn October 14, 1940, "Let's wait and see what London looks like 2 or 3 months from now. If I cannot invade them, at least I can destroy the whole of their industry. [Gilbert, p. 345.] Hitler was always anxious to teach his enemies a lesson. A British air raid on Munich on the night of the aniversary celebration for his abortive beer hall putch enfuruated him. Retribution was a night strike on Conventry with 500 bombers (November 14). The target was the factories around Coventry. The raid was one of the most notorious and significant of the War. The raid did extensive damage to war plants, but the center of the gistoric old city had been destroyed. Estimates suggest that 60,000 of the 75,000 buildings in the city center were killed. The Germans began using a new word--" Koventrieren " meaning to Coventrate or totaly demolish. It was a word they would soon need in Germany. There were 564 people killed at Coventry, high for the time, but modest given the damage. So many fires were created that a "fire storm" was created. Air Marshall Harris, not yet assigned to Bomber Command later expalain that the raid taught RAF planners the starting "so many fires at the same time". [Gilbert, p. 352.] In 1940 it was British cities that were burning, but that would soon change. German cities like Hamburg and Dresden would feel the consequences ofvthe lesson taught by the Luftwaffe. In those two cuties alone over 100,000, most inocent civiluans, would pay the consequences of Hitler's punishment raids. There were major attacks on British cities throughout 1941. Here the major goal was to devestate British cities. It was not just London. Every important British city was targeted. The center of Conventry was destroyed in a night. About 100 acres of the city center were destroyed, including the rnowned cathedral. Bristol was especially heavily damaged. The fourth phase lasted for several months. It was conducted at night. The German raids declined substantially in 1942 as growing Allied air power made it increasingly costly. The Luftwaffe was also receiving ever greater demands to support the badly streached Wehrmacht in the Eastern campaign Russia as well as the North African campaign. They also had to contend with British air campaign against Germany, given new life with the arrival of the Avro Lancanster--one of the great bombers of the War.
Germany began World War II as the most heavily industrialized country in Europe. The British to be joinedc by the Americans set out to use air power to destroy the German industrial economy which supported the war effort. Germany's industrial infrastructure was not just severely damaged by the Allied strategic bombing campaign, it was virtually obliterated. The damage in the cities, especially the centers of the major cities where Germany heavy industry was located, was devestating. During the battle of Britain, a German raid of 200 medium bombers was notable (1940-41). For the Allies by 1944, raids with 1,000 heavy bombers was not unusual. And they came again and afain. The centers of most German cities were left vast mounds of rubble. Germany's industry at the time was located in the cities, in part because the workers had to live near the factories. Cars in Germany, and the rest of Europe, were beyond worker's incomes. The bombers primarily targeted industry and specialized targets like the synthetic fuel plants which were not located in the cities. World War II began at a time that that air force commanders had still not worked out how best to employ their assetts. The Germans worked out effective tactical methods--Blitzkrieg. It took longer for bomber commanders to work out the best use of their assetts. And here Germany did not have the industrial capacity to build a substantial strategic bombing force. The British began by attacking German cities--area bombing. This was primarily because that was all they could target at night and because of the Blitz there was not much coincern about German civulkian casualties. The Americans bombing during thecday did try to hit vdpecific targets, but they were usually in the central city and the inaccuracy of World war II bombing meant that in practice therec was not a great deal of difference between British and American bombing. And both Britain and America built a huge bomber force which gave them the capability of hitting virtuslly any target in the Reich with massive raids. Allied commanders eventually grasped the Germam Achieles heel--petroleum, Thus the synthetic plants along with the transportation netweork became priority targets. The introduction of the long-range P-51 escorts not only allowed the Allies to destroy theLuftwaffe, but to escalate the bombing. The fighters on the way home went down to the ground and began hitting smaller targets, especially the transportation network outside the cities. Much of the destruction took place fairly late in the war, after the Luftwaffe was destroyed giving the Allied bombers free range over the Reich. And after the D-Day breakout, General Eisenhower relinquished control of the American and British bomber forces (September 1944). The German war economy proved resiliant throughout most of the war, but finally began to collapse under the weight of the bombing and loss of occupied countries to plunder (November 1944). Escort fighters after sheparding the bombers to their targets would then come down to the ground on the way home and hit a range of targets like air fields or military convoys as well as civilian targets like trains, barges, trucks--virtually anything that moved. Along with the industry, Germany's transportation system was wrecked. Some damage was caused by the fighting as Allied ground forces closed in on the Reich. Except for Berlin, however, this was limited compared to the descrution resulting from the strategic bombing campign. Hitler at the end of the War ordered that the country's infrastructure that survived the bombing was to be destroyed as the Allied forces approached, the same burnt earth strategy persued by the Soviets. Speer and some other NAZI officials tried to prevent the implementation of this order or ignored orders from Berlin. After the NAZI surrender, some NAZI diehards planned a campaign of sabatoge. This did not occur, but in fact there was not a lot left to sabotge. And in the Soviet occupation zone, much of what survived the bombing, was loaded on rail cars and shipped east as war reparations. The Soviet zone was the least industrialized area of Germany and the reparations would contribute to East Germany's inability to compete with West Germany. The Western Allies decided against reparations, although France needed some persuading on this issue. They did not, however, make any major effort toward rebuilding Germany's industrial infrastructure. The Western Allies were not at all sure about Germany's future. Soviet policy helped to decide the question. The United states finally set about the rebuilding of industril Germany as part of the Marshall Plan (1948). Germany's industrial infrastructure would have to be essentially rebuilt from scratch. Most observers looking at the mounds of rubble at the time thought that it would take more than a generation to achieve. The Trummerfrauen were put to work on the problem after the War. They were organized by occupation authorities who required women between the ages of 15 and 50 to report for clean up duty. A law passed by the military government allowed local authorities to employ women in clearing rubble.
Italy was not a rich country before the outbreak of World War II. The country despite Fascist propaganda to the contrary was not prepared militarily to enter the War or to support an extended War effort. The war was a disaster for Italy. Over 0.3 million Italian military personel were killed or missing. Thre were bombing raids before the Allied invasion (September 1943). Most of the civilian casualties and destruction occured, however, after the Allied invasion. Much of this occurred in connection with Allied assaults on German positions. The Germans set up a series of defensive lines as the Allies pushed then north. The Allies to minimize battelfield losses would use their superority in artillery and air power to heavily shell German positions. As a result of the inaccuracy of aerial bombing at the time, large areas around or near German positions including tows and villages were destroyed. The result was an Italy with large areas devestated by the War. About 70,000 civilians were killed. Such numbers while a tragedy were relatively small compared to other countries devestated by the War. The physical damage in Italy, however, was very substantial. Many towns and villages were heavily damaged or competely destroyed. One estimate suggests that about 10 percent of the physical industrial plant of Italy was destroyed in the fighting. [Harrison, p. 37.]
The Netherlands was badly damaged by the War. Some cities were paryicularly hard hit. Rotterdam, Arnhem and Nijmegen were among the most heavily damaged. The homes of many people were destroyed aking with factories abd businesses. Of the 25,000 homes in Arnhem, only 145 were left intact. Roads and railwats were damagd. Bridges were priotity tagets. Many were destroyed. Building material to rpair the damage was scarce. And few people had the money to buy what was needed. Food was in short supply. The Netherlands was not self-suffient in food production, but it was important to produce as much as possible. Here a problem was all the land mines mostly the Germans had planted. German POWs were put to work clearing them. What food was avilable was rationd. Jobs were almost non-existent. Which meant that money was not available to repair the damage. It was a vicious cycle. Conditions would not improve until the economy improved, but the damage was so sevre that economy coukd not recovr until rebuilding began and conditions improved. The situation in the Netherlands were so difficult after the War that several hundred thousand Dutch people emmigrated, primarily to Australia, Canada, and the United States. One Dutch reader tells us, "Right after the liberation food was the most important item. Then clothes. The year 1945 was still very chaotic. My younger brother returned home after having spent the rest of the war at a farm in the province of Overijsel. He left home when he was 15 years old--"before I starve to death here" he said and just left. We did not know what happened to him until after the War. He walked many days before he found a farmer who could use him with the work. My brother kept in touch with that farm family because they treated him like a son. At first there was no work available but all that changed in 1946. All of a sudden there were more job openings than people to fill them. I started working in the book and publishing business. In the beginning my German name created some difficulties, because the Dutch hated everything German." [Stueck]
Poland situated in the dangerous space between two sworn enemies, NAZI Germany and the Soviet Union was devestated by the War. Poland was the only country that these two totalitarin powers set out to destroy. And as a result, no country suffered more than Poland, although destruction in the Soviet bUnion and Yugoslsvia as also massive. Warsaw was of course the greatest example of this. The city was badly damaged during the initial German invasion, both by aerial and artillery bombardment (1939). And then much of wgat was still standing was destroyed in the Warsaw Uprising (1944) and subsequent German demolition. The devestation extended to other cities and towns throughout the country. Enormous damage was done by the German Army and air force during the initial campsign (September 1939). This was aklmost entirely in western Poland. The Soviets invaded eastern Poland (September 17). Little damage resulted as the despirited Polish Army offered little resistance. The destruction of Poland was not just the buildings, homes and fsctories. The Polish people were also targeted. Both the NAZIs and Soviets after seizing control engaged in mass arrests and deportations. Poland as a result lost more than 40 percent of its physicians and dentists, more than 40 percent of its lawyers, and more than 25 percent of its teachers. Estimates vary, but about 6 million Poles were killed, 3 million Jews (all but about 0.1 million) and 3 million gentiles. There was aso organized German plunnder, The Germabns invaded the Soviet Union (June 1941), this meant the area of eastern Poland annexed by the Soviets. Again the physical damage was relatively limited because the Whermacht pushed east so rapidly. There was, however, extensive damage as the Wehrmacht pursued anti-partisan campaigns. Additional damage occurred in fighting between Poles and Ukranians. And as the Red Army pushed into Poland, the Wehrmacht conducted a burned earth program of destroying everything of any value. This included even towns and villages. Warsaw was of course the greatest example of the mindless destruction, but only one example. Krakow escaped the damage inflicted on many other Polish cities because of the rapid adance of the Red Army.
Substantial areas of the Soc=viet Union, especially the western Soviet Union was devestated by the War. Much of the destruction was in the non-Russian areas of the wesern Soviet Union. This included the areas annexed in 1939-40 (the Baltics, Poland, and ??? as well as Bylorussia and the Ukraine. There were three major reasons for the destruction: war damage and then the Soviet Scoarched earth policy as the Red Army was driven back early in the War (1941-42) and the NAZI scoarched earth policy (1943-45) as the Wehrmcht retreated back to Germany. The result was not only emense loss of like but a virtually unfathomable destruction of homes, farms, factories, and public buildings. The occupied areas of the Soviet Union were devestated to a greater extent than even Germany.
Yugoslavia was one of the country's more devestated by World War II. The Communist Government faced an enormous job of relief and reconstruction. than any other country in Europe. The damage began with the German invasion (April 1941). Hitler was furious that the Yugoslavs overthrew the Government he forced to sign the Axis Pact. He decided to punish the Yugoslavs by the terror bombing of Belgrade. About 17,000 people were killed in the Luftwaffe terror bombing of a largely undefended city. The ensuing German invasion quickly suceeded and left the country in Axis hands. The country was occupied by Bulgaria, Germany, Hungary, and Italy. The Germans granted a kind of independence to Croatia. The occupation progressed differently in these various zones. The Germans distrusted tghe Serbs because they had fought with the Allies in World War I and for racial reasons. They quickly round up the Jews. About 70,000 were killed even before the death camps in Poland were opened. It was the Serbs who were killed in large numbers. The Germans reacted viciously to acts of resistance. But even more deadly than the Germans were the Croat Ustaše. A complicated civil war developed in addition to the Resistance. Milohailovic's Chetniks and Tito's Partisans fought the Axis occupiers, primarily the Germans and Italians. The Axis occupiers executed large numbers of civilians in retaliation for attacks and sabotage, especially when Axis soldiers were casualties. But the Chetniks and Partisans also fought each other. The Albanians/Kosovars were also targeted by both the Serbs and Croats. The Ustaše allied themselves with the Germans and targeted civilians by launching an ethnic cleansing campaign against the Serb people. Hundreds of thousands of Serbs were murderedd in the most brutal manner. Whole villages were destroyed in the Axis anti-partisan campaigns and the Ustaše ethnic cleaning operations. Large areas of the country were devestated. Relatively little damage except in Belgrade was done in the initial German invasion. There were also Allied air raids. Much more damage was done during the partisan struggle and the fighting as the partisans with Soviet help pursued the Germans at the end of the War. As in the East, the retreating Germans destoyed much of the country's infrastructure and industrial base. In addition to war casuaklties and deliberate killing operations, large numbers of people died because of food shortages, famine, and disease. Accounts vary but as many as 1.7 million Yugoslavs perished in the War out of a total population of 15.0 million people. Large numbers of people were left homeless and many children displaced and abandoned.
The Pacific War was fought on the largest battlefield in history. This would make the range of aircraft to be a critically important factor. The air war in the Pacific began, as in the European theater, with mastery of the skies over China by the Japanese. The Chinese air force was vitually non-existant. The Japanese conducted terror bombing raid, first on Shanghai and then on other Chinese cities. The Japanese began the Pacific War with air mastery. This surprised Allied military experts. The dazzling Mitusubishi A6M Zero was so effective that they were able to achieve air superority during land and sea battles against Britain and the United States beginning with the attack on Pearl Harbor. The Zero was fast and maneuverable and had an impressive range. This continued throughout much of 1942 and only with the arrival of new American 56L Hellcat in large numbers did the Allies begin to gain the upperhand in the sky. The gradual attrition of skilled Japanese pilots was another factor. New American aircraft brgan reaching the fleet (January 1943). The Gruman 56L Hellcat would be the mainstay of the U.S Navt during the Pacific War. Gradually American flyers had planes with capababilities well beyond those of the Zero. The seizure of the Marianas and the deployment of of the new long range B-29 bombers brought the Japanese homeland within range of strategic bombardment. The initial raids were inclonclusive. General Curtis LeMay devised a strategy of fire bombing which caused massive destruction in Japanese citis crammed with highly flameable wooden structures. When Japan refused to surender after the Yalta Conference, President Truman ordered the use of tha Atomic Bomb in August 1945. The Japanese surendered in September.
Outside of China, the two countries most desimated by World war II in Asia were Burma and Philippes. This is because it was in these two countries that well-equipped Allied armies fought the Japanese in extended campiagns. There was relatively little damage as a result of the Japanese City. General MacArthur declared Manila an open city and most of the fighting was confined to the isolated Batan Peninsulas. The lberation was a ver\y different matter. Much of the Pacific war was fought on lightly populated and in some case unpopulated islands. This was not the case in the Philippines. Large areas of the Philippines were devestated by the fighting. The Japanese on Luzon where their forces were concentrated retreated into the mountains of northern Luzon and held out there until Japan surendered formally (September 1945). Fortunately this was not a heavily populated area. The greatest devestation ocurred in Manila where Japanese Marine staged a fight to the death. [Aluit] In the process they murdered as many Philipino civilizns as possible. The Philippines by this time had sustained enornos physical damage. Manila in particular was virtually destroyed. There were other Japanese masacres of civilians. There is no exact acconting, but historians that 1 million Filipinos were killed. Most were killed by the Japanese in the final year of the War. The Americam liberation employed massive concentrations of naval and air firepower as well as army artillery. The damage in Msanila was particularly crippling because the city was such a major component of Philipiines social and economic life. It was the country's largest and most developed city. One assessment estimsates that the city was 80 percent destroyed. This included factories schools, hospitals, power plants, and communication facilities. It mean that the capital from which the Philippines recovery would be overseen was virtually wiped off the face of the earth.
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