Grandpa Dan Goes to War

When I was a child, my grandfather told me stories about the war. Grandpa Dan was the son of a Jewish family. Nazi Germany pushed his family out of Poland. He joined the British army when the war started. For Europeans, the Second World War began in September 1939. That’s when Germany invaded Poland. Britain and France were Poland’s allies. They declared war on Germany in response.

For others, the war started earlier. The Second World War started because of three empires. These three expansionist “Axis” powers wanted to take over other countries. These were Fascist Italy, Nazi Germany, and Imperial Japan. Before Poland, these countries pushed into other places around the world. Japan invaded China in 1931. Italy invaded Ethiopia in 1935. For Ethiopian partisans, the war began four years before Germany invaded Poland. Italy also conquered Albania in 1939.

In general, we date the start of the Second World War to 1939. Germany’s push into Poland angered Britain. It angered France as well. Britain and France had no choice but to get involved. By late 1939, Britain, France, and their colonies were at war with Germany.

A terrible year, 1939–1940

Two almost-separate wars ran for two years. In Asia, Japan continued to fight China. Chinese troops were poorly armed. They were not very unified. Still, various Chinese forces, including communist insurgents, managed to slow and even stop Japanese progress.

In Europe, Germany and Italy set about annexing smaller states. In the north, Germany occupied Denmark. It invaded Norway. Then, in May 1940, German forces swept into France. The Germans drove the French and British to the coast. France was forced to surrender on June 25.

At this point, Germany was winning. Italian leader Benito Mussolini declared war on Britain and France. France fell, and Italy moved to other parts of Europe. In October, Italy declared war on Greece. The Greeks were poorly armed. Britain sent some aid to Greece, but not enough. The Italians took Greece with help from Germany.

The war spreads, 1941

Now, Britain’s allies were mostly conquered. Germany controlled France. Britain stood alone against the Axis powers. The British turned to the United States. However, the Americans were more worried about Japanese forces in the Pacific. The U.S. put an embargo, or ban, on selling oil to Japan.

On 22 June, 1941, Nazi Germany leader Adolf Hitler made a mistake. Hitler decided to invade the Soviet Union. He hoped it would be a quick conquest. But the Soviet Union large. German troops got stuck at Moscow. In winter, German soldiers began to freeze.

Britain and the Soviet Union were very different. The Soviet Union was communist. In communism, the government owns everything. Britain was a capitalist society. Capitalism means people own business and property. These two countries came together to fight Nazis. Soon, Britain got another great ally. On December 7, 1941, Japanese forces attacked Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. Germany declared war on the United States. 

The hinge of fate, 1942

The United States, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union formed a powerful alliance. But the Axis powers continued to advance. Then, everything changed in the second half of 1942. The Allied powers had huge amounts of new weapons. Allied intelligence broke Japanese and German secret messages. The United States learned about a planned Japanese attack. Japan was going to invade Midway Island in June. American naval forces managed to arrive just in time.

Midway was the first in a series of victories for the Allies that changed the course of the war. Another important victory was the Battle of Stalingrad. In February 1943, Soviets defeated a German army. This began the long push back towards Germany.

Driving to victory, 1943-1945

The Axis powers were not defeated. Soviet forces fought against German troops across Eastern Europe. In Asia, Chinese forces worked with the British in Burma. Allied nations took back islands from Japan.

Grandpa Dan, meanwhile, was involved in driving German and Italian forces out of North Africa. From there, the British and American forces invaded Italy. They landed on the mainland in September 1943. Mussolini’s government soon fell. But German forces held on. They forced a massive battle at Monte Cassino.

At this point, everyone fought to push German troops back into Germany. In June 1944, Allied forces landed in northern France. They began to push toward Germany. Another force landed in southern France. The forces in Italy continued to push towards Germany. Strongest of all was the Soviet push into Germany from the East. The forces all met in Germany. Finally, in April 1945, the Soviets captured Berlin. Germany surrendered.

Still, Japan was not defeated. Japan had lost its empire. It had almost no navy or air force left. Still, the Japanese refused to surrender. The United States made the decision to use the nuclear bomb. The United States dropped two nuclear bombs on Japanese cities. On August 6, 1945, Hiroshima was bombed. Three days later, Nagasaki was attacked. Japan was forced to surrender. 

The Second World War was over. But it left a huge impact on history. That history is shared on a global scale. Yet the war is also very personal. Grandpa Dan’s memories of the war stuck with him. It is this kind of human dimension that keeps me interested in history.