Grandpa Dan Goes to War

When I was a child, my grandfather told me stories about the war. He was the son of a Jewish family that had fled Poland. When the war started, Grandpa Dan joined the British army. He wanted to hit back against the Germans who had driven his family from their home.

For Grandpa Dan’s family and many other Europeans, the Second World War began in September 1939. That’s when Germany invaded Poland. In response, Poland’s allies Britain and France declared war on Germany. The Second World War started because three major expansionist “Axis” powers—Fascist Italy, Nazi Germany, and Imperial Japan—wanted to conquer other countries and build empires. In that sense, the war in Asia began in 1931 when Japan invaded China. Africa saw the beginning of war in 1935, when Italy invaded Ethiopia. In Europe, Italy conquered Albania earlier in 1939. Germany, too, had annexed Austria and parts of Czechoslovakia before it invaded Poland.

But in general, we date the beginning of the Second World War to Germany’s September 1939 invasion of Poland. That attack provoked Britain and France. Britain and France had been reluctant to confront the Axis powers. But Poland had alliances with France and Britain. So when Germany invaded Poland, the British had to react. So, by late 1939, Britain and France (and their colonies) were at war with Germany.

A terrible year, 1939–1940

Following the declaration of war in Europe, two almost-separate wars ran in parallel for two years. In Asia, Japan continued to push into China’s interior. Chinese generals responded with counter-attacks. However, their troops were poorly armed and not very unified. However, Chinese forces still managed to slow Japan.

In Europe, meanwhile, Germany and Italy set about annexing smaller states. In May 1940, German forces swept into France through neutral Belgium. The Germans drove the French and British to the coast. Only a nearly-miraculous naval operation managed to save much of the British army at Dunkirk. Meanwhile, France surrendered on June 25.

Once it became clear that Germany was winning, Italian leader Benito Mussolini and his Fascist government formally declared war on Britain and France. After France fell, Mussolini turned eastward and south. In October, Italy declared war on Greece, which became Britain’s first new ally. Britain sent what aid they could to the Greeks. It wasn’t enough. With help from German forces, the Italians finally managed to conquer Greece.

The war spreads, 1941

With its allies mostly conquered and France occupied, Britain now stood almost alone against Germany and Italy. They hoped for help from the United States. However, the Americans were hesitant to lend resources. Much of their attention was on Japan. Japanese expansion in the Pacific worried the United States. The U.S. put an embargo, or ban, on selling oil to Japan.

Fortunately, Britain was a vast empire. The United Kingdom was surrounded by ocean. The British Royal Air Force managed to stop German mass bombing, but life was still dark throughout 1940 and in the early months of 1941. Then, suddenly, on 22 June, 1941, Nazi German leader Adolf Hitler decided to invade the Soviet Union. It was a big mistake. Hitler hoped to repeat what had been done to France—a quick conquest using masses of tanks and planes. But the Soviet Union was larger and more populated than France. German troops got bogged down in Moscow and began to freeze as winter came.

Capitalist Britain and the communist Soviet Union were ideological opposites. But they found common ground over fighting Nazis. Then, Britain gained another strong ally. On December 7, 1941, Japanese forces attacked the U.S. fleet at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. Soon after, 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 war machine continued to advance. German forces pushed into the Soviet Union. Italy and Germany were poised to drive the British from North Africa. Japanese forces occupied the Philippines and New Guinea.

Then, in the second half of 1942, the tide shifted. This was partly a result of the massive industrial power of the three allies. The U.S., Soviet, and British forces and their allies were equipped with huge amounts of new weapons. Another reason was Allied intelligence gathering. Allied intelligence broke both the Japanese and German codes. Code-breaking informed the United States that Japan was going to invade Midway Island in June. American naval forces managed to arrive in time to sink numerous Japanese aircraft carriers.

Midway was the first in a series of victories for the Allies that changed the course of the war. In October and November of 1942, a British-led army drove German and Italian forces from the North African town of El Alamein. Grandpa Dan was among the troops. The Germans and Italians fled back into Libya. But probably the most important victory was the Battle of Stalingrad. In February 1943, the Soviets surrounded a German army. This began the long push back towards Germany.

Driving to victory, 1943-1945

Of course, the Axis powers were not yet defeated. Soviet forces fought a massive, deadly war against German troops across Eastern Europe. In Asia, Chinese forces coordinated with the British in Burma. Americans, Australians, and their allies recaptured island after island from Japan.

Grandpa Dan, meanwhile, was involved in driving German and Italian forces out of North Africa. This was a campaign aided by British and American troops under General Dwight D. Eisenhower. They landed along the western ports of the North African coast. From there, the combined forces invaded Italy, landing on the mainland in September 1943. Mussolini’s government fell and many Italians joined the Allied side. But German forces held on, forcing a massive battle at Monte Cassino.

In June 1944, British, U.S., and allied forces landed in Normandy, in northern France. They began to push toward Germany. The forces in Italy continued to push north, towards Germany. But these efforts were all smaller than the Soviet push into Germany from the East. The forces all met in Germany. In April 1945, the Soviets captured Berlin— and Germany surrendered.

The task that remained? Defeat Japan. Having lost its empire, with almost no navy or air force left, Japan was in no condition to fight on. But they refused to surrender. An invasion of the Japanese Isles had to be planned. But then, the President of the United States decided to use a new technology—the nuclear bomb. The United States dropped two nuclear bombs on Japanese cities—Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, and Nagasaki three days later. The devastation caused by these bombs forced Japan to surrender.

The Second World War was over, but it left a long legacy. That legacy is global in scale, as you will see over the rest of the course. But it is also very personal. Grandpa Dan’s memories of the war stuck with him—even haunted him. I remember asking once if he had killed anyone during the war. He paused before answering that question, telling me that he had shot several soldiers (he did not call them “enemies”). His response made me think about the human tragedy of the war. But I was also drawn in by these stories. All these years later, it is this kind of human dimension that keeps me interested in history.