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African-American women in WWII 1 / 5 SHOW CAPTION + African-American women in WWII 2 / 5 SHOW CAPTION + African-American women in WWII 3 / 5 SHOW CAPTION + African-American women in WWII 4 / 5 SHOW CAPTION + African-American women in WWII 5 / 5 SHOW CAPTION + "I'm going to send a white first lieutenant down here to show you how to run this unit." The general's yell hung in the air, shocking the Soldiers lined up at attention. As chew-outs go, telling a major, a battalion commander, no less, that a lieutenant would be taking over was particularly degrading. But the general didn't plan to send just any lieutenant. He planned to send a white lieutenant -- the implication, of course, was that the lieutenant would not just be white, but male. And the general was dressing down one of the highest-ranking African-American women in the Army, the commander of 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion. The battalion was the only black Women's Army Corps unit deployed to Europe in World War II. "Over my dead body, sir," replied Maj. Charity Adams, not sure if she was most insulted by "white," "first lieutenant" or "white first lieutenant," she explained in her memoirs, "One Woman's Army: A black officer remembers the WAC." She knew she might be court-martialed, so she planned to charge the general, whom she never names, with violating the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Command's rules against explicitly stressing segregation. FORMING THE WAC Adams was the first African-American woman to be commissioned into the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) at Fort Des Moines, Iowa, in the summer of 1942. The push to include African-Americans in the WAAC had faced challenges, but the efforts of African-American newspapers and activists, including Mary McLeod Bethune, a member of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's "Black Cabinet," and her good friend First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, had ultimately prevailed. A quota was set for 10 percent of the total WAAC, which became the Women's Army Corps (WAC) about a year later. There was space for 40 in the first officer training class, and it was clear they would have to be the best of the best. "I was sure I would never pass," recalled Capt. Violet Hill, Company D commander. "At that time, I had completed two years of college. … Their goal was 40 Negro women who would then form the officer corps that would train the subsequent enlisted women. … Their standards, their expectations and their hopes were high. … They preferred women who had not only the education background but also some maturity and work experience, which would be an asset in embarking on an endeavor that was experimental and had a lot riding on it." "There's no doubt that in that first class, both African-American as well as white women, they did really select the best that they could to give the Women's Army Corps the best possible chances," agreed Dr. Francoise Bonnell, director of the U.S. Army Women's Museum, noting that the women were all professionals, some with masters' and law degrees. SEGREGATION While the WAAC/WAC was segregated with separate "Negro" companies and barracks -- Adams writes of her shock at being told to step aside with all the other "colored" girls -- it was less so than the rest of the Army, according to Bonnell. The WAC was so small that all of the Soldiers usually trained together, for example, and an attempt to designate colored tables in the cafeteria lasted only a few days when that first group of African-American WACs refused to eat. And in one of her assignments, Adams worked in an all-white office. That's not to say the women didn't encounter blatant racism. Travel, especially throughout the south, could be especially humiliating. "The incident that I'll never forget is when there were four of us having to change trains," remembered Staff Sgt. Evelyn Martin. "I was informed by a train conductor, we -- and he used the n-word -- could not ride the train. I kept my composure, and I said, 'We have to ride it. The military has to know where we are.' In order to ride that train, the officer of the day … and an MP and the conductor -- they found a piece of wrapping paper and some cord and separated us from the white passengers." Adams tells similar stories, and as she rose through the ranks, her very uniform started to raise questions: "I was waiting with my parents in the small, dirty, and crowded 'colored' waiting room in the Atlanta railroad station," she recalled. "There were very many military personnel roaming around the station … so the MPs were constantly moving throughout the crowd. … Two white MPs … addressed me. "'Some people have -- there was a question -- ' "'Yes, I see. You want to know if I really am a major in the U.S. Army. … Names? I can see your rank. Your serial numbers? Your unit? Location? The name of your commanding officer?'" Adams asked, advising the men to report themselves before she had the chance. They learned a lesson, she wrote, adding that another MP refused to question her when confronted by a suspicious passenger. Those reactions were harbingers of the surprise and hostility she and her executive officer, Capt. Abbie Noel Campbell, encountered when they flew to Europe in January 1945 in advance of their battalion. They were, she wrote, "among U.S. military personnel who could not believe Negro WAC officers were real. Salutes were slow in coming and, frequently, returned with great reluctance." FIRST IN EUROPE The two women were literally the first black WACs in Europe and, technically, they weren't supposed to be there. Although black Army nurses served in combat zones, when African-Americans had first been allowed to join the WAC, it had been with the proviso that they could never serve overseas. It only happened because of the "needs of the Army," Bonnell said. "That's how we oftentimes see policies and progress. … After the D-Day invasion … the mail very quickly became backed up. … There was also a push by African-American groups to try to force the War Department to allow and to actually create requisitions for African-American WACs in the European Theater. … Eventually, based on this need, a requisition was sent out for 800 women." Many of the women were hand-picked. They were blazing a trail and they were expected to excel. They had to be, as Adams told her troops, "the best WAC unit ever sent into a foreign theater. … The eyes of the public would be upon us, waiting for one slip in our good conduct or performance." "One day I came home from work … and the girls said … 'Your name's on the board,'" remembered Staff Sgt. Essie O'Bryant. "There was a list of girls selected to go overseas. … I went in to my commanding officer [Capt. Campbell] … and she said, 'I selected the girls that I would like to go overseas with me.' … It was an honor for her to think that much of me." OVERWHELMING TASK After long, fraught journeys across the Atlantic that involved shadowing by German U-boats and a V-1 "buzz" bomb that landed just as some of them disembarked in Scotland, the Soldiers of the 6888th arrived in Birmingham, England, in February 1945. They were stationed at an old school and it must have been a dismal prospect. Mattresses were made from straw; showers were in the courtyard and heat was almost nonexistent. In a large warehouse, stacked ceiling-high were piles of mail, years' worth of letters and packages waiting to be delivered to millions of service members, civilians and aid workers all over the continent. It was a massive undertaking, but the women knew mail from home meant everything to Soldiers on the line, so they buckled down and worked three shifts a day, seven days a week. (This was actually the reason the general accused Adams of incompetence. He expected to inspect the whole battalion and was livid when only a third of the Soldiers were available. He later apologized and told her he respected her for standing up to him.) "They supplied us with files, the names of men who were enlisted in the Army in the European Theater," remembered Pfc. Dorothy Turner. "You know what was so exciting about that? There was part of the history of these men on the files. … You could see the last time that this man got mail and you were so determined to find him because you had this pile of mail that he should have gotten over the years and packages. … You knew that he had not gotten any news from his family or friends … and you were determined to try to find him." It required immense attention to detail. For the same reasons the mail had gotten backlogged in the first place, many Soldiers simply didn't have the time to keep their address cards up to date as their units advanced, which sometimes required two or three changes a week. Soldiers also changed units. And then there were the name duplications. "At one point," Adams wrote, "we had more than 7,500 Robert Smiths. … There were, of course, tens of thousands of Roberts with other last names. Moreover, there were variations of first names, nicknames, that are used in the United States: Bob, Rob, Bobby, Robby, Bert, and so forth, just for Robert." In addition to tracking down Soldiers, the WACs also had to censor the mail, blacking out sensitive information. They had to print V-mail cards. (The military would photograph certain letters and send them overseas on microfilm. It saved space and weight but was time-consuming.) They processed some 65,000 pieces of mail a shift and finished a six-month job in three. Then they were off to Rouen, France, to tackle another backlog, and then Paris. Tragedy struck in France, where three of the WACs died in a jeep accident while on furlough. They were buried in Normandy. Furloughs were common, however, and the women found time to relax and travel despite their heavy workloads. The 6888th veterans also all spoke of how friendly the people of were, particularly the people of Birmingham, welcoming the WACs into their homes and treating them with a respect many had never experienced at home -- or with their own countrymen in Europe. STANDING UP TO RACISM Although black and white WACs had initially used the same Red Cross hotels and recreation facilities without incident, one day Red Cross officials proudly announced that they had procured a separate hotel for the 6888th in London, suggesting the WACs would prefer it that way. It was a nice hotel, but Adams told them, "as long as I am a commanding officer … not one member of that unit will ever spend one night here." As far as she knew, no one ever did. It was, she wrote, "an opportunity to stand together for a common cause." The final insult came on the troop ship home. Adams, who would soon be promoted to lieutenant colonel, was the highest-ranking woman aboard, leaving her in command of not only her unit, but also a white Army Nurse Corps detachment. They refused to accept Adams' authority. Tired and fed up, Adams struggled to keep her temper under control: "If you cannot go home under my command, I suggest you pack your belongings. … We sail at midnight. You have 20 minutes to get off. I don't care whether you go home or not, but if you go, you go under my command." Adams turned to make a dramatic exit and almost ran into the ship's captain. He corrected her: The women would have only 17 minutes to disembark. No one did. "What's more important? The military policies and customs and courtesies or blatant racism?" asked Bonnell, noting that military courtesies usually won out. She explained that after the war, many of the WACs used their GI Bill benefits for college and even graduate school, becoming educators, lawyers, community leaders and social activists. Adams herself became a college dean. "The experience of African-American women at this particular time lays the groundwork for change, not only for their race, but also for women in general," she continued. "We see progress in terms of the changes in military policy and opportunities taking place for women in part because of the challenges women experienced in World War II, none more so than African-American women." army unit known as the “Six Triple Eight” had a specific mission in World War II: to sort and clear a two-year backlog of mail for Americans stationed in Europe. Between the Army, Navy, Air Force, the Red Cross and uniformed civilian specialists, that amounted to seven million people waiting for mail.  And the responsibility to deliver all of it fell on the shoulders of 855 African-American women. From February 1945 to March 1946, the women of the 6888 Central Postal Directory Battalion distributed mail in warehouses in England and France. Because of a shortage of resources and manpower, letters and packages had been accumulating in warehouses for months. Part of the Women’s Army Corps, known as WACs, the 6888 had a motto, “No mail, low morale.” But these women did far more than distribute letters and packages. As the largest contingent of black women to ever serve overseas, they dispelled stereotypes and represented a change in racial and gender roles in the military. The 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion "Somewhere in England, Maj. Charity E. Adams,...and Capt. Abbie N. Campbell,...inspect the first contingent of Negro members of the Women's Army Corps assigned to overseas service.", 2/15/1945 The National Archives When the United States entered World War II after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, there was no escaping the fact that women would be essential to the war effort. With American men serving abroad, there were countless communications, technical, medical and administrative roles that needed to be filled. The Women’s Army Corps—originally created as a volunteer division in 1942 until it was fully incorporated into the army by law in 1943—became the solution. READ MORE: Pearl Harbor Attack: Photos and Facts WACs attracted women from all socio-economic backgrounds, including low-skilled workers and educated professionals. As documented in the military's official history of the 6888th, black women became WACs from the beginning. Civil rights activist and educator Mary McLeod Bethune, a personal friend of First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and a special assistant to the war secretary, handpicked many of them. “Bethune was lobbying and politicking for black participation in the war and for black female participation,” says Gregory S. Cooke, an historian at Drexel University, whose documentary, Invisible Warriors: African American Women in World War II, highlights African American Rosie the Riveters. Black women were encouraged to become WACs because they were told they wouldn’t face discrimination. In other divisions, such as the Navy, black women were excluded almost entirely, and the Army Nurse Corps only allowed 500 black nurses to serve despite thousands who applied. READ MORE: When Black Nurses Were Relegated to Care for German POWs Becoming a WAC also gave African-American women, often denied employment in civilian jobs, a chance for economic stability. Others hoped for better race relations, as described in scholar Brenda L. Moore’s book, To Serve My Country, To Serve My Race: The Story of the Only African American WACs Stationed Overseas during World War II. One WAC Elaine Bennett said she joined “because I wanted to prove to myself, and maybe to the world, that we [African Americans] would give what we had back to the United States as a confirmation that we were full-fledged citizens.” But discrimination still infiltrated the Women’s Army Corps. Despite advertisements that ran in black newspapers, there were African American women who were denied WAC applications at local recruitment centers. And for the 6,500 black women who would become WACs, their experiences were entirely segregated, including their platoons, living quarters, mess halls and recreational facilities. A quota system was also enforced within the Women’s Army Corps. The number of black WACS could never exceed 10 percent, which matched the proportion of blacks in the national population. “Given the racial, social and political climate, people were not clamoring to have blacks under their command,” says Cooke. “The general perception among commanders was to command a black troop was a form of punishment.” The jobs for WACs were numerous, including switchboard operator, mechanic, chauffeur, cook, typist and clerk. Whatever noncombat position needed filling, there was a WAC to do it. However, some black WACs found themselves routinely given menial tasks, such as janitorial duties, even if they had the skills to do more substantive work. But the stresses of war changed the trajectory of black women in November 1944, when the war department lifted a ban on black WACs serving overseas. Led by African American Commander Charity Adams Earley, the 6888 Central Postal Directory was formed—an all-black, female group of 824 enlisted women, and 31 officers. Within the selected battalion, most had finished high school, several had some years of college and a few had completed a degree. READ MORE: How Women Fought Their Way Into the U.S. Armed Forces The 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion Black soldier visit an open house hosted by the 6888th Central Postal Directory shortly after their arrival in Europe i n 1945. The National Archives After their training at Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia, which entailed crawling under logs with gas masks and jumping over trenches, the 6888th sailed across the Atlantic, arriving in Birmingham, England, in February 1945. In unheated and poorly lit buildings, some with rodents rummaging through spoiled cookies and cakes, the 6888 took on its mission of clearing an enormous backlog of undelivered mail. Divided into three separate, 8-hour shifts, the women worked around the clock seven days a week. They kept track of 7 million identification cards with serial numbers to distinguish between soldiers with the same names. They investigated incomplete addresses and also had the unfortunate task of returning mail addressed to soldiers who had been killed. To their relief, the 6888 had a congenial relationship with the Birmingham community. It was common for residents to invite the women over for tea, a sharp contrast to the segregated American Red Cross clubs the 6888th couldn’t enter. READ MORE: Did World War II Launch the Civil Rights Movement? After finishing their task in Birmingham, in June 1945, the 6888 transferred to Rouen, France, where they carried on, with admiration from the French, and cleared the backlog. Next they left for Paris in October 1945, where they would remain, distributing mail to Americans longing to hear from their loved ones, until their mission was completed in March 1946. While the work was taxing, as an all-black, female unit overseas, they understood the significance of their presence. “They knew what they did would reflect on all other black people,” says Cooke. “The Tuskegee Airmen, the 6888 represented all black people. Had they failed, all black people would fail. And that was part of the thinking going into the war. The black battalions had the burden that their role in the war was about something much bigger than themselves.” World War II In January 1941, the Army opened its nurse corps to blacks but established a ceiling of 56. On June 25, 1941, President Roosevelt’s Executive Order 8802 created the Fair Employment Practices Commission which led the way in eradicating racial discrimination in the defense program. In June 1943, Frances Payne Bolton, Congresswoman from Ohio, introduced an amendment to the Nurse Training Bill to bar racial bias. Soon 2,000 blacks were enrolled in the Cadet Nurse Corps. The quota for black Army Nurses was eliminated in July 1944. More than 500 black Army nurses served stateside and overseas during the war. The Navy dropped its color ban on January 25, 1945, and on March 9, Phyllis Daley became the first black commissioned Navy nurse. Black women also enlisted in the WAAC (Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps) which soon converted to the WAC (Women’s Army Corps), the Navy WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service), and the Coast Guard SPARS. From its beginning in 1942, black women were part of the WAAC. When the first WAACs arrived at Fort Des Moines, Iowa, there were 400 white and 40 black women. Dubbed “ten-percenters,” recruitment of black women was limited to ten percent of the WAAC population—matching the black proportion of the national population. Enlisted women served in segregated units, participated in segregated training, lived in separate quarters, ate at separate tables in mess halls, and used segregated recreation facilities. Officers received their officer candidate training in integrated units, but lived under segregated conditions. Specialist and technical training schools were integrated in 1943. During the war, 6,520 black women served in the WAAC/WAC. Black women were barred from the WAVES until October 19, 1944. The efforts of Director Mildred McAfee and Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune helped Secretary of the Navy Forrestal push through their admittance. The first two black WAVES officers, Harriet Ida Pikens and Frances Wills, were sworn in December 22, 1944. Of the 80,000 WAVES in the war, a total of 72 black women served, normally under integrated conditions. The Coast Guard opened the SPARS (from the Coast Guard motto Semper Paratus, “AlwaysReady”) to black members on October 20, 1944, but only a few actually enlisted. The Path to Full Integration Following World War II, racial and gender discrimination, as well as segregation persisted in the military. Entry quotas and segregation in the WAC deterred many from re-entry between 1946 and 1947. By June 1948, only four black officers and 121 enlisted women remained in the WAC. President Truman eliminated the issues of segregation, quotas and discrimination in the armed forces by signing Executive Order 9981 on July 26, 1948. WACs began integrated training and living in April 1950. Meanwhile, on January 6, 1948, Ensign Edith De Voe was sworn into the Regular Navy Nurse Corps and in March, First Lieutenant Nancy C. Leftenant entered the Regular Army Nurse Corps, becoming the corps’ first black members. Affirmative action and changing racial policies opened new doors for black women. During the Korean and Vietnam Wars, black women took their places in the war zone. As we make our way through Women’s History Month, we are reminded of the incredible accomplishments of women throughout history. This year, we would like to focus on women who served, particularly African American women in World War II. For some great background information, be sure to visit our previous blog – Their War Too: Women in the Military During WWII. America’s entrance into World War II after the attack on Pearl Harbor in December of 1941 was met with pride and patriotism across the country. American citizens surged to enlist in all branches of the US Military and women wanted to serve their country too. Their challenge actually began earlier that year, in May of 1941. Dovey Johnson Roundtree, who would go on to become one of the first 39 black women Officers, worked with Eleanor Roosevelt, Congresswoman Edith Nourse Rogers, and Mary McLeod Bethune to draft the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) resolution that was presented to Congress. With support from the General of the Army George Marshall, the bill passed both House of Representatives and then the Senate in May of 1942. With the WAAC in place, the War Department announced that it would follow Army policy, and admit black women with a 10-percent quota. Before recruitment and training even began, African American women faced the hurdle of discrimination. Applications for the first contingent of officer candidates was available at the United States Post Office, and many African American women that applied  were turned away on the spot, simply because of their race. There is no telling how many women this discouraged, as discrimination became a recurring problem for WAC recruitment. The first class of officer candidates consisted of 440 women – 39 of whom were black. Not only did black women face the hardship of discrimination outside of the military, but faced segregation within. Black WAACs were in a separate company than white trainees, had separate lodging, dining tables, and even recreation areas. At the end of training, there were only 36 black women of the 436 WAACs to graduate with the rank of third officer. The Army wasn’t the only branch where women wanted to serve, and other women’s units were established. Women who wanted to help the Navy joined the WAVES, the Coast Guard had the SPAR, the Air Force had WASP, and the Marines Corps had the WR. The WAAC however was the only branch to allow black women from its inception. Despite this fact, recruitment of black women proved difficult. Segregation meant many black women didn’t want to join, and black WAACs still faced discrimination. The Black Press Pool helped monitor and speak out against discrimination in the military, including within the WAACs. Reports came out that black WAACs with college degrees were being assigned to clean floors, and given laundry duty. The press demanded a black woman to be assigned to the WAAC director’s office to monitor and address discrimination complaints. CLIP TAKEN FROM OUTTAKES FROM MOTION PICTURE NEWSREELS OF THE UNIVERSAL NEWSREEL LIBRARY, 1929-1967 In July of 1943, it was announced that the women of WAAC would be classified under the same ranks as soldiers, a big victory for women’s equality. The unit name changed to the Women’s Army Corps (WAC). African American WACs didn’t receive the same specialized training that white WACs had, and most were trained in motor equipment, cooking, or administrative work. One of the biggest complaints amongst African American WACs was that there were no black WACs overseas. Unfortunately, the WAC had to abide by all Army regulations, and overseas commanders had the right to designate race or color of units being sent, and no black WACs were requested. Eleanor Roosevelt intervened on their behalf however, and the War Department directed commanders to accept African American WACs. The 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion was a unit of more than 800 black WACs, and was the only black WAC unit to serve overseas. They arrived in England in February of 1945, with the task of working through a huge backlog of mail meant for the troops. General Eisenhower wanted this mail to be delivered as a means of helping with the morale of the troops. When the WACs arrived, they found the building stacked to the ceiling with mailbags, and another room filled with packages of spoiled food and gifts, along with rodents. Charity Adams, one of only two black WACs promoted to the rank of major during World War II, was the commander of this unit. She was proud of the work her unit did, performing their tasks in record time. Working in three shifts around the clock, they were able to sort all of the mail in half the amount of time expected, just 3 months. Each eight-hour shift averaged more than 65,000 pieces of mail sorted. Once finished in Birmingham, the unit went on to Rouen, France, and ultimately Paris. While the WAC was by far where most black women served, it wasn’t the only place. World War II saw about 500 black nurses in the army, the WAVES eventually saw almost 100 black women, and the Coast Guard’s SPAR had 5 black women who served. The Army Nurse Corps initially followed the War Department guidelines of the quota system, which severely limited the number of black women admitted. It wasn’t until a severe nursing shortage that the quota was lifted. Despite the importance that African American women played in the war effort, little is seen of them in war production materials. They are conspicuous only in their absence from recruitment films, as the topic of race was generally avoided. We were fortunate enough to find some footage from Record Group 111 (Records of the Office of the Chief Signal Officer) Series ADC (Moving Images Relating to Military Activities) that featured black WACs, including Major Charity Adams. These women not only faced the scrutiny and prejudice of friends and family for wanting to join the military, they also had to deal with discrimination and segregation. It was challenging and often thankless, but they saw the importance of their work, and persevered. These women were truly trailblazers, opening up opportunities for women of color in an area previously dominated by white men, and for that they are honored. The two clips from the Records of the Office of the Chief Signal Officer highlighted in this post can be viewed in their entirety below. Sandra M. Bolzenius’s Glory in Their Spirit: How Four Black Women Took On the Army During World War II details a critical March 1945 incident: the strike and subsequent trial of African American members of the Women’s Army Corps (WAC) at Ft. Devens, Massachusetts. Bolzenius situates the strike within the context of civil rights activism and Black women’s labor history. Glory in Their Spirit makes an important contribution to African American history and the history of World War II. Bolzenius explains that many Black women who joined the WAC for career opportunities were instead assigned to the least skilled work, often involving cleaning or other menial labor. At Ft. Devens, Black WACs who had been promised training as medical technicians were assigned to be hospital orderlies, a far less technical and prestigious job, and one to which Black WACs at Ft. Devens were disproportionately assigned, relative to white WACs. This disparate treatment in labor assignments and working conditions, the Army’s policy of racial segregation, and frustration with officers in the chain of command created substantial morale problems in the detachment, culminating in fifty-four Black WACs refusing to go to work. Upon threat of court-martial most of the women went back to work as ordered, but four continued to strike and were charged with disobeying an order of a superior officer. Drawing from multiple military investigations of the event, the court-martial transcript, and a wide variety of other archival sources, Bolzenius writes a lively narrative that moves from the origins of the strike and the strike itself to the court-martial that followed and the trial’s aftermath. At the same time, she pays attention to individual histories and motivations, showing why these four women—Mary Green, Anna Morrison, Johnnie Murphy and Alice Young—held  out all the way to trial. Although her focus is on the defendants, we also learn about the Black and white officers involved, demonstrating how failures of leadership at multiple levels of the military hierarchy contributed to the circumstances that led to the strike. Bolzenius argues that the strike was a protest of racial and gender discrimination in both the Army as a whole and specifically at Ft. Devens. The strikers viewed themselves as defending African American people and specifically African Americans WACs. The Army, on the other hand, suggested that the WACs were merely complaining because they did not like their work. However, the women were upset not by the nature of their work, but by the fact that they were not being given the same training opportunities and range of possible job assignments open to white WACs. Bolzenius shows how the focus on military protocol, although ostensibly impartial, actually contributed to circumstances that made defense of the court-martial charges very difficult. For example, all members of the court-martial hearing the case outranked the defendants, which is still a requirement in contemporary courts-martial. Additionally, although the panel’s inclusion of two Black men and three white women made for a more diverse group than would have been achieved on many civilian juries, no members were African American women. The fact that the military did not consider racial discrimination a valid defense at court-martial also constrained the defense strategy. Bolzenius’ discussion of this strategy in Chapter Four is particularly fascinating. Because racial discrimination was not considered a valid defense, NAACP lawyer Julian Rainey argued that the defendants were so focused on their own perceptions of discrimination that they became temporarily insane. Rainey presented evidence that there was, in fact, racial discrimination at Ft. Devens, but because of the constraints on acceptable defenses he could not explicitly make that accusation. Bolzenius argues that Rainey described the defendants as confused and mentally unstable in his attempts to explain their actions, relying on “a patriarchal perspective of women’s weaknesses,” even when his clients themselves told a different story (99). Instead, the strategy of focusing on the women’s perception of discrimination implied the possibility that the perception was imagined and drew on gender stereotypes of women as hysterical. Bolzenius also shows how the women’s own testimony describing their decisions to strike differed from their lawyer’s portrayal. The defense was unsuccessful, as all four women were convicted and were each initially sentenced to dishonorable discharge, loss of pay, and one year of imprisonment with hard labor. Bolzenius demonstrates that the intersection of race, gender, and rank influenced not only the conditions to which the women were subject within the Army, but also the unusual media interest the strike and trial captured. Although courts-martial were much more common during World War II than they are today, military trials of female personnel were rare, especially when the case involved African American WACs and allegations of racial discrimination. The nature of the case inspired considerable public interest, including extensive press coverage, especially in Black newspapers. The War Department was inundated with correspondence from citizens, civil rights leaders, and even a Congressional inquiry into four attempted suicides that occurred in the detachment in February and March 1945, around the time of the strike and the trial. Ultimately, in Bolzenius’ view, it was also the military emphasis on protocol that resulted in the reversal of the women’s convictions. The War Department found a way out from the continued media attention from the case and its upcoming appeal, for which Thurgood Marshall had agreed to represent the women, by deciding that the court-martial had been convened by the wrong officer. The sentences were voided, and the women returned to duty. The subsequent War Department investigation of the strike attributed the event to the poor leadership of the officer serving as the hospital administrator, rather than any discriminatory military policies. Although Bolzenius convincingly places the strike within a broader history of Black women’s labor activism, a more detailed discussion of previous strikes by African American service members, especially the Port Chicago mutiny and its subsequent courts-martial, might have enriched the book. Some of these incidents are mentioned, but the influence of other military labor protests on the Ft. Devens strike and on the War Department’s response could have been considered more extensively. Nonetheless, Glory in Their Spirit is a compelling, deeply researched book that will appeal to both academic and non-academic readers interested in a variety of subjects, including, but not limited to, Black women’s history, labor history, and military history. In late 1944, four African-American women—Mary Green, Anna Morrison, Johnnie Murphy and Alice Young—enlisted in the Women’s Army Corps, or WAC, the newly established military branch for women. All were eager to help the nation’s fight for democracy by learning skills the army desperately needed, and all believed that later these skills would improve their employment prospects for the future. Instead, within a year after reporting for duty, the young women stood in the dock at Fort Devens, Massachusetts, charged with disobeying orders. The Fort Devens strike and court-martial was one the most publicized courts-martial of World War II; largely forgotten today, it was a curiosity that fascinated Americans in its time. Trials of black servicemen were routine, yet those involving women in uniform—an impossibility until the creation of the WAC just three years before—were rare. The case served as a proxy for many of the war’s controversies, including debates about women’s suitability for military service and about racial segregation in the armed forces. It also brought into question Americans’ domestic commitment to the values of democracy for which they were fighting. The records from the Fort Devens WAC case provide insight into the systemic exclusion of black women. More than 6,500 black women volunteered for the WAC during World War II, an era when “Negro” signified black men and “women” signified white females. Each of their enlistments posed a bold challenge to other Americans, to recognize these soldiers as black and female patriots. The story of the Fort Devens court-martial details how onerous, unforgiving, and lonely that challenge was. Green, Morrison, Murphy, and Young were all in their early 20s when they enlisted in the WAC, a new corps established to help the army meet personnel needs for a two-front global war. Wacs (as individual female service members were known) were intended to replace male soldiers in important support positions, freeing the men for field and combat service. The WAC cautiously avoided upsetting conventional gender paradigms. Aggressively advertising in newspapers and on the radio, it recruited women for suitably feminine jobs such as clerical workers and medical technicians, though it also prepared some to become drivers and aircraft mechanics, or to fill other non-combat jobs that had formerly been restricted to men. Crucially, the WAC promised to train women for skilled assignments. This appealed to Green and Morrison, who were seeking an escape from maid work; to Young, who had left nursing college but still harbored nursing ambitions; and to Murphy, who had clerical training, though no job. In October, the four women arrived at Fort Devens, which had been chosen to house a black WAC detachment of 100 people. They had orders to report to the post hospital. As Young recalled, they were excited because “the whole company was under the impression that we had come here to go to medical technicians school.” Instead, officers assigned them to clean the hospital and wait on staff and patients. The army called it orderly duties. The women called it maid work. As one of the Wacs told her black officer, “we get tired of just washing and cleaning, and every time what they see something they tell us to wash this and wash that. It looks like every time they want some of the bad work done they say, ‘go get one them Wacs. Tell her to do so and so.’” Aghast by their confinement to peripheral and menial tasks—especially while all but a handful of white Wacs worked in skilled assignments such as teletypist, X-ray technician, chaplain assistant, or driver—the black Wacs complained to their superiors, who ignored their concerns. During World War II, the U.S. Army often assigned black servicewomen to menial jobs. Courtesy of theNational Archives at College Park/Wikimedia Commons. Everything changed on March 9, 1945, when nearly all of the black orderlies at the base refused to report to their duty stations. The strike, a mutiny in military terms, lasted into the next day, ending after an extraordinary intervention from the chief officer of the First Service Command, General Sherman Miles. Most of the black Wacs returned to work, but Young, Green, and Morrison opted for a court-martial instead and were promptly arrested. Days later, Murphy, who had been on leave the day of the strike, joined them, proclaiming, “I would take death before I would go back to work.” The women’s trial commenced nine days after the March 10 arrests. Throughout the proceedings, the army prosecutor focused on the defendants’ failure to obey orders. The Wacs, in turn, accused their officers of discrimination. Their officers refuted the charge, insisting that the army did not discriminate against black Wacs—at Fort Devens or elsewhere. Indeed, bowing to pressure from an emboldened civil rights movement, the service had announced in 1940 the equal treatment of troops regardless of race and, in 1942, accepted black female recruits (initially, the only service to do so) under the same policy. The problem was that under the military’s newly announced policies, “not discriminating” still resulted in a segregated army where officers had power to utilize troops “where they best fit”—and military policies assured an awkward fit for black Wacs. The War Department maintained separate directives for black soldiers (prioritizing segregation) and for female soldiers (prioritizing their status as assistants), and applied both sets of regulations to black Wacs. White Wacs could attend a wide range of schools that remained off-limits to black Wacs, even when they were qualified. The complexities of organizing separate barracks, courses, and facilities, per army segregation policies, made offering black Wacs better training too expensive and cumbersome. Alice Young had attended nursing college and Johnnie Murphy a clerical course, but that didn’t matter—both still were stuck working as orderlies. When a frustrated Young requested admittance to Fort Devens’ driving school, which conducted sessions for black soldiers and for white Wacs, she was turned down because the post did not have classes for black Wacs. When investigators looked into the issue following the court-martial, they concluded that the motor pool did not discriminate. Offering driving courses for black men and for (white) women was deemed sufficient. WAC director Oveta Culp Hobby hewed to established policies that marginalized the black Wacs even further. She ordered that every black unit have a black Wac commander, a practice that created self-contained units that could be, and often were, isolated. Concerned about the reputed sexual promiscuity of African-American women, Hobby refused to send black Wacs overseas until pressured to do so in the last year of the war. She curtailed the recruitment of black women in hopes of lessening their numbers and, conversely, she assumed, encouraging white enlistments. The army demonstrated concern for white Wacs’ morale but ignored black Wacs’ woes. Before black Wacs arrived at Fort Devens, some white Wacs had worked as orderlies. When they complained, officers organized medical classes for them. Most were reassigned. When their black replacements pushed back, officers disregarded their grievances. “As far as I’m concerned,” white army nurse Lieutenant Simone Parent told investigators, “I think they just wanted something to complain about,” later remarking, “you can’t trust them,” but assuring her interviewers that it wasn’t “a racial thing.” White Wacs, perched in the better jobs, were perceived as good soldiers who followed orders and got along with others. Black Wacs, consigned to scrubbing floors and pushing heavy food carts, were viewed as constant complainers who performed poorly and perfunctorily blamed racism. Their enlistments posed a bold challenge to other Americans, to recognize these soldiers as black and female patriots. Black men in the service also suffered under segregation, yet as men were accepted as soldiers where black Wacs were not. “These are women and Wacs really aren’t soldiers,” The Washington Post noted, of the Fort Devens strikers. One campaign to support the defendants—launched by black legionnaires—appealed to the army’s understanding that Wacs were naturally “more frail, impulsive and sensitive than men.” Even the Wacs’ NAACP lawyer, Julian Rainey, rested his defense on this premise. A World War I veteran who well knew racial discrimination in the military, he attempted to free his clients by questioning their intelligence and repeatedly characterizing them as “confused by something they couldn’t understand.” Black men routinely praised the courage and determination of black servicemen who breached military protocol in defense of African Americans’ rights, but did not necessarily perceive black women as equally capable or self-sacrificing. Green, Morrison, Murphy, and Young “didn’t know what they were doing,” Rainey argued at trial. But the black Wacs did know what they were doing. They had enlisted in the WAC based on army policies that guaranteed fair treatment, and they broke protocol only after realizing that those policies did not uniformly apply to them. Admitting that she was “sick and tired” of her treatment at Fort Devens, one black Wac who returned to the job, Private Dorothy Petty, noted, “I came in the army to try to help my country. You see, I thought I was a citizen.” Private Mary Johnson felt the same. “We might have gone about it the wrong way,” she admitted, “but the thing we were fighting for was justice and rights. We want to live like other people.” Many Americans, riveted to the story as told by the black and mainstream presses, came around to the strikers’ side. Ordinary citizens joined civil rights leaders in protests, including besieging the offices of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Secretary of War Henry Stimson with letters demanding an investigation and for the just treatment of the Wacs on trial. Caught off guard by the public’s fascination with the case and unsettled by the questions that these women’s experiences provoked, the War Department quickly dismissed the charges and released the women back to their unit, following up with an investigation which noted problems with the treatment of black Wacs but changed little. Green, Morrison, Murphy, and Young and the other black Wacs at Fort Devens worked as orderlies throughout the remainder of their time in the WAC. Within two months of the strike, the newspapers had stopped writing about it. They had other news to report: stories about black servicemen who bravely battled segregation and white Wacs who carved new paths for women that today are familiar, and inspiring, World War II narratives. For a brief moment during the spring of 1945, however, Anna Morrison, Mary Green, Alice Young, and Johnnie Murphy put black women in uniform front and center for Americans— reminding them, uncomfortably, that they lived in a country where some patriots still didn’t fit. The Women's Army Corps (WAC) was the women's branch of the United States Army. It was created as an auxiliary unit, the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) on 15 May 1942 by Public Law 554,[1] and converted to an active duty status in the Army of the United States as the WAC on 1 July 1943. Its first director was Oveta Culp Hobby, a prominent woman in Texas society.[2][3] The WAC was disbanded in 1978, and all units were integrated with male units. Pallas Athene, official insignia of the U.S. Women's Army Corps Contents 1 History 1.1 Slander campaign 1.2 Women of color 1.3 Evaluations 2 Manhattan Project 3 Disbanded 4 WAAC ranks 5 WAC ranks 6 List of directors 7 Women's Army Corps Veterans' Association 8 Notable WACs 9 Popular culture 10 See also 11 Notes 12 References 12.1 Primary sources 13 Further reading 14 External links History WAAC Insignia The WAAC's organization was designed by numerous Army bureaus coordinated by Lt. Col. Gillman C. Mudgett, the first WAAC Pre-Planner; however, nearly all of his plans were discarded or greatly modified before going into operation because he expected a corps of only 11,000 women.[4] Without the support of the War Department, Representative Edith Nourse Rogers of Massachusetts introduced a bill on 28 May 1941, providing for a women's army auxiliary corps. The bill was held up for months by the Bureau of the Budget but was resurrected after the United States entered the war. The senate approved the bill on 14 May 1941 and became law on 15 May 1942.[5] When President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the bill the next day, he set a recruitment goal of 25,000 women for the first year. That goal was unexpectedly exceeded, so Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson decided to increase the limit by authorizing the enlistment of 150,000 volunteers.[6] The WAAC was modeled after comparable British units, especially the ATS, which caught the attention of Chief of Staff George C. Marshall.[7] Members of the WAC became the first women other than nurses to serve within the United States Army.[8] In 1942, the first contingent of 800 members of the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps began basic training at Fort Des Moines Provisional Army Officer Training School, Iowa. The women were fitted for uniforms, interviewed, assigned to companies and barracks and inoculated against disease during the first day.[9] The WAAC were first trained in three major specialties. The brightest and nimblest were trained as switchboard operators. Next came the mechanics, who had to have a high degree of mechanical aptitude and problem solving ability. The bakers were usually the lowest scoring recruits and were stereotyped as being the least intelligent and able by their fellow WAACs.[citation needed] This was later expanded to dozens of specialties like Postal Clerk, Driver, Stenographer, and Clerk-Typist. WAC armorers maintained and repaired small arms and heavy weapons that they were not allowed to use. A physical training manual titled "You Must Be Fit" was published by the War Department in July 1943, aimed at bringing the women recruits to top physical standards. The manual begins by naming the responsibility of the women: "Your Job: To Replace Men. Be Ready To Take Over."[10] It cited the commitment of women to the war effort in England, Russia, Germany and Japan, and emphasized that the WAC recruits must be physically able to take on any job assigned to them. The fitness manual was state-of-the-art for its day, with sections on warming up, and progressive body-weight strength-building exercises for the arms, legs, stomach, and neck and back. It included a section on designing a personal fitness routine after basic training, and concluded with "The Army Way to Health and Added Attractiveness" with advice on skin care, make-up, and hair styles.[10] Inept publicity and the poor appearance of the WAAC/WAC uniform, especially in comparison to that of the other services, handicapped recruiting efforts.[citation needed] A resistance by senior Army commanders was overcome by the efficient service of WAACs in the field, but the attitude of men in the rank and file remained generally negative and hopes that up to a million men could be replaced by women never materialized. The United States Army Air Forces became an early and staunch supporter of regular military status for women in the army.[6] About 150,000[11] American women eventually served in the WAAC and WAC during World War II. They were the first women other than nurses to serve with the Army.[12] While conservative opinion in the leadership of the Army and public opinion generally was initially opposed to women serving in uniform,[citation needed] the shortage of men necessitated a new policy. WACs working in the communications section of the operations room at an air force station. While most women served stateside, some went to various places around the world, including Europe, North Africa, and New Guinea. For example, WACs landed on Normandy Beach just a few weeks after the initial invasion.[13] Slander campaign Calling WAAC... In 1943 the recruiting momentum stopped and went into reverse as a massive slander campaign on the home front challenged the WACs as sexually immoral.[14] Many soldiers ferociously opposed allowing women in uniform, warning their sisters and friends they would be seen as lesbians or prostitutes.[15] Other sources were from other women - servicemen's and officer's wives' idle gossip, local women who disliked the newcomers taking over "their town", female civilian employees resenting the competition (for both jobs and men), charity and volunteer organizations who resented the extra attention the WAACs received, and complaints and slander spread by disgruntled or discharged WAACs.[16] All investigations showed the rumors were false.[17][18] Although many sources spawned and fed bad jokes and ugly rumors about military women,[19] contemporaneous[20][21] and historical[22][23] accounts have focused on the work of syndicated columnist John O'Donnell. According to an Army history, even with its hasty retraction,[24] O'Donnell's June 8, 1943 "Capitol Stuff" column did "incalculable damage."[25] That column began, "Contraceptives and prophylactic equipment will be furnished to members of the WAACS, according to a super secret agreement reached by the high ranking officers of the War Department and the WAAC chieftain, Mrs. William Pettus Hobby…."[26] This followed O'Donnell's June 7 column discussing efforts of women journalists and congresswomen to dispel "the gaudy stories of the gay and careless way in which the young ladies in uniform … disport themselves…."[27] The allegations were refuted,[21][28][29] but the "fat was in the fire. The morals of the WAACs became a topic of general discussion…."[30] Denials of O'Donnell's fabrications[31] and others like them were ineffectual.[32] According to Mattie Treadwell's Army history, as long as three years after O'Donnell's column, "religious publications were still to be found reprinting the story, and actually attributing the columnist's lines to Director Hobby. Director Hobby's picture was labeled 'Astounding Degeneracy' …."[33] Women of color Black women served in the Army's WAAC and WAC, but very few served in the Navy.[34] African American women serving in the WAC experienced segregation in much the same fashion as in U.S. civilian life. Some billets accepted WACs of any race, while others did not.[35] Black women were taught the same specialties as white women, and the races were not segregated at specialty training schools. The US Army goal was to have 10 percent of the force be African-American, to reflect the larger U.S. population, but a shortage of recruits brought only 5.1 percent black women to the WAC.[36] Evaluations WACs operate teletype machines during World War II. General Douglas MacArthur called the WACs "my best soldiers", adding that they worked harder, complained less, and were better disciplined than men.[37] Many generals wanted more of them and proposed to draft women but it was realized that this "would provoke considerable public outcry and Congressional opposition", and so the War Department declined to take such a drastic step.[38] Those 150,000 women who did serve released the equivalent of 7 divisions of men for combat. Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower said that "their contributions in efficiency, skill, spirit, and determination are immeasurable".[39] Nevertheless, the slander campaign hurt the reputation of the WAC and WAVES; many women did not want it known they were veterans.[40] During the same time period, other branches of the U.S. military had similar women's units, including the Navy WAVES, the SPARS of the Coast Guard, United States Marine Corps Women's Reserve, and the (civil) Women Airforce Service Pilots. The British Armed Forces also had similar units, including the Women's Royal Naval Service ("Wrens"), the Auxiliary Territorial Service. and the Women's Auxiliary Air Force. According to historian D'Ann Campbell, American society was not ready for women in military roles: The WAC and WAVES had been given an impossible mission: they not only had to raise a force immediately and voluntarily from a group that had no military traditions, but also had overcome intense hostility from their male comrades. The situation was highly unfavorable: the women had no clear purpose except to send men to the battlefront; duties overlapped with civilian employees and enlisted male coworkers, causing confusion and tension; and the leadership cadre was unprestigious, inexperienced, and had little control over women, none over men. Although the military high command strongly endorsed their work, there were no centers of influence in the civilian world, either male or female, that were committed to the success of the women's services, and no civilian institutions that provided preliminary training for recruits or suitable positions for veterans. Wacs, Waves, Spars and women Marines were war orphans whom no one loved.[41] Manhattan Project This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Women's Army Corps" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (December 2019) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) Wacs were assigned to the Corps of Engineers since early 1943. Four-hundred twenty-two personnel were employed on the project. Maj. Gen. Leslie R. Groves, commander of the project, wrote: "Little is known of the significance of the contribution to the Manhattan Project by hundreds of members of the Women's Army Corps ... Since you received no headline acclaim, no one outside the project will ever know how much depended upon you." The women interviewed for positions on the project were told they would do a hard job, would never be allowed to go overseas or attend officer candidate school, would never receive publicity, and would live at isolated stations with few recreational facilities. A surprising number of highly qualified women responded. WAC units involved in this effort were awarded the Meritorious Unit Service Award; twenty women received the Army Commendation Ribbon; and one received the Legion of Merit.[42] Disbanded The WAC as a branch was disbanded in 1978 and all female units were integrated with male units. Women serving as WACs at that time converted in branch to whichever Military Occupational Specialty they worked in. Since then, women in the US Army have served in the same units as men, though they have only been allowed in or near combat situations since 1994 when Defense Secretary Les Aspin ordered the removal of "substantial risk of capture" from the list of grounds for excluding women from certain military units. In 2015 Jeanne Pace, at the time the longest-tenured female warrant officer and the last former member of the WAC on active duty, retired.[43][44][45] She had joined the WAC in 1972.[44] WAAC ranks This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Women's Army Corps" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (December 2019) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) WAC Signal Corps field telephone operators, 1944 Originally there were only four enlisted (or "enrolled") WAAC ranks (auxiliary, junior leader, leader, and senior leader) and three WAC officer ranks (first, second and third officer). The Director was initially considered as equivalent to a major, then later made the equivalent of a colonel. The enlisted ranks expanded as the organization grew in size. Promotion was initially rapid and based on ability and skill. As members of a volunteer auxiliary group, the WAACs got paid less than their equivalent male counterparts in the US Army and did not receive any benefits or privileges. WAAC organizational insignia was a Rising Eagle (nicknamed the "Waddling Duck" or "Walking Buzzard" by WAACs). It was worn in gold metal as cap badges and uniform buttons. Enlisted and NCO personnel wore it as an embossed circular cap badge on their Hobby Hats, while officers wore a "free" version (open work without a backing) on their hats to distinguish them. Their auxiliary insignia was the dark blue letters "WAAC" on an Olive Drab rectangle worn on the upper sleeve (below the stripes for enlisted ranks). WAAC personnel were not allowed to wear the same rank insignia as Army personnel. They were usually authorized to do so by post or unit commanders to help in indicating their seniority within the WAAC, although they had no authority over Army personnel. WAAC ranks (May, 1942 – April, 1943) Enrolled WAAC US Army equivalent WAAC officer US Army equivalent Senior leader Master sergeant Director of the WAAC Major Senior leader First sergeant First officer Captain Leader Technical sergeant Second officer 1st lieutenant Leader Staff sergeant Third officer 2nd lieutenant Leader Sergeant Junior leader Corporal Auxiliary first class Private first class Auxiliary second class Private Auxiliary third class Recruit WAAC ranks (April, 1943 – July, 1943) Enlisted WAAC US Army equivalent WAAC officer US Army equivalent Chief leader Master sergeant Director of the WAAC Colonel First leader First sergeant Assistant Director of the WAAC Lieutenant-colonel Technical leader Technical sergeant Field director Major Staff leader Staff sergeant First officer Captain Leader Sergeant Second officer 1st lieutenant Junior leader Corporal Third officer 2nd lieutenant Auxiliary first class Private first class Auxiliary second class Private Auxiliary third class Recruit WAC ranks Women's Army Corps anti-rumor propaganda (1941–1945) The organization was renamed the Women's Army Corps in July 1943[46] when it was authorized as a branch of the US Army rather than an auxiliary group. The US Army's "GI Eagle" now replaced the WAAC's Rising Eagle as the WAC's cap badge. The WAC received the same rank insignia and pay as men later that September and received the same pay allowances and deductions as men in late October.[47] They were also the first women officers in the army allowed to wear officer's insignia; the Army Nursing Corps didn't receive permission to do so until 1944. The WAC had its own branch insignia (the Bust of Pallas Athena), worn by "Branch Immaterial" personnel (those unassigned to a Branch of Service). US Army policy decreed that technical and professional WAC personnel should wear their assigned Branch of Service insignia to reduce confusion. During the existence of the WAC (1943 to 1978) women were prohibited from being assigned to the combat arms branches of the Army - such as the Infantry, Cavalry, Armor, Tank Destroyers, or Artillery and could not serve in a combat area. However, they did serve as valuable staff in their headquarters and staff units stateside or in England. The army's technician grades were technical and professional specialists similar to the later specialist grade. Technicians had the same insignia as NCOs of the same grade but had a "T" insignia (for "technician") beneath the chevrons. They were considered the same grade for pay but were considered a half-step between the equivalent pay grade and the next lower regular pay grade in seniority, rather than sandwiched between the junior enlisted (i.e., private - private first class) and the lowest NCO grade of rank (viz., corporal), as the modern-day specialist (E-4) is today. Technician grades were usually mistaken for their superior NCO counterparts due to the similarity of their insignia, creating confusion. There were originally no warrant officers in the WAC in July, 1943. Warrant officer appointments for army servicewomen were authorized in January 1944. In March 1944 six WACs were made the first WAC Warrant Officers - as administrative specialists or band leaders. The number grew to 10 by June, 1944 and to 44 by June, 1945. By the time the war officially ended in September 1945, there were 42 WAC warrant officers still in Army service. There was only a trickle of appointments in the late 1940s after the war. Most WAC officers were company-grade officers (lieutenants and captains), as the WAC were deployed as separate or attached detachments and companies. The field grade officers (majors and lieutenant-colonels) were on the staff under the director of the WAC, its solitary colonel.[48] Officers were paid by pay band rather than by grade or rank and didn't receive a pay grade until 1955. WAC ranks (September, 1943 - 1945) Pay Grade Enlisted WAC Monthly pay Yearly pay WAC officers Monthly pay Yearly pay Grade 1 Master sergeant $138 $1656 Colonel $333 $4000 Grade 1 First sergeant $138 $1656 Lieutenant colonel $291 $3500 Grade 2 Technical sergeant $114 $1368 Major $250 $3000 Grade 3 Staff sergeant $96 $1152 Captain $200 $2400 Grade 3 Technician 3rd grade $96 $1152 1st lieutenant $166 $2000 Grade 4 Sergeant $78 $936 2nd lieutenant $150 $1800 Grade 4 Technician 4th grade $78 $936 Chief warrant officer $175 $2100 Grade 5 Corporal $66 $792 Warrant officer (junior grade) $150 $1800 Grade 5 Technician 5th grade $66 $792 Grade 6 Private first class $54 $648 Grade 7 Private $50 $600 There were no chief warrant officer appointments in the WAC during the war because they did not meet the skill or seniority requirements for the rank. However, few servicemen did either. It required ten or more years of time in grade as either a warrant officer (junior grade) - a rank first created in 1941, staff warrant officer - a rank waitlisted since 1936, or an Army Mine Planter Service warrant officer - an Army sea auxiliary unit that was not allowed to recruit women. List of directors • Colonel Oveta Culp Hobby   (1942–1945) • Colonel Westray Battle Boyce   (1945–1947) • Colonel Mary A. Hallaren   (1947–1953) • Colonel Irene O. Galloway   (1953–1957) • Colonel Mary Louise Rasmuson   (1957–1962) • Colonel Emily C. Gorman   (1962–1966) • Brigadier General Elizabeth P. Hoisington   (1966–1971) • Brigadier General Mildred Inez Caroon Bailey   (1971–1975) • Brigadier General Mary E. Clarke   (1975–1978) Women's Army Corps Veterans' Association The Women's Army Corps Veterans' Association--Army Women's United (WACVA) was organized in August 1947. Women who have served honorably in the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) or the Women's Army Corps (WAC) and those who have served or are serving honorably in the United States Army, the United States Army Reserve, or the Army National Guard of the United States, are eligible to be members. The association is a nonprofit, non-partisan organization representing women who "served their country in World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Grenada, Panama, Persian Gulf Bosnia and in Iraq and Afghanistan." WACVA sponsors an annual national convention and projects honoring women veterans. Local chapters of WACVA focus on volunteer work in Veterans Administration Hospitals and Community Service in the local and national community. The organization's newsletter THE CHANNEL "keeps the members aware of our national business, projects and pertinent veterans information." [49] Notable WACs First WAC Director Oveta Culp Hobby Colonel Geraldine Pratt May (b.1895 - d.1997 [served 1942-19??).[50] In March, 1943 May became one of the first female officers assigned to the Army Air Forces, serving as WAC Staff Director to the Air Transport Command. In 1948 she was promoted to Colonel (the first woman to hold that rank in the Air Force) and became Director of the WAF in the US Air Force, the first to hold the position. Lt. Col. Charity Adams was the first commissioned African-American WAC and the second to be promoted to the rank of major. Promoted to major in 1945, she commanded the segregated all-female 6888th Central Postal Battalion in Birmingham, England. The 6888th landed with the follow-on troops during D-Day and were stationed in Rouen and then Paris during the invasion of France. It was the only African-American WAC unit to serve overseas during World War II.[51] Lt. Col. Harriet West Waddy (b.1904-d.1999 [served 1942-1952])[52] was one of only two African-American women in the WAC to be promoted to the rank of major. Due to her earlier experience serving with director Mary McLeod Bethune of the Bureau of Negro Affairs, she became Colonel Culp's aide on race relations in the WAC. After the war, she was promoted to the rank of lieutenant-colonel in 1948. Lt. Col. Eleanore C. Sullivan [served 1952-1955] was WAC Center and WAC School commander located at Fort McClellan.[53] Lieutenant Colonel Florence K. Murray served at WAC headquarters during World War II. She became the first female judge in Rhode Island in 1956. In 1977 she was the first woman to be elected as a justice of the Supreme Court of Rhode Island. Major Elna Jane Hilliard [served 1942–1946] commanded the 2525th WAC unit at Fort Myer, Virginia. She was the first woman to serve on a United States Army general court martial.[54] In January, 1943, Captain Frances Keegan Marquis became the first to command a women's expeditionary force,[55] the 149th WAAC Post Headquarters Company.[56] Serving in General Eisenhower's North African headquarters in Algiers, this group of about 200 women performed secretarial, driving, postal, and other non-combat duties.[57] An Army history called this company "one of the most highly qualified WAAC groups ever to reach the field. Hand-picked and all-volunteer, almost all members were linguists as well as qualified specialists, and almost all eligible for officer candidate school."[58] Louisiana Register of State Lands Ellen Bryan Moore attained the rank of captain in the WACs and once recruited three hundred women at a single appeal to join the force.[59] Captain Dovey Johnson Roundtree was among 39 African-American women recruited by Dr. Mary Bethune for the first WAACs officer training class. Roundtree was responsible for recruiting African-American women.[60] After leaving the Army, she went to Howard University law school and became a prominent civil rights lawyer in Washington, D.C. She was also one of the first women ordained in the A.M.E. Church.[61] In February, 1943 Lieutenant Anna Mac Clarke became, when a Third Officer, the first African-American to lead an all-white WAAC unit.[62] Sgt. Vashti R. Rutledge performed administrative work at the Army-Navy Staff College in Washington, DC. In March, 1944 WO(JG) Rutledge was one of the first six WACs to be granted a Warrant Officer's warrant. Chief Warrant Officer 4 Elizabeth C. Smith USAF (WAC / USAAF 1944-1947, WAF / USAF 1948-1964) was one of the first WAF warrant officers in 1948. Chief Warrant Officer 5 Jeanne Y. Pace, was the longest-serving female in the army and the last active duty soldier who was a part of the WAC as of 2011. Her final assignment was Bandmaster of the 1st Cavalry Division where she retired after 41 years of service.[63] She is also a recipient of the Daughters of the American Revolution Margaret Cochran Corbin Award which was established to pay tribute to women in all branches of the military for their extraordinary service[64] with previous recipients including Major Tammy Duckworth, Major General Gale Pollock, and Lt General Patricia Horoho. Elizabeth "Tex" Williams was a military photographer.[65] She was one of the few women photographers that photographed all aspects of the military.[66] Mattie Pinnette served as personal secretary to President Dwight D. Eisenhower.[67] Popular culture During the war years, popular comic strip Dick Tracy, drawn by Chester Gould, featured a young WAC spurning the romantic advances of a villain. Like wise Tracy's sweetheart Tess Truehart was a WAC Corporal who helped Tracy capture the German Spy Alfred "The Brow" Brau in 1943. A series of cartoon postcards distributed during the war years depicted WACS hitting Adolf Hitler over the head with a rolling pin ["We're Giving Him A Big WAC!"], standing in morning formation exercises ["Don't Worry--Uncle Sam Is Keeping Us in Line!"], and window-shopping for civilian-style dresses ["Just Looking..."] The 1945 film Keep Your Powder Dry features Lana Turner joining the WACs, which starred Agnes Moorehead, while sporting uniforms designed by Hollywood designer Irene and hair styled by Sydney Guilaroff. The 1949 film I Was a Male War Bride depicts Cary Grant as a French officer who married an American WAC, played by Ann Sheridan and their escapades as he attempts to emigrate to the United States under the auspices of the 1945 War Brides Act. 1952 film Never Wave at a WAC stars Rosalind Russell, who plays the daughter of a senator, and joins to be closer to her boyfriend in Paris, but her ex-husband causes problems, but she falls back in love with him. The 1954 film Francis Joins the WACS stars Francis the Talking Mule, who joins the Women's Army Corps. General Blankenship's secretary, Corporal Etta Candy (Beatrice Colen) in the first season of Wonder Woman was a WAC veteran. The song Surrender by Cheap Trick is about a babyboomer child of a former member of the WAC who served in the Philippines. Mare's War, a novel by Tanita S. Davis, centers around an African-American girl who joins the WAC. On an episode of The Looney Tunes Show, Granny tells Daffy Duck a story where she served as a WAC and prevented the theft of the Eiffel Tower and numerous artworks from The Louvre. Miss Grundy, a teacher in the Archie Comics series, was a WAC. The Phil Silvers Show makes numerous references to the WACs. Several of the supporting cast, such as Sgt. Joan Hogan (Elisabeth Fraser), are members of the WAC and many of the gags and jokes in the show revolve around women in the army. First Officer Candidate Class, WAAC Officer Training School, Fort Des Moines, Iowa, 20 July - 29 August 1942; reveille. First Officer Candidate Class, WAAC Officer Training School, Fort Des Moines, Iowa, 20 July - 29 August 1942; instruction in Military Customs and Courtesy. First Officer Candidate Class, WAAC Officer Training School, Fort Des Moines, Iowa, 20 July - 29 August 1942; close order drill. First Officer Candidate Class, WAAC Officer Training School, Fort Des Moines, Iowa, 20 July - 29 August 1942; classroom instruction. First Officer Candidate Class, WAAC Officer Training School, Fort Des Moines, Iowa, 20 July - 29 August 1942; physical training. First Officer Candidate Class, WAAC Officer Training School, Fort Des Moines, Iowa, 20 July - 29 August 1942; chow line. See also Wikimedia Commons has media related to Women's Army Corps. Air Transport Auxiliary Army Women's Museum Women in the Air Force (WAF) Women in the military Women in the United States Army Women's Army Volunteer Corp 32nd and 33rd Post Headquarters Companies Women were not subject to the military draft in World War II, but women as well as men volunteered to fight for their country. This included African-American women. Until 1948, three years after the end of the war, the armed forces were segregated (divided by race). White and black soldiers served in separate units. Camp in Des Moines In 1942 the Army opened an officer training school for women at Fort Des Moines. The camp on the south side of Des Moines had been the home of the first facility to train African-American male officers in World War I. The women who came to Fort Des Moines in 1942 were part of the Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps (WAAC, later shortened to WAC). At first only white women were accepted as candidates for WAC officer training. But because of political pressure, the camp was opened to black women as well. The army reserved 40 of the first 440 candidate positions for black women. At first white, Puerto Rican, Chinese, Japanese and Native-American women slept, ate and trained together while African-American women had separate facilities and training. This was at a time when much of the United States, especially the South, had laws requiring separate facilities for whites and blacks. The army insisted that WAC training should be the same for blacks and whites. An army order stated: “There will be no discrimination in the type of duties to which Negro women in the WAC may be assigned….Every effort will be made through intensive recruiting to obtain the class of colored women desired, in order that there many be no lowering of the standard in order to meet ratio requirements.” At the request of the federal government a Des Moines attorney, Charles P. Howard, was directed to interview the black WAC candidates and find out if there was any evidence of discrimination on the Army post. He reported that none was related to him. A reporter from a black newspaper in Pittsburgh traveled to Des Moines and wrote the same thing. Neither heard any evidence of jokes or insulting remarks or discrimination in training against black officer candidates. Change Comes But black WACs were required to use separate dormitories, lunch rooms and swimming pools. And the women reported that when they left the training camp and went into Des Moines, they faced discrimination and sometimes hostile comments. Black organizations like the National Association of the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and the YMCA protested the segregated facilities. In November 1942 the use of separate eating and sleeping arrangements ended. A black woman from Georgia, Sarah Murphy Palmore, graduated from the officer training program in 1942 with 35 other black women. She remembered that black families in Des Moines welcomed the black women at the camp and sometimes invited them home for dinner. Altogether 65,000 women of all races were trained at Fort Des Moines during World War II. They learned military sanitation, first aid, map reading and camp management. Still, racial and gender stereotypes kept black women from many opportunities. A history of African-Americans in Iowa claims that World War II had a great impact on all women, black and white. “Many of the obstacles and stereotypes confronting black WACs obstructed their white sisters as well. The WAC was an overall success in coming to the aid of the nation in time of war in a conflict that demanded hard sacrifices from all Americans, male and female, black and white.” In 1948 President Harry Truman ended segregation in the armed forces. He signed Executive Order 9981 that forbade the military from discrimination on the basis of race. Source: AS WE OBSERVE Veterans Day tomorrow -- which this year honors in particular the American soldier of World War II -- we should find a moment to salute the 4,000 determined black women who fought almost unbelievable discrimination to serve their country in that conflict. With war erupting throughout Europe and Asia in 1941, Congress responded to the military's overwhelming personnel needs by allowing women to be incorporated into the armed services. By war's end more than 400,000 would serve in almost every capacity short of combat -- though in fact more than 200 were killed and many more were wounded and captured. Enthusiasm for the new women's units ran high among civil rights leaders and the black community, which saw an opportunity for black women to prove their worth as citizens and to challenge both official segregation in the military and widespread discrimination in American civilian life. But disillusionment began immediately. The Navy, Marines, Coast Guard and Army Nurse Corps announced they had no place for black women -- only whites need apply. The Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) alone was open to blacks, but even it limited their enlistments to the proportion of blacks in the civilian manpower force: 10 percent. Moreover, the WAAC would follow established Army policy; full integration was forbidden. The first group of 40 black women, selected by competitive examination from more than 4,000 applicants, entered the WAAC on July 20, 1942. They were formed into two companies, and officers were selected from among them. After basic training, some of the 40 attended the first officer candidate school for women at Ft. Des Moines, Iowa. For the others, recruiters' promises of opportunities to learn new skills that might lead to good postwar jobs quickly proved empty. Most were assigned to the motor corps or served as cooks, bakers and mess attendants -- which usually meant long hours of kitchen police (KP) duties. During the early days of the WAAC, blacks were too few to organize into separate companies, so whites and blacks lived and worked together. Even this limited integration produced immediate repercussions. As protests poured in from civilians, the War Department quickly ordered separate facilities for black Waacs and assured concerned congressmen that henceforth white and black women, even if they worked together, would not eat in the same mess halls or sleep in the same barracks. Although the War Department and the WAAC continued to stress advancement for qualified black women on an equal basis with whites, segregationist practices were the reality. Black women were not assigned where they were not wanted, and most commanders refused to accept them. Black WAAC officers could only command black units. And under no circumstances could black officers supervise white officers junior to them in grade. The War Department stood adamant against desegregation, proclaiming a public policy of "segregation without discrimination." The military, it stressed, was "solely in the business of winning the war" and had "neither the time nor the desire to engage in changing the existing social orders or customs . . . . " Some WAAC training centers and many Army bases were located in the South, where public bus and rail transportation was totally segregated. Black military women traveling between North and South were not allowed to enter into dining cars of trains until all whites had eaten. They then ate with a curtain drawn around them. No menu was offered nor prices quoted. One black second lieutenant who refused to move from her seat on a bus in Montgomery was beaten, dragged off the vehicle, arrested, tried, convicted and sentenced to 30 days in jail. (Many years later a black woman named Rosa Parks on another Montgomery bus set off a nationwide social revolution.) Besieged by complaints and increasingly under fire from black activist groups and organizations, the War Department asked the U.S. attorney general for guidance. That office replied that the Supreme Court had found segregation on public transportation to be legal and that Army members must comply with regulations imposed by carriers. Local commanders rarely did anything to interfere with the prevailing Jim Crow laws. Discrimination against black Waacs was bound to cause an explosion, and not necessarily in the South. In November 1944, a company of 60 black medical technicians in the now renamed Women's Army Corps (WAC) arrived at Lovell General hospital at Fort Devens, Mass. Although military hospitals were overcrowded and understaffed, black women were not allowed anything but the most menial tasks. Instead of being assigned to their military specialties, the 60 new arrivals were put to work washing windows and scrubbing floors. White civilians were quickly schooled in such routine procedures as temperature-taking, catheterization and physical conditioning, tasks which the black Wacs were already trained to do. The women complained but were ignored. On March 7, 1945 all 60 began a sit-down strike and requested an interview with the hospital commander. At first he refused to meet, but finally did so and delivered a tongue-lashing. "Black girls," he told the Wacs, are "fit only to do the dirtiest type of work" because that's what "Negro women are used to doing." He would not have black Wacs serving as medical technicians -- "They are here to mop walls, scrub floors and do all the dirty work" -- and he hoped that the war lasted 25 more years. The women walked out on him. On March 10, the 60 were officially commanded to return to work or be held in violation of the Articles of War for failing to obey a lawful order in wartime. Of the 60 strikers, four refused to return to duty and were arrested. The court martial brought out numerous instances of discrimination and inferior working conditions, and the four were repeatedly told that since they were black they were not to perform as medical technicians. The women were found guilty and could have been sentenced to death. But the court was lenient: It sentenced the women to a forfeiture of all pay and allowances, one year at hard labor and then a dishonorable discharge. Black organizations, press, communities and congressmen now reacted. They found it unbelievable that with a nursing shortage in the midst of a world war, a hospital commander would hamper efforts by black Wacs to help nurse wounded soldiers -- and that they would get a year at hard labor for trying. The uproar, the allegations at the trial and complaints to the White House ensured the War Department's prompt response. The convictions were reversed and the charges dismissed. Blacks wanted the Lovell commander investigated and punished, but the War Department closed the matter. Despite black sacrifices and contributions, the Army held fast to its policy of segregation until long after the war against the "master races" in Germany and Japan had ended. RitaVictoria Gomez, a history professor at Anne Arundel Community College, is an Air Force reserve major and is writing the official history of women in the Air Force. Anyone who has served overseas away from family and friends knows the power of a letter from home. But toward the end of WWII, there was a two-year back- log of mail for U.S. troops, Red Cross and uniformed civilian specialists serving in Europe. Led by Army Maj. Charity Adams, the nearly 900-strong 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion of the Women’s Army Corps (WAC) had a motto: “No mail, low morale.” Women's Army Corps 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion standing at attention prior to their deployment to Europe during World War II Women's Army Corps Maj. Charity Adams (forefront), 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion commander, and Army Capt. Abbie Noel Campbell, 6888th executive officer, inspect the first soldiers from the unit to arrive in England on Feb. 15, 1945. In February 1945, the “Six-Triple Eight,” as it was known, went to England becoming the first and only all-black WAC unit to be sent overseas during WWII. Lena King, who was with the 6888th, said the mail was stacked nearly to the top of the hangar in Birmingham, England. The women worked three shifts a day, seven days a week to make sure the mail reached troops in the field. “They had asked if we could get it done in about six months,” King told CBS News in November. “We were able to get it done in three months.” By the time they were done, they had processed 17 million pieces of mail and were off to France to work their magic there, as well. The women of the 6888th worked on sorting the mail in Europe until March 1946. When the women returned home, however, there were no parades or special recognition. Retired Army Col. Edna Cummings hopes to see the 6888th recognized with a Congressional Gold Medal. “During a time when they were denied basic liberties as Americans, they still wanted to serve the United States,” Cummings told CBS News. As such, the identical bills S. 633 and H.R. 3138 — “Six Triple Eight” Congressional Gold Medal Act of 2019 — have been introduced in the Senate and House, respectively. On Nov. 30, 2018, a monument to these women was dedicated at the Buffalo Soldier Commemorative Area on Fort Leavenworth, Kan. Furthermore, on March 15, 2016, the U.S. Army Women’s Foundation inducted the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion into the Army Women’s Hall of Fame. “Servicemen want their mail,” King said. “That’s a morale booster. That made me feel good that I had done my part.” World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a global conflict that lasted from 1939 to 1945. The vast majority of the world's countries, including all of the great powers, fought as part of two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis. Many participants threw their economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities behind this total war, blurring the distinction between civilian and military resources. Aircraft played a major role, enabling the strategic bombing of population centres and the delivery of the only two nuclear weapons ever used in war. World War II was by far the deadliest conflict in history, resulting in an estimated 70 to 85 million fatalities, mostly among civilians. Tens of millions died due to genocides (including the Holocaust), starvation, massacres, and disease. In the wake of Axis defeat, Germany, Austria and Japan were occupied, and war crimes tribunals were conducted against German and Japanese leaders. The causes of World War II are debated, but contributing factors included the Second Italo-Ethiopian War, Spanish Civil War, Second Sino-Japanese War, Soviet–Japanese border conflicts, the rise of fascism in Europe, and European tensions in the aftermath of World War I. World War II is generally considered to have begun on 1 September 1939, when Nazi Germany, under Adolf Hitler, invaded Poland. The United Kingdom and France subsequently declared war on Germany on 3 September. Under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of August 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union had partitioned Poland and marked out their "spheres of influence" across Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Romania. From late 1939 to early 1941, in a series of campaigns and treaties, Germany conquered or controlled much of continental Europe, in a military alliance with Italy, Japan and other countries called the Axis. Following the onset of campaigns in North Africa and East Africa, and the fall of France in mid-1940, the war continued primarily between the European Axis powers and the British Empire, with war in the Balkans, the aerial Battle of Britain, the Blitz of the United Kingdom, and the Battle of the Atlantic. On 22 June 1941, Germany led the European Axis powers in an invasion of the Soviet Union, opening the Eastern Front, the largest land theatre of war in history. Japan, which aimed to dominate Asia and the Pacific, was at war with the Republic of China by 1937. In December 1941, Japan attacked American and British territories with near-simultaneous offensives against Southeast Asia and the Central Pacific, including an attack on the U.S. fleet at Pearl Harbor which resulted in the United States and United Kingdom declaring war against Japan. The European Axis powers declared war on the United States in solidarity. Japan soon conquered much of the western Pacific, but its advances were halted in 1942 after losing the critical Battle of Midway; later, Germany and Italy were defeated in North Africa and at Stalingrad in the Soviet Union. Key setbacks in 1943—including a series of German defeats on the Eastern Front, the Allied invasions of Sicily and the Italian mainland, and Allied offensives in the Pacific—cost the Axis powers their initiative and forced them into strategic retreat on all fronts. In 1944, the Western Allies invaded German-occupied France, while the Soviet Union regained its territorial losses and pushed Germany and its allies back. During 1944 and 1945, Japan suffered reversals in mainland Asia, while the Allies crippled the Japanese Navy and captured key western Pacific islands. The war in Europe concluded with the liberation of German-occupied territories and the invasion of Germany by the Western Allies and the Soviet Union, culminating in the Fall of Berlin to Soviet troops, Hitler's suicide, and the German unconditional surrender on 8 May 1945. Following the refusal of Japan to surrender on the terms of the Potsdam Declaration (issued 26 July 1945), the United States dropped the first atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima on 6 August and Nagasaki on 9 August. Faced with an imminent invasion of the Japanese archipelago, the possibility of additional atomic bombings, and the Soviet Union's declared entry into the war against Japan on the eve of invading Manchuria, Japan announced on 10 August its intention to surrender, signing a surrender document on 2 September 1945. World War II changed the political alignment and social structure of the globe and set the foundation for the international order of the world's nations for the rest of the 20th century and into the present day. The United Nations was established to foster international co-operation and prevent future conflicts, with the victorious great powers—China, France, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States—becoming the permanent members of its Security Council. The Soviet Union and the United States emerged as rival superpowers, setting the stage for the nearly half-century-long Cold War. In the wake of European devastation, the influence of its great powers waned, triggering the decolonisation of Africa and Asia. Most countries whose industries had been damaged moved towards economic recovery and expansion. Political and economic integration, especially in Europe, began as an effort to forestall future hostilities, end pre-war enmities, and forge a sense of common identity. Start and end dates See also: List of timelines of World War II Timelines of World War II Chronological Prelude (in Asiain Europe) 1939194019411942 194319441945 onwards By topic Diplomacy Declarations of war EngagementsOperations Battle of Europe air operations Eastern FrontManhattan Project United Kingdom home front Surrender of the Axis armies vte It is generally considered that, in Europe, World War II started on 1 September 1939,[1][2] beginning with the German invasion of Poland and the United Kingdom and France's declaration of war on Germany two days later on 3 September 1939. Dates for the beginning of the Pacific War include the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War on 7 July 1937,[3][4] or the earlier Japanese invasion of Manchuria, on 19 September 1931.[5][6] Others follow the British historian A. J. P. Taylor, who held that the Sino-Japanese War and war in Europe and its colonies occurred simultaneously, and the two wars became World War II in 1941.[7] Other starting dates sometimes used for World War II include the Italian invasion of Abyssinia on 3 October 1935.[8] The British historian Antony Beevor views the beginning of World War II as the Battles of Khalkhin Gol fought between Japan and the forces of Mongolia and the Soviet Union from May to September 1939.[9] Others view the Spanish Civil War as the start or prelude to World War II.[10][11] The exact date of the war's end is also not universally agreed upon. It was generally accepted at the time that the war ended with the armistice of 15 August 1945 (V-J Day), rather than with the formal surrender of Japan on 2 September 1945, which officially ended the war in Asia. A peace treaty between Japan and the Allies was signed in 1951.[12] A 1990 treaty regarding Germany's future allowed the reunification of East and West Germany to take place and resolved most post–World War II issues.[13] No formal peace treaty between Japan and the Soviet Union was ever signed,[14] although the state of war between the two countries was terminated by the Soviet–Japanese Joint Declaration of 1956, which also restored full diplomatic relations between them.[15] History Background Main article: Causes of World War II Aftermath of World War I World War I had radically altered the political European map with the defeat of the Central Powers—including Austria-Hungary, Germany, Bulgaria, and the Ottoman Empire—and the 1917 Bolshevik seizure of power in Russia, which led to the founding of the Soviet Union. Meanwhile, the victorious Allies of World War I, such as France, Belgium, Italy, Romania, and Greece, gained territory, and new nation-states were created out of the collapse of Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman and Russian Empires. The League of Nations assembly, held in Geneva, Switzerland, 1930 To prevent a future world war, the League of Nations was created during the 1919 Paris Peace Conference. The organisation's primary goals were to prevent armed conflict through collective security, military and naval disarmament, and settling international disputes through peaceful negotiations and arbitration.[16] Despite strong pacifist sentiment after World War I,[17] irredentist and revanchist nationalism emerged in several European states in the same period. These sentiments were especially marked in Germany because of the significant territorial, colonial, and financial losses imposed by the Treaty of Versailles. Under the treaty, Germany lost around 13 percent of its home territory and all its overseas possessions, while German annexation of other states was prohibited, reparations were imposed, and limits were placed on the size and capability of the country's armed forces.[18] Germany The German Empire was dissolved in the German Revolution of 1918–1919, and a democratic government, later known as the Weimar Republic, was created. The interwar period saw strife between supporters of the new republic and hardline opponents on both the right and left. Italy, as an Entente ally, had made some post-war territorial gains; however, Italian nationalists were angered that the promises made by the United Kingdom and France to secure Italian entrance into the war were not fulfilled in the peace settlement. From 1922 to 1925, the Fascist movement led by Benito Mussolini seized power in Italy with a nationalist, totalitarian, and class collaborationist agenda that abolished representative democracy, repressed socialist, left-wing and liberal forces, and pursued an aggressive expansionist foreign policy aimed at making Italy a world power, and promising the creation of a "New Roman Empire".[19] Adolf Hitler at a German Nazi political rally in Nuremberg, August 1933 Adolf Hitler, after an unsuccessful attempt to overthrow the German government in 1923, eventually became the Chancellor of Germany in 1933 when Paul Von Hindenburg and the Reichstag appointed him. Following Hindenburg's death in 1934, Hitler proclaimed himself Führer of Germany and abolished democracy, espousing a radical, racially motivated revision of the world order, and soon began a massive rearmament campaign.[20] Meanwhile, France, to secure its alliance, allowed Italy a free hand in Ethiopia, which Italy desired as a colonial possession. The situation was aggravated in early 1935 when the Territory of the Saar Basin was legally reunited with Germany, and Hitler repudiated the Treaty of Versailles, accelerated his rearmament programme, and introduced conscription.[21] European treaties The United Kingdom, France and Italy formed the Stresa Front in April 1935 in order to contain Germany, a key step towards military globalisation; however, that June, the United Kingdom made an independent naval agreement with Germany, easing prior restrictions. The Soviet Union, concerned by Germany's goals of capturing vast areas of Eastern Europe, drafted a treaty of mutual assistance with France. Before taking effect, though, the Franco-Soviet pact was required to go through the bureaucracy of the League of Nations, which rendered it essentially toothless.[22] The United States, concerned with events in Europe and Asia, passed the Neutrality Act in August of the same year.[23] Hitler defied the Versailles and Locarno Treaties by remilitarising the Rhineland in March 1936, encountering little opposition due to the policy of appeasement.[24] In October 1936, Germany and Italy formed the Rome–Berlin Axis. A month later, Germany and Japan signed the Anti-Comintern Pact, which Italy joined the following year.[25] Asia The Kuomintang (KMT) party in China launched a unification campaign against regional warlords and nominally unified China in the mid-1920s, but was soon embroiled in a civil war against its former Chinese Communist Party allies[26] and new regional warlords. In 1931, an increasingly militaristic Empire of Japan, which had long sought influence in China[27] as the first step of what its government saw as the country's right to rule Asia, staged the Mukden Incident as a pretext to invade Manchuria and establish the puppet state of Manchukuo.[28] China appealed to the League of Nations to stop the Japanese invasion of Manchuria. Japan withdrew from the League of Nations after being condemned for its incursion into Manchuria. The two nations then fought several battles, in Shanghai, Rehe and Hebei, until the Tanggu Truce was signed in 1933. Thereafter, Chinese volunteer forces continued the resistance to Japanese aggression in Manchuria, and Chahar and Suiyuan.[29] After the 1936 Xi'an Incident, the Kuomintang and communist forces agreed on a ceasefire to present a united front to oppose Japan.[30] Pre-war events Italian invasion of Ethiopia (1935) Main article: Second Italo-Ethiopian War Benito Mussolini inspecting troops during the Italo-Ethiopian War, 1935 The Second Italo-Ethiopian War was a brief colonial war that began in October 1935 and ended in May 1936. The war began with the invasion of the Ethiopian Empire (also known as Abyssinia) by the armed forces of the Kingdom of Italy (Regno d'Italia), which was launched from Italian Somaliland and Eritrea.[31] The war resulted in the military occupation of Ethiopia and its annexation into the newly created colony of Italian East Africa (Africa Orientale Italiana, or AOI); in addition it exposed the weakness of the League of Nations as a force to preserve peace. Both Italy and Ethiopia were member nations, but the League did little when the former clearly violated Article X of the League's Covenant.[32] The United Kingdom and France supported imposing sanctions on Italy for the invasion, but the sanctions were not fully enforced and failed to end the Italian invasion.[33] Italy subsequently dropped its objections to Germany's goal of absorbing Austria.[34] Spanish Civil War (1936–1939) Main article: Spanish Civil War The bombing of Guernica in 1937, during the Spanish Civil War, sparked fears abroad in Europe that the next war would be based on bombing of cities with very high civilian casualties. When civil war broke out in Spain, Hitler and Mussolini lent military support to the Nationalist rebels, led by General Francisco Franco. Italy supported the Nationalists to a greater extent than the Nazis did: altogether Mussolini sent to Spain more than 70,000 ground troops and 6,000 aviation personnel, as well as about 720 aircraft.[35] The Soviet Union supported the existing government of the Spanish Republic. More than 30,000 foreign volunteers, known as the International Brigades, also fought against the Nationalists. Both Germany and the Soviet Union used this proxy war as an opportunity to test in combat their most advanced weapons and tactics. The Nationalists won the civil war in April 1939; Franco, now dictator, remained officially neutral during World War II but generally favoured the Axis.[36] His greatest collaboration with Germany was the sending of volunteers to fight on the Eastern Front.[37] Japanese invasion of China (1937) Main article: Second Sino-Japanese War Japanese Imperial Army soldiers during the Battle of Shanghai, 1937 In July 1937, Japan captured the former Chinese imperial capital of Peking after instigating the Marco Polo Bridge Incident, which culminated in the Japanese campaign to invade all of China.[38] The Soviets quickly signed a non-aggression pact with China to lend materiel support, effectively ending China's prior co-operation with Germany. From September to November, the Japanese attacked Taiyuan, engaged the Kuomintang Army around Xinkou,[39][unreliable source?] and fought Communist forces in Pingxingguan.[40][41] Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek deployed his best army to defend Shanghai, but after three months of fighting, Shanghai fell. The Japanese continued to push the Chinese forces back, capturing the capital Nanking in December 1937. After the fall of Nanking, tens or hundreds of thousands of Chinese civilians and disarmed combatants were murdered by the Japanese.[42][43] In March 1938, Nationalist Chinese forces won their first major victory at Taierzhuang, but then the city of Xuzhou was taken by the Japanese in May.[44][unreliable source?] In June 1938, Chinese forces stalled the Japanese advance by flooding the Yellow River; this manoeuvre bought time for the Chinese to prepare their defences at Wuhan, but the city was taken by October.[45] Japanese military victories did not bring about the collapse of Chinese resistance that Japan had hoped to achieve; instead, the Chinese government relocated inland to Chongqing and continued the war.[46][47] Soviet–Japanese border conflicts Main article: Soviet–Japanese border conflicts Red Army artillery unit during the Battle of Lake Khasan, 1938 In the mid-to-late 1930s, Japanese forces in Manchukuo had sporadic border clashes with the Soviet Union and Mongolia. The Japanese doctrine of Hokushin-ron, which emphasised Japan's expansion northward, was favoured by the Imperial Army during this time. With the Japanese defeat at Khalkin Gol in 1939, the ongoing Second Sino-Japanese War[48] and ally Nazi Germany pursuing neutrality with the Soviets, this policy would prove difficult to maintain. Japan and the Soviet Union eventually signed a Neutrality Pact in April 1941, and Japan adopted the doctrine of Nanshin-ron, promoted by the Navy, which took its focus southward, eventually leading to its war with the United States and the Western Allies.[49][50] European occupations and agreements Chamberlain, Daladier, Hitler, Mussolini, and Ciano pictured just before signing the Munich Agreement, 29 September 1938 In Europe, Germany and Italy were becoming more aggressive. In March 1938, Germany annexed Austria, again provoking little response from other European powers.[51] Encouraged, Hitler began pressing German claims on the Sudetenland, an area of Czechoslovakia with a predominantly ethnic German population. Soon the United Kingdom and France followed the appeasement policy of British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain and conceded this territory to Germany in the Munich Agreement, which was made against the wishes of the Czechoslovak government, in exchange for a promise of no further territorial demands.[52] Soon afterwards, Germany and Italy forced Czechoslovakia to cede additional territory to Hungary, and Poland annexed the Trans-Olza region of Czechoslovakia.[53] Although all of Germany's stated demands had been satisfied by the agreement, privately Hitler was furious that British interference had prevented him from seizing all of Czechoslovakia in one operation. In subsequent speeches Hitler attacked British and Jewish "war-mongers" and in January 1939 secretly ordered a major build-up of the German navy to challenge British naval supremacy. In March 1939, Germany invaded the remainder of Czechoslovakia and subsequently split it into the German Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia and a pro-German client state, the Slovak Republic.[54] Hitler also delivered an ultimatum to Lithuania on 20 March 1939, forcing the concession of the Klaipėda Region, formerly the German Memelland.[55] German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop (right) and the Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, after signing the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, 23 August 1939 Greatly alarmed and with Hitler making further demands on the Free City of Danzig, the United Kingdom and France guaranteed their support for Polish independence; when Italy conquered Albania in April 1939, the same guarantee was extended to the Kingdoms of Romania and Greece.[56] Shortly after the Franco-British pledge to Poland, Germany and Italy formalised their own alliance with the Pact of Steel.[57] Hitler accused the United Kingdom and Poland of trying to "encircle" Germany and renounced the Anglo-German Naval Agreement and the German–Polish Non-Aggression Pact.[58] The situation reached a general crisis in late August as German troops continued to mobilise against the Polish border. On 23 August, when tripartite negotiations about a military alliance between France, the United Kingdom and Soviet Union stalled,[59] the Soviet Union signed a non-aggression pact with Germany.[60] This pact had a secret protocol that defined German and Soviet "spheres of influence" (western Poland and Lithuania for Germany; eastern Poland, Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Bessarabia for the Soviet Union), and raised the question of continuing Polish independence.[61] The pact neutralised the possibility of Soviet opposition to a campaign against Poland and assured that Germany would not have to face the prospect of a two-front war, as it had in World War I. Immediately after that, Hitler ordered the attack to proceed on 26 August, but upon hearing that the United Kingdom had concluded a formal mutual assistance pact with Poland and that Italy would maintain neutrality, he decided to delay it.[62] In response to British requests for direct negotiations to avoid war, Germany made demands on Poland, which only served as a pretext to worsen relations.[63] On 29 August, Hitler demanded that a Polish plenipotentiary immediately travel to Berlin to negotiate the handover of Danzig, and to allow a plebiscite in the Polish Corridor in which the German minority would vote on secession.[63] The Poles refused to comply with the German demands, and on the night of 30–31 August in a confrontational meeting with the British ambassador Nevile Henderson, Ribbentrop declared that Germany considered its claims rejected.[64] Course of the war For a chronological guide, see List of timelines of World War II. See also: Diplomatic history of World War II War breaks out in Europe (1939–1940) Main article: European theatre of World War II Soldiers of the German Wehrmacht tearing down the border crossing into Poland, 1 September 1939 On 1 September 1939, Germany invaded Poland after having staged several false flag border incidents as a pretext to initiate the invasion.[65] The first German attack of the war came against the Polish defenses at Westerplatte.[66] The United Kingdom responded with an ultimatum to Germany to cease military operations, and on 3 September, after the ultimatum was ignored, Britain and France declared war on Germany,[67] followed by Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and Canada. During the Phoney War period, the alliance provided no direct military support to Poland, outside of a cautious French probe into the Saarland.[68] The Western Allies also began a naval blockade of Germany, which aimed to damage the country's economy and the war effort.[69] Germany responded by ordering U-boat warfare against Allied merchant and warships, which would later escalate into the Battle of the Atlantic.[70] Soldiers of the Polish Army during the defence of Poland, September 1939 On 8 September, German troops reached the suburbs of Warsaw. The Polish counter-offensive to the west halted the German advance for several days, but it was outflanked and encircled by the Wehrmacht. Remnants of the Polish army broke through to besieged Warsaw. On 17 September 1939, two days after signing a cease-fire with Japan, the Soviet Union invaded Poland[71] under the pretext that the Polish state had ostensibly ceased to exist.[72] On 27 September, the Warsaw garrison surrendered to the Germans, and the last large operational unit of the Polish Army surrendered on 6 October. Despite the military defeat, Poland never surrendered; instead, it formed the Polish government-in-exile and a clandestine state apparatus remained in occupied Poland.[73] A significant part of Polish military personnel evacuated to Romania and Latvia; many of them later fought against the Axis in other theatres of the war.[74] Germany annexed the western and occupied the central part of Poland, and the Soviet Union annexed its eastern part; small shares of Polish territory were transferred to Lithuania and Slovakia. On 6 October, Hitler made a public peace overture to the United Kingdom and France but said that the future of Poland was to be determined exclusively by Germany and the Soviet Union. The proposal was rejected,[64] and Hitler ordered an immediate offensive against France,[75] which was postponed until the spring of 1940 due to bad weather.[76][77][78] Finnish machine gun nest aimed at Soviet Red Army positions during the Winter War, February 1940 After the outbreak of war in Poland, Stalin threatened Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania with military invasion, forcing the three Baltic countries to sign pacts that stipulated the creation of Soviet military bases in these countries. In October 1939, significant Soviet military contingents were moved there.[79][80][81] Finland refused to sign a similar pact and rejected ceding part of its territory to the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union invaded Finland in November 1939,[82] and was subsequently expelled from the League of Nations for this crime of aggression.[83] Despite overwhelming numerical superiority, Soviet military success during the Winter War was modest,[84] and the Finno-Soviet war ended in March 1940 with some Finnish concessions of territory.[85] In June 1940, the Soviet Union occupied the entire territories of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania,[80] and the Romanian regions of Bessarabia, Northern Bukovina, and the Hertsa region. In August 1940, Hitler imposed the Second Vienna Award on Romania which led to the transfer of Northern Transylvania to Hungary.[86] In September 1940, Bulgaria demanded Southern Dobruja from Romania with German and Italian support, leading to the Treaty of Craiova.[87] The loss of one-third of Romania's 1939 territory caused a coup against King Carol II, turning Romania into a fascist dictatorship under Marshal Ion Antonescu with a course set firmly towards the Axis in the hopes of a German guarantee.[88] Meanwhile, German-Soviet political rapprochement and economic co-operation[89][90] gradually stalled,[91][92] and both states began preparations for war.[93] Western Europe (1940–1941) Main article: Western Front (World War II) German advance into Belgium and Northern France, 10 May – 4 June 1940, swept past the Maginot Line (shown in dark red) In April 1940, Germany invaded Denmark and Norway to protect shipments of iron ore from Sweden, which the Allies were attempting to cut off.[94] Denmark capitulated after six hours, and Norway was conquered within two months[95] despite Allied support. British discontent over the Norwegian campaign led to the resignation of Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, who was replaced by Winston Churchill on 10 May 1940.[96] On the same day, Germany launched an offensive against France. To circumvent the strong Maginot Line fortifications on the Franco-German border, Germany directed its attack at the neutral nations of Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg.[97] The Germans carried out a flanking manoeuvre through the Ardennes region,[98] which was mistakenly perceived by the Allies as an impenetrable natural barrier against armoured vehicles.[99][100] By successfully implementing new Blitzkrieg tactics, the Wehrmacht rapidly advanced to the Channel and cut off the Allied forces in Belgium, trapping the bulk of the Allied armies in a cauldron on the Franco-Belgian border near Lille. The United Kingdom was able to evacuate a significant number of Allied troops from the continent by early June, although abandoning almost all their equipment.[101] On 10 June, Italy invaded France, declaring war on both France and the United Kingdom.[102] The Germans turned south against the weakened French army, and Paris fell to them on 14 June. Eight days later France signed an armistice with Germany; it was divided into German and Italian occupation zones,[103] and an unoccupied rump state under the Vichy Regime, which, though officially neutral, was generally aligned with Germany. France kept its fleet, which the United Kingdom attacked on 3 July in an attempt to prevent its seizure by Germany.[104] London seen from St. Paul's Cathedral after the German Blitz, 29 December 1940 The air Battle of Britain[105] began in early July with Luftwaffe attacks on shipping and harbours.[106] The United Kingdom rejected Hitler's peace offer,[107] and the German air superiority campaign started in August but failed to defeat RAF Fighter Command, forcing the indefinite postponement of the proposed German invasion of Britain. The German strategic bombing offensive intensified with night attacks on London and other cities in the Blitz, but failed to significantly disrupt the British war effort[106] and largely ended in May 1941.[108] Using newly captured French ports, the German Navy enjoyed success against an over-extended Royal Navy, using U-boats against British shipping in the Atlantic.[109] The British Home Fleet scored a significant victory on 27 May 1941 by sinking the German battleship Bismarck.[110] In November 1939, the United States was taking measures to assist China and the Western Allies and amended the Neutrality Act to allow "cash and carry" purchases by the Allies.[111] In 1940, following the German capture of Paris, the size of the United States Navy was significantly increased. In September the United States further agreed to a trade of American destroyers for British bases.[112] Still, a large majority of the American public continued to oppose any direct military intervention in the conflict well into 1941.[113] In December 1940, Roosevelt accused Hitler of planning world conquest and ruled out any negotiations as useless, calling for the United States to become an "arsenal of democracy" and promoting Lend-Lease programmes of military and humanitarian aid to support the British war effort, which was later extended to the other Allies, including the Soviet Union after it was invaded by Germany.[107] The United States started strategic planning to prepare for a full-scale offensive against Germany.[114] At the end of September 1940, the Tripartite Pact formally united Japan, Italy, and Germany as the Axis powers. The Tripartite Pact stipulated that any country, with the exception of the Soviet Union, which attacked any Axis Power would be forced to go to war against all three.[115] The Axis expanded in November 1940 when Hungary, Slovakia, and Romania joined.[116] Romania and Hungary later made major contributions to the Axis war against the Soviet Union, in Romania's case partially to recapture territory ceded to the Soviet Union.[117] Mediterranean (1940–1941) Main article: Mediterranean and Middle East theatre of World War II Soldiers of the British Commonwealth forces from the Australian Army's 9th Division during the siege of Tobruk; North African campaign, September 1941 In early June 1940, the Italian Regia Aeronautica attacked and besieged Malta, a British possession. From late summer to early autumn, Italy conquered British Somaliland and made an incursion into British-held Egypt. In October, Italy attacked Greece, but the attack was repulsed with heavy Italian casualties; the campaign ended within months with minor territorial changes.[118] Germany started preparation for an invasion of the Balkans to assist Italy, to prevent the British from gaining a foothold there, which would be a potential threat for Romanian oil fields, and to strike against the British dominance of the Mediterranean.[119] In December 1940, British Empire forces began counter-offensives against Italian forces in Egypt and Italian East Africa.[120] The offensives were highly successful; by early February 1941, Italy had lost control of eastern Libya, and large numbers of Italian troops had been taken prisoner. The Italian Navy also suffered significant defeats, with the Royal Navy putting three Italian battleships out of commission by means of a carrier attack at Taranto, and neutralising several more warships at the Battle of Cape Matapan.[121] German Panzer III of the Afrika Korps advancing across the North African desert, April–May 1941 Italian defeats prompted Germany to deploy an expeditionary force to North Africa and at the end of March 1941, Rommel's Afrika Korps launched an offensive which drove back the Commonwealth forces.[122] In under a month, Axis forces advanced to western Egypt and besieged the port of Tobruk.[123] By late March 1941, Bulgaria and Yugoslavia signed the Tripartite Pact; however, the Yugoslav government was overthrown two days later by pro-British nationalists. Germany responded with simultaneous invasions of both Yugoslavia and Greece, commencing on 6 April 1941; both nations were forced to surrender within the month.[124] The airborne invasion of the Greek island of Crete at the end of May completed the German conquest of the Balkans.[125] Although the Axis victory was swift, bitter and large-scale partisan warfare subsequently broke out against the Axis occupation of Yugoslavia, which continued until the end of the war.[126] In the Middle East in May, Commonwealth forces quashed an uprising in Iraq which had been supported by German aircraft from bases within Vichy-controlled Syria.[127] Between June and July, British-led forces invaded and occupied the French possessions of Syria and Lebanon, assisted by the Free French.[128] Axis attack on the Soviet Union (1941) Main article: Eastern Front (World War II) European theatre of World War II animation map, 1939–1945 – Red: Western Allies and the Soviet Union after 1941; Green: Soviet Union before 1941; Blue: Axis powers With the situation in Europe and Asia relatively stable, Germany, Japan, and the Soviet Union made preparations for war. With the Soviets wary of mounting tensions with Germany and the Japanese planning to take advantage of the European War by seizing resource-rich European possessions in Southeast Asia, the two powers signed the Soviet–Japanese Neutrality Pact in April 1941.[129] By contrast, the Germans were steadily making preparations for an attack on the Soviet Union, massing forces on the Soviet border.[130] Hitler believed that the United Kingdom's refusal to end the war was based on the hope that the United States and the Soviet Union would enter the war against Germany sooner or later.[131] On 31 July 1940, Hitler decided that the Soviet Union should be eliminated and aimed for the conquest of Ukraine, the Baltic states and Byelorussia.[132] However, other senior German officials like Ribbentrop saw an opportunity to create a Euro-Asian bloc against the British Empire by inviting the Soviet Union into the Tripartite Pact.[133] In November 1940, negotiations took place to determine if the Soviet Union would join the pact. The Soviets showed some interest but asked for concessions from Finland, Bulgaria, Turkey, and Japan that Germany considered unacceptable. On 18 December 1940, Hitler issued the directive to prepare for an invasion of the Soviet Union.[134] German soldiers during the invasion of the Soviet Union by the Axis powers, 1941 On 22 June 1941, Germany, supported by Italy and Romania, invaded the Soviet Union in Operation Barbarossa, with Germany accusing the Soviets of plotting against them. They were joined shortly by Finland and Hungary.[135] The primary targets of this surprise offensive[136] were the Baltic region, Moscow and Ukraine, with the ultimate goal of ending the 1941 campaign near the Arkhangelsk-Astrakhan line, from the Caspian to the White Seas. Hitler's objectives were to eliminate the Soviet Union as a military power, exterminate Communism, generate Lebensraum ("living space")[137] by dispossessing the native population[138] and guarantee access to the strategic resources needed to defeat Germany's remaining rivals.[139] Although the Red Army was preparing for strategic counter-offensives before the war,[140] Operation Barbarossa forced the Soviet supreme command to adopt a strategic defence. During the summer, the Axis made significant gains into Soviet territory, inflicting immense losses in both personnel and materiel. By mid-August, however, the German Army High Command decided to suspend the offensive of a considerably depleted Army Group Centre, and to divert the 2nd Panzer Group to reinforce troops advancing towards central Ukraine and Leningrad.[141] The Kiev offensive was overwhelmingly successful, resulting in encirclement and elimination of four Soviet armies, and made possible further advance into Crimea and industrially developed Eastern Ukraine (the First Battle of Kharkov).[142] Russian civilians leaving destroyed houses after a German bombardment during the Battle of Leningrad (Saint Petersburg), 10 December 1942 The diversion of three quarters of the Axis troops and the majority of their air forces from France and the central Mediterranean to the Eastern Front[143] prompted the United Kingdom to reconsider its grand strategy.[144] In July, the UK and the Soviet Union formed a military alliance against Germany[145] and in August, the United Kingdom and the United States jointly issued the Atlantic Charter, which outlined British and American goals for the post-war world.[146] In late August the British and Soviets invaded neutral Iran to secure the Persian Corridor, Iran's oil fields, and preempt any Axis advances through Iran toward the Baku oil fields or India.[147] By October, Axis operational objectives in Ukraine and the Baltic region were achieved, with only the sieges of Leningrad[148] and Sevastopol continuing.[149] A major offensive against Moscow was renewed; after two months of fierce battles in increasingly harsh weather, the German army almost reached the outer suburbs of Moscow, where the exhausted troops[150] were forced to suspend their offensive.[151] Large territorial gains were made by Axis forces, but their campaign had failed to achieve its main objectives: two key cities remained in Soviet hands, the Soviet capability to resist was not broken, and the Soviet Union retained a considerable part of its military potential. The blitzkrieg phase of the war in Europe had ended.[152] By early December, freshly mobilised reserves[153] allowed the Soviets to achieve numerical parity with Axis troops.[154] This, as well as intelligence data which established that a minimal number of Soviet troops in the East would be sufficient to deter any attack by the Japanese Kwantung Army,[155] allowed the Soviets to begin a massive counter-offensive that started on 5 December all along the front and pushed German troops 100–250 kilometres (62–155 mi) west.[156] War breaks out in the Pacific (1941) Main article: Pacific War Following the Japanese false flag Mukden Incident in 1931, the Japanese shelling of the American gunboat USS Panay in 1937, and the 1937–38 Nanjing Massacre, Japanese-American relations deteriorated. In 1939, the United States notified Japan that it would not be extending its trade treaty and American public opinion opposing Japanese expansionism led to a series of economic sanctions, the Export Control Acts, which banned U.S. exports of chemicals, minerals and military parts to Japan and increased economic pressure on the Japanese regime.[107][157][158] During 1939 Japan launched its first attack against Changsha, a strategically important Chinese city, but was repulsed by late September.[159] Despite several offensives by both sides, the war between China and Japan was stalemated by 1940. To increase pressure on China by blocking supply routes, and to better position Japanese forces in the event of a war with the Western powers, Japan invaded and occupied northern Indochina in September 1940.[160] Japanese soldiers entering Hong Kong, 8 December 1941 Chinese nationalist forces launched a large-scale counter-offensive in early 1940. In August, Chinese communists launched an offensive in Central China; in retaliation, Japan instituted harsh measures in occupied areas to reduce human and material resources for the communists.[161] The continued antipathy between Chinese communist and nationalist forces culminated in armed clashes in January 1941, effectively ending their co-operation.[162] In March, the Japanese 11th army attacked the headquarters of the Chinese 19th army but was repulsed during Battle of Shanggao.[163][unreliable source?] In September, Japan attempted to take the city of Changsha again and clashed with Chinese nationalist forces.[164][unreliable source?] German successes in Europe encouraged Japan to increase pressure on European governments in Southeast Asia. The Dutch government agreed to provide Japan with some oil supplies from the Dutch East Indies, but negotiations for additional access to their resources ended in failure in June 1941.[165] In July 1941 Japan sent troops to southern Indochina, thus threatening British and Dutch possessions in the Far East. The United States, the United Kingdom, and other Western governments reacted to this move with a freeze on Japanese assets and a total oil embargo.[166][167] At the same time, Japan was planning an invasion of the Soviet Far East, intending to capitalise off the German invasion in the west, but abandoned the operation after the sanctions.[168] Since early 1941, the United States and Japan had been engaged in negotiations in an attempt to improve their strained relations and end the war in China. During these negotiations, Japan advanced a number of proposals which were dismissed by the Americans as inadequate.[169] At the same time the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands engaged in secret discussions for the joint defence of their territories, in the event of a Japanese attack against any of them.[170] Roosevelt reinforced the Philippines (an American protectorate scheduled for independence in 1946) and warned Japan that the United States would react to Japanese attacks against any "neighboring countries".[170] The USS Arizona was a total loss in the Japanese surprise air attack on the American Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor, Sunday 7 December 1941. Frustrated at the lack of progress and feeling the pinch of the American–British–Dutch sanctions, Japan prepared for war. Emperor Hirohito, after initial hesitation about Japan's chances of victory,[171] began to favour Japan's entry into the war.[172] As a result, Prime Minister Fumimaro Konoe resigned.[173][174] Hirohito refused the recommendation to appoint Prince Naruhiko Higashikuni in his place, choosing War Minister Hideki Tojo instead.[175] On 3 November, Nagano explained in detail the plan of the attack on Pearl Harbor to the Emperor.[176] On 5 November, Hirohito approved in imperial conference the operations plan for the war.[177] On 20 November, the new government presented an interim proposal as its final offer. It called for the end of American aid to China and for lifting the embargo on the supply of oil and other resources to Japan. In exchange, Japan promised not to launch any attacks in Southeast Asia and to withdraw its forces from southern Indochina.[169] The American counter-proposal of 26 November required that Japan evacuate all of China without conditions and conclude non-aggression pacts with all Pacific powers.[178] That meant Japan was essentially forced to choose between abandoning its ambitions in China, or seizing the natural resources it needed in the Dutch East Indies by force;[179][180] the Japanese military did not consider the former an option, and many officers considered the oil embargo an unspoken declaration of war.[181] Japan planned to seize European colonies in Asia to create a large defensive perimeter stretching into the Central Pacific. The Japanese would then be free to exploit the resources of Southeast Asia while exhausting the over-stretched Allies by fighting a defensive war.[182][183] To prevent American intervention while securing the perimeter, it was further planned to neutralise the United States Pacific Fleet and the American military presence in the Philippines from the outset.[184] On 7 December 1941 (8 December in Asian time zones), Japan attacked British and American holdings with near-simultaneous offensives against Southeast Asia and the Central Pacific.[185] These included an attack on the American fleets at Pearl Harbor and the Philippines, as well as invasions of Guam, Wake Island, Malaya,[185] Thailand, and Hong Kong.[186] The Japanese invasion of Thailand led to Thailand's decision to ally itself with Japan and the other Japanese attacks led the United States, United Kingdom, China, Australia, and several other states to formally declare war on Japan, whereas the Soviet Union, being heavily involved in large-scale hostilities with European Axis countries, maintained its neutrality agreement with Japan.[187] Germany, followed by the other Axis states, declared war on the United States[188] in solidarity with Japan, citing as justification the American attacks on German war vessels that had been ordered by Roosevelt.[135][189] Axis advance stalls (1942–1943) U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British PM Winston Churchill seated at the Casablanca Conference, January 1943 On 1 January 1942, the Allied Big Four[190]—the Soviet Union, China, the United Kingdom, and the United States—and 22 smaller or exiled governments issued the Declaration by United Nations, thereby affirming the Atlantic Charter,[191] and agreeing not to sign a separate peace with the Axis powers.[192] During 1942, Allied officials debated on the appropriate grand strategy to pursue. All agreed that defeating Germany was the primary objective. The Americans favoured a straightforward, large-scale attack on Germany through France. The Soviets were also demanding a second front. The British, on the other hand, argued that military operations should target peripheral areas to wear out German strength, leading to increasing demoralisation, and bolster resistance forces. Germany itself would be subject to a heavy bombing campaign. An offensive against Germany would then be launched primarily by Allied armour without using large-scale armies.[193] Eventually, the British persuaded the Americans that a landing in France was infeasible in 1942 and they should instead focus on driving the Axis out of North Africa.[194] At the Casablanca Conference in early 1943, the Allies reiterated the statements issued in the 1942 Declaration and demanded the unconditional surrender of their enemies. The British and Americans agreed to continue to press the initiative in the Mediterranean by invading Sicily to fully secure the Mediterranean supply routes.[195] Although the British argued for further operations in the Balkans to bring Turkey into the war, in May 1943, the Americans extracted a British commitment to limit Allied operations in the Mediterranean to an invasion of the Italian mainland and to invade France in 1944.[196] Pacific (1942–1943) Map of Japanese military advances through mid-1942 By the end of April 1942, Japan and its ally Thailand had almost fully conquered Burma, Malaya, the Dutch East Indies, Singapore, and Rabaul, inflicting severe losses on Allied troops and taking a large number of prisoners.[197] Despite stubborn resistance by Filipino and U.S. forces, the Philippine Commonwealth was eventually captured in May 1942, forcing its government into exile.[198] On 16 April, in Burma, 7,000 British soldiers were encircled by the Japanese 33rd Division during the Battle of Yenangyaung and rescued by the Chinese 38th Division.[199] Japanese forces also achieved naval victories in the South China Sea, Java Sea, and Indian Ocean,[200] and bombed the Allied naval base at Darwin, Australia. In January 1942, the only Allied success against Japan was a Chinese victory at Changsha.[201] These easy victories over the unprepared U.S. and European opponents left Japan overconfident, as well as overextended.[202] In early May 1942, Japan initiated operations to capture Port Moresby by amphibious assault and thus sever communications and supply lines between the United States and Australia. The planned invasion was thwarted when an Allied task force, centred on two American fleet carriers, fought Japanese naval forces to a draw in the Battle of the Coral Sea.[203] Japan's next plan, motivated by the earlier Doolittle Raid, was to seize Midway Atoll and lure American carriers into battle to be eliminated; as a diversion, Japan would also send forces to occupy the Aleutian Islands in Alaska.[204] In mid-May, Japan started the Zhejiang-Jiangxi campaign in China, with the goal of inflicting retribution on the Chinese who aided the surviving American airmen in the Doolittle Raid by destroying Chinese air bases and fighting against the Chinese 23rd and 32nd Army Groups.[205][206] In early June, Japan put its operations into action, but the Americans, having broken Japanese naval codes in late May, were fully aware of the plans and order of battle, and used this knowledge to achieve a decisive victory at Midway over the Imperial Japanese Navy.[207] U.S. Marines during the Guadalcanal Campaign, in the Pacific theatre, 1942 With its capacity for aggressive action greatly diminished as a result of the Midway battle, Japan chose to focus on a belated attempt to capture Port Moresby by an overland campaign in the Territory of Papua.[208] The Americans planned a counterattack against Japanese positions in the southern Solomon Islands, primarily Guadalcanal, as a first step towards capturing Rabaul, the main Japanese base in Southeast Asia.[209] Both plans started in July, but by mid-September, the Battle for Guadalcanal took priority for the Japanese, and troops in New Guinea were ordered to withdraw from the Port Moresby area to the northern part of the island, where they faced Australian and United States troops in the Battle of Buna–Gona.[210] Guadalcanal soon became a focal point for both sides with heavy commitments of troops and ships in the battle for Guadalcanal. By the start of 1943, the Japanese were defeated on the island and withdrew their troops.[211] In Burma, Commonwealth forces mounted two operations. The first, an offensive into the Arakan region in late 1942, went disastrously, forcing a retreat back to India by May 1943.[212] The second was the insertion of irregular forces behind Japanese frontlines in February which, by the end of April, had achieved mixed results.[213] Eastern Front (1942–1943) Red Army soldiers on the counterattack during the Battle of Stalingrad, February 1943 Despite considerable losses, in early 1942 Germany and its allies stopped a major Soviet offensive in central and southern Russia, keeping most territorial gains they had achieved during the previous year.[214] In May, the Germans defeated Soviet offensives in the Kerch Peninsula and at Kharkov,[215] and then launched their main summer offensive against southern Russia in June 1942, to seize the oil fields of the Caucasus and occupy the Kuban steppe, while maintaining positions on the northern and central areas of the front. The Germans split Army Group South into two groups: Army Group A advanced to the lower Don River and struck south-east to the Caucasus, while Army Group B headed towards the Volga River. The Soviets decided to make their stand at Stalingrad on the Volga.[216] By mid-November, the Germans had nearly taken Stalingrad in bitter street fighting. The Soviets began their second winter counter-offensive, starting with an encirclement of German forces at Stalingrad,[217] and an assault on the Rzhev salient near Moscow, though the latter failed disastrously.[218] By early February 1943, the German Army had taken tremendous losses; German troops at Stalingrad had been defeated,[219] and the front-line had been pushed back beyond its position before the summer offensive. In mid-February, after the Soviet push had tapered off, the Germans launched another attack on Kharkov, creating a salient in their front line around the Soviet city of Kursk.[220] Western Europe/Atlantic and Mediterranean (1942–1943) American 8th Air Force Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress bombing raid on the Focke-Wulf factory in Germany, 9 October 1943 Exploiting poor American naval command decisions, the German navy ravaged Allied shipping off the American Atlantic coast.[221] By November 1941, Commonwealth forces had launched a counter-offensive, Operation Crusader, in North Africa, and reclaimed all the gains the Germans and Italians had made.[222] In North Africa, the Germans launched an offensive in January, pushing the British back to positions at the Gazala line by early February,[223] followed by a temporary lull in combat which Germany used to prepare for their upcoming offensives.[224] Concerns the Japanese might use bases in Vichy-held Madagascar caused the British to invade the island in early May 1942.[225] An Axis offensive in Libya forced an Allied retreat deep inside Egypt until Axis forces were stopped at El Alamein.[226] On the Continent, raids of Allied commandos on strategic targets, culminating in the disastrous Dieppe Raid,[227] demonstrated the Western Allies' inability to launch an invasion of continental Europe without much better preparation, equipment, and operational security.[228][page needed] In August 1942, the Allies succeeded in repelling a second attack against El Alamein[229] and, at a high cost, managed to deliver desperately needed supplies to the besieged Malta.[230] A few months later, the Allies commenced an attack of their own in Egypt, dislodging the Axis forces and beginning a drive west across Libya.[231] This attack was followed up shortly after by Anglo-American landings in French North Africa, which resulted in the region joining the Allies.[232] Hitler responded to the French colony's defection by ordering the occupation of Vichy France;[232] although Vichy forces did not resist this violation of the armistice, they managed to scuttle their fleet to prevent its capture by German forces.[232][233] The Axis forces in Africa withdrew into Tunisia, which was conquered by the Allies in May 1943.[232][234] In June 1943, the British and Americans began a strategic bombing campaign against Germany with a goal to disrupt the war economy, reduce morale, and "de-house" the civilian population.[235] The firebombing of Hamburg was among the first attacks in this campaign, inflicting significant casualties and considerable losses on infrastructure of this important industrial centre.[236] Allies gain momentum (1943–1944) U.S. Navy SBD-5 scout plane flying patrol over USS Washington and USS Lexington during the Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign, 1943 After the Guadalcanal campaign, the Allies initiated several operations against Japan in the Pacific. In May 1943, Canadian and U.S. forces were sent to eliminate Japanese forces from the Aleutians.[237] Soon after, the United States, with support from Australia, New Zealand and Pacific Islander forces, began major ground, sea and air operations to isolate Rabaul by capturing surrounding islands, and breach the Japanese Central Pacific perimeter at the Gilbert and Marshall Islands.[238] By the end of March 1944, the Allies had completed both of these objectives and had also neutralised the major Japanese base at Truk in the Caroline Islands. In April, the Allies launched an operation to retake Western New Guinea.[239] In the Soviet Union, both the Germans and the Soviets spent the spring and early summer of 1943 preparing for large offensives in central Russia. On 5 July 1943, Germany attacked Soviet forces around the Kursk Bulge. Within a week, German forces had exhausted themselves against the Soviets' deeply echeloned and well-constructed defences,[240] and for the first time in the war, Hitler cancelled an operation before it had achieved tactical or operational success.[241] This decision was partially affected by the Western Allies' invasion of Sicily launched on 9 July, which, combined with previous Italian failures, resulted in the ousting and arrest of Mussolini later that month.[242] Red Army troops in a counter-offensive on German positions at the Battle of Kursk, July 1943 On 12 July 1943, the Soviets launched their own counter-offensives, thereby dispelling any chance of German victory or even stalemate in the east. The Soviet victory at Kursk marked the end of German superiority,[243] giving the Soviet Union the initiative on the Eastern Front.[244][245] The Germans tried to stabilise their eastern front along the hastily fortified Panther–Wotan line, but the Soviets broke through it at Smolensk and by the Lower Dnieper Offensive.[246] On 3 September 1943, the Western Allies invaded the Italian mainland, following Italy's armistice with the Allies and the ensuing German occupation of Italy.[247] Germany, with the help of fascists, responded to the armistice by disarming Italian forces that were in many places without superior orders, seizing military control of Italian areas,[248] and creating a series of defensive lines.[249] German special forces then rescued Mussolini, who then soon established a new client state in German-occupied Italy named the Italian Social Republic,[250] causing an Italian civil war. The Western Allies fought through several lines until reaching the main German defensive line in mid-November.[251] German operations in the Atlantic also suffered. By May 1943, as Allied counter-measures became increasingly effective, the resulting sizeable German submarine losses forced a temporary halt of the German Atlantic naval campaign.[252] In November 1943, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill met with Chiang Kai-shek in Cairo and then with Joseph Stalin in Tehran.[253] The former conference determined the post-war return of Japanese territory[254] and the military planning for the Burma campaign,[255] while the latter included agreement that the Western Allies would invade Europe in 1944 and that the Soviet Union would declare war on Japan within three months of Germany's defeat.[256] Ruins of the Benedictine monastery, during the Battle of Monte Cassino, Italian Campaign, May 1944 From November 1943, during the seven-week Battle of Changde, the Chinese forced Japan to fight a costly war of attrition, while awaiting Allied relief.[257][258][259][unreliable source?] In January 1944, the Allies launched a series of attacks in Italy against the line at Monte Cassino and tried to outflank it with landings at Anzio.[260] On 27 January 1944, Soviet troops launched a major offensive that expelled German forces from the Leningrad region, thereby ending the most lethal siege in history.[261] The following Soviet offensive was halted on the pre-war Estonian border by the German Army Group North aided by Estonians hoping to re-establish national independence. This delay slowed subsequent Soviet operations in the Baltic Sea region.[262] By late May 1944, the Soviets had liberated Crimea, largely expelled Axis forces from Ukraine, and made incursions into Romania, which were repulsed by the Axis troops.[263] The Allied offensives in Italy had succeeded and, at the expense of allowing several German divisions to retreat, Rome was captured on June 4.[264] The Allies had mixed success in mainland Asia. In March 1944, the Japanese launched the first of two invasions, an operation against Allied positions in Assam, India,[265] and soon besieged Commonwealth positions at Imphal and Kohima.[266] In May 1944, British and Indian forces mounted a counter-offensive that drove Japanese troops back to Burma by July,[266] and Chinese forces that had invaded northern Burma in late 1943 besieged Japanese troops in Myitkyina.[267] The second Japanese invasion of China aimed to destroy China's main fighting forces, secure railways between Japanese-held territory and capture Allied airfields.[268] By June, the Japanese had conquered the province of Henan and begun a new attack on Changsha.[269] Allies close in (1944) American troops approaching Omaha Beach during the invasion of Normandy on D-Day, 6 June 1944 On 6 June 1944 (known as D-Day), after three years of Soviet pressure,[270] the Western Allies invaded northern France. After reassigning several Allied divisions from Italy, they also attacked southern France.[271] These landings were successful and led to the defeat of the German Army units in France. Paris was liberated on 25 August by the local resistance assisted by the Free French Forces, both led by General Charles de Gaulle,[272] and the Western Allies continued to push back German forces in western Europe during the latter part of the year. An attempt to advance into northern Germany spearheaded by a major airborne operation in the Netherlands failed.[273] After that, the Western Allies slowly pushed into Germany, but failed to cross the Rur river in a large offensive. In Italy, Allied advance also slowed due to the last major German defensive line.[274] German SS soldiers from the Dirlewanger Brigade, tasked with suppressing the Warsaw Uprising against Nazi occupation, August 1944 On 22 June, the Soviets launched a strategic offensive in Belarus ("Operation Bagration") that almost completely destroyed the German Army Group Centre.[275] Soon after that, another Soviet strategic offensive forced German troops from Western Ukraine and Eastern Poland. The Soviets formed the Polish Committee of National Liberation to control territory in Poland and combat the Polish Armia Krajowa; the Soviet Red Army remained in the Praga district on the other side of the Vistula and watched passively as the Germans quelled the Warsaw Uprising initiated by the Armia Krajowa.[276] The national uprising in Slovakia was also quelled by the Germans.[277] The Soviet Red Army's strategic offensive in eastern Romania cut off and destroyed the considerable German troops there and triggered a successful coup d'état in Romania and in Bulgaria, followed by those countries' shift to the Allied side.[278] In September 1944, Soviet troops advanced into Yugoslavia and forced the rapid withdrawal of German Army Groups E and F in Greece, Albania and Yugoslavia to rescue them from being cut off.[279] By this point, the communist-led Partisans under Marshal Josip Broz Tito, who had led an increasingly successful guerrilla campaign against the occupation since 1941, controlled much of the territory of Yugoslavia and engaged in delaying efforts against German forces further south. In northern Serbia, the Soviet Red Army, with limited support from Bulgarian forces, assisted the Partisans in a joint liberation of the capital city of Belgrade on 20 October. A few days later, the Soviets launched a massive assault against German-occupied Hungary that lasted until the fall of Budapest in February 1945.[280] Unlike impressive Soviet victories in the Balkans, bitter Finnish resistance to the Soviet offensive in the Karelian Isthmus denied the Soviets occupation of Finland and led to a Soviet-Finnish armistice on relatively mild conditions,[281] although Finland was forced to fight their former German allies.[282] General Douglas MacArthur returns to the Philippines during the Battle of Leyte, 20 October 1944 By the start of July 1944, Commonwealth forces in Southeast Asia had repelled the Japanese sieges in Assam, pushing the Japanese back to the Chindwin River[283] while the Chinese captured Myitkyina. In September 1944, Chinese forces captured Mount Song and reopened the Burma Road.[284] In China, the Japanese had more successes, having finally captured Changsha in mid-June and the city of Hengyang by early August.[285] Soon after, they invaded the province of Guangxi, winning major engagements against Chinese forces at Guilin and Liuzhou by the end of November[286] and successfully linking up their forces in China and Indochina by mid-December.[287] In the Pacific, U.S. forces continued to press back the Japanese perimeter. In mid-June 1944, they began their offensive against the Mariana and Palau islands and decisively defeated Japanese forces in the Battle of the Philippine Sea. These defeats led to the resignation of the Japanese Prime Minister, Hideki Tojo, and provided the United States with air bases to launch intensive heavy bomber attacks on the Japanese home islands. In late October, American forces invaded the Filipino island of Leyte; soon after, Allied naval forces scored another large victory in the Battle of Leyte Gulf, one of the largest naval battles in history.[288] Axis collapse and Allied victory (1944–1945) Yalta Conference held in February 1945, with Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Joseph Stalin On 16 December 1944, Germany made a last attempt on the Western Front by using most of its remaining reserves to launch a massive counter-offensive in the Ardennes and along the French-German border to split the Western Allies, encircle large portions of Western Allied troops and capture their primary supply port at Antwerp to prompt a political settlement.[289] By 16 January 1945, the offensive had been repulsed with no strategic objectives fulfilled.[289] In Italy, the Western Allies remained stalemated at the German defensive line. In mid-January 1945, the Red Army attacked in Poland, pushing from the Vistula to the Oder river in Germany, and overran East Prussia.[290] On 4 February Soviet, British, and U.S. leaders met for the Yalta Conference. They agreed on the occupation of post-war Germany, and on when the Soviet Union would join the war against Japan.[291] In February, the Soviets entered Silesia and Pomerania, while the Western Allies entered western Germany and closed to the Rhine river. By March, the Western Allies crossed the Rhine north and south of the Ruhr, encircling the German Army Group B.[292] In early March, in an attempt to protect its last oil reserves in Hungary and to retake Budapest, Germany launched its last major offensive against Soviet troops near Lake Balaton. In two weeks, the offensive had been repulsed, the Soviets advanced to Vienna, and captured the city. In early April, Soviet troops captured Königsberg, while the Western Allies finally pushed forward in Italy and swept across western Germany capturing Hamburg and Nuremberg. American and Soviet forces met at the Elbe river on 25 April, leaving several unoccupied pockets in southern Germany and around Berlin. Ruins of the Reichstag in Berlin, 3 June 1945. Soviet troops stormed and captured Berlin in late April.[293] In Italy, German forces surrendered on 29 April. On 30 April, the Reichstag was captured, signalling the military defeat of Nazi Germany,[294] and the Berlin garrison surrendered on 2 May. Major changes in leadership occurred on both sides during this period. On 12 April, President Roosevelt died and was succeeded by his vice president, Harry S. Truman. Benito Mussolini was killed by Italian partisans on 28 April.[295] On 30 April, Hitler committed suicide in his headquarters, and he was succeeded by Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz and Joseph Goebbels. Total and unconditional surrender in Europe was signed on 7 and 8 May, to be effective by the end of 8 May.[296] German Army Group Centre resisted in Prague until 11 May.[297] In the Pacific theatre, American forces accompanied by the forces of the Philippine Commonwealth advanced in the Philippines, clearing Leyte by the end of April 1945. They landed on Luzon in January 1945 and recaptured Manila in March. Fighting continued on Luzon, Mindanao, and other islands of the Philippines until the end of the war.[298] Meanwhile, the United States Army Air Forces launched a massive firebombing campaign of strategic cities in Japan in an effort to destroy Japanese war industry and civilian morale. A devastating bombing raid on Tokyo of 9–10 March was the deadliest conventional bombing raid in history.[299] In May 1945, Australian troops landed in Borneo, overrunning the oilfields there. British, American, and Chinese forces defeated the Japanese in northern Burma in March, and the British pushed on to reach Rangoon by 3 May.[300] Chinese forces started a counterattack in the Battle of West Hunan that occurred between 6 April and 7 June 1945. American naval and amphibious forces also moved towards Japan, taking Iwo Jima by March, and Okinawa by the end of June.[301] At the same time, a naval blockade by submarines was strangling Japan's economy and drastically reducing its ability to supply overseas forces.[302][303] Japanese foreign affairs minister Mamoru Shigemitsu signs the Japanese Instrument of Surrender on board USS Missouri, 2 September 1945. On 11 July, Allied leaders met in Potsdam, Germany. They confirmed earlier agreements about Germany,[304] and the American, British and Chinese governments reiterated the demand for unconditional surrender of Japan, specifically stating that "the alternative for Japan is prompt and utter destruction".[305] During this conference, the United Kingdom held its general election, and Clement Attlee replaced Churchill as Prime Minister.[306] The call for unconditional surrender was rejected by the Japanese government, which believed it would be capable of negotiating for more favourable surrender terms.[307] In early August, the United States dropped atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Between the two bombings, the Soviets, pursuant to the Yalta agreement, invaded Japanese-held Manchuria and quickly defeated the Kwantung Army, which was the largest Japanese fighting force.[308] These two events persuaded previously adamant Imperial Army leaders to accept surrender terms.[309] The Red Army also captured the southern part of Sakhalin Island and the Kuril Islands. On the night of 9–10 August 1945, Emperor Hirohito announced his decision to accept the terms demanded by the Allies in the Potsdam Declaration.[310] On 15 August, the Emperor communicated this decision to the Japanese people through a speech broadcast on the radio (Gyokuon-hōsō, literally "broadcast in the Emperor's voice").[311] On 15 August 1945, Japan surrendered, with the surrender documents finally signed at Tokyo Bay on the deck of the American battleship USS Missouri on 2 September 1945, ending the war.[312] Aftermath Main articles: Aftermath of World War II and Consequences of Nazism Ruins of Warsaw in 1945, after the deliberate destruction of the city by the occupying German forces The Allies established occupation administrations in Austria and Germany, both initially divided between western and eastern occupation zones controlled by the Western Allies and the Soviet Union, respectively. However, their paths soon diverged. In Germany, the western and eastern occupation zones controlled by the Western Allies and the Soviet Union officially ended in 1949, with the respective zones becoming separate countries, West Germany and East Germany.[313] In Austria, however, occupation continued until 1955, when a joint settlement between the Western Allies and the Soviet Union permitted the reunification of Austria as a neutral democratic state, officially non-aligned with any political bloc (although in practice having better relations with the Western Allies). A denazification program in Germany led to the prosecution of Nazi war criminals in the Nuremberg trials and the removal of ex-Nazis from power, although this policy moved towards amnesty and re-integration of ex-Nazis into West German society.[314] Germany lost a quarter of its pre-war (1937) territory. Among the eastern territories, Silesia, Neumark and most of Pomerania were taken over by Poland,[315] and East Prussia was divided between Poland and the Soviet Union, followed by the expulsion to Germany of the nine million Germans from these provinces,[316][317] as well as three million Germans from the Sudetenland in Czechoslovakia. By the 1950s, one-fifth of West Germans were refugees from the east. The Soviet Union also took over the Polish provinces east of the Curzon line,[318] from which 2 million Poles were expelled;[317][319] north-east Romania,[320][321] parts of eastern Finland,[322] and the three Baltic states were annexed into the Soviet Union.[323][324] Italy lost its monarchy, colonial empire and some European territories.[325] Defendants at the Nuremberg trials, where the Allied forces prosecuted prominent members of the political, military, judicial and economic leadership of Nazi Germany for crimes against humanity In an effort to maintain world peace,[326] the Allies formed the United Nations,[327] which officially came into existence on 24 October 1945,[328] and adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948 as a common standard for all member nations.[329] The great powers that were the victors of the war—France, China, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and the United States—became the permanent members of the UN's Security Council.[330] The five permanent members remain so to the present, although there have been two seat changes, between the Republic of China and the People's Republic of China in 1971, and between the Soviet Union and its successor state, the Russian Federation, following the dissolution of the USSR in 1991. The alliance between the Western Allies and the Soviet Union had begun to deteriorate even before the war was over.[331] Post-war border changes in Central Europe and creation of the Communist Eastern Bloc Besides Germany, the rest of Europe was also divided into Western and Soviet spheres of influence.[332] Most eastern and central European countries fell into the Soviet sphere, which led to establishment of Communist-led regimes, with full or partial support of the Soviet occupation authorities. As a result, East Germany,[333] Poland, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, and Albania[334] became Soviet satellite states. Communist Yugoslavia conducted a fully independent policy, causing tension with the Soviet Union.[335] A Communist uprising in Greece was put down with Anglo-American support and the country remained aligned with the West.[336] Post-war division of the world was formalised by two international military alliances, the United States-led NATO and the Soviet-led Warsaw Pact.[337] The long period of political tensions and military competition between them, the Cold War, would be accompanied by an unprecedented arms race and number of proxy wars throughout the world.[338] In Asia, the United States led the occupation of Japan and administered Japan's former islands in the Western Pacific, while the Soviets annexed South Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands.[339] Korea, formerly under Japanese colonial rule, was divided and occupied by the Soviet Union in the North and the United States in the South between 1945 and 1948. Separate republics emerged on both sides of the 38th parallel in 1948, each claiming to be the legitimate government for all of Korea, which led ultimately to the Korean War.[340] David Ben-Gurion proclaiming the Israeli Declaration of Independence at the Independence Hall, 14 May 1948 In China, nationalist and communist forces resumed the civil war in June 1946. Communist forces were victorious and established the People's Republic of China on the mainland, while nationalist forces retreated to Taiwan in 1949.[341] In the Middle East, the Arab rejection of the United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine and the creation of Israel marked the escalation of the Arab–Israeli conflict. While European powers attempted to retain some or all of their colonial empires, their losses of prestige and resources during the war rendered this unsuccessful, leading to decolonisation.[342][343] The global economy suffered heavily from the war, although participating nations were affected differently. The United States emerged much richer than any other nation, leading to a baby boom, and by 1950 its gross domestic product per person was much higher than that of any of the other powers, and it dominated the world economy.[344] The Allied occupational authorities pursued a policy of industrial disarmament in Western Germany from 1945 to 1948.[345] Due to international trade interdependencies, this policy led to an economic stagnation in Europe and delayed European recovery from the war for several years.[346][347] At the Bretton Woods Conference in July 1944, the Allied nations drew up an economic framework for the post-war world. The agreement created the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), which later became part of the World Bank Group. The Bretton Woods system lasted until 1973.[348] Recovery began with the mid-1948 currency reform in Western Germany, and was sped up by the liberalisation of European economic policy that the U.S. Marshall Plan economic aid (1948–1951) both directly and indirectly caused.[349][350] The post-1948 West German recovery has been called the German economic miracle.[351] Italy also experienced an economic boom[352] and the French economy rebounded.[353] By contrast, the United Kingdom was in a state of economic ruin,[354] and although receiving a quarter of the total Marshall Plan assistance, more than any other European country,[355] it continued in relative economic decline for decades.[356] The Soviet Union, despite enormous human and material losses, also experienced rapid increase in production in the immediate post-war era,[357] having seized and transferred most of Germany's industrial plants and exacted war reparations from its satellite states.[b][358] Japan recovered much later.[359] China returned to its pre-war industrial production by 1952.[360] Impact Main article: Historiography of World War II Casualties and war crimes Main article: World War II casualties Further information: List of war crimes committed during World War II World War II deaths Estimates for the total number of casualties in the war vary, because many deaths went unrecorded.[361] Most suggest that some 60 million people died in the war, including about 20 million military personnel and 40 million civilians.[362][363][364] Many of the civilians died because of deliberate genocide, massacres, mass bombings, disease, and starvation. The Soviet Union alone lost around 27 million people during the war,[365] including 8.7 million military and 19 million civilian deaths.[366] A quarter of the total people in the Soviet Union were wounded or killed.[367] Germany sustained 5.3 million military losses, mostly on the Eastern Front and during the final battles in Germany.[368] An estimated 11[369] to 17 million[370] civilians died as a direct or as an indirect result of Hitler's racist policies, including mass killing of around 6 million Jews, along with Roma, homosexuals, at least 1.9 million ethnic Poles[371][372] and millions of other Slavs (including Russians, Ukrainians and Belarusians), and other ethnic and minority groups.[373][370] Between 1941 and 1945, more than 200,000 ethnic Serbs, along with gypsies and Jews, were persecuted and murdered by the Axis-aligned Croatian Ustaše in Yugoslavia.[374] Concurrently, Muslims and Croats were persecuted and killed by Serb nationalist Chetniks,[375] with an estimated 50,000–68,000 victims (of which 41,000 were civilians).[376] Also, more than 100,000 Poles were massacred by the Ukrainian Insurgent Army in the Volhynia massacres, between 1943 and 1945.[377] At the same time, about 10,000–15,000 Ukrainians were killed by the Polish Home Army and other Polish units, in reprisal attacks.[378] Bodies of Chinese civilians killed by the Imperial Japanese Army during the Nanking Massacre in December 1937 In Asia and the Pacific, the number of people killed by Japanese troops remains contested. According to R.J. Rummel, the Japanese killed between 3 million and more than 10 million people, with the most probable case of almost 6,000,000 people.[379] According to the British historian M. R. D. Foot, civilian deaths are between 10 million and 20 million, whereas Chinese military casualties (killed and wounded) are estimated to be over five million.[380] Other estimates say that up to 30 million people, most of them civilians, were killed.[381][382] The most infamous Japanese atrocity was the Nanking Massacre, in which fifty to three hundred thousand Chinese civilians were raped and murdered.[383] Mitsuyoshi Himeta reported that 2.7 million casualties occurred during the Sankō Sakusen. General Yasuji Okamura implemented the policy in Heipei and Shantung.[384] Axis forces employed biological and chemical weapons. The Imperial Japanese Army used a variety of such weapons during its invasion and occupation of China (see Unit 731)[385][386] and in early conflicts against the Soviets.[387] Both the Germans and the Japanese tested such weapons against civilians,[388] and sometimes on prisoners of war.[389] The Soviet Union was responsible for the Katyn massacre of 22,000 Polish officers,[390] and the imprisonment or execution of hundreds of thousands of political prisoners by the NKVD secret police, along with mass civilian deportations to Siberia, in the Baltic states and eastern Poland annexed by the Red Army.[391] Soviet soldiers committed mass rapes in occupied territories, especially in Germany.[392][393] The exact number of German women and girls raped by Soviet troops during the war and occupation is uncertain, but historians estimate their numbers are likely in the hundreds of thousands, and possibly as many as two million,[394] while figures for women raped by German soldiers in the Soviet Union go as far as ten million.[395][396] The mass bombing of cities in Europe and Asia has often been called a war crime, although no positive or specific customary international humanitarian law with respect to aerial warfare existed before or during World War II.[397] The USAAF bombed a total of 67 Japanese cities, killing 393,000 civilians, including from the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and destroying 65% of built-up areas.[398] Genocide, concentration camps, and slave labour Main articles: The Holocaust, Nazi concentration camps, Extermination camp, Forced labour under German rule during World War II, Kidnapping of children by Nazi Germany, Nazi human experimentation, Soviet war crimes § World War II, and Japanese war crimes Schutzstaffel (SS) female camp guards removing prisoners' bodies from lorries and carrying them to a mass grave, inside the German Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, 1945 Nazi Germany, under the dictatorship of Adolf Hitler, was responsible for murdering about 6 million Jews in what is now known as the Holocaust. They also murdered an additional 4 million others who were deemed "unworthy of life" (including the disabled and mentally ill, Soviet prisoners of war, Romani, homosexuals, Freemasons, and Jehovah's Witnesses) as part of a program of deliberate extermination, in effect becoming a "genocidal state".[399] Soviet POWs were kept in especially unbearable conditions, and 3.6 million Soviet POWs out of 5.7 million died in Nazi camps during the war.[400][401] In addition to concentration camps, death camps were created in Nazi Germany to exterminate people on an industrial scale. Nazi Germany extensively used forced labourers; about 12 million Europeans from German-occupied countries were abducted and used as a slave work force in German industry, agriculture and war economy.[402] The Soviet Gulag became a de facto system of deadly camps during 1942–43, when wartime privation and hunger caused numerous deaths of inmates,[403] including foreign citizens of Poland and other countries occupied in 1939–40 by the Soviet Union, as well as Axis POWs.[404] By the end of the war, most Soviet POWs liberated from Nazi camps and many repatriated civilians were detained in special filtration camps where they were subjected to NKVD evaluation, and 226,127 were sent to the Gulag as real or perceived Nazi collaborators.[405] Prisoner identity photograph taken by the German SS of a Polish Catholic girl who was murdered in Auschwitz.[406] Approximately 230,000 children were held prisoner and used in forced labour and Nazi medical experiments. Japanese prisoner-of-war camps, many of which were used as labour camps, also had high death rates. The International Military Tribunal for the Far East found the death rate of Western prisoners was 27 percent (for American POWs, 37 percent),[407] seven times that of POWs under the Germans and Italians.[408] While 37,583 prisoners from the UK, 28,500 from the Netherlands, and 14,473 from the United States were released after the surrender of Japan, the number of Chinese released was only 56.[409] At least five million Chinese civilians from northern China and Manchukuo were enslaved between 1935 and 1941 by the East Asia Development Board, or Kōain, for work in mines and war industries. After 1942, the number reached 10 million.[410] In Java, between 4 and 10 million rōmusha (Japanese: "manual labourers"), were forced to work by the Japanese military. About 270,000 of these Javanese labourers were sent to other Japanese-held areas in Southeast Asia, and only 52,000 were repatriated to Java.[411] Occupation Main articles: German-occupied Europe, Resistance during World War II, Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, Collaboration with Imperial Japan, and Nazi plunder Polish civilians wearing blindfolds photographed just before being massacred by German soldiers in Palmiry forest, 1940 In Europe, occupation came under two forms. In Western, Northern, and Central Europe (France, Norway, Denmark, the Low Countries, and the annexed portions of Czechoslovakia) Germany established economic policies through which it collected roughly 69.5 billion reichsmarks (27.8 billion U.S. dollars) by the end of the war; this figure does not include the sizeable plunder of industrial products, military equipment, raw materials and other goods.[412] Thus, the income from occupied nations was over 40 percent of the income Germany collected from taxation, a figure which increased to nearly 40 percent of total German income as the war went on.[413] Soviet partisans hanged by the German army. The Russian Academy of Sciences reported in 1995 that civilian victims in the Soviet Union at German hands totalled 13.7 million dead, twenty percent of the 68 million people in the occupied Soviet Union. In the East, the intended gains of Lebensraum were never attained as fluctuating front-lines and Soviet scorched earth policies denied resources to the German invaders.[414] Unlike in the West, the Nazi racial policy encouraged extreme brutality against what it considered to be the "inferior people" of Slavic descent; most German advances were thus followed by mass atrocities and war crimes.[415] The Nazis killed an estimated 2.77 million ethnic Poles during the war in addition to Polish-Jewish victims of the Holocaust.[416][better source needed] Although resistance groups formed in most occupied territories, they did not significantly hamper German operations in either the East[417] or the West[418] until late 1943. In Asia, Japan termed nations under its occupation as being part of the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere, essentially a Japanese hegemony which it claimed was for purposes of liberating colonised peoples.[419] Although Japanese forces were sometimes welcomed as liberators from European domination, Japanese war crimes frequently turned local public opinion against them.[420] During Japan's initial conquest, it captured 4,000,000 barrels (640,000 m3) of oil (~550,000 tonnes) left behind by retreating Allied forces; and by 1943, was able to get production in the Dutch East Indies up to 50 million barrels (7,900,000 m3) of oil (~6.8 million tonnes), 76 percent of its 1940 output rate.[420] Home fronts and production Main articles: Military production during World War II and Home front during World War II Graphs are temporarily unavailable due to technical issues. Allies to Axis GDP ratio between 1938 and 1945 In Europe, before the outbreak of the war, the Allies had significant advantages in both population and economics. In 1938, the Western Allies (United Kingdom, France, Poland and the British Dominions) had a 30 percent larger population and a 30 percent higher gross domestic product than the European Axis powers (Germany and Italy); if colonies are included, the Allies had more than a 5:1 advantage in population and a nearly 2:1 advantage in GDP.[421] In Asia at the same time, China had roughly six times the population of Japan but only an 89 percent higher GDP; this is reduced to three times the population and only a 38 percent higher GDP if Japanese colonies are included.[421] The United States produced about two-thirds of all the munitions used by the Allies in World War II, including warships, transports, warplanes, artillery, tanks, trucks, and ammunition.[422] Though the Allies' economic and population advantages were largely mitigated during the initial rapid blitzkrieg attacks of Germany and Japan, they became the decisive factor by 1942, after the United States and Soviet Union joined the Allies, as the war largely settled into one of attrition.[423] While the Allies' ability to out-produce the Axis is often attributed[by whom?] to the Allies having more access to natural resources, other factors, such as Germany and Japan's reluctance to employ women in the labour force,[424] Allied strategic bombing,[425] and Germany's late shift to a war economy[426] contributed significantly. Additionally, neither Germany nor Japan planned to fight a protracted war, and had not equipped themselves to do so.[427] To improve their production, Germany and Japan used millions of slave labourers;[428] Germany used about 12 million people, mostly from Eastern Europe,[402] while Japan used more than 18 million people in Far East Asia.[410][411] Advances in technology and its application Main article: Technology during World War II B-29 Superfortress strategic bombers on the Boeing assembly line in Wichita, Kansas, 1944 Aircraft were used for reconnaissance, as fighters, bombers, and ground-support, and each role developed considerably. Innovations included airlift (the capability to quickly move limited high-priority supplies, equipment, and personnel);[429] and strategic bombing (the bombing of enemy industrial and population centres to destroy the enemy's ability to wage war).[430] Anti-aircraft weaponry also advanced, including defences such as radar and surface-to-air artillery, in particular the introduction of the proximity fuze. The use of the jet aircraft was pioneered and, though late introduction meant it had little impact, it led to jets becoming standard in air forces worldwide.[431] Advances were made in nearly every aspect of naval warfare, most notably with aircraft carriers and submarines. Although aeronautical warfare had relatively little success at the start of the war, actions at Taranto, Pearl Harbor, and the Coral Sea established the carrier as the dominant capital ship (in place of the battleship).[432][433][434] In the Atlantic, escort carriers became a vital part of Allied convoys, increasing the effective protection radius and helping to close the Mid-Atlantic gap.[435] Carriers were also more economical than battleships because of the relatively low cost of aircraft[436] and not requiring to be as heavily armoured.[437] Submarines, which had proved to be an effective weapon during the First World War,[438] were expected by all combatants to be important in the second. The British focused development on anti-submarine weaponry and tactics, such as sonar and convoys, while Germany focused on improving its offensive capability, with designs such as the Type VII submarine and wolfpack tactics.[439][better source needed] Gradually, improving Allied technologies such as the Leigh light, hedgehog, squid, and homing torpedoes proved effective against German submarines.[440] A V-2 rocket launched from a fixed site in Peenemünde, 21 June 1943 Land warfare changed from the static frontlines of trench warfare of World War I, which had relied on improved artillery that outmatched the speed of both infantry and cavalry, to increased mobility and combined arms. The tank, which had been used predominantly for infantry support in the First World War, had evolved into the primary weapon.[441] In the late 1930s, tank design was considerably more advanced than it had been during World War I,[442] and advances continued throughout the war with increases in speed, armour and firepower.[443][444] At the start of the war, most commanders thought enemy tanks should be met by tanks with superior specifications.[445] This idea was challenged by the poor performance of the relatively light early tank guns against armour, and German doctrine of avoiding tank-versus-tank combat. This, along with Germany's use of combined arms, were among the key elements of their highly successful blitzkrieg tactics across Poland and France.[441] Many means of destroying tanks, including indirect artillery, anti-tank guns (both towed and self-propelled), mines, short-ranged infantry antitank weapons, and other tanks were used.[445] Even with large-scale mechanisation, infantry remained the backbone of all forces,[446] and throughout the war, most infantry were equipped similarly to World War I.[447] The portable machine gun spread, a notable example being the German MG 34, and various submachine guns which were suited to close combat in urban and jungle settings.[447] The assault rifle, a late war development incorporating many features of the rifle and submachine gun, became the standard post-war infantry weapon for most armed forces.[448] Nuclear Gadget being raised to the top of the detonation "shot tower", at Alamogordo Bombing Range; Trinity nuclear test, New Mexico, July 1945 Most major belligerents attempted to solve the problems of complexity and security involved in using large codebooks for cryptography by designing ciphering machines, the most well-known being the German Enigma machine.[449] Development of SIGINT (signals intelligence) and cryptanalysis enabled the countering process of decryption. Notable examples were the Allied decryption of Japanese naval codes[450] and British Ultra, a pioneering method for decoding Enigma benefiting from information given to the United Kingdom by the Polish Cipher Bureau, which had been decoding early versions of Enigma before the war.[451] Another aspect of military intelligence was the use of deception, which the Allies used to great effect, such as in operations Mincemeat and Bodyguard.[450][452] Other technological and engineering feats achieved during, or as a result of, the war include the world's first programmable computers (Z3, Colossus, and ENIAC), guided missiles and modern rockets, the Manhattan Project's development of nuclear weapons, operations research, the development of artificial harbours and oil pipelines under the English Channel.[453] Penicillin was first developed, mass-produced and used during the war.[454] See also World War II portal Opposition to World War II World War III Notes  While various other dates have been proposed as the date on which World War II began or ended, this is the time span most frequently cited.  Reparations were exacted from East Germany, Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria using Soviet-dominated joint enterprises. The USSR also instituted trading arrangements deliberately designed to favour the country. Moscow controlled the Communist parties that ruled the satellite states, and they followed orders from the Kremlin. Historian Mark Kramer concludes: "The net outflow of resources from eastern Europe to the Soviet Union was approximately $15 billion to $20 billion in the first decade after World War II, an amount roughly equal to the total aid provided by the United States to western Europe under the Marshall Plan."
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