Official World War 2 Discussion Thread

[Thorae]

The European Theater

German Aggression
The war in Europe began in September 1939, when Germany, under Chancellor Adolf Hitler, invaded Poland. Britain and France responded by declaring war on Germany but took little action over the following months. In 1940, Germany launched its next initiative by attacking Denmark and Norway, followed shortly thereafter by attacks on Belgium, the Netherlands, and France. All of these nations were conquered rapidly.

The Battle of Britain
Later in the summer of 1940, Germany launched a further attack on Britain, this time exclusively from the air. The Battle of Britain was Germany’s first military failure, as the German air force, the Luftwaffe, was never able to overcome Britain’s Royal Air Force.

Greece and North Africa
As Hitler plotted his next steps, Italy, an ally of Germany, expanded the war even further by invading Greece and North Africa. The Greek campaign was a failure, and Germany was forced to come to Italy’s assistance in early 1941.

The USSR
Later in 1941, Germany began its most ambitious action yet, by invading the Soviet Union. Although the Germans initially made swift progress and advanced deep into the Russian heartland, the invasion of the USSR would prove to be the downfall of Germany’s war effort. The country was just too big, and although Russia’s initial resistance was weak, the nation’s strength and determination, combined with its brutal winters, would eventually be more than the German army could overcome. In 1943, after the battles of Stalingrad and Kursk, Germany was forced into a full-scale retreat. During the course of 1944, the Germans were slowly but steadily forced completely out of Soviet territory, after which the Russians pursued them across eastern Europe and into Germany itself in 1945.

The Normandy Invasion
In June 1944, British and American forces launched the D-Day invasion, landing in German-occupied France via the coast of Normandy. Soon the German army was forced into retreat from that side as well. Thus, by early 1945, Allied forces were closing in on Germany from both east and west. The Soviets were the first to reach the German capital of Berlin, and Germany surrendered in May 1945, shortly after the suicide of Adolf Hitler.

The Pacific Theater

Pearl Harbor
The war in the Pacific began on December 7, 1941, when warplanes from Japan launched a surprise attack on the U.S. Navy base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. By this time, Japan had already been at war with China for several years and had seized the Chinese territory of Manchuria. After the Pearl Harbor attack, Japan began a massive campaign of expansion throughout the Southeast Asia–Pacific region.

The U.S. Entrance and Battle of Midway
Although the Pearl Harbor attack provoked a declaration of war by the United States on Japan the very next day, it would be several months before U.S. forces would get seriously involved militarily. In late spring of 1942, the United States and Japan engaged in a series of naval battles, climaxing in the Battle of Midway on June 3–6, 1942, in which Japan suffered a catastrophic defeat.

The Solomon Islands and Guadalcanal
For the next year, the United States engaged Japan in a protracted struggle for the Solomon Islands, which lay near vital Allied shipping routes. Between August 1942 and February 1943, Allied forces carried out an invasion on the island of Guadalcanal—the beginning of a long series of Allied offensives that would eventually force the Japanese out of the Solomons and then pursue them from various other Pacific island chains that the Japanese had earlier seized. In the meantime, British and Indian forces were combating Japanese troops in Burma.

The Approach to Japan
Fighting continued throughout the Pacific in 1944 and early 1945, including major battles at Leyte, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa. By the late spring of 1945, most of Japan’s conquests had been liberated, and Allied forces were closing in on the Japanese home islands. As they neared Japan proper, the Allies began heavy bombing campaigns against major Japanese cities, including Tokyo. This process continued through the summer of 1945 until finally, in early August, the United States dropped two atomic bombs on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Stunned by the unexpected devastation, Japan surrendered a few days later.

[Shuckle]

Discussion, not lecture.

[Thorae]

I'm using it as a discussion starter. Now please edit your post.

[Shuckle]

Typically, in discussions, people don't go back in time and change what they've said.

[Thorae]

Kwhatever.

Was the nuke on Japan needed for peace or not?

[Shuckle]

There might have been better choices, but whatever, it worked.

[Max Obstruction]

Kwhatever.

Was the nuke on Japan needed for peace or not?

Nah. I think the Japanese government realized it was going to be destroyed if they didn't stop. They did care about their citizens. An attack on Tokyo would have been worse to them, than continuing.

[PotatoMasher]

Is there anyway to move that huge discussion on the atomic bombs that me in and Grim had a while ago into here? I think its fits perfectly. Although Grim did not do a very good job defending his point

[Max Obstruction]

Is there anyway to move that huge discussion on the atomic bombs that me in and Grim had a while ago into here? I think its fits perfectly. Although Grim did not do a very good job defending his point

Eisenhower said it was useless. We could have at least thrown it on a remote military base, couldn't we?
They surrendered conditionally.

[PotatoMasher]

That would have been a waste of time, money, and resources. We also warned Japan and gave them plenty of time to surrender before the first bomb.
Hey this argument looks familiar.

[Max Obstruction]

How? We couldn't just go to a Japanese occupied island and blow that up? Why a highly populated area?

[PotatoMasher]

Bombing an island would have been useless. Byt hen we had already caught on to Japanese tacts. Their strategy was digging huge tunnel systems very deep in the ground with strategic emplacements. Only ground forces would be able to take them out. Ever heard of Iwo Jima? The Ho Chi Minh Trail? (which wwasn't during WWII, or made by the Japanese, but its a great example)

Hiroshima was not only a civilian target, it had military significance. The only way to use the bomb without wasting it would be on a worthy target. The best one at the time was Hiroshima.

I'm probably one of the biggest WWII buffs on the planet if you haven't noticed. I don't get my information from Wikipedia. I know all this stuff from many years of reading and researching. Its not wise to start an argument about WWII with me.

[Max Obstruction]

I don't think killing innocent people is a good, you know, strategy.
We could have easily bombed a couple of military bases and said "If you don't surrender, we'll bomb civilians".

[PotatoMasher]

Yes it seems so simple that we could have just bombed a military base. Bit it wasn't that simple. All of Japan's military bases(or at leats the ones that were worthy targets for the atomic bomb) were based around major cities and populated areas. Even if we bombed a remote one, the radiation would have spread.

[Max Obstruction]

As opposed to bombing civilians directly? Great!