As we have stated many times, the best way to really connect with history is to see it/hear it/watch it/experience it from the perspective of those who lived it.
Using this website, choose ONE story from the list of eyewitness accounts from the World War II era. After you choose your story, read it and summarize what happened in the comments.
Once a story is posted about, no one else can choose that story. So, act quickly!
on September 1, 1939, the German army launched an assault across the Polish border. They sent its bombers and fighters to attack anything they considered important to the command and movement of the Polish armed forces. German troops attacked and The Polish fell back only to find German troops in their rear.
ReplyDeletePoland was divided between the Soviets and Nazi Germany. The Germans declared the western portion of Poland a part of Greater Germany. and on June 1941, Hitler attacked the Soviet Union. Later by winter the German army was about to attack near the gates of Moscow. The Soviet army and the severity of the Russian winter combined to turn the tide and by the summer of 1943 the German army was retracing its steps back to Poland. The article Also included some diaries from polish people regarding their life during the event. One entry was from Dr. Zygmunt Klukowski was the chief physician of a small hospital in the city of Lublin. "An enthusiastic diarist, the doctor daily chronicled the Nazi occupation as events unfolded outside the window of his residence at the hospital. Discovery of his observations would have meant instant death. He therefore carefully concealed his manuscripts often changing their hiding place during five years of Nazi occupation. His extraordinary diary was published in Poland in 1959 shortly before his death and subsequently translated into English." (230)
In the spring of 1940 Hitler's army smashed across the borders of the Netherlands and Belgium and streamed in the northern reaches of France. The German Blitzkerg moved swiftly to the west and south, splitting the British and French defenders trapping the British army at Dunkirk and forcing its evacuation from continental Europe. The Germans entered Paris on June 14 and forced France surrender on June 22. The soldiers rescued from Dunkirk were exhausted by their ordeal. Worse, most of their heavy armaments lay abandoned and resting on the French beaches. After a short rest, the Germans began air attacks in early summer to design to seize mastery of of the skies in England in preparation fo invasion. All that stood between the British and defeat was a small force of RAF pilots outnumbered in the air by force. Day after day the Germans sent armadas of bombers and farmers over England opting to lure the RAF into battle and destroy the defenders. By September, the Germans lost enthusiasm for the assault. Hitler's postponed and then cancelled invasion plans, turning his attention to defeat of Russia. Winston Churchill declared that "never before in human history that there was so much owned by so many so few". (205 words)
ReplyDeleteSunk by a submarine. The S.S. John A. Johnson was traveling through golden states. The ship was loaded down with men, materials, vehicles, all heading for the pacific ocean. The ship who is referred to as a "she" travels at around 9knots. The ship isn't beautiful like the titanic but it works harder than any other ship out there. Then out of now where a torpedo is shot and heading straight for them. The torpedo hits the front of the ship, then next thing you know they get hit in the back from another torpedo. The head of the ship was yelling for everyone to abandon the ship which was difficult because there was oil all in the water from where the ship was hit and began to sink and leak oil. As they are bailing the Japanese submarine rises to the surface and gets on lifeboats. Once they are on their lifeboats they start to pick off our military one by one with machine guns. This went on for four hours before the Japanese finally left them and their ship alone. One person who was on the ship said he saw a wake in the water about four hundred to five hundred yards away and then next thing he knew it hit and it knocked him fifteen feet back and got covered in water and oil. (227)
ReplyDeleteThe Japanese planes came in a surprise attack in two waves. the first hit its target at 7:53 AM, the second at 8:55 and the attack lasted about an hour. It left 2,403 dead and destroyed 188 planes and 8 battleships. The soldiers accounts make you realize how shocking it was that the Japanese planes showed up. One soldier said he heard a siren and didn't really worry about it until he went up to the port deck and heard a loud boom and the USS Nevada had been struck by a bomb. One man said that the soldiers seemed calm and collected as they went to the anti aircraft guns. They all say that the ships were shaking violently and there was quiet a bit of screaming. One soldier was quoted as saying We stood around awaiting orders of some kind. General Quarters sounded and I started for my battle station in secondary aft. As I passed through casement nine I noted the gun was manned and being trained out. The marine color guard came in at one point saying they were being attacked. They said they could distinctly hear machine gun fire. They believed at that point their anti aircraft battery opened up and started taking down some Japanese planes.(200 words)
ReplyDeleteBill Mauldin, the most famous cartoonist of World War II, wrote a book in 1945 detailing the life of a soldier on the front lines. Bill knew firsthand the trials and motivations of a soldier because he was one. He joined the Army in 1940 at the age of eighteen. Mauldin became part of the 45th Division, which saw action in Sicily, Italy, France and Germany. His cartoons were very popular with his fellow soldiers, (but not so much with his officers) and that is where he became recognized for his realistic representations of a soldier's life. In his book, he writes about the rank-and-file soldier, how people back home had this image of the "ideal soldier" fighting on the frontlines, driven by the noble cause of freedom, but the truth was, the soldiers were worn down by their hardships. They were practical men who did whatever it took to survive and kill the enemy. But they didn't become killers, "No normal man who has smelled and associated with death ever wants to see any more of it." He wrote. Their motivations were as simple and practical as the way they fought, they fought for the man next to them. And behind them. And below them. They fought for their bothers in arms. Groups developed very strong camaraderie, but were cold and closed to outsiders. For and outsider to be accepted, but they would have to earn it and it would be a very slow process. Another thing Bill writes about is the litter bearers. He praised them as the true heroes of the dogface, they had to march into combat alongside the infantry men, into the same dangerous situations, but without any way to fight back. They might even be in more danger, as the Germans "might lift their fire when they see his red-cross armband." Tragically, those men are often well liked, as they save men's lives, and those men feel indebted to them. As Bill Maudlin wrote: "Sooner or later, like everybody who works around the infantry, the medic is going to get his."
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Patsy Giacchi, a 21 year old soldier from New Jersey, is sitting in a foxhole in Germany during World War Two. Doing his everyday things, a voice comes over the loudspeaker. "The war is over! The war is over!" Commotion sounds from all around him. Accidental shots fired out of excitement. Names are called, including his, to return back home to America. Before he knows it, he's traveling to a liberty ship to get back home. Men are checked for sickness and disease to be sure they don't bring it back home with them. Their anxiousness to get back home never leaves their bodies even when they finally see the beautiful sight of American soil and "Welcome home, boys" in large letters. He is cautious to stay calm and controlled when he steps on American soil for the first time in three years. He kisses the ground and cries tears of joy. He travels to Penn Station where he makes a phone call to his family to let them know that he's on his way. He knows the toll the war has taken on him when he doesn't remember his phone number. Accidentally, he leaves his wallet at the phone booth, too consumed by the thought of returning home. As he arrives, family members flood all around him. He finally realizes his wallet is missing, and heads back to find it. After specifying the details of the wallet, it is returned to him after a woman turned it in, refusing any kind of reward. She only wished for him to take care of himself. (264)
ReplyDeleteOn August 6, 1945 this day would change the world and show what the Americans have been working on. This person experienced Hiroshima and was terrified by it all. He talks about trying to escape his house from the rubble and just displays how horrible it really was. They survived the attack which is likely because they were far out from the blast but certainly close enough to feel it all. Often we don't think about how severe the bomb we dropped really was and how many lives it changed. They talk about having to get out but he is severely injured and can only walk a small distance before having to take a break. He explains the bomb as an extremely bright light and they were trying to make it to the hospital. In the account it says "Dr. Hachiya and his wife make there way to the street. As the homes around them collapse, they realize they must move on, and begin their journey to the hospital a few hundred yards away." You can start to imagine just how grim it all really was and even though it ended a war, it could be questioned about what it costed. He says that his wife had to leave him alone to go get help, this was a nightmare. Leaving her husband alone with severe injuries to go find help in this midst of this chaos must have been traumatic. At the end of the story he makes it to the hospital and is recovered, he survived Hiroshima but just think about all those who didn't that he knew. Again, the atomic bomb might have won us the war but what did it cost. (284)
ReplyDelete“In the middle of the 13th century, Mongol fleets sailed to attack a helpless Japan. As the invaders approached the Japanese coast, terrific winds arose, smashed the Mongol ships and thwarted the attack. This "Divine Wind" - what the Japanese referred to as the "kamikaze" - saved Japan.“ this is what inspired the kamikaze. The kamikaze was a new tactic that included a plane full of explosives and a suicidal pilot. The pilot would purposely crash into the ship to cause maximum damage. The planes that they crashed were sometimes fuel jets and then the japanese zeros which at the time were the best aircraft and the technology that was put into it was the best at the time. They would practice dropping bombs until they had a 85% hit rate. The kamikaze was probably the most feared weapon in world war two. James J Farley said “ The deck near my mount was covered with blood, guts, brains, tongues, scalps, hearts, arms etc. from the Jap pilots. The Jap bodies were blown into all sorts of pieces. I cannot think of everything that happened because too many things were happening at the same time." This is why I will never be a naval officer.(204 words)
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As Allied forces had came through the German containment in the hedge row country beyond the Normandy beaches, Supreme Commander, General Dwight Eisenhower set his sights on a rush into Germany. Concerned that a battle for Paris would only bog down the advance, Eisenhower planned to by-pass the French capital. However, events on the ground would soon dictate a different course. Hitler ordered General Dietrich von Choltitz, military commander of Paris, to destroy the city. The city's bridges were mined and preparations made to follow Hitler's request. However, von Choltitz hesitated. On August 20 he agreed to a cease-fire with the Parisian insurgents.
ReplyDeleteFebruary 6th, 1944, the great invasion of the beach of Normandy began as the allied troops invaded the beach. Their boats fell 75 feet short of shore so the allies were forced to run through the water under heavy gunfire in order to reach the beach. If they didn't jump off the boat, the gunfire from the machine guns would have swallowed them alive. Also, if they were under the boat and it had been run over by a wave, the boat would have hit them in the process as well. Shell fire hit some of the boats as well destroying everything and everyone on board. Running up on the beaches was like running through hell. Between the shells and the gunfire, it all seemed pretty hopeless. Many soldiers had died and some being close friends with each other had to see their buddies suffer as they were shot and wounded right in front of them. The fleet seemed also as if they had fled leaving them by themselves however the mission would be a success as the troops would eventually after hours of pain would finally take the beaches of Normandy. 207-fisher
ReplyDeleteHitler established the first concentration camp a little bit after he came into power in 1933. This camp system grew to include about 100 camps that were divided into two types: concentration camps for slave labor in nearby factories and death camps for the extermination of "undesirables," which included Jews, Gypsies, homosexuals, and the mentally retarded. The first liberation came in July 1944 when Soviet troops entered Maidanek. This was a death camp located in Poland, two miles from the city of Lublin. Alexander Werth, a correspondent for the London Sunday Times and the BBC, went with the Soviet troops and described the camp shortly after its capture. The BBC actually refused to air his report because it was so unbelievable that thy thought it was a propaganda ploy (basically take advantage of). Later on, other camps admitted that all of his descriptions were true. One of the guides at the first Death Camp said that
ReplyDelete"There were six concrete boxes - gas-chambers - side by side. Nearly two thousand people could be disposed of here simultaneously." Some people were told that they were going in the "boxes" to be disinfected of diseases, but later find out that they were just lied to. Alexander Werth said that he noticed something that was written in the blue chalk. It was the word "vergast" above a skull and cross bones. Vergast means "gassed out."
(230 words) ^
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