Saints & Sinners is an extension of my Advanced US History class. This blog is a place for civil discourse, critical thinking and new ideas. The goal of these entries is to challenge your current viewpoint and encourage the development of logical arguments.
Tuesday, February 18, 2020
World War Two: Through Their Own Eyes
Visit this website to find the article you signed up for in class.
For the comments, write 200 words on what you learned from your eyewitness account.
My blog topic was loose lips sink ships. This was like a motto for the army that came with 10 so called rules. The rules were set so no enemies could get important information. They go on to say if you do get captured destroy all papers you got on you and you can only give your name unit and badge number. This was to prevent any unwanted attacks on the United States. The rules that they have basically cover all what I just said but more. The first 3 rules tell the army to not write about anything that the military is doing or they are going to do. The fourth rule tells them to not write of where convoys are and stuff like that. The last 6 rules kinda all go together and they basically say don’t disclose any movement information do not talk about enemy plans, do not do not talk about our plans, do not give your location away, and do not communicate by code. So basically all of the ten rules summed up just don’t talk about the army but everything else you talk about is ok just nothing about the armies and what they are doing or going to do. (206)
For this week's blog post I choose, the first atomic bomb 1945. It took place in a remote area of New Mexico on July 16, 1945 and it forever changed the world. The test had been taking 3 years to plan and make happen. It was a development in the secret Manhattan Project that was led by General Leslie R Groves. Dr J Robert Oppenheimer directed the scientific team that was located in Los Alamos, New Mexico. An isolated part of New Mexico was chosen that was located 230 miles south of Los Alamos. It was given the code name “Trinity”. Before the bombs were even tested a second bomb was secretly sent to the pacific for an attack on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. They had to do certain tests which included building a steel tower that would suspend the bomb one hundred feet above ground. There were many concerns that the blast would launch a cataclysmic reaction in the upper atmosphere leading to world destruction. Some were afraid of radio-active fallout on populations surrounding the test site. Many people thought the tests were a bad idea for many reasons. Observers were sent to surrounding towns to monitor the results of the blast and medical teams were kept on alert. At the times of the testing there were many rains (kind of like tennessee right now) and they had trouble finding days to do the testing because it kept getting rained out. The rains kept delaying the tests for almost two weeks. (253)
For this weeks blog I did the Blitzkrieg warfare and basically what that is is that you would attack your enemy super fast and it would be unexpected for them. This form of warfare was used by Germany on May 10, against the Netherlands and Belgium. This attack caused the defending troops to retreat because it was so fast. Also the roads during this attack were flooding with refugees that were fleeing this attack. All the while German dive bombers came in and were filling the sky. After this the blitzkreig started moving really fast and reached the English Channel on may 21 cutting off the allied army in the north. Then Germany kept using it and fought their way to the north to secure the coastal ports and destroy the trapped armies. They trapped their enemies and destroyed them. Luckily, the German high command called a stop to the advance. The stoppage lasted 48 hours, long enough for the British to defend Dunkirk and evacuate what they could of the Allied armies. The Germans entered Paris on June 14. In a embarrassing ceremony on June 22, France signed an armistice with Germany, leaving Britain to carry on the fight all by themselves.(203)
London Goes to War, 1939 World War II began on September 3, 1939 for the citizens of Britain. That morning included a radio broadcast by the Prime Minister of Britain, Neville Chamberlain. He said that Britain and Germany were at war. A letter by Mollie Paner-Downes was printed in the New Yorker Magazine on September 9, 1939 and told the story of London’s response to the threat. London was a major target of the German air force so the people made a decision to send the children north away from London to live with relatives or even strangers until the danger was gone. The story of this evacuation was the beginning of the story of “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” by C.S Lewis. The story was fiction, but the evacuation of thousands of children was all too real. Britain was at war because they had a treaty with Poland. On September 1, 1939, German troops swarmed across the Polish border and unleashed the first rapid attack by tanks and infantry called a blitzkrieg. Previously, in March, 1939, German troops had already invaded Czechoslovakia. In World War I, Poland was known for their mounted cavalry troops. Polish riders were very mobile and brave. They were known for their heroic charges. However, horses couldn’t stop the German tanks. The Germans were not only strong, they were devious. On September 17, Soviet forces, by a secret agreement with Germany, marched into Poland from the East. Warsaw surrendered on September 27. Britain and France and many other European countries survived the war with the help of the United States; but Poland was left under the control of the Soviet Union until October 27, 1991. I was born in Poland in 2001, a free citizen. (288)
What stuck out to me when i was reading was how brutal and inhumane these camps were. Hitler established the first camp shortly after he rose to power in 1933. There were two types of concentration camps, ones for slave labor at nearby factories and death camps where people who were viewed as “undesirable” were mass executed. The people who were viewed as undesirable were jews, gypsies, homosexuals, the mentally retarded and many others. The way they were executed is horrible and unbelievable. 200-250 naked people were crammed into a little room with no windows just a little spyhole at the top. Hot air was pumped into the room then they poured these light blue crystals called Cylon into the hot air then they evaporated and the poisonous gas that was created killed everyone inside in a matter of minutes. German people from a nearby town were forced by americans to view the horrors of what was going on inside the camp after it was liberated where they viewed piles of dead bodies. Six concrete boxes “gas chambers” were side by side, they could dispose of 2,000 people simultaneously. The main thing is that these camps were inhumane and the very idea and hatred towards these people was nothing but pure evil. (213)
The article I read was over the battle of midway. The battle of midway took place in 1942 in Japan. This attack distorted the Japanese’s military and parts of the country.the attack was brought on japan by the American military. The cause of this attack was because prior to the attack the Japanese attacked America which is also known as the attack on Pearl Harbor. When the American armed forces attacked Japan they had a bit of a surprise Occur. The Japanese military moved their troops northeast of midway. This turned the battle into a air fight quickly. And within no time American boomers and planes were surrounding the area.the battle inflicted serious damage to both country’s. "The first enemy carrier planes to attack were 15 torpedo bombers.” All the bombers were shoot down but inflicted serious damage. The article started that the Scene was very dramatic. I personally believe the this event was a extremely important event in American history because it showed our dominance again other country’s. And how we wouldn’t sit back and watch our country get destroyed without a fight(200)
My blog topic was the Tokyo fire raids of 1945. Which I found myslef non-characteristically wager to read on and continue after I started due to my interest in aviation and japan.This was first made possible by the B-29 Superfortress bomber whcih flew on a reconnaissance mission over Tokyo on November 1, 1944. A month afterwards a meeting was held whereas, Major-General Curtis Lemay decided upon bombing the city at low altitude as opposed to a high one in order to provide more accurate bombing. Which was nescassary as they planned to bomb a tight circle of wooden houses in order to create their greatest weapon the firestorm. The firestorms potential was first scene by the allies when British bombed the German city of Hamburg in August of 1943. Where numerous fires united into one uncontrollable mass of flame, so hot it generated its own self-sustaining, gale-force winds and literally sucked the oxygen out of the air, suffocating its victims. Lemay hoped to use this force to level the cities of Japan. In order to create the fire storm the air had to be dry and windy so March 9-10, 1945 was picked and a force of 334 B-29s was sent at night. The bombers didn’t carry any ammo for their machine guns in order to be able to carry more bombs. The bombing sites were marked by what was called “Molotov flower baskets”. The bombs which were dropped spread an early form of napalm. The Japanese were ordered to protect their homes but do to primitive fire fighting methods they were either burned alive at their house or would try to survive by jumping into holes or rivers where they’re oudo either boil or asphyxiate from the smoke. As a result, almost 17 square miles of the city were reduced to ashes. Estimates of the number killed range between 80,000 and 200,000, a higher death toll than that produced by the dropping of the Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima or Nagasaki six months later.(337)
My blog topic was loose lips sink ships. This was like a motto for the army that came with 10 so called rules. The rules were set so no enemies could get important information. They go on to say if you do get captured destroy all papers you got on you and you can only give your name unit and badge number. This was to prevent any unwanted attacks on the United States. The rules that they have basically cover all what I just said but more. The first 3 rules tell the army to not write about anything that the military is doing or they are going to do. The fourth rule tells them to not write of where convoys are and stuff like that. The last 6 rules kinda all go together and they basically say don’t disclose any movement information do not talk about enemy plans, do not do not talk about our plans, do not give your location away, and do not communicate by code. So basically all of the ten rules summed up just don’t talk about the army but everything else you talk about is ok just nothing about the armies and what they are doing or going to do. (206)
ReplyDeleteFor this week's blog post I choose, the first atomic bomb 1945. It took place in a remote area of New Mexico on July 16, 1945 and it forever changed the world. The test had been taking 3 years to plan and make happen. It was a development in the secret Manhattan Project that was led by General Leslie R Groves. Dr J Robert Oppenheimer directed the scientific team that was located in Los Alamos, New Mexico. An isolated part of New Mexico was chosen that was located 230 miles south of Los Alamos. It was given the code name “Trinity”. Before the bombs were even tested a second bomb was secretly sent to the pacific for an attack on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. They had to do certain tests which included building a steel tower that would suspend the bomb one hundred feet above ground. There were many concerns that the blast would launch a cataclysmic reaction in the upper atmosphere leading to world destruction. Some were afraid of radio-active fallout on populations surrounding the test site. Many people thought the tests were a bad idea for many reasons. Observers were sent to surrounding towns to monitor the results of the blast and medical teams were kept on alert. At the times of the testing there were many rains (kind of like tennessee right now) and they had trouble finding days to do the testing because it kept getting rained out. The rains kept delaying the tests for almost two weeks. (253)
ReplyDeleteFor this weeks blog I did the Blitzkrieg warfare and basically what that is is that you would attack your enemy super fast and it would be unexpected for them. This form of warfare was used by Germany on May 10, against the Netherlands and Belgium.
ReplyDeleteThis attack caused the defending troops to retreat because it was so fast. Also the roads during this attack were flooding with refugees that were fleeing this attack. All the while German dive bombers came in and were filling the sky. After this the blitzkreig started moving really fast and reached the English Channel on may 21 cutting off the allied army in the north. Then Germany kept using it and fought their way to the north to secure the coastal ports and destroy the trapped armies. They trapped their enemies and destroyed them. Luckily, the German high command called a stop to the advance. The stoppage lasted 48 hours, long enough for the British to defend Dunkirk and evacuate what they could of the Allied armies. The Germans entered Paris on June 14. In a embarrassing ceremony on June 22, France signed an armistice with Germany, leaving Britain to carry on the fight all by themselves.(203)
London Goes to War, 1939
ReplyDeleteWorld War II began on September 3, 1939 for the citizens of Britain. That morning included a radio broadcast by the Prime Minister of Britain, Neville Chamberlain. He said that Britain and Germany were at war. A letter by Mollie Paner-Downes was printed in the New Yorker Magazine on September 9, 1939 and told the story of London’s response to the threat. London was a major target of the German air force so the people made a decision to send the children north away from London to live with relatives or even strangers until the danger was gone. The story of this evacuation was the beginning of the story of “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” by C.S Lewis. The story was fiction, but the evacuation of thousands of children was all too real. Britain was at war because they had a treaty with Poland. On September 1, 1939, German troops swarmed across the Polish border and unleashed the first rapid attack by tanks and infantry called a blitzkrieg. Previously, in March, 1939, German troops had already invaded Czechoslovakia. In World War I, Poland was known for their mounted cavalry troops. Polish riders were very mobile and brave. They were known for their heroic charges. However, horses couldn’t stop the German tanks. The Germans were not only strong, they were devious. On September 17, Soviet forces, by a secret agreement with Germany, marched into Poland from the East. Warsaw surrendered on September 27. Britain and France and many other European countries survived the war with the help of the United States; but Poland was left under the control of the Soviet Union until October 27, 1991. I was born in Poland in 2001, a free citizen. (288)
What stuck out to me when i was reading was how brutal and inhumane these camps were. Hitler established the first camp shortly after he rose to power in 1933. There were two types of concentration camps, ones for slave labor at nearby factories and death camps where people who were viewed as “undesirable” were mass executed. The people who were viewed as undesirable were jews, gypsies, homosexuals, the mentally retarded and many others. The way they were executed is horrible and unbelievable. 200-250 naked people were crammed into a little room with no windows just a little spyhole at the top. Hot air was pumped into the room then they poured these light blue crystals called Cylon into the hot air then they evaporated and the poisonous gas that was created killed everyone inside in a matter of minutes. German people from a nearby town were forced by americans to view the horrors of what was going on inside the camp after it was liberated where they viewed piles of dead bodies. Six concrete boxes “gas chambers” were side by side, they could dispose of 2,000 people simultaneously. The main thing is that these camps were inhumane and the very idea and hatred towards these people was nothing but pure evil. (213)
ReplyDeleteThe article I read was over the battle of midway. The battle of midway took place in 1942 in Japan. This attack distorted the Japanese’s military and parts of the country.the attack was brought on japan by the American military. The cause of this attack was because prior to the attack the Japanese attacked America which is also known as the attack on Pearl Harbor. When the American armed forces attacked Japan they had a bit of a surprise Occur. The Japanese military moved their troops northeast of midway. This turned the battle into a air fight quickly. And within no time American boomers and planes were surrounding the area.the battle inflicted serious damage to both country’s. "The first enemy carrier planes to attack were 15 torpedo bombers.” All the bombers were shoot down but inflicted serious damage. The article started that the Scene was very dramatic. I personally believe the this event was a extremely important event in American history because it showed our dominance again other country’s. And how we wouldn’t sit back and watch our country get destroyed without a fight(200)
ReplyDeleteMy blog topic was the Tokyo fire raids of 1945. Which I found myslef non-characteristically wager to read on and continue after I started due to my interest in aviation and japan.This was first made possible by the B-29 Superfortress bomber whcih flew on a reconnaissance mission over Tokyo on November 1, 1944. A month afterwards a meeting was held whereas, Major-General Curtis Lemay decided upon bombing the city at low altitude as opposed to a high one in order to provide more accurate bombing. Which was nescassary as they planned to bomb a tight circle of wooden houses in order to create their greatest weapon the firestorm. The firestorms potential was first scene by the allies when British bombed the German city of Hamburg in August of 1943. Where numerous fires united into one uncontrollable mass of flame, so hot it generated its own self-sustaining, gale-force winds and literally sucked the oxygen out of the air, suffocating its victims. Lemay hoped to use this force to level the cities of Japan. In order to create the fire storm the air had to be dry and windy so March 9-10, 1945 was picked and a force of 334 B-29s was sent at night. The bombers didn’t carry any ammo for their machine guns in order to be able to carry more bombs. The bombing sites were marked by what was called “Molotov flower baskets”. The bombs which were dropped spread an early form of napalm. The Japanese were ordered to protect their homes but do to primitive fire fighting methods they were either burned alive at their house or would try to survive by jumping into holes or rivers where they’re oudo either boil or asphyxiate from the smoke. As a result, almost 17 square miles of the city were reduced to ashes. Estimates of the number killed range between 80,000 and 200,000, a higher death toll than that produced by the dropping of the Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima or Nagasaki six months later.(337)
ReplyDeleteFirst Post: Kyle
ReplyDeleteBest Post: Mack