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By mid-1940, the Nazis had overrun almost all of Western Europe. Britain was left fighting by itself. (The United States did not enter the war until the end of 1941, forced to do so by the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.)
In mid-1941, Stalin’s intelligence agencies informed him that Hitler was about to attack the Soviet Union. Over four and a half million German soldiers were perched on the border. Stalin could not believe it!
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Battle of Stalingrad 1942 |
People used to fight by the rules. Back in World War I, the holidays came up and there would be a big truce. Everyone went home, had a great time, and came back at a certain time, a certain hour, and started killing each other again. One of the things that Hitler taught the world was how to fight dirty. He broke treaties and showed that one’s word meant nothing.
The day Russia was invaded, the still disbelieving Stalin sent a huge coal shipment by train into Germany. It was part of their treaty – the shipment was due, and Stalin felt bound by the treaty.
On June 22, 1941, four million troops poured over the Russian border. Within one month, over two and half million Russians had been killed, wounded or captured. The Germans made tremendous advances into Russia – into portions of Moscow, Leningrad, and Stalingrad.
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Wounded
in the Battle of Stalingrad |
And then winter hit. The Germans were caught in summer uniforms, and it was a bitter, cold winter that year.
Stalin, using sheer force of numbers, threw another two million soldiers at the Germans.
The German offensive sputtered, and then stopped. The German army was about 1,800 miles away from home, and the railroads did not work.
In the spring of the next year, another German offensive was launched especially around the approaches to Stalingrad. What followed can only be described as a nine-month titanic battle, with the result that the German Sixth Army in Russia was almost completely destroyed. That was the beginning of the end for Germany, but it would take three more years of desperate fighting, and millions and millions of people dead before it was all over.
(7) Waldemar Keller , October 22, 2007
No German Sixth Army in Russia
In the spring of the next year, another German offensive was launched especially around the approaches to Stalingrad. What followed can only be described as a nine-month titanic battle, with the result that the German Sixth Army in Russia was almost completely destroyed. That was the beginning of the end for Germany, but it would take three more years of desperate fighting, and millions and millions of people dead before it was all over.
Kein Krieg
(6) Dan Kelley (Kalish) , July 8, 2007
How many jews don't know they are because of jewish history?
I was raised as a gentile and only found out as an adult that my family had changed there name to get out of Europe. The treatment they received in the U.S. was not much better. If you were a jew you were shunned and in the southern part of the U.S. The Ku Klax Klan was the American Gestapo. The family went underground again just to get some peace. My wife discovered some old family writings and traced my heritage back to judaism, thank G-d. When will the hatred end?
(5) Art , May 16, 2007
The U.S. was involved long before Pearl Harbor
The United States Navy was battling German submarines long before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Most American commanders were well aware that we were at war and were being drawn only further into the war with each passing day. The Japanese army in China was also battling Americans prior to Pearl Harbor. The attack on Pearl Harbor only helped get us there faster.
(4) Mitchell Veronikas , May 9, 2007
wow!
this is really useful information for my project. im comeing to this site more often.
(3) Anonymous , March 30, 2007
Misunderstanding in second comment
It is not a myth that America was pulled into the war after the attack on Pearl Harbor. The United States felt morally obligated to avenge the attack and declared war on Japan the next day. After our declaration of war, Germany and Italy declared war on the United States, following through with their treaty and alliance with Japan.