the FIRST BOOK of WORLD WAR <w II This book is for Harry Neil Snyder Printed in the United States of America by the Polygraphic Company of America, Inc. SIXTH PRINTING Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 58-5167 BOOK FIRST WORLD WAR SNYDER LOUIS L. 1 1 CONTENTS The War Begins, 5 What Caused World War II, 7 Hitler's Conquest of Europe, 14 The Sinking of the Athenia, 17 ** The "Phony War," 18 Blitzkrieg in the West, 20 Miracle at Dunkirk, 2 U-Boat War in the Atlantic, 26 France Falls, 27 The Battle of Britain, 29 The Battle of the Balkans, 33 The Traitors, 34 The War Behind the Lines, 35 Hitler, Master of Europe, 37 The Arsenal of Democracy, 38 Hitler Turns on Russia, 39 "A Date Which Will Live in Infamy," 42 The Japanese in the Pacific, 48 The Home Front, 50 The War in North Africa, 5 The Beginning of the End, 56 The Invasion of Europe, 58 The General Says "Nuts!", 62 Victory on the Seas, 65 Victory in the Pacific, 68 A Story of Courage, 74 Bombs on Germany, 76 Death of Three Leaders, 80 The A-Bomb, 82 The Problems of Peace, 86 Planning a Peaceful World, 88 World War II Words, 93 Picture Credits, 94 Index, 95 4 © Copyright 1958 by Franklin Watts, Inc. THE WAR BEGINS On September i, 1939, the German Army crashed across the borders of Poland. First came the Stuka dive-bombers, with shrieking whistles in their wings, to blast the Polish planes that were on the ground. Then the German pilots bombed the railroads and highways. They smashed the big cities. After this came the motorcycle infantry, armored cars, and tanks. — — Finally the regular infantry the foot-soldiers moved in to finish • up the job. This was a new kind of war that the Germans used. It was called Blitzkrieg, which is a German word meaning lightning war. The Ger- mans had the best trained force in the world with which to wage it. The weather was good. The ground was level and just right for lightning war. Meanwhile, the Russians were pushing into Poland from the east. They and the Germans had made a treaty to conquer and divide the country between themselves. Poland had no chance against the mighty German army. Her little army had no time to fight back or even to begin to retreat before it was overwhelmed. Within two weeks Warsaw, the biggest city in Poland, was surrounded by the Germans. In a little over a month they had con- quered the whole country and the Russians moved in from the east. So began the six years of World War II, the most terrible war in the history of the world. Nazi motorcycle infantry and armored cars enter a Polish bombmgs Town after it has been devastated by repeated WHAT CAUSED WORLD WAR II There was no one simple cause for World War II. Rather, there were many causes. Most of them grew out of World War I. — After World War four imperial governments were swept away I, those in Germany, Austria-Hungary, Russia, and Turkey. The Ger- mans, especially, were bitter about the terms of the Versailles Treaty which ended the war. They lost all their colonies and one-eighth of their European area. They were forced to return Alsace-Lorraine to France. Their navy, second only to Great Britain's, was almost wiped away. Their army was cut down so that it was not much larger than that of Belgium. Late in the 18th century Poland had been divided among three — countries Russia, Prussia, and Austria, so there was no Poland when World War I ended. However, in 1919, a new independent Poland was set up in Eastern Europe. To this newly re-created country, Ger- many was made to give up Posen and West Prussia. This was a huge chunk of territory, 260 miles long and 80 miles wide. So that Poland could have an outlet to the sea, she was given what was called the Polish Corridor, running right through German territory. The Ger- mans never forgave the Allies for splitting their country into two parts. World War I was known as "the war to end wars." Instead of heal- ing old wounds this war actually created new ones. If Germany ever got strong again, she would almost certainly try to get vengeance. During World War I the countries allied against Germany had borrowed nearly 10 billion dollars from the United States, promising to pay it back over a period of 62 years. They expected to get the money from Germany by demanding reparations, or payments, for war damage. Starting in 1929 there came a world-wide depression, a time when all over the world many people became poor and jobless. The depres- sion hit Germany especially hard. She had lost almost everything she had in the war and was over her head in debt to the victorious nations. In such times, when people are cold and hungry and see no hope ahead, it is sometimes easy for a strong and evil man to drive them where he wants them to go. Such men are called dictators. They dic- tate to the people, or tell them exactly what to do. They promise the — — people everything if only they the dictators are allowed to run — human the country. Dictators believe that beings are like animals strong tigers and weak lambs. They think of themselves as tigers, and believe they were born to rule the lambs. After World War I three strong dictators arose. They were Hitler in Germany, Mussolini in Italy, and Tojo in Japan. These men called democracy a "dead corpse." In a free country they might have found it hard to make the people follow them, however fine their promises. But the Germans, the Italians, and the Japanese had never known real freedom. They were used to following strong leaders instead of work- ing out their own problems in a democratic government. Benito Mussolini became dictator of Italy in 1922. He was a jour- nalist who had written a number of revolutionary pamphlets. His followers were called Fascists. When he first came into power he won the loyalty of the people by making improvements at home. He built 8