The war in Europe is over in May, 1945. The Nazis who haven't been killed are rounded up or escape to South America. The Allies occupy their four zones in Germany and begin reconstruction of a demolished country, formerly a center of sophistication and culture, its historic buildings and many art treasures now destroyed. The first attempts are aimed at the prisoners in the concentration camps. For many of them, death has attained an unstoppable momentum and they continue to die for days after the camps are liberated. The civilians too are in dire shape, having been bombed or shelled out of their homes and lacking essentials like food and clothing.
Hermann Goering formally surrenders his sword and shrugs off any accusations of guilt. He was chief of the Luftwaffe. What did he know of concentration camps. He was tried at Nurenberg and sentenced to hang nonetheless.
The brutal and bloody battle for Okinawa continues in the Pacific. There are several well-researched and readable books about the affair, including a personal view by William Manchester, a Marine who was a friend of John F. Kennedy's and was his biographer. The Japanese general in charge, Ushijima, was a highly skilled tactician and during his systematic retreat to the island's end managed to cause as many American casualties as possible. The irony is that the Japanese resolve on Iwo Jima and Okinawa must certainly have been one of the factors influencing Truman's decision to drop the atomic bombs. Another was the prospect of half a million to a million Allied casualties and many times that number of Japanese military and civilians.
In Europe, Allied troops scoured the conquered countryside of Germany, Poland, and Austria, looking for secret German weapons. And they found them -- and in an advanced state of development too. Most of us know about the jet fighters, the V-1 and V-2 rockets, but I'd never heard of the Wasserfall. It had already been tested, a radar-guided, surface-to-air missile with a ceiling of 60,000 feet, an irresistible speed, and a warhead of more than 600 pounds. Plans called for a production of 900 missiles per month, which would have effectively ended the Allied bombing campaign.
Hermann Goering formally surrenders his sword and shrugs off any accusations of guilt. He was chief of the Luftwaffe. What did he know of concentration camps. He was tried at Nurenberg and sentenced to hang nonetheless.
The brutal and bloody battle for Okinawa continues in the Pacific. There are several well-researched and readable books about the affair, including a personal view by William Manchester, a Marine who was a friend of John F. Kennedy's and was his biographer. The Japanese general in charge, Ushijima, was a highly skilled tactician and during his systematic retreat to the island's end managed to cause as many American casualties as possible. The irony is that the Japanese resolve on Iwo Jima and Okinawa must certainly have been one of the factors influencing Truman's decision to drop the atomic bombs. Another was the prospect of half a million to a million Allied casualties and many times that number of Japanese military and civilians.
In Europe, Allied troops scoured the conquered countryside of Germany, Poland, and Austria, looking for secret German weapons. And they found them -- and in an advanced state of development too. Most of us know about the jet fighters, the V-1 and V-2 rockets, but I'd never heard of the Wasserfall. It had already been tested, a radar-guided, surface-to-air missile with a ceiling of 60,000 feet, an irresistible speed, and a warhead of more than 600 pounds. Plans called for a production of 900 missiles per month, which would have effectively ended the Allied bombing campaign.