At 3:30 a.m. on June 22, 1941, Hitler launched a surprise attack on the Soviet Union, using the usual bandit tactic of undeclared war. Germany's vassal states of Italy, Finland, Romania and Hungary also participated in the war against the Soviet Union.
The largest and decisive war of the Second World War was waged on The territory of the Soviet Union.
The fascist invading forces were extremely fierce, dispatching a total of 190 divisions, including 153 German divisions, 19 armored divisions and 14 motorized divisions, more than 3,700 tanks, more than 4,900 aircraft, more than 47,000 cannons and 193 ships.
On a front of more than 2,000 kilometers stretching from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Black Sea in the south, a large-scale offensive was launched against the Soviet Union. Hitler vainly tried to use the lightning-fast "blitzkrieg" to crush the Soviet Union in 6 weeks to two months and end the war before winter arrived.
Hitler exaggerated: "We just have to kick in the door and the whole broken house will fall." ”
Hitler's perfidious attack on the Soviet Union caused a great shock in the Western world, and some far-sighted politicians believed that Hitler's attack on the Soviet Union had brought about a fundamental turning point in the world anti-fascist war, and that only by closely uniting with the Soviet Union could we achieve a complete victory in this war. Churchill and Roosevelt were representatives of this.
On June 24, Roosevelt made it clear at a press conference that the United States was ready to fully assist the Soviet Union, to the extent possible.
However, the Soviet army lost one after another in the early stages of the war, which caused debate in the American decision-making level about whether it was wise to aid the Soviet Union.
Military experts were generally pessimistic, believing that "the Russian army will fall apart," that "Hitler will take Leningrad and Moscow in 6 weeks," and that "the communist government will fall."
They predicted that if arms were shipped to Russia, they would be wasted. Only former ambassador to the Soviet Union, Joe Davis, was optimistic, telling Roosevelt: "The Russians have more goods in their hands than anyone knows, and they are great warriors who cannot be easily defeated." ”
The future of the war was uncertain, and Roosevelt was in a dilemma. He decided to send Hopkins to the Soviet Union to find out.
Harry Hopkins was slender and slender, with an untrimmed appearance, but his demeanor was free and sharp-minded, and he was in charge of the implementation of the Lend-Lease Act at that time, and did not have a clear official position. He had lived in the White House since 1940, when Germany invaded Western Europe, and was intimate with Roosevelt and deeply trusted by Roosevelt.
At this time, the Soviet Union was in a difficult period and was eager to receive outside assistance, so they naturally attached great importance to the arrival of the presidential envoy.
On 27 July, Hopkins arrived in Moscow and was immediately received by the Supreme Commander of the Soviet Union. Stalin frankly showed Hopkins his family and told him unreservedly the numbers of Soviet soldiers, tanks, guns, and aircraft, which far exceeded the estimates of Westerners.
Stalin said the Soviets were perfectly capable of holding Moscow and Leningrad, but the Soviets were in dire need of anti-aircraft machine guns, anti-aircraft guns, heavy machine guns, rifles, and aluminum, especially aircraft, tanks, and anti-aircraft guns.
During his visit to the Soviet Union, Hopkins also personally went to the front line to investigate, and the heroic spirit of struggle and the conviction of victory of the Soviet people left a deep impression on him, so that whenever the military observers in Moscow sent back a pessimistic report, Hopkins showed extreme anger, believing that they could only rely on conjectures distorted by prejudice.
Hopkins' visit to the Soviet Union was a turning point in U.S.-Soviet relations during the war and a major event in the process of establishing the International Anti-Fascist Alliance.
Roosevelt thus gained a wealth of reliable information about the strength and future of the Soviet Union, deepened his understanding of the Soviet Union, and thus strengthened his confidence in assisting the Soviet Union. At the end of September, the United States, Britain and the Soviet Union met in Moscow and signed a $1 billion protocol to aid the Soviet Union. Accordingly, the United States and Britain would supply the Soviet Union with 400 aircraft, 500 tanks and other munitions per month.
On November 7, Roosevelt announced that the Soviet Union was a recipient of the Lend-Lease Act, and that the United States would provide $1 billion in interest-free loans to the Soviet Union.
While aiding and supporting the Soviet Union in its fight against Germany, Roosevelt also paid attention to the strengthening of the strategic cooperative relationship between the United States and Britain. Since the implementation of the Lend-Lease Act, the United States has effectively stood with Britain.
Roosevelt, out of faith in the justice of the anti-fascist cause, single-handedly assumed full responsibility for aiding Britain. He used his power to lend money and weapons to britain, and even ordered young soldiers to fly into battle, perhaps at the cost of their lives. However, he has never issued a declaration on the principles and objectives of this cause.
Immediately after the German attack on the Soviet Union, Stalin explicitly declared in his radio speeches that the Great Patriotic War they were engaged in "must not only eliminate the dangers facing our country, but also help the peoples of Europe who are groaning under the yoke of German fascism."
Roosevelt felt that he was lagging behind in political propaganda, and he had to act immediately. He had tried to publicly state the principled position of the U.S. government on the war in a speech on the "four freedoms," but felt that it was only a unilateral obligation, binding only on the United States, and not on the allies.
After much deliberation, he decided that the United States and Britain would make a joint statement on the aims and ideals of the war in order to proclaim to the world the noble goals for which they were fighting.
After a long break at the end of July, in early August, escorted by a fleet, the President led the military and political personnel on the Augusta to secretly come to the Atlantic Ocean near Newfoundland and held the first summit of wartime with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, known as the "Atlantic Talks".
In the days that followed, the two politicians talked about the world situation and discussed a common strategic approach. On the last day, 12 August, they drafted a joint declaration on the purposes of the war, the Atlantic Charter, in the square cabin of the Augusta.
The Charter puts forward 8 points of contention, including non-expansion, opposition to territorial changes against the will of the people, sovereignty and autonomy of peoples, equality of opportunity in access to raw materials and trade, the elimination of human fear and want, freedom of navigation on the high seas, the establishment of a broad and lasting universal security regime, and the disarmament of aggressors.
The statements on international trade and the maintenance of post-war peace on points four and eight were highly controversial.
The United States wanted to eliminate artificial restrictions on world trade, while britain was reluctant to abandon the imperial preferential system, so it added the phrase "due consideration of the present obligations of states" before free trade. In Article VIII, Roosevelt deleted Churchill's phrase "effective international organization" and replaced it with "universal security regime" so as not to remind the British public of the League of Nations.
The Atlantic Charter is a manifesto against fascist aggression. It embodies an abstract moral force with a wide range of propaganda value, from which the shadow of traditional American diplomacy, such as free trade and freedom of navigation, can also find the imprint of Roosevelt's New Deal, such as freedom from fear, fair social security, and so on.
Almost all anti-fascist countries immediately accepted it.
By 15 September, 14 countries had annexed the Charter, and its basic principles became the political basis for solidarity and cooperation among anti-fascist states and were adopted by the later Charter of the United Nations.
At the Atlantic Conference, Roosevelt rejected Churchill's request for the United States to enter the war, but his words carried Churchill's belief that the United States would find a reasonable excuse for intervening in the war, which was the "concept of history" that Roosevelt had learned from Wilson.
On September 4, a German submarine attacked the American destroyer GRYR in iceland, and Roosevelt immediately seized the opportunity to tell the American people that the incident was "not a local military operation in the North Atlantic" but "an established step to create a permanent world system based on force, terror and massacre."
Roosevelt then demonstrated his figurative talents again, calling German submarines "side-tailed snakes of the Atlantic" and had to "fight when they saw them." This statement, which was considered a "war without declaration," won the support of many members of the American public. In October, two more U.S. warships were damaged and sunk by German submarines. Roosevelt declared, "The shooting has already begun, and history will remember who fired the first shot." Roosevelt's generous statements failed to create the right conditions for declaring war, prompting Congress to amend the Central Legislation again in November to allow the arming of merchant ships and restore the right of American ships to trade in war zones. A month later, however, the rumbling of the guns at Pearl Harbor in the Pacific finally helped Roosevelt realize his desire to go to war.
After the United States entered the war, another, more important issue was placed in front of Roosevelt's eyes. There are now 26 countries fighting against the Axis powers, but they are neither allied nor identical in their objectives. It is not enough for people to fight just to preserve themselves or for their own freedom. To prove that this war is just, a solemn moral concept needs to be established.
He remembered vividly how Wilson's ideals had inspired the Allies of the last great war, as well as the unfortunate consequences of Wilson's failure to make other nations duty to his principles.
He suggested that all States fighting against the Axis powers should adopt the principles of the Atlantic Charter as the objective of the war and the basis for the future world and issue a common declaration of principles, a proposal that was quickly endorsed by all States. The only practical difficulty is to give this grand alliance a name.
He felt that the name "alliance" was too reminiscent of past failures, and that "alliance" would prejudice Americans, nor did he like Churchill's "cooperating nations." Later, he finally found a very satisfactory name - "United Nations".
On January 1, 1942, representatives of 26 anti-fascist countries, led by the United States, Britain, the Soviet Union and China, gathered in Washington to sign the Declaration of the United States, solemnly declaring that all governments fully endorsed the principles of the Atlantic Charter, "guaranteed the use of all their military and economic resources" to defeat fascism, and "did not conclude a separate armistice or peace treaty with the enemy" in order to defeat fascism.
This declaration marked the formal establishment of the World Anti-Fascist League. Personally, Roosevelt was formed as a manifestation of his foresight and his unique contribution to the world's anti-fascist cause.
The United States, Britain, and the Soviet Union cooperated effectively in the anti-fascist war, but there were differences on the issue of opening a second european battlefield.
As early as 1941, the Soviet government demanded that Britain land in northern France. However, the British side has not given a clear answer, but only said in general terms that the British government "will certainly give all possible assistance to the Soviet Union in the war against Germany."
After the US and British leadership groups postponed the plan to open a second battlefield in Europe, Roosevelt convened a military and political meeting to formulate and implement the "torch" plan for landing in French North Africa.
On July 15, 1942, on the eve of Hopkins and others' visit to London, Roosevelt told his confidant that if the plan to attack Western Europe could not be realized, then North Africa and the Middle East could be considered. Here, the purpose of the United States is to take advantage of the danger of the French Empire to expand the influence of the United States. Roosevelt's son Elliott has a good track record of this.
In late July, the Committee of The Joint Chiefs of Staff of the United States and The United Kingdom began to draw up a specific battle plan for the Torch in London. After repeated consultations, on 20 September, with the final approval of Roosevelt and Churchill, it was decided to land simultaneously in Casablanca, Morocco, and Oran and Algiers, Algeria.
The U.S. and British Expeditionary Forces participated in operation Torch with 13 divisions and 650 warships and transport ships. The first landings were 7 divisions, totaling about 110,000 men. In addition, several airborne battalions will participate in the operation, with the task of occupying airfields and key points within the depths of the enemy's defenses. Air support for this landing will use 1,700 aircraft, most of which will be stationed at the forts of Gibraltar.
The landings in North Africa were the first offensive campaign of the Western Allies in World War II. It has both strategic and moral significance.
On April 19, 1943, the Allies concentrated their superior forces to launch a general offensive. The British Eighth Army launched a surprise attack from south to north, and the American and British Expeditionary Forces attacked from west to east, and after 18 days of fighting, they captured the city of Tunis and the port of Bizer on May 7, respectively. The 250,000 German and Italian troops had no transport ships to retreat, and the surrender was announced on May 13.
By this time, the Allies had completely eliminated the German and Italian forces in North Africa, fundamentally changing the situation in the Mediterranean and creating good conditions for the subsequent landings in Sicily, Italy.
The victory in North Africa greatly boosted the morale of the American military and civilians, and President Roosevelt was particularly pleased with the strategic. He praised General Eisenhower, the commander-in-chief who commanded the campaign.
He told reporters at the White House: "What a beautiful and arduous job General Eisenhower has accomplished, and how carefully and skillfully he is now commanding his soldiers. I'm going to say to you tonight — and to him — that we have full confidence in his leadership. He was highly rewarded for his character as a soldier.
After the battle, nominated by British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, General Eisenhower served as the supreme commander of multinational forces such as the United States, Britain, and Australia.
Regarding the situation in the Pacific War, Roosevelt said: "We do not expect to waste time, slowly, island by island, across the vast Pacific Ocean until finally japan is defeated." Roads leading directly to Tokyo abound. We will consider all of these paths. "The situation in the Pacific ocean was gratifying, and after the victory at Midway, after many fierce battles, the Japanese base camp issued orders to the Combined Fleet and the Eighth Front to withdraw from Guadalcanal (hereinafter referred to as Guadalcanal).
Guadalcanal is a small island with a strange Spanish name, located in the southern part of the Solomon Islands formed by the extinct volcanic mountains. The island's southern coast has a narrow Hirakawa River, but it is next to the mountains. In the northern part of the island, there is a flat land for the construction of an airport, which is almost completely covered by tropical forest, full of coconut groves and lush weeds, and when it rains, traffic is blocked by countless rivers and ravines. This area of Hirakawa was the main target of the Allied capture. After a hard battle, the Battle of Guadalcanal, the Allies killed 15,000 Japanese troops and captured more than 1,000 Japanese soldiers.
Roosevelt repeatedly stressed the need to take advantage of the victory and launch a more violent attack on the enemy.
In order to promote the victorious progress of the anti-fascist war, during the "Torch" Campaign, President Roosevelt, with his sick and disabled body, waded through mountains and waters, crossed the ocean, and traveled to Casablanca, North Africa, for an eight-day meeting with Prime Minister Churchill from January 14 to 23, 1943, where he met with General de Gaulle and other influential Figures of France.
The chiefs of staff of the Three Services of the United States and Britain met for three days before Roosevelt arrived and deliberated on several possible battles that might be fought after the final defeat of the German and Italian fascist armies in Tunisia. Targets to be attacked included Sardinia, Sicily, Crete, Rhodes, Dodecanese and mainland Greece.
Much debate had taken place before Roosevelt and Hopkins attended the conference, and it had been heated ever since, as Marshall had been pushing for an attack on northern France in 1943.
In the United States, not only does the Navy strongly advocate the strengthening of the Pacific Theater, but the people also have a strong sense of revenge against Japan, and there is also an opinion in public opinion that the United States is fighting in Europe to save Britain, and the War in Asia is really related to the vital interests of the United States.
After repeated discussions and consultations, the Casablanca Conference did not change the general strategic policy of taking Europe as the main battlefield, but there was still no clear guarantee on the issue of opening a second battlefield.
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