This blog entry lays out the chronology of important world events during the years of 1930 -1943 that led to the US involvement in World War II, until the "Letters to Mary" resume in 1943.
Timeline courtesy of The History Place http://www.historyplace.com
a. In the case of the combatant grade cross a pair of military swords, finished on both sides, were placed between the arms of the cross. This Cross was presented to Military Personnel for bravery not necessarily in the face of the enemy.
Because this cross bears no swords it was from a Non-Combatant member of Nazi Germany.
b. The War Merit Cross 2nd Class without swords was presented to those whose actions were deemed to be in furtherance of the war effort but not directly involved in military operations. This could mean civilians such as teachers and industrialists or Military personnel on occupation duty or POW camp guards.
In reality there was a gray area in which individuals received the Cross with Swords when perhaps the non-combatant grade would have been appropriate, and other receiving the Iron Cross when the War Merit Cross would have fit better.
Number of Crosses Presented:
War Merit with Swords: 6,134,959
War Merit without Swords: 1,591,567
The War Merit Cross was eventually used to recognize virtually any service, and was to become the German decoration most widely presented during the war.
Non-Interventionism
before WWII
As
Europe moved closer and closer to war in the late 1930s, the mood in America
was divided. The U.S. attempted to keep hold of its policy of isolationism and
non-interventionism; however, increasing threats, such as Nazi Germany, made
this difficult.
On
September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland; Britain and France subsequently
declared war on Germany, marking the start of World War II. In an address to
the American people two days later, President Roosevelt assured the nation that
he would do all he could to keep them out of war. However, his words showed his
true goals. “When peace has been broken anywhere, the peace of all countries
everywhere is in danger,” Roosevelt said. Even though he was intent on
neutrality as the official policy of the United States, he still echoed the
dangers of staying out of this war. He also cautioned the American people to
not let their wish to avoid war at all costs supersede the security of the
nation.
The
war in Europe split the American people into two distinct groups: non-interventionists
and interventionists. The two sides argued over America’s involvement in this
Second World War. The basic principle of the interventionist argument was fear
of German invasion. By the summer of 1940, France had fallen to the Germans, and
Britain was the only democratic stronghold between Germany and the United
States. Interventionists feared that if Britain fell, their security as a
nation would shrink immediately. They were also afraid of a world after this
war, a world where they would have to coexist with the fascist power of Europe.
Non-interventionists, although a minority, were well organized and had a
powerful presence in Congress.
Neutrality
Acts of the 1930s
The
Neutrality Acts of the 1930s were passed in response to the growing turmoil in
Europe and Asia that eventually led to World War II. They were spurred by the
growth in isolationism and non-interventionism in the U.S. following its costly
involvement in World War I, and sought to ensure that the US.. would not become
entangled again in foreign conflicts.
The
1935 act, signed on August 31, 1935, imposed a general embargo
on trading in arms and war materials with all parties in a war. It also
declared that American citizens traveling on warring ships traveled at their
own risk. The act was set to expire after six months.
In
January 1937, the Congress passed a joint resolution outlawing the arms trade
with Spain. The Neutrality Act of 1937, passed in May, included the provisions
of the earlier acts, this time without expiration date, and extended them to
cover civil wars as well. Further, U.S. ships were prohibited from transporting
any passengers or articles to belligerents, and U.S. citizens were forbidden
from traveling on ships of belligerent nations.In a concession to Roosevelt, a
"cash and carry" provision that had been devised by his advisor
Bernard Baruch was added: the President could permit the sale of materials and
supplies to belligerents in Europe as long as the recipients arranged for the
transport and paid immediately in cash, with the argument that this would not
draw the U.S. into the conflict. Roosevelt believed that cash and carry would
aid France and Great Britain in the event of a war with Germany, since they
were the only countries that controlled the seas and were able to take
advantage of the provision.
The
legacy of the Neutrality Acts in the 1930s was widely regarded as having been
generally negative: they made no distinction between aggressor and victim,
treating both equally as "belligerents," and they limited the US
government's ability to aid Britain against Nazi Germany. These Acts did
everything they could to delay U.S. entry into a European war.
Timeline courtesy of The History Place http://www.historyplace.com
September 14 - Germans elect Nazis making them
the 2nd largest political party in Germany.
1932
 |
| War Merit Cross 2nd Class* of Nazi Germany retrieved from a fallen enemy by Wilbur C. Garner during the war. Footnote on the War Merit Cross 2nd Class at the end of the timeline listing. |
November 8 - Franklin Roosevelt elected
President of the United States.
1933
January 30 - Adolf Hitler becomes Chancellor of Germany.
February 27 - The German Reichstag burns.
July 14 - Nazi Party declared Germany's only
political party.
October 14 - Germany quits the League of
Nations.
1934
July 25 - Nazis murder Austrian Chancellor
Dollfuss.
August 2 - German President Hindenburg dies.
1935
March 16 - Hitler violates the Treaty of
Versailles by introducing military conscription.
1936
February 10 - The German Gestapo is placed above
the law.
March 7 - German troops occupy the
Rhineland.
May 9 - Mussolini's Italian forces take
Ethiopia.
July 18 - Civil war erupts in Spain.
August 1 - Olympic games begin in Berlin.
October 1 - Franco declared head of Spanish
State.
1937
June 11 - Soviet leader Josef Stalin begins
a purge of Red Army generals.
1938
August 12 - German military mobilizes.
September 30 - British Prime Minister Chamberlain
appeases Hitler at Munich.
1939
March 15/16 - Nazis take Czechoslovakia.
March 28, 1939 - Spanish Civil war ends.
May 22, 1939 - Nazis sign 'Pact of Steel' with
Italy.
August 25, 1939 - Britain and Poland sign a Mutual
Assistance Treaty.
August 31, 1939 - British fleet mobilizes; Civilian
evacuations begin from London.
September 1, 1939 - Nazis invade Poland.
September 3, 1939 - Britain, France, Australia and New
Zealand declare war on Germany.
September 4, 1939 - British Royal Air Force attacks
the German Navy.
September 5, 1939 - United States proclaims its
neutrality; German troops cross the Vistula River in Poland.
September 10, 1939 - Canada declares war on Germany; Battle of the Atlantic begins.
September 17, 1939 - Soviets invade Poland.
September
27, 1939 - Warsaw
surrenders to Nazis; Reinhard
Heydrich becomes the leader of new Reich Main Security Office (RSHA).
September 29, 1939 - Nazis and Soviets divide up
Poland.
November 8, 1939 - Assassination attempt on Hitler
fails.
November 30, 1939 - Soviets attack Finland.
December 14, 1939
- Soviet Union expelled from the League of Nations.
1940
January 8, 1940 - Rationing begins in Britain.
March 12, 1940 - Finland signs a peace treaty with
Soviets.
March 16, 1940 - Germans bomb Scapa Flow naval base
near Scotland.
April 9, 1940
- Nazis invade Denmark and Norway.
May 10, 1940 - Nazis invade France, Belgium,
Luxembourg and the Netherlands; Winston Churchill becomes British Prime
Minister.
May 15, 1940 - Holland surrenders to the Nazis.
May 26, 1940 - Evacuation of Allied troops from Dunkirk
begins.
May 28, 1940
- Belgium surrenders to the Nazis.
June 10, 1940 - Norway surrenders to the Nazis;
Italy declares war on Britain and France.
June 16, 1940 - Marshal Pétain becomes French
Prime Minister.
June 22, 1940 - France signs an armistice with
Nazi Germany.
June 28, 1940 - Britain recognizes General Charles
de Gaulle as the Free French leader.
July 1, 1940 - German U-boats attack merchant
ships in the Atlantic.
July 5, 1940 - French Vichy government breaks off
relations with Britain.
July 10, 1940 - Battle of Britain begins.
July 23, 1940 - Soviets take Lithuania, Latvia and
Estonia.
August 3-19 - Italians occupy British Somaliland
in East Africa.
August 13, 1940 - German bombing offensive against
airfields and factories in England.
August 15, 1940 - Air battles and daylight raids
over Britain.
August 17, 1940 - Hitler declares a blockade of the
British Isles.
August 23/24 1940 - First German air raids on Central
London.
September 3, 1940 - Hitler plans Operation Sea Lion (the invasion of Britain).
September 13, 1940 - Italians invade Egypt.
September
15, 1940 - Massive
German air raids on London, Southampton, Bristol, Cardiff, Liverpool and Manchester.
September 16, 1940 - United States military
conscription bill passed.
September 27, 1940 - Tripartite (Axis) Pact signed by
Germany, Italy and Japan.
October 7, 1940 - German troops enter Romania.
October 12, 1940 - Germans postpone Operation Sea Lion until Spring of 1941.
October 28, 1940 - Italy invades Greece.
November 5, 1940 - Roosevelt re-elected as U.S.
president.
November 10/11 - Torpedo bomber raid cripples the
Italian fleet at Taranto, Italy.
November 14/15 - Germans bomb Coventry, England.
November 20, 1940 - Hungary joins the Axis Powers.
November 22, 1940 - Greeks defeat the Italian 9th
Army.
November 23, 1940 - Romania joins the Axis Powers.
December 9/10 - British begin a western desert
offensive in North Africa against the Italians.
1941
January 22, 1941 - Tobruk in North Africa falls to
the British and Australians.
February 11, 1941 - British forces advance into
Italian Somaliland in East Africa.
February 12, 1941 - German General Erwin Rommel
arrives in Tripoli, North Africa.
February 14, 1941 - First units of German 'Afrika
Korps' arrive in North Africa.
March 7, 1941 - British forces arrive in Greece.
March 11, 1941 - President Roosevelt signs the
Lend-Lease Act.
March 27, 1941 - A coup in Yugoslavia overthrows
the pro-Axis government.
April 3, 1941 - Pro-Axis regime set up in Iraq.
April 6, 1941 - Nazis invade Greece and
Yugoslavia.
April 14, 1941 - Rommel attacks Tobruk.
April 17, 1941 - Yugoslavia surrenders to the
Nazis.
April 27, 1941 - Greece surrenders to the Nazis.
May 10, 1941 - Deputy Führer Rudolph Hess flies
to Scotland.
May 10/11 - Heavy German bombing of London;
British bomb Hamburg.
May 15, 1941 - Operation
Brevity begins (the British counter-attack in Egypt).
May 24, 1941 - Sinking of the British ship Hood
by the Bismarck.
May 27, 1941 - Sinking of the Bismarck by the
British Navy.
June 4, 1941 - Pro-Allied government installed in
Iraq.
June 8, 1941 - Allies invade Syria and Lebanon.
June 14, 1941 - United States freezes German and
Italian assets in America.
June 28, 1941 - Germans capture Minsk.
July 3, 1941 - Stalin calls for a scorched earth
policy.
July 10, 1941 - Germans cross the River Dnieper in
the Ukraine.
July 12, 1941 - Mutual Assistance agreement
between British and Soviets.
July 14, 1941 - British occupy Syria.
July 26, 1941 - Roosevelt freezes Japanese assets
in United States and suspends relations.
August 1, 1941 - United States announces an oil embargo against aggressor
states.
August 20, 1941 - Nazi siege of Leningrad begins.
September 3, 1941 - First experimental use of gas chambers at Auschwitz.
September 19, 1941 - Nazis take Kiev.
September 29, 1941 - Nazis murder 33,771 Jews at Kiev.
October 2, 1941 - Operation Typhoon begins (German advance on Moscow).
October 16, 1941 - Germans take Odessa.
October 24, 1941 - Germans take Kharkov.
October 30, 1941 - Germans reach Sevastopol.
November 13, 1941 - British aircraft carrier Ark Royal is sunk off Gibraltar by
a U-boat.
November 20, 1941 - Germans take Rostov.
November 27, 1941 - Soviet troops retake Rostov.
December 5, 1941 - German attack on Moscow is abandoned.
December 6, 1941 - Soviet Army launches a major counter-offensive around
Moscow.
December 16, 1941 - Rommel begins a retreat to El Agheila in North Africa.
December 19, 1941 - Hitler takes complete control of the German Army.
1942
January 1, 1942 - Declaration of the United Nations signed by 26 Allied
nations.
January 13, 1942 - Germans begin a U-boat offensive along east coast of USA.
January 20, 1942 - SS Leader
Heydrich holds the Wannsee Conference to coordinate the "Final Solution of
the Jewish Question."
January 21, 1942 - Rommel's counter-offensive from El Agheila begins.
January 26, 1942 - First American forces arrive in Great Britain.
April 23, 1942 - German air raids begin against cathedral cities in Britain.
May 8, 1942 - German summer offensive begins in the Crimea.
May 26, 1942 - Rommel begins an offensive against the Gazala Line.
May 27, 1942 - SS Leader Heydrich attacked in Prague.
May 30, 1942 - First thousand-bomber British air raid (against Cologne).
In June - Mass murder of Jews by gassing begins at Auschwitz.
June 4, 1942 - Heydrich dies of wounds.
June 5, 1942 - Germans besiege Sevastopol.
June 21, 1942 - Rommel captures Tobruk.
June 25, 1942 - General Dwight D. Eisenhower arrives in London.
June 30, 1942 - Rommel reaches El Alamein near Cairo, Egypt.
July 1-30 - First Battle of El Alamein.
July 3, 1942 - Germans take Sevastopol.
July 5, 1942 - Soviet resistance in the Crimea ends.
July 9, 1942 - Germans begin a drive toward Stalingrad in the USSR.
July 22, 1942 - First deportations from the Warsaw Ghetto to concentration
camps; Treblinka extermination camp opened.
August 7, 1942 - British General Bernard Montgomery takes command of Eighth
Army in North Africa.
August 23, 1942 - Massive German air raid on Stalingrad.
September 2, 1942 - Rommel driven back by Montgomery in the Battle of Alam
Halfa.
September 13, 1942 - Battle of Stalingrad begins.
October 18, 1942 - Hitler orders the execution of all captured British
commandos.
November 8, 1942 - Operation Torch begins (U.S. invasion of North Africa).
November 11, 1942 - Germans and Italians invade unoccupied Vichy France.
November 19, 1942 - Soviet counter-offensive at Stalingrad begins.
December 2, 1942 - Professor Enrico Fermi sets up an atomic reactor in
Chicago.
December 13, 1942 - Rommel withdraws from El Agheila.
December 16, 1942 - Soviets defeat Italian troops on the River Don in the USSR.
December 17, 1942 - British Foreign Secretary Eden tells the British House of
Commons of mass executions of Jews by Nazis; U.S. declares those crimes will be
avenged.
December 31, 1942 - Battle of the Barents Sea between German and British ships.
1943
January 2/3 - Germans begin a withdrawal from the Caucasus.
January 10, 1943 - Soviets begin an offensive against the Germans in
Stalingrad.
January
14-24 - Casablanca
conference between Churchill and Roosevelt. During the conference,
Roosevelt announces the war can end only with "unconditional German
surrender."
January 27, 1943 - First bombing raid by Americans on Germany (at
Wilhelmshaven).
February 2, 1943 - Germans surrender at Stalingrad in the first big defeat of
Hitler's armies.
February 8, 1943 - Soviet troops take Kursk.
February 14-25 - Battle of Kasserine Pass between the U.S. 1st Armored
Division and German Panzers in North Africa.
February 16, 1943 - Soviets re-take Kharkov.
March 2, 1943 - Germans begin a withdrawal from Tunisia, Africa.
March 15, 1943 - Germans re-capture Kharkov.
March 20-28 - Montgomery's Eighth Army breaks through the Mareth Line in
Tunisia.
April 6/7 - Axis forces in Tunisia begin a withdrawal toward
Enfidaville as American and British forces link.
*The War Merit Cross Second Class of Nazi Germany
The War Merit Cross 2nd Class was the award that bore the main burden of replacing the non-combatant ribbon of the Iron Cross, there were two styles of cross which bore significance.a. In the case of the combatant grade cross a pair of military swords, finished on both sides, were placed between the arms of the cross. This Cross was presented to Military Personnel for bravery not necessarily in the face of the enemy.
Because this cross bears no swords it was from a Non-Combatant member of Nazi Germany.
b. The War Merit Cross 2nd Class without swords was presented to those whose actions were deemed to be in furtherance of the war effort but not directly involved in military operations. This could mean civilians such as teachers and industrialists or Military personnel on occupation duty or POW camp guards.
In reality there was a gray area in which individuals received the Cross with Swords when perhaps the non-combatant grade would have been appropriate, and other receiving the Iron Cross when the War Merit Cross would have fit better.
Number of Crosses Presented:
War Merit with Swords: 6,134,959
War Merit without Swords: 1,591,567
The War Merit Cross was eventually used to recognize virtually any service, and was to become the German decoration most widely presented during the war.
