Mark Scott Smith's Blog: Enemy in the Mirror, page 106

Christmas – WWII USA

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Nazi Cartoon – 1940

Similar to their Japanese and American counterparts, Nazi propagandists populated their wartime cartoons with animal characters. Here in der Störenfried (the troublemaker), when the rabbit father finds the fox threatening his children, the Luftwaffe (wasps) and Wehrmacht (dogs?) come to the rescue.

 

 

 

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Momotarô’s Sea Eagles – 桃太郎の海鷲

This rather eerie Japanese wartime cartoon features Momotaro the mythological Peach Boy fighting alongside several different animal species (representing East Asians) in an attack against the demons on the island of Onigashima (Americans and British).

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The Ductators 1942

This somewhat crude cartoon is worth watching to catch the feeling of Americans in the early stages of our involvement in WWII.

 

 

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Victory Gardens WWII

This 1943 U.S. Army instructional film, made with Hollywood animators and the voice of Mel Blanc as Private Snafu ,  provides interesting insight into possible concerns of overseas American troops.

During WWII, the government rationed foods including sugar, butter, milk, cheese, eggs, coffee, meat and canned goods. American families were encouraged to can their own vegetables in order to save commercial canned goods for the troops.

Additionally, with a shortage of labor and transportation, limited amounts of fruits and vegetables made it to market. With ~ 20 million patriotic citizens planting gardens  to provide their own fruits and vegetables, “Victory Gardens“ made a significant difference in the war effort.

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Leigh Light -1942

 

Starting in June 1942, the Leigh Light, a powerful (22 million candela) carbon arc searchlight, 24 inches in diameter, was installed on many RAF Coastal Command patrol bombers, to enhance attacks on U-boats recharging their batteries on the surface at night.

Using ASV (Air-to-Surface Vessel) radar, the bombers turned on the searchlight during their final approach to U-Boats on the surface. The light was so successful that for a time U-Boats began charging their batteries during the daytime, when they could see approaching aircraft.

Germany soon introduced the Metox radar warning receiver which provided early warning that an ASV radar equipped aircraft was approaching. Able to detect radar emissions at a greater range than the aircraft radar could detect vessels, the U-boat often had enough warning to dive. What followed was a chess match as each side developed new equipment only to be countered by the other.

 

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FDR’s Disability

In the summer of 1921, at the age of 39, Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) had the sudden onset of low back pain, muscle weakness and the inability to bear his own weight. After several misdiagnoses (blood clot, tumor) and ineffective therapies (massage, hot baths), he was diagnosed with infantile paralysis. Halting his developing political career, FDR began a rigorous rehabilitation process at his home in Hyde Park, New York. Soon swimming became his main exercise. By the winter of 1921, his arms regained strength and his stomach and lower back were getting stronger.

In January 1922, FDR was fitted with full-leg braces that locked at the knee. By spring, he could stand with assistance. Resolving that he would one day be able to walk the length of his driveway ( 1/4 mile), he trained continuously. Hearing of its purported healing waters, FDR began visiting Warm Springs, Georgia in 1924. Although not cured of his paraplegia, he made good progress and eventually bought the facility, transforming it into a hydrotherapeutic rehabilitation center for polio patients.

Although disability was generally frowned upon in the 1920s, as FDR began to ascend the political ladder, he found Americans were sympathetic to his condition rather than embarrassed. Fueled by America’s “good cheer” he was elected governor of New York in 1928; and in 1932, President of the United States.

In private, FDR used a small, custom-built wheelchair designed to move around tight corners and narrow hallways with ease. In public, he “walked” with support of a cane and the arm of his son or advisor. Maneuvering his hips and swinging his legs forward, FDR gave the credible impression that he was walking. On stairs, he supported his weight with his arms, as if on parallel bars, and swung himself down to the next step.

Of the press, FDR requested no photographs while walking, maneuvering, or being transferred from his car. With the occasional noncompliant photographer, the Secret Service would intervene.

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The Rise of Mussolini

Born in 1883 into a passionate socialist blacksmith’s family, Benito Mussolini was named after the Mexican revolutionary Benito Juarez.  Although expelled from several schools for bullying and defying authority, he obtained a teaching certificate at age 18 and worked as a schoolmaster for a short time.

In 1902, after gaining a reputation for his socialist rhetoric in  Switzerland, he was expelled from the country. In 1904, after brief imprisonment in Italy for promoting socialism, he became editor of the socialist newspaper Avanti. After early opposition to Italy’s entrance into WWI, he reversed his position and joined the Italian army – bringing about his expulsion from the Italian Socialist Party. Wounded on the front lines, he was promoted to corporal and honorably discharged.

In 1919 Mussolini founded the National Fascist Party, (Partito Nazionale Fascista, PNF) promising to increase employment, build public works and return Italy to the glory of ancient Rome. A paramilitary force of Black Shirts  (Voluntary Militia for National Security – MVSN), was organized to suppress opposition as Mussolini assumed increased power during a period of political chaos in Italy. In 1925 Mussolini declared himself Il Duce (leader).

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Hitler’s Rise to Power

Born in Austria in 1889, Adolf Hitler, moved to Germany when he was three years old. Following the early death of his father, with whom he had frequent conflict, he dropped out of school at age 16 and moved to Vienna where he worked as a laborer and a watercolor painter. After rejection by the Viennese Academy of Fine Arts, and homeless for several years, he enlisted in the German Army at the outbreak of WWI in 1914. He was wounded in the Battle of the Somme and was awarded the Iron Cross and the Black Wound Badge.

Embittered by Germany’s collapse in 1918 and the inequitable Treaty of Versailles, Hitler became a passionate German nationalist and joined the anti-Semitic, anti-communist German Workers Party (DAP) in 1919. Soon after, the DAP changed its name to Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (NSDAP) and Hitler became party chairman in 1921.

In 1923 Hitler and his Sturmabteilung (SA) tried to initiate a revolution with the infamous failed Munich beer hall putsch that landed him in jail for a year. During that time, he wrote Mein Kampf (My Struggle), a diatribe that outlined his plan for an ethnically pure German society. With an ineffectual government during the Weimar Republic and the Great Depression, Hitler’s extremist views made large political gains. Although he came in second, behind WWI hero Paul von Hindenburg in the 1932 presidential elections, he was appointed chancellor, a position from which he subsequently launched his dictatorship.

By the end of 1933, Hitler had achieved complete control over both legislative and executive branches of government, and was systematically eliminating all opposition. In July of 1933, the Nazi Party was declared the only legal political party in Germany. In 1934 the rising power of Ernst Röhm‘s SA was purged on the bloody night of the long knives.

After President von Hindenburg died in 1934, Hitler enacted a law abolishing the office of president, leaving absolute power in the hands of the chancellor. Hitler then became supreme commander of the armed forces, Germany withdrew from the League of Nations, and Hitler announced a massive expansion of Germany’s armed forces.

 

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Hirohito 昭和天皇

 

Hirohito, the Emperor Shōwa (昭和天皇) of Japan, was a controversial figure. Some historians claim he was inherently pacifist and tried to prevent war. Others say he was neither a proponent of war nor peace, but an opportunist who governed in a pluralistic decision-making process. 

At the start of Hirohito’s reign in 1926, Japan had the ninth-largest economy in the world, the third-largest naval power, and was a member of the council of the League of Nations.

During the first part of Hirohito’s reign, marked by financial crisis and extreme political violence, military extremists gained increased power through both legal and extralegal means.  Although some apologists insist he was a pacifist, it appears that Hirohito made no objection in 1937 to the Japanese aggression in the China.

 

In the fall of 1941, breaking tradition at an imperial conference, Hirohito directly questioned the chiefs of the Army and Navy general staff about the advisability of their war plans. However, since all speakers at the conference were united in favor of war rather than diplomacy, it’s said that Hirohito gradually began leaning in that direction. On November 5, 1941, Hirohito approved the operations plan for a war against the West. 

During the war, the Emperor took a keen interest in military progress and appears to have made significant interventions in some military operations. In June 1944, as Saipan fell, Hirohito sent an imperial order encouraging all Japanese civilians to commit suicide rather than be taken prisoner.

In June of 1945, as a final Japanese victory seemed very unlikely, the cabinet reassessed the war strategy. The upshot of the meeting, a decision to fight to the end, was not challenged by Hirohito.

 

In June 1942, the Hirohito met with his ministers, saying “I desire that concrete plans to end the war, unhampered by existing policy, be speedily studied and that efforts be made to implement them.” In July 1945, the Allies issued the Potsdam Declaration demanding the unconditional surrender of Japan. The Emperor decided not to surrender.

On August 10, 1945, following the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and a belated Soviet declaration of war, the Japanese cabinet drafted an “Imperial Rescript ending the War” providing it did not compromise the prerogatives of Hirohito as the sovereign leader of Japan. Although fanatics attempted a coup and suppression of the document of surrender, a hidden recording of Hirohito’s speech was broadcast and the coup was quickly crushed.

After the war, Hirohito, without prosecution for war crimes, was kept in place as a figurative head of state. 

 

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