German soldiers were successful during the early days of Operation Barbarossa.
As Britain struggled to survive, Germany made its biggest move yet. In June 1941 the German army launched Operation Barbarossa, a massive invasion of the Soviet Union. Britain and the United States offered help to the Soviet Union, leading the country to join the Allies. Soviet leader Joseph Stalin was determined to resist Germany, saying in July 1941, “The Red Army and Red Navy and all citizens of the Soviet Union must defend every inch of Soviet soil, fight to the last drop of blood for our towns and villages ….”3
The Germans didn’t let Stalin’s words stop them. They advanced quickly, pushing the Soviet armies back and taking huge numbers of prisoners. German soldiers moved toward Moscow and Leningrad, Russia’s major cities. The soldiers were only 15 miles (24 kilometers) from Moscow at the end of 1941. Leningrad would endure a siege lasting 872 days, in which it is believed 1 million people died. Leningrad resident Nikolai Markevich wrote in his diary January 24, 1942, “The city is dead … Almost the only form of transport is sleds … carrying corpses in plain coffins, covered with rags or half clothed … Daily six to eight thousand die … The city is dying as it has lived for the last half year—clenching its teeth.”4 In Moscow a counter offensive by the Soviet army eventually pushed the Germans back, relieving pressure on the capital city.
SURPRISE ATTACK IN THE PACIFIC
U.S. leaders continued to be concerned about Japan, but still tried to preserve peace. That changed the morning of December 7, 1941, when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. The attack came in two separate waves and lasted about two hours. In addition to the 2,400 Americans killed, more than 1,100 were wounded. Four battleships and one training ship sank and four battleships were damaged. A bomb sank the USS Arizona, killing 1,177 of the 1,510 men aboard.
Ed Sheehan, an ironworker at the Pearl Harbor dockyard, witnessed the attacks. “When the second-wave planes came in,” he wrote, “they appeared as if from out of nowhere, even soundless at first. They darted like angry birds at the Nevada, hitting her again and again. From a distance she seemed to shiver and shrug, but miraculously kept moving … Then the destroyer Shaw was hit, out on the floating dry dock …The ship appeared to disintegrate into a million pieces, becoming a gargantuan fireball. The blast sent scraps twisting and flying in all directions, for thousands of feet, in great slow-motion arcs trailing streamers of smoke. I was probably a quarter of a mile away, yet one of the pieces fell at my feet.”5
The attack was devastating, but there was one bright spot for the United States. The U.S. aircraft carriers, which would prove crucial to the war effort, were out at sea that day. Although Pearl Harbor was a crushing blow, the U.S. Pacific fleet was still intact.
Japan later attacked Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaya, the Dutch East Indies, and the Philippines. The United States and Britain, along with several other countries, declared war on Japan. On December 11 Germany and Italy declared war on the United States. The war had become worldwide.
A DATE THAT WILL LIVE IN INFAMY
The day after the attack on Pearl Harbor, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt spoke to a joint session of Congress. “Yesterday, December 7th, 1941—a date which will live in infamy—the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.”6
The attack was a great shock to the people of the United States and led directly to the country entering World War II. Many Americans had opposed getting involved in the war. After Pearl Harbor the American people were united in their determination to defeat the enemy and avenge the events of December 7.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt