1944

FDR had stated that though his priority was to defeat the Germans, he could not mount an invasion before 1944, which angered Stalin. The Italian people had overthrown Mussolini and Germany was now fighting on three land fronts. By holding back, FDR had ensured that Germany, USSR and the others had devastated themselves and each other. Europe was in ruins at every level. WW2 was the opportunity for the US to become a world superpower as FDR had confided to his son in private his wartime strategy was for the US to be the “reserves”, waiting for the Russians to exhaust themselves in the combat against the Nazis after which the US would move in for their loot. Therefore aid to the Soviets became a presidential priority. Truman went further in June 1941 – “if we see that Germany is winning we ought to help Russia and if Russia is winning we ought to help Germany and that way let them kill as many as possible”

Did the Americans, not only carrying out policy of letting Europe destroy itself, but also one of prioritising their interests in Asia? By driving Japan to desperate measures they were forced to ally with Germany and attack the US at Pearl Harbor. GB and USSR were then forced to join with the US to achieve US policy goals – control of China, Japan, Vietnam, Korea, Indonesia, Pacific Islands.

There were plans to establish a Central Intelligence Agency….

Jan 5th 1945, with Battle of the Bulge raging Roosevelt’s policy of unconditional surrender came under brutal assault by Senator Burton Wheeler (pro-Nazi). The British embassy “noted that Wheeler’s assault made him both anti-Soviet and anti-semitic.

January 6th, 1944 the Red Army advanced into Poland;

On January 9th US forces invaded the Philippine island of Luzon (MacArthur).

Battle of the Bulge – the US in the Ardennes.

On January 16th the Germans were defeated at the "battle of the bulge" - Hitler's last-ditch attempt to save his regime. The Red Army liberated Warsaw on the 17th. German lines on the Eastern front collapsed; full retreat began on the 19th. Hungary signed armistice with allies on the 20th.

Jan 22nd 1944 the Allied forces land at Anzio, Italy;

USSR liberated Auschwitz on the 26th, occupied Lithuania on the 27th.

27th the Red Army breaks 900 day siege of Leningrad;

Jan 31st 1944 American forces invade Kwajalein. In the Marshall Islands.

Feb 4th Kwajelein Atoll secured

The Irgun began a militant operation against the symbols of government, in an attempt to harm the regime's operation as well as its reputation. The Irgun made a rule for itself - no individual terror and an attempt to avoid casualties;[29] it is a matter of debate as to whether Irgun met these rules. The first attack was on February 12, 1944 at the government immigration offices, a symbol of the immigration laws. The attacks went smoothly and ended with no casualties—as they took place on a Saturday night, when the buildings were empty—in the three largest cities: Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, and Haifa. On February 27 the income tax offices were bombed. Parts of the same cities were blown up, also on a Saturday night; prior warnings were put up near the buildings. Wikipedia

February 16th German Army counter-attacks at Anzio;

Feb 17th US landings on Eniwetok – secured on the 21st.

Feb 19th US forces land on Iwo Jima.

29th Feb US landings on the Admiralty Islands

US Senator Robert R Reynolds “arch conservative” got a letter from W Disney asking for the HUAC to intensify its presence in Hollywood. The HUAC sent William Wheeler to investigate Sorrell – again.

The FBI fully supported the HUAC and subpoenaed everyone suspected – whether subversive or merely suspicious. Source: Eliot’s Disney.

FBI monitored the likes of Ernest Hemingway, Carl Sandburg, Daniel Fitzpatrick, Paul Robeson, Walt Disney @ a tribute to Art Young, liberal activist, hosted by left wing magazine “New Masses” on January 27th.

+ Earl Browder, Rockwell Kent, Langsten Hughes, Howard Fast, Donald Ogden Stewart.

Fast, Robeson and Stewart had been at the Night of the Americas Gala in ’43 and were previously suspected of being communists. Disney filed a report.

Feb 1944 Disney became VP and founder member of the Motion Picture Alliance for Preservation of American Ideals (MPA). Rabidly anti-communist. Principle funding came from heads of major studios and W. Randolph Hearst, elected president - Sam Wood – a film director who had made “Gone With The Wind”.

MPA considered FDR to be a dupe of the grand world communist conspiracy. They managed to recruit 75 of Hollywood’s most powerful conservatives including: Adolphe Menjou, Robert Taylor, Gary Cooper, John Wayne, Ward Bond, Charles Coburn, Hedda Hooper – gossip columnist, Cedric Gibbons – art director, directors Norman Taurog, Clarence Brown, screen writers James K McGuiness, Burden Chase, Bert Kalmar, Fred Nibb Jr, Casey Robinson, Howard Emmett Rogers, Morrie Ryskind, Col Rupert Hughes (Hearst’s Hollywood liaison), Teamsters leaders Joe Tuohy and Roy Brewer.

March 3rd: The US liberate Manila in the Philippines.

March 5th second Chindit operation begins

8th March Japanese offensive from Burma nto India begins

March 16th Japanese resistance on Iwo Jima ends. 21st March: Allies take Mandalay in Burma; in Europe, told to reorient strategy towards the formation of a Nazi Redoubt in Bavaria - Berlin was now not so important. 30th Red Army liberates Danzig.

March 24th Wingate kuilled in air crash

29th March Imphal (in India) siege begins

April 6th Kohima (in India) siege begins

April 8th Red army began offensive in the Crimea.

April 11th Okinawa campaign in preparation for final attack on Japan. The operation to mine Japanese harbours was called Operation Starvation.

April 18th Kohima relieved

22nd April US landings at Hollandia, NG

May 9th soviet troops recapture Sevastopol.

May 12th German forces in the Crimea surrender.

May 18th US Ops in Admiralty Islands end

27th May US landings at Biak, NG.

The Americans finally landed in Normandy during June 1944 (5th June).

Spring 1944 The British Balfour Declaration of 1917 committed them to providing a Jewish homeland. In 20s and 30s there were battles with native Arabs. On May 17th they set a limit of 75,000 additional Jews over the next five years to placate the Arabs. After 1st April, no more Jews were to be resettled . Left wing zionists sided with the Arabs against the British, right wing zionists sided with the British against the Arabs.

 “Britain and the US signed a pact on oil agreeing on “the principle of equal opportunity”. “Open Door Policy” was triumphant throughout the middle east”  .

April 1944 a state Dept official said “as you know, we’ve got to plan an enormously increased production in this country after the war, and the American domestic market can't absorb all that production indefinitely. There won’t be any question about our needing greatly increased foreign markets.”

A State Department officer was quoted as saying "a review of the diplomatic history of the past 35 years will show that petroleum has historically played a larger part in the external relations of the United States than any other commodity." Saudi Arabia was the largest oil pool in the Middle East. The ARAMCO Oil Corporation, through Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes, got FDR to agree to lend-lease aid to Saudi Arabia which would involve the US government there and create a shield for the interests of ARAMCO.

"By the end of the war the dominant influence in Saudi Arabia was unquestionably the USA. King Ibn Saud was regarded no longer as a wild desert warrior but a key piece in the power game, to be wooed by the West. FDR on his way back from Yalta, entertained the King on Cruiser Quincy, together with his entourage of 50 including two son, a prime minister, an astrologer and flocks of sheep for slaughter."_

FDR promised Saud, the US would not change its Palestine policy without consulting the Arabs. In later years, the concern for oil would constantly compete with political concern for the Jewish state in the Middle East, but for now, oil seemed more important. Britain had collapsed - the US moved in.

Monte Casino in Italy taken by Allies; D-day operation – Overlord in June.

2nd June Allied counter-offensive at Kohima

July 3rd Soviet forces recapture Minsk.

4th June Rome fell to Allies

6th June D-Day landings in Normandy

6th June D-day invasion of Europe begins with Allied landings at Normandy.

June 13th Germans begin launching V-1 rockets against London.

June 14th first V-1 flying bomb hits London

June 15th Saipon landings – 4000 Japs died in a banzai charge BC – usually effective – the Japs went through 27th Army Division – hundreds of Americans were killed.

First US bombers hit Japan since Doolittle Raid

American marines invade Spain;

June 19th Battle of the Phillipine Sea

June 22nd Red Army begins massive summer offensive. Siege of Imphal ends

June 27th American forces liberate Cherbourg.

The World Bank was set up in July 1944 – see p37

9th Red Army advances into Finland.

July 9th Allied troops liberate Caen. Saipan secured.

July 18th American troops liberate St Lo. Tojo resigned – Koiso took over

19th to 20th Soviet forces invade Romania.

July 20th Hitler survives assassination attempt.

July 21st US landings on Guam

July 24th US landings on Tiniam – resistance ends on 10th of August.

July 25th to 30th Allied forces break out of Normandy encirclement in “operation Cobra”. 28th Red army recaptures Brest-Litovsk.

24th USSR liberate concentration camp at Majdanek.

31st Red Army takes Bucharest.

The Allies had to plan what they were going to do with Germany as it seemed now that the war was nearing the end. The Allies were nearly at the Rhine, the Russians crossing the Vistula. The Morgenthau plan, conceived after July 1944, was the US’s idea to wreck the Ruhr region preventing any further industrialisation, “converting Germany into a country principally agricultural and pastural in character”. Stimson and Hull objected as the Ruhr was important for the whole of Europe. FDR and Churchill met on 11th September 1944 in Quebec to discuss the fate of Germany, lend-lease arrangements with Britain, and other minor points. First, Stimson and Hull were absent and unable to voice their objections. Second, Churchill was blackmailed into approving the plan though he violently opposed it because FDR made lend-lease money, which Britain needed, conditional upon Churchill’s support for the Morgenthau Plan.

Although with French and British opposition at Yalta, FDR did back down from plans to destroy German mines, it did lead to much of the Ruhr capital equipment being wrecked, causing a major blow to the European economy.

It was after the Quebec Agreement that the Morgenthau Plan was released to the public. Morgenthau was now viewed as the most hated man in America mainly due to the Corporations’ propaganda through their various media outlets. The removal or marginalisation of Morgenthau allowed the 4-Ds program to be sabotaged.

August 1st Polish Home Army begins revolt against Nazis in Warsaw.

August 15th Allies invade Southern France.

August 23rd Rumania capitulates to Soviets.

August 25th Paris liberated.

Sept 3rd Brussels liberated.

Sep 4th Antwerp liberated.

Sep 8th Soviets and Finns sign peace treaty. The first V-2 flying bomb hit London

Sept 13th American troops reach the Siegfried Line in western Germany.

Sep 17th Arnhem operation to seize a bridge over the Rhine begins

Sep 18th US landings on Peleliu. Japanese switched tactics – they dug themselves in to caves and ridges. Some hung on until 1947 – a group of 34 survivors who could not believe Japan had lost a war.

19th September 1944, the Hyde Park agreement between FDR and Churchill to restrict nuclear knowledge and after ‘mature consideration’ drop it on Japan.

The US produced or acquired 111.4 MT of plutonium between 1944 and 1994. Some 3.4 MT of plutonium used during wartime or nuclear tests. The US conducted a total of 1,030 tests between July 1945 through December 1992; and the locations of the nation’s plutonium inventory is buried and stored in wastes including Pantex, Texas; Rocky Flats, Colorado; Los Alamos National Laboratory, New Mexico; and Hanford, Washington.

“Plutonium: the first 50 years”, by US Department of Energy, official explanation of What happened to US plutonium.

Sep 26th Red Army occupies Estonia.

October 2nd Nazis brutally crush revolt in Warsaw;

Allies advance into Germany.5th British invade Greece.

14th British liberate Athens; Rommel forced to commit suicide for alleged involvement in July assassination plot against Hitler.

20th Belgrade, Yugoslavia falls to Soviet forces.

23rd to 26th US naval forces destroy remnants of Japanese Navy at the Battle of Leyte Gulf, the largest naval engagement in history.

Battle for Normandy.

Liberation of Paris.

Battle of Philippines.

Battle for Minsk.

Assassination attempt on Hitler.

Paris retaken.

“A Bridge Too Far” at Arnhem.

October 20th US landings at Leyte, Philippines

October 23 – 24th Battle of Leyte Gulf.

Disney’s “Uncle Remus” – a live action film for purely financial reasons. The International film and radio guild thought it was racist. The guild included George H Schuyler and Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Disney renamed it “Song of the South”

Film: “Address Unknown” – Nazi threat in 1938 – Menzies

Hank Wiiliams’ 1944 effort that soundedpretty close to rock n roll.

Media 1944

Most cinemas now owned by the Big 5, Paramount, Loews, Warners,20th Century Fox, RKO.

On August 22nd Goldwyn stated his intention to fight “a monopoly which has been ableto keep independent producers from showing their films unless the producers are willing to pay prohibitive percentages” – Eliot’s Disney

Disney ensured that T&D Theatres, owned by Fox, came under investigation by the FBI for possible anti-trust activities.

Early years of Truman . As Truman  gained influence so he was able to reward Hannegan for his support. Hannegan became chairman of the Democratic National Committee in January 1944. This led to Truman being picked to replace Wallace as V-P. Bronx Boss Ed Flynn was prime mover in this.“At the Democratic Convention…the problem was how to get rid of Henry Wallace whom they didn’t want for another term as their Vice President. Knowing FDR’s health was not good, the responsible Democrats as well as other people didn’t want Henry Wallace to succeed FDR as President.” 

The 1944 Election

It was to be FDR’s 4th term. There was no attempt to block FDR's nomination in 1944, as in previous years, but FDR's health was failing badly. January 1944 FDR suffered fatigue and headaches. Hospital check-up in March showed high blood pressure. Thomas Dewey was to be his electoral opponent . FDR’s running mate? Henry Wallace – find out more about him.

November 7th FDR elected to fourth term.

The election result:

•             FDR      got   53.5%, 432;

•             Dewey got   46.0%,    99.

The Teheran conference was held soon after FDR’s re-election between November 28 and December 1. The resulting Teheran agreement violated pledges made in Atlantic Charter. Namely that “no territorial changes that do not accord with”…”desires of the peoples concerned”, and “right of all peoples to choose the form of government under which they will live” and “sovereign rights and self-government restored to those who have been forcibly deprived of them.” However, on 20th December 1944 FDR admitted that the Atlantic Charter had never been signed or agreed. It had been a fraud all along.

United Negro College Fund established.

In January, the USSR requested a $6bn loan for post-war reconstruction. Truman said that economically “we held all the cards and the Russians had to come to us”. It was a power game for the USA. FDR deferred action on this request – it was never granted.

Averall Harriman as a wartime ambassador in 1944 wrote that economic aid was "one of the most effective weapons at our disposal" in dealing with Russia.

Robert Capa photographed WW2; Margaret Bourke-White photographed the death camps 1940s

1945 – nil unemployment and 12,000,000 in uniform. CHECK DATES

SEE 1944 NOTES

B29 Super-fortress bombers had been used for the the bombing of Japan which began 24th November ‘44.

December 3rd Civil War erupts in Greece; Japanese retreat in Burma. Forced back across the Indian border into Burma.

15th American forces invade Philippine island of Mindoro.

Judd“We were to speak in Kansas City the next noon, Monday. Lo and Behold, the Kansas City people objected to Mr Truman’s speaking there: The chamber of commerce, the Rotary, Kiwanis and perhaps Lions clubs wouldn’t organise a luncheon if Mr Truman was to speak at it, even though it was his home town – or Independence is, right outside it.1943?

Late in 1944 it was clear that the US was well on its way to defeating Japan. “Japan could not match America in either quantity or quality of weapons production. By 1943, US facotries were rolling out a new plane every 5 minutes. By 1944, submarine attacks on Japan’s lifeline, her merchant fleet, reduced vital supplies for Japanese industry to a trickle. Crucial commodities such as oil, rubber, coal, iron ore and fertilizer were all in desperately short supply. The most important of industries was affected: aircraft production fell by half. No single breached the blockade after March 1945. Japan had been deprived of the very prizes the military had first used to justify the war and, without control of sea or air, it was increasingly impossible to move men and material around the Pacific. The Japanese war machine was virtually running on empty.” L&S – “Hell”

Disease and sanitation killed more Japanese than the Americans

Not every island was invaded by the US – some bypassed – the Japanese occupants would “wither on the vine”

With recently captured islands Saipan, Tinian and Guam Japan was now in easy bombing distance. Tinian – just 10 miles long and 4 miles wide, became, briefly, the busiest airfield in the world.” The people of Japan were pounded day and night.

Japanese propaganda led Japanese civilians – such as the ones on Saipan – to sucide rather than be caprtured. L&S p 196/197

General Curtis LeMay commanded the 21st Bombardment Group – having difficulty holding B-29 bombers in steady enough formation at high altitudes for accurate attacks. US Colonel Paul. Tibbets  suggested stripping the planes out, fly them at low altitude and drop five bombs at night.