A History of World War Two

The Casualties were as follows:

• American: 89,987 casualties (19,276 dead,23,554 captured or missing,47,493 wounded)
• British: 200 dead, 1,400 wounded and missing
• Germans: 84,834 casualties 15,652 dead,27,582 captured or missing,41,600 wounded

This would be Germany’s last great offensive.

Rescuing POWS

On January 27th 1945 a group of 120 men was sent out with a mission that people said had no significance to the war effort. They’re mission was to rescue 500 POWS inside of a Cabanatuan Prisoner of War Camp. These soldiers were there for 3 years. There were 250 Guards in the Prison Camp, 1,000 more by the nearby river and 10,000 more nearby in the area. The Pilipino Guerrillas were going to hold the river and blow the bridge. The Raid was lead by Capt. Robert Prince. The raid was overseen by Lt. Col. Henry Mucci. The Rangers were greatly out numbered but they liberated all of the prisoners. 1 prisoner died after being liberated from malaria. 2 Rangers died. James Fisher died of Mortar wounds the day after the raid. Corporal Roy Sweezy was killed when 2 rounds stuck him in the back and died almost instantly. The American’s believed that the Japanese were going to kill the POWS instead of release them because the Japanese Burned 250 POWS at a nearby camp at Palawan. All in all, entire raid was very successful. 512 POWs were liberated from the camp with only 3 American casualties. There is a movie called The Great Raid that shows the Ranger’s strategy and the actual raid itself. The Great Raid remains the most successful Military Rescue Operation to date.

Berlin

The Germans were surrounded. The Russians were closing in on Berlin in the east and the American’s and the British from the south-west. Even though the Germans knew they were surrounded they fought like cornered rats using whatever scraps of ammo they had left. Stalin declared “The Regiment that put the Soviet flag on-top of the Reichstag Building to be The Heroes of The Soviet Union.” The Germans were known for using children for destroying Soviet tanks with Panzer-Treks. General Eisenhower said “We will accept nothing but Germanys complete un-conditional surrender and nothing less!” Adolf Hitler and his wife Eva committed suicide in their underground bunker on April 30th 1945. Two days later Germany surrendered to the Allies. Through Germany was defeated World War Two was not over.

Atomic Bomb and Surrender in the Pacific

The Americans had re-captured the Philippians and were now considering the invasion of Japan. The casualties were estimated at about 1.5 million American soldiers and 1.0 million British Soldiers. But then the first Atomic Bomb was successfully tested in Arizona and was put to use on August 6th 1945 on the city of Hiroshima “Little Man.” 60,000 Japanese civilians were killed and the Japanese were wondering how many more would die. They did always say to fight to the last man. This was put to the test on August 9th when the second atomic bomb “Fat Man” was dropped on Nagasaki. 80,000 more Japanese civilians were killed and the Japanese surrendered on August 14th 1945. World War Two was finally over.

Final Comments

So in the end World War Two turned out to be the bloodiest war in history. The overall casualties are as follows:

Allies:

• Military dead: Over 14,000,000
• Civilian dead: Over 36,000,000
• Total dead: Over 50,000,000

Axis:

• Military dead: Over 8,000,000
• Civilian dead: Over 4,000,000
• Total dead: Over 12,000,000

In a 7 year span over 120 million people lost their lives to protect the freedom of the world. That is why we will never forget the people that died to protect our freedom and our way of life. “Everyone Pledges Allegiance, A Select Few Show It.”