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Portal:World War II/Featured article/1
3rd Battalion 3rd Marines (3/3) is an
infantry battalion in the
United States Marine Corps, based out of
Kāne'ohe, Hawai'i, and consisting of approximately 800 Marines and
Sailors.Known as "America's Battalion", the unit falls under the
3rd Marine Regiment of the
3rd Marine Division.The battalion was originally at
Camp Lejeune, North Carolina in 1942 and saw action on both
Bougainville and
Guam during
World War II. Following the war, it was disbanded until 1951, when it was reformed in
California. The battalion was alerted for possible deployment during the 1956
Suez War and the 1958 intervention in
Lebanon. In 1965, the Marines of 3rd Battalion were deployed to
Vietnam and participated in
Operation Starlite, the first major Marine engagement of that conflict. The battalion continued to see major action through the
Vietnam War and was rotated back to the United States in 1969. Around the end of the Vietnam War, 3rd Battalion was deactivated for a second time in 1974.
Portal:World War II/Featured article/2
The Defense of
Sihang Warehouse (
traditional Chinese:
四行倉庫;
simplified Chinese:
四行仓库;
pinyin:
Sìháng Cāngkù) took place from
26 October to
1 November 1937, and marked the beginning of the end of the three-month
Battle of Shanghai in the opening phase of the
Second Sino-Japanese War.Defenders of the warehouse, known in China as the
Eight Hundred Heroes (
traditional Chinese:
八百壯士;
simplified Chinese:
八百壮士;
pinyin:
Bābǎi Zhùangshì), held out against numerous waves of
Japanese forces and covered
Chinese forces retreating west during the Battle of Shanghai. The successful defense of the warehouse provided a
morale-lifting consolation to the Chinese army and people in the demoralizing aftermath of the Japanese invasion of
Shanghai. The warehouse's location just across the
Suzhou Creek from the
foreign concessions in Shanghai meant the battle took place in full view of the
western powers. This drew the attention, if only briefly, of the international community to
Chiang Kai-shek's bid for world-wide support against Japanese aggression.
Portal:World War II/Featured article/3
Mauthausen concentration camp (known from the summer of
1940 as
Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp) grew to become a large group of
Nazi concentration camps that were built around the
villages of
Mauthausen and
Gusen in
Upper Austria, roughly 20 km east of the city of
Linz.Initially a single camp at Mauthausen, it expanded over time to become one of the largest
labour camp complexes in German-controlled Europe.Apart from the four main sub-camps at Mauthausen and nearby
Gusen, more than 50 sub-camps, located throughout Austria and southern Germany, used the inmates as
slave labour. Several
subordinate camps of the KZ Mauthausen complex included quarries,
munitions factories, mines, arms factories and
Me 262 fighter-plane assembly plants.In January 1945, the camps, directed from the central office in Mauthausen, contained roughly 85,000 inmates.The
death toll remains unknown, although most sources place it between 122,766 and 320,000 for the entire complex. The camps formed one of the first massive concentration camp complexes in
Nazi Germany, and were the last ones to be liberated by
the Western Allies or the Soviet Union. The two main camps, Mauthausen and Gusen I, were also the only two camps in the whole of Europe to be labelled as "Grade III" camps, which meant that they were intended to be the toughest camps for the "Incorrigible Political Enemies of the
Reich".
Portal:World War II/Featured article/4
Amchitka is a volcanic,
tectonically unstable island in the
Rat Islands group of the
Aleutian Islands in southwest
Alaska. It is about 68 kilometres (42 mi) long, and varies from 3 to 6 km (2–3.75 mi) in width. It has a maritime climate, with many storms, and mostly overcast skies.The island was populated for more than 2,500 years by the
Aleut people, but has had no permanent population since 1832. It was included in the
Alaska Purchase of 1867, and has since been part of the
United States. During
World War II, it was used as an airfield by US forces in the
Battle of the Aleutian Islands.Amchitka was selected by the
United States Atomic Energy Commission to be the site for underground
detonations of
nuclear weapons. Three such tests were carried out:
Long Shot, an 80
kiloton blast in 1965;
Milrow, a 1
megaton blast in 1969; and
Cannikin in 1971 — at "under 5 megatons", the largest
underground test ever conducted by the United States. The tests were highly controversial, with
environmental groups fearing that the
Cannikin explosion, in particular, would cause severe
earthquakes and
tsunamis.
Portal:World War II/Featured article/5
The
Imperial Japanese Navy was the
navy of the
Empire of Japan from 1869 until 1947, when it was dissolved following Japan's constitutional
renunciation of the use of force as a means of settling international disputes. It was the third largest navy in the world by 1920 behind the
United States Navy and
Royal Navy. It was supported by the
Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service for aircraft and airstrike operation from the fleet. It was a major force in the
Pacific War.The origins of the Imperial Japanese Navy trace back to early interactions with nations on the
Asian continent, beginning in the early
medieval period and reaching a peak of activity during the 16th and 17th centuries at a time of
cultural exchange with
European powers during the
Age of Discovery. After two centuries of stagnation during the country's ensuing
seclusion policy under the
shoguns of the
Edo period, Japan's navy was comparatively backward when the country was forced open to trade by
American intervention in 1854.
Portal:World War II/Featured article/6
In late May and early June
1942, during
World War II,
submarines belonging to the
Imperial Japanese Navy made a series of attacks on the cities of
Sydney and
Newcastle in
New South Wales,
Australia. On the night of
31 May–
1 June, three
Ko-hyoteki class midget submarines, each with a two-member crew, entered
Sydney Harbour to sink
Allied warships. After being detected and attacked, the crews of two of the midget submarines scuttled their boats and committed suicide without engaging Allied vessels. The third attempted to torpedo the
heavy cruiser USS Chicago but instead sank the converted ferry
HMAS Kuttabul, killing 21 sailors. This midget submarine then disappeared, its fate remaining a mystery until in 2006 amateur scuba divers discovered its wreck off
Sydney's northern beaches.Immediately following the raid the five Japanese fleet submarines that carried the midgets to Australia embarked on a campaign to disrupt merchant shipping in eastern Australian waters. Over the next month the submarines attacked at least seven merchant vessels, sinking three. As part of this campaign two of the submarines
bombarded the ports of Sydney and Newcastle, during the early morning of
8 June.
Portal:World War II/Featured article/7
Although
Australia was remote from the main battlefronts, there was considerable
Axis naval activity in Australian waters during
World War II. A total of 54
German and
Japanese warships and
submarines entered Australian waters between 1940 and 1945 and attacked ships, ports and other targets. Among the best-known attacks are the
sinking of HMAS Sydney by a German raider in November 1941, the
bombing of Darwin by Japanese naval aircraft in February 1942, and the Japanese
midget submarine attack on Sydney Harbour in May 1942. In addition, many
Allied merchant ships were damaged or sunk off the Australian coast by submarines and
mines. Japanese submarines also
shelled several Australian ports and submarine-based aircraft flew over several
Australian capital cities.The Axis threat to Australia developed gradually and until 1942 was limited to sporadic attacks by German
armed merchantmen. The level of Axis naval activity peaked in the first half of 1942 when
Japanese submarines conducted anti-shipping patrols off Australia's coast, and Japanese naval aviation attacked several towns in
northern Australia.
Portal:World War II/Featured article/8
The Invasion of Poland, 1939 which precipitated
World War II, was carried out by
Nazi Germany, the
Soviet Union and a small
German-allied Slovak contingent.The invasion of
Poland marked the start of
World War II in Europe, as Poland's western allies, the
United Kingdom,
Australia and
New Zealand,
declared war on Germany on
September 3, soon followed by
France,
South Africa and
Canada,
among others. The invasion began on
September 1,
1939, one week after the signing of the
Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, and ended
October 6,
1939, with Germany and the Soviet Union occupying the entirety of Poland. Although the United Kingdom and France declared war on Germany soon after Germany attacked Poland, very little direct military aid was provided (see
Phoney War and
Western betrayal). Following a
German-staged "Polish attack" on
August 31,
1939, on September 1, German forces invaded Poland from the north, south, and west. Spread thin defending their long borders, the Polish armies were soon forced to withdraw eastward.
Portal:World War II/Featured article/9
The
invasion of Tulagi, on
May 3 and
May 4,
1942, was part of
Operation Mo, the
Empire of Japan's strategy in the
South Pacific and
South West Pacific Area in 1942. The plan called for
Imperial Japanese Navy troops to capture
Tulagi and nearby islands in the
Solomon Islands Protectorate. The occupation of Tulagi by the Japanese was intended to cover the
flank of Japanese forces that were advancing on
Port Moresby in
New Guinea as well as to provide a base for Japanese forces to threaten and interdict the supply and communication routes between the
United States and
Australia and
New Zealand.Without the means to capably resist the Japanese offensive in the Solomons, the
British Resident Commissioner of the Solomon Islands protectorate and the few Australian troops assigned to defend Tulagi evacuated the island just before the Japanese forces arrived on
May 3. The next day, however, a U.S.
aircraft carrier task force enroute to resist the Japanese forces advancing on Port Moresby (that resulted in the
Battle of the Coral Sea) struck the Japanese Tulagi landing force in an air attack, destroying or damaging several of the Japanese ships and aircraft involved in the landing operation.
Portal:World War II/Featured article/10
Blitzkrieg is a popular name for an
offensive operational-level military doctrine which involves an initial bombardment followed by the employment of motorized mobile forces attacking with speed and surprise to prevent an enemy from implementing a coherent
defense. The founding principles of these types of operations were developed in the 20th century by various nations, and adapted in the years after
World War I, largely by the
German Wehrmacht, to incorporate
modern weapons and vehicles as a method to help avoid the stalemate of
trench warfare and
linear warfare in future conflicts. The first practical implementations of these concepts coupled with modern technology were instituted by the Wehrmacht in the opening theatres of
World War II.The strategy was particularly effective to Germany in the invasions of
Western Europe and initial
operations in the Soviet Union. These operations were dependent on surprise penetrations, general enemy unpreparedness and an inability to react swiftly enough to German offensive operations.
Portal:World War II/Featured article/11
British anti-invasion preparations of World War II entailed a large-scale division of
military and civilian mobilization in response to the threat of invasion by
German armed forces in 1940 and 1941. The army needed to recover from the
defeat of the
British Expeditionary Force in
France, and 1.5 million men were enrolled as part-time soldiers in the
Home Guard. The rapid construction of
field fortifications transformed much of
Britain, especially southern
England, into a prepared battlefield. Short of heavy weapons and equipment, the British had to make the best use of whatever was available.The German invasion plan,
Operation Sealion, was never taken beyond the preliminary assembly of forces. Today, little remains of Britain's anti-invasion preparations. Only reinforced concrete structures such as
pillboxes are common, and until recently, even these have been unappreciated as historical monuments.On
1 September 1939,
Germany invaded Poland; two days later, Britain and France declared war on
Germany, launching
World War II. Within three weeks, the
Red Army of the
Soviet Union invaded the
eastern regions of Poland in fulfillment of the secret
Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact with Germany.
Portal:World War II/Featured article/12
Carlson's patrol, also known as
The Long Patrol or
Carlson's long patrol, was an operation by the
2nd Marine Raider Battalion under the command of
Evans Carlson during the
Guadalcanal Campaign against the
Imperial Japanese Army from
November 6 to
December 4,
1942. In the operation, the 2nd Raiders attacked forces under the command of
Toshinari Shōji, which were
escaping from an attempted encirclement in the Koli Point area on
Guadalcanal and attempting to rejoin other Japanese army units on the opposite side of the U.S. Lunga perimeter.In a series of small unit engagements over 29 days, the 2nd Raiders killed almost 500 Japanese soldiers while suffering only 16 killed. The raiders also captured a Japanese artillery cannon that was delivering harassing gunfire on
Henderson Field, the
Allied airfield at Lunga Point on Guadalcanal.On
August 7,
1942, Allied forces (primarily
US Marines) landed on Guadalcanal,
Tulagi, and
Florida Islands in the
Solomon Islands. Their mission was to deny the Japanese use of the islands as
bases for threatening the
supply routes between the U.S. and
Australia, and to secure the islands as starting points for a
campaign to isolate the major Japanese base at
Rabaul while also supporting the Allied
New Guinea campaign. The landings initiated the six-month-long
Guadalcanal Campaign.
Portal:World War II/Featured article/13
The
Koli Point action, from
November 3 –
November 12,
1942, was an engagement between
United States Marine Corps and
United States Army forces and
Imperial Japanese Army forces around Koli Point on
Guadalcanal during the
Guadalcanal campaign. The United States (US) forces were under the overall command of
Alexander Vandegrift while the Japanese forces were under the overall command of
Harukichi Hyakutake.In the engagement, US Marines from the
7th Marine Regiment and US Army soldiers from the
164th Infantry Regiment under the tactical command of
William H. Rupertus and
Edmund B. Sebree, attacked a concentration of Japanese Army troops, most of whom belonged to the 230th Infantry Regiment, commanded by
Toshinari Shōji. Shōji's troops had marched to the Koli Point area after the failed Japanese assaults on US defenses during the
Battle for Henderson Field in late October, 1942.In the engagement, the US forces attempted to encircle and destroy Shōji's forces. Although Shōji's unit took heavy casualties, he and most of his men were able to evade the encirclement attempt and escape into the interior of Guadalcanal. As Shōji's troops endeavored to reach Japanese positions in another part of the island, they were
pursued and attacked by a battalion-sized patrol of US Marine raiders.
Portal:World War II/Featured article/14
Manzanar is most widely known as the site of one of ten camps where over 110,000
Japanese Americans were imprisoned during
World War II. Located at the foot of the
Sierra Nevada in
California's
Owens Valley between the towns of
Lone Pine to the south and
Independence to the north, it is approximately 230 miles (370 km) northeast of
Los Angeles. Manzanar (which means “apple orchard” in
Spanish) was identified by the
United States National Park Service as the best-preserved of the former camp sites, and was designated the Manzanar National Historic Site.Long before the first prisoners arrived in March 1942, Manzanar was home to
Native Americans, who mostly lived in villages near several creeks in the area. Ranchers and miners formally established the town of Manzanar in 1910, but abandoned the town by 1929 after the
City of Los Angeles purchased the water rights to virtually the entire area.As different as these groups might seem, they are tied together by the common thread of
forced relocation.Since the last prisoners left in 1945, former prisoners and others have worked to protect Manzanar and to establish it as a
National Historic Site that preserves and interprets the site for current and future generations.
Portal:World War II/Featured article/15
Omaha Beach was the
code name for one of the principal landing points of the
Allied invasion of
German-occupied France in the
Normandy landings on
June 6,
1944, during
World War II. The beach was located on the northern coast of
France, facing the
English Channel, and was 5 miles (8 km) long, from east of
Sainte-Honorine-des-Pertes to west of
Vierville-sur-Mer. Landings here were necessary in order to link up the British landings to the east with the American landing to the west, thus providing a continuous lodgement on the Normandy coast. Taking Omaha was to be the responsibility of
United States Army troops, with sea transport provided by the
U.S. Navy and elements of the
Royal Navy.On
D-Day, the untested
29th Infantry Division, joined by eight companies of U.S. Rangers redirected from
Pointe du Hoc, were to assault the western half of the beach. The battle-hardened
1st Infantry Division was given the eastern half. The initial assault waves, consisting of tanks, infantry and combat engineer forces, were carefully planned to reduce the coastal defences and allow the larger ships of the follow-up waves to land.
Portal:World War II/Featured article/16
Operation Downfall was the overall
Allied plan for the invasion of
Japan near the end of
World War II. The operation was cancelled when
Japan surrendered following the
atomic bombing of
Hiroshima and
Nagasaki, and the
Soviet Union's declaration of war against Japan.Operation
Downfall consisted of two parts —
Operation Olympic and
Operation Coronet. Set to begin in October 1945, Operation
Olympic was intended to capture the southern third of the southernmost main Japanese island of
Kyūshū, with the
recently captured island of
Okinawa to be used as a staging area. Later, in the spring of 1946, Operation
Coronet was the planned invasion of the
Kantō plain near
Tokyo on the Japanese island of
Honshū. Airbases on Kyūshū captured in Operation
Olympic would allow land-based air support for Operation
Coronet.
Japan's geography made this invasion plan obvious to the Japanese as well; they were able to accurately deduce the Allied invasion plans and adjust their defensive plans accordingly. The Japanese planned an all-out defense of Kyūshū, with little left in reserve for any subsequent defense operations.
Portal:World War II/Featured article/17
The participation of
Puerto Ricans in World War II as members of the
United States armed forces included guarding U.S. military installations in the
Caribbean and active combat participation in both the
European and
Pacific theatres of the war.
Puerto Ricans and people of Puerto Rican descent have participated as members of the U.S. armed forces in every conflict in which the United States has been involved since
World War I.Puerto Ricans had obtained
U.S. citizenship as a result of the 1917
Jones-Shafroth Act and were expected to serve in the military. When a
Japanese Imperial Navy carrier fleet launched an unexpected
attack on Pearl Harbor on
December 7,
1941, Puerto Ricans were required to bear arms in defense of the United States. During
World War II, more than 53,000 Puerto Ricans served in the U.S. military.Puerto Rican women who served had their options restricted to nursing or administrative positions. In World War II some of the island's men played active roles as commanders in the military. The military did not keep statistics in regard to the total number of Hispanics who served in the regular units of the Armed Forces only of those who served in Puerto Rican units; therefore, it is impossible to determine the exact number of Puerto Ricans who served in World War II
Portal:World War II/Featured article/18
Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima is a historic
photograph taken on
February 23,
1945, by
Joe Rosenthal. It depicts five
United States Marines and a
U.S. Navy corpsman raising the
flag of the United States atop
Mount Suribachi during the
Battle of Iwo Jima in
World War II.The photograph was extremely popular, being reprinted in thousands of publications. Later, it became the only photograph to win the
Pulitzer Prize for Photography in the same year as its publication, and ultimately came to be regarded as one of the most significant and recognizable images of the war, and possibly the most reproduced photograph of all time.Of the six men depicted in the picture, three (
Franklin Sousley,
Harlon Block, and
Michael Strank) did not survive the battle; the three survivors (
John Bradley,
Rene Gagnon, and
Ira Hayes) became celebrities upon their identification in the photo. The picture was later used by
Felix de Weldon to sculpt the
USMC War Memorial, located adjacent to
Arlington National Cemetery just outside
Washington, D.C.
Portal:World War II/Featured article/19
The
1939 Soviet invasion of Poland was a military operation that started without a formal declaration of war on
17 September 1939, during the early stages of
World War II, sixteen days after the beginning of the
Nazi German attack on Poland. It ended in a decisive victory for the
Soviet Union's
Red Army.In early 1939, the Soviet Union tried to form an alliance against Nazi Germany with the
United Kingdom,
France,
Poland, and
Romania; but several difficulties arose, including the refusal of Poland and Romania to allow Soviet troops transit rights through their territories as part of
collective security.With the failure of the negotiations, the Soviets shifted from their anti-German stance and on
23 August 1939 signed the
Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact with Nazi Germany. As a result, on
1 September, the Germans invaded Poland from the west; and on
17 September, the Red Army invaded Poland from the east.The Soviet government announced that it was acting to protect the
Ukrainians and
Belarusians who lived in the
eastern part of Poland, because the Polish state had collapsed in the face of the German attack and could no longer guarantee the security of its own citizens.The Red Army entered the
eastern regions of Poland with seven
field armies and between 450,000 and 1,000,000 troops.
Portal:World War II/Featured article/20
The
United States Marine Corps (
USMC) is a branch of the
United States armed forces responsible for providing
force projection from the sea,using the mobility of the
U.S. Navy to rapidly deliver
combined-arms task forces and is one of seven
uniformed services. Administratively within the
Department of the Navy, operationally the U.S. Marine Corps acts as a separate branch of the military, often working closely with
US Naval forces for training, transportation, and logistic purposes.Originally organized as the
Continental Marines on
November 10,
1775 as
naval infantry, the Marine Corps has evolved in its mission with changing military doctrine and
American foreign policy. The Marine Corps has served in
every American armed conflict including the
Revolutionary War. It attained prominence in the 20th century when its theories and practice of
amphibious warfare proved prescient and ultimately formed the cornerstone of the
Pacific campaign of
World War II.By the mid 20th century, the Marine Corps had become the dominant theorist and practitioner of amphibious warfare. Its ability to respond rapidly to regional crises has made it, and continues to make it, an important body in the implementation and execution of American foreign policy.
Portal:World War II/Featured article/21
The
Warsaw Uprising (
Powstanie Warszawskie) was a
World War II struggle by the
Polish Home Army (
Armia Krajowa) to liberate
Warsaw from
German occupation. The Uprising began on
August 1,
1944, as part of a nationwide rebellion,
Operation Tempest. It was intended to last for only a few days until the Soviet Army would reach the city. The Soviet advance stopped short, however, while Polish resistance against the German forces continued for 63 days (until
October 2).The Uprising began at a crucial juncture as the
Soviet Army was approaching Warsaw. The Uprising's chief objective was to drive the German occupiers from the city, helping with the larger fight against the Axis. Secondary political objectives were to liberate Warsaw before the
Red Army arrived, so as to underscore Polish
sovereignty, and to undo the Allied division of
Central Europe into
spheres of influence.
Polish authorities were to reappear in liberated Warsaw and challenge the
Soviet puppet government that was to rule Poland.
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