Axis powers
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The Axis powers, also interpreted as Axis alliance, Axis nations, Axis countries or sometimes just the Axis were those countries opposed to the Allies during World War II. The three major Axis powers, Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy and Imperial Japan were part of a military alliance on the signing of the Tripartite Pact in September 1940, which officially founded the Axis powers. At their zenith, the Axis powers ruled empires that dominated large parts of Europe, Africa, East and Southeast Asia and the Pacific Ocean, but World War II ended with their total defeat. Like the Allies, membership of the Axis was fluid, and some nations entered and later left the Axis during the course of the war. [1]
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[edit] Origins
The term was first used by Benito Mussolini, in November 1936, when he spoke of a Rome-Berlin axis arising out of the treaty of friendship signed between Italy and Germany on October 25, 1936. Mussolini declared that the two countries would form an "axis" around which the other states of Europe would revolve. This treaty was forged when Italy, originally opposed to Germany, was faced with opposition to its war in Abyssinia from the League of Nations and received support from Germany. Later, in May 1939, this relationship transformed into an alliance, called by Mussolini the "Pact of Steel".
The term "Axis powers" formally took the name after the Tripartite Pact was signed by Germany, Italy and Japan on September 27, 1940 in Berlin, Germany. The pact was subsequently joined by Hungary (November 20, 1940), Romania (November 23, 1940), Slovakia (November 24, 1940) and Bulgaria (March 1, 1941). The Italian name Roberto briefly acquired a new meaning from "Rome-Berlin-Tokyo" between 1940 and 1945. Its most militarily powerful members were Germany and Japan. These two nations had also signed the Anti-Comintern Pact with each other as allies before the Tripartite Pact in 1936.
[edit] Participating nations
[edit] Major Axis powers
Three major Axis powers were the original signatories to the Tripartite Pact:
[edit] Germany
Germany was the principal Axis power in Europe. Its official name was Deutsches Reich (German Reich) and after 1943, Grossdeutsches Reich (Greater German Reich), but during this period is most commonly known as Nazi Germany after its ruling National Socialist German Workers' Party. Germany was headed by Führer and Chancellor Adolf Hitler, a dictator who as Chancellor had seized absolute power in 1934 upon the death of President Paul von Hindenburg. Hitler merged the offices of President and Chancellor and declared himself Führer. During the last days of the war, Admiral Karl Dönitz succeeded Hitler as Reichspräsident (but not as Führer).
Germany's motive for the war was avenging the perceived humiliation suffered in 1919 at the Treaty of Versailles at the end of World War I and pursuing the Nazi plan of creating a vast German empire across Europe in which inferior races would be eliminated, such as Jews, and Slavs, all to be replaced by the Germans of the so-called "Aryan Race".
The Treaty of Versailles forced Germany to cede all of its overseas colonies and to make major land concessions to its neighbors, especially Poland. The German province of East Prussia was separated from mainland Germany due to the creation of the so-called Polish Corridor, a section of land with a minority population of Germans and majority of Poles linking Poland to the Baltic Sea. Also, the Treaty of Versailles forbade German-populated Austria or the German-populated Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia from unifying with Germany, to the frustration of the popular Pan-German nationalist movement. The Polish Corridor was a contentious issue for Germany in 1939, as Germans were minority in the area.
The creation of the Free City of Danzig was another controversy, as it was separated from Germany even though it was overwhelmingly populated by Germans. Further, the city had been run by a Nazi regime since 1933, which wished to join Germany in opposition to the desire of Poland for it to remain separate. In 1939, Germany demanded that Poland allow Danzig to join Germany as well as concede the Polish Corridor. The Polish government refused. Finally on September 1, 1939, German agents disguised themselves as Polish soldiers and "raided" a German town, in which they broadcast a variety of anti-German phrases in Polish via radio. The "raiders" were then officially arrested and later released. The Nazi regime used the incident as a pretext, claiming that Poland had declared war on Germany. The invasion of Poland quickly followed, precipitating World War II.
At the start of the Second World War Germany included Austria, which it annexed in 1938, the Sudetenland, which was ceded by Czechoslovakia in 1938, and Memelland which was ceded by Lithuania in 1939. The Protectorate of Bohemia-Moravia, created in 1939, was a part of the Nazis' Greater Germany, although it was autonomous and had a Czech civil government below the German-led position of Reichsprotektor.
Germany annexed additional territory during the course of the Second World War. On September 2, 1939, the day after the German invasion of Poland, the pro-Nazi government of the Free City of Danzig voted to reunite with Germany. On October 10, 1939, after the defeat and occupation of Poland, Hitler issued decrees annexing the Polish Corridor, West Prussia and Upper Silesia, all formerly German territories lost to Poland under the terms of the Treaty of Versailles. The remainder of Poland was organized into the "Government General for the Occupied Polish Territories" for eventual annexation to the Reich.
On its western frontier, Germany made additional annexations after its defeat of France and occupation of Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg in 1940. Germany immediately annexed the predominantly German Eupen-Malmedy from Belgium in 1940, placing the rest of the country under military occupation. Luxembourg, an independent grand duchy formerly associated with Germany, was formally annexed in 1942. Alsace-Lorraine, a region claimed by both Germany and France for centuries, was likewise annexed in 1942. In the Balkans, Slovenia was annexed in 1941 after Yugoslavia was occupied and dismembered.
After the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, Greater Germany was enlarged to include parts of Poland occupied by the Soviet Union in 1939. A Ministry of Eastern Territories was organized to administer the Baltic States, the Ukraine and Russia after they had been seized from the Soviet Union.
Other territories occupied by the Germans were subject to separate civilian commissariats or to direct military rule.
[edit] Japan
Japan was the principal Axis power in Asia and the Pacific; officially known as Dai Nippon Teikoku, meaning “Empire of Greater Japan”, known commonly as Imperial Japan for its imperial ambitions toward Asia and the Pacific.
Japan was ruled by emperor Hirohito. The constitution prescribed that "The Emperor is the head of the Empire, combining in Himself the rights of sovereignty, and exercises them, according to the provisions of the present Constitution" (article 4) and that "The Emperor has the supreme command of the Army and the Navy" (article 11). Under the imperial institution were a political cabinet and Imperial General Headquarters with two chiefs of staff. Fumimaro Konoe and Hideki Tojo, had the longest terms as prime ministers. For the Army and the Navy, Prince Kan'in, Hajime Sugiyama, prince Hiroyasu Fushimi and Osami Nagano occupied the functions of chief of staff for most of the war.
Japan's first major belligerent action was in the Second Sino-Japanese War against the Republic of China. The Japanese invasion and harsh occupation resulted in numerous atrocities against civilians such as the Nanking massacre and the Three Alls Policy of scorched earth. Even though not officially involved, many Americans rushed to help the Chinese, and American airmen helped the Chinese. The United States also instituted in 1941 an embargo against Japan, cutting off the supply of raw materials and oil needed for its industry and war effort.
As a result, Japan had a large number of troops fighting in China against the Nationalists, but also engaged the Americans, the Canadians, the British (together with Australians and Indians), and the Philippines in the wider Pacific War. The Soviet Union also fought skirmishes with Japanese forces in Manchukuo in 1938 and 1939. The Soviets formally declared war in August 1945 and engaged Japanese forces in Manchuria and northeast China during Operation August Storm.
Japan's reasons for joining the axis were firstly its needs to be a self-sufficient world power by acquiring more natural resources and secondly to expand its imperialist ambitions in the form of territorial expansion. Japan needed raw materials and also oil, the oil fields in the South East Asia - specifically the Dutch East Indies. With European colonial powers focused with the war in Europe, Japan sought to acquire their colonies. Only the United States stood to oppose Japanese ambitions, with American embargoes being a major factor. In order to isolate American forces in the Philippines and American naval power, the Imperial Japanese Navy attacked the U.S. Naval Base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on December 7, 1941. The Japanese also invaded Malaysia and Hong Kong. The following day President Franklin D. Roosevelt asked the US Congress to declare war on Japan, saying that December 7 would be "a date which will live in infamy." The Japanese initially were able to inflict a series of defeats against the allies, however by 1943 American industrial strength was made apparent and the Japanese were pushed back towards the home islands. The Pacific War lasting until the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.
At its height, Japan's Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere included Manchuria, Inner Mongolia, large parts of China, Malaysia, French Indochina, Dutch East Indies, The Philippines, Burma, some of India, and various other Pacific Islands - specifically in the central union.
[edit] Italy
Italy was the other European member of the Axis with two incarnations, both under the leadership of the fascist dictator Benito Mussolini. Its first incarnation was officially known as Regno d'Italia meaning Kingdom of Italy. The impact of the war on the country has indicated that Italy was the weakest of the three major Axis powers.
Italy's motive for war was its Fascist regime's intention to create a "New Roman Empire" in which Italy would dominate the Mediterranean Sea. During the Roman Empire the Mediterranean had been called Mare Nostrum (Latin for "Our Sea"), fascists and many Italian nationalists again desired an Italian controlled Mediterranean. In the late 19th century after the reunification, a nationalist movement grew around the concept of Italia irredenta which advocated the incorporation of Italian-speaking areas under foreign rule into Italy. The irredenta agenda would be a factor in the Italian Fascist government to regain Dalmatia held by Yugoslavia.
Italian nationalists also wished to establish a colonial empire in order to raise the country's prestige. First, Tunisia was considered because of its geographical proximity to Italy, however the French were able to establish their rule in 1881. Many Italians were angered by this move, the loss of a potential colony and became wary of French intentions. The homeland of the Italian monarchy, Savoy, had been to be given to the French in 1860 in exchange for French recognition of the new Italian state. This caused tension between the monarchy and France. However Italy was able to establish colonies in Africa such as in the present day countries of Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia (except a portion called British Somaliland). Italy's failure to capture Ethiopia in the late 1800s was another national humiliation which the future Fascist government promised to avenge.
At the end of World War I in 1919, however, although Italy, which had allied against Germany and Austria-Hungary, made only minor gains rather than the large concessions promised to Italy by the London Pact. Italy gained the Italian-populated territories of Trentino and Istria, it received only a minuscule portion of Dalmatia situated in the city of Zadar, and a few small Adriatic islands. The London pact was nullified with the treaty of Versailles. Italian nationalists and the public saw this as an injustice and an outrage, there had been over 600,000 Italian casualties. Nationalist paramilitaries seized the Yugoslav town of Fiume following the war, this resentment together with internal discontent and an economic downturn allowed the Italian Fascists under Benito Mussolini to rise to power in 1922.
The Kingdom of Italy was then ruled by Benito Mussolini in the name of King Victor Emmanuel III. The Fascists promised to regain Italy's honor and rhetoric was used for the long held a desire for a new Italian Empire, reminiscent of the powerful Roman Empire, Mussolini's new empire was to rule over the Mediterranean and North Africa. This new empire would also avenge past the betrayal of the Versailles treaty. Promised to the Italian people was "a place in the sun", to compete with the large colonial empires possessed by the United Kingdom and France at the time. The Fascist regime was quite popular amongst Italians in the lead up to war with its nationalist agenda.
In 1935, Italy invaded Ethiopia in order to incorporate into its empire, acquire its resources and avenge the defeat at the Battle of Adwa in 1896. The League of Nations protested, however no serious action was taken, though Italy faced diplomatic isolation by many countries with the important exception of Germany which supported Italy's war. The conquest was complete on May 7, 1936 with Victor Emmanuel III being crowned the Emperor of Ethiopia on May 9. In 1936, Italian Somaliland, Eritrea and Ethiopia were joined and incorporated into the newly formed Italian East Africa. In 1937 Italy left the League of Nations.
In public, Mussolini showed support of Hitler and the affinity of Fascism to Nazism, in private Mussolini and the Italian Fascists showed disapproval of the Nazi regime, and only saw it as useful as expanding fascism through Europe, but wanted it to remain a subordinate partner. In 1934, Italy almost went to war with Germany over the issue of Austrian independence. However Italy's diplomatic isolation after the war with Ethiopia and Germany's rising influence caused Mussolini to reluctantly pursue closer ties with Germany as a means to maintain Italian influence on the international stage. In 1937, Italy joined the Anti-Comintern Pact which was signed by Germany and Japan the preceding year. mutual disdain by both leaders of the Treaty of Versailles and the two countries' isolation in the diplomatic arena, brought Hitler and Mussolini together, putting away previous tensions between the two regimes over the issue of Austrian independence, the status of the German of South Tyrol and the issue anti-Semitism which the Italian Fascists and most Italians did not sympathize with (as a number of Fascists were Jewish). In 1938, the regimes of Germany and Italy synthesized their agendas, with Fascist Italy reluctantly adopting anti-Semitism in 1938 in which a number of Jewish ex-Fascists were arrested, followed by Nazi Germany abandoning all political ties with the Germans of South Tyrol, saying that all the Germans of Italy would have to accept Italianization or leave Italy entirely. With this achieved, Germany and Italy had no remaining disputes and the alliance became secure. Italians also served with German Volunteers during the Spanish Civil War.
In March/April 1939 Italian troops invaded and occupied Albania. Albania become a de facto protectorate and was joined in a "personal union" with Italy when Victor Emmanuel III was crowned the King of Albania. Germany and Italy also signed the Pact of Steel on May 22.
Italy entered World War II on June 10, 1940, in the final stages of the battle of France when it seemed that the war would soon be over. Italy invaded southern France, the territories of Savoy and Nice to given to Italy by the newly formed Vichy France. In September 1940, Germany Italy and Japan signed the Tripartite Pact.(Also known as the Axis Pact)
The Italians also launched two invasions, one against the British in Egypt the other against Greece. The Italians hoped to join up to their colonies in East Africa by way of Egypt and annex Greece as part of the new Italian Empire. However, by 1941, the Italians had suffered multiple military failures, it was only through German intervention in Yugoslavia, the Operation Marita and North Africa (German Africa Corps) that Italy managed avert a major defeat.
Italy organized puppet Independent State of Montenegro and quisling Province of Ljubljana and from the territories that were either under the administration or annexation. Italy and Germany organized the creation of the Independent State of Croatia led by extreme nationalist Ante Pavelic, leader of the Ustashe movement and a long time Croatian exile who lived in Rome while Fascist Italy allowed his forces to train for war with Yugoslavia in Italy. With this alliance, Croatia ceded central sections of Dalmatia with large Italian populations to the Italian territorial administration called Governatorato di Dalmazia (Governorship of Dalmatia). In exchange, Croatia was allowed to annex all of modern-day Bosnia and Herzegovina.
With the occupation Vichy France in 1942, Italy gained parts of southeastern France including Nice and Corsica. However this was not to last, the Italian people had lost faith in Mussolini and no longer supported the war; Italy had lost its colonies, the allies had taken North Africa in May 1943 and Sicily had been invaded in July 1943.
On July 25, 1943, King Victor Emmanuel III dismissed Mussolini, placed him under arrest, and began secret negotiations with the Allies. Italy signed an armistice with the Allies on September 8, 1943 and later joined the Western Allies as a co-belligerent. The Italians soon fielded a co-belligerent Army, Navy, and Air Force.
On September 12, 1943, Mussolini was rescued by the Germans (Operation Oak) and soon a puppet state with him as its figurehead was formed in northern Italy (see "German puppet states" below). Mussolini exercised little real power and Italy continued as a member of the Axis Tripartite Pact in name only. Mussolini's resurrected Fascist state was known as the Salò Republic (Repubblica di Salò) or the Italian Social Republic (Repubblica Sociale Italiana, or RSI).
[edit] Minor powers
Several minor powers formally adhered to the Tripartite Pact between Germany, Italy and Japan in this order:
[edit] Hungary
Hungary, ruled by Admiral Miklós Horthy as Regent, was the first power to adhere to the Tripartite Pact of Germany, Italy, and Japan. Hungary signed the agreement on 20 November 1940.
Hungary's foreign policy under Horthy was driven by the ambition to recover the territories lost through the imposition on her of the Trianon Treaty. Hungary drew closer to Germany and Italy largely because of the shared desire to revise the peace settlements made after the First World War.
Hungary's motive for war was like that of Germany: the country suffered territorial losses when Austria-Hungary collapsed. As a kingdom within a dual-monarchy, Hungary had vast territories including all of Slovakia, Transylvania and parts of Croatia which connected Hungary to the Mediterranean Sea. After the war, Hungary became a landlocked country, and lost territories containing Hungarians to Czechoslovakia, Romania, and Yugoslavia. Political instability razed the country until a regency was established by Miklos Horthy, a Hungarian nobleman and Austro-Hungarian naval officer, became Regent in 1920, ruling the kingdom in the absence of an acknowledged king. In Hungary, nationalism was strong as well as anti-Semitism which drew Hungarian nationalists to support the Nazi regime in Germany. Hungary became allied to the Axis powers in 1940, but had received favourable territorial settlements since 1938 to 1939 from Germany in the Vienna Awards, during the collapse of Czechoslovakia. Hungary entered the Axis powers largely in the fear than Germany may take favour to Romania if it did not; Romania itself would become an Axis member one year later. In 1940, Hungary was rewarded further by being granted sections of Transylvania from Romania.
Following political upheaval in Yugoslavia which threatened its continued membership in the Tripartite Pact, Hungary permitted German troops to transit its territory for a military invasion and occupation of that country. On 11 April 1941, five days after Germany invaded Yugoslavia and the German armed forces (Wehrmacht) had largely destroyed the Yugoslav army, Hungary invaded Yugoslavia. Hungarian forces made limited advances. However, Hungary did participate in the partition of Yugoslavia. In response, [the United Kingdom immediately broke off diplomatic relations with Hungary.
Hungary was not asked to participate in Operation Barbarossa, the German invasion of the Soviet Union. This operation was launched on 22 June 1941 with attacks from German, Finnish, and Romanian forces as well as a declaration of war by Italy. Five days later, on 27 June, in an attempt to curry favor with Germany, Hungary declared war on the Soviet Union. Hungary raised over 500,000 troops for the Eastern Front. While all five of Hungary's field armies ultimately participated in the war against the Soviet Union, the largest and the most significant contribution by far was made by the Second Army.
On 26 November 1941, Hungary was one of thirteen signatories to the revived Anti-Comintern Pact. The other signatories were: Germany, Japan, Italy, Spain, Manchukuo, Bulgaria, Croatia, Denmark, Finland, Romania, Slovakia, and the Nanking regime of Wang Chingwei.
On 6 December 1941, the United Kingdom declared war on Hungary. Several days later, Hungary declared war on the United Kingdom and the United States of America. The United States declared war on Hungary on 5 June 1942.
Hungarian troops advanced far into Soviet territory. But in the Soviet counter-offensive around Stalingrad from late 1942 to early 1943, the Hungarian Second Army was almost completely annihilated. The Second Army was destroyed in fighting near Voronezh on the banks of the Don River.
On 19 March 1944, as Soviet troops neared Hungarian territory, the Hungarian military fought fiercely. However, Soviet soldiers beat the Hungarians and moved to Budapest. The Soviets captured the city after fierce fighting. Hungary was occupied, but Hungarian forces retreated to Italy and Germany. They fought here until the end of the war.
[edit] Romania
Romania, under King Mihai I and the military government of Ion Antonescu, adhered to the Tripartite Pact on November 23, 1940.
Romania entered the First World War in 1916 on the Allied side, but called for peace when its ally, the Russian Empire, collapsed in November 1917. Romania became a German vassal under the Treaty of Bucharest, but when Germany itself suffered defeat in the West, the Treaty of Bucharest was voided. Romania then saw its borders greatly enlarged in the peace treaties imposed on Germany and her allies, but all the regions in Romania were just liberated after a long foreign invasion.
Following the blueprints of the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact, the Soviet Union and Germany exploited the fall of France to revise the terms of those peace treaties, reduced Romania in size. On June 28, 1940, the Soviet Union occupied and annexed Bessarabia, Northern Bukovina and Hertza County. Germany forced Romania to cede Northern Transylvania to Hungary on August 30, 1940, in the second Vienna Award. Germany also forced Romania to give up Southern Dobruja to Bulgaria on September 5, 1940.
In an effort to please Hitler and obtain German protection, King Carol II appointed the General Ion Antonescu Prime Minister on September 6, 1940. Two days later, Antonescu forced the king to abdicate, installed the king's young son Michael on the throne, and declared himself Conducător (Leader) with dictatorial powers.
German troops entered the country on 1941, and used it as a base for its invasions of both Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union. Romania was also a key supplier of resources, especially oil and grain.
Romania joined Germany in invading the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941. Not only was Romania a base for the invasion, the country contributed nearly 800,000 troops - more than any other minor Axis power - to the war against the Soviet Union. German and Romanian troops liberate Moldova, which was incorporated back into Romania. Romania fought together with the German Army for the control of the Crimea Peninsula and Romanian Armies 3 and 4 were involved even in the battle of Stalingrad.
After the Soviets turned back the Axis invasion and pushed the front line into Romania, Romania switched sides August 23, 1944. They had gotten most of their land back and Bessarabia turned into a Soviet territory known as Moldova which later seceded from the Soviet Union. Romania from then on fought for the Allies and commenced actions in Hungary meanwhile the German forces attempted to fight Romania but were unsuccessful. Romania overall contributed a great amount of effort into the war and despite their grim circumstances they came out without nearly as many losses as historians would guess.
[edit] Bulgaria
Bulgaria, under its king Boris III, signed the Tripartite Pact on March 1, 1941. Bulgaria had been an ally of Germany in the First World War, and like Germany and Hungary, sought a revision of the peace terms, specifically the restoration of territories lost in Macedonia and Aegean Thrace.
Bulgaria drew closer to Nazi Germany during the 1930s. In 1940, under the terms of the Treaty of Craiova, Germany forced Romania to return Southern Dobrudja to Bulgaria, ceded in 1913.
Bulgaria participated in the German invasion of Yugoslavia and Greece, and annexed Vardar Banovina (today's Republic of Macedonia) from Yugoslavia and eastern Greek Macedonia and Western Thrace from Greece. Bulgarian armed forces garrisoned in the Balkans battled various resistance movements. Despite mounting German pressure, Bulgaria did not join the German invasion of the Soviet Union that began on 22 June 1941 and never declared war on this country. However, despite the lack of official declarations of war by both sides, the Bulgarian Navy was involved in a number of skirmishes with the Soviet Black Sea Fleet, which attacked Bulgarian shipping.
The Bulgarian government was forced by the Germans to declare war on the United States and United Kingdom. The 'symbolic' war against the Western Allies, however, turned into a disaster for the citizens of Sofia and other major Bulgarian cities, as they were heavily bombed by the USAAF and RAF in 1943 and 1944.
As the Red Army approached the Bulgarian border, on September 2, 1944, a coup brought to power a new government which sought peace with the Allies. However, on September 5 the Soviet Union declared war on Bulgaria and the Red Army marched into the country, meeting no resistance. A new government of the Fatherland Front took power on September 9 and Bulgarian troops fought on the Allies' side throughout the rest of the war. Bulgaria kept Southern Dobrudja but lost the occupied parts of the Aegean region and Vardar Macedonia, with 150,000 Bulgarians being expelled from Western Thrace.
[edit] Yugoslavia
For about two days in 1941, the Kingdom of Yugoslavia (Kraljevina Jugoslavija) was briefly a member of the Axis. On 25 March 1941, fearing that Yugoslavia would be invaded otherwise, Regent Prince Paul signed the Tripartite Pact with Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, and Imperial Japan.
Two days later, after uprisings in the streets, Prince Paul was removed from office by a coup d'état. 17-year-old Prince Peter was proclaimed to be of age and crowned king. The new Yugoslavian government under King Peter II, still fearful of invasion, attempted to indicate that it would remain bound by the Tripartite Pact. But German dictator Adolf Hitler suspected that the British were behind the coup against Prince Paul and vowed to destroy the country.
The German invasion began on 6 April 1941. Yugoslavia was a multi-ethnic country from its creation and was heavily dominated by the Serbs. It also had unresolved questions of national identity so most of the peoples were not motivated to fight. Resistance crumbled in less than two weeks and an unconditional surrender was signed in Belgrade on 17 April. By this time, King Peter II and much of the Yugoslavian government had already fled.
While the Kingdom of Yugoslavia was no longer capable of being a member of the Axis, several Axis-aligned puppet states emerged after the kingdom was dissolved. Local governments were set up in Serbia, Croatia, and Montenegro. The remainder of Yugoslavia was divided among the other Axis powers. Germany annexed Slovenia. Italy annexed coastal parts of Croatia (Dalmatia and the islands). Hungary annexed several border territories. Bulgaria annexed Macedonia.
Ivan Mihailov's faction of the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (IMRO) welcomed the Bulgarian annexation of Vardar Macedonia. In early September 1944, when the Bulgarian government left the Axis, Germany offered Mihailov support in establishing an independent Macedonian state, but he declined.
[edit] Thailand
Thailand was a formal ally of Japan from January 25, 1942.
In the immediate aftermath of the attack on Pearl Harbor, Japanese forces invaded Thailand's territory on the morning of December 8, 1941. Only hours after the invasion, Field Marshal Phibunsongkhram, the prime minister, ordered the cessation of resistance. On December 21, 1941, a military alliance with Japan was signed. Thailand declared war on the UK and the United States of America. The Thai ambassador to the United States, Mom Rajawongse Seni Pramoj did not deliver his copy of the declaration of war, so although the British reciprocated by declaring war on Thailand and consequently considered it a hostile country, the United States did not.
On May 10, 1942, the Thai Phayap Army entered Burma's Shan State. At one time in the past the area had been part of the Ayutthaya Kingdom. The boundary between the Japanese and Thai operations was generally the Salween. However, that area south of the Shan States known as Karenni States, the homeland of the Karens, was specifically retained under Japanese control.
Three Thai infantry and one cavalry division, spearheaded by armoured reconnaissance groups and supported ably by the air force, started their advance on May 10, and engaged the retreating Chinese 93rd Division. Kengtung, the main objective, was captured on May 27. Renewed offensives in June and November evicted the Chinese into Yunnan.
As the war dragged on, the Thai population came to resent the Japanese presence. In June 1944, Phibun was overthrown in a coup d'état. The new civilian government under Khuang Aphaiwong attempted to aid the resistance while at the same time maintaining cordial relations with the Japanese.
The Free Thai Movement ("Seri Thai") was established during these first few months. Parallel Free Thai organisations were established in the UK and inside Thailand. Queen Ramphaiphanni was the nominal head of the British-based organisation, and Pridi Phanomyong, the regent, headed its largest contingent, which was operating within the country. Aided by elements of the military, secret airfields and training camps were established while OSS and Force 136 agents fluidly slipped in and out of the country.
After the war, U.S. influence prevented Thailand from being treated as an Axis country, but the UK demanded three million tons of rice as reparations and the return of areas annexed from the British colony of Malaya during the war and invasion. Thailand also had to return the portions of British Burma and French Indochina that had been taken.
Phibun and a number of his associates were put on trial on charges of having committed war crimes, mainly that of collaborating with the Axis powers. However, the charges were dropped due to intense public pressure. Public opinion was favourable to Phibun, since he was thought to have done his best to protect Thai interests.
[edit] Co-belligerents
[edit] Finland
Finland, which never signed the Tripartite Pact, was not a part of the Axis powers, but played a part in fighting against the Soviet Union. Having recently been under Soviet aggression in the Winter War, Finland allowed Germany to use Finnish territory as a base for Operation Barbarossa.
After the end of the Winter War against the Soviet Union in March 1940, Finland first sought protection from the United Kingdom[2][3] and neutral Sweden,[4] but was thwarted by Soviet and German actions. This resulted in Finland drawing closer to Germany, first with the intent of enlisting German support as a counterweight to thwart continuing Soviet pressure, but later to help gain territories.
Finland's role in Operation Barbarossa was laid out in German Chancellor Adolf Hitler's Directive 21, "The mass of the Finnish army will have the task, in accordance with the advance made by the northern wing of the German armies, of tying up maximum Russian strength by attacking to the west, or on both sides, of Lake Ladoga. The Finns will also capture Hanko." The directive was given December 18, 1940, over two months before Finnish High Command or civilian leadership received the first tentative hints to upcoming invasion.
In May 1941, at the suggestion of Germany, Finland allowed Germany to recruit Finnish volunteers for SS-Freiwilligen-Bataillon Nordost. This battalion, with an initial strength of 1200 men, was attached to the multinational Wiking Division of Germany's Waffen SS. Later, an additional 200 Finns joined the battalion to cover the losses.
In the weeks leading up to Operation Barbarossa, cooperation between Finland and Germany increased, with the exchange of liaison officers and the beginning of preparations for joint military action. On June 7, Germany moved two divisions into the Finnish Lapland. On June 17, 1941, Finland ordered its armed forces to be fully mobilized and sent to the Soviet border. Finland evacuated civilians from border areas which were fortified against Soviet attack. In the opening days of the Operation, Finland permitted German planes returning from bombing runs over Leningrad to refuel at Finnish airfields before returning to bases in German East Prussia. Finland also permitted Germany to use its naval facilities in the Gulf of Finland.
In his proclamation of war against the Soviet Union issued June 22, 1941, Hitler declared that Germany was joined by Finland and Romania. However, Finland did not declare war until June 25, after the Soviet Union bombed Finnish airfields and towns, including the medieval Turku castle, which was badly damaged. The Soviets cited Finland's cooperation with Germany as provocation for the air raids. Finland countered that it was once again a victim of Soviet aggression.
Finns refer to the conflict with the Soviet Union as the Continuation War, viewing it as continuation of the Winter War that the Soviets had waged against the Finns. The Finns maintain that their sole objective was to regain the territory lost to the Soviet Union in the Winter War, but on July 10, 1941, Field Marshal Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim issued an Order of the Day declaring that the war aim of the Finns was "to expel the Bolsheviks out of Russian Karelia, to liberate the Karelian nations and to accord to Finland a great future."
Mannerheim's order echoed his Order of the Day issued February 23, 1918, during the Finnish War of Independence, known as the Sword Scabbard Declaration, in which Mannerheim declared he "would not put his sword into the scabbard until East Karelia was free of Lenin's warriors and hooligans." Conquest of Karelia was a historic dream of Finnish nationalists advocating Greater Finland.
In all, Finland mobilized over 530,000 men against the Soviet Union. About 1,700 volunteers from Sweden and 2,600 from Estonia served in the Finnish army. Many of the Swedish volunteers had also fought for Finland in the Winter War.
Diplomatic relations between the United Kingdom and Finland were severed on August 1, 1941, after the British bombed German forces in the Finnish city of Petsamo. The United Kingdom repeatedly called on Finland to cease its offensive against the Soviet Union, and on December 6, 1941, declared war on Finland. War was never declared between Finland and the United States.
Finland signed the revived Anti-Comintern Pact of 1941. Unlike other Axis powers, Finland maintained command of its armed forces and pursued its war objectives independently of Germany. Finland refused German requests to participate in the Siege of Leningrad, stating that capturing Leningrad was not among its goals. Leningrad, now St. Petersburg, lies outside the territory of Karelia claimed for Finland by Mannerheim. Finland also granted asylum to Jews, and Jewish soldiers continued to serve in her army.
The relationship between Finland and Germany more closely resembled an alliance during the six weeks of the Ryti-Ribbentrop Agreement, which was presented as a German condition for help with munitions and air support, as the Soviet offensive coordinated with D-Day threatened Finland with complete occupation. The agreement, signed by President Risto Ryti, but never ratified by the Finnish Parliament, bound Finland not to seek a separate peace.
Ryti's successor, President Mannerheim, ignored the agreement and opened secret negotiations with the Soviets. On September 19, 1944, Mannerheim signed an armistice with the Soviet Union and the United Kingdom. Under the terms of the armistice, Finland was obligated to expel German troops from Finnish territory. Finns refer to the skirmishes that followed as the Lapland War. In 1947, Finland signed a peace treaty with the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom and several British Commonwealth nations acknowledging its "alliance with Hitlerite Germany".
[edit] Iraq
Iraq was a co-belligerent of the Axis, fighting the United Kingdom in the Anglo-Iraqi War of 1941.
Seizing power on April 3, 1941, the nationalist government of Iraqi Prime Minister Rashid Ali al-Gaylani repudiated the Anglo-Iraqi Treaty of 1930 and demanded that the UK close its military bases within the country. Ali sought support from Germany, Italy and Vichy France in expelling British forces from Iraq.
Hostilities between the Iraqi and British forces opened on April 18, 1941, with heavy fighting at the British air base at Lake Habbaniya. Iraq's Axis allies dispatched two air squadrons, one from the German Luftwaffe and the other from the Royal Italian Air Force. The Germans and Italians utilized Vichy French bases in Syria, precipitating fighting between British and French forces in Syria.
In early May 1941, Mohammad Amin al-Husayni, the Mufti of Jerusalem and an ally of Ali, declared "holy war" against the United Kingdom and called on Arabs throughout the Middle East to rise up against the UK. On May 25, 1941, Hitler issued his Order 30, stepping up German offensive operations: "The Arab Freedom Movement in the Middle East is our natural ally against England. In this connection special importance is attached to the liberation of Iraq... I have therefore decided to move forward in the Middle East by supporting Iraq."
Hitler dispatched German air and armored forces to Libya and formed the Deutsches Afrikakorps to coordinate a combined German-Italian offensive against the British in Egypt, Palestine and Iraq.
Iraqi military resistance ended by May 31, 1941. Rashid Ali and his ally, the Mufti of Jerusalem, fled to Persia, then to Turkey, Italy and finally Germany where Ali was welcomed by Hitler as head of the Iraqi government-in-exile.
In propaganda broadcasts from Berlin, the Mufti continued to call on Arabs to rise up against the United Kingdom and aid German and Italian forces. He also recruited Muslim volunteers in the Balkans for the Waffen SS.
[edit] Japanese puppet states
The Empire of Japan created a number of puppet states in the areas occupied by its military, beginning with the creation of Manchukuo in 1932. These puppet states achieved varying degrees of international recognition.
[edit] Manchukuo (Manchuria)
Manchukuo was a Japanese puppet state in Manchuria, the northeast region of China. It was nominally ruled by Puyi, the last emperor of the Qing Dynasty, but in fact controlled by the Japanese military, in particular the Kwantung Army. While Manchukuo ostensibly meant a state for ethnic manchus, the region had a Han Chinese majority.
Following the Japanese invasion of Manchuria in 1931, the independence of Manchukuo was proclaimed on February 18, 1932, with Puyi as "Head of State." He was proclaimed Emperor of Manchukuo a year later. Twenty three of the League of Nations' eighty members recognised the new Manchu nation, but the League itself declared in 1934 that Manchuria lawfully remained a part of China, precipitating Japanese withdrawal from the League. Germany, Italy, and the Soviet Union were among the major powers recognising Manchukuo. The county was also recognised by the Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, El Salvador, and the Vatican. Manchukuo was also recognised by the other Japanese allies and puppet states, including Mengjiang, the Burmese government of Ba Maw, Thailand, the Wang Chingwei regime, and the Indian government of Subhas Chandra Bose.
The armed forces of Manchukuo numbered between 200,000 and 220,000 men, according to the Soviet intelligence estimates. The Manchukuo Army and Manchukuo Air Force garrisoned Manchukuo under the command of the Japanese Army. The Manchukuo Navy, including river patrol and coastal defense, were under the direct command of the Japanese Third Fleet. The Manchukuo Imperial Guard, numbering 200 men, was under the direct command of the Emperor and served as his bodyguard.
[edit] Mengjiang (Inner Mongolia)
Mengjiang (alternatively spelled Mengchiang) was a Japanese puppet state in Inner Mongolia. It was nominally ruled by Prince Demchugdongrub, a Mongol nobleman descended from Genghis Khan, but was in fact controlled by the Japanese military. Mengjiang's independence was proclaimed on February 18, 1936, following the Japanese occupation of the region.
The Inner Mongolians had several grievances against the central Chinese government in Nanking, with the most important one being the policy of allowing unlimited migration of Han Chinese to this vast region of open plains and desert. Several of the young princes of Inner Mongolia began to agitate for greater freedom from the central government, and it was through these men that Japanese saw their best chance of exploiting Pan-Mongol nationalism and eventually seizing control of Outer Mongolia from the Soviet Union.
Japan created Mengjiang to exploit tensions between ethnic Mongolians and the central government of China which in theory ruled Inner Mongolia. The Japanese hoped to use pan-Mongolism to create a Mongolian ally in Asia and eventually conquer all of Mongolia from the Soviet Union.
When the various puppet governments of China were unified under the Wang Chingwei government in March 1940, Mengjiang retained its separate identity as an autonomous federation. Although under the firm control of the Japanese Imperial Army which occupied its territory, Prince Demchugdongrub had his own army that was, in theory, independent.
Mengjiang vanished in 1945 following Japan's defeat ending World War II and the invasion of Soviet and Red Mongol Armies. As the huge Soviet forces advanced into Inner Mongolia, they met limited resistance from small detachments of Mongolian cavalry, which, like the rest of the army, were quickly brushed aside.
[edit] Wang Jingwei Government
A short-lived state was founded on March 29, 1940 by Wang Jingwei, who became Head of State of this Japanese supported collaborationist government based in Nanking.
During the Second Sino-Japanese War, Japan advanced from its bases in Manchuria to occupy much of East and Central China. Several Japanese puppet states were organised in areas occupied by the Japanese Army, including the Provisional Government of the Republic of China at Peking which was formed in 1937 and the Reformed Government of the Republic of China at Nanking which was formed in 1938. These governments were merged into the Reorganised Government of the Republic of China at Nanking in 1940. The government (known as the Wang Jingwei Government) was to be run along the same lines as the Nationalist regime and adopted symbols of the latter.
The Nanking Government had no real power, and its main role was to act as a propaganda tool for the Japanese. The Nanking Government concluded agreements with Japan and Manchukuo, authorising Japanese occupation of China and recognising the independence of Manchukuo under Japanese protection. The Nanking Government signed the Anti-Comintern Pact of 1941 and declared war on the United States and the United Kingdom on January 9, 1943.
The government had a strained relationship with the Japanese from the beginning. Wang's insistence on his regime being the true Nationalist government of China and in replicating all the symbols of the Kuomintang (KMT) led to frequent conflicts with the Japanese, the most prominent being the issue of the regime's flag, which was identical to that of the Republic of China.
The worsening situation for Japan from 1943 onwards meant that the Nanking Army was given a more substantial role in the defence of occupied China than the Japanese had initially envisaged. The army was almost continuously employed against the communist New Fourth Army.
Wang Jingwei died in a Nagoya hospital on November 10, 1944, and was succeeded by his deputy Chen Gongbo. Chen had little influence and the real power behind the regime was Zhou Fohai, the mayor of Shanghai. Wang's death dispelled what little legitimacy the regime had. The state stuttered on for another year and continued the display and show of a fascist regime.
On September 9, 1945, following the defeat of Japan, the area was surrendered to General He Yingqin, a nationalist general loyal to Chiang Kai-shek. The Nanking Army generals quickly declared their alliance to the Generalissimo, and were subsequently ordered to resist Communist attempts to fill the vacuum left by the Japanese surrender. Chen Gongbo was tried and executed in 1946.
[edit] Burma (Ba Maw regime)
The Japanese Army seized control of Burma from the United Kingdom during 1942. A Japanese puppet state in Burma was then formed on August 1 under the Burmese nationalist leader Ba Maw. The Ba Maw regime established the Burma Defence Army (later renamed the Burma National Army), which was commanded by Aung San.
[edit] Philippines (Second Republic)
Jose P. Laurel was the President of the Second Republic of the Philippines, a Japanese puppet state organised on the Philippine Islands in 1942. In 1943, the Philippine National Assembly declared the Philippines an independent republic and elected Laurel as President. The Second Republic ended with the Japanese surrender. Laurel was arrested and charged with treason by the US government, but was granted amnesty and continued playing politics, ultimately winning a seat in the Philippine Senate.
[edit] India (Provisional Government of Free India)
The Provisional Government of Free India was a shadow government led by Subhas Chandra Bose, an Indian nationalist who rejected Gandhi's nonviolent methods for achieving independence. Its authority existed only in those parts of India which came under Japanese control.
A former president of the India National Congress, Bose was arrested by British authorities at the outset of the Second World War. In January 1941 he escaped from house arrest, eventually reaching Germany and then in 1942 to Japan where he formed the Indian National Army, made up largely from Indian prisoners of war.
Bose and A.M. Sahay, another local leader, received ideological support from Mitsuru Toyama, chief of the Dark Ocean Society along with Japanese Army advisers. Other Indian thinkers in favour of the Axis cause were Asit Krishna Mukherji, a friend of Bose, his wife Savitri Devi, a French writer admiring Hitler, and the Pandit Rajwade of Poona. Bose was helped by Rash Behari Bose, founder of the Indian Independence League in Japan. Bose declared India's independence on October 21, 1943. The Japanese Army assigned to the Indian National Army a number of military advisors, among them Hideo Iwakuro and Saburo Isoda.
The provisional capital was located at Port Blair on the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, these islands fallen to the Japanese. The government would last two more years until August 18, 1945, when it officially became defunct. During its existence it received recognition from nine governments: Germany, Japan, Italy, Croatia, Manchukuo, China (under the Nanking Government of Wang Chingwei), Thailand, Burma (under the regime of Burmese nationalist leader Ba Maw, and the Philippines under de facto (and later de jure) president José Laurel.
The Indian National Army saw plenty of action (as did their Burmese equivalent). The highlight of the force's campaign in Burma was the planting of the Indian national flag by the "Bose Battalion" during the battle of Frontier Hill in 1944, although it was Japanese troops from the 55th Cavalry, 1/29th Infantry and 2/143rd Infantry who did most of the fighting. This battle also had the curious incidence of three Sikh companies of the Bose Battalion exchanging insults and fire with two Sikh companies of the 7/16th Punjab Regiment (British Indian Army)[citation needed].
The Indian National Army was encountered again during the Second Arakan Campaign, where they deserted in large numbers back to their old "imperial oppressors" and again during the crossing of the Irrawaddy in 1945, where a couple of companies put up token resistance before leaving their Japanese comrades to fight off the assault crossing by 7th Indian Division.
[edit] Vietnam
The Empire of Vietnam was a short-lived Japanese puppet state that lasted from March 11 to August 23, 1945.
When the Japanese seized control of French Indochina, they allowed Vichy French administrators to remain in nominal control. This ruling ended on March 9, 1945 when the Japanese officially took control of the government. Soon after, Emperor Bảo Đại voided the 1884 treaty with France and Trần Trọng Kim, a historian, became prime minister.
Despite the state's short existence, it suffered through a famine and had succeeded in replacing French-speaking schools with Vietnamese language schools taught by Vietnamese scholars.
[edit] Cambodia
The Kingdom of Cambodia was a short-lived Japanese puppet state that lasted from March 9, 1945 to April 15, 1945.
In mid-1941, the Japanese entered Cambodia, but allowed Vichy French officials to remain in administrative posts. The Japanese calls of an "Asia for the Asiatics" won over many Cambodian nationalists, despite Tokyo's policy of keeping the colonial government in nominal control.
This policy changed during the last months of the war. The Japanese wanted to gain local support, so they dissolved French colonial rule and pressured Cambodia to declare its independence within the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere. Four days later, King Sihanouk declared Kampuchea (the original Khmer pronunciation of Cambodia) independent. Co-editor of the Nagaravatta, Son Ngoc Thanh, returned from Tokyo in May and was appointed foreign minister.
On the date of Japanese surrender, a new government was proclaimed with Son Ngoc Thah as prime minister. However, in October, when the Allies occupied Phnom Penh, Son Ngoc Thanh was arrested for collaborating with the Japanese and was exiled to France. Some of his supporters went to north-western Cambodia, which had been under Thai control since the French-Thai War of 1940, where they banded together as one faction in the Khmer Issarak movement, originally formed with Thai encouragement in the 1940s.
[edit] Laos
Fears of Thai irredentism led to the formation of the first Lao nationalist organization, the Movement for National Renovation, in January 1941, led by Prince Phetxarāt and supported by local French officials, though not by the Vichy authorities in Hanoi. This group wrote the current Lao national anthem and designed the current Lao flag, while paradoxically pledging support for France. The country declared its independence in 1945.
There matters rested until the liberation of France in 1944, bringing Charles de Gaulle to power. This meant the end of the alliance between Japan and the Vichy French administration in Indochina. The Japanese had no intention of allowing the Gaullists to take over, and in late 1944 they staged a military coup in Hanoi. Some French units fled over the mountains to Laos, pursued by the Japanese, who occupied Viang Chan in March 1945 and Luang Phrabāng in April. King Sīsavāngvong was detained by the Japanese, but his son Crown Prince Savāngvatthanā called on all Lao to assist the French, and many Lao died fighting against the Japanese occupiers.
Prince Phetxarāt, however, opposed this position, and thought that Lao independence could be gained by siding with the Japanese, who made him Prime Minister of Luang Phrabāng, though not of Laos as a whole. In practice the country was in chaos and Phetxarāt's government had no real authority. Another Lao group, the Lao Sēri (Free Lao), received unofficial support from the Free Thai movement in the Isan region.
[edit] Italian puppet states
[edit] Croatia
On 10 April 1941, the Independent State of Croatia (Nezavisna Država Hrvatska, or NDH) was declared to be a member of the Axis. The NDH remained a member of the Axis until the end of Second World War, its forces fighting for Germany even after NDH had been overrun by Yugoslav Partisans. On 24 April 1941, Ante Pavelić, a Croatian nationalist and one of the founders of the Croatian Uprising (Ustaše) Movement, was proclaimed Leader (Poglavnik) of the new state.
The Ustaše was actively supported by the Fascist regime of Benito Mussolini in Italy which gave the movement training grounds to prepare for war against Yugoslavia as well as accepting Pavelić as an exile and allowed him to reside in Rome. Italy intended to use the movement to destroy Yugoslavia, which would allow Italy to expand its power through the Adriatic Sea. In Germany, the idea of creating any Slavic puppet state was not welcomed by Hitler who saw all Slavs, including Croats as racially inferior. Also Hitler did not want to engage in a war in the Balkans until the Soviet Union was defeated. But the Italian occupation of Greece was performing badly, Mussolini wanted Germany to invade Yugoslavia to save the Italian forces in Greece. Hitler reluctantly submitted and Yugoslavia was invaded, and the Italian agenda to set up a puppet Croatian state was achieved with the creation of the Independent State of Croatia. Relations between Germany and Croatia would improve as the Ustaše proved effective at violently repressing Serb Chetniks and the communist Yugoslav Partisans of Joseph Broz Tito.
Pavelić led a Croatian delegation to Rome and offered the crown of Croatia to an Italian prince of the House of Savoy, who was crowned Tomislav II, King of Croatia, Prince of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Voivode of Dalmatia, Tuzla and Temun, Prince of Cisterna and of Belriguardo, Marquess of Voghera, and Count of Ponderano. The next day, Pavelić signed the Contracts of Rome with Mussolini, ceding Dalmatia to Italy and fixing the permanent borders between Croatia and Italy. Furthermore, Italian armed forces were allowed to control all of Croatia's coastline, effectively giving Italy total control of the Adriatic Sea coastline.
Its ruling fascist Ustaše movement utilized the motive that Croatians had been oppressed by the Serb-dominated Kingdom of Yugoslavia, and that Croatians deserved to have an independent nation after years of domination by foreign empires, to draw support to their radical agenda. The Ustaše perceived Serbs to be racially inferior to Croats and saw them as infiltrators who were occupying Croatian lands, and saw the extermination of Serbs as necessary to racially purify Croatia.
While in Yugoslavia, many Croatian nationalists violently opposed the Serb-dominated Yugoslav monarchy and assassinated Yugoslavia's King Alexander together with Macedonian VMRO organization. The regime enjoyed support amongst radical Croatian nationalists. Ustashe forces fought against Serbian Chetnik and communist Yugoslav Partisan guerrillas throughout the war. Regular forces Croatian Home Guard (domobran) usually fought against Serbian Chetnik and often joined or surrendered with weapons to antifascist Partisans.
Upon coming to power, Pavelić formed the Croatian Home Guard (Hrvatsko domobranstvo) as the official military force of Croatia. Originally authorized at 16,000 men, it grew to a peak fighting force of 130,000. The Croatian Home Guard included a small air force and navy, although its navy was restricted in size by the Contracts of Rome. In addition to the Croatian Home Guard, Pavelić also commanded the Ustaše militia. Some Croats also volunteered for the German Waffen SS.
The Ustaše government declared war on the Soviet Union, signed the Anti-Comintern Pact of 1941 and sent troops to Germany's Eastern Front. Ustaše militia garrisoned the Balkans, battling the Partisans.
During the time of its existence, the Ustaše government applied racial laws on Serbs, Jews and Romas, and after June 1941 deported them to the Jasenovac concentration camp (or to camps in Poland). The exact number of victims of the Ustaše regime is uncertain due to the destruction of documents and varying numbers given by various historians vying for political clout. The total number of victims in Jasenovac is estimated to be between 56,000 and 97,000.[5] The racial laws were enforced by the Ustaše militia.
Although Ustaše had some support in all parts of Croatia, their wide popular support was limited to the traditionally most strongly nationalistic regions.
[edit] Greece
The Hellenic State, formed in 1941 as a puppet state of both Italy and Germany. Initially, Italy had wished to annex Greece, but pressure from Germany to avoid civil unrest as what was seen in Bulgarian annexed areas resulted in Italy accepting to create a puppet state with the support of Germany. Most of Greece was held by Italian forces. The puppet state was still technically ruled by King George II of Greece, who was related to German aristocracy, but held deep reservations over the occupation by Germany and Italy. Greece lost further land to Italian-held Albania, and opposition to the puppet regime was strong from 1942 onward. After the ousting of Mussolini in Italy, the Italian occupied lands were taken by the German armed forces, making Greece a German puppet state from 1943 until the puppet state's end in 1944.
[edit] Montenegro
Sekula Drljević and the core of the Montenegrin Federalist Party formed the Provisional Administrative Committee of Montenegro on July 12, 1941, and proclaimed on the Saint Peter's Congress the "Kingdom of Montenegro" under protectorate of the Fascist Kingdom of Italy. The country served Italy as part of its goal fragmenting the former Kingdom of Yugoslavia, expanding the Italian Empire throughout the Adriatic Sea, and both Italy's and Germany's drive to end pan-Slavism. The country was mostly caught by the rebellion of the Yugoslav Army in the Fatherland and Drljevic was already in October 1941 expelled from Montenegro which became under direct Italian control with the remainder of the Montenegrin collaborators. In 1943 with the Italian capitulation, Montenegro became a direct sector of occupation of Nazi Germany.
In 1944, Drljević formed a pro-Ustaše Montenegrin State Council in exile based in the Independent State of Croatia with the aims of restoring rule over Montenegro. It subsequently formed a Montenegrin People's Army out of various Montenegrin nationalist troops. By then the Partisans already liberated most of Montenegro, which became a Federal Unit of the Democratic Federal Yugoslavia. Montenegro endured intense air bombing by the Allied air forces in 1944. The regime is responsible for the deaths of thousands of innocent people.
[edit] Pindus and Macedonia
The Principality of Pindus and the Voivodship of Macedonia was an Italian client state formed in 1941 in northern Greece in the regions of Epirus, Thessaly and West Macedonia.[6] It was set up as a nation for the Aromanian speaking peoples.
The state adopted certain anti-Greek policies but never was anti-semitic. Jews from Kastoria, Veria, and Ioannina were in top positions in the hierarchy of the Principality.
[edit] German puppet states
[edit] Slovakia (Tiso regime)
The Slovak Republic under President Jozef Tiso signed the Tripartite Pact on November 24, 1940.
Slovakia had been closely aligned with Germany almost immediately from its declaration of independence from Czechoslovakia on March 14, 1939. Slovakia entered into a treaty of protection with Germany on March 23, 1939. Slovak troops joined the German invasion of Poland, fighting to reclaim territories lost in 1918.
Slovakia declared war on the Soviet Union in 1941 and signed the revived Anti-Comintern Pact of 1941. Slovak troops fought on Germany's Eastern Front, with Slovakia furnishing Germany with two divisions totalling 20,000 men. Slovakia declared war on the United Kingdom and the United States of America in 1942.
Slovakia was spared German military occupation until the Slovak National Uprising, which began on August 29, 1944, and was almost immediately crushed by the Waffen SS and Slovak troops loyal to Jozef Tiso, the Catholic priest-turned-dictator of Slovakia.
After the war, Tiso was executed and Slovakia was rejoined with Czechoslovakia. Slovakia and the Czech Republic finally separated into independent states in 1993.
[edit] Italy (Salò regime)
Italian Fascist leader Benito Mussolini formed the Italian Social Republic (Repubblica Sociale Italiana in Italian) on September 23, 1943, succeeding the Kingdom of Italy as a member of the Axis.
Mussolini had been removed from office and arrested by King Victor Emmanuel III on July 25, 1943. The King publicly reaffirmed his loyalty to Germany, but authorized secret armistice negotiations with the Allies. In a spectacular raid led by German paratrooper Otto Skorzeny, Mussolini was rescued from arrest.
Once safely ensconced in German occupied Salò, Mussolini declared that the King was deposed, that Italy was a republic and that he was the new president. He functioned as a German puppet for the duration of the war.
[edit] Albania (under German control)
After Benito Mussolini was overthrown by his own Italian Grand Council, a void of power opened up in Albania. The Italian occupying forces could do nothing as the communists took control of the south and the National Liberation Movement (NLM) took control of the north. Albanians in the Italian army scurried to join the guerrilla forces. In September 1943, the guerrillas moved to can take the capitol of Tirana, but before they could, German paratroopers dropped into the city and sent the guerrillas running to the hills and to the south. Soon after, German High Command announced that they would recognize the independence of a neutral Albania and organized an Albanian government, police, and military. The country retained the official name the Albanian Kingdom and existed in borders set by Italy in 1941. Since King Zog I was in absentia, a High Council of Regency was created to carry out the functions of a head of state, while the government was headed mainly by Albanian conservative politicians. The Germans didn't exert heavy control over Albania's administration. Instead, they attempted to gain popular appeal by giving the Albanians want they wanted, including the annexation of Kosovo. Given their autonomy, the Albanian government refused to hand over their Jewish population. However, the Nazis did have success in cooperating with some Balli Kombëtar units in suppressing the communists. In addition, several Balli Kombëtar leaders held positions in the regime. Many Albanian collaborators joined the Skanderbeg SS Division which expelled and killed Serbs living in Kosovo. Albania was completely liberated on November 28, 1944.
[edit] Hungary (Szálasi regime)
After relations between Germany and the regency of Miklos Horthy collapsed in Hungary in 1944, Horthy was forced to abdicate after German armed forces held his son hostage. Following Horthy's abdication, Hungary was politically reorganized into a totalitarian fascist country called the Hungarian State in December 1944 led by Ferenc Szálasi who had been Prime Minister of Hungary since October 1944 and was leader of the anti-Semitic fascist Arrow Cross Party. In power, his government was a Quisling regime with little authority other than to obey Germany's orders. Also, days after its inception, the capital of Budapest was surrounded by the Soviet Red Army. German and fascist Hungarian forces tried in vain to hold off the Soviet advance but failed. In March 1945, Szálasi fled Hungary for Germany to run the state in exile until the surrender of Germany in May 1945.
[edit] Axis collaborator states
[edit] France (Vichy regime)
France and its colonial empire, under the so-called Vichy regime of Marshal Pétain, collaborated with the Axis from 1941 until 1944 when the regime was dissolved.
Pétain became the last Prime Minister of the French Third Republic on June 16, 1940 as the battle of France following the German invasion army entering Paris on June 14. Pétain sued for peace with Germany and six days later, on June 22, 1940, his government concluded an armistice with Hitler. Under the terms of the agreement, Germany occupied approximately two thirds of France, including Paris. Pétain was permitted to keep an "armistice army" of 100,000 men within the unoccupied southern zone. This number includes neither the army based in French colonial empire nor the French fleet. In French North Africa and French Equatorial Africa, the Vichy were permitted to maintain 127,000 men under arms after the Gabon defected to the Free French.[7] The French also maintained substantial garrisons at the French mandated territory of Syria and Lebanon, the French colony of Madagascar and in the French Somaliland.
After the armistice, relations between France and the UK quickly deteriorated. Fearful that the powerful French fleet might fall into German hands, the British launched several naval attacks, the major one against the Algerian harbour of Mers el-Kebir on July 3, 1940. Though Churchill would defend his controversial decisions to attack the French Fleet, the French people themselves were less accepting of these decisions. German propaganda was able to trumpet these actions as an absolute betrayal of the French people by their former allies. France broke relations with the United Kingdom after the attack and considered declaring war.
On July 10, 1940, Petain was given emergency "full powers" by a majority vote of the French National Assembly. The following day approval of the new constitution by the Assembly effectively created the French State (l'État Français) replacing the French Republic and unofficially called Vichy France for the resort town of Vichy where Petain chose to maintain his seat of government. The new government continued to be recognised as the lawful government of France by the United States until 1942. Racial laws were introduced in France and its colonies and many French Jews were deported to Germany. On a side note, Albert Lebrun, last President of the Republic, did not leave the presidential office when he moved to Vizille in July 10, 1940. By April 25, 1945, during Petain's trial, Lebrun argued he thought he would be able to return to power after the fall of Germany since he had not resigned.[8]
In September 1940, Vichy France allowed Japan to occupy French Indochina, a federation of the French colonial possessions and protectorates roughly encompassing the territory of modern day Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. The Vichy regime continued to administer the colony under Japanese military occupation. French Indochina was the base for the Japanese invasions of Thailand, Malaya and Borneo. In 1945, under Japanese sponsorship, the Empire of Vietnam and the Kingdom of Cambodia were proclaimed as Japanese puppet states.
The UK permitted French General Charles de Gaulle to headquarter his Free French movement in London in a largely unsuccessful effort to win over the French colonial empire. On September 26, 1940, de Gaulle led an attack by Allied forces on the Vichy port of Dakar in French West Africa. Forces loyal to Pétain fired on de Gaulle and repulsed the attack after two days of heavy fighting. Public opinion in France was further outraged, and Vichy France drew closer to Germany.
Vichy France assisted Iraq in the Anglo-Iraqi War of 1941, allowing Germany and Italy to utilize air bases in the French mandate of Syria to support the Iraqi revolt against the British. Allied forces responded by attacking Syria and Lebanon in 1941. Vichy forces in the French Somolialand also fought alongside Italian forces in Italian East Africa. In 1942, Allied forces attacked the French colony of Madagascar.
Vichy France, staunchly anti-Communist, enthusiastically sided with Germany in its war with the Soviet Union. Vichy France signed the Anti-Comintern Pact of 1941. Almost 7,000 volunteers joined the anti-communist Légion des Volontaires Français (LVF) from 1941 to 1944 and some 7,500 formed the Division Charlemagne, a Waffen-SS unit, from 1944 to 1945. Both the LVF and the Division Charlemagne fought on the eastern front. Hitler never accepted that France could become a full military partner,[9] and constantly prevented the buildup of Vichy's military strength.
Other than political, Vichy's collaboration with Germany essentially was industrial, with French factories providing many vehicles to the German armed forces.
In November 1942, Vichy French troops briefly but fiercely resisted the landing of Allied troops in French North Africa, but were unable to prevail. Admiral François Darlan negotiated a local ceasefire with the Allies. In response to the landings, and Vichy's inability to defend itself, German troops occupied southern France and Tunisia, a French protectorate that formed part of French North Africa. The Bey of Tunis formed a government friendly to the Germans.
In mid-1943, former Vichy authorities in North Africa came to an agreement with the Free French and setup a temporary French government in Algiers, known as the Comité Français de Libération Nationale, with De Gaulle eventually emerging as the leader. The CFLN raised new troops, and re-organized, re-trained and re-equipped the French military under Allied supervision.
However, the Vichy government continued to function in mainland France until late 1944, but had lost most of its territorial sovereignty and military assets, with the exception of forces stationed in French Indochina.
[edit] Axis autonomous territories
Territories held directly under with Axis states which had a different nationality than the ruling state and technically had autonomous governments within the Axis states.
[edit] Albania (under Italian control)
Albania was an Italian protectorate as it had little if no independence from Italy and was intended to become part of a Greater Italy.
Though Albania was physically separated from Italy and had a majority Albanian population, it was ruled in personal union as a protectorate with Italy under Victor Emmanuel III, whose full title was King of Italy, Albania, and Emperor of Ethiopia, indicating Albania's subordination as only a part of the Italian Empire. Furthermore Albania's government was led by Italian governors appointed by Italy after 1939, and an agenda was pursued to "Italianize" the Albanian population. On June 3, 1939, the Albanian foreign ministry was merged into the Italian foreign ministry, and the Albanian Foreign Minister, Xhemil Bej Dino, was given the rank of an Italian ambassador. The Italian language and history was learned in school in place of the Albanian language and history.
Before 1939, Albania had been in Italian orbit since the First World War when it was pressured by Italy to become a "protectorate" in accordance with the London Pact. From the 1920s to 1939, Albania had its own King and its own government. Italian troops were withdrawn from the city of Vlora where the Patriots fought. But throughout the 1920s and 1930s, Albania became increasingly dependent on Italy. The Albanian government and economy were subsidised by Italian loans, the Albanian army was trained by Italian military instructors, and Italian colonial settlement was encouraged. The Albanian military was placed under Italian command and formally merged into the Italian Army in 1940. Additionally, the Italian Blackshirts formed four legions of Albanian Militia, initially recruited from Italians living in Albania, but later from ethnic Albanians.
With the major powers of Europe distracted by Germany's occupation of Czechoslovakia, Mussolini issued an ultimatum to the Albanian King Zog on March 25, 1939, demanding that Zog permit the country to be occupied by Italy as a protectorate. Zog refused. On April 7, 1939, Italy invaded Albania. Zog, his wife and newborn son immediately fled the country. After the war they were declared traitors. Five days after the invasion, on April 12, the Albanian parliament voted to depose Zog and join the nation to Italy "in personal union" by offering the Albanian crown to Victor Emmanuel III. The parliament elected Albania's largest landowner, Shefqet Bej Vërlaci, as Prime Minister. Verlaci additionally served as head of state for five days until Victor Emmanuel III formally accepted the Albanian crown in a ceremony at the Quirinale place in Rome. Victor Emmanuel III appointed Francesco Jacomoni di San Savino as Lieutenant-General to represent him in Albania as viceroy.
Albania automatically followed Italy into the war with the UK and France on June 10, 1940. Albania served as the base for the Italian invasion of Greece in 1941, and Albanian troops participated in the Greek campaign. Albania was enlarged by the annexation of parts of Montenegro, Vardar Macedonia, and Kosovo from the former Yugoslavia in 1941, and parts of Epirus from Greece.
[edit] Bohemia and Moravia (under German control)
The Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia was created in 1939 following the German occupation of Czechoslovakia. The region was part of a Greater Germany[10][11] and ruled by a German administrator called a "Reichsprotektor". The region had its own currency, and a Czech civil government. Bohemia and Moravia was intended to be eventually colonized by Germans.
Initially, considerable autonomy was allowed for the Czech population but after 1941 the territory increasingly came under repressive rule after the appointment of Reinhard Heydrich as Reichsprotektor. In 1941, all Czech cultural organizations were ordered to be shut down. Following the assassination of Heydrich, mass arrests of Czechs took place.
[edit] General Government (under German control)
The General Government for the Occupied Polish Territories was an autonomous entity of Greater Germany formed on October 26, 1939 after the invasion of Poland.
In August 1941, the Soviet annexed territories were added to the General Government. Both the government and the administration were made up entirely of Germans who made sure that the word Poland was never to be used in any document or administrative. The final objective of the goverment was to become a German province completely void of a Polish population
[edit] Serbia (under German control)
Serbia was under the direct rule of military governors as part of the Military Administration of Serbia ("Militärverwaltung in Serbien"). A local Serbian civil government was allowed and Serbian General Milan Nedić was instructed to form the "Government of National Salvation" in German-occupied Serbia. Nedić served as Prime Minister of the puppet government which recognized the former Yugoslavian Regent, Prince Paul, as its head of state. But Germany did not recognize Serbia's sovereignty and dictated the policies that Serbia would undertake. Mass killings of Serbs were undertaken in the region by the Germans without the sanctioning of the Serbian civil administration. A military governor was in charge of all armed forces, German and Serb within the territory. The region had its own currency, but so did the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia which was a German-run administration. It is possible that much like Norway under Quisling (which was a Reichskommissariat, not an independent state), Nedić's government wanted to be recognized by Germany as an independent state, but was not granted.
Nedić's armed forces, the Serbian State Guards and the Serbian Volunteer Corps, which were initially largely members of the fascist Yugoslav National Movement "Zbor" (Jugoslovenski narodni pokret "Zbor", or ZBOR) party. These forces wore the uniform of the Royal Yugoslav Army as well as helmets and uniforms purchased from Italy. Nedić's forces fought under German control and support against the resistance movements in Serbia. Unlike Hitler's Nordic collaborators who sent troops to fight the Soviet Union, Nedić's Slavic troops were confined to duty in Serbia. Several concentration camps were formed in Serbia and at the 1942 Anti-Freemason Exhibition in Belgrade the city was pronounced to be free of Jews (Judenfrei). On 1 April 1942, a Serbian Gestapo was formed.
The evidence shows that there was an organized Serb civil administration, and armed forces, but there were Dutch, Norwegian, and Estonian governments and armed forces which did not constitute states.
[edit] Controversial cases
States listed in this section were not officially members of Axis, but had controversial relations with one or more Axis members at some point during the war.
[edit] Denmark
On May 31, 1939, Denmark and Germany signed a treaty of non-aggression, which did not contain any military obligations for either party.[12] On April 9, 1940, citing intended British mining of Norwegian and Danish waters as a pretext, Germany invaded both countries. King Christian X and the Danish government, worried about German bombings if they resisted occupation, accepted "protection by the Reich" in exchange for nominal independence under German military occupation. Three successive Prime Ministers, Thorvald Stauning, Vilhelm Buhl and Erik Scavenius, maintained this samarbejdspolitik ("cooperation policy") of collaborating with Germany.
- Denmark coordinated its foreign policy with Germany, extending diplomatic recognition to Axis collaborator and puppet regimes and breaking diplomatic relations with the "governments-in-exile" formed by countries occupied by Germany. Denmark broke diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union and signed the Anti-Comintern Pact of 1941.[13]
- In 1941, a Danish military corps, Frikorps Danmark was created at the initiative of the SS and the Danish Nazi Party, to fight alongside the Wehrmacht on Germany's Eastern Front. The government's following statement was widely interpreted as a sanctioning of the corps.[14] Frikorps Danmark was open to members of the Danish Royal Army and those who had completed their service within the last ten years.[15] Between 4,000 and 10,000 Danish citizens joined the Frikorps Danmark, including 77 officers of the Royal Danish Army. An estimated 3,900 of these soldiers died fighting for Germany during the Second World War.
- Denmark transferred six torpedo boats to Germany in 1941, although the bulk of its navy remained under Danish command until the declaration of martial law in 1943.
- Denmark supplied agricultural and industrial products to Germany as well as loans for armaments and fortifications. The German presence in Denmark, including the construction of the Danish part of the Atlantic Wall fortifications, was paid from an account in Denmark's central bank, Nationalbanken. The Danish government had been promised that these expenses would be repaid later, but this never happened. The construction of the Atlantic Wall fortifications in Jutland cost 5 billion Danish kroner.
The Danish protectorate government lasted until August 29, 1943, when the cabinet resigned following a declaration of martial law by occupying German military officials. The Danish navy managed to scuttle 32 of its larger ships to prevent their use by Germany. Germany succeeded in seizing 14 of the larger and 50 of the smaller vessels and later to raise and refit 15 of the sunken vessels. During the scuttling of the Danish fleet, a number of vessels were ordered to attempt an escape to Swedish waters, and 13 vessels succeeded in this attempt, four of which were larger ships.[16][17] By the autumn of 1944, these ships officially formed a Danish naval flotilla in exile[18] In 1943, Swedish authorities allowed 500 Danish soldiers in Sweden to train themselves as "police troops". By the autumn of 1944, Sweden raised this number to 4,800 and recognized the entire unit as a Danish military brigade in exile.[19] Danish collaboration continued on an administrative level, with the Danish bureaucracy functioning under German command.
Active resistance to the German occupation among the populace, virtually nonexistent before 1943, increased after the declaration of martial law. The intelligence operations of the Danish resistance was described as "second to none" by Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery after the liberation of Denmark.[20]
[edit] Soviet Union
- See also: Soviet-German relations before 1941
Relations between the Soviet Union and the major Axis powers were generally hostile before 1939. In the Spanish Civil War, the Soviet Union gave military aid to the Second Spanish Republic, against Spanish Nationalist forces, which were assisted by Germany and Italy. However, the Nationalist forces were victorious. In 1938 and 1939, the USSR fought and defeated Japan in two separate border wars, at Lake Khasan and Khalkhin Gol. The Soviets suffered another political defeat when an ally, Czechoslovakia, was partitioned and partially annexed, by Germany, Hungary and Poland — with the agreement of the UK and France — in 1938-39.
There were talks between Soviet Union and United Kingdom and France for an alliance against the growing power of Germany but these talks failed. As a result, on August 23, 1939, the Soviet Union and Germany signed the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, which included a secret protocol whereby the independent countries of Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Romania were divided into spheres of interest of the parties.
On September 1, barely a week after the pact had been signed, the partition of Poland commenced with the German invasion. The Soviet Union invaded Poland from the east on September 17 and on September 28 signed secret treaty with Nazi Germany on joint coordination in fight against any potential Polish resistance [3].
Soon after that, the Soviet Union occupied Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, in addition, it annexed Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina from Romania. The Soviet Union attacked Finland on November 30, 1939 which started the Winter War. Finnish defence prevented an all-out invasion, but Finland was forced to cede strategically important border areas near Leningrad.
The Soviet Union supported Germany in the war effort against Western Europe through the German-Soviet Commercial Agreement with exports of raw materials (phosphates, chromium and iron ore, mineral oil, grain, cotton, rubber). These and other export goods were being transported through Soviet and occupied Polish territories and allowed Germany to circumvent the British naval blockade.
Germany ended the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact by invading the Soviet Union in Operation Barbarossa on June 22, 1941. That resulted in the Soviet Union becoming one of the main members of Allies.
Germany then revived its Anti-Comintern Pact, enlisting many European and Asian countries in opposition to the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union and Japan remained neutral towards each other for most of the war by the Soviet-Japanese Neutrality Pact. The Soviet Union ended the Soviet-Japanese Neutrality Pact by invading Manchukuo in Operation August Storm on August 8, 1945.
[edit] Spain
Generalísimo Francisco Franco's Spanish State gave moral, economic, and military assistance to the Axis powers, while nominally maintaining neutrality. Franco described Spain as a "nonbelligerent" member of the Axis and signed the Anti-Comintern Pact of 1941 with Hitler and Mussolini.
Franco had won the Spanish Civil War with the help of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy which were eager to establish another fascist state in Europe. Spain owed Germany over $212 million for supplies of matériel during the Spanish Civil War, and Italian combat troops had actually fought in Spain on the side of Franco's Nationalists.
When Germany invaded the Soviet Union in 1941, Franco immediately offered to form a unit of military volunteers to join the invasion. This was accepted by Hitler and, within two weeks, there were more than enough volunteers to form a division - the Blue Division (División Azul in Spanish) under General Agustín Muñoz Grandes.
Additionally, over 100,000 Spanish civilian workers were sent to Germany to help maintain industrial production to free able-bodied German men for military service.
[edit] German and Japanese World War II cooperation
Nazi Germany's and Imperial Japan's cooperation was largely twofold during and little before World War II. First cooperation was the opposition to communism through the Anti-Comintern Pact and second one is on military alliance through the Tripartite Pact. Both nations had been adversaries during World War I and these agreements settled previous animosity between the nations through Yosuke Matsuokas visit to Berlin, a German delegation sent to Tokyo to celebrate the Tripartite Pact's signing, and through the Japanese ambassador to Germany Hiroshi Oshima among others correspondences.
Germany's declaration of war further solidified German-Japanese relations and showed Germany's solidarity with Japan and encouraged Japanese cooperation against the UK. Both envisioned a partnered linkage running across the Indian subcontinent that would allow for the transfer of weaponry as well as other possibilities. The failed Indian revolt against British rule and a deteriorating Axis position forced exchanges to be made across the high seas. While it is likely that the Germans expected little reciprocation in the Soviet Far East, eyes were focused directly on India, the Middle East and the Mediterranean region, all vital to the British war effort. Earlier Nazi Germany's government included the Japanese people after the Anti-Comintern Pact in their concept of "honorary Aryans" [4].
There was general mistrust between the two countries because of the ideological differences[citation needed] and political reasons as it would further probably antagonize and create mistrust with America, the UK, the Netherlands and therefore several prominent Japanese military commanders were reluctant to an alliance, for instance being Fleet Admiral and navy commander in chief Isoroku Yamamoto, Lieutenant-General Tadamichi Kuribayashi, etc. However in the beginning of the worldwide conflict, most of the militant leaders were in top position, one of the most prominent being Prime Minister and General Hideki Tojo.
In the end Japan and Germany might have viewed each other as capable nations and military allies in "struggle" (as is termed in the Tripartite Pact and Anti-Comintern Pact) against the United States and the UK. Both nations had been humiliated by the Treaty of Versailles and subsequent post-war agreements which stripped Germany of its military power and forced Japan to cede its gains in the Pacific. Both nations desired overseas empires and both lacked the resources or international prestige to pursue these ambitions. Neither country had militarily or economically powerful allies. Many German and Japanese statesmen viewed the Western democracies as their chief obstacle to attaining national glory. The ruling classes in Berlin and Tokyo, even before the rise of fascism, feared Communist influence, and people in both countries had been indoctrinated with a strict sense of nationalism, even under democractic rule. Politicians in both nations played on a sense of victimization that justified national aggression and war. Confronted with the international influence of the UK and France, the great wealth of the United States, and the ideological aggression of the Soviet Union, Germany and Japan were really natural allies[citation needed]. International sanctions imposed once they began their march toward world power, such as the Anschluss or the occupation of Manchuria, only reinforced this perception. For instance according to Fumimaro Konoe, the Prime Minister of Japan earlier at that time said:
| “ | The peace that the Anglo-American leaders are urging on us amounts to no more than maintaining a status quo that suits their interests. … The true nature of the present conflict [WWI] is a struggle between the established powers and powers not yet established…. At an early stage, the UK and France colonized the ‘less civilized’ regions of the world, and monopolized their exploitation. As a result, Germany and all the late-coming nations also, were left with no land to acquire and no space to expand...Should their policy prevail, Japan, which is small, resource-poor, and unable to consume all its own industrial products, would have no resort but to destroy the status quo for the sake of self-preservation, just like Germany. … We must require all the powers to open the doors of their colonies to others, so that all nations will have equal access to the markets and natural resources of the colonial areas. | ” |
[edit] Germany's and Italy's declaration of war against the United States
On December 7, Japan attacked the naval bases in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. According to the stipulation of the Tripartite Pact, Nazi-Germany was required to come to the defense of her allies only if they were attacked. Since Japan had made the first move and attacked, Germany was not obliged to aid her. Nevertheless, on December 11, Hitler ordered the Reichstag to formally declare war on the United States along with the Italian Empire.
Hitler made a speech in the Reichstag on December 11, 1941 three days after the United States declaration of war on the Empire of Japan saying that
| “ | The fact that the Japanese Government, which has been negotiating for years with this man [ Franklin D. Roosevelt ], has at last become tired of being mocked by him in such an unworthy way, fills us all, the German people, and all other decent people in the world, with deep satisfaction...Germany and Italy have been finally compelled, in view of this, and in loyalty to the Tri-Partite Pact, to carry on the struggle against the U.S.A. and England jointly and side by side with Japan for the defense and thus for the maintenance of the liberty and independence of their nations and empires...As a consequence of the further extension of President Roosevelt's policy, which is aimed at unrestricted world domination and dictatorship, the U.S.A. together with England have not hesitated from using any means to dispute the rights of the German, Italian and Japanese nations to the basis of their natural existence...Not only because we are the ally of Japan, but also because Germany and Italy have enough insight and strength to comprehend that, in these historic times, the existence or non-existence of the nations, is being decided perhaps forever.[21] | ” |
This declaration of war against the United States is believed to be one of the mistakes made by the Axis powers [22] as it allowed the United States to join the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union in war against Germany without any limitation. Consequently, Americans participated in both the strategic bombardment of Germany and the invasion of the continent, effectively ending German domination in Western Europe. However, Hitler was aware of such plans and skeptical of American Neutrality even before the war began. Based on the information at their disposal, the Germans were well aware of Rainbow Five and the proposed American military buildup that was issued at the start of the war. As a result, the Germans expected war with the United States no later than 1943. A large naval expansion program also was initiated.[23] As was the case in 1917, American war industries were already engaged in keeping the UK afloat in 1941, the same year that mass military recruitment also commenced.
Still, Germany's and Italy's early war policy reflected the belief that to avoid confrontation with the United States. Every effort was made to prevent a potential Lusitania and incite the American public. However, the isolationists gradually lost their hold over the country due in large part to the influence of the media. Hitler's decision to declare war may have been nothing more than a showing of solidarity with Japan within the context of a seemingly inevitable future conflict with the United States. It was also widely believed that it would take some time for the Americans to mobilize and make a greater contribution to the war than they had thus far. At the time of Pearl Harbor, a quick victory over the Soviet Union also still seemed likely. Victory in the Soviet Union would have led to a Eurasian sphere of influence greatly dominated by Japan, Germany, and little by Italy due to location. Supposedly Hitler wanted to finish conquering Europe first to establish a balance of power and then eventually confront the United States after a victory over the Soviet Union among others, and he was not really happy that the US was now a full combatant in the war at the same time that the war was going on with the Soviet Union.
Hitler said upon awarding Japanese ambassador to Nazi Germany Hiroshi Oshima the Grand Cross of the Order of the German Eagle (1st class) after the attack on Pearl Harbor that
| “ | You gave the right declaration of war. This method is the only proper one. Japan pursued it formerly and it corresponds with his own system, that is, to negotiate as long as possible. But if one sees that the other is interested only in putting one off, in shaming and humiliating one, and is not willing to come to an agreement, then one should strike as hard as possible, and not waste time declaring war.[24] | ” |
[edit] Yanagi Missions
These Yanagi(Willow) were missions enabled under the Tripartite Pact to provide for an exchange of strategic materials and manufactured goods between Germany and Japan[25]. The allies often sought to exchange knowledge and other raw materials. Germany needed rubber, metals such as copper and bismuth, and medicines such as quinine while Japan needed steel, mercury and optical glass. In addition, the two nations were interested in each other’s latest military hardware, including prototypes of the latest weapons and blueprints for research.[26]
Initially, cargo ships the exchanges, but when this was no longer possible, submarines were used. The missions were extremely perilous with a number of vessels being lost to allied anti-submarine patrols.[27]
[edit] Joint Operations in the Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean was considered strategically important, the region not only contained India, Britain's most prized possession, but also the shipping routes and raw materials that the British vitally needed for its war effort. In the early years of the war German raiders and capital ships, operating in the Indian Ocean, had sunk a number of merchant ships, however as the war progressed it become more difficult for them to operate in the area and by 1942 most were either sunk or dispersed. From 1941, U-boats were also considered, however with the period known as the Happy Times, in part due to the successes achieved by U-boats in the Atlantic, it was decided that sending U-boats to the Indian Ocean would be an unnecessary diversion. There were also no foreign bases in which units could operate from and be resupplied, hence they would be operating at the limits of their range. As a result the Germans concentrated their U-boat campaign in the North Atlantic.
Japan’s entrance into the war in 1941/42 led to the capture of European South-east Asian colonies such as British Malaya and the Dutch East Indies. In May-June, 1942, Japanese submarines began operating in the Indian Ocean and had engaged British forces in Madagascar. The British had invaded the Vichy controlled island in order to prevent it from falling into Japanese hands.
In 1943, the Germans agreed to send a number of U-boats to the Far East that would operate from Japanese occupied ports in the region against the then lucrative, relatively unprotected shipping in the area. The U-178 was the first, arriving at the former British seaplane base in Penang in August 1943. The idea of stationing U-boats in Malaya and the East Indies for operations in the Indian Ocean was first proposed by the Japanese in December 1942. As no supplies were available at either location the idea was turned down although a number of U-boats from the first wave operated around the Cape of Good Hope at the time.[28] Penang, situated on the west coast of Malayan Peninsula was selected as the main U-boat base. A second base was established at Kobe, Japan, and small repair bases were located at Singapore, Jakarta and Surabaya. Eventually more than half a dozen U-boats operated from these bases these U-boats known as the Monsun Gruppe under the command of Captain Wilhelm Dommes[29]. Altogether 41 U-boats of all types including transports would be sent, a large number of these however, were lost and only a small fraction returned to Europe.[30][31]
The Japanese already started operating in the Arabian Sea by August 1943 and certain arrangements were made to avoid incidents between U-boats and Japanese submarines - attacks on other submarines were strictly forbidden. The Indian Ocean was the only place where German and Japanese forces fought in the same theatre.[32]
[edit] Racism and Anti-Semitism
Imperial Japan was regarded as one of the safest places for Jewish people and their heritage[citation needed], for instance through the Fugu Plan. Inspired by anti-Semitic works such as Mein Kampf, the Japanese hoped to use the supposed Jewish economic prowess and influence to the benefit of Imperial Japan, creating a plan in the 1930s to relocate many Jewish residents to Japan from Germany. Throughout the war, the Japanese government continually rejected requests from the German government to establish anti-Semitic policies[citation needed]. At war's end, about half these Jews later moved on to the Western Hemisphere (such as the United States and Canada) and the remainder moved to other parts of the world, many to Palestine.
In terms of anti-Semitic policies of Adolf Hitler's Nazi Germany, foreign minister of Japan Yosuke Matsuoka at one point said on December 31, 1940 to a group of Jewish businessmen that he was
| “ | the man responsible for the alliance with Hitler, but nowhere have I promised that we would carry out his anti-Semitic policies in Japan. This is not simply my personal opinion, it is the opinion of Japan, and I have no compunction about announcing it to the world.[33] | ” |
In spite of this fact, the Japanese preached racial superiority and racialist theories. Some of the atrocities committed by the Imperial Japanese Army on countries like China, Korea, The Philippines, Australia, the Soviet Union, and others, were motivated through extreme prejudice and were equally, if not more, destructive and brutal. The Imperial army established concentration camps such as Unit 731 throughout China, where biological weapons were researched and inmates and prisoners-of-war were regularly experimented upon, resulting in as many as 200,000 casualties.
During the Holocaust, Italy took in many Jewish refugees from Nazi Germany. However, with the creation of the Nazi-backed puppet Italian Social Republic, about 20% of Italy's Jews were killed, despite the Fascist government's initial refusal to deport Jews to Nazi death camps.
[edit] References
- Weinberg, Gerhard L. (2005). A World at Arms: A Global History of World War II, 2nd edition, NY: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521853168. Provides a scholarly overview.
- Dear, Ian C. B.; Foot, Michael Richard Daniell (eds.) (2005). The Oxford Companion to World War II. Oxford University Press. ISBN 019280670X. A reference book with encyclopedic coverage of all military, political and economic topics.
- Kirschbaum, Stanislav (1995). A History of Slovakia: The Struggle for Survival. New York: St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0-312-10403-0. Entails Slovakia's involvement during the World War II.
- ^ Hakim, Joy (1995). A History of Us: War, Peace and all that Jazz. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-509514-6.
- ^ Seppinen, Ilkka: Suomen ulkomaankaupan ehdot 1939-1940 (Conditions of Finnish foreign trade 1939-1940), 1983, ISBN 951-9254-48-X
- ^ British Foreign Office Archive, 371/24809/461-556
- ^ Jokipii, Mauno: Jatkosodan synty (Birth of the Continuation War), 1987, ISBN 951-1-08799-1
- ^ Jasenovac United States Holocaust Memorial Museum web site
- ^ Poulton, Hugh. 2000. Who are the Macedonians? Indiana University Press. Pp. 111
- ^ Christian Bachelier, L'armée française entre la victoire et la défaite, in La France des années noires, dir. Azéma & Bédarida, Le Seuil, édition 2000, coll. points-histoire, Tome 1, p.98
- ^ Albert Lebrun's biography, French Republic Presidential official website
- ^ Robert O. Paxton, 1993, "La Collaboration d'État" in La France des Années Noires, Ed. J. P. Azéma & François Bédarida, Éditions du Seuil, Paris
- ^ [1]
- ^ [2]
- ^ http://www.navalhistory.dk/Danish/Historien/1939_1945/IkkeAngrebsPagt.htm (Danish)
- ^ Trommer, Aage. "Denmark". The Occupation 1940-45. Foreign Ministry of Denmark. Retrieved on 2006-09-20.
- ^ Lidegaard, Bo (2003). Dansk Udenrigspolitisk Historie, vol. 4. Copenhagen: Gyldendal, 461-463. ISBN 87-7789-093-0. (Danish)
- ^ Danish Legion Military and Feldpost History. Retrieved on 2006-09-20.
- ^ Søværnets mærkedage - August
- ^ Flåden efter 29. august 1943
- ^ Den danske Flotille 1944-1945
- ^ Den Danske Brigade DANFORCE - Den Danske Brigade "DANFORCE" Sverige 1943-45
- ^ http://befrielsen1945.emu.dk/temaer/befrielsen/jubel/index.html (Danish)
- ^ German Declaration of War
- ^ AJP Taylor (1974),History of World War II, Octopus Books Limited
- ^ United States Navy and WW2
- ^ Trial transcripts at Nuremberg 11 December 1945. More details of the exchanges at the meeting are available online at nizkor.org
- ^ Felton Mark(2005),Yanagi: The Secret Underwater Trade between Germany and Japan 1942-1945, Leo Cooper Ltd
- ^ German-Japanese Co-operation
- ^ Uboats in the Far East
- ^ Pre-Monsun Boats
- ^ Monsun boats
- ^ Fate of the Far Eastern Boats
- ^ Monsun boats Evacuation
- ^ Paterson Lawrence(2006), Hitler's Grey Wolves: U-boats in the Indian Ocean
- ^ "The Jews of Japan" by Daniel Ari Kapner and Stephen Levine
[edit] See also
General information
- Allies of World War II
- Participants in World War II
- List of Pro-Axis Leaders and Governments or Direct Control in Occupied Territories
- Expansion plans of the Axis
- Expansion operations and planning of the Axis Powers
- Cases of controversial relations with the Axis of World War II
- Axis leaders of World War II
- Italian Mare Nostrum
Pacts and treaties
[edit] External links
- Axis History Factbook
- Full text of The Tripartite Pact
- Full text of The Pact of Steel
- Silent movie of the signing of The Tripartite Pact
