Encyclopedia of World War II Alan Axelrod Consulting Editor Col Jack A Kingston, U.S Army (Ret.) Encyclopedia of World War II Copyright © 2007 by Alan Axelrod All rights reserved No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher For information contact: Facts On File, Inc An imprint of Infobase Publishing 132 West 31st Street New York NY 10001 ISBN-10: 0-8160-6022-3 ISBN-13: 978-0-8160-6022-1 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Axelrod, Alan, 1952– Encyclopedia of World War II / Alan Axelrod; consulting editor, Jack A Kingston p cm Includes bibliographical references and index ISBN 0-8160-6022-3 (alk paper) World War, 1939–1945—Encyclopedias I Kingston, Jack A II Title III Title: Encyclopedia of World War Two IV Title: Encyclopedia of World War D740.A94 2007 940.5303—dc22 2006026155 Facts On File books are available at special discounts when purchased in bulk quantities for businesses, associations, institutions, or sales promotions Please call our Special Sales Department in New York at (212) 967-8800 or (800) 322-8755 You can find Facts On File on the World Wide Web at http://www.factsonfile.com Text design by Erika K Arroyo Cover design by Salvatore Luongo Illustrations by Jeremy Eagle and Dale Williams Printed in the United States of America VB Hermitage 10 This book is printed on acid-free paper For Anita and Ian Contents ★ Introduction vii Entry LIst ix Entries A–Z Bibliography 893 Introduction ★ The legendary American commander General George S Patton, Jr., once observed that next to war, “all other human endeavor paled to insignificance.” If we accept this judgment, we may begin to appreciate the magnitude of World War II, in which Patton played so prominent a role It, after all, was the largest and bloodiest war in history Rare was the patch of the planet that was spared involvement in this war, at least at some time during 1939–45; however, the principal combatants were Germany, Italy, and Japan—the Axis powers—and France, Great Britain, the United States, the Soviet Union, and China—the Allies The butcher’s bill created by this conflict was unprecedented in extent and remains unequaled Most authorities attribute 40 million to 50 million deaths—the vast majority of these civilians—directly to the war The peak number of troops mobilized by all combatant nations was 72,928,000, and millions more civilians were committed to war-related industrial production (among these both free workers and slave laborers) and to partisan, guerrilla, and resistance activity World War II devastated Europe and Asia and left a world-shaping legacy in its turbulent wake As a result of the war, the power of the Soviet Union was extended to many nations of eastern Europe, and communism also triumphed in China and established footholds in parts of Korea and Vietnam The world experienced a profound shift in power and influence away from the old states of western Europe and toward the United States and the Soviet Union, which, through some five decades following the war, were the only global superpowers, each armed with another momen- tous product of the war: nuclear (and, later, thermonuclear) weapons World War II is best understood as an extension of the earlier global cataclysm that was World War I (1914–18), which left many territorial issues unresolved even as it created a host of new cultural and economic incentives for war The article entitled “Causes of World War II” and the articles treating France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the United States in this encyclopedia provide discussion of the background against which World War II developed, including a straightforward summary of the causes of the war from the perspectives of each of the major combatant powers While the economic and territorial causes of the war are relatively easy for a modern reader to grasp, the ideological dimensions are both more complex and yet more elemental Politically, the war was a contest involving three broad orientations: The combination of German Nazism and Italian fascism (to which may be added Japanese militarism) Soviet communism Western democracy Although the socioeconomic basis of Nazism, fascism, and Japanese militarism was fundamentally opposed to the communism of the Soviets, the German and Soviet dictators, Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin, began the war as unlikely allies After Hitler betrayed the alliance by invading the Soviet Union in June 1941, Stalin made a new unlikely alliance, this time with the democratic powers, and thus the prewar ideological enmity between Soviet communism and Western democracy was held in vii viii Encyclopedia of World War II abeyance for the purpose of defeating the common Axis enemy Yet the ideological dimension of World War II went far beyond politics to encompass racial mythologies held by Hitler and the Nazis as well as by the Japanese militarists (and to a far lesser degree, by the Italian Fascists), in which the aggressors saw themselves as a master “race” naturally and inexorably opposed to a number of lesser “races” (often defined as subhuman) These lesser races were properly subject to conquest, including economic exploitation for labor and other resources and even genocidal extermination—the latter most infamously exemplified in Nazi anti-Semitism, which gave rise to the “Final Solution” and the “Holocaust,” both of which are treated in this encyclopedia, but also evident in Japan’s brutal treatment of conquered peoples and defeated armies (see, for example, “Nanking [Nanjing], Rape of”) The mass persecution, torture, and murder of civilian populations were very much a part of World War II, both as a motive and a result, and these subjects are treated in this encyclopedia along with the more conventional military aspects of the war At somewhat more than a half million words, the Encyclopedia of World War II is intended to be comprehensive, but it makes no claim to being exhaustive As Patton’s assessment of war implies, discussion of World War II properly encompasses every aspect of human endeavor Here, however, we have been guided by our sense of what subjects are most commonly sought by students and instructors at the high school and undergraduate levels, as well as by others with a nonspecialist interest in World War II Beyond this, we not claim to have definitively identified all that is important to the war anymore than we claim to have excluded absolutely all that is of only peripheral interest We are confident, however, that each of the articles we have included will be useful, relevant, and interesting to the student, instructor, and general reader Each article includes crossreferences to related articles and concludes with suggestions for further reading These suggestions constitute a specialized bibliography of World War II subjects; readers looking for general works on the conflict should consult the bibliography that concludes the encyclopedia Entry List ★ A Aachen, Battle of ABC-1 Staff Agreement Acheson, Dean Admiralty Islands, Battle of African-American soldiers, sailors, marines, and airmen airborne assault aircraft, British aircraft, French aircraft, German aircraft, Italian aircraft, Japanese aircraft, Polish aircraft, Soviet aircraft, U.S aircraft carriers Alamein, Battles of Alam el Halfa, Battle of Albania Aleutian Islands Campaign Alexander, Harold Algeria Alsace-Lorraine “Amerika” bomber amphibious warfare Anami Korechika Anderson, John Anderson shelter Anschluss antiaircraft weapons antiarmor weapons Anti-Comintern Pact Antonescu, Ion ANZAC Anzio Campaign appeasement policy Arctic convoy operations Ardennes, Battle of the (Battle of the Bulge) armed neutrality armor, British armor, French armor, German armor, Italian armor, Japanese armor, Soviet armor, U.S Arnim, Jürgen von Arnold, Henry Harley (“Hap”) artillery, British artillery, French artillery, German artillery, Italian artillery, Japanese artillery, Soviet artillery, U.S Atlantic, Battle of the Atlantic Charter atrocities, German atrocities, Japanese attack aircraft ix Attlee, Clement Auchinleck, Claude John Ayre Aung San Auschwitz extermination camp Australia Australia, air force of Australia, army of Australia, navy of Austria Axis (Tripartite) Pact Axmann, Artur B Bader, Douglas Badoglio, Pietro Balbo, Italo Balck, Hermann Baldwin, Stanley balloon bombs Baltic Sea, action on the banzai charge Barbie, Klaus barrage balloon Bataan, Death March Bataan, fall of battleships bazooka Belgium Belorussia Belzec extermination camp Beneš, Edvard 880 women in World War II, United States These three female pilots leaving their ship at the four engine school at Lockbourne are members of a group of WASPs who have been trained to ferry the B-17 Flying Fortresses (U.S Air Force) Further reading: Johnson, Ann R “The WASP of World War II,” Aerospace Historian (Summer–Fall, 1970), 76–82 Marine Corps Women’s Reserve; Women’s Army Corps; Women’s Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron; Women Airforce Service Pilots; Women Accepted for Voluntary Emergency Service women in World War II, United States World War II saw increased employment opportunities for women on the home front in war production, in resistance movements and espionage operations, and in the conventional military organizations of all the combatants The role of women in the war is discussed in the following articles: espionage and counterespionage; United States (see “America Produces” and “Life on the Home Front”); United States Women’s Army Corps (WAC) The Women’s Army Corps (WAC) was established as the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) by Congress on May 14, 1941, primarily to furnish the U.S Army with clerks, typists, switchboard operators, and the like, thereby freeing up men for combat and other service Oveta Culp Hobby was appointed as the first director of the WAAC, which soon recruited its authorized limit of 150,000 women, of whom 35,000 were trained as officers See also Women’s Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron (WAFS) “wonder weapons” Initially, most auxiliaries (as the WAACs were called) worked as file clerks, typists, stenographers, or motor pool drivers Later, positions became more diverse, especially in the U.S Army Air Forces, where WAACs worked as weather observers and forecasters, cryptographers, radio operators and repairers, sheet metal workers, parachute riggers, Link trainer instructors, bombsight maintenance specialists, aerial photograph analysts, and control tower operators More than a thousand women ran the tabulating machines used to keep track of personnel records On July 3, 1943, the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps became the Women’s Army Corps, and the personnel were no longer considered auxiliaries but members of the Regular Army During this same month, the first battalion of WACs to reach the European theater of operations arrived in London—557 enlisted women and 19 officers assigned to duty with the Eighth Air Force A second battalion arrived during September and October Most of the women worked as telephone switchboard operators, clerks, typists, secretaries, and motor pool drivers, while WAC officers served as executive secretaries, cryptographers, and photo interpreters A detachment of 300 WACs served with Supreme Headquarters, Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF), often handling highly classified materials In February 1945, a battalion of 800 African-American WACs, the 6888th Central Postal Battalion, were sent to Europe and were responsible for the redirection of mail to all U.S personnel in the European theater of operations (USA, USN, USMC, civilians, and Red Cross workers) WACs were also assigned extensively to the Pacific theater Most of the WACs were demobilized after V-J Day in August 1945 But early in 1946, the U.S Army asked Congress for the authority to establish the Women’s Army Corps as a permanent part of the Regular Army Authorization came by act of Congress on June 12, 1948 The WAC became a separate corps of the Regular Army and remained part of the USA organization until 1978, when women were fully assimilated into all but the combat branches of the service 881 Further reading: Earley, Charity Adams One Woman’s Army: A Black Officer Remembers the WAC College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 1989; Treadwell, Mattie E The Women’s Army Corps Washington, D.C.: U.S Government Printing Office, 1954 Women’s Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron (WAFS) Nancy Harkness Love was one of two prominent female aviators of the 1930s who proposed the use of women in noncombat flying roles But whereas Jacqueline Cochran proposed training women as pilots, Love wanted to recruit women who already held commercial pilot’s licenses, had logged 500 hours of flying time, and were rated to fly 200 horsepower craft At first, Maj Gen Henry H “Hap” Arnold, chief of the United States Army Air Force, rejected Love’s proposal, but in September 1942, he approved the creation of a women’s ferrying squadron The Women’s Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron (WAFS) was founded the same month Although the WAFS was established as the Second Ferrying Group, New Castle Army Air Base, near Wilmington, Delaware, with Love as its director, the organization was never formally activated as a USAAF squadron and was actually a civil auxiliary By the beginning of 1943, there were only 23 WAFS performing ferry duties, albeit performing them with a high degree of proficiency Arnold decided to authorize a training school at Avenger Field, Sweetwater, Texas, and the WAFS were merged with the new women pilots In August 1943, all women pilots serving with the USAAF became WASP (Women Airforce Service Pilots) Further reading: Kosier, Edwin J “Women in the Air Force,” Aerospace Historian (Summer 1968): 18–23 “wonder weapons” As the fortunes of war turned against Germany, Adolf Hitler made frequent reference to Wunderwaffen, “wonder weapons” under development by German scientists that would suddenly and 882 “wonder weapons” inevitably turn the tide against the Allies By the final months of the war, fewer and fewer Germans believed in either the existence or the efficacy of Wunderwaffen and mocked the idea by abbreviating the word to “Wuwa”—in effect the nonsense syllables voo-vah In fact, German weapons designers did rush to create a number of wonder weapons, including early jet aircraft and the V-1 buzz bomb and V-2 rocket The Reich also funded the development of an atomic bomb, which, however, never came close to becoming a usable weapon Although some wonder weapons were produced and proved effective, they were not decisive, mainly because they could not be deployed in sufficient quantity Further reading: Ford, Roger Germany’s Secret Weapons in World War II London: Zenith Press, 2000; Georg, Friedrich Hitler’s Miracle Weapons: The Secret History of the Rockets and Flying Craft of the Third Reich Solihull, West Midlands, U.K.: Helion, 2005; Rose, Paul Lawrence Heisenberg and the Nazi Atomic Bomb Project, 1939– 1945: A Study in German Culture Berkeley: University of California Press, 2001 Y ★ Yalta Conference and Agreement The Yalta Conference took place in February 1945 at the Soviet Black Sea resort of Yalta, among the Big Three: Franklin D Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and Joseph Stalin As the war against Germany was coming to a close, the United States and Great Britain sought to bring the Soviet Union into the still-unfinished war against Japan The contest there was no longer seriously in doubt; the Japanese had been virtually defeated militarily Nevertheless, they continued to fight, inflicting terrible casualties on the Americans and, to a lesser extent, on British and Commonwealth troops Indeed, more Americans were being killed—by a defeated enemy no less— in this closing phase of the Pacific war than in all the combat between December 7, 1941, and the beginning of 1945 Up to this point, with his hands more than full fighting the German invasion of the Soviet Union then prosecuting an offensive against Germany, Stalin had avoided war with Japan At Yalta, however, Roosevelt persuaded him to agree to declare war against Japan “two or three months” after the surrender of Germany In return, the Soviet Union would acquire part of Sakhalin Island and the Kuril Islands—territories that Russia had lost to Japan in the 1905 Russo-Japanese War Stalin was also assured of postwar Soviet dominance in Outer Mongolia and Manchuria All of these terms were set down in the “Yalta Agree- ment on the Kuriles and Entry of the Soviet Union in the War against Japan,” signed on February 11, 1945 The Yalta Agreement was an excellent bargain for the Soviets The successful use by the United States of atomic bombs against Hiroshima and Nagasaki made a costly invasion of Japan unnecessary and ended the war much sooner than anticipated Biding his time, Stalin had delayed declaring war well beyond the time frame specified in the Yalta Agreement, but he finally did so on August 8, 1945, two days after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima By this expedient, the Soviets reaped the rewards of the agreement without having had to commit to a long battle The “Big Three” at Yalta: Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin (Library of Congress) 883 884 Yamada Otozo Further reading: Phillips, Charles, and Alan Axelrod “Yalta Agreement,” in Encyclopedia of Historical Treaties and Alliances, 2nd ed New York: Facts On File, 2006, II: 606–607 Yamada Otozo (1881–1965) Japanese captain general of the Kwantung Army in Manchuria Yamada Otozo was a career military officer in the Imperial Japanese Army From 1922 to 1926, he was commanding officer of the 26th Cavalry Regiment, then served in Korea during 1926–27 as chief of staff of the Chosen Army He held positions on the Japanese General Staff from 1928 to 1930, when he was named head of the Training Branch Cavalry School After two years as commanding officer of the 4th Cavalry Brigade, he was appointed commandant of the Army Signal School, serving from 1933 to 1934, when he returned to high-level staff duty until his appointment in 1937 as commandant of the Military Academy In 1938, Yamada was installed as general officer commanding the 12th Division in Manchuria Soon after, he was elevated to command of the Third Army there, then served as commander in chief of the Central China Expeditionary Army during part of the Sino-Japanese War and most of World War II He was also inspector-general of military training and, for a time, commander in chief of the General Defense Command and a member of the Supreme War Council During 1944–45, he was commander in chief of the Kwantung Army in Manchuria Captured by the Red Army at the very end of the war, he was accused of having authorized human medical experimentation on Chinese citizens in Manchuria The 1949 Khavbarosk Trial, conducted by Soviet authorities, convicted Yamada and 11 other military officers, doctors, and veterinarian officers, handing down sentences ranging from five to 25 years’ imprisonment Yamada received a 25-year sentence but was released in 1956 after Japan and the Soviet Union reestablished diplomatic relations Further reading: Harris, Sheldon Factories of Death: Japanese Biological Warfare, 1932–45 and the American Cover-Up London and New York: Routledge, 2001; Rees, Laurence Horror in the East: Japan and the Atrocities of World War II New York: Da Capo Press, 2002; Tanaka, Yuki Hidden Horrors: Japanese War Crimes in World War II Denver: Westview Press, 1998 Yamamoto Isoroku (1884–1943) Japanese admiral who planned and executed the Battle of Pearl Harbor Born Takano Isoroku in Nugata prefecture, the future Japanese supreme naval commander was adopted by the Yamamoto family, whose name he subsequently took He graduated from the naval academy in 1904 and first saw action at the epochmaking Battle of Tsushima during the Russo-Japanese War He was wounded in that war on May 26, 1905, losing two fingers from his left hand—an injury that nearly caused his dismissal from the navy In 1906, Yamamoto served aboard a variety of ships, then graduated from the U.S Navy Torpedo School in 1908 He enrolled in the Naval Staff College, from which he graduated in 1911 and, the same year, graduated from the Naval Gunnery School Appointed an instructor there, he was promoted to lieutenant commander in 1915 He graduated from the senior course at the Naval Staff College in 1916 As a staff officer with the Second Fleet, Yamamoto was sent to the United States to study at Harvard University from 1919 to 1921 He acquired an admiration and respect for the country while he was a student and became aware of its potential as an industrial giant This impression would weigh heavily on him as Japan prepared to enter World War II against America After leaving Harvard, Yamamoto returned to Japan as an instructor at the Naval War College, serving in this post from 1921 to 1923, when he was promoted captain and sent on a tour of inspection and observation to the United States and Europe as an admiral’s aide Named deputy commander of Kasumiga Ura Naval Air Station in 1924, he came to the United States again in 1925, this time as naval attaché in Washington, D.C., Yamamoto Isoroku returning to Japan in 1928 as captain of the aircraft carrier Akagi In 1929, Yamamoto was promoted to rear admiral and in 1930 became chief of the Technological Division of the Navy Technological Department In 1933, he was assigned to command the 1st Naval Air Division, then, promoted vice admiral in 1934, he became head of the Japanese delegation to the London Naval Conference of 1934–35 Yamamoto was personally opposed to official Japanese insistence on naval parity with Britain and the United States, but, acting on orders, took a hard line in treaty negotiations and rejected any further extension of the tonnage ratios established by the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922 This freed Japan to accelerate its naval expansion Named chief of Naval Aviation Headquarters in 1935, Yamamoto presciently championed the use of the aircraft carrier as the principal offensive weapon of the navy He then served as navy minister from 1936 to 1939, using his position in an attempt to moderate the extreme militarism of a government on the verge of a war he believed Japan could not win In the meantime, Yamamoto accepted in 1938 a concurrent reappointment as chief of Naval Aviation Headquarters He left both this position and the naval ministry to become commander of the Combined Fleet in 1939 and, in 1940, commander of First Fleet as well Yamamoto was tasked with making preparations for war against Britain and the United States He went about this work fatalistically, in the belief that American industrial power and population would doom Japan to defeat, especially if the war dragged on When it became clear to him that he could not stop his nation’s rush toward conflict, he planned a surprise attack on the American fleet and naval base at Pearl Harbor in the hope that a sufficiently devastating blow would bring a quick negotiated peace with the United States Although the Pearl Harbor operation achieved the object of surprise and was indeed devastating, it proved to be a strategic blunder of fatal consequences, instantly galvanizing American resolve to defeat Japan 885 Yamamoto Isoroku (National Archives and Records Administration) Yamamoto followed up the Pearl Harbor attack with a series of lightning naval campaigns that captured the East Indies during January–March 1942 and that achieved success in the Indian Ocean during April 2–9, 1942 However, he met defeat against the U.S Navy at the Battle of Midway on June 4, 1942, which he had hoped would be a showdown that would destroy the American fleet Instead, the battle turned the tide of the Pacific war against the Japanese Defeat at Midway deeply undermined Yamamoto’s confidence, making him relatively timid in his leadership of the various battles of the Solomon Islands Unknown to Yamamoto and other Japanese war leaders, the United States, which had broken the chief Japanese military and diplomatic codes even before the war began, intercepted a radio message that revealed Yamamoto was to fly to a tour of Japanese bases on Shortland Island on April 18, 1943 U.S fighter aircraft were dispatched to 886 Yamashita Tomoyuki intercept and shoot down his plane Yamamoto was killed near Bougainville It was a blow from which the Imperial Japanese Navy did not recover Further reading: Agawa, Hiroyuki The Reluctant Admiral: Yamamoto and the Imperial Navy Tokyo: Kodansha International, 2000; Hoyt, Edwin P Yamamoto: The Man Who Planned the Attack on Pearl Harbor Guilford, Conn.: Lyons Press, 2001 Yamashita Tomoyuki (1885–1946) Japanese general associated with war crimes committed in the Philippines Born in Kochi prefecture, Yamashita graduated from the Japanese Imperial Military Academy in 1906 and was commissioned as an infantry officer He graduated from the Staff College in 1916 and was assigned to the German Section of the Intelligence Division of the Army General Staff two years later During 1919–1921, he served as resident officer in Berne, Switzerland, then occupied the same position in Germany during 1921–1922 Promoted to major in 1922 and to lieutenant colonel in 1925, Yamashita became military attaché in Vienna and, concurrently, in Budapest during 1927–1929 He returned to Japan in 1929 as a colonel assigned to the Military Research Division, Central Ordnance Bureau The following year he assumed regimental command, then, in 1932, was appointed chief of the Military Affairs Section in the Army Ministry He was elevated to chief of the Military Research Section in the Army Ministry’s Military Research Bureau in 1935 Like many other senior army officers, Yamashita was politically active He was an ardent member of General Sadao Araki’s hyper-nationalist Kodo-ha (Imperial Way) faction and initially supported the revolt of young Koda-ha officers on February 21, 1936, acting as liaison between them and the army central command However, he soon turned against the faction and thereby saved his career During 1936–1937, he commanded a brigade in Korea and was promoted to lieutenant general in 1937 Yamashita was named chief of staff for the North China Area Army in 1937, serving in this post until 1939, when he took command of the 4th Division In 1940, he became inspector general of army aviation and chief of the Military Aviation Observation Mission to Germany and Italy He was assigned to command the Kwantung Defense Army in 1941, then transferred to command of 25th Army in November It was at the head of this force that he led the invasion of Malaya during December 8–10 and directed the Japanese campaign down the Malay Peninsula, which swept away the British and Commonwealth defenders Outnumbered by a factor of two, the “Tiger of Malaya” drove the British back to Singapore, where they surrendered on February 15, 1942 Despite Yamashita’s triumphs, his longtime rival, Prime Minister Tojo Hideki ordered Yamashita to be transferred to command of the First Area Army in Manchuria, by July 1942 a backwater in the war This consignment to the sidelines proved only temporary and, in 1943, promoted to general, Yamashita was returned to the principal theater of the war as commander of the Fourteenth Area Army, assigned to defend the Philippines and northern Luzon He reached Manila barely a week before U.S forces landed on Leyte on October 20, 1944, so had little effect on the landings, but he did mount a fierce and wellexecuted defense of Luzon Nevertheless, by February–April, his army had withdrawn into the mountains of northeastern Luzon, and in September 1945, he surrendered Yamashita was tried for the atrocities and other war crimes of Japanese troops who defended Manila in early 1945 Although he bore no direct responsibility for his troops’ actions in the Philippine capital, he was judged at the Tokyo War Crimes Trials to bear responsibility nevertheless by virtue of his status as overall commander Convicted, he was executed on February 23, 1946 See also Malaya, fall of; Philippines, fall and reconquest of; and Singapore, fall of Further reading: Barker, A J Yamashita New York: Ballantine Books, 1973; Reel, A Frank The Case of General Yamashita New York: Octagon Books, 1971 Yugoslavia Yugoslavia Yugoslavia was created on December 1, 1918, after World War I, as the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, uniting disparate southern Slav lands that had been under the control of the AustroHungarian Empire with the already independent Serbia and Montenegro As Yugoslavia (from 1929), the country had a population of nearly 16 million and covered a little over 95,000 square miles Between the world wars, the unity of Yugoslavia was always tenuous, with friction especially strong between the country’s Catholic Croat and Orthodox Serb populations At the outbreak of World War II in September 1939, Yugoslavia declared itself neutral; however, the divisions between Croat and Serb was aggravated by the war The Serbs (who dominated the armed forces) were pro-Allied, whereas the Croats, although not enthusiastically pro-German, were unwilling to antagonize the Axis In any case, Yugoslav neutrality became something of a moot point because Germany dominated the country’s foreign trade and also owned a major share of its important mines of nonferrous metals The government of Yugoslavia, headed by Prince Paul (as regent to the underage King Peter), increasingly yielded to German demands for agricultural produce and raw materials Yugoslavia also yielded to Germany on the matter of anti-Semitic policy More immediately menacing to the country was the entry of Yugoslavia’s neighbors—Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria—into the Axis orbit The fact was that the Allies, reeling from one defeat after another at this early stage of the war, were in no position to help Yugoslavia resist German influence or intimidation As for the Soviet Union, Joseph Stalin had no desire to alienate Hitler, with whom he had signed the German-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact Thus Yugoslavia lay surrounded by Axis powers and at the mercy of both Italy and Germany Hitler was interested in Yugoslavia for its agricultural produce and raw materials, and also as a means of readily traversing the Balkans At length, he pressured Prince Paul into signing the Axis (Tripartite) Pact This unleashed anti-Axis demonstrations among Serbian nationalists, and on 887 March 27, 1941, Serbs, together with various elements of the military, staged a coup d’état in which Prince Paul was overthrown (his regency over young King Peter was abolished), and a government was established under the presidency of General Dušan Simović Croat elements within the new government insisted on continued adherence to the Axis Pact, to which the Serbs, suddenly fearful of German invasion, agreed This did not appease Hitler, however, who immediately issued “Directive 25,” which decreed the obliteration of Yugoslavia The German invasion of Yugoslavia, which began on April 6, 1941, took place simultaneously with the German assault on Greece The invasion began with the bombing of Belgrade and was followed by ground operations Yugoslav resistance rapidly crumbled, and a capitulation was signed on April 17 Hitler installed a puppet regime under the ostensible leadership of General Milan Nedić, then instituted a policy of “Germanizing” Yugoslavia and, to this end, authorized what many Croats were all too willing to carry out: a campaign of genocide against Croatia’s Serb minority (along with Jews, Gypsies, and other “undesirables”) Besides its moral reprehensibility, this proved to be a colossal mistake on Hitler’s part, since it galvanized Serbian resolve to resist the Axis, thereby triggering a Serb rebellion that became a highly effective partisan resistance against the German occupation While Yugoslavia roiled under occupation, King Peter (now free of Prince Paul’s regency) arrived in London in June 1941 and established a government in exile, around which military forces coalesced As usual in Yugoslav affairs, however, many cracks and divisions rapidly developed, and the Allies threw their support behind the most dynamic leader, the Communist partisan Tito (Josip Broz) Through the intervention of British prime minister Winston Churchill, Tito agreed to work with King Peter Churchill broadly hinted that this would put Tito in a position to assume control of most of the country once the Germans had been forced to withdraw This is precisely what happened in 1944 In the meantime, Tito proved to be a highly effective partisan leader By the end of 1943, Tito’s 888 Yugoslavia forces—perhaps 200,000 strong—had not only survived but were pinning down no fewer than 35 Axis divisions (about 750,000 men), who would otherwise be deployed against the Western Allies in the Italian Campaign or against the Soviets on the eastern front For the Western Allies, the price of this cooperation was a Communist Yugoslavia after the war; however, Tito proved to be no Stalinist puppet, and his Yugoslavia maintained genuine independence both from the West and the Soviet Union Further reading: Barnett, Neil Tito Dulles, Va.: Haus, 2006; Djilas, Milovan Tito: The Story from Inside New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1980; Thomas, Nigel Axis Forces in Yugoslavia 1941–45 London: Osprey, 1995; Thomas, Nigel Partisan Warfare 1941–45 London: Osprey, 1992 Z ★ Zhukov, Georgi Konstantinovich (1896– 1974) Marshal of the Soviet Union and the most celebrated Red Army commander of World War II Zhukov was born to a peasant family in Strelkovka, about 60 miles east of Moscow He was apprenticed to a fur trader in 1908 and worked in this profession until 1915, when he was drafted into the tsarist army He was rapidly promoted from private to noncommissioned officer and served in various cavalry units, including, most notably, the Novgorod Dragoons He distinguished himself at the front and was awarded two Orders of St George for bravery With the outbreak of the Russian civil war in 1918, Zhukov joined the Red Army in October 1918 and was given command of a cavalry squadron in the First Cavalry Army He graduated from a junior officers military school in 1920, then after the civil war, enrolled in an intermediate-level cavalry officer course, which he completed in 1925 Following this, he studied advanced military science in a clandestine Kriegsakademie (war college) in Germany as part of the secret military collaboration that took place between the Soviet Union and the Weimar Republic in the late 1920s, owing to Germany’s successful effort to circumvent the rearmament restrictions imposed by the Treaty of Versailles Returning to the Soviet Union, Zhukov studied at the Frunze Military Academy from 1928 to 1931 In 1938, he was made deputy commander of the Byelorussian Military District Zhukov was almost immediately caught up in Joseph Stalin’s purges and managed to escape relief from command, imprisonment, and even execution by virtue of an administrative error On the eve of World War II, Zhukov led the the Soviet First Army Group, which defeated the Marshal Georgi Konstantinovich Zhukov (Library of Congress) 889 890 Zog I Japanese Sixth Army at the Khalka River near Nomonhan, Mongolia, during July–August 1939 in the Second Russo-Japanese War He was then appointed deputy commander (1939) and commander (1940) of the Kiev Military District, and during the German invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941, he was rushed to the front to help with the defense of Smolensk in August After the collapse of that defense, he organized the defense of Leningrad (present-day St Petersburg) as commander of the Leningrad Front (army group) during September–October 1941 He transferred next to the Western Front, which defeated the German assault on Moscow during 1941–42 Zhukov was a leading Red Army officer throughout the rest of the war, participating in every major operation, including the decisive defense of Stalingrad during 1942–43 He also directed the Battle of Kursk in July 1943, the Byelorussian offensive during the summer of 1944, and the advance into Germany and Battle of Berlin in 1945 It was Zhukov who accepted the surrender of Nazi Germany on behalf of the Soviet Union on May 8, 1945, and it was he who headed the military administration of the Soviet zone of occupied Germany from May 1945 to March 1946 Following World War II, the immensely popular Zhukov was assigned by a wary and envious Stalin a series of obscure regional commands—most notably the Odessa Military District On Stalin’s death in 1953, Zhukov was immediately elevated to deputy minister of defense and supported Nikita Khrushchev in his opposition to the chairman of the Council of Ministers, Georgi Malenkov, who sought a reduction in military spending After Khrushchev forced Malenkov to resign and replaced him with Nikolay Bulganin in February 1955, Zhukov succeeded Bulganin as minister of defense He was also elected an alternate member of the Communist Party’s Presidium In the postwar years, Zhukov undertook vigorous programs to introduce greater professionalism into the Soviet armed forces Because this meant reducing the Communist Party’s role in military affairs and promoting nonpolitical but militarily qualified officers to positions of greater power, friction developed with Khrushchev, who was now Soviet premier Zhukov, however, managed to redeem himself in Khrushchev’s estimation by his efforts to keep the premier in power when a majority of the Presidium (the so-called anti-party group) tried to oust Khrushchev Zhukov ordered aircraft to transport members of the Central Committee from far-flung regions of the country to Moscow to restore the political balance in Khrushchev’s favor in June 1957 Khrushchev responded by promoting Zhukov to full membership in the Presidium in July—though he still disagreed over his movement to replace party officials with military officers in the administration of the armed forces The disagreement grew in intensity and, on October 26, 1957, Zhukov was dismissed as minister of defense A week later, he was removed from his party posts and retired into obscurity When Khrushchev himself fell from power in October 1964, Zhukov was awarded the Order of Lenin (1966) and was authorized to publish his autobiography (1969) Further reading: Chaney, Otto Preston Zhukov Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1996; Zhukov, Georgi Memoirs of Marshal G Zhukov New York: Delacorte Press, 1971 Zog I (1895–1961) king of Albania on the eve of World War II Born Ahmed Bey Zogu at Castle Burgajet, Albania, Zog, a commoner, was a supporter of Austria during World War I and, after the war, led the reformist Popular Party He served in various ministerial posts from 1920 until he was briefly forced into exile by political rivals in June 1924 He returned to Albania in December and was elected president on February 1, 1925, then proclaimed king on September 1, 1928 Zog was welcomed by a majority of Albanians as a strong leader who brought relative stability to turbulent postwar Albania His rightist tendencies drew him toward Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, with who he made an association in 1925, Zog I securing from Italy a substantial loan followed in 1926 by a treaty of friendship and security In 1927, Zog concluded a 20-year defensive military alliance For his part, Mussolini was interested only in using Albania as a steppingstone into the Balkans, and, using financial manipulation and military threat, Mussolini came to control Albania’s finances and armed forces by the eve of World War II in 1939 Throughout the 1930s, Zog tried to pry Albania from the Italian’s grasp, but could not At last, on April 7, 1939, all pretense was dropped and Mussolini made Albania into a protectorate Victor Emmanuel III became king of Italy, forcing Zog to 891 step down and enter into exile Zog entertained a hope of returning after the war, but was barred by the immediate postwar establishment of Communist rule under Enver Hoxha Zog formally abdicated on January 2, 1946 Further reading: Fischer, Bernd Jurgen Albania at War, 1939–1945 Lafayette, Ind.: Purdue University Press, 1999; Tomes, Jason King Zog of Albania: Europe’s SelfMade Muslim Monarch New York: New York University Press, 2004; Vickers, Miranda, and James Pettifer Albania: From Anarchy to Balkan Identity New York: New York University Press, 2000 Bibliography ★ Calvocoressi, Peter Total War: The Story of World War II New York: Pantheon Books, 1972 Chambers, John W., and David Culbert, eds World War II, Film, and History New York: Oxford University Press, 1996 Craven, Wesley Frank, and James Lea Cate, eds The Army Air Forces in World War II, vols Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1948–58 Dear, I C B., ed The Oxford Companion to World War II Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001 Denfeld, Duane World War II Museums and Relics of Europe Manhattan, Kans.: Military Affairs/Aerospace Historian Publications, 1980 Flower, Desmond, and James Reeves, eds The War, 1939–1945 London: Cassell, 1960 Franks, Clifton R., ed The Second World War West Point Military History Series Wayne, N.J.: Avery, 1984 Gantenbein, James Watson, comp and ed Documentary Background of World War II, 1931 to 1941 New York: Columbia University Press, 1948 Goldhagen, Daniel J Hitler’s Willing Executioners: Ordinary Germans and the Holocaust New York: Knopf, 1996 Goodwin, Doris Kearns No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt: The Home Front in World War II New York: Simon & Schuster, 1994 Hart, Liddel, ed History of the Second World War New York: Exeter Books, 1980 Hess, Gary R The United States at War, 1941–1945 Arlington Heights, Ill.: H Davidson, 1986 Jacobsen, Hans-Adolf, and Arthur L Smith Jr., comps and eds World War II, Policy and Strategy: Selected Documents with Commentary Santa Barbara, Calif.: Clio Books, 1979 Keegan, John Encyclopedia of World War II London and New York: Hamlyn, 1977 The following are general reference and narrative works on World War II For books on specific subjects, see the “Further reading” section of the Encyclopedia article of interest Adams, Michael C C The Best War Ever: America and World War II Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1994 Ambrose, Stephen E Citizen Soldiers: The U.S Army from the Normandy Beaches to the Bulge to the Surrender of Germany, June 7, 1944–May 7, 1945 New York: Simon & Schuster, 1997 Bartov, Omer Hitler’s Army: Soldiers, Nazis, and War in the Third Reich New York: Oxford University Press, 1991 Bergerund, Eric M Fire in the Sky: The Air War in the South Pacific Denver, Colo.: Westview Press, 1999 Bergerund, Eric M Touched with Fire: The Land War in the South Pacific New York: Viking, 1996 Beschloss, Michael The Conquerors: Roosevelt, Truman and the Destruction of Hitler’s Germany, 1941–1945 New York: Simon & Schuster, 2002 Bookman, John T., and Stephen T Powers The March to Victory: A Guide to World War II Battles and Battlefields from London to the Rhine New York: Harper & Row, 1986 Brinkley, Douglas, and Michael E Haskew, eds The World War II Desk Reference New York: HarperCollins, 2004 Buchanan, Albert Russell The United States and World War II New York: Harper & Row, 1964 Bullock, Alan Hitler and Stalin: Parallel Lives New York: Knopf, 1992 Burleigh, Michael The Third Reich: A New History New York: Hill and Wang, 2000 893 894 Encyclopedia of World War II ——— The Second World War London: Hutchinson, 1989 ———, ed The Times Atlas of the Second World War New York: Harper & Row, 1989 ———, ed Who Was Who in World War II London: Arms and Armour Press, 1978 Lamb, Richard War in Italy, 1943–1945: A Brutal Story New York: St Martin’s Press, 1993 Langsam, Walter Consuelo, ed Historic Documents of World War II Princeton, N.J.: Van Nostrand, 1958 Macdonald, John Great Battles of World War II New York: Macmillan, 1986 Michel, Henri The Second World War London: Deutsch, 1975 Miller, Nathan War at Sea: A Naval History of World War II New York: Scribner, 1995 Morison, Samuel Eliot History of United States Naval Operations in World War II, 15 vols Boston: Little, Brown, 1947–1962 Murray, Williamson, and Allan R Millett A War to Be Won: Fighting the Second World War, 1937–1945 Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University, 2000 Neillands, Robin The Bomber War: The Allied Air Offensive against Nazi Germany New York: Overlook Press, 2001 Noakes, J., and G Pridham Nazism, 1919–1945 Atlantic Highlands, N.J.: Humanities Press, 1983– 1988 Overy, R J Russia’s War New York: Penguin Books, 1998 Perret, Geoffrey There’s a War to Be Won: The United States Army in World War II New York: Random House, 1991 Shachtman, Tom Terrors and Marvels: How Science and Technology Changed the Character and Outcome of World War II New York: William Morrow, 2002 Shirer, William L The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich; A History of Nazi Germany New York: Simon and Schuster, 1960 Snyder, Louis Leo Louis L Snyder’s Historical Guide to World War II Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1982 ——— Encyclopedia of the Third Reich New York: McGraw-Hill, 1976 ——— The War: A Concise History, 1939–1945 New York: Simon & Schuster, 1960 Spector, Ronald H Eagle against the Sun: The American War with Japan New York: Free Press, 1985 Stanton, Shelby L Order of Battle, U.S Army, World War II Novato, Calif.: Presidio, 1984 Taylor, A J P The Origins of the Second World War New York: Atheneum, 1961 Terkel, Studs The Good War: An Oral History of World War Two New York: Pantheon Books, 1984 Toland, John The Rising Sun; The Decline and Fall of the Japanese Empire, 1936–1945 New York: Random House, 1970 Van Creveld, Martin Fighting Power: German and U.S Army Performance, 1939–1945 Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1982 Weinberg, Gerhard L A World at Arms: A Global History of World War II New York: Cambridge University Press, 1994 Wheeler, Richard A Special Valor: The U.S Marines and the Pacific War New York: Harper & Row, 1983 Young, Peter, ed Atlas of the Second World War New York: G P Putnam’s Sons, 1974 ... force of Italy, army of Italy, navy of Iwo Jima, Battle of J Japan Japan, air force of Japan, army of Japan, navy of Japanese-American soldiers in World War II xii Encyclopedia of World War II jet... Development of the Warplane 1939–45 London: Conway Maritime Press, 1997; Mondey, David American Aircraft of World War II London: Book Sales, 2002; Sharpe, Mike Aircraft of World War II Osceola,... HarperCollins, 1994; Mondey, David The Concise Guide to British Aircraft of World War II London: Book Sales, 2002; Wilson, Stewart Aircraft of World War II Fishwyck, Australia: Australian Aviation, 1999 aircraft,