47
Shortly before the start of the war, the USA adopted non-contact (magnetic) fuzes for torpedoes, which offered better chances of penetrating the armor of well-protected heavy ships. Due to design errors, in practice, the magnetic fuzes rarely functioned, causing inefficiency in American destroyers, submarines, and torpedo bombers. From the beginning of 1943, the fuzes began to be replaced with contact ones, after which the effectiveness of American sailors started to increase rapidly.
48
It is notable that when it became clear after McClusky’s attack that a raid on the surviving aircraft carrier “Hiryu” was necessary, the Americans did not have a single torpedo bomber – they had to rely solely on dive bombers. All the torpedo bombers were destroyed in previous attacks, which did not result in a single hit.
49
The “Axis” is commonly used to refer to the main allies of Nazi Germany: namely the Third Reich, Italy, and Japan.
50
In particular, after the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands, the Americans were left with only one operational aircraft carrier. However, despite their superiority in ships, Japan was unable to leverage its advantage due to catastrophic losses in aircraft and pilots, including during the Battle of Midway.
51
The landing of German troops on Crete in May 1941 left the British with only one island base between Gibraltar and Egypt – Malta.
52
Naturally, it wasn’t about the specific tanker “Ohio.” The German economy, even with the exploitation of all conquered Europe, could not sustain a war on two or even three fronts at once. The only possibility of victory was the rapid development of military successes, resulting in access to ever-new resources. The impossibility of a blitzkrieg in the Mediterranean automatically made it impossible for the Reich to access Middle Eastern oil, while simultaneously leaving the most vulnerable and poorly defended area – the southern borders – exposed. Under such conditions, Germany no longer had the opportunity to win the war.
53
Below we will see that the German political leadership repeated the path of Napoleon. It is no coincidence that Hitler idolized the Emperor of the French: they found themselves in similar situations, were forced to act using similar methods, and lost in approximately the same manner.
54
Due to the scale of the battles, as well as for political rather than historical reasons, the role of the Eastern Front is often overestimated. In reality, the danger posed to Germany from the Mediterranean and the West was much more immediate. Even with overwhelming superiority, it took the Red Army nearly two years of heavy fighting to reach Berlin from the Kursk salient. The path from Italy or Normandy was much shorter, which did not allow these fronts to be neglected. At the same time, the need to weaken the overwhelming economic superiority of the opponents forced the Germans to continue the Battle of the Atlantic, making the World War global not only in name but also in essence.
55
Although Turkey never joined the Axis powers, the Turkish leadership did not hide its sympathies and readiness to support the German army in case it managed to eliminate the threat to the Turks from the USSR and England, whose territories, including British-controlled Palestine and occupied.
56
And the submarines of that time needed to surface constantly to take in air and charge their batteries with diesel engines.
57
From the perspective of contemporaries – also. Hitler, despite the attack on Poland, was shocked that England and France declared war on him, considering it completely senseless. Rudolf Hess was so convinced of the unnaturalness of war between the kindred peoples of Germany and England that he personally flew to dissuade the English. Stalin did not believe until the last moment that the relatively weak German army, also engaged in war in the south and west, would attack the Soviet Union. Against whom Japan would act was decided when all other major powers were already at war, legally or actually.
58
In terms of armament and equipment at the beginning of the war, the anti-Hitler coalition greatly surpassed its opponents. The only exception was the balance of power between the USA and Japan, where the American advantage was less significant.
59
The Battle of Jutland (1916) was the largest naval battle of World War I, when for the only time during the war the main forces of the British Grand Fleet and the German High Seas Fleet clashed in combat. The English lost more ships and are generally considered the losers, but due to the significantly larger numbers of the British, the Germans were forced to retreat and no longer attempted to destroy the English fleet or even to engage them in a decisive battle.
60
The Battle of Tsushima (1904) was the decisive naval battle of the Russo-Japanese War, when the Russian squadron heading to the Far East was completely defeated by the Japanese fleet, which incurred virtually no significant losses.
61
Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington, was a famous English military leader who led the British army in the war against Napoleon. Together with Prussian Field Marshal Blücher, he won the Battle of Waterloo, thereby decisively determining the outcome of the Napoleonic Wars in favor of Bonaparte’s opponents.
62
The Battle of Waterloo was Napoleon’s last battle during the “Hundred Days” of his second reign after his unauthorized return from exile on the island of Elba. In this battle, Napoleon attempted to destroy the English army before the arrival of Prussian reinforcements, but despite overall superiority and numerous attacks, he was unable to completely defeat the enemy. The arrival of the Prussian troops caused confusion among the French and their subsequent retreat. Subsequently, Napoleon was forced to abdicate the throne again, after which he was exiled to the island of Saint Helena in the southern part of the Atlantic Ocean, from which escape was absolutely impossible at that time.
63
George Gordon Meade was an American general, commanding the Union army in 1863 during the American Civil War. He managed to win one of the decisive battles against the Confederates – the Battle of Gettysburg – mainly due to the resilience of his troops, who did not abandon their positions even after two days of continuous enemy attacks. Due to the lack of subsequent success in offensive operations, he was later removed from command.
64
The Battle of Gettysburg was one of the decisive battles of the American Civil War, resulting from the Confederacy’s attempt to bring the war to the territory of the northern states. Despite overall tactical superiority, the Confederates failed to capture Gettysburg and had to retreat due to enormous losses that could not be replenished. It is believed that by failing to capture Gettysburg, the Confederacy lost its chances to win the war and secede from the United States.
65
The Treaty of Versailles ended World War I. Its terms were extremely harsh and humiliating for the losing side (Germany) and were perceived by the Germans as a national humiliation.
66
The Weimar Republic was the political system of Germany after the defeat of the German Empire in World War I. It de facto ceased to exist with the rise to power of the NSDAP led by Adolf Hitler in 1933.
67
Banzai attack was a frontal assault practiced in the Japanese army with an attempt to psychologically impact both themselves and the enemy with loud shouts of “banzai” (from which the name originates). It was considered an expression of bravery and loyalty to the emperor, but almost never achieved its goal when the enemy had a well-prepared defense and sufficient psychological resilience.
68
Kamikaze were Japanese suicide pilots. In circumstances where Japan lacked the time and resources for full training of flight personnel, they were used to inflict maximum damage on the enemy, primarily ships. Shortened training programs were used to prepare kamikaze, and fewer resources were allocated for their protection against enemy fighters.