Initiation of a Global War

Outside the Philippine soil, the Hellish flames of the Second World War have begun to spread out. In July 1937, Japanese forces, already in possession of Manchuria (which it had renamed Manchukuo), launched a full-scale invasion of the Republic of China Chiang Kai-shek's forces collapsed under the pressure of the Japanese invasion. The war that ensued is referred to by historians as The Second Sino-Japanese War. The Second Sino-Japanese War lasted from 1937 to 1945 but was preceded by a series of incidents between Japan and China. The first phase of the Chinese occupation began when Japan invaded Manchuria in 1931. The second phase began in 1937 with the invasion of China by the Imperial Japanese Army and major attacks on Beijing, Shanghai, and Nanking. The conflict became part of World War II, which is also known in China as the War of Resistance Against Japan. On September 1, 1939, Hitler with his Nazi party initiated the Second World War. At 4:45 a.m., some 1.5 million German troops invade Poland all along its 1,750-mile border with the German-controlled territory. Simultaneously, the German Luftwaffe bombed Polish airfields, and German warships and U-boats attacked Polish naval forces in the Baltic Sea. Nazi leader Adolf Hitler claimed the massive invasion was a defensive action, but Britain and France were not convinced. On September 3, they declared war on Germany, initiating World War II. To Hitler, the conquest of Poland would bring Lebensraum, or "living space," for the German people. According to his plan, the "racially superior" Germans would colonize the territory and the native Slavs would be enslaved. German expansion had begun in 1938 with the annexation of Austria and then continued with the occupation of the Sudetenland and then all of Czechoslovakia in 1939. Both had been accomplished without igniting hostilities with the major powers, and Hitler hoped that his invasion of Poland would likewise be tolerated. Within five days, German forces occupied all of the frontier zones. By September 7, forward units were only 25 miles from Warsaw, the Polish capital. Polish air forces were eliminated, and the Polish army was split and encircled. By September 17, the war was virtually over. Ten days later, after a devastating air assault, ­Warsaw surrendered. "We were not yet ready," wrote Dr. Klukowski two weeks later, "to discuss the causes of our defeat...This is a fact, but we just can't believe it." This was the war Adolf Hitler had hoped for in 1939. But in addition to the localized conflict with Poland, the German invasion provoked a global conflict. Britain and France declared war on Nazi Germany on September 3 when it became clear that negotiating a German withdrawal was hopeless. In Britain and France, the populations had braced themselves for war in the closing weeks of the summer. There was little popular enthusiasm for war, but a strong wave of anti-German and anti-Fascist sentiment produced a resigned recognition that Adolf Hitler would only stop if he was faced with force. Almost immediately, the British and French empires (except for Ireland) joined the contest, turning it into a worldwide war, fought not only in Europe but across the oceans.

German invasion also triggered the Soviet Union's intervention. The terms of the German-Soviet pact, signed in August 1939, gave Joseph Stalin a sphere of influence in eastern Poland. On September 17, once it was clear that Poland was close to defeat, Red Army units moved into Poland and met up with victorious German troops along a prearranged frontier. On September 28, the two dictatorships signed another treaty, which divided Poland between them. For the Western powers, this provoked fears of a totalitarian alliance against them. For Poland, dismemberment and harsh totalitarian rule were the reality. Britain and France did nothing to help their smaller ally. Their military staff had drawn up a "war plan" during the summer of 1939 in which the loss of Poland was accepted as inevitable. The core of the plan was to blockade and contain Nazi Germany until the war of attrition forced the Germans to abandon the contest as they had done in 1918. Britain and France expected a war of at least three years. This explains why for the first six months of the war the Western states did very little. The lull was nicknamed the "Phony War" -- a war with no fighting. A small amount of naval activity did occur, which gave citizens on both sides something to cheer about. In December 1939, Britain's Royal Navy so damaged the German pocket battleship Graf Spee that it was scuttled in the South Atlantic. Conversely, German began to sink Allied merchant ships. On October 14, 1939, a German submarine managed to penetrate the defenses of the main British naval base at Scapa Flow in the Orkney Islands, and there sank the battleship Royal Oak. The Germans bombed Polish citizens mercilessly, but for a while refrained from cities in the West. The British only dropped leaflets on German cities. The chief beneficiary of the war in Poland was the Soviet Union. Suffering almost no casualties, the Red Army took parts of Poland that had been seized by Russia and Austria back in the 18th century but returned to Poland after World War I. The region was integrated at once into the Soviet system.

On the other side of the globe, Italian fascist founder Benito Mussolini was spreading his tyranny over Africa, and Greece, and later on, he declared war on France. After consolidating his power throughout the 1920s, Mussolini negotiated with the British government for expansion in Libya. In 1935, Italian forces invaded the African nation of Ethiopia, which capitulated within a year. During this time Italy also had controlling interests in Somalia, Eritrea, and Sudan in East Africa. These countries formed the collective Italian Empire that reached its height in 1940. The Italian invasion of France after their declaration of war on the 10th of June was shambolic. In two weeks of fighting, the unprepared Italian forces, which outnumbered the French defenders by nearly 4-1, suffered over 1200 killed or missing in return for only approximately 37 French soldiers killed. They managed to penetrate at most 4000 meters over the French border before France surrendered to Germany. Feeling humiliated, Mussolini dropped his ambitious plans to annex the Rhône valley, Tunisia, and Corsica, and settled for a narrow demilitarized zone in France and occupation of Djibouti in East Africa. Britain, however, refused to surrender when France did. Mussolini was fairly confident that they'd soon be defeated anyway, he was secretly informed of Hitler's plans to launch an invasion of England in the summer of 1940. He didn't want to lose out this time, so he became determined to invade British-controlled Egypt and capture the Suez Canal before his enemies could cheat him a second time by surrendering before he could capture anything useful. Control of Suez would allow Italy to dominate the Mediterranean, and ensure a secure line of communication to their recently-acquired colonial empire in Italian East Africa.

Italy's intervention in the Second World War was done entirely for reasons of prestige and cynical opportunism. Mussolini had sat out the first months of the war, describing himself as a "non-belligerent" ally of Germany. But in May 1940 he saw a German offensive break through the French lines, the British army evacuated from Dunkirk, and Kleist's Panzer Group advancing rapidly in Paris. He became concerned that Germany would win the war outright within the next few weeks, with no need for Italy's help: which would mean that Hitler would see no reason to give Italy any share of the booty plundered from a defeated France and Britain. It became clear to him that Italy must join the war actively before it was too late and the Allies surrendered. For this reason, Mussolini told his Chief of Staff, General Badoglio, that "I need a few thousand dead, to take part in peace talks like a real belligerent". Italian troops would be sent into battle - indeed, to their deaths - not in the hope of military gains, but entirely so that Mussolini could sit down next to Hitler at the peace table when the fate of a defeated France was being decided. It is perhaps not surprising that the average Italian soldier was not at all enthusiastic about this policy. Morale was low, and Italian soldiers were often keen to surrender and get out of the war at the first opportunity. Mussolini, on the other hand, believed - or professed to believe - that the Italian fighting forces were first-rate. The Fascist regime glorified its fighting men, proclaiming them disciplined, honorable, strong-willed; loyal to their Duce, and thus greatly superior to the faction-ridden, decadent hireling troops of the democracies. Germany, Italy, and Japan were the three countries that were later known as Axis Powers. The mortal enemy of the Allies in the Second World War.

The news about Hitler and Mussolini's initiation of war on European and African countries continued to air internationally on the radio, including the Japanese invasion of China. On November 08, 1939, my grandfather heard the news on the radio while preparing his breakfast at 6:00 in the morning. He told his mother and my grandmother, Antonia, that the Axis Powers' invasions could be the beginning of a global war. He asked his mother, what if the Japanese would also conquer the South-East Asian countries? If so, the Japanese forces would also invade the Philippines. His Mother just stared at him with a nervous feeling. She just said, "Let us pray, God listens all the time." my grandfather Teddy went to school at 9 am and inside the classroom, the conversation was all about Hitler's conquest of Poland. my grandfather's life as a commerce student was more colorful and he was able to develop his personality in different aspects as a young versatile individual. Summer of 1940, my grandfather Teddy and my grandmother Antonia finally graduated from their courses. My great-grandmother Maria arrived from Lubao to Caloocan before my grandfather's graduation day, with her sister Dorothea. His aunt Dorothea says, "Teddy, I salute you for this. You really did what exactly you promised to your Mother. Wishing you the very best, I know all your dreams will be fulfilled." Teddy: "Thank you, Aunt! This is for all of us. I'd give my very best to be a successful individual." Dorothea: "We believe in you, Teddy." On the following day, my grandfather Teddy finally graduated with a degree in Bachelor of Science in Commercial and Marketing Administration. After the graduation ceremony, my grandfather and his classmates congratulate each other. He was shocked when he saw Jose Gutierrez in the school waving his hand in the air. Jose came close to shake his hand and congratulate him for the second time. They had a short conversation. Jose said he decided to join the Army right after he completed his associate in Bachelor of Arts in English. My grandfather Teddy salutes him and then shook his hand. He just said, "I know you could be a great soldier my friend, I believe in you." Jose just smiles and said, "Thank you, Teddy". "See you again my friend, take care!", my grandfather said with a waving hand while walking away with his Aunt and Mother. After his graduation, my grandfather decided to have a short vacation in Lubao, Pampanga with his mother at the same time, also to celebrate his success with his cousins. My grandfather promised himself that he will never leave his mother even though his plan was to marry my grandmother Antonia sooner. He supported his mother financially when he was hired as a Clerk at PNR(Philippine National RailRoads). He already started working just a month after his graduation, because "Time is gold" for my grandfather. He doesn't want his time to be wasted. My grandmother Antonia has already graduated also from his course, and this was a new beginning for them.