The War in Pictures IV. [antikvár]

THE TURNING OF THE TIDE When the full story of the Second World War comes to be written the historians may well judge that the autumn of the year 1942 marked the turning-point in this mighty struggle for the freedom of all the nations. Japan's ruthless and unprovoked attack on Pearl Harbour in December, 1941, extended the war across the two hemispheres, but at the same time it brought the entire military and industrial power of the U.S.A. to the side of Great Britain and her Allies. Grave setbacks and grievous losses were to be suffered by the United Nations before many months had passed; losses which, so far as the British Empire was concerned, were without parallel in history. Nevertheless, we may view 1942 as a year of bold planning and satisfactory, if not spectacular, achievement. For as it drew towards its close the Allies had definitely passed from the stage of defence and preparation to that of offensive action. While the greatest battles and the hardest fighting still lay ahead, the promise of victory could now be discerned more clearly. In 1943 the careful and secret planning by the leaders of the United Nations came, at last, to fruition, and by the end of the fourth year of war the first of the final victories over the Axis countries had been realized with the unconditional surrender of Italy. In order that the reader may appreciate the special significance of the year of war to be reviewed in this volume, it is first necessary to recall some of the chief events of the previous twelve months. Japan's lightning victories in the Far East came like a thunderbolt. They exceeded by far, in range and in speed, all the Nazi conquests in Europe two years earlier. In less than four months after Pearl Harbour the Japanese had completely overrun the Dutch East Indies, the greater part of the Philippines and the whole of British Malaya, and had seized control of some of the world's most precious raw materials. They had also captured two of the most important U.S. naval bases in the Pacific, namely, Guam and Wake Islands. The loss of Singapore on 15 February, 1942, was the greatest single military disaster which Britain had suffered since the fall of France two years earlier.