America vs Germany 1941 - The Forgotten Conflict

[Music] most people think that the united states entered world war ii on the 7th of december 1941 with the japanese attack on the u.s pacific fleet at pearl harbor in hawaii but few realized that america had already been at war for several months not in the pacific but in the atlantic an undeclared war with nazi germany despite u.s neutrality and a policy of isolation it was a war that led to many american deaths long before pearl harbor but today is virtually unknown world war ii officially began in september 1939 with the german invasion of poland this act caused britain and france which had an agreement with poland to help protect it to declare war on germany germany proceeded to conquer poland assisted by the soviet union and after a pause to regroup in summer 1940 it unleashed a massive force in the west and invaded norway denmark france belgium luxembourg and the netherlands defeating all of these nations and forcing the british from continental europe in the humiliating evacuation from the french port of dunkirk the new british prime minister winston churchill had a good working relationship with u.s president franklin d roosevelt and it was clear that britain required help to defeat the germans in particular the u-boat threat since the german conquest of france the german navy had gained a series of u-boat bases on the atlantic coast hitler's intention was to starve britain into submission by sinking supply ships bringing food and many other goods from north america to britain forcing britain to the negotiating table being an island nation meant being a great mercantile trading nation as well and the u-boats destroyed or severely interrupted that trade britain in 1940-41 was the world's biggest empire with the biggest navy but its military and naval might were thinly spread all over the world protecting a myriad of colonies and territories the u-boat campaign was highly successful as the royal navy was short of escort vessels to help protect the atlantic convoys hundreds of ships were sunk and severe rationing was introduced in britain as supplies ran short the american government also saw an opportunity to expand u.s influence and in 1940 the destroyers for bases agreement was concluded in return for 50 old u.s navy destroyers britain would grant the u.s leases on a series of british military bases initially in bermuda and newfoundland interestingly many american citizens were already fighting for the british american volunteers had already seen action fighting the germans in british uniform perhaps the most famous was the royal air force's eagle squadron comprised of u.s volunteer pilots who fought with distinction in the 1940 battle of britain in london there was even a home guard unit made up entirely of american residents the first american squadron in march 1941 president roosevelt signed the lend lease act the act permitted the u.s to supply britain with food military aid and so on eventually amounting to some 31 billion dollars many other allied countries also benefited substantially from this aid roosevelt ordered us troops overseas to occupy and protect the bases acquired from britain then included as well as those in bermuda and newfoundland bases in saint lucia the bahamas jamaica antigua trinidad and british guyana now guyana but roosevelt determined to move us military forces into the war zone between britain and germany as well in march 1941 churchill agreed to permit the u.s use of naval bases in northern ireland churchill who desperately wanted the u.s to enter the war on britain's side knew that if it did america would require adequate air and sea bases from which to begin immediate operations against germany on the 19th of may 1941 the u.s army's special observer group was activated in london tasked with finding locations for future usaf air bases and u.s army camps across the uk it was commanded by major general james chaney in june 1941 in great secrecy the first u.s troops actually arrived in the uk 362 technicians as they were described by october 1941 over a thousand u.s corps of engineers personnel were busy building bases in northern ireland and they were completed by december 1941 in time for america's entry into the war greenland lying close to canada was and still is a danish territory with the german occupation of denmark in april 1940 the us government realized that greenland could also be occupied by the germans u-boat bases in southern greenland would have cut the transatlantic convoys to britain so roosevelt ordered u.s forces to occupy greenland and deny it to the germans the us did this also to stop britain or canada from occupying the territory and they were very interested in protecting the cryolite mine and evicted cryolite being a vital component in the manufacture of aluminium whereas the americans say aluminum in the event the us didn't send armed forces to occupy greenland as that would be seen as too provocative as the u.s was supposed to be neutral instead u.s coast guard vessels landed armed coast guardsmen to take control of the mine three-inch naval guns were also dug in ashore in this manner greenland retained some sovereignty but received u.s protection in return later in 1941 greenland became an important way station for lendly's aircraft being sent to britain and on the first anniversary of the german occupation of denmark an agreement was reached that basically turned greenland into a de facto u.s protectorate interestingly the u.s forces have never left they remain in greenland today operating thule air force base a thousand miles from the north pole another danish possession also ended up being occupied by the u.s iceland the island declared independence from denmark when the mother country was overrun by the germans and britain was worried that germany might establish u-boat and air bases upon it the british invaded an occupied iceland on the 10th of may 1940 meeting no resistance the british royal marines were in turn relieved by a canadian infantry brigade but canada was in the process of shipping her forces to the uk so fdr stepped in in july 1941 sending us marines to iceland to take over some of the garrison duties the hastily assembled first provisional marine brigade was sent from charleston south carolina to iceland with 4095 marines eventually the entire first marine division 28 000 men strong would occupy iceland after pearl harbor this division saw combat against the japanese at guadalcanal and guam interestingly whilst in iceland the us marines wore the shoulder insignia the british 49th west riding infantry division which had been part of the original occupation force appropriately the symbol was a polar bear soon however open hostilities broke out between neutral u.s forces and the germans in july 1941 in a top-secret memo from roosevelt to admiral harold stark chief of u.s naval operations the president ordered the navy to change from a defensive to an offensive stance in the atlantic any german u-boat or surface radar threatening u.s lines of communication including the atlantic convoys was to be in the words of roosevelt eliminated this plan was codenamed operational plan 741 and it would soon result in open fighting on the 4th of september 1941 the destroyer uss grier was targeted by the german u-boat u-652 of iceland a british aircraft had warned the grier that a u-boat was in the vicinity the gria made sonar contact and went after u-652 the british aircraft dropped four depth charges near the submerged u-boat and in response u-652 fired a torpedo at the gria the u-boat's captain perhaps believing that the american destroyer was the one that had dropped the depth charges the grier avoided the german torpedo following roosevelt's secret order the grier now set about to eliminate u652 hunting her for two hours and dropping 19 depth charges on sonar contacts use 652 fired another torpedo at the greer which missed and the action was broken off the incident was widely reported and roosevelt used the action to try and convince the american people to go to war he also directly warned germany and italy that axis vessels entering into areas protected by the u.s risk destruction admiral ernest j king commanding the atlantic fleet now ordered the atlantic fleet to start escorting convoys from halifax nova scotia in canada to britain king himself was spoiling for a fight he hoped that the fleet would be able to tangle with the german battleship tirpitz which was also involved in anti-commerce raiding remember this was all three months before the u.s entered world war ii on the 15th of october 1941 the u.s navy suffered its first casualties in the undeclared war against germany the destroyer uss kearney was docked in reykjavik iceland when a wolf pack of german u-boats attacked a british convoy off the coast the canadian escort vessels being overwhelmed by the sheer number of u-boats involved a flotilla of four u.s destroyers sallied forth from reykjavik to assist the kearney began depth-charging u-boats right through the night on the 17th of october the germans took their revenge u-560 slamming a torpedo into kearney striking starburn amid ships 11 u.s sailors were killed and 22 injured but the crew managed to save the ship which limped to iceland for temporary repairs u-568 was chased off from finishing off the kearney by the royal canadian navy corvette pikto thereafter the us navy went gunning for trouble sending task force 1-4 from halifax to the persian gulf it consisted of the aircraft carrier uss yorktown the battleship uss new mexico and the light cruisers savannah and philadelphia and nine destroyers it was used to escort a british convoy but admiral king hoped to be able to take on a german surface raider force even the tirpitz the convoy and the task force arrived safely without any incidents but it demonstrated a us resolve to fight germany worse was to come for the u.s navy when the germans managed to sink one of its destroyers off iceland the uss ruben james was based in iceland part of an escort group that brought convoys from halifax to reykjavik at dawn on the 31st of october 1941 the reuben james and four other destroyers was escorting a convoy when the u-boat ace captain leutenant erik top commanding u-552 attacked top had received the knights cross germany's highest gallantry and meritorious service award in june after war patrols resulting in his sinking 16 allied ships the ruben james was struck by a torpedo actually meant for a nearby british merchant ship the torpedo detonated in a ford magazine blowing the boughs off the american destroyer out of 144 men aboard only 44 survived the explosion and resultant sinking roosevelt was able to use the loss of the ruben james to further erode support for isolationism and neutrality however he and the navy conveniently left out some important details concerning the sinking including the fact that the ruben james had not been flying a u.s ensign to clearly show her neutral nationality at the time she was sunk nor the fact that she had been depth charging a different u-boat when she was torpedoed by top however just five weeks later japan attacked pearl harbor bringing the us into world war ii but only against the japanese empire in a moment of staggering stupidity adolf hitler actually declared war on the united states on the 11th of december 1941 saving president roosevelt the trouble of having to convince congress and the american people that war against germany was necessary later that same day president roosevelt declared war on germany thanks for watching please subscribe and share visit my audiobook channel war stories with mark felton you can also help to support both of my channels at paypal and patreon details in the description box below you

Channel: Mark Felton Productions

Views: 635,647

Keywords: Mark Felton Productions, Roosevelt, Churchill, US Navy, USMC, U-boat

Id: MQUOo0cKIfg

Length: 14min 33sec (873 seconds)

Published: Fri Nov 13 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/OpanaPointer]

FDR's "short of war" policy.