Top 3 Reasons America Almost Got Beaten by the Japanese in World War II

During the Second World War, our nation, the United States of America, was fighting a war on multiple fronts. First, we were fighting against the Germans in Europe. Second, we fought the Italians in Italy and third, we fought the Japanese in the Pacific. Even though the Germans and the Italians put up a fight, we beat them and their government never surfaced again. But in Japan, it was a different story, the Japanese didn't surrender, and they fought hard, most of the time to their deaths. American boys who had just gotten out of high school would be sent to replace those that had died at the hands of the Japanese. Here are some of the reasons why we almost lost that war.

1. The Japanese Never Surrendered: The Japanese had a culture in which a soldier's loyalty belonged to their emperor. Emperor Hirohito, the ruler at the time of World War II, forced his nations  soldiers to take an oath in which to never surrender. At many of the famous battles between Japanese and Allied forces, the number of Japanese that surrendered was in the single digits. 

2. In relation to the first reason, the Japanese had everything to fight for. They were defending themselves, and while the United States wanted to take revenge on them because of Pearl Harbor, they didn't have as strong of a will as the Japanese did to fight for their country. Thus, islands were harder to take because the Japanese had something to protect-their territory.

3. Finally, because the Japanese killed so many Americans, the American public was reluctant to send their high schoolers off to war. 

Top 5 Planes Every Pilot Wished to be in in World War II

Weapons were not the only winners of the War. Air combat was especially important. Whichever side had air superiority generally won battles. This was because air support could be called in. If any of you high schoolers play Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare online, you know what I'm talking about. Whichever team has Helicopter support gets a lot of kills. This was the same process during World War II. 
P-51 Mustang: This was an American plane that experts consider to be the best of all time. It was a fighter bomber that served during the European and Italian campaigns in Europe. It could fly long distances, so it proved to be a very successful bomber escort. It also flew at incredible speeds, even though it was propeller driven. It had one pilot, and it was very agile. No other plane came close to it. To top it off, the P-51 was produced in large quantities, so it was always ready to fight.
B-29 Superfortress: This plane dropped both of the Atomic Bombs, thus ending World War II. So there is no doubt that they should be in the list of top five planes. This plane could fly at incredibly high altitudes, could fly very quickly, and could fly over great distances. After the war, these planes were used to fly from the United States to Russia, just in case there was an all out war between us.

Supermarine Spitfire: This was a British plane used during the Battle of Britain. It was extremely agile, extremely fast, and extremely lightweight. Very small numbers of them were built, so they didn't kill as many German planes as did the Supermarine Hurricane, which I also consider the fourth best plane of the war. These planes were capable of reaching high altitude, traveling long distances, and providing a multitude of purposes.

Ho-IX: This was a Nazi secret plane that thankfully, never went into development. If any of you have played Medal of Honor Frontline in your spare time, you know what I am talking about. This was a jet plane designed by the Horten brothers in 1943. The plane was described as a "flying wing", very similar in appearance to the United States' Stealth Bomber. The Ho-IX could carry 1,000 lbs. of bombs 1,000 miles at 1,000 miles per hour. It was designed so that it could carry a nuclear bomb to New York City. Fortunately, the war ended before the design was perfected.

Top 4 World War II Movies You Should Beg Your Teacher To Show In Class

When you are in high school, it is important to make history entertaining. In order to help learn the concept of many decisive battles during World War II, my teachers have shown my class many films. Many of these films you have probably seen, if you haven't heard of them. If you haven't, beg your teachers to show them during class. I will include a rating with the film's title. 

THE LONGEST DAY [Not Rated]- When it was released in 1962, The Longest Day was based on a book. Its main stars were John Wayne and Sean Connery, Wayne played the part of a US Army Ranger and Connery played the part of a British soldier.The plot of the movie is the day that the Allies landed in France. The film tells the story from the German and Allied perspectives, so it provides great insight for how both sides felt about the invasion. The film has action scenes (which D-Day movie doesn't?) but there is very little blood and gore. At the beginning of the movie, a French Resistance member is gunned down, as are American paratroopers when they land in the middle of a town. Also, there is a scene in which a train car explodes. 

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056197/

LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA [R]- This movie is entirely in Japanese and focusses on that perspective of the battle of Iwo Jima. The main character is a soldier in the Japanese Army that survives the conflict. It is quite gory and a slight bit disturbing. For instance, in one scene, an American soldier is captured and used for bayonet practice. The movie has English subtitles, and is very easy to understand.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0498380/

PATTON [PG]- Patton is a movie describing the three campaigns that General George Patton fought in during World War II. He fought in Africa, Sicily, and Europe. It talks about Erwin Rommel, Bernard Montgomery, and "that son of a &@*#&," Adolf Hitler. Patton is a great movie that shows how the war was fought by the Americans.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066206/

SAVING PRIVATE RYAN [R]- Starring Matt Damon and Tom Hanks, plus directed by Steven Speilberg, this film packs in a lot of movie stars. The plot is very good: a mother has 4 boys. Three of them are killed, the other one needs to be brought back home. A Ranger division is devoted to finding him and escorting him back to America. The best scene from this movie is the D-Day scene, because it clearly illustrates what went on at the beaches. There is a high ammount of blood, gore and profanity in this movie, and that's why it is rated R.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120815/

Top 5 Weapons that will Own in Call of Duty 5

When the new Call of Duty game comes out, I hope that me and other high schoolers will be able to use the following weapons in the game. The top five weapons of World War II are classified in two categories: Axis weapons and Allied weapons. 

Axis Weapons
STG44- This was an assault rifle developed by the Nazi Army in later stages of the war. It was reserved for members of the Waffen-SS (I don't know how to spell the longer version of SS). The assault rifle combined the accuracy of a rifle with the fire rate of a submachine gun. The STG44 was extremely similar to the MP44 in design, so I will not write about that today. One of the reasons I think that the STG44 is important is because it heavily influenced the design of the AK47. Just look at the pictures:

MG42- This was a heavy machine-gun again used primarily by the Waffen-SS. Unlike the STG44, it was not developed near the end of the war, in fact, it was used in campaigns in Africa. Its ammunition could be held in boxes or in belts. There would be a two man team when it was being fired. One man would fire the gun and the other would help with the feeding of the ammunition.

MP40- This was a submachine gun, it was the Nazi equivalent to the American Thompson submachine gun. It fired at a high rate, and had a high damage rate. It used 25 round magazine cartriges, and it could be carried by one man.

V2 Rocket- This weapon was used in the end of the war as a desperate attempt by the German military to take revenge on Great Britain. While it killed many less people than the earlier V1 rocket, the V2 was a ballistic missile, and was the pioneer of nuclear missiles. After the war, the lead scientist in charge of their production was given the opportunity to work at NASA as a space specialist.

Luger Pistol- The Luger was a pistol reserved for the SS only. It was of high importance, more as an accessory than an actual weapon. It was crafted for beauty, but was unfortunately used as an execution tool. If American soldiers were caught with Lugers, they would be shot by the Nazis.

Allied Weapons

Bren Gun- This weapon was a light machine-gun used by the British army. It had two "legs" for stabilization, and was fed bullets through a magazine which was attached to the top of the rifle. The Bren was important because its dimensions and weight enabled one soldier

to carry it, and that one soldier could move with it at fast speeds. Therefore, it had the advantage of a machine gun that was fully adaptable to it

s environment. 

Thompson Gun- The Thompson was an American submachine gun used for the entire length of the war. It was made famous during the Prohibition era, where gangsters such as Al Capone would use them to gun down enemies. The Thompson was fed with either 20 round "box" magazines, or 50-100 round "drum" magazines. The Thompson was usually reserved for squad leaders and platoon leaders.

Sten Gun- The STEN gun was

 a British submachine gun that was used by special forces troops as well as infantry. There were 6 variants of the STEN and there were many silenced models. STEN was an acronym for the guns designers. The STEN gun was a popular weapon choice for resistance groups, as it had a 9mm bullet and a high powered maga

zine.

Springfield Rifle- The Springfield was a sniper rifle used by the American Infantry units. It was bolt-action powered and could fire four bullets per magazine. The Springfield paved the way for modern sniper rifles such as the M4A03 and the R700 which are used around the wo

rld today.

                                                                           

Little Boy- Finally, the top allied weapon during the war by far was the Little Boy atomic bomb. About 9 feet long, this plutonium fueled nuclear bomb killed over 100,000 people in the japanese city of Hiroshima. It completely flattened the town and vaporized almost all that were within 3 miles of the blast radius. 

         

Why am Doing This?

Why am I doing this?

a. I enjoy learning about World War II and sharing my knowledge with others.
b. My father won't let me play COD4 until I do.

So, I am going to write about the top five leaders, battles, weapons, songs, dates, etc. about the Second World War. I hope that if you are reading this, that it will help you or attract your interest for a period of time. Thanks for visiting my blog!