Daisy Daily News
END OF WW2
A messenger pigeon, one of many who flew secret messages and created communication between the allies.
A Soviet army tank
German boy receives Iron Cross
Berlin destroyed after WW2
The Fall of Berlin
After halting briefly along a line in East Berlin, the Soviet army proceeded offensively into Berlin on April 16th (1945) with three groups from the north, east, and south. The Germans put up a fight, but the Soviet gained the upper-hand with an overwhelming force easily. As the German military was weakened, depleted, and consisted largely of under-aged boys and briefly trained civilians. By April 20th, The Soviet army reached the center of Berlin, and began bloody close-combat in the following weeks. Germany was in complete panic, the end was near. Hitler committed suicide with his wife on April 30th. The Soviet army was considered more brutal than the Western Allies, and the Germans tried to fight westward in attempt to surrender to the Westerners rather than the Soviets, but they failed and surrendered on May 9th. Soviet forces sustained 81,116 deaths for the entire operation. They claimed to have killed 458,080 Germans, excluding the around 125,000 civilian causalities. Afterwards the Soviet Army quickly began to set up soup kitchens, however some vengeful troops were reported to have engaged in criminal actives against the Germans. (Including but not limited to murder, mass rape, and pillage.) Berlin was devastated by this battle, but the goal of the Soviets was achieved; the Germans had surrendered, the end of this bloody global war was coming to an end.
Franklin D. Roosevelt, our 32nd President
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Born in 1882, Franklin D. Roosevelt held presidency between 1934-1945. He helped America through the Great Depression, with the new deal, which changed our federal government's role completely in economics. His influence extended into WW2, without his guidance and experience we may not have effectively retaliated Japan. Before Pearl Harbor, Roosevelt made it clear we were on the Allie's side with industrial support to Britain and China. When Japan advanced into China, he chose to cut off our oil supply to Japan. While Roosevelt expected a retaliation, the Pearl Harbor attack was a complete surprise as the Japanese had kept it's secrets extremely guarded. The next day Mr. Roosevelt declared war in his Infamy Speech. On December 11th, Germany and Italy declared War on us, and we declared it back. Roosevelt swiftly began to implement a war strategy, and quickly sent American forces into the Pacific by 1942. After the victory of the Battle of Midway, Mr. Roosevelt approved a slow, but successful method of "island hopping", with the goal of eventually being able to invade the main-land of Japan. He approved the use of fire bombing when they reached that goal. Of course during this time, he ordered Japanese Americans into camps. He attended the Tehran Conference with Churchill and Stalin to discuss post-war plans. There they agreed on the plan for United Nations, and Stalin promised to help out America defeat Japan 90 days after Germany was defeated. He died unexpectedly before WW2 ended, and his vice president Truman took over.
Manzanar, a Japanese relocation camp
Japanese Internment, Was it Necessary?
After the Pearl Harbor attack, President Roosevelt also sent about 115,000 people of Japanese ancestry to Internment camps. Some may draw a similarity between these camps and Germany's sickening camps, but our own were not as brutal. That being said, they weren't exactly paradise. These people were a minority, and virtually had no say over being relocated and couldn't refuse to be. 62% Of the people relocated were rightful USA citizens, and they had their rights stripped away. Japanese families were cramped into hastily set-up trailers in isolated, harsh places. They had to all eat from dining hall, and were giving and very small amount of pay. All these people were innocent, but were treated as threat to society. The interment camps did not make America safer, our real threats were on a different continent. This seemed to be more of an act of panic by our paranoid country, rather than a rational well-thought-out decision. The rights of our Japanese Americans were stripped away without reason, and I believe we owe them an apology.