Transcripts For CSPAN3 Rick Atkinson On V-E Day 75th Anniver

19441945 spoke about the anniversary. Program beginning in may 1945 showing the surrender in a statement from president harry truman. Throughout the world throngs of people hailed the end of the war in europe. Its five years and more since hitler marched into poland. Years full of suffering and death and sacrifice, now the war against germany is won. A grateful nation gives thanks for victory. Hundreds of thousands crowd into american churches to give thanks to god. President truman announced the official surrender. This is a solemn but glorious hour. I wish that Franklin D Roosevelt had lived to see this bay. General eisenhower informs me that the forces of germany have surrendered to the united nations. The flags of freedom fly all over europe. In this victory we join in offering our thanks to the providence which has guided and sustained us through the dark days of adversity and into light. Much remains to be done. The victory won in the west must now be won in the east. The whole world must be cleansed of the evil from which half the world has been free. United, the peaceloving nations have demonstrated in the west that their arms are stronger by far then the might of dictators or the tyranny of military clicks that once called us salt and wheat. The power of our people to defend themselves against all enemies will be proved in a pacific war as it was proved in europe. Historic pictures of the last days of the war in europe show american and Russian Troops on the river elm splitting german armies in two. United states general ryanhart meets general rookov a meeting that spelled out certain german defeat. Inside germany itself, the a lies sees the famous stadium with countless nazi rallies with the capture of this famous southern german city the American Flag crowds out the swastika. In a symbolic gesture american troops destroy the nazi party emblem. American history tv and washington journal are marking the end of world war ii, the 75th anniversary of the end of world war ii and the european theater, veday, victory in europe day. We welcome in author and historian Rick Atkinson book of the guns at last light the final of the three books focussing on the years 1944 and 1945. And Rick Atkinson to get our conversation started on veday, just a quick timeline where things were, how they came on dday june 6, 1944, in late august, the libberation of paris in august 25, 1944. The battle of the bulge in december of that year into january 1945. And then to veday. Take us back, Rick Atkinson to may 7th and 8th of 1945. How did the war end in europe . Well, the war ended with the germans basically deciding hitler having killed himself more than a week earlier that there was no profit in dragging it out with the russians in berlin. The russian murdering civilians, killing german soldiers by the hundreds of thousands. So the germans decided that trying to make peace with the western allies, the americans in particular, was their best bet, that they were going to get a better deal from the western allies than from the soviets. So, eisenhower had his forward headquarters in the french champagne town in northeastern france. The germans sent a dealt gas station. There was a lot of collaborativor about what the conditions would be for a conversation and were told in no Uncertain Terms that uncondition unconal Unconditional Surrender render be the only way the war would end. So it was 2 00 in the morning may 7, 1945, and the articles of sur rendersurrender was boiled down to barely 200 words and the ceremony with cameras rolling lasted only 10 minutes. Yodle signed and eisenhower told him hed be personally held responsible ensuring the terms of the capitulation were honored. And that was that. It was going to go into effect the next day, may 8th, to give time to alert the german uboat crews in the atlantic and german detachments in norway. The soviets felt it was important to have a surrender ceremony on german soil, didnt want the germans to say they had never been defeated like in world war i, never capitulated in germany proper so they insisted there be yet another ceremony in the suburb of berlin which happened on may 9th. So the soviets, now the russians, consider that to be vrkse ve day but the rest of the world surrender went into effect may 8th. On the timeline from dday june 6, 1944, did the final victory in europe, based on your research of u. S. Forces and british forces, did that happen sooner than they thought . Or did it take longer than they thought . You know, it look longer in the sense that after the battle of the bulge that ended in january 1945 there was a widespread understanding is that the germans could not recover from this catastrophe. That they had lost the war. What no one in the west could understand is why they wouldnt give up. Why they continued to fight. Why one little town. One medium sized city. Even big cities continued to resist. There were 10,400 american soldiers killed in action in april 1945 in germany. Thats almost as many were kill in june 1944, the move invasion. So it was awful virtually to the last gunshot. And as a consequence there was great consternation really about whether they were going to surrender, whether every last gaeerman soldiers would be kill and more civilians have to die. So the hope was that the war would end sooner. May turned out to be the day. Our guest is Rick Atkinson its the 75th anniversary of ve d day. Wed love to hear from you. 2027488001. Mountain and pacific time. And for those of you who are World War Two veterans or families, iffed if your parent served call 2027488002. In your book, the guns at last light, Rick Atkinson, its alarming to read the death tolls. In fact in one story you write about the training, just the training for dday alone there was an accident that killed 700 soldiers in the training accident. Looking at the statistics, 417,000 u. S. Deaths. On the soviet side, 8. 8 million to so. 7 million to 10. 7 million soviet soldiers not just civilian deaths. And the soviet union had 190 Million People and estimated 26 Million Deaths. Staggering 13 of the population. Our losses with 291,000 kill in action. A little more than 400,000 as you mentioned, all deaths, including accidents and disease, so on. Thats about 1 3 of 1 of the American Population of 130 million during world war ii. So staggering as those numbers are for us, they are monumental for the soviets in particular, the germans lose about 7 Million People. About 60 Million Deaths worldwide in world war ii. Thats a death every three seconds for six years. That gives you an idea of the magnitude of this. Its the greatest catastrophe, selfinflicted catastrophe in human history. And the war ending three weeks or so after the death of fdr in warm springs, georgia, on april 12, 1945. Harry truman, the president on ve day. What was the effect stateside when that news came . Well, it was a great shock, even though anyone who was looking at news reel footages could see that president roosevelt was not a healthy man. He had been dieing for some months. He had a very arduous trip to first matta for a confrngs fr s frens conference. And then flew to have a conference with stall stalin. Anyone could see this man was dieing. He had all kinds of health problems. He suffers a cerebral hemorrhage april 12, 1945. It is right after lunch, the word spreads through the country very quickly. By Late Afternoon virtually all americans are aware of it. Its a shock. Its a shock to everyone. He had been president for more than 12 years. Hes our war president. Hes the president through the darkest days of the depression. There were young men in uniform who really had very little memory of a time when roosevelt was not their leader and now their commanderinchief. So no one knew who harry truman was, for the most part, an obscure senator from missouri. Had been a captain in the artillery in world war i. He is a bit of a cipher in the eyes of most americans. The notion that he is going to step in and fill these very large shoe thats roosevelt has left behind is something a lot of people had difficulty comprehensi comprehending. We have lots of calls waiting for you, lets go first to larry in gallop, new mexico. Larry, good morning. Reporter yes, good morning. My father was in the south pacific. What is the role of the american indian, the sioux, the comanche and the hopi, how Much Research have you done on them if any, what was their role during the war. Thanks very much. Thanks for the call and to your dad. Well the American Indians were important, first of all they had a tradition of being warriors, that was critical when trying to put together an army. There were codetalkers, navajos and others who this their own language and was assumed correctly if a navajo was talking to another navajo on the radio, that even if the japanese, talking about the Pacific Theater in this case, could eavesdrop and hear that conversation, which they could, they werent going to be able to decode it because very few japanese spoke navajo. So the codetalkers were important for operational security. I think there was also a sense that with American Indians, senative americans native machineries as. Nate itch american native americans were a comprehensive force. We wanted all ethnicities to be represented by 1945. Its a painful process getting there, acknowledging theres a rightful role in combat unit for black americans. That black americans could be excellent Fighter Pilots as they showed in the alabama in who got in combat in europe. For native americans it was a feeling that, first of all, they got practical skills that are useful. Second that, it is an affirmation that this is a panamerican war. Salbator, in indianapolis, maryland, welcome. Yes, hello. My dad fought in world war ii in the pacific. He had Four Brothers who also fought in world war ii. Couple in pacific, couple in europe, another fought in the pacific in the navy. My dad was Second Generation italian american. Appears the prejudice against them was less than against japaneseamericans. Im glad that was true, im wondering why. Second question. Dropping the atomic bomb. I thibelieve its the reason i talking to you today and wondering the impact that had on the outcome of the war and ability of more american soldiers to survive. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. Thanks for the call and question, salvator. Yes, i think its fair to say the prejudices against italian americans were considerably less than against japaneseamericans. The italians of course were our adversary until 1943 when they switched sides and became our ally. But the italians had not launched the kind of attack that occurred in pearl harbor when japanese struck in decembers 1941. I think theres also a racial component to it, frankly. I think it was easier to dislike asians. The japanese specifically. So of course they were treated dreadfully. We were just talking about native americans while there were of course japanese americans who fought valiantly italy and in france in world war ii, they were exceptionally capable, ferocious fighters, and they had something to prove. Because back home there had been tens of thousands of japanese who had been in inturnment camps treeded as not treated as not only secondclass citizens but as noncitizens. With respect to atomic bombs, yes, i think the fact the two atomic bombs dropped on hiroshima and nagasaki to bring the end of the war probably saved tens of thousands of american lives. When dday came one of the reasons the jump illation wasnt more is that the battle of okinawa was a cave by cave blood letting and that foreshadows the toll of attacking the japanese home islands directly. There were estimates that american casualties could rise as much as to 1 million if that were required. And of course, the atomic bombs and when ve day occurs in may 1945, no one knows about the atomic bombs except small group of physicists and others in new mexico but no one is certain whether it is going to work. So those bombs, horrible as they were, in my estimation, brings the war to an absolute truncated end, appropriately it saves Many American lives. It saves even more japanese lives. Russians were ready to come in. The war was going to expand in the pacific because the russians had agreed to be part of it. So the atomic bomb saved a lot of heartache. Were talking about the end of the world war ii in the european theater, the 75th anniversary of ve day and joining us is world war ii veteran on our world war ii veterans life heap from davidson from oklahoma. Hello. Good morning, youre on the air. Why, thank you. Yes, i was over there on may the 6th 1945 and we got on a ship may 5th headed for the pacific. We stopped by the United States, we were training, flying b24 were going to train on b29 for couple weeks and go in the pacific and during that period of time is when they dropped the bomb that ended the war in the pacific but we bombed all of europe from a b24 base in mandura, italy. Heap, great to have you with us in morning. Thanks for your story. Rick atkinson how quickly was the military able to pivot to focus on the Pacific Theater . Well, the commanders in europe and of course civilian masters in washington had been thinking about how to take a good portion of that force and move it to the pacific and how you would do that, and who would go, was it fair for those who had been fighting in north africa in 42 and italy in 43 and western europe for them to have to fight in the pacific. So there were plans that had been put together. There were in fact units that were being shifted as heap just said, in may of 1945, they were getting ready to retrain for the assault on the japanese homeland. The b29 he mentioned was the newest of the four engine longrange bothers. It had been doing extraordinary work. Devastating japan. B29s were used to drop those two atomic bombs. So there was a belief you were going to have to take a good portion of that european force, leaving some behind of course as an Army Occupation but the majority of it was going to end up in the pacific in one form or another. In your weekend piece in wall street journal theres photo of eisenhower flashing a v or victory pins at the signing ceremony. One of your early interviews in 2002 in your first book army at dawn you said in a different photograph of ike that it reflected a specific bouyancy of spirit. You wrote that p other commanders werent confident that ike was necessarily the commander type. Well, there were frictions, no doubt about it. And the british in particular had doubts about eisenhower. Not all of them. Some of them revered him. He had difficulties really through the entire final year of the war with field Marshall Bernard montgomery, the senior british commander in europe, a very difficult character, it must be said. So there were those who had doubt s about eisenhower. There were those who had doubt s about him when he became the theater commander in the met trainian in late 1942. He had never heard a shot fire in anger. He and his west point class mate bradley both missed world war i, they had not been deployed. So there was a feeling who is this guy . And why is he the one to be the Supreme Commander . My feeling is i lived with Dwight Eisenhower metaphorically for 15 years and my admiration for him grew every year during that span. Was an extraordinarily capable war leader. He was an extremely capable political general in that his primary job was to hold together this frashs fractious al eyed commission with more than 50 countries fighting with the United States and eisenhower was brilliant Holding Together ha coalition against all of the secentrifugal forces trying to pull it apart every war time coalition. So eisenhowers laurels at the end of the war, i think, are fairly earned. He showed himself to be a capable ally commander, a warwinning commander, and that big smile of his one of his subordinates said was worth at least an army corp in moral terms was fairly well earned when we get to may 8, 1944. Lets hear from tom st. Petersburg, florida, youre on the air. Hello, my name is tom and the reason i am calling is i often wonderf wondered who engineered thend of the war. Was it admiral dorm is and secondly did dorm is honestly believe in his entire career that his losses in the atlantic were not caused by the anemic machine. Thirdly, what ever happened to him at the end of the war. Thats a lot of questions, admiral domi is was commander of the german navy at the end of the war. Wasnt much of a german navy to command at that point, the german submarine force had been almost completely destroyed by may 1945. In terms of who engineered the end of the war, well, there were conversations among those who were still surviving in berlin. Domi is was actually to the northwest of berlin. About how to go about contact the the allies and bringing this catastrophe to a close. Hitler, having killed himself on april 30th had essentially tried to pull the temple down a arent him as he par issued but not everyone was willing to make that route. Not everyone was suicidal. Ished everyone was willing to make that route. Not everyone was suicidal. So there was agreement theyd send a delegation to allied ed headquarters. First went to montgomery and then to eisenhowers headquarters. Its all made up as they go along. Theyre very aware that every day that passes there are more germans who fall under soviet control. And this they are determined to avoid. Theyre trying to stall as long as they can to allow germans to flee west ward and they are fleeing westward by the hundreds of thousands, eventually by the millions, in order to avoid being under soviet control. When the final decision is made to give up and Unconditional Surrender. Hear from steve from rhode island. Yes, hi, good morning. Id just like to make a comment. This gentleman knows that i know that the war was decided on the Franklin D Roosevelt<\/a> had lived to see this bay. General eisenhower informs me that the forces of germany have surrendered to the united nations. The flags of freedom fly all over europe. In this victory we join in offering our thanks to the providence which has guided and sustained us through the dark days of adversity and into light. Much remains to be done. The victory won in the west must now be won in the east. The whole world must be cleansed of the evil from which half the world has been free. United, the peaceloving nations have demonstrated in the west that their arms are stronger by far then the might of dictators or the tyranny of military clicks that once called us salt and wheat. The power of our people to defend themselves against all enemies will be proved in a pacific war as it was proved in europe. Historic pictures of the last days of the war in europe show american and Russian Troops<\/a> on the river elm splitting german armies in two. United states general ryanhart meets general rookov a meeting that spelled out certain german defeat. Inside germany itself, the a lies sees the famous stadium with countless nazi rallies with the capture of this famous southern german city the American Flag<\/a> crowds out the swastika. In a symbolic gesture american troops destroy the nazi party emblem. American history tv and washington journal are marking the end of world war ii, the 75th anniversary of the end of world war ii and the european theater, veday, victory in europe day. We welcome in author and historian Rick Atkinson<\/a> book of the guns at last light the final of the three books focussing on the years 1944 and 1945. And Rick Atkinson<\/a> to get our conversation started on veday, just a quick timeline where things were, how they came on dday june 6, 1944, in late august, the libberation of paris in august 25, 1944. The battle of the bulge in december of that year into january 1945. And then to veday. Take us back, Rick Atkinson<\/a> to may 7th and 8th of 1945. How did the war end in europe . Well, the war ended with the germans basically deciding hitler having killed himself more than a week earlier that there was no profit in dragging it out with the russians in berlin. The russian murdering civilians, killing german soldiers by the hundreds of thousands. So the germans decided that trying to make peace with the western allies, the americans in particular, was their best bet, that they were going to get a better deal from the western allies than from the soviets. So, eisenhower had his forward headquarters in the french champagne town in northeastern france. The germans sent a dealt gas station. There was a lot of collaborativor about what the conditions would be for a conversation and were told in no Uncertain Terms<\/a> that uncondition unconal Unconditional Surrender<\/a> render be the only way the war would end. So it was 2 00 in the morning may 7, 1945, and the articles of sur rendersurrender was boiled down to barely 200 words and the ceremony with cameras rolling lasted only 10 minutes. Yodle signed and eisenhower told him hed be personally held responsible ensuring the terms of the capitulation were honored. And that was that. It was going to go into effect the next day, may 8th, to give time to alert the german uboat crews in the atlantic and german detachments in norway. The soviets felt it was important to have a surrender ceremony on german soil, didnt want the germans to say they had never been defeated like in world war i, never capitulated in germany proper so they insisted there be yet another ceremony in the suburb of berlin which happened on may 9th. So the soviets, now the russians, consider that to be vrkse ve day but the rest of the world surrender went into effect may 8th. On the timeline from dday june 6, 1944, did the final victory in europe, based on your research of u. S. Forces and british forces, did that happen sooner than they thought . Or did it take longer than they thought . You know, it look longer in the sense that after the battle of the bulge that ended in january 1945 there was a widespread understanding is that the germans could not recover from this catastrophe. That they had lost the war. What no one in the west could understand is why they wouldnt give up. Why they continued to fight. Why one little town. One medium sized city. Even big cities continued to resist. There were 10,400 american soldiers killed in action in april 1945 in germany. Thats almost as many were kill in june 1944, the move invasion. So it was awful virtually to the last gunshot. And as a consequence there was great consternation really about whether they were going to surrender, whether every last gaeerman soldiers would be kill and more civilians have to die. So the hope was that the war would end sooner. May turned out to be the day. Our guest is Rick Atkinson<\/a> its the 75th anniversary of ve d day. Wed love to hear from you. 2027488001. Mountain and pacific time. And for those of you who are World War Two<\/a> veterans or families, iffed if your parent served call 2027488002. In your book, the guns at last light, Rick Atkinson<\/a>, its alarming to read the death tolls. In fact in one story you write about the training, just the training for dday alone there was an accident that killed 700 soldiers in the training accident. Looking at the statistics, 417,000 u. S. Deaths. On the soviet side, 8. 8 million to so. 7 million to 10. 7 million soviet soldiers not just civilian deaths. And the soviet union had 190 Million People<\/a> and estimated 26 Million Deaths<\/a>. Staggering 13 of the population. Our losses with 291,000 kill in action. A little more than 400,000 as you mentioned, all deaths, including accidents and disease, so on. Thats about 1 3 of 1 of the American Population<\/a> of 130 million during world war ii. So staggering as those numbers are for us, they are monumental for the soviets in particular, the germans lose about 7 Million People<\/a>. About 60 Million Deaths<\/a> worldwide in world war ii. Thats a death every three seconds for six years. That gives you an idea of the magnitude of this. Its the greatest catastrophe, selfinflicted catastrophe in human history. And the war ending three weeks or so after the death of fdr in warm springs, georgia, on april 12, 1945. Harry truman, the president on ve day. What was the effect stateside when that news came . Well, it was a great shock, even though anyone who was looking at news reel footages could see that president roosevelt was not a healthy man. He had been dieing for some months. He had a very arduous trip to first matta for a confrngs fr s frens conference. And then flew to have a conference with stall stalin. Anyone could see this man was dieing. He had all kinds of health problems. He suffers a cerebral hemorrhage april 12, 1945. It is right after lunch, the word spreads through the country very quickly. By Late Afternoon<\/a> virtually all americans are aware of it. Its a shock. Its a shock to everyone. He had been president for more than 12 years. Hes our war president. Hes the president through the darkest days of the depression. There were young men in uniform who really had very little memory of a time when roosevelt was not their leader and now their commanderinchief. So no one knew who harry truman was, for the most part, an obscure senator from missouri. Had been a captain in the artillery in world war i. He is a bit of a cipher in the eyes of most americans. The notion that he is going to step in and fill these very large shoe thats roosevelt has left behind is something a lot of people had difficulty comprehensi comprehending. We have lots of calls waiting for you, lets go first to larry in gallop, new mexico. Larry, good morning. Reporter yes, good morning. My father was in the south pacific. What is the role of the american indian, the sioux, the comanche and the hopi, how Much Research<\/a> have you done on them if any, what was their role during the war. Thanks very much. Thanks for the call and to your dad. Well the American Indians<\/a> were important, first of all they had a tradition of being warriors, that was critical when trying to put together an army. There were codetalkers, navajos and others who this their own language and was assumed correctly if a navajo was talking to another navajo on the radio, that even if the japanese, talking about the Pacific Theater<\/a> in this case, could eavesdrop and hear that conversation, which they could, they werent going to be able to decode it because very few japanese spoke navajo. So the codetalkers were important for operational security. I think there was also a sense that with American Indians<\/a>, senative americans native machineries as. Nate itch american native americans were a comprehensive force. We wanted all ethnicities to be represented by 1945. Its a painful process getting there, acknowledging theres a rightful role in combat unit for black americans. That black americans could be excellent Fighter Pilots<\/a> as they showed in the alabama in who got in combat in europe. For native americans it was a feeling that, first of all, they got practical skills that are useful. Second that, it is an affirmation that this is a panamerican war. Salbator, in indianapolis, maryland, welcome. Yes, hello. My dad fought in world war ii in the pacific. He had Four Brothers<\/a> who also fought in world war ii. Couple in pacific, couple in europe, another fought in the pacific in the navy. My dad was Second Generation<\/a> italian american. Appears the prejudice against them was less than against japaneseamericans. Im glad that was true, im wondering why. Second question. Dropping the atomic bomb. I thibelieve its the reason i talking to you today and wondering the impact that had on the outcome of the war and ability of more american soldiers to survive. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. Thanks for the call and question, salvator. Yes, i think its fair to say the prejudices against italian americans were considerably less than against japaneseamericans. The italians of course were our adversary until 1943 when they switched sides and became our ally. But the italians had not launched the kind of attack that occurred in pearl harbor when japanese struck in decembers 1941. I think theres also a racial component to it, frankly. I think it was easier to dislike asians. The japanese specifically. So of course they were treated dreadfully. We were just talking about native americans while there were of course japanese americans who fought valiantly italy and in france in world war ii, they were exceptionally capable, ferocious fighters, and they had something to prove. Because back home there had been tens of thousands of japanese who had been in inturnment camps treeded as not treated as not only secondclass citizens but as noncitizens. With respect to atomic bombs, yes, i think the fact the two atomic bombs dropped on hiroshima and nagasaki to bring the end of the war probably saved tens of thousands of american lives. When dday came one of the reasons the jump illation wasnt more is that the battle of okinawa was a cave by cave blood letting and that foreshadows the toll of attacking the japanese home islands directly. There were estimates that american casualties could rise as much as to 1 million if that were required. And of course, the atomic bombs and when ve day occurs in may 1945, no one knows about the atomic bombs except small group of physicists and others in new mexico but no one is certain whether it is going to work. So those bombs, horrible as they were, in my estimation, brings the war to an absolute truncated end, appropriately it saves Many American<\/a> lives. It saves even more japanese lives. Russians were ready to come in. The war was going to expand in the pacific because the russians had agreed to be part of it. So the atomic bomb saved a lot of heartache. Were talking about the end of the world war ii in the european theater, the 75th anniversary of ve day and joining us is world war ii veteran on our world war ii veterans life heap from davidson from oklahoma. Hello. Good morning, youre on the air. Why, thank you. Yes, i was over there on may the 6th 1945 and we got on a ship may 5th headed for the pacific. We stopped by the United States<\/a>, we were training, flying b24 were going to train on b29 for couple weeks and go in the pacific and during that period of time is when they dropped the bomb that ended the war in the pacific but we bombed all of europe from a b24 base in mandura, italy. Heap, great to have you with us in morning. Thanks for your story. Rick atkinson how quickly was the military able to pivot to focus on the Pacific Theater<\/a> . Well, the commanders in europe and of course civilian masters in washington had been thinking about how to take a good portion of that force and move it to the pacific and how you would do that, and who would go, was it fair for those who had been fighting in north africa in 42 and italy in 43 and western europe for them to have to fight in the pacific. So there were plans that had been put together. There were in fact units that were being shifted as heap just said, in may of 1945, they were getting ready to retrain for the assault on the japanese homeland. The b29 he mentioned was the newest of the four engine longrange bothers. It had been doing extraordinary work. Devastating japan. B29s were used to drop those two atomic bombs. So there was a belief you were going to have to take a good portion of that european force, leaving some behind of course as an Army Occupation<\/a> but the majority of it was going to end up in the pacific in one form or another. In your weekend piece in wall street journal theres photo of eisenhower flashing a v or victory pins at the signing ceremony. One of your early interviews in 2002 in your first book army at dawn you said in a different photograph of ike that it reflected a specific bouyancy of spirit. You wrote that p other commanders werent confident that ike was necessarily the commander type. Well, there were frictions, no doubt about it. And the british in particular had doubts about eisenhower. Not all of them. Some of them revered him. He had difficulties really through the entire final year of the war with field Marshall Bernard<\/a> montgomery, the senior british commander in europe, a very difficult character, it must be said. So there were those who had doubt s about eisenhower. There were those who had doubt s about him when he became the theater commander in the met trainian in late 1942. He had never heard a shot fire in anger. He and his west point class mate bradley both missed world war i, they had not been deployed. So there was a feeling who is this guy . And why is he the one to be the Supreme Commander<\/a> . My feeling is i lived with Dwight Eisenhower<\/a> metaphorically for 15 years and my admiration for him grew every year during that span. Was an extraordinarily capable war leader. He was an extremely capable political general in that his primary job was to hold together this frashs fractious al eyed commission with more than 50 countries fighting with the United States<\/a> and eisenhower was brilliant Holding Together<\/a> ha coalition against all of the secentrifugal forces trying to pull it apart every war time coalition. So eisenhowers laurels at the end of the war, i think, are fairly earned. He showed himself to be a capable ally commander, a warwinning commander, and that big smile of his one of his subordinates said was worth at least an army corp in moral terms was fairly well earned when we get to may 8, 1944. Lets hear from tom st. Petersburg, florida, youre on the air. Hello, my name is tom and the reason i am calling is i often wonderf wondered who engineered thend of the war. Was it admiral dorm is and secondly did dorm is honestly believe in his entire career that his losses in the atlantic were not caused by the anemic machine. Thirdly, what ever happened to him at the end of the war. Thats a lot of questions, admiral domi is was commander of the german navy at the end of the war. Wasnt much of a german navy to command at that point, the german submarine force had been almost completely destroyed by may 1945. In terms of who engineered the end of the war, well, there were conversations among those who were still surviving in berlin. Domi is was actually to the northwest of berlin. About how to go about contact the the allies and bringing this catastrophe to a close. Hitler, having killed himself on april 30th had essentially tried to pull the temple down a arent him as he par issued but not everyone was willing to make that route. Not everyone was suicidal. Ished everyone was willing to make that route. Not everyone was suicidal. So there was agreement theyd send a delegation to allied ed headquarters. First went to montgomery and then to eisenhowers headquarters. Its all made up as they go along. Theyre very aware that every day that passes there are more germans who fall under soviet control. And this they are determined to avoid. Theyre trying to stall as long as they can to allow germans to flee west ward and they are fleeing westward by the hundreds of thousands, eventually by the millions, in order to avoid being under soviet control. When the final decision is made to give up and Unconditional Surrender<\/a>. Hear from steve from rhode island. Yes, hi, good morning. Id just like to make a comment. This gentleman knows that i know that the war was decided on the Eastern Front<\/a>. The western front was like a little skirmish compared to the Eastern Front<\/a> and if the germans prevailed on the Eastern Front<\/a> there wouldnt have been a western front, there would have been a settlement. But the most important issue i want to state is the russian crime when they entered berlin and over 2 million german women were raped by those communist animals. Im a germanamerican and my father is a germanamerican who served in the italian campaign. Steve, well get a response from Rick Atkinson<\/a>. Thanks for the call, steve. Yeah, there were war crimes of the first order committed by the soviets not only in berlin but through all of eastern europe, really, as they overran poland and then pushed into the eastern precincts of what was then the german empire. The reason the soviets were doing that besides a fatal lack of discipline was a feeling that the depravity that the germans had visited on the soviet Union Beginning<\/a> with the invasion in 1941 and extending right on through the end of the german advance was to be repaid in kind. So, war spirals out of control in ways that no one can foresee at the beginning and this say good example of the atrocities that the germans committed are repaid probably with interest by the russians. I agree with you, the russians certainly carried the weight of the war for all of the allies, its estimated that soviet soldiers killed 9 german soldiers for every 1 who was killed by british and american troops combined. And i mentioned 26 million soviets dead. They did most of the dieing. They did most of the killing. It was absolutely vital to have them remain as part of the alliance. Today is the 75th anniversary of ve day, here were joined by Rick Atkinson<\/a>, the author of the guns at last light last of threebook series on the war and european theater. More of your calls momentarily, joined next by senator of kansas, chair of the eisenhower memorial commission. The senator from kansas. Senator, we saw you yesterday on the floor with your i like ike button on the senate floor. With y you were a youngster when have had vae day happened. The button said i still like ike. They were handed out yesterday, it was a hot item. I think most of my memories came when i was about 16. And got to go to the Republican Convention<\/a> in 1952 where eisenhower won on the first ballot as opposed to robert a. Taft and then again during the inaugural. Those were the only times i personally met the man. Obviously at nine i was back in kansas. I remember that day though because i was swinging on the front porch and my mom came in with tears in her eyes and said, we defeated hilttler. You know, ike defeated hitler. I asked does that mean dad can come home. Not a at this particular time. He was a in okinawa for that effort. One thing i knew about ike, you knew he came in the room, even though your back was to him. He had that charisma. He had a very ready face, a wonderful smile and everybody liked ike. It pretty well stuck. We are talking about general eisenhowers role in the victory in europe. Talking to you about the eisenhower memorial. General eisenhower led the allies the to victory in europe ander served two terms as president. Whys it taking so long for a memorial to be create in washington for president eisenhower . It is amazing how many groups you have to go through, national commissioner, fine arts council, et cetera, et cetera. Secondly, you have to raise the money for it. Then you have to have federal funds. You have to have all members of the family on board. There were changes. I was the second chairman way back. Danny inoy, medal of honor winner, the senator from hawaii, and then senator ted stevens, two world war ii vets pushed very hard on this. If you take a look at most of the memorials not many are built on a rapid basis. It just takes stepbystep. The process is basically not simple. You got site selection. Design approvals. Construction. Its a monumental undertaking. Pardon that terrible pun. We are thrilled, now, finally, to see the hard work come to fruition. Its done. And all we have to do now is wait hopefully until september when social distancing will not be that much of a problem, we hope. If it still is, we will have the dedication accordingly. It was supposed to be today, on the 75th anniversary of ve day. What quick comments were you going to make . What were you going to say in that dedication . Well, i think i had four minutes. The president had accepted the invitation to speak. We had a fly over. Basically the eisenhower family would have spoken. We had a number of world war ii veterans, including bob dole, who really helped raising money on the private side of it. And i just think this memorial honors a very extraordinary man and favorite son of kansas and i think he served as a symbol for all generations of the promise of america an what did our values made possible here and around the world. I think he really was the president that basically was president when we entered on the world stage and then more especially when he was the supreme allied commander in europe. Senior senator from kansas we look forward to the dedication when that does happen. Thank you so much for joining us this morning on the 75th anniversary of ve day. Back to our guest. Rick atkinson, author of libberation trilogy. Taking calls on this 75th anniversary. James is in sturgis, south dakota. Yeah, i was retired air force, high ranking war veteran. I was 9 11, saudi arabia, ground zero. Served a year in korea. I did a fundraiser with my dad, he was a world war ii veteran. Graduate in may, 1945. Went to portland, may 45 graduated. Anyway, just calling to thank all of the veterans. Thanks, james. Rick atkinson, your dad served in world war ii and you yourself an army brat, your dad a career military veteran. What was the experience in particular like, ve day when that could come up every did year with your dad. My dad was from new jersey. He enlisted in the army right after he turned 18 in late 1942. He went to ocs, officer candidate school, became a second lieutenant, got to europe right after the war ended. He was in the const abulary. An occupation with Extraordinary Police<\/a> powers because germany was in ruins, obviously, and anarchy was a big threat there and everywhere else. He came home 1946, went to penn state, and went back to the army, likes it well enough to make it a career, served for 30 years. He died about 18 months ago at age of 94. Ve day was not anything particular in his world view. He marked veterans day, memorial day, fourth of july, these were important holidays for him as they are for many of us. Ve day in and of itself, he was worried as one of our earlier callers was whether he would end up in the pacific. Fortunately for me and for him that wasnt necessary. I was born in munich because my father as a lieutenant having gone back in the army went back to europe and was part of the army of occupation in salsburg the American Army<\/a> hospital was in munich but at that point austria was still petition and he was part of the occupation force in austria in 1955 when the russians and americans both left austria. So the residual affects of the war have persisted in many ways and even ten years after the war we still had Occupation Forces<\/a> in austria and of course to this day we have American Forces<\/a> in germany. Theyre not Occupation Forces<\/a> because of the allies now. The consequences that the war, in terms of the military topography were profound. And affected me personally and certainly my father. Next up, robert is calling from ports smith, virginia. Good morning, yes. Good morning, gentlemen. I just have a comment. My grandfather served in both theaters he was in the navy turn european conflict and what they decided to call it quits, you know, ve day, he transferred to the United States<\/a> marine corps so he could go to the Pacific Theater<\/a>. And he actually seen action, thank god he come home to us, and he served in two different branches of the service in two theaters of war. Okay, robert, any specific question or other comment . Well, i got a question. Is it true that during the Second World War<\/a> they had a secret group of nazis to make a fourth reich after the war . Well. You know, there were certainly good nazis who got away, who escaped either the hangman or prison or some sort of account. Some of them famously went to south america. And there were a few who had ambitions of either reconstituting the german reich or keeping alive the spirit of the reich or the spirit of adolph hitler. This is a fringe group not to be taken seriously. I think a greater concern not those of justice, those who may have had ambitions to pull together the ator remnants of the german empire and reconstitute it in some fashion. But those in germany and elsewhere in europe, not just germans by any means who feel that the spirit of the third reich somehow should be honored. And should, you know, you cannot be legally a nazi in germany. The germans have been extraordinary capable in the past 75 years, first of educating all germans, particularly younger germans about what had happened and who was responsible. It is difficult to snuff out the virus of fascism. We see it cropping up in hungary and other places in eastern europe. We see little sparks of it in portions of germany. Thats very concerning. And we see it wherever there are populous who want to take the route of fascism or neofascism or protofascism and try to feather their nest politically with it. Thats of greater concern than any residual nazis from 1945. You write in your last book about the discovery of vast troves of german boullioon of gold, art treasures in caves and mines across gallinari mines across germany. How was that prevented to being looted or revenge against those who were prisoners or those in pursuit of german troops. Yeah the germans where are thieves, the nazi great thieves, the nazis took things from all across the country and returning them goes on to this day. In a concentration camp not far from munich, american soldiers liberated the camp and saw tens of thousands in immaybiated condition and thousands had died. Corpses around the grounds in the outskirts of camp. There were american soldier whos lost control, the discipline broke down and theres an estimated several dozen german ss guards who were murdered either by the american leagues, in one case they put them against a wall and mowed them down with a machine gun, or were murdered by inmates who got into a frenzy until order was restored. So there was concern about this for the most part. Discipline obtained. The number of revenge killings by american troops in western allied troops was very small. Discipline was really quite low. Less so from the soviets coming from the east. That was part of the price and pain of victory. Lets go back to calls. And hear from lawrence, st. Paul, minnesota. What a great opportunity. Thafr thanks. Ill be quick. Two comments. One. I always admired eisenhower having to pull in citizens from the towns near the concentration camps to witness what the nazi regime did. But thats not my question. My question is, studying world war ii so impactful for understanding where we are today from a political, military and social perspective. If you could comment on that particularly as it relates to the politics involved in the making of both the atomic and Hydrogen Bomb<\/a> post world war. Thanks for the opportunity. Look forward to hearing your comments. Thanks for the call. You know, the consequences of world war ii are extraordinary. Socially, politically, militarily. Socially, in this country, our views on gender and racial equality are very much shaped by the experiences in world war ii. There were black americans, hundreds of thousands black americans, for example, who served in the war, mostly initially in allblack units. It was a seg gregated military. And many of them had what they called a double v campaign. Victory against facist opponents overseas and victory against racism at home. The dignity, empowerment, the sense of service, the sense of cohesion that that experience brought to black america was really a propulsion system for the Civil Rights Movement<\/a> after the war. Same for gender equality. We had 19 million american women working outside the home during world war ii. Many of them went back to being homemakers after the war but you dont keep that genie in the bottle for long. It showed women that they had an opportunity, potentially an opportunity, to do whatever men could do, that they could do things that men could do as well if not better. Whether riveting together a ship, or working in a science lab, teaching in college, whatever. So these very large social imprints that come out of the war are with us to this day. It shaped the culture, the society, the economy in extraordinary profound ways that we still see 75 years later. Well point our viewers and listeners to Rick Atkinson<\/a>s modern day piece in the wall street journal, ve day forged a world still worth defending, there in Grand Central<\/a> station may 7, 1945. Now to linda. Good morning. Yes, thank you for taking my call. I have great aunt and uncles from northern italy who told us stories about resistance by many of theit iit of italians an they were invaded on liberation liberation day. Our current family and friends remind us this week april 25th was their liberation day and they celebrated and how sad they are many of their elder survivors had actually passed away due to covid19 and they feel like theyre in battle again. My question is what were the italian terms of liberation, and were there still germans in italy fighting at that point . Yes, there were germans in italy until may of 1945. The italians you may know from Family History<\/a> in 1943 had decided after making an alliance with the germans, the impact of steel that mussolini and hitler had put together, in 1943 there were secret negotiations between the americans and british and italians and in 1943 they switched sides, not all of them switched sides. That was a state that prevailed in northern italy supported by the germans. The fighting in italy which had begun with our invasion of sicily in july 1943 was going to continue right until the very end of the war. Lasted almost until this day 75 years ago. The italians eventually surrendered after the germans had agreed to surepder. It was the zwrurmens occupying italy, propping up that pseudo government who had to throw in the towel, and that occurs, you know, may 2, 1945. So the war is awful in italy until the very end also. I hope the fellow from new mexico to still listening. We had a local station being interviewed and that fellow sang the marine corp him in navajo. My dad was a marine innee w iwo. Would eleanor have let him use the bombs and semmer for america. Thanks for that. D eleanor voos relate was not directing war policy eafter an. He saw it as a way to shorten the war. He saw it as a way to save lives both american and other American Allies<\/a> and to save japanese lives also. He was less concerned about that needless to say by 19 45. Had Franklin Roosevelt<\/a> lived beyond april 12, 1945 i have no doubt he would have made the same decision harry truman did which was to use this weapon in hopes of bringing the war, the total war to a complete and final end which happens of course with the japanese surrender in tokyo on tokyo bay on the uss missouri september 2, 1945. Thats vj day. We touched on this briefly a at the beginning of the program, but who were the germans signing for the german country. I guess hes referring to the ve day, the allied signing not the russian signing. It was the operations chief for the german military. Yodel had been designated to be given the authority by the residual german government. Yodel had an appointment after that signing and that was with the hangman. He was one of those executed for war crimes subsequently after the trial. You probably get asked this question a lot, your liberation trilogies about the war and yourman theater and your first book coming out on that last year. Have you ever considered a book about the Pacific Theater<\/a> and world war ii . I thought about it a lot, bill. And i decided not to. 2013 is when the third and final volume of the liberation trilogy the guns at last light came out. I decided not to in part because im a europeanist, lived in europe, born in europe, and more importantly i just had a fascination even a fixation with that earlier war, the war of our nms, the war that gave us the republic that we have to this day. So im working on volume 2 of the American Revolution<\/a> trilogy. Its going to take me a while. I dont anticipate being around to take up the pacific. To jesus in illinois, good morning. Caller yes, good morning. Yes, i have a question. I wonder what he thinks about the mexicanamericans and latinos in the war. Thanks for the question, jesus. As were with the other ethnic contributions we talked about earlier, nativeamericans, blacks and others the hispanic contribution, take the Texas National<\/a> guard, the 36 Infantry Division<\/a> or the 45th division which had been the oklahoma and new Mexico National<\/a> guard, go down the roster of the names of the soldiers in those units and you see lots of hernandezes and gun gonzalez and making those units into fine fighting units, so, you know, hispanic americans have every reason to be prod of their role and their contribution to that 16. 1 million men and women force that made the United States<\/a> military in world war ii. Theres a photograph of the bbc today about at this point princess elizabeth, Queen Elizabeth<\/a> to lead the 75th Anniversary Event<\/a> speaking to the nation on television there as an army jeep driver. Broadly what was the role of the royal family back then in the war . Well, their role was to keep the british in the fight and focused on the ambitions of the entire british nation which was basely to prevail and withstand the pressures from hitler and his fascist thugs. When ve day occurred there were huge crowds in Trafalgar Square<\/a> and elsewhere in lubden, and there were crowds that gathered outside buckingham palace, and first of all they sang patriotic songs, hope and glory, people weeping. T and they chanted we want to king, and he appeared six times during the day and he brought with him the queen, and he brought with him the two princes including elizabeth who was then still a young girl but now 75 years later has been queen for a long time. And theres no one better equipped to speak on behalf of britain and what britain accomplished during the war than queen lelizabeth. We sure appreciate you joining us this morning on this 75th anniversary of ve day and good luck on the continuation of your series on the American Revolution<\/a>. Thanks so much for having me this morning and for remembering the day. Youre watching a special edition of American History<\/a> tv airing weekdays. Tonight beginning at 8 00 p. M. Eastern its world war ii oral histories. In early 1945 the u. S. Marines invaded the Pacific Island<\/a> of iwjima and hershal Woody Williams<\/a> recounts his experiences servings as a marine in the pacific. Watch American History<\/a> tv now and over the weekend on cspan 3. Tonight on the communicators microsoft president brad smith coauthor of the new book tools and weapons, the promise and the peril of the digital age. We need businesses in the tech sector to step up, exercise more selfregulation and a higher commitment to responsibility, but we do think we need more regulation of technology. Think about how we live our lives. If you go to the Grocery Store<\/a> and you pick something up off the shelf, you will read the w nutrition label knowing its standardized and accurate because of regulation. If you go to the Pharmacy Department<\/a> and buy a product you dont worry about the safety of it because its regulated. When you get into your car it complies with certain safety standards. Our biggest point is Digital Technology<\/a> has gone longer with less regulation than almost any Technology Since<\/a> the middle of the 1800. We think the market customers and even industry itself would be better served for the longterm with a different balance. Watch the communicators tonight at 8 00 eastern on cspan 2. Cspan has unfiltered coverage of congress, the white house, the Supreme Court<\/a> and Public Policy<\/a> events from the president ial primaries to the impeachment process and now the federal response to coronavirus. You can watch all of cspans Public Affairs<\/a> programming on television, online or listen on our free radio app and be part of the National Conversation<\/a> through cspans daily Washington Journal Program<\/a> or through our social media feeds. Cspan, created by americas Cable Television<\/a> company as a Public Service<\/a> and brought to you today by your television provider. The president s from Public Affairs<\/a>, available now in paperback and ebook. Presents biographies of every president organized by their ranking by noted historians from best to worse and features perspectives into the lives of our nations chief executives and leadership styles. Visit our website, cspan. Org the president s to learn more about each president and historian featured and order your copy today wherever books and ebooks are sold. In 1965 the u. S. Army produced a 5hour, 10part documentary focusing on the armys activities from world war i through the korean war. Next on real america to mark the 75th anniversary of the end of world war ii in europe or ve day we bring you episodes 4 through 8. They cover u. S. Involvement in world war ii from the pearl harbor attack through the surrender of japan. Each of these is about 3 minutes. They originally aired on the u. S. Armys big picture television series. This was the europe from 1941. The nazi blitzkrieg had overwhelmed france, holland, belgium,","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"archive.org","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","width":"800","height":"600","url":"\/\/ia802909.us.archive.org\/3\/items\/CSPAN3_20200511_200100_Rick_Atkinson_on_V-E_Day_75th_Anniversary\/CSPAN3_20200511_200100_Rick_Atkinson_on_V-E_Day_75th_Anniversary.thumbs\/CSPAN3_20200511_200100_Rick_Atkinson_on_V-E_Day_75th_Anniversary_000001.jpg"}},"autauthor":{"@type":"Organization"},"author":{"sameAs":"archive.org","name":"archive.org"}}],"coverageEndTime":"20240716T12:35:10+00:00"}