Transcripts For CSPAN3 American Artifacts The Road To Berlin

Im senior director of research and history here at the National World War Ii Museum in new orleans. Were standing in the road to berlin, permanent gallery exhibits which opened in december 2014 after several years of development. Our mission here at the National World War Ii Museum is to tell the American Experience in world war ii, why it was fought, how it was won and what it means today. The building were in tells the war part of the story, how it was won. So here we are in the first gallery of the road to berlin and behind me, youll see the large portraits of the political leaders of the axis and allied powers, the lineup, if you will, of the two sides that are going to engage in this great struggle. When our visitors arrive in this gallery, we believe that they will know that pearl harbor has already occurred due to exhibits on the other side of the streets in our museum. So with the country already at war, we have a video that introduces them to the five major Strategic Elements that the United States and our allies must master in order to win world war ii. These five key Strategic Elements include arsenal of democracy, building a greater war machine than our enemies, technology, its not enough just to outproduce our enemies, we have to make better equipment and weapons, control of the sea lanes, control of the air, and then the last strategic element, mastery of amphibious landings which was highly debated going into world war ii as a successful military strategy. All of these things combine into the eventual invasion of europe and the normandie landings in june of 1944 as the high point of the allied effort. Roosevelts british Prime Minister churchill hud untdle i some top secret meetings. American military strategists including the army chief of staff George Marshal and the Brigadier General Dwight Eisenhower meet for an invasion of northern france. So when the United States entered world war ii after the attack on pearl harbor in december 1941, we were faced with a strategic choice, who to fight first, japan or nazi germany . Frankl Franklin Roosevelt abelieved tht hitler was the chief enemy. The problem is that we were not ready to fight the nazis on the continent of europe. We did look into plans to perhaps invade across the English Channel into normandie in 1942 or 1943 but realized we would not have the Material Resources or the army built up that would be necessary for victory. In the meantime, the soviet union was taking a terrible pounding on the eastern front. And so Franklin Roosevelt and churchill realized they had to do something to meet Josef Stalins pleaing for a second front. So where do we fight . They decided we would land in north africa. So we tell the story in this north african farmhouse were standing in of the decision and the consequences. The problem were going to face is can our troops green, young citizen soldiers actually fight the battle hardened nazi army and win . So were now entering the north african gallery here at the museum. And behind me over here is our weapons case. Featured in this weapon are handguns, rifles, shot guns, mortars, other weapons that were going to use to fight in europe. Included in this case is the m1 grand rifle which game the standard rifle for infantrymen in the United States army. We also have the m11, a1 pistol in this case. It was designed by john browning. Its going to become the standard issue very popular pistol thats going to be issued many u. S. Army personnel. In the museum, we try to build in environmental challenges that the u. S. Faced, our forces faced around the world in world war ii. And so in north africa, of course, the desert is as big a challenge as the enemy at times. And so what we have here in the gallery is an environmental treatment that not only shows the rocky desert that were going to be fighting in but also the pass, battle in february 1943 where the United States is unfortunately going to be very, very badly whipped by the germans in the deserts. Many viewers may remember the famous scene in the movie p patton where George Patton is brought in to reorganize the forces to beat the germans in the desert. In this case here, we have a tricolor french flag. Many americans and others dont realize that when we landed in in morocco in north africa, the french government was allied with nazi germany. And so we actually did have to do some fighting against the french with the initial landings. Included in this case is a ss cap, you can see the deaths head on it. This one is a little unique because it is a tropical wear issue that the germans are going to give the ss part of their elite troops, part of the elite forces, i should say, the ss, of course, is going to be in charge of carrying out the holocaust in europe. And one other thing i thought i would point out here, you have life magazines issue war hits red oak. Red oak, iowa. At the pass, 45 men from red oak, iowa, in the local National Guard unit are going to be killed or captured by the germans. And so this was the point where the reality of war in north africa and the european theater is going to start to come home to americans with these losses in such a small town, so many boys in one single battle. Behind me is 105 millimeter howitzer. The howitzer was originally designed to shoot at aircraft. But in north aftrica, we discovered this is an ideal antitank weapon. The gun could be lowered and then fired at tanks across the deserts of north africa. It was a very effective weapon. This map introduces visitors to the situation when the allies landed in north africa in november of 1942. You can see on the map that the allies are represented in blue. But the axis powers and territories they control are represented in red. You get a sense of the scale of adolf hitlers power where he and others have an empire, really nor german, but an empire that stretches across europe and north africa, a sea of red. We have a long way go in this war. This jeep actually plays an audio track that mimics what it was like to be in the retreat at the pass. After the pass, the United States is going to reorganize its forces. General george pat on ton is go to come in and were going to drive forward to victory in north africa when many may 1943 we win against the germans at the battle of el guitar. Unfortunately, it wasnt a complete victory. The germans are going to escape with a lot of men and equipment into sicily and italy to continue on the fight. And so sicily is the next stop on the road to berlin. Were now entering the sicily gallery here at the National World War Ii Museum. Here you can see on this map the initial landings where allied forces are going to drop parachutes and then also come in with amphibious landings in july of 1943. Now sicily is going to prove to be a very quick campaign all told. Only 38 days long. It was filled with a lot of drama that included the rivalry between general george s. Patton and bernard law montgomery, the british commander. However, something that i want to point out that is of special significance, i think, in this gallery that we want our visitors to understand is that war is a very messy, dirty and often unfair business. And in those landings at sicily, were going to see the worst friendly fire incident that American Forces suffer in world war ii. Better than 300 american parra troope parraparatroopers are going to be shot down as they approach southern italy early in the invasion. This is something that came about because of inexperience and green troops and fear. Its part of war. And its not an easy, glorious march to victory in world war ii like a lot of people think it was today when we call it the good war. Very bad things happened in that good war. Here we have an airmans cloth map of italy and tunisia. When our paratroopers in the war would drop into unknown territories, they would have these maps dyed into scarf twhoez wea they would wear. You can see in this space taking polermo, the first European Capital to fall to the allies. General George Patton raced up the western side of sicily to take polermo and then headed to the east across the northern border of sicily, combining with Bernard Montgomery to push against the germans and the italian forces, eventually driving them off of the sicilian island across the straits of italy into the southern boot there. You get a sense of the campaign and how it moved to this very rapid conclusion, 38 days after the landings here. Were now leaving the sicily gallery and entering the Italian Campaign here in National World War Ii Museum. You can see on the map to my right the situation that the allies faced in september of 1943 as we begin the invasion of southern italy. The Italian Campaign was urged by Winston Churchill to be a soft underbelly of europe that we could drive up the peninsula and possibly get at nazi germany and win the war. Its not going to turn out that way at all. Instead, the Italian Campaign is going to be a long, bloody slog. It starts from the very beginning. The allies are going to face great challenges with the amphibious landings that we must perform to win. Its always important as you walk through the galleries to remember the ultimate fight were going to have to have which is the envision of normandie. Were having trouble making amphibious landings in italy and other places. Well that forebodes ill for the normandie landings we know are coming at some point. But so in this italian gallery, we have an environment like an italian villa. Our video here tells the story of this Overall Campaign that goes to the very end of the war, all the way to may of 1945 with bitter fighting that occurs. Now in this gallery, you will find out stories of americans who were often marginalized at the edges of American Society at this time. Japanese americans and africanamericans in particular are featured in this gallery. We are committed to telling diverse stories of americans here at the museum. But we try to tell the stories within the context of the overarching narrative of the American Experience. In italy, visitors find out stories about africanamericans who fought with the 92nd id. Theyll find out stories about japaneseamericans fighting with the 442nd Regimental Combat Team. And theyre going to find out how tough it was to fight against the elements. Once again, the environment and nature plays a terrible role in this campaign where were fighting up mountains, trying to drive towards rome. Were standing next to a panel involving john r. Foxs story. John fox was an africanamerican fighting with the segregated 92nd infantry division. He ordered a mortar fire to come down on his position in the midst of a german attack where, frankly, the germans were about to break our lines. When fox was discovered a couple days later, he was surrounded by over 100 dead germans and so in 1998, he was eventually awarded the medal of honor. In this case over here, we have a congressional gold medal that was awarded to a member of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team which was segregated unit of japaneseamericans who fought in italy in world war ii. He had actually been inturned at a camp in arizona before he was allowed to fight for his country. 442nd put up the most impressive record of combat of virtually any unit in world war ii. They were eventually awarded 21 medals of honor including one that went to daniel inoway that became a long time senator from hawaii. Ernie pi ernie pyle becomes a well known figure in the United States with columns detailing what life was like for the average american soldier, the dog faces, as he called them. Here you can see a couple books from the war. Hears your war and brave men. I want to point out this artifact between the books. Am you can see his zippo lighter. This lighter was given to a young g. I. Named reid swtizer from ernie pyle, sort of exemplifies the spirit that the troops had when they identified with him because he identified with them. Average americans out on the battle fields having to fight. And one other artifact i thought i would point out here that brings home the reality of what these young men and women were facing, young men on the battle lines, of course, but you can see next to ernie pyles book, a cigarette case and purple heart metal. The cigarette case belonged to a Young Private by the named of andrew sexon. He was a medic. He was basically shot and the bullet went through the cigarette case but was stopped on the other side of it and fell into the case. And so he later credited with this saving his life. If you can imagine what an experience like that must be like. Certainly it brings home the reality of life and death that these young men and women were facing and that ernie pyle understood so well. We have here in the italian gallery a 4. 2 inch mortar. This is going to turn out to be an extremely effective weapon for allied troops. It weighed about 330 pounds. It had a maximum range of about 4,400 yards. Minimum range of 650 yards. It could fire about 20 rounds a minute for a short duration of firing. You could, of course, fire it for much longer. It changed the rate of fire the longer you went. But if you follow me, over here you can see one of the shells that that 4. 2 inch mortar would have fired in this exhibit case over here. We have in this case a number of items that are interesting. Up top i thought i would point out we have a couple of guns that are dummy guns. These were taken from italians, kind of interesting when you think about it that these are toy guns captured by the americans. But toy guns, once again, the reality is everybody shooting with live rounds most of the time. And that reality is brought home very dramatically in this case as well. We have another purple heart and we have below it a coffin casket title tag that belonged to anthony sconza, a private serving in italy. He had written his brother a letter in which he said he feared that he might not make it home but begged his brother not to say anything to his parents because of these fears. And indeed, he was killed in september of 1944 while fighting in italy. So one other element that i thought i would point out in this case here is 05, you can see the firing table. Its a slide rule for the 4. 2 inch mortar that we were viewing in the previous room in the gallery. So if you wanted to make adjustments to hit your enemy, this is how you calculate that. And then make the adjustments and then hopefully hit your target. Behind me you see a sign, its a fabricated sign. Something that we put throughout the museum in these galleries to remind people of how far away we often are from victory. Here you can see 736 miles to berlin from italy. What we tell, however, the public, is that the road to berlin will not go through italy. Despite the efforts of the allies to fight up the italian peninsula, the terrain, the nazi armies, all of this is going to combine to bring us short of our goal of ultimate victory against nazi germany. We arent able to make it over the alps. And so in order to hit nazi germany directly, were next going to visit a gallery that talks about the air war. The one place in these years of 1942 and 43 where we were able to directly strike at the heart of hitlers empire. Were now entering our air war gallery. Now up to this point at the museum, weve had the visitor on kind of a chronological march of action in world war ii, north africa, sicily, italy. The air war was going on throughout 1942 to 1945 and it was the one part of the war where we were constantly trying to hit nazi germany. Couldnt strike them from north africa or italy physically. We could from the air. You can see this on our map where were launching missions from out of north africa and especially from Great Britain where the eighth air force was located. Now in this gallery with the air war, the air war went through several stages. You have some initial beginnings and then most importantly by the end of 1943, we are basically losing the air war very badly. In air raids and as well as other famous raids, we are losing disproportionate amounts of our bombers going up trying to hit the heartland of nazi germany and other Industrial Facilities throughout europe that the nazis were using. The reason this was so problematic for us, if you think about it, for example, a b17 bomber which was the work horse of the european Bombing Campaign had a trained had Trained Personnel in it where you had ten, 11 men in there that every time one was shot down, it is one thing to lose a plane, but its another thing to lose all the Trained Personnel. That was true of the other side adds well. The German Air Force trained pilots where this is going tobacco a key element of whats going to eventually happen with the air war where its about ultimately replacing pilots in planes. However, by late 1943, what we want people to understand, we had to have control of the air in order to launch the d day invasion of normandie. We dont have it in late 143. In fact. Were getting beaten rather badly in the air. So we tell that story in this video here. And then were going to bring our visitors into life at the airfield in