Total War: Civilians as Casualties and Civilians as Laborers

“TOTAL WAR”: CIVILIANS AS CASUALTIES AND CIVILIANS AS LABORERS

BY TROY RECTOR

IUPUI HIST-B425 SECOND WORLD WAR
DR. KEVIN CRAMER

JUNE 15TH, 2012

Introduction and thesis
The concept of “total war” can be seen throughout history in various forms. Some countries used the tactic of targeting of civilians in order to lower morale and support for war. Some countries in the past mobilized their economies and population in order to support the war effort. It wasn’t until World War II did the idea and the concepts of “total war” emerge so prominently as the best method to win the war in Europe. From 1930 to 1945, the concept of “total war” evolved significantly. Two key ideas and tactics demonstrate this clearly. By analyzing the targeting of civilians and the industrialized labor force, one can see this evolution as “total war” come to be the largest scale in the history of the world.
Civilians targeted Civilians had been targeted in past history but never to the scale that took place during World War II. Germany’s atrocities towards the Jews, the Russian reprisals of German civilians once they pushed westward, and the U.S. “fire raids” and use of the atomic bomb were all examples of large scale targeting. Although effective in destroying the infrastructures and key civilian establishments, the larger devastation came with the mentality of those civilians. Terror, fear, low morale, and questioning of their country’s goals are just some of the aspects that civilians comprehended during this period. On 13 May 1941, the German Wehrmacht received “the criminal orders”. (The Criminal Orders, page 94). These orders specifically outlined the conduct of the German military in its treatment of civilians on the battlefield. The orders let the German soldiers know that they would not be prosecuted for inhumane and heinous treatment of enemy civilians. Among those civilians mentioned included Russian partisans and the Jewish “subhumans”. An estimated 17 million Soviet civilians died throughout the war, many of them from direct enemy contact. The German Einsatzgruppen, or task forces, was small groups of SS police units that were assigned to carry out the mass murder of Russians and Jews. They were first used to execute “The Commissar Order”, which targeted Russian political commissars and other public figures. More infamously, is the way they treated the Jewish populations.
Beginning in 1935 with the German Jews, the SS rounded up Jewish civilians and placed them into concentration camps. On November 9th and 10th, 1938, Nazi’s were also responsible for the destruction of synagogues and beating and robbing of Jews within Germany. These kinds of atrocities continued on to Poland. Polish death rates were in the tens of thousands while over a half a million Jews died from malnutrition, forced labor, and disease after being rounded up and sent to “ghettos”. (The Inhumanity of Man, page 309)
The Wannsee Conference in January 1942 set a plan for the “Final Solution” of the Jewish Population. (Wannsee Conference, page 325). Earlier atrocities resulted in Nazi death camps were the Jewish were taken. Some were used as forced labor as well as death chambers; the largest of these concentration camps were located in Auschwitz, Chelmno, Majdanek, Treblinka, Sobibor, and Belzec. Using carbon monoxide and later, cyanide gas, men, women, and children were murdered by the thousands.
Other German atrocities occurred in June 1942 in Lidice, Czechoslovakia where about 340 villagers were murdered. (Lidice, page 331) In Greece, an estimated 60,000 to 70,000 Greek Jews died at the hands of Germans. (The Holocaust in Greece, page 339) German atrocities also occurred in Hungary as well as the Soviet Union.
Over 6 million Jews were died in the hands of the Nazi’s. Although many historians don’t believe The Holocaust had a critical impact on the course of the war, it is proven that it affected the moral and mentality of the predominately Jewish populations of Poland and eastern European countries. Living in fear as well as the mass death of civilians certainly didn’t allow these civilians to help their country’s war economy.
Other targeting of civilians can be viewed with the Japanese treatment of the Chinese at Nanking and the use of biological weapons against Chinese civilians. Both demonstrate an inhumane treatment of Chinese civilians with intent to create terror and fear with the population which can impact the mobilization of its industry.
In November 1937, Japanese forces made its final assault on the city of Nanking. After a month of fighting, the Chinese military couldn’t hold back the advancing forces, and Japan entered the city on December 15th, 1937. Japanese soldiers robbed and destroyed many houses throughout the city. Many businessmen and civilians were beaten and robbed. The most heinous treatment was the rape and murder of innocent Chinese civilians. During a six week span, an estimated 300,000 people were murdered by the Japanese. (Rape of Nanking, page 21).
In Manchuria, Chinese civilians became the target of testing of biological weapons. Dr. Shiro Ishii was responsible for the development of Japanese chemical and biological weapons during the 1930’s and 1940’s. Japan’s Unit 731 built a large testing complex outside the city of Harbin. Originally, over 9,000 Chinese civilians died there. Later in 1942, the Japanese conducted tests of airborne infection of bubonic plague as well as anthrax. Cholera and Typhoid strains were also air dropped on the water supplies for villages in the area. An estimated 200,000 Chinese deaths are contributed to this Japanese testing. (Japanese Biological Warfare, page 364)
The treatment of the Chinese civilians may not have affected the overall defense effort. But the fear and inhumane deaths of innocent civilians certainly shows a disregard for human life. This disregard can be seen as one aspect as “total war” that hadn’t been done on such a scale of World War II.
As part of a plan to invade mainland Japan, the United States began a series of bombings called the “fire raids”. General Curtis Lemay was the key “architect” for this large scale use of B-29 bombers. After scaling back the bombers themselves, the focus switched to the type of bombs to drop. Low level incendiary bombs replaced high altitude precision bombs with the intent to “force” the Japanese to surrender. (Preparing to Invade Japan, page 230). On March 9th, 1945, over 80,000 civilians were killed by incendiary bombing runs. These “fire raids” created mass destruction and created massive fires in highly urbanized areas. Throughout a six month period from March through September 1945, bombing runs continues through Japan. The U.S. asked for Japanese surrender on numerous occasions. An estimated 300,000 civilians died as a result of this targeting of Japanese civilians. And yet, Japan refused to surrender.
As these “fire raids” were being conducted, final testing for an atomic bomb was taking place back in the U.S. Two atomic bombs became available for use and came under consideration. Kyoto, Hiroshima, and Nagasaki were industrialized cities that were considered as targets for these devastating weapons since almost all the other industrialized towns had been bombed previously. Secretary of State Stinson made the call to remove Kyoto from the list. On August 6th, 1945, a B-29 bomber with the call sign Enola Gay dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima at 8:16 local time. The utter destruction and chaos to follow was unprecedented. Statistics estimate that out of 90,000 buildings in the city, 62,000 were destroyed and an additional 6,000 damaged beyond repair. Original estimates of 78,150 people killed didn’t take into account the tens of thousands that would die in days to come from radiation poisoning and other sicknesses related to the blast. Most statisticians estimate over 100,000 Japanese civilians lost their lives due to the atomic bombing. Three days later, on August 9th, the city of Nagasaki was also bombed using an atomic weapon. Similar devastation and loss of life occurred there as well. (Hiroshima, page 233)
The targeting of Japanese industrialized towns and the populations within forced the Japanese surrender. Never before had the world seen such quick and massive death of civilians. The dropping of two atomic bombs on the Japanese population certainly is a key aspect of “total war” and ultimately played a pivotal reason on the end of the war in the Pacific region.
By analyzing the German treatment of the Jews and the Japanese treatment of Chinese civilians, one can see how the Axis powers used the targeting of civilians as part of their overall plan for “total war”. In contrast, the massive killing of Japanese civilians by the United States in order to “force” the Japanese surrender and the end of World War II can be seen as an effective tool of “total war”.
Wartime Industry and the Labor Force
In order to see how “total war” evolved from 1930 through 1945, an analysis of wartime industry and the labor force if effective. Each country mobilized its industries in order to produce the necessary items needed to sustain war. Each country also used conscription to draft men into the armed forces, leaving a void that was filled with women and children. In the case of Germany, this void was also filled with Jewish slave labor housed in concentration camps.
Hitler, as a response to the French decision to double its military service obligations, re-introduced conscription in 1935. This practice took some men out of the industries and into the military. Total employment for Germany increased from 1933 to 1939 by 8 million people and Germany’s employment was at full capacity. During the war periods, less than a million Germans increased their employment. The military mobilization accounted for 11.5 million men during these same years. Unlike other countries, German women employment and mobilization didn’t change drastically during the war years, and despite using 7 million foreign workers, the Germans had a net loss of 3.5 million in the civilian work force. (Germany’s Delayed Mobilization, page 117).
Germany was unique in one aspect of their wartime industry labor force. An estimated 7.1 million foreign civilians and prisoners of war, mostly from the Soviet Union were used as “expendable labor” (German Forced Labor, page 120). Most of them worked in agriculture, construction, or mining while those with specialties like science aided in the wartime industry. These workers freed up Germans to work in the factories or to enter the German military forces. The first foreigners were Polish followed by the French in 1940. Statistics show that there were 2.4 million Soviets, 1.4 million Polish, 900,000 French, and 500,000 Italians working throughout Germany. By 1944, a third of the wartime industry was foreign and a quarter of all workers in Germany were foreign. Germany’s uniqueness when it came to the mobilized labor force for “total war” was unprecedented and has never been duplicated again. This foreign slave labor force helped keep the economy and war needs rolling. Germany didn’t have to shift its industrialized areas like the Soviet Union. Although the Soviet industry, primarily focused on armaments, quadrupled from 1941 to 1944, it wasn’t east. The Soviet Union’s industrialized cities were frequent targets of German bombings and the German advancement. The factories couldn’t produce key items like aircraft under the constant strain of death and destruction. The Russians then came up with a plan that was unique to their wartime industry and hasn’t been duplicated again. Soviet fighter aircraft needed to be produced rapidly in order to withstand the onslaught of the German Luftwaffe. Key aircraft factories needed to stay operable as the Germans advanced eastward. The solution was to move entire factories using the rail system and then resume operations further east into deeper Mother Russia. Thousands of trainloads of industry equipment was loaded up and transported past the Volga River and into the Ural Mountains and Siberia. Once they arrived, they reassembled the entire aircraft factory and continued production. The process routinely took six days from arrival for production to resume. With production able to run “full speed” without disruptions from bombings, this freedom helped the Russians to produce over 36,000 Yak-1, Yak-3, and Yak-9 fighter aircraft which allowed the Soviets to eventually win air superiority over the Germans. (Factories on Rails, page 111) The Russians ability to overcome the losses of resources and industrial areas at the beginning of the war was just one part of their success. The U.S. Lend-Lease Act was also pivotal to helping the Soviets in their “total war”. As spelled out in Roosevelt’s “Arsenal of Democracy” speech, the people of Europe (to include the Soviets) weren’t asking for American men to fight their battles. They were asking for the tools of war: planes, tanks, guns, uniforms, and ships. (Arsenal of Democracy, page 106). The United States accounted for shortages in machine tools, transports, steel, food, oil, and clothing. The Soviets success in their mobilization of “total war” was pivotal to stopping the German advance. Simply put, when the German war machine failed, the Russian war machine didn’t. Regardless of help from the U.S., the Soviet “total war” helped enable them to defend Mother Russia and ensure their part in the defeat of the German power. The American war machine was in full swing by August 1941. One example is the aircraft factory in Ypsilanti Michigan. The Ford Motor Company operated a plant called Willow Run. It was the largest factory under one roof and produced 8,600 B-24 bombers from September 1942 to June 1945 The factory at Willow Run is just one example of the America industry during World War II. Factories employed nearly 63 million workers who labored a total of 2,021 million man hours per week in 1940. They pulled in 3 million teenagers, 7 million people who were unemployed, and more than 5 million women and older gentleman. . (Ford’s Willow Run, page 115). This replaced an estimated 10 million men who entered a new life in the U.S. military. The void left by American men created opportunities for the minorities, especially the American woman. Nearly 19 million American women stepped out of the kitchen and into the work force. They could be found in factories, streetcar conductors, heavy equipment operators, taxi drivers, and in the military itself in noncombat positions. Other minorities stepped up to help America in its “total war” effort as well. Although they faced discrimination and unequal job placement, Mexican Americans went to work in the oil industries of Texas. They also found work in the mining industry of the southwest and on military installations all throughout the southwest United States. Mexican Americans did find equal treatment within the war industries of ammunition and arms as well as the aircraft and shipping industry. (Mexican-American Discrimination, page 108) The United States was the only country to mobilize for “total war” and still maintain even production among all three sectors of the economy. This can be contributed to the capacity available, but is largely due to the amount of unemployment following the Great Depression. This availability of manpower was pivotal to the draft and having American men on the battlefields. But it was the labor force of America’s industries that were filled by the unemployed as well. The American population stepped up when its nation and the world needed those most. The mobilization of industry in the U.S. “total war” concept was pivotal to out producing any other country, which enabled success on the battlefield for the U.S. and its Allied countries.
Conclusion
The targeting of civilians by the Germans resulted in The Holocaust and is forever burned into history as the worse war atrocities ever committed. The Japanese treatment of Chinese civilians was heinous and certainly violations of warfare. These acts by the Axis powers were at a level of inhumane treatment never before seen. In contrast, the massive bombing of industrialized urban areas in Japan was the first time the U.S. had used this tactic at such a large scale. The historical dropping of two atomic bombs forced the Japanese surrender and brought World War II to an end. One can look at this as “total war” being successful. The German war industry was able to keep producing needed supplies for most of the war. Foreign slave labor was used to fill the shortages in the factories, a tactic that was unique and at such a large scale. The Russian decision to shift its industry further inland; to the east turned out to be a pivotal move in keep the Red Army war machine moving. With the added help from the United States, the Soviet Union was able to keep its troops resourced and hold off the German advance. American stepped up and filled the void that was left when the Yankee men left for war. The successful mobilization of the industry produced military goods that help enable its Allies to stay resourced and effective in their war efforts. The labor force within the mobilized industry proved to be the deciding factors in keeping the supplies and goods needed to sustain the war efforts. One can also look at this aspect of “total war” as successful. Two concepts of “total war” are the targeting of civilians and the mobilization of the industry and its labor force. Without the success of these two aspects, “total war” is hard to achieve. From 1930 to 1945, “total war” evolved from small scale industrialization and smaller amounts of civilians who step up during the war effort to a size and complexity that was never seen before.

REFERENCES
Frans Coetzee, M. C. (2011). The World In Flames. New York: Oxford University Press.
Mawdsley, E. (2009). World War II: A New History. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Class notes and Lecture material from Dr. Kevin Cramer, IUPUI B-425 Second World War

References: Frans Coetzee, M. C. (2011). The World In Flames. New York: Oxford University Press. Mawdsley, E. (2009). World War II: A New History. New York: Cambridge University Press. Class notes and Lecture material from Dr. Kevin Cramer, IUPUI B-425 Second World War