United States Department of the Army

Sitting in the Dock of the Day United States Department of the Army

The history of Europe is a history of war. Mongols, Huns, Moors, Turks, Romans and modem Europeans have fought and died throughout Europe for control of the continent. Japan knew a similar culture in which war and its practitioners held a venerated position in a society antithetical to democratic principles and the rule of law. These societies gave birth to two of the most efficient war machines of history: Adolf Hitler's Germany and Emperor Hirohito's Imperial Japan. United, Germany and Japan along with their lesser Axis Allies waged a war of conquest that spread to all of the populated continents. The United States and her Allies found themselves in a struggle for national survival in the face of a powerful coalition bent on world conquest. Though all wars expose its participants to unique horrors, World War II brought the world atrocities of historic proportions. Jews were murdered by the millions throughout Europe in furtherance of Hitler's master plan of a Europe purged of what he deemed, for example, to be racially inferior stock. In addition, Japanese soldiers visited horrors upon captured soldiers that often included execution, decapitation of the dead and cannibalism. The Japanese Government created corps of foreign sexual slaves for the wanton use of their armed forces.