December8th 1941

The Holly SpringsTimes

Table of Contents

Page 1- Japan Bombs Pearl Harbor

Page 2- Japans Invasion of China

Page 3 –Letter to the Editor

Page 4- Recap: Battle of Britain

Page 5- Spotlight on WW2 Leaders

Just before 8 am yesterday morning, a whole fleet of Japanese airplanes attacked Pearl Harbor. The attack lasted only two hours, but the results were horrifying. Many men were trapped as chaos erupted, and smoke was everywhere. Bystanders could only watch as 20 American naval vessels were destroyed, along with 8 enormous battleships, and 200 airplanes.

As of today we have a death count of over 2000 men dead, and 1000 more injured. These men died watery, and firey deaths. At 8:10am the Japanese dropped an 1800-pound bomb on the USS Arizona that landed in her forward ammunition magazine, causing her to blow up and sink with more than 1000 men trapped inside. This once magnificent ship is now beyond repair, as well as the families of the fallen.

Today President Roosevelt addressed this horrifying event to congress.

“I believe I interpret the will of the Congress and of the people when I assert that we will not only defend ourselves to the uttermost, but will make very certain that this form of treachery shall never endanger us again...With confidence in our armed forces - with the unbounding determination of our people - we will gain the inevitable triumph - so help us God. ~ RooseveltCongress accepted Roosevelt’s proposal of war today, and after years of discussion and debate the American people are now united in our

determination to go to war.

JAPAN BOMBS PEARL HARBOR!!

The USS Arizona after bombing

Just before 8 am yesterday morning, a whole fleet of Japanese airplanes attacked Pearl Harbor. The attack lasted only two hours, but the results were horrifying. Many men were trapped as chaos erupted, and smoke was everywhere. Bystanders could only watch as 20 American naval vessels were destroyed, along with 8 enormous battleships, and 200 airplanes.

As of today we have a death count of over 2000 men dead, and 1000 more injured. These men died watery, and firey deaths. At 8:10am the Japanese dropped an 1800-pound bomb on the USS Arizona that landed in her forward ammunition magazine, causing her to blow up and sink with more than 1000 men trapped inside. This once magnificent ship is now beyond repair, as well as the families of the fallen.

Today President Roosevelt addressed this horrifying event to congress.

The USS Arizona after bombing

Letter to the EditorDear Editor,

I am disappointed in our country. It has been seven years since the Holocaust began and the United States has done nothing to stop it.

Everyday thousands of Jewish people like myself are being murdered, tortured, starved, and oppressed. Concentration camps are being built; even death camps are under construction! The European Jews live in fear of their own lives! There are no words to describe the evil of what is happening. Its as if the devil himself has been reincarnated into one Adolf Hitler.

My question is, how can the United States sit around and watch this happen? How can a whole nation with the power to change things choose not to? We should go to war if not for the people than for the threat of totalitarian regimes that are occupying basically half of Europe. There is real horror going on across the Atlantic and they need a hero.

-Briana Chesvik

Have all the women in the world! Come

to Harvey’s Way Clothing Store!

Keep your beauty, smoke BARE cigarettes

JAPANS INVASION OF CHINA

In July of 1937, the Japan-China war started after the Japanese claimed that they had been shot at by Chinese troops at the Marco Polo Bridge near Beijing. Armed with this excuse, the Japanese casted a full-fledged invasion of China using their already conquered land in Manchuria as a launching base for their troops.

The Chinese put up little resistance against the Japanese. But former political opponent known as the Guomintang did resist the Japanese but ended up being out-numbered and out-gunned. So by November 1937, Shanghai, Chinas most important port fell to the enemy, as well as Nanjing, Chiang Kai-sheks capital.

Known as the “Rape of Nanking”, this bloody incident has gone down in history as being the most shocking things to ever happen. Its senior officers actually let the Japanese army ransack Nanking while murdering thousands of people. The final death toll came out to be around 250,000. This forced the Guomintang leader to establish a new capital in Chongqing.

The Japanese were relentless. In five months, one million Chinese people were under Japanese control. By the end of 1937, Japan took over all the major cities in China, well as the major communication systems within the nation.

After so much success the Japanese didn’t advance much further into China. There wasn’t really a good reason to do so because most of Chinas hinterland had almost no advantages.

While the Japanese are actively fighting the Guomintang, until recently weren’t aware of the other enemy, communist guerrillas trained by Mao. The American people should be watching Japan very closely after the devastation of yesterday, the bombing of Pearl Harbor.

Japanese troops holding Chinese people at gunpoint during the “Rape of Nanking”

Japanese troops holding Chinese people at gunpoint during the “Rape of Nanking”

Spotlight on ww2 Leaders

Benito Mussolini of Italy

-Claimed full power in November 1926 after all rival political parties and opposition newspapers were banned in Italy.

-Major accomplishment: formed the first facist government in Italy

““Let us have a dagger between our teeth,a bomb in our hand,and an infinite scorn in our hearts.” ~Mussolini 

Adolf Hitler of Germany

-Declared himself “Fuhrer in August 1934

-Major accomplishment: created the Third Reich, a police state in charge of the imprisonment of “political and Ideological opponents”

“Demoralize the enemy from within by surprise, terror, sabotage, and assassination. This is the war of the future.” ~Hitler

Hideki Tojo of Japan

-Appointed to Prime Minister in 1941

-Major accomplishment: authorized attack on Pearl Harbor

“It goes without saying that when survival is threatened, struggles erupt between peoples, and unfortunate wars between nations result.” ~Tojo

Joseph Stalin of Russia

-Became Dictator in 1929

-Major accomplishment: transformed Russia from a peasant society into an industrial superpower.

“Death solves all problems – no man, no problem.” ~Stalin

Winston Churchill of Britain

-Became Prime Minister on May 10th, 1940

-Major accomplishment: Won the Battle of Britain

“Never in the field on human conflict, was so much owed to so few” ~Churchill

Franklin D. Roosevelt

-Became president on March 4th, 1933

-Major accomplishment: Led America into WW2

“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”

Franklin D. Roosevelt

-Became president on March 4th, 1933

-Major accomplishment: Led America into WW2

“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”

WW2 Comics ;)

RECAP: BATTLE OF BRITAIN

On June 17th 1940 France signed an

armistice to pull out of the war after being

taken over by Nazis. Britain now stood alone

against the force of Germany. Stubbornly,

Prime Minister Winston Churchill called upon

his people to never give up, politically

overtaking the people in Britain who wanted

to negotiate with Adolf Hitler. This battle even

got its name from a statement Churchill gave

on June 18th 1940: “The Battle of France is

over. I expect the Battle of Britain is about to

begin."

We must remember that at the time

Germany had major problems: they had no

navy left after the costly conquest of Norway,

their army was weak and unprepared for

another battle operation. The Luftwaffe had

also suffered heavy losses in the west (the

first two factors made a seaborne attack on

the British Isles impossible ).

However for a time the advantage

seemed to be more on the Germans side,

but a combination of bad intelligence and

British attacks on Berlin forced the

Luftwaffe to change its attack strategy by

performing massive attacks on London.

On September 7th 1940 the

Germans made their first attack on

London and were quite successful; their

second attack however was just the

opposite. The Germans failed not only

with heavy losses, but general morale

was lost among the Luftwaffe when a fleet

of British fighters appeared out of no

where in large numbers and begun to

shoot down many of the Germans.

Fortunetly this made Hitler decide to

permanently postpone a landing on the

British Isles and suspend the Battle of

Britain. Unfortunately Britain was still in

ruins from many pervious attacks focused

on military and civilian locations, but

Britain had still held its ground.

Ruins left behind in Britain by the Germans