WWII+Research+and+Symposium+PABP

=10 facts=
 * The Allied powers including the United States were also guilty of excessive war crimes and crimes against humanity.


 * Over 16,000 Polish officers, policemen, and civil servants were murdered in the Katyn Massacre which was a Soviet Union operation. People originally though this was the doing of the Nazi's until someone came forth from the Soviet Union and confessed. No one was prosecuted for the crime. The Katyn Massacre may have been one of the most senseless crimes by Stalin.


 * Admiral Harold Stark, the Chief of Naval Operations, put out an order for all boats to conduct in "unrestricted submarine warfare against any Japanese ships. Our task was to attack heavy ships which violated the London Naval Treaty which set guidelines to which one could attack non-combat vessel ships. Nearly 70,000 men were killed because of this act of carelessness.


 * In mid 1944, Soviet Union re-occupied Lithuania and punished them for supporting the Germans when they invaded. At least 350,000 Lithuanians were deported to Siberian labor camps. The Soviets had already invaded Lithuania so many times, and Lithuanians were sick of it.


 * U.S Troops took part in the harrassment of Japanese dead bodies during the war. Mutilation is strictly against the law that was clearly disregarded. Skulls and bones were taken as trophies by U.S troops as well as shooting the dead bodies and taking part in reckless acts that are also against the law. This was a violation of the law and custom of war. No prosecutions were made.


 * SS German soldiers were shot and killed by American liberators of Dachau concentration camps. They were lined up against the wall and shot at. U.S. soldiers killed up to 100 German injured SS soldiers (who had no connection with the death camp) as they attempted to surrender.

> 70,000 died from the explosion and another 70,000 died from radiation within five years.
 * The U.S dropped an Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima, Japan on August 6,1945 causing mass destruction and


 * Hiroshima was not the only one of Japan's cities to be bombed. Nagasaki was also fire-bombed and atomic-bombed on August 9,1945. Within the first two to four months of the bombings, 60,000-80,000 people were killed, most deaths occurred within the first day. People died from flame or flash burns, falling debris and other causes. The code name for the bomb to be dropped on Nagasaki was 'Fat Man' which weighed about 10,000 pounds and had the explosive capacity of over 20,000 tons of explosives.


 * The U.S troops killed roughly 75 prisoners of war and 8 civilians, including an eleven year old girl in Sicily, mostly Italian during WWII. This was known as the Canicatti Massacre. Lieutenant Colonel Herbert McCaffrey fired into the crowd and killed them. He was never prosecuted for the crime, and died in 1954. It was covered up until it was publicized by a witnesses son after McCaffrey's death.


 * In the village of Chenogne, a unit of the US 11th Armoured Division had captured around sixty German soldiers. They marched behind a hill, out of sight from enemy troops, and shot all the prisoners.


 * Allied paratroopers were determined to exact bloody revenge on the Germans on D-Day. Near one village, Audouville-la-Hubert, they massacred 30 captured Wehrmacht soldiers in a single killing spree, even though orders were given to take no prisoners.

=Primary Sources=

**Nemmersdorf Massacre**

Many children and other German civilians were murdered by the Soviets during the Nemmersdorf massacre in East Prussia. They tortured the civilians, specifically they nailed them to barn doors, and then shot them. Soviets also pillaged, and raped women. This picture depicts the mass killings made by the Soviets. You can see that the innocent people were lined up and shot, while the Soviets just stand around like nothing has happened.

**American Propaganda Poster**
 * This poster, stating "Alaska Death-Trap for the Jap" was directed towards the Japanese. The Americans threaten Japan and this poster basically says that they will be killed and taken down at the hands of the Arm Civilian Navy. These types of posters were made in abundance by the U.S. This is a broad statement that captures the non-innocence of the U.S. Massive killing by the U.S towards Japan were implemented during WWII.

Eyewit‍‍‍‍‍ness Account of the Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima Excerpt from the Hiroshima Diary
"I paused to rest. Gradually things around me came into focus. There were the shadowy forms of people, some of whom looked like walking ghosts. Others moved as though in pain, like scarecrows, their arms held out from their bodies with forearms and hands dangling. These people puzzled me until I suddenly realized that they had been burned and were holding their arms out to prevent the painful friction of raw surfaces rubbing together." ‍‍‍


 * - Michihiko, Hichiya, Hiroshima Diary**


 * In the middle of his frightening story, Michihiko explains what he was doing when the one of the Atomic Bombs hit. Michihiko was struggling to find a hospital in which he could be treated. He talks about many other Japanese citizens being badly burned and killed. Japan was in a frenzy as the A-bomb hit. The murder of all these Japanese people was unnecessary on the U.S's part. America failed to see that dropping the bomb would not get the war over quicker. It would only draw it out to be the bloodiest war in history. These civilians were very frightened and the destruction was way more than what Pearl Harbor was.