European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - December 07, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Attack Wasa godsend for Britai by Amy Geiszler Jones . Bureau Pearl Harbor gave the British just what they d been praying for. It brought the United states fully into world War ii. It also meant of course that the British were being drawn into a bloody War in the Pacific. That was a sacrifice the British were willing to pay in return for a powerful Anglo american Alliance. A once the United states was in the War there was going to be defeats there was going to be All sorts of problems dealing with the United  says h p. Willmott senior lecturer with the department of War studies at Britain s Royal military Academy Sandhurst. A but at the end of the Day the differences and All the rest would Pale beside the significance of the fact Britain would be secured and Britain would not be Defeated. And in the end she would be on the winning Side Quot says Willmott whose most recent work As an author is the great crusade a military history of world War ii. A a we be never won wars by ourselves. We be always needed  a we knew the realities of Power we knew that no one in their right minds would take on the United states of America,�?T1 Willmott says. The Alliance that was solidified on dec. 8, 1941, brought the desperately needed resources that american Industry and military could provide for the Allied Effort Quot Churchill very much wanted full commitment. The american resources not Only of manpower but of Industry and shipbuilding capacities and so Forth would totally out match anything the germans the japanese and the italians could Muster Quot says or. David Chandler chairman of Rma Sandhurst a War studies department. Churchill started lobbying president Roosevelt for support in the War Effort in his first letter As prime minister to Roosevelt May 15, 1940. He wrote asking to loan 40 or 50 . Destroyers left Over from world War i that were undergoing refit. He also asked for other War equipment and Materiel and for assurances that the Wii would continue even after Britain could no longer afford to pay for them. Roosevelt resisted the idea. Bui Churchill persisted telling the president by the end of july that the destroyers were key to British survival in the War. Later that year in december he wrote Roosevelt telling him Britain could no longer pay Cash As required for War Materiel because of its imminent exhaustion of its financial resources. Eventually a lend lease act was passed in March 1941 loaning Britain the equipment in Exchange for a . Lease on British bases in the Western hemisphere. But still that total commitment to the War much sought by the British was missing americans. It was the Pearl Harbor attack that forced America of i the Fence once and for All Quot Chandler says Quot Churchill never altered his opinion that Pearl Harbor was a godsend for Britain Quot says David Reynolds in his Book the creation of the Anglo american Alliance 1937-1941. A study in competitive cooperation. Quot throughout 1941 he had been determined to avoid War with Japan until the  a. Was totally committed to the British cause and in that sense the events of 7 to 11 december were a triumphant vindication of his policy Quot Reynolds wrote. Britain declared War on Japan the Day after the Pearl Harbor attack but the Days leading up to the Pearl Harbor strike and the Days after the attack were anything but triumphant for the British. The months beforehand Quot were probably a Low tide for the British War Effort Quot says Willmott Quot the one time where the British morale really hit Bottom was in the autumn of 1941which Willmott credits to two factors an August meeting Between Roosevelt and Churchill and the German army s advancement toward Moscow the Atlantic charter meeting Between the two leaders yielded basically nothing Tor the British Willmott maintains Quot there might have been All sorts of ringing declarations and All the rest of this but actually when it came Down to what was on the ground the answer was nothing and that realization began to hit Home m october november 1941.&Quot he says and following the Pearl Harbor attack the japanese launched what Chandler describes As a whirlwind Campaign that Quot unleashed a whole series of disasters Lor the British As Well As the  Navy Quot he says on dec. 8, Hong Kong came under an 18-Day assault by the japanese on dec. 10, the Royal Navy s new battleship Prince of Wales and its older Battle Cruiser repulse were sunk in Malaya six Days later the japanese landed on Borneo on february 15,1942, Little More than iwo months following the Pearl Harbor attack. Britain suffered what Churchill called the greatest disaster in the history of the British Empire the surrender of Singapore which had been considered Pivotal to British Power in the far East. A Singapore was worse for America s entry Quot Willmott says. Quot but the rout at Singapore was a Lair Price to pay to make certain that the mighty machine called  Industry was Allied on the right cause the British Are ruthless in this sort of attitude the British from 1940, from the time Churchill became prime minister had one aim to get the United states involved in the War Quot both Chandler and Willmott dismiss the theory that Roosevelt had prior knowledge to the Peart Harbor attack but had allowed it to happen to get the backing of the american Public and justify the country s entry into the War. Quot it s so preposterous Quot says Willmo Lowinston Churchett found salvation in the attack. Wii in Brief 193 july 9-10 Allied invasion of Sicily. Sept. 1 Germany invades Poland. Sept. 3 Allied invasion of Southern Italy sept. 28 Poland partitioned 1944 by Germany and soviet Union. June 6 a Day. Allied invasion nov. 30 soviet Union invades Finland at Normandy. 1940 july 20 Hitler injured in april 9 Germany invades assassination bomb plot. Denmark and Norway. Aug. 25 Paris liberated. May 10 Germany invades Netherlands oct. 21-22 Battle of Leyte Gulf Belgium and Luxembourg. Dec. 16 germans launch june 14 germans enter undefended Paris. Counteroffensive Battle of the bulge. Sept. 7 London Blitz begins. 1945 1941 feb. 4-12 Yalta conference april 6 Germany invades with Roosevelt Churchill and Stalin Greece and Yugoslavia. Feb. 19 . Marines land on iwo Jima. June 22 Germany attacks soviet Union March 7 . First army crosses oct. 11 general Hideki Tojo Rhine on Bridge at Remagen becomes Premier of Japan. April 1 . Invades Okinawa dec. 7 Japan attacks Pearl Harbor aprim2 Roosevelt Dies Pacific Fleet crippled j Harry s. Truman becomes president 1942 april 30 Hitler commits suicide. April 9 . Forces on Bataan surrender May 7 Germany unconditionally May 4-9 Battle of the Coral sea. Surrenders. June 4 Battle of Midway Island. July 17-aug. 2 Potsdam conference with aug. 7 . Marines land on Guadalcanal Truman Stalin and Churchill. Nov. 7-8 . And Britain land in North Africa. Aug. 6 first atomic bomb 1943 dropped on Hiroshima. Feb. 2 German forces aug. 9 atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki surrender at Stalingrad aug. 14 Japan unconditionally surrenders a amp saturday december 7, 1991 the stare and stripes 11