…The 1938 Midterms saw FDR’s New Deal Coalition retain control of both Houses of Congress, if narrowly. The Democratic majorities had fallen to 70 and 305 respectively, but enough progressive democrats remained to ensure a majority of the Democratic party, which combined with the progressive elements of the Republican Party, and the few Democratic-Farm-Labor congressmen. This allowed Roosevelt to expand his New Deal. The primary focus of this expansion was on TVA inspired development authorities. The Columbia River Authority, Appalachian Mountains Authority, Mississippi Delta Authority, Colorado River Authority and Alaska Development Authority being the most famous…
…1938 saw the abuses of the Volkist state reach new heights of depravity. The Volkist Eugenics laws began to be enforced with greater stringency, not only sterilization on the American model, but also the first uses of compulsory euthanasia. Such acts were limited compared to what was authorized by the need of the German economy, on a de facto war footing, for labor. Thus only those incapable of work were euthanized, even if the laws permitted a broader application…
…As part of a German policy since 1933 there was a movement to expel Jews from the country. It was not cared where they would go, so long as they left. In 1938 the decision was made to require the renewal of residency of all foreigners in Germany, with undesirable groups such as Jews not being granted a renewal outside of exceptional circumstances. For 17,000 Polish Jews this became a problem as the Polish government had cancelled their citizenship, when the Germans tried to deport them to Poland, the Polish officials would not allow them in.
The now stateless Jews of Polish origin in Germany were rounded up and placed in a temporary concentration camp near Kolmar, the first specifically for Jews. Confitions in the camp were bad, though better than the later camps and the Jewish population attempted several escapes. During one of those escapes three guards were stabbed to death. This triggered the so called “Purim” Pogrom of 1939.
Officially the Volkist claimed that is was a reaction to the deaths of the guards. In practice the pogrom had already been planned for a while, the stabbings merely set the date. Volkist officials had been itching for an excuse to loot German properties and the treasury saw a major pogrom could trigger large scale Jewish emigration and thus a legal excuse to confiscate Jewish wealth under the capital flight laws inherited from the Weimar Republic.
On the Jewish holiday of Purim angry mobs led by the Gestapo, Volkist party officials and VKV units engaged in arson, looting, assault and murder directed at the Jewish community in Germany. Between suicides, murders and deaths in custody the Purim pogrom killed over 1,000 jews, with 30,000 arrested, 7,000 businesses destroyed, and 265 Synagogues destroyed. It was widely reported on and drew massive international condemnation. The former Kaiser Wilhelm II even stated that it made him feel ashamed to be German…
…One of the most notable complaints about the Purim Pogrom was from the German Treasury, who were upset that so many Jewish assets were destroyed rather than compensated. Better to have killed ten times as many Jews they said than to have destroyed so much valuable property…
…The Purim Pogrom triggered a major flight of German Jews, turning a flow into a flood. However most could not flee far, and even those who could flee often found difficulty in finding a country that would take them as many countries saw the Jewish refugees as undesirable…
…The Purim Pogrom was not popular among the German public, and the Volkist government was forced to launch major propaganda campaigns to whip up greater racism in the German population…
…1938 saw the last Soccer World Cup held in France, where the Italain team knocked out the hosts in a 3-0 game in the final round. The Second World War would break out before the 1942 World Cup could be hosted and would result in its cancellation. By the time most nations had sufficiently recovered to participate in such an event interest had faded and Soccer would lose its position as the world’s preeminent sport…
-Into the Abyss: The leadup to the Second World War, Harper and Brothers, New York, 2009
…American Socialism arguably reached its peak in 1938 with the election of Jasper McLevy, the only Socialist Governor in American History, after the sudden death of the popular Connecticut Governor Wilbur Cross and the nomination of two relative nonentities allowed the Bridgeport Mayor to reach the State’s top office. McLevy was the most prominent example of the uniquely American school of Sewer Socialism, that held a pragmatic focus on public works rather than high minded ideals. Thus it was a far more moderate tendency and one that echoed the ideals of Mussolini and Sanna, rather than clinging to the gospel of Marx. Such Sewer Socialism was an important forerunner of the postwar American Fascism…
-Excerpt from The Third Way: A History of Fascism, American Fascist Party Presshouse, Jersey City, 2008
…By the end of 1938 most armed forces had evolved through parallel means into a similar armored doctrine. This called for a slow heavily armored tank to support infantry, and a fast lightly armored one to replace the horse in the role of cavalry. The Soviets were among the first with the T-29 Infantry Tank and the BT series of cavalry tanks, both mounting the same 45mm gun, along with the tiny T-30 Tankette and the amphibious T-32 tankette. The T-29 was thought to be inadequate and development had yielded the larger multi turreted T-34 with a 76mm gun and 5 machine guns, which was supplementing it. This was unsatisfactory to Stalin and work was underway on the T-39 “Land Battleship” with 1 76mm gun, 2 45mm guns and 7 machine guns. Upgrades of the BT series, T-29 and T-32 continued as well alongside the development of larger vehicles.
The French had developed a series of relatively well armored infantry and cavalry tanks. Internal politics meant that they were concurrently building 3 of each, as Renault, Schneider, AMC and SOMUA each had to be given sufficient work. By 1939 the standard French Cavalry tank had a 47mm, while light infantry tanks had a 37mm gun, and heavy ones a 75mm howitzer in the hull and a 47mm gun. Plans were underway for a superheavy with a turreted gun in the 75-105mm category along with a continued iteration on their existing designs. While on paper the French designs were among the most capable, they achieved this by having poor ergonomics, 2 or 3 man crews and most lacked radios for budgetary reasons.
The British in the interwar had focused on light tanks for colonial use to save on budget. This had been recognized as a problem and by 1939 the deployment of a proper cruiser and infantry tank had started. The Cruiser tanks would standardize on a 40mm 2pr gun, while the infantry tank was a 2 man vehicle with a machine gun. A larger 3 man infantry tank with a .55 caliber machine gun and a still larger 4 man tank with a 75mm howitzer are in development, along with faster and more reliable Cruiser tanks. The British infantry tanks are perhaps the best armored tanks in the world at the time, achieving that by being highly compact while the Cruiser tanks are not that well armored and unreliable but surprisingly ergonomic with 3 man turrets. Both are lacking radios outside of command tanks for budgetary reasons.
The Germans had transitioned from the training model Panzer III to the interim Mark IV with its 20mm gun. Work on the Panzer V Infantry Tank was occurring as planned and the first units were already equipped by the start of 1939. The Panzer VI Cavalry Tank was much more troublesome, as the requirements to outrun and outgun the Soviet BT tanks required an extremely ambitious engine, transmission and suspension design. There were thus proposals to make a series of Panzer V with the 5cm AT gun instead of the short 7.5cm infantry support gun and a stronger engine as a stopgap cavalry tank. While relatively lightly armed, armored and relatively slow for their size the German tanks were highly ergonomic, all equipped with radios and with the Panzer V had transferred to the modern 3 man turret. Despite an articulated requirement for a super heavy tank the Germans at this point had no active design work for one.
The Japanese had a variant of the typical Infantry/Cavalry Tank dynamic. For internal political reasons they could not call their cavalry tanks as such, because infantry controlled the tanks in the IJA, instead they were called armored cars. Unlike most powers whose cavalry tanks were equipped to fight other tanks, the Japanese instead operated tankettes with machine guns in that role, rather than anti-tank guns. Their infantry tanks were also relatively lightly armored designs with 37mm guns, or on the newest 57mm low velocity guns in two man turrets, as they did not expect to face much armor. The Japanese also had a variety of 37mm armed amphibious tanks which were used by the IJN, as the IJA and IJN did not cooperate and the IJN wanted something for use in amphibious landings. A general Japanese scarcity of electronics prevents them from issuing radios to all their tanks.
The Italians were one of the exceptions to the interwar infantry/cavalry tank dichotomy. They determined that in the theaters they planned to fight armored cars would be just as useful as cavalry tanks. Instead they focused on infantry tanks, but not to the point of making them too slow to maneuver. By 1939 most of their tanks were light models, the 13.2mm armed L5/34 or the 20mm armed L6/38, however the first M16/39 were entering service. This was a stopgap for a later design, but still had a 47mm gun in a three man turret, a radio, acceptable armor and adequate speed. It was to be replaced in 1941 by a well armored tank with a 65mm gun. The Italians were also producing a variety of tanks for export with 13.2mm, 20mm, and 37mm guns which would equip a variety of secondary nations.
The Americans were the other main exception to the infantry/cavalry tank dichotomy of the interwar period. American tanks had been exclusively under the control of the infantry, thus only infantry tanks and light tanks for colonial use had been built, with the cavalry building well-armed halftracks. By the end of 1938 the infantry lost exclusive control of tanks, but Congress would not appropriate funds for a separate infantry and cavalry tank. Thus the existing infantry tank was to be upgraded with a higher velocity engine and more powerful 75mm gun to serve both branches. In addition the US Army and Marines had both upgunned their light tanks, the Army to a .60 caliber AT machine gun and .30 caliber coax, the Marines to a 20mm Swiss Solothurn Cannon and a .30 caliber coax.
The lesser European Tank building nations of Czechoslovakia, Sweden and Poland did not follow the infantry/cavalry tank dichotomy for more practical reasons. Namely that they could not afford to operate multiple types of tank. All three were producing 37mm armed light tanks by the end of 1938, the Czechs had the best design with the best speed and armor, while the Poles had the worst. The Czechs were further planning on replacing it with a 47mm armed design in the near future, while the Poles and Swedes had no such plans, preferring to stick with slightly improved 37mm vehicles…
-Excerpt from Steel Talons: Armed Forces of the Interwar, Dewitt Publishing, Los Angeles, 2011
