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How Detroit Won WWII

Posted by Made In Detroit Admin

On April 17, 1941 these Word War II tanks were assembled at the Chrysler tank arsenal in then rural Warren and would soon become a part of General George Patton's own "blitzkrieg". The bombing of Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, threw the U.S. into the war, spurring a huge increase in aircraft production, as well as tanks and military vehicles. The government banned civilian auto production. By June of 1942, 66 percent of Detroit's machine tools were being used for military goods.

Photo: from the Detroit News Photo Store

Detroit "The Arsenal of Democracy"

Posted by Made In Detroit Admin

When Detroit stood at attention

There's no disputing the city's major role in helping the United States become victorious in World War II. Here's what people and the news media said back then:

"The hottest town in America," crowed a 1943 article in Variety, the show business trade paper.

"A miraculous city, a city forging thunderbolts," wrote the New York Times, soon after the United States entered World War II.

"The wonder city of America," said novelist Erskine Caldwell in 1942, while talking about how much Germany and Japan wanted to bomb Detroit.

"Detroit is winning the war," Soviet dictator Josef Stalin reportedly told President Franklin D. Roosevelt three month before the Germans surrendered.

And Gen Dwight D. Eisenhower, who commanded 3 million soldiers in Europe, said the weapons he valued most were the Jeep, 2 1/2 ton truck, bulldozer and transplant plane - all partly or fully Made In Detroit.