Comments by "bart thomassen thomassen" (@thomassenbart) on "Why Hitler declared War on the USA" video.

  1. No, it was nothing like a declaration of war.
    1
  2. The US merely allowed destroyers to escort and defend convoys to Britain which is very different than an undeclared war.
    1
  3.  @88porpoise  ...the Americans committed the U.S. Navy to escorting North Atlantic shipping. In the final written agreement, the key passage read: “The principle task of the United States naval forces in the Atlantic will be the protection of shipping of the associated Powers [Britain, United States and invaded European nations].” Also, the British pledged that when America came into the war, covertly or overtly, Canadian naval forces would automatically come under American command. It meant a “neutral” nation would command the ships of a nation at war. The name given to this undeclared status was “belligerent neutrality.” This meant the protection of the Atlantic convoy routes became part of the American security policy, although Roosevelt denied this fact to the press and public. The two staffs agreed upon further specific operations for the U.S. Navy, which included regular Atlantic patrols, the defense of Greenland, and providing escort for convoys halfway across the Atlantic to be turned over to the Royal Navy at the MOMP, the Mid-Ocean Meeting Point. American warships violated all technical definitions of neutrality by escorting convoys beginning in August. Churchill reported to the War Cabinet that Roosevelt said to him at their face-to-face meeting in August, “I would wage war, but not declare it.” Upon his return to Washington, Roosevelt went right to work to fulfill his commitments. On September 4, German U-652 attacked the American destroyer USS Greer on a supply run to Iceland. The commander of U-652 believed he had been attacked by Greer, when actually it had been a British seaplane. Greer returned fire with depth charges. Roosevelt used the incident to issue his “shoot on sight” order on September 11. At a conference with Hitler, Admiral Raeder analyzed the strategic implications of Roosevelt’s orders and stated, “German forces must expect offensive war measures by these American forces. There is no longer any difference between British and American ships.” The German naval staff characterized the orders as a “locally restricted declaration of war.” The above demonstrates an increasingly belligerent US Navy when the country was at peace with Germany. The hostile actions were limited to defensive zones along the American coast, then extended to Greenland and Iceland and finally in Sept. 1941 official convoying of British merchant ships and firing upon U-boats. Even with all this, it is far short of actual war such as began a few months later, when the US Navy hunted the seas of the world to defeat Axis vessels, shell their coasts, invade islands and seize assets, shipping etc... The Neutral Belligerency was just that.
    1