World War II (WWII or WW2), also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945, although related conflicts began earlier. It involved the vast majority of the world’s nations, including all of the great powers, eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis. It was the most widespread war in history, and directly involved more… Read more »

Between 7 September 1940 and 21 May 1941, 16 British cities suffered aerial raids with at least 100 long tons of high explosives. Over a period of 267 days, London was attacked 71 times, Birmingham, Liverpool and Plymouth eight times, Bristol six, Glasgow five, Southampton four, Portsmouth and Hull three and a minimum of one large raid on eight other cities.   This was a result of a rapid escalation… Read more »

Denazification is a term used to describe the efforts made by the Allies to remove active members of the former National Socialist (Nazi) Party from official public office and influential positions in Germany after World War II. At the Yalta Conference, U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet Premiere Joseph Stalin proclaimed their desire to wipe… Read more »

The first German serviceman killed in the war was killed by the Japanese (China, 1937) The first American serviceman killed was killed by the Russians (Finland 1940). 80% of Soviet males born in 1923 didn’t survive World War 2 The highest ranking American killed was Lieutenant General Lesley McNair, killed by the US Army Air… Read more »

Günther Blumentritt was born in Munich, Germany on 2nd February, 1892. He joined the German Army and during the First World War he served on the Eastern Front in Russia. Blumentritt and his close friend Erich von Manstein served under Wilhelm Leeb during the 1930s. During the invasion of Poland in September 1939, he served as chief of operation under General Gerdt von Rundstedt. He also… Read more »

The 1941 February Strike, also known as ‘The Strike of February 1941’, was a general strike organized during World War II in the Netherlands against the anti-Jewish measures and activities of the Nazis. Its direct causes were the pogroms held by the Germans in the Jewish neighborhood of Amsterdam. The strike started on 25 February and was largely struck down the next day. It was the first direct… Read more »

The Guadalcanal Campaign, also known as the Battle of Guadalcanal and code named Operation Watchtower, originally applying only to an operation to take the island of Tulagi, by Allied forces, was a military campaign fought between 7 August 1942 and 9 February 1943 on and around the island of Guadalcanal in the Pacific Theater of World War II.  It was the first major offensive by Allied forces against… Read more »

Ever since Cain and Abel, there have been siblings who have behaved in totally opposite ways, but surely none as dramatically as Hermann and Albert Günther Goering.  Hermann Goering was Hitler’s second-in-command and an architect of the “final solution”. His brother Albert , born 09-03-1895 in the Berlin suburb of Friedenau. He was the fifth child of… Read more »

Otto Dietrich was the Third Reich’s Press Chief, and Hitler’s confidante. He was born in August 1887, and died at the age of 55 in 1952, after serving time in Landberg Prison following the Nuremberg trials, at which he was convicted of “crimes against humanity.” After his time as a soldier in WWI, he was awarded the Iron… Read more »

We know a great deal about what transpired at Oradour sur Glane because despite the thorugnness of the SS killing operation, there were a few survivors. There was only one school child among the survivors. The lone child who managed to survive was Roger Godfrin   . He was a refugee from Lorraine. Roger was born… Read more »