History > 20th century > WW2 (1939-1945) > USA, World > Timeline in pictures

USA, Canada, Europe, North Africa, Russia, Persia, Asia

Henri-Chapelle Cemetery, Belgium

Date taken: November 1946

Photograph: Ralph Morse

Life Images

http://images.google.com/hosted/life/l?imgurl=c94836dddafcf8bd

August 15, 1945

"American servicemen and women

gather in front of "Rainbow Corner" Red Cross club in Paris

to celebrate the unconditional surrender of the Japanese."

By an unknown photographer,

Records of the Office of the Chief Signal Officer.

(111-SC-210241)

NARA > Picturing the Century:

One Hundred Years of Photography from the National Archives

http://www.archives.gov/press/press-kits/picturing-the-century-photos/rainbow-corner-club-paris.jpg

http://www.archives.gov/press/press-kits/1930-census-photos/

Mary Louise Rasmuson (born Milligan)    1911-2012

Mary Louise Rasmuson (...)

joined the Women’s

Army Corps

when it was formed

during World War II,

rose to be its director

under two presidents

and later

found a new life

as a civic leader

and philanthropist

in the young

state of Alaska

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/05/us/
mary-louise-rasmuson-led-womens-army-corps-dies-at-101.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/05/us/
mary-louise-rasmuson-led-womens-army-corps-dies-at-101.html

Monuments men

Les oeuvres volées par Hitler

ou l'incroyable sauvetage

Documentaire de Petra Dorrmann    52mn

Allemagne-Autriche    2014

Dès 1944,

Hitler ordonne

de mettre à l’abri

les oeuvres d'art pillées.

Plus de 6 500 pièces

sont regroupées

dans la mine de sel

d’Altaussee,

en Autriche.

Après son suicide,

le 30 avril 1945,

et alors que les Alliés

approchent,

les nazis se préparent

à tout faire sauter.

Quand, le 12 mai,

les "Monuments men"

américains arrivent,

les oeuvres d’art

sont intactes...

Qui les a sauvées ?

Hitler et Göring

avaient en commun

leur amour de l’art (sic).

D’où l’énergie déployée

par leurs sbires

à piller des œuvres,

parfois de façon concurrente,

dans tous les musées

des pays occupés

ou à spolier

les grands collectionneurs

d’origine juive

comme la famille Rothschild.

À partir

du printemps 1944,

Hitler donne l’ordre

de mettre

les plus précieux trésors

à l’abri.

Dans la mine de sel

d’Altaussee, en Autriche,

sont ainsi regroupées

plus de 6 500 pièces

choisies par le Führer

pour le musée

qu’il rêve de créer à Linz,

dont la statue de la Madone

de Bruges de Michel-Ange

ou le retable de Gand

des frères Van Eyck.

Après son suicide,

le 30 avril 1945,

et alors que

les Alliés approchent,

les responsables du lieu

se préparent

à tout faire sauter.

Mais une série

de personnages

- ouvriers et experts

au service des nazis,

résistants

anglais et locaux -

s’en mêle.

Quand, le 12 mai,

les Monuments men

américains arrivent,

les œuvres d’art,

signées aussi Vermeer,

Rubens, Brueghel,

Rembrandt, Tintoret,

sont intactes.

Elles sont transportées

dans un dépôt central

à Munich

et restituées en partie

à leurs propriétaires.

En partie seulement,

car l’État autrichien

a joué un rôle

plus que trouble à ce sujet

des décennies durant.

http://www.arte.tv/guide/fr/050811-000/les-oeuvres-volees-par-hitler-ou-l-incroyable-sauvetage - outdated link

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/07/
movies/clooney-and-company-hunt-for-treasures-in-monuments-men.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/02/
arts/design/not-all-monuments-men-were-men.html

Saudi Arabia

gains strategic importance

during World War II

Although Saudi Arabia

officially maintained

neutrality

through most of the war,

the U.S. began

to court the kingdom

as it realized

the strategic importance

of Saudi oil reserves.

In 1943,

President Franklin Roosevelt

made Saudi Arabia eligible

for Lend-Lease assistance

by declaring

the defense of Saudi Arabia

of vital interest to the U.S.

In 1945,

King Abdel Aziz

and President Roosevelt

cemented the tacit

oil-for-security relationship

when they met

aboard the USS Quincy

in the Suez Canal.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/saudi/etc/cron.html

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/saudi/etc/cron.html

Japan

Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki        August 6 / 9, 1945

Held near Berlin,

the Potsdam Conference

(July 17 - August 2, 1945)

was the last

of the World War II meetings

held by the “Big Three”

heads of state.

Featuring

American President

Harry S. Truman,

British Prime Minister

Winston Churchill

(and his successor,

Clement Attlee)

and Soviet Premier

Joseph Stalin,

the talks established

a Council

of Foreign Ministers

and a central Allied

Control Council

for administration

of Germany.

The leaders arrived

at various agreements

on the German economy,

punishment

for war criminals,

land boundaries

and reparations.

Although talks

primarily centered

on postwar Europe,

the Big Three

also issued a declaration

demanding

“unconditional surrender”

from Japan.

http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/potsdam-conference

http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/potsdam-conference

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/jul/24/
the-day-i-met-joseph-stalin-brush-with-greatness-berlin

8 May 1945

Victory in Europe Day / V-E Day Celebrations

in the U.S. / worldwide

7 May 1945

Germany signs unconditional surrender

http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/7/
newsid_3578000/3578325.stm

5 May 1945

Denmark is liberated

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/may/05/
nazi-doctor-gay-people-carl-vaernet-escaped-justice-danish

Germany        Battle of Berlin        1945

Russian soldiers in Berlin at the end of the war.

Photograph: Hulton Getty

'Dancing on graves':

Russia hits out at Berlin festival near burial site

G

Thursday 21 April 2016        15.59 BST

Last modified on Thursday 21 April 2016        16.08 BST

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/apr/21/
dancing-on-graves-russia-berlin-soviet-memorial-lollapolooza-festival 

Allied tanks move into a heavily bombed Munich

on April 29, 1945.

Knowing that the American troops were closing in,

residents began looting earlier that day, taking food, furniture

and parts of Hitler’s art collection.

Photograph: Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Hitler Looted the Art, Then They Looted Hitler

New research is helping the hunt for missing art,

largely amassed by Hitler,

then re-stolen by desperate Germans

in the closing days of the war.

NYT

July 19, 2019

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/19/
arts/design/hitler-looted-the-art-then-they-looted-hitler.html

21 April 1945

Red Army enters outskirts of Berlin

http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/april/21/newsid_3560000/3560175.stm

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/berlin_01.shtml

http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/11/29/
rare-photos-show-wwii-from-the-soviet-side-faminsky-bondar/

Japan        Tokyo burns under B-29 firebomb assault        March 26, 1945

Tokyo burns under B-29 firebomb assault

May 26, 1945

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Firebombing_of_Tokyo.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/90/Firebombing_of_Tokyo.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombing_of_Tokyo_in_World_War_II

Primary source > Library of Congress > http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/cph.3c11427

TITLE: Tokyo burns under B-29 fire bomb assault
REPRODUCTION NUMBER: LC-USZ62-111427 (b&w film copy neg.)
RIGHTS INFORMATION: Publication may be restricted. For information see "New York World-Telegram & ...,"
(http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/res/076_nyw.html )
SUMMARY: Aerial view of Tokyo following bombing by B-29s, on the night of May 26.
MEDIUM: 1 photographic print.
CREATED/PUBLISHED: 1945.
NOTES: Associated Press photo from U.S. Army Air Forces. New York World-Telegram & Sun Collection.
FORMAT: Aerial photographs 1940-1950. Photographic prints 1940-1950.
DIGITAL ID: (b&w film copy neg.) cph 3c11427 http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/cph.3c11427 

March 10, 1945

Japan

B-29 missions against Tokyo

At Yalta,

the Soviet Union

also agreed

to join the war

against Japan

as soon as Germany

was defeated.

The United States

and Britain,

shaken by

the suicidal defence

of Pacific islands,

feared that

storming Japan

would cost

up to half a million

allied casualties.

At that stage,

nobody knew whether

the new atomic bomb

would work.

In the meantime,

General Curtis LeMay

stepped up

his bombing attacks.

On the night of 9 March,

he sent

his Superfortress squadrons

on a fire-bombing raid

against Tokyo.

The mainly

wooden houses

blazed

into an inferno.

It is estimated

that 97,000 people died,

125,000 were injured

and 1 million

left homeless.

On 6 April,

US forces landed

on Okinawa to seize it

as a springboard

for the invasion

of Japan itself.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/sep/10/
second-world-war-liberation-europe

On March 10, 1945,

flying in darkness

at low altitudes,

more than 300 B-29s

dropped

close to a quarter

of a million

incendiary bombs

over Tokyo.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/general-article/pacific-b-29s/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombing_of_Tokyo

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/pacific/peopleevents/e_b29s.html

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/sep/10/
second-world-war-liberation-europe

Germany

Bombing of Dresden - February 13-15, 1945

Russia        Ukraine        Yalta Conference         4-11 February 1945

Conference of the Big Three at Yalta

makes final plans for the defeat of Germany.

L to R:

Prime Minister Winston S. Churchill,

President Franklin D. Roosevelt,

and Premier Josef Stalin.

February 1945.

111-SC-260486

Pictures of World War II > Leaders

US National Archives

http://www.archives.gov/research/ww2/photos/images/ww2-05.jpg

http://www.archives.gov/research/ww2/photos/

WWII allies 3-power conf.

(L-R seated) British PM Churchill, US Pres. Roosevelt, Soviet ldr. Stalin,

w. aides (standing L-R) Fleet Adm. Cunningham, Fleet Adm. King, Air Marshal Portal, US Adm. Leahy

& unident. Soviets, at Livadia Palace.

Location: Yalta, Ukraine, Russia

Date taken: February 1945

Life Images

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4241863.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4201858.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/7/newsid_3517000/3517236.stm

http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/wwii/yalta.htm

http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/cold.war/episodes/01/documents/yalta.html

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/sep/10/second-world-war-germany-yalta

January 1945

German ship Wilhelm Gustloff

is sunk

by three Russian torpedoes

in January 1945.

The ship carried soldiers

and thousands of civilians,

many of them children

from Poland, Latvia and Lithuania.

They were all fleeing

the advancing Soviet army.

http://www.npr.org/2016/02/17/
466924137/more-died-on-this-wwii-ship-than-on-the-titanic-and-lusitania-combined

http://www.npr.org/2016/02/17/
466924137/more-died-on-this-wwii-ship-than-on-the-titanic-and-lusitania-combined

Ardennes belges

et nord du Grand-Duché de Luxembourg

December 1944 - January 1945

Bataille des Ardennes / Battle of the Bulge

Rundstedt's offensive

against American troops in the Ardennes

December 17, 1944

Germany counter-attacks in Ardennes

Adolf Hitler’s

massive surprise attack

inflicting heavy casualties

as the Allies massed

for a push toward Berlin.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/06/us/
nicholas-oresko-medal-of-honor-recipient-dies-at-96.html

The Germans

mount a series of counter-attacks

on the Western front

allowing them

to re-cross the borders

of Luxembourg and Belgium.

in December 1944 (...)

Hitler mounted

his last offensive of the war

in the snowy, densely forested

Ardennes region

of Belgium, France and Luxembourg.

Allied forces,

which had been moving

toward Germany

after the D-Day invasion of France,

were caught unaware

by the counteroffensive

and were initially pushed back.

Hitler had hoped to defeat

the British and Americans there

so he could concentrate

on fighting the Soviet Union

on the eastern front.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/23/us/vernon-mcgarity-medal-of-honor-winner-dies-at-91.html

The bodies

of Belgian men, women, and children,

killed by the German military

during their counter-offensive

into Luxembourg and Belgium,

await identification before burial.

15 December 1944

Source: National Archives and Records Administration

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:DeadBelgiumcivilians1944.jpg

Author Franklin D. Roosevelt Library Public Domain Photographs

Primary source > NARA > ARC Identifier 196543

http://arcweb.archives.gov/arc/action/ExternalIdSearch?id=196543&jScript=true

Troops of the famed 82nd Airborne Div (3rd Batt; 504th Para. Reg.).

march through snow behind tanks of the 340th Tank battalion

on way to engage Germans

nr. town of Herresbach during the Battle of the Bulge.

Location: Herresbach, Belgium

Date taken: December 1944

Life Images

http://images.google.com/hosted/life/l?imgurl=7e3993069999e7fc

Bodies (marked for identification)

of American POW soldiers of Battery B,

285th Field Artillery Observation Battlion

murdered in cold blood on Dec. 17, 1944

by a regiment of the Nazi 1st SS Panzer Div.

under command of Lt. Col. Jochen Peiper

outside the town of Malmedy

during the opening days

of the Battle of the Bulge.

Location: Malmedy, Belgium

Date taken: January 15, 1945

Life Images

http://images.google.com/hosted/life/l?imgurl=2e2ddd790a82d179

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/bulge/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/ff7_bulge.shtml

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/battle_bulge_01.shtml

http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/article.php?lang=en&ModuleId=10006178

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/maps/wwii/essay1.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/16/
obituaries/anthony-acevedo-who-documented-his-holocaust-ordeal-dies-at-93.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/26/world/europe/augusta-chiwy-forgotten-wartime-nurse-dies-at-94.html

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/may/20/ardennes-1944-hitlers-last-gamble-antony-beevor-review

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/06/us/nicholas-oresko-medal-of-honor-recipient-dies-at-96.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/23/us/vernon-mcgarity-medal-of-honor-winner-dies-at-91.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/23/opinion/23colley.html

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/sep/10/second-world-war-battle-bulge

Oct. 29, 1944

First Jewish Broadcast

from Aachen, Germany   

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/18/nyregion/18cantor.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZihm6VlYjo

9 - 19 October 1944

Second Moscow Conference

The Allied conference

held in Moscow

in October 1944

was codenamed

Tolstoy.

It involved

Stalin, Churchill

and their advisors.

America

was represented

by the US ambassador

Averell Harriman,

as an observer,

and the head

of the US military

in Moscow,

General John Dean.

Outcome:

Decisions

about Russia's entry

in the war

against Japan;

post-war division

of the Balkans;

the future of Poland.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/timeline/factfiles/nonflash/a1144874.shtml

http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/timeline/factfiles/nonflash/a1144874.shtml

17-25/26 September 1944

Holland

Battle of Arnhem

Operation Market Garden

US Airborne Divisions

take objectives in Holland

to open a corridor

for the advancing British Army.

British 1st Airborne 10 Division

lands at Arnhem

but meets strong resistance.

The Allies fail

to gain a bridgehead

across the lower River Rhine

Airborne troops

retreat from Arnhem - 26 September 1944

http://london.iwm.org.uk/upload/package/4/dday/pdfs/DDayAftermath.pdf

http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/26/
newsid_3523000/3523972.stm

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/battle_arnhem_01.shtml

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/launch_ani_arnhem.shtml

September 12 – 16, 1944

Conferences

Quebec, Canada - 1944 (codename Octagon)


Participants : Winston Churchill,

Franklin D. Roosevelt

Objectives:

Churchill:

to ensure that Great Britain

received extended

U.S. Lend-Lease supplies

and to propose dividing Germany

into zones of occupation ;

Roosevelt:

to discuss the plan

on the deindustrialization of Germany

created by Secretary of the Treasury

Henry Morgenthau.

Outcome:

They determined

Allied military strategy

in Europe and the Pacific.

Churchill

committed a British fleet

to help the U.S.

in the Pacific war

and received the assurance

of continued Lend-Lease aid

while Japan remained

undefeated.

The men

agreed that Germany

would be divided

into occupation zones

after the war.

Despite

Churchill’s reservations,

they also approved

the Morgenthau plan

to obliterate German industry

and give German machinery

to Allied nations;

the plan was later abandoned.

http://www.pbs.org/behindcloseddoors/in-depth/the-conferences.html#Octagon

http://www.pbs.org/behindcloseddoors/in-depth/the-conferences.html#Octagon

Winston Churchill [ left ] and Franklin Roosevelt

sitting together on terrace of The Citadel, Quebec,

during the two leaders' conference on war problems.

Location: Quebec City, Canada

Date taken: 1944

Photographer: George Skadding

Life Images

http://images.google.com/hosted/life/f724f4053cc353c0.html

France        Liberation of Paris        25 August 1944

American troops in tank passing the Arc de Triomphe

after the liberation of Paris,

August 1944.

208-YE-68.
 

Pictures of World War II

US National Archives

http://www.archives.gov/research/ww2/photos/images/ww2-105.jpg

Sign carrying civilians march in parade

the day after the liberation of Paris

by Allied troops.

Location: Paris, France

Date taken: August 26, 1944

Photographer: Frank Scherschel

Life Images

http://images.google.com/hosted/life/l?imgurl=2f7515f69abac870

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7984436.stm

https://www.archives.gov/research/military/ww2/photos?template=print#france 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3590542.stm

http://www.lemonde.fr/shoah-les-derniers-temoins-racontent/article/2005/08/01/
les-parisiens-racontent-l-embrasement-d-une-ville_676095_641295.html#ens_id=675875

http://www.ina.fr/histoire-et-conflits/seconde-guerre-mondiale/video/
AFE00003169/le-general-de-gaulle-a-paris.fr.html

http://www.ina.fr/fictions-et-animations/fictions-historiques/video/AFE99000037/
le-general-de-gaulle-met-le-pied-sur-la-terre-de-france.fr.html

http://www.ina.fr/fictions-et-animations/fictions-historiques/video/AFE00003044/
role-de-l-armee-francaise-dans-la-liberation-de-la-france.fr.html

http://www.ina.fr/histoire-et-conflits/seconde-guerre-mondiale/video/AFE00003140/
annonces-du-debarquement-en-normandie-et-de-la-liberation-de-paris-a-alger.fr.html

http://www.ina.fr/histoire-et-conflits/seconde-guerre-mondiale/video/AFE99000038/
journal-de-la-resistance-la-liberation-de-paris.fr.html

http://www.ina.fr/histoire-et-conflits/seconde-guerre-mondiale/video/AFE01000022/
la-liberation-de-paris-version-monde-libre.fr.html

http://www.ina.fr/histoire-et-conflits/seconde-guerre-mondiale/video/AFE04002049/
bilan-d-un-an.fr.html

25 August 1944

Paris liberation made 'whites only'

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7984436.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/bristol/somerset/7868913.stm

August - 2 October 1944

Poland        Warsaw Uprising

The Warsaw Uprising

took place

on 1 August 1944,

when the Polish resistance

attempted to liberate

Warsaw

from Nazi Germany

in occupied Poland.

The uprising

lasted for 63 days,

ending after

massive retaliation

by the Nazis

http://www.theguardian.com/world/gallery/2013/aug/07/poland-warsaw-uprising-69th-anniversary

http://www.theguardian.com/world/gallery/2013/aug/07/poland-warsaw-
uprising-69th-anniversary

http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/october/3/newsid_3560000/3560811.stm

http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005188

July 1944

German

The Stauffenberg plot to kill Hitler

Count Claus von Stauffenberg    1907-1944

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/sep/10/
stauffenberg-plot-germany-hitler

June 1944

Italy        Liberation of Rome

http://atwar.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/11/11/an-american-garden-in-a-foreign-land/ 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/5/newsid_3547000/3547329.stm

10 June 1944

France

Oradour-sur-Glane

Nazi massacre of civilians

Six hundred and 42 people,

including 247 children,

were shot or burnt alive

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/03/
oradour-sur-glane-nazi-massacre-village

http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007840

http://www.lepoint.fr/societe/massacres-de-tulle-et-oradour-70-ans-apres-
hommages-de-hollande-et-valls-09-06-2014-1833886_23.php

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jan/09/
former-nazi-guard-france-oradour-massacre

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/03/
oradour-sur-glane-nazi-massacre-village

9 June 1944

France

Tulle

Nazi massacre of civilians

Le 9 juin 1944,

en représaille

à des actions de résistance,

les Waffen SS

avaient pendu aux balcons

et aux lampadaires de la ville

99 Tullois.

Cent quarante-neuf habitants

avaient également été déportés

au camp de concentration

de Dachau, près de Munich

(sud-ouest de l'Allemagne),

dont 101 ne sont jamais revenus.

http://tempsreel.nouvelobs.com/topnews/20140609.AFP9202/
massacres-de-tulle-et-oradour-70-ans-apres-hommages-de-hollande-et-valls.html

France        D-Day / Normandy landings        June 6, 1944

Alexander Cassie, known as Sandy    1916-2012

It was

on the moonless night

of March 24 and 25, 1944,

that 76 Allied

prisoners of war,

most of them British,

clambered down

a 30-foot shaft

and crawled through

a 340-foot-long tunnel

below the supposedly

escape-proof

Stalag Luft III camp

in eastern Germany

— the daring breakout

that was celebrated

in the classic 1963 movie

“The Great Escape.”

In their pockets,

the escapees carried

what looked like officially

stamped documents,

identification cards,

business cards

and even letters

written in German

from purported

wives and sweethearts,

all of which were intended

to make it possible for them

to befuddle a hapless

guard or police officer

stopping them

on their way to freedom.

Flight Lt. Alex Cassie,

a British bomber pilot,

was one of a half-dozen artists

who had been forging

those documents for months,

playing a central role

in the larger conspiracy

to free hundreds

of the nearly 1,000 airmen

in the camp.

They called their unit

Dean and Dawson,

after a well-known

London travel agency.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/22/world/europe/
alex-cassie-who-aided-great-escape-from-nazis-dies-at-95.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/22/world/europe/
alex-cassie-who-aided-great-escape-from-nazis-dies-at-95.html

19 March 1944

The German army invades Hungary

(...) four weeks later,

the concentration of Jews

began.

Jews from Munkács

were forced

into two ghettos,

and those from

the surrounding areas

were assembled

at two brick factories

on the outskirts of town.

On 11 May 1944

the deportations

to Auschwitz began,

and on 23 May

the last deportation train

left Munkács.

http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/exhibitions/communities/munkacs/during_holocaust.asp

https://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/exhibitions/communities/
munkacs/during_holocaust.asp 

1944

Life Magazine

Rare Photos

From the Allied Invasion

of Southern France

http://life.time.com/history/rare-photos-from-the-allied-invasion-of-southern-france-1944/

Italian Campaign        1943-1945

July - August 1943

Battle of Kursk

The largest tank battle in history

German and Soviet operations

on the Eastern Front

Georgi Zhukov    1896-1974

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/zhukov_georgi.shtml

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Kursk

July 1943

Western Allies invade Sicily

http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/10/
newsid_3587000/3587283.stm

1943-1945

Allies        Italian campaign

The campaign

started in July 1943,

when the troops

invading Italian territory

became the first

to liberate Nazi Europe,

and did not end until 1945.

However,

much of the most

critical fighting

took place

in May and June 1944,

leading up

to the liberation of Rome,

on 5 June 1944

– the day before

the Normandy Landings.

(...)

Allied casualties in Italy

were more than 312,000

– considerably higher

than those in Normandy.

British casualties

are thought

to have been

more than 90,000,

during a gruelling

advance northwards

through what Winston Churchill

called the "underbelly of Europe".

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/britainatwar/5299500/D-Day-dodgers-prepare-for-attention.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/britainatwar/
5299500/D-Day-dodgers-prepare-for-attention.html

11-25 May 1943

Allies        Second Washington Conference

The primary focus

of the conference

was future strategy

in the European war.

A major decision was made

to delay the invasion of France;

a date was set for May

the following year.

To establish air bases

in the Azores,

the Allies also decided

to apply to Portugal

for assistance.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/timeline/factfiles/nonflash/a1142047.shtml

http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/timeline/factfiles/nonflash/a1142047.shtml

Norway

Birger Edvin Martin Stromsheim    1911-2012

There was

no Google Earth,

no Gore-Tex

and only a modest

measure of hope

on the February night in 1943

when six Norwegians

parachuted

into the remote and frigid

Telemark region

of their home country

for an outdoor challenge

like few others.

They had

skis and explosives

and a destination:

the German-controlled

Norsk Hydro facility,

high on an isolated

and snowy ridge.

The Norwegians intended

to destroy equipment inside

that the Germans

were using to produce

what is known as heavy water,

a crucial ingredient

in making a nuclear weapon

and one they feared

the Nazis would use

to build an atomic bomb.

One of the demolitions experts

on the team,

Birger Stromsheim,

died Nov. 10 in Oslo at 101.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/10/world/europe/
birger-stromsheim-who-aided-raid-on-nazi-plant-dies-at-101.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/10/world/europe/
birger-stromsheim-who-aided-raid-on-nazi-plant-dies-at-101.html

14-24 January 1943

Allies        Casablanca Conference

http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/timeline/factfiles/nonflash/a1140373.shtml

Russia        Battle of Stalingrad        August 21, 1942 - February 2, 1943

Winter 1942

Germany        Reinhard Hardegen        1913-2018

leading German

submarine commander

of World War II

who brought U-boat warfare

to the doorstep

of New York Harbor

in the winter of 1942

(...)

Soon after

the United States

went to war

with Japan and Germany,

Admiral Karl Donitz,

the commander

of the German

submarine service,

sent six U-boats to attack

oil tankers and freighters

in American and Canadian waters

before they could head overseas.

The mission,

code-named

Paukenschlag

(Drumbeat),

was aimed at further

disrupting Britain’s

precarious supply lifeline

and demoralizing

the American home front.

Captain Hardegen

provided Drumbeat

with some of its

most stirring exploits

when his U-boat sank

two ships off Long Island

and brought him close

enough to New York City

to see the glare

from Manhattan’s

skyscrapers

in the night skies.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/17/
obituaries/reinhard-hardegen-who-led-u-boats-to-americas-shore-dies-at-105.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/17/
obituaries/reinhard-hardegen-who-led-u-boats-to-americas-shore-dies-at-105.html

Operation Torch

Algeria-Morocco military campaign

Allied Landings in French North Africa        8 November 1942

19 August 1942

France

Dieppe Raid / Landing

also known as

The Battle of Dieppe,

Operation Rutter

or Operation Jubilee

Most of the 6,000-strong force

was made up of Canadians,

seeing front line action

for the first time,

as well as British, American

and French soldiers.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/august/19/newsid_3560000/3560309.stm

http://www.junobeach.org/canada-in-the-second-world-war/

http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/august/19/
newsid_3560000/3560309.stm

France

Margival, près de Soisson

Margival,

la forteresse hitlérienne

méconnue

Construit en 1942

par des ouvriers français,

le camp de Margival,

dans l'Aisne,

fut, jusqu'en 1944,

le QG d'Hitler en France.

http://www.lesechos.fr/info/france/020725082719.htm

https://www.lesechos.fr/12/08/2010/
lesechos.fr/020725082719_margival--la-forteresse-hitlerienne-meconnue.htm

http://www.dday-overlord.com/en/battle-of-normandy/bridgehead/2/3  

Japan

The Japanese military

raped and enslaved

thousands of Asian

and European women

in army brothels

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/03/
opinion/another-attempt-to-deny-japans-history.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/29/
obituaries/kim-bok-dong-dead.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/03/
opinion/another-attempt-to-deny-japans-history.html

Singapore forced to surrender        15 February 1942

British, Australian, and Indian troops

surrender to the Japanese

as Singapore falls in 1942.

Photograph: Popperfoto/Getty Images

Into the storm: the horror of the second world war

Eighty years ago the worst conflict in history began,

killing up to 85 million people.

It also shaped modern Britain

and its relationship with Europe

G

Sun 1 Sep 2019    08.00 BST

https://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/2019/sep/01/
ascherson-into-the-storm-second-world-war-outbreak

British forces

in Singapore

surrender

unconditionally

to the Japanese

seven days

after enemy troops

first stormed

the island.

(...)

The British capitulation

comes one week after

Japanese forces

invaded Singapore

and only two weeks

since their onslaught

on the Malay Peninsula

forced the British troops'

withdrawal to the island.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/15/
newsid_3529000/3529447.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/15/
newsid_3529000/3529447.stm

https://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/2019/sep/01/
ascherson-into-the-storm-second-world-war-outbreak

1942

USA

The Women Airforce Service Pilots

- The "WASPs"

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/24/us/
24cowden.html

1942

USA

 Prescott Sheldon Bush's

company's assets

were seized in 1942 under

the Trading with the Enemy Act

George W. Bush's grandfather

US senator Prescott Sheldon Bush    1895-1972

Steve Bell        The Guardian        G2        p. 23        10.5.2005

Top > Main character : U.S. President George W. Bush

Top > last image on tle right: Adolf Hitler.

George Bush's grandfather,

the late US senator Prescott Bush,

was a director

and shareholder of companies

that profited from their involvement

with the financial backers

of Nazi Germany.

The Guardian

has obtained confirmation

from newly discovered files

in the US National Archives

that a firm

of which Prescott Bush

was a director

was involved with

the financial architects

*of Nazism.

His business dealings,

which continued

until his company's assets

were seized in 1942  under

the Trading with the Enemy Act,

has led more than 60 years later

to a civil action for damages

being brought in Germany

against the Bush family

by two former

slave labourers at Auschwitz

and to a hum of pre-election

controversy.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2004/sep/25/
usa.secondworldwar
 

http://digital.guardian.co.uk/guardian/2005/05/10/pages/two22.shtml

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2004/sep/25/usa.secondworldwar

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2004/sep/25/
germany.secondworldwar

Europe map        1942

Carte de l'Europe en 1942. Europe map. 1942.

Mémorial de la Shoah

http://www.enseigner-histoire-shoah.org/outils-et-ressources/chronologie-et-cartes/cartes.html

22 December 1941 - 14 January 1942

Allies        Washington Conference

The First Washington Conference,

also known as

the Arcadia Conference

(ARCADIA was the code name

used for the conference),

was held in Washington, D.C.,

from December 22, 1941,

to January 14, 1942.

It brought together

the top British

and American military leaders,

as well as Winston Churchill

and Franklin Roosevelt

and their aides,

in Washington

from December 22, 1941

to January 14, 1942,

and led to a series

of major decisions

that shaped the war effort

in 1942–1943.

Arcadia

was the first meeting

on military strategy

between Britain

and the United States;

it came two weeks

after the American entry

into World War II.

The Arcadia Conference

was a secret agreement

unlike the much wider

postwar plans

given to the public

as the Atlantic Charter,

agreed between

Churchill and Roosevelt

in August 1941.

The main policy

achievements of Arcadia

included the decision

for "Germany First"

(or "Europe first"—that is,

the defeat of Germany

was the highest priority);

the establishment

of the Combined Chiefs of Staff.

based in Washington,

for approving

the military decisions

of both the US and Britain;

the principle

of unity of command

of each theater

under a supreme commander;

drawing up measures

to keep China in the war;

limiting the reinforcements

to be sent to the Pacific;

and setting up a system

for coordinating shipping.

All the decisions were secret,

except the conference

drafted the Declaration

by United Nations,

which committed the Allies

to make no separate peace

with the enemy,

and to employ full resources

until victory.

In immediate tactical terms,

the decisions at Arcadia included

an invasion of North Africa in 1942,

sending American bombers

to bases in England,

and for the British

to strengthen their forces

in the Pacific.

Arcadia created a unified

American-British-Dutch

Australian Command

(ABDA) in the Far East;

the ABDA fared poorly.

It was also agreed

at the conference

to combine military resources

under one command

in the European

Theater of Operations

(ETO).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arcadia_Conference - 27 April 2020

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arcadia_Conference

11 December 1941

Germany and Italy

declare war on US

Germany and Italy

announce they are at war

with the United States.

America

immediately responds

by declaring war

on the two Axis powers.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/december/11/newsid_3532000/3532401.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/december/11/
newsid_3532000/3532401.stm

25 August - 17 September 1941

Allies        Middle East        Persia (now Iran)

Anglo-Soviet invasion

Operation Countenance

Persia's

strategic importance

increased

as the war progressed.

In 1940

it produced

over eight million

tons of oil, essential

for the Allied war effort.

Furthermore,

Germany's

invasion of Russia

in June 1941

made Persia

critically important

for sending

American Lend-Lease

supplies

to the Eastern Front.

While officially neutral,

Persia had friendly ties

with Germany

and was home

to many German

nationals.

Reza Shah Pahlavi's

refusal to expel

the German nationals,

coupled with their

more strategic concerns,

prompted

an Anglo-Soviet invasion

in August 1941.

The invasion

and occupation of Persia

was swift

and undemanding.

The British units

invaded Persia

from their bases

in Iraq,

to the south of Iran.

The Russians

invaded from the north.

Persian resistance

was rapidly

overwhelmed

and neutralised

by Soviet and British

tanks and infantry.

Before long,

the Shah was exiled

to South Africa.

The British

and Soviet troops

met in Tehran

on 17 September

and effectively

divided the country

between them

for the rest of the war.

A Tri-Partite

Treaty of Alliance

between Britain,

Russia and Persia,

signed in January 1942,

committed the Allies

to leaving Persia

at the end of the war.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/timeline/factfiles/nonflash/a1130121.shtml

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/timeline/factfiles/nonflash/a1130121.shtml

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglo-Soviet_invasion_of_Iran

August 1941

Allies        Secret meetings seal US-Britain alliance

Top-secret meetings

between Prime Minister

Winston Churchill

and American President

Franklin D Roosevelt

(...)

Details of the meetings

only emerged

after the announcement

of a joint declaration

by Britain and America

on the basic principles

for a post-war world,

sealing the alliance

between the two countries

for the downfall of Hitler.

(...)

The document,

known as the Atlantic Charter,

consists of a list of eight (?)

undertakings.

 

1 - Britain

and the United States

seek no territorial gains

from the war

2 - any changes to a country's

territory should only happen

with the agreement

of the people living there

3 - it is the right of everyone

to choose the government

under which they will live

4 - self-government

should be restored

to those who have lost it

5 - there should be free trade

between all nations

6 - improvements in the economy

and in living standards

should be available to all

7 - there should be peace following

what the Charter calls

"the end of Nazi tyranny"

8 - peace should enable

freedom of movement

around the world

9 - a belief

that aggressive nations

must be disarmed

if the world

is to live at peace

http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/august/14/newsid_3536000/3536533.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/august/14/newsid_3536000/3536533.stm

Allies        France        Normandie-Niémen unit

Created by

de Gaulle in 1942

to help repel

Hitler’s invasion

of the Soviet Union

in June 1941,

the Normandie-Niémen unit

was composed

of nearly 100 French

fighter pilots,

almost half of whom

were killed in action.

https://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/26/
world/europe/26albert.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/26/
world/europe/26albert.html

Atlantic Ocean

Contemporary accounts

of Atlantic Ocean battles

during the second world war

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/sep/08/
buchheim-monsarrat-atlantic-naval-duel-ww2

USA        Home front

Soviet-German War        1941-1945

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/soviet_german_war_01.shtml

Germans invade the Soviet Union        Operation Barbarossa        22 June 1941

Air Raid Over Moscow

Overall of central Moscow

w. antiaircraft gunners dotting sky over Red Square

w. exploding shells w. spires of Kremlin silhouetted

by German Luftwaffe flare.

Location: Moscow, Russia

Date taken: July 26, 1941

Photographer: Margaret Bourke-White

Life Images

http://images.google.com/hosted/life/l?imgurl=eabefc43c9dc43b0

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/hitler_russia_invasion_02.shtml

http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/22/newsid_3526000/3526691.stm

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/sep/06/
operation-barbarossa-russia-second-world-war 

Greece        Axis occupation        April 1941 - October 1944

Ragged young Greek children during WWII.

Location: Greece

Date taken: October 1944

Photographer: Dmitri Kessel

Life Images

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axis_occupation_of_Greece_during_World_War_II

The Axis occupation

of Greece

during World War II

began in April 1941

after the German and Italian

invasion of Greece,

and was carried out together

with Bulgarian forces.

The Occupation lasted

until the German withdrawal

from the mainland

in October 1944.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axis_occupation_of_Greece_during_World_War_II

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axis_occupation_of_Greece_during_World_War_II

In early March 1941,

Bulgaria

joined the Axis alliance

and, in April 1941,

participated

in the German-led attack

on Yugoslavia and Greece.

In return,

Bulgaria received

most of Thrace

from Greece,

and Macedonia

as well as parts

of eastern Serbia

from Yugoslavia.

Though Bulgaria

participated

in the Balkan Campaign,

it refused to enter the war

against the Soviet Union

in June 1941

http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005451

Hitler/Jaeger File

German troops enter Bulgaria.

Date taken: March 1941

Photographer: Hugo Jaeger

Hugo Jaeger was one of Hitler's personal photographers.

http://www.life.com/image/ugc1000272/in-gallery/27022

Life images

http://images.google.com/hosted/life/l?imgurl=79631bc8a3b75742

http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005451

Japan, USA        Pacific Campaign        1941-1945

USA        Japanese-Americans internment camps

Japan, USA        Pearl Harbor        Sunday, 7 December 1941

The case against American isolationism

during the second world war

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/sep/07/
american-isolationism-henry-luce-ww2

Britain declares war

on Finland,

Hungary and Romania

on 5 December 1941,

following the signing

of the Tri-partite Pact

and Finland's alliance

with Germany

http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/timeline/factfiles/nonflash/a1138501.shtml

1941-1944

The Continuation War

Finland allied itself

with Nazi Germany

(...)

not to prevent Soviet conquest

but to win back territories

lost to the USSR

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/feb/23/
why-finland-allied-itself-with-nazi-germany

The Continuation War

was a conflict fought

by Finland and Nazi Germany,

as co-belligerents,

against the Soviet Union (USSR)

from 1941 to 1944,

during World War II.

In Russian historiography,

the war is called

the Soviet–Finnish Front

of the Great Patriotic War.

Germany regarded

its operations in the region

as part of its overall war efforts

on the Eastern Front

and provided Finland

with critical material support

and military assistance.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continuation_War - 27 April 2020

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continuation_War

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/feb/23/
why-finland-allied-itself-with-nazi-germany

German conquests in Europe        1939-1942

German conquests in Europe, 1939-1942 > map

http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/media_nm.php?lang=en&ModuleId=10005137&MediaId=363

Copyright © United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, D.C.

19 and 20 June 1940

Lyon, France

188 tirailleurs « sénégalais »,

6 tirailleurs nord-africains

et 2 légionnaires russe et albanais

sont massacrés

par l’armée allemande

au nord de Lyon.

https://www.lemonde.fr/societe/article/2020/06/16/
ces-tirailleurs-africains-massacres-par-les-nazis
_6042980_3224.html

https://www.lemonde.fr/societe/article/2020/06/16/
ces-tirailleurs-africains-massacres-par-les-nazis
_6042980_3224.html

German occupation of the Channel Islands        June 1940- 9 May 1945

Концлагерь на острове Джерси:

как британцы прятали беглого советского солдатаКонцлагерь

на острове Джерси: как британцы прятали беглого советского солдата

BBC News - Русская служба        Video        8 May 2020

Британцу Бобу Ле Суеру – 99 лет.

Во время Второй мировой войны

он помогал некоторым советским военнопленным,

бежавшим из концлагеря.

С одним из них, Федором «Биллом» Бурым,

у него завязалась дружба на всю жизнь.

Боб рассказал Русской службе Би-Би-Си о том,

как сбежавших военнопленных прятали всей деревней,

оформляли им поддельные документы

и как «казацкая песня» чуть не выдала Федора фашистам.

YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=mLvEvclJlZA

https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=mLvEvclJlZA
video - BBC - 8 May 2020

https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2010/nov/18/
guernsey-files-islanders-nazi-occupation
 

https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2007/mar/12/
uk.culturaltrips.channelislands

https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2005/may/10/
secondworldwar.monarchy

Netherlands > German occupation    1940-1945

May 1940

France

The Wormhoudt massacre

(or Wormhout massacre)

mass murder

of 80 British and French POWs

by Waffen-SS soldiers

from the 1st SS Division

Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler

during the Battle of France

in May 1940.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wormhoudt_massacre - 4 December 2020

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wormhoudt_massacre

1940

Russia

Katyn massacre

forest of Katyn,

near the city of Smolensk

zbrodnia katyńska, mord katyński

Катынский расстрел

In the spring of 1940

the Soviets proceeded

with the “liquidation”

of the Polish officer corps,

shooting nearly 15,000 men

in Katyn Forest

http://movies.nytimes.com/2009/02/18/movies/18katy.html

22,000 Polish

officers and intellectuals

were murdered

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/apr/24/katyn-massacre-poland-president

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/apr/28/
katyn-massacre-russia-documents-web

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2010/apr/24/
katyn-massacre-poland-president  

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/
katyn-painful-wound-that-has-yet-to-heal-1942117.html

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/5579176/Katyn-review.html  

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8606126.stm

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11845315

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8606126.stm - 7 April 2010

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2009/jun/19/
katyn-andrzej-wajda-film-review  

https://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/18/
movies/18katy.html

Romania and Hungary

joined the Tri-partite Pact

- originally signed

on September 27, 1940

by Germany,

Japan and Italy -

in November 1940,

as Hitler prepared

his attack

against Bolshevism

on the Eastern Front.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/timeline/factfiles/nonflash/a1138501.shtml - broken URL

October 23, 1940

France        Hendaye        Adolf Hitler meets Francisco Franco

Smiling German ldr. Adolf Hitler (R)

shaking hands w. Spanish leader Generalissimo Francisco Franco (2L)

during Hitler's only official meeeting w. Franco.

Location: Hendaye, France

Date taken: October 23, 1940

Life Images

http://images.google.com/hosted/life/l?imgurl=2bab5be9c6f1bc41

https://www.ina.fr/video/AFE85000178/
entrevue-historique-du-chancelier-hitler-avec-le-general-franco-video.html

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/spain/
3533400/Franco-feared-Hitler-would-kidnap-him.html 

The Tripartite Pact,

also called

the Three-Power Pact,

Axis Pact,

Three-way Pact

or Tripartite Treaty,

was signed

in Berlin, Germany

on September 27, 1940.

It established

the Axis Powers

of World War II.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tripartite_Pact

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tripartite_Pact

http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/article.php?ModuleId=10005177

http://avalon.law.yale.edu/wwii/triparti.asp

http://www.ina.fr/fresques/jalons/notice/InaEdu00227/
signature-du-pacte-tripartite-entre-l-allemagne-l-italie-et-le-japon

22 June 1940

United Kingdom

Charles de Gaulle's

BBC rallying call to France

Appel du 22 juin

Il n'y a pas eu

d'enregistrement

(audio ou film)

de l'Appel du 18 juin 1940,

contrairement à

celui du 22 juin 1940,

avec lequel

on le confond souvent

http://www.charles-de-gaulle.org/pages/l-homme/dossiers-thematiques/
1940-1944-la-seconde-guerre-mondiale/l-appel-du-18-juin/documents/l-appel-du-22-juin-1940.php - broken URL

18 June 1940

United Kingdom

Charles de Gaulle's

BBC rallying call to France

Appel du 18 juin

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/jun/18/
charles-de-gaulle-bbc-broadcast

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/jun/13/
de-gaulle-rallying-cry-almost-silenced

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10339678

15 June 1940

The Soviet Union invades Lithuania

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jan/04/
chiune-sugihara-my-father-japanese-schindler-saved-6000-jews-lithuania

France        Bataille de Dunkerque / Battle of Dunkirk        20 May - 3 June 1940

Hitler/Jaeger File

Dunkirk after British bombardment and retreat.

Location: Dunkirk, France

Date taken: June 1940

Photographer: Hugo Jaeger

Life Images

http://images.google.com/hosted/life/df15c1ca7a20795a.html

http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/4/
newsid_3500000/3500865.stm

The Fall of France        May - June 1940

In 1940,

refugees fled Paris

in anticipation of the German invasion.

FPG/Hulton Archive, via Getty Images

Would You Hide a Jew From the Nazis?

Nicholas Kristof        NYT        SEPT. 17, 2016

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/18/
opinion/sunday/would-you-hide-a-jew-from-the-nazis.html

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/fall_france_01.shtml

http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/stories/45/a2598645.shtml

https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/france

Netherlands        Rotterdam        May 14, 1940

Leveled city of Rotterdam

resulting from ignored German ultimatum

ordering Dutch commander of city to cease fire

delivered to him at 10:30 a.m. on May 14, 1940;

at 1:22 p.m.,

German bombers set

whole inner city of Rotterdam ablase,

killing 30,000 of its inhabitants.

Location: Rotterdam, Netherlands

Date taken: 1940

http://images.google.com/hosted/life/l?imgurl=c35a9c97fcd778ca - broken URL

German bombers

set whole inner city

of Rotterdam ablaze,

killing 30,000

of its inhabitants

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotterdam_Blitz

10 May 1940

Germany invades the Netherlands

On 10 May 1940,

the German army

invaded the Netherlands.

It was the start

of five days of fighting

that resulted

in the occupation

of the Netherlands

(...)

The planned attack

on the Netherlands

was part of a larger

plan of attack,

of which the code name

was Fall Gelb.

The goal of the Germans

was to conquer France.

They wanted to bypass

the French defence line

at the eastern border

by going through

the Netherlandsand Belgium.

https://www.annefrank.org/en/anne-frank/
go-in-depth/german-invasion-netherlands/

https://www.annefrank.org/en/anne-frank/
go-in-depth/german-invasion-netherlands/

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/04/15/
arts/dutch-war-diaries.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/25/
obituaries/freddie-oversteegen-dutch-resistance-fighter-dies-at-92.html

Avril 1940

Guerre dans le Grand Nord

Occupation of Denmark

En avril 1940,

les troupes allemandes

lancent une offensive

contre la Norvège.

D’abord

prises au piège

à Narvik,

port norvégien

au-delà

du cercle polaire,

elles sont ensuite

en première ligne

pour attaquer

l’Union soviétique.

http://www.arte.tv/fr/content/tv/02__Universes/U1__Comprendre__le__monde/02-
WebMagazines/50_20ARTE_20Histoire/01_20Geschichte_20am_20Mittwoch/01_20
Aktuell/edition-2010.08.08/ART__intro__Arktis__11.08.2010/3347848.html - outdated link

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denmark_in_World_War_II

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2008/jan/13/
ignobledanes

1940

France        War is real, U.S. is told        April 4, 1940

France

is not fighting

a ‘‘phoney’’ war

and it will not accept

a ‘‘phoney’’ peace,

Premier Paul Reynaud

declared last night

in a radio talk in English

to the United States,

which was carried

on a national hook-up

in America.

He said that,

once Hitler

has been crushed,

Europe can return

to normal life,

eliminating

disastrous war budgets

and spending billions

on social welfare

instead of armaments,

at the same time

returning

to a sane conception

of exchange

and taking up

the problem

of establishing

a federative bond.

Mr. Reynaud’s speech

follows in part:

‘‘I am not addressing

you tonight

to give you advice.

You alone can decide

what you wish

or do not wish to do.

The only thing of which

we are sure here

is that if wishes

were active forces

in this world,

there are so many

Americans

who wish the Allies

to be victorious,

that we would win the war

tomorrow morning.’’

— New York Herald Tribune,

European Edition, April 4, 1940

http://iht-retrospective.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/04/03/1940-war-is-real-u-s-is-told/

http://iht-retrospective.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/04/03/
1940-war-is-real-u-s-is-told/

17,000 Jewish Canadians

(...) fought in World War II

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/08/
magazine/canadian-jewish-veterans-world-war-ii.html

Nazis invade Poland    1 September 1939

23-24 August 1939

Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact / Nazi-Soviet Pact

L to R:

Stalin and Ribbentrop at the signing of the Pact

23 August 1939

Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
File:Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-H27337,_Moskau,_Stalin_und_Ribbentrop_im_Kreml.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Stalin

Primary source > Das Bundesarchiv

http://www.bild.bundesarchiv.de/archives/barchpic/search/_1252826541/?
search%5Bform%5D%5BSIGNATUR%5D=Bild+183-H27337

Vyacheslav Molotov (left) signs the pact

as Joachim von Ribbentrop (centre)

and Joseph Stalin watch.

Photograph:

ullstein bild via Getty Images

Molotov-Ribbentrop:

why is Moscow trying to justify Nazi pact?

Exhibition about Soviet-Nazi treaty,

signed on 23 August 1939,

seeks to turn spotlight

on west’s behaviour in 1930s

Fri 23 Aug 2019        07.17 BST

Last modified on Fri 23 Aug 2019        10.14 BST

G

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/aug/23/
moscow-campaign-to-justify-molotov-ribbentrop-pact-sparks-outcry

Treaty of Non-Aggression

between

the Third German Reich

and the Union of Soviet

Socialist Republics

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8212451.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8214391.stm

http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/learning/bitesize/higher/history/
roadwar/munich_rev2.shtml

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/aug/23/
moscow-campaign-to-justify-molotov-ribbentrop-pact-sparks-outcry

22 May 1939

Italy and Germany

sign the Pact of Steel

to help each other

in the event of war

http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/learning/bitesize/higher/history/
roadwar/munich_rev2.shtml

1938-1939

Munich agreement,

Annexation of Austria,

Czechoslovakia partition

WWII: (...) catastrophe foretold

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/sep/01/
world-war-two-eighty-years-on-world-still-haunted-by-catastrophe-foretold

Russia before the second world war

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/sep/05/
second-world-war-stalin-russia 

Rising tension in Asia

before the second world war

Declining relations

between Russia and Japan

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/sep/05/
second-world-war-asia-japan-russia 

America's economy

before the second world war

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/sep/05/
america-great-depression-second-world-war

The economic impact

of the Treaty of Versailles

(28 June 1919)

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/sep/05/
versailles-second-world-war 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwone/versailles_01.shtml

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/worldwarone/hq/outcomes3_01.shtml

Spain        Spanish civil war        Guernica        1937

The Basque town of Guernica

after its devastation by German bombs

in 1937.

Photograph:

Universal History Archive/UIG via

Eighty years on,

Spain may at last be able to confront the ghosts of civil war

O

Sunday 29 May 2016    08.00 BST

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/may/29/
national-museum-spanish-civil-war-barcelona

 Gen Franco wanted to terrorise

the people in the Basque region,

an area of strong resistance

to his nationalist forces

in the Civil War.

For Nazi Germany

and Fascist Italy,

it was an opportunity

to get some practice

with a new form of warfare:

strategic, aerial bombing

of civilians.

No strictly military objectives

were touched.

Factories and bridges

were left alone

- civilians

were the only targets.

(...)

The figures for the number

of casualties in the bombing

are still disputed,

but most historians think

between 200 and 250 people were killed

and many hundreds wounded.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6583639.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6583639.stm

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcone/
modernmasters/virtual-exhibition/picasso/12-guernica.shtml

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/may/29/
national-museum-spanish-civil-war-barcelona

November 1936

German-Japanese Treaty

Berlin and Tokio

announce their pact

https://www.theguardian.com/century/1930-1939/
Story/0,,127041,00.html