Hitler's Third Reich and World War II in the News is a daily edited review of WWII news, providing thought- provoking collection of hand-picked WW2 information.

Recent WWII news and articles

Russia awards British WW2 Arctic convoys veterans
British members of the Arctic convoys which delivered vital supplies to the Soviet Union, met with their Russian counterparts in London to celebrate Victory Day and get Russian Arctic Medals. The ceremony took place on HMS Belfast, London's Floating Naval Museum, which is a living memory from those cold Arctic days. Back in 1942 it was the largest cruiser in the Royal Navy, offering heavy close-range cover for the Arctic convoy. In total 78 of them made their way to and from North Russia carrying 4 million tonnes of supplies - food, tanks and aircraft to be used in the battle against Nazis on the Eastern Front.     [ russiatoday :: 2008-05-10 :: PQ-17 and Arctic Convoys ]

World War II Nurses get their due
With the Battle of Okinawa raging around her in 1945, Omi Jensen flew to the fiercely contested Japanese island to care for wounded US servicemen. She was one of only 122 women during WW2 who earned Flight Nurse Wings. She was part of a pioneering group of Navy nurses who flew into Pacific battle zones on aircraft and cared for badly wounded Marines as they were flown to safety. They were designated VRE-1 but nicknamed "Hell's Angels" by the servicemen. Jensen recalls how in 3-month period, the "Hell's Angels" evacuated 9,600 wounded from Okinawa - over twice that of Iwo Jima and Guadalcanal combined.     [ denverpost :: 2008-05-10 :: Nurses in World War II ]

Mystery of German U-Boat 234 recalled at Wright Museum exhibit
No one, officially, knows what happened to a half ton of Nazi uranium that German submarine U234 - captured while travelling to Japan - brought with it into Portsmouth Harbor in May of 1945. Conventional wisdom holds that the uranium was sent to Oak Ridge, but new research shows it would have arrived too late for the weapons used against Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The Wrigth Museum has a display of prisms from the periscope of U-Boat 234 and articles that detail the importance of the cargo, which also included 2 disassembled Me-262 jet fighters, and scientists aboard the 295 foot-long Unterseeboot.     [ newhampshire :: 2008-05-09 :: U-Boats : Submarines ]

Former POW and Luftwaffe officer Heinrich Willert returns to Niagara
Heinrich Willert is fielding questions about his past: his capture as a Luftwaffe officer and how he ended up at Fort Niagara as a POW. He's talking about his first impressions: "America is a rich land. A very, very rich land in comparison to Germany." And his face-to-face talk with a local farmer, on the day in May 1945 when Nazi Germany ceded. The farmer had told him of the news and added: "You're all criminals because of the concentration camps." Willert summoned all the English swear words he knew. Then the American took a step back: "I'm sorry. I never meant to hurt you. Come inside and have a meal."     [ niagara-gazette :: 2008-05-09 :: POW Camps - Prisoners of War ]

Eastern Front - The main front of World War II
The approaching Victory Day raises quarrels about the bloodiest war in human history. One of the issues is the sides' relative contribution to victory in the European theatre. After the Allied landing in Normandy in 1944, they had 200,000 officers and men in Operation Cobra in July, the strength of the facing German troops was about the same. In the meantime, the Soviet Union started Operation Bagration with over 2.3 million officers and men against a 800,000-strong German force. Total Soviet losses in this operation were 765,000 officers and men, and German losses were over 400,000.     [ rian :: 2008-05-09 :: Victory Day - Memorial Day ]

The evening Luftwaffe bombed Valletta -- Malta At War
A rare photograph of Valletta under attack on April 7, 1942 features in the first of 13 issues that will make up volume 5 of Malta At War. Various ships were sunk in Grand Harbour, like the Talabot and Pampas, which had been hit a two weeks earlier in attacks by the Luftwaffe, fixed to destroy the 2 survivors of a convoy that had been delivered by the Royal Navy after defeating a Italian Navy squadron in the Second Battle of Sirte. March 1942 had seen the Luftwaffe start a massive blitz to neutralise the island's offensive against the Axis convoys carrying supplies to the Erwin Rommel's Afrika Korps.     [ timesofmalta :: 2008-05-09 :: Malta in World War II ]

The Civilian Camouflage Directorate: Team that 'hid' wartime factories
They were landscape painters, set designers and Royal Academy artists. More used to living the London lavishness, these were the people called upon to defend factories, ships, docks and air bases. Posted to Leamington Spa under the name of the Civilian Camouflage Directorate, their secret task was to camouflage key bombing targets. Led by designer Christopher Ironside and Captain Lancelot Glasson, the 250-strong group used a giant turntable at the roller-skating rink to create models that could be viewed in all weather conditions. From this came an array of camouflage techniques to confuse Luftwaffe.     [ bbc :: 2008-05-09 :: Camouflage during World War II ]

The Gunners: A History Of New Zealand Artillery
The official history of the New Zealand Divisional Artillery in the Second World War concluded with the observation that peacetime seems quieter to gunners than it does to other people. It is small wonder, because of the roar of their own guns in wartime and the scream of incoming shells in counter-battery duels. But peacetime is also quieter for gunners because they are examples of the observation by the 19th century German philosopher Georg Hegel that nations have never learned anything from history. The tale of New Zealand artillery is one of repeated peacetime neglect and wartime reliance.     [ nzherald :: 2008-05-09 :: Artillery of World War II ]

Body of Canadian soldier who died in the battle of the Falaise gap in 1944 found
64 years after he perished in a battle with Wehrmacht in France, a Canadian soldier's body has been discovered and identified. The young private died in the battle of the Falaise gap in August 1944, two months after Allied troops landed on the beaches of Normandy. His body was discovered in a quarry in Haut Mesnil, 18km north of Falaise. The soldier's name won't be issued until family members are consulted. Haut Mesnil residents who discovered the body also found a badge identifying the soldier as a Canadian. There are 27,000 Canadian soldiers with unknown graves around the world.     [ edmontonsun :: 2008-05-08 :: Canada in WWII ]

Escape from the Deep - WWII book examines lost U.S. submarine
Submarine warfare during World War II was as deadly a task as a sailor could get in the U.S. Navy. Not only did America's Navy have to deal with Adolf Hitler's U-boats, Japan's navy was just as good at sinking American submarines. Submariners learned that one false move, one too many depth charges and their vessel would become their "Iron Coffin". "Escape from the Deep: The Epic Story of a Legendary Submarine and Her Courageous Crew" tells the story of the USS Tang (SS-306), one of the most highly decorated submarines during the war, and how only 9 men survived, only to be captured by the Japanese.     [ bostonherald :: 2008-05-08 :: U-Boats : Submarines ]

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