Photos: D-Day landings re-enacted by historical buffs on the shores of Eastern Europe
These vivid images show the desperate invasion of Omaha Beach in Normandy re-enacted by hundreds of historical enthusiasts. The landings were recreated at Hel D-Day festival in Poland, which lasts a week and features professional actors as well as amateurs.
(dailymail.co.uk)
Conflict-Series: A highly rated strategy game series for Android
If you love classic PC war games and legendary strategy board games make sure to check out the highly rated Conflict-series for Android. Some of the WWII Campaigns include D-Day 1944, Operation Barbarossa, Invasion of Poland 1939, France 1940, Kursk 1943, Market Garden, Iwo Jima, Okinawa, Rommel's North African campaign, the Battle of Bulge, and the Battle of Berlin 1945. In addition there are American Civil War, First World War and American Revolutionary War scenarios available.
(available on Google Play & Amazon App Store)
Dr Kurt Tank of Focke Wulf of Hitlers Germany designed the HF-24 first jet in India
Dr. Kurt Tank was a German aircraft designer during World War II when Adolf Hitler ruled. He is famous for designing the Focke- Wulf 190 and the 4 engine Condor. After the defeat of Germany, Dr. Kurt escaped to Argentina. His tenure in Argentina was not much of a success and he came to India as a professor at the Indian Institute of Technology at Madras. Dr. Tank joined the team and soon brought out the first jet fighter ever made outside the developed world. He conceived and launched the Hindustan Fighter-24 or Marut which means the Wind god.
(blastingnews.com)
Collection of wartime comics show how propaganda persuaded Britain`s children they need not fear the Nazis
Bright, bold and politically charged, these comics reveal how publishers fought to win over the hearts and minds of British children during the Second World War. The Beano and The Hotspur both trumpeted the importance of the nation`s war effort to youngsters sitting at home, many of whom had brothers, fathers and uncles serving on the frontline. Targeting children as young as eight, the comics used vibrant front covers and witty story lines to ridicule Hitler and undermine the Nazis while championing the ideal of the plucky British underdog.
(dailymail.co.uk)
Own a piece of history: Detailed D-Day invasion maps to be sold off at auction
The 24 original maps were drawn up just two weeks before the momentous operation and gave the military commanders the most contemporary reports of the state of the five Normandy beaches. The charts, marked `Top Secret`, were so detailed they contained almost the exact number and positions of mines, pill boxes and other defence works the Germans had laid as part of Atlantic Wall. Individual houses along the coast that had been fortified and occupied by the Germans were also highlighted. The maps cover the areas of Normandy where Allied paratroopers dropped a few hours before the beach landings.
(express.co.uk)
Body parts from Nazi doctor Josef Mengele`s experiments discovered in a Munich research lab
Body parts and brains of victims of horrific experiments by Nazi doctors - including the infamous `Angel of Death` Josef Mengele of Auschwitz - have been found at a leading German research institute. The gruesome remains were discovered in jars during renovations at the Max Planck Psychiatric Institute in Munich. It is known that in wartime the institute regularly received human body parts from Josef Mengele, the doctor at the Nazi death camp in occupied Poland where he became infamous for carrying out horrific experiments without anaesthetic.
(dailymail.co.uk)
OSS Hitler propaganda sheet brings $17,250 at Harmer-Schau sale
One of the fascinating aspects of WW2 is the fact that both sides engaged in the production of fake stamps as a propaganda tool. The U.S. Office of Strategic Services produced a souvenir sheet in 1944 satirizing a 1937 German issue honoring Adolf Hitler (Scott B102). The four stamps show cartoonlike Hitler skulls in place of his portrait, and the color is maroon instead of dark green. The inscription below the four stamps is the original one, but its meaning in this context would appear to inspire thoughts of assassination, rather than reverence: `Wer ein Folk retten will kann nur heroisch denken` (He who wants to save a people can only think heroically). The scarce sheet, of which only 15 are known, sold for $17,250.
(linns.com)
If France Kept Fighting: How World War II Might Have Gone Very Differently
France surrendered to the Nazis in 1940 for complex reasons. The proximate cause, of course, was the success of the German invasion, which left metropolitan France at the mercy of Nazi armies. Instead of fleeing the country and keeping up the fight, as the Dutch government and a residue of the French military did, the bulk of the French government and military hierarchy made peace with the Germans. But what if key figures (such as Marshal Philippe Petain) had viewed the situation differently? If the French government had decided to go into exile in the Empire, rather than re-establish itself in the German protectorate at Vichy, then the rest of World War II might have gone very differently.
(nationalinterest.org)
So you wanted a souvenir? Here`s a Japanese skull. – How enemy mutilation entered US mainstream in WWII
Wars get the worst of us. But just how far does that `worst` go? It is generally forgotten that during WWII some US soldiers went as far as to mutilate the dead Japanese and turn their body parts into souvenirs. And then send them to their folks back home. Mutilation was so widespread, that the Army chiefs had to intervene.
(thevintagenews.com)
In 1944, Nazi troops massacred cityzens of Oradour-sur-Glane. Werner Christukat was one of those soldiers. He needs to confess
In 1944, Nazi troops surrounded the French village of Oradour-sur-Glane and slaughtered all but seven villagers. Werner Christukat was one of those soldiers. He needs to confess.
(huffingtonpost.com)
Album of mugshots and signatures of Nazi war criminals awaiting justice unearthed
A chilling album featuring mugshots and signatures of Nazi war criminals which were taken as they awaited justice has been unearthed after more than 70 years. The gallery - a who`s who of Hitler`s henchmen involved in the Holocaust - was assembled by an Allied intelligence officer whose job was to interrogate the depraved individuals. A vital part of the questioning was to get them to provide an authentic signature to compare it with handwriting of Nazi officials who signed off orders for war atrocities.
(dailymail.co.uk)
Joseph Goebbels` 105-year-old secretary: No one believes me now, but I knew nothing
Brunhilde Pomsel worked at the heart of the Nazis` propaganda machine. As a film about her life is released, she discusses her lack of remorse and the private side of her monstrous boss: "It was rare for us to see him in the mornings. He`d walk up the steps from his little palace near the Brandenburg Gate, on to which his huge propaganda ministry was attached. He`d trip up the steps like a little duke, through his library into his beautiful office on Unter den Linden."
(theguardian.com)
Digging for World War II History in Latvia`s Battlefields
In recent years, the often illicit market in Nazi memorabilia has intensified, creating a new class of diggers across eastern Europe that is at odds with volunteer group Legenda, sometimes racing Talis Esmits to a freshly discovered pile of bones. Among the hunters are legions of grave robbers, who also ply Russia`s soil, attractive for its many German war dead and its blue clay, which can allow items to remain pristine after decades on a rotting corpse. Official diggers sometimes have to post nighttime guards, says Robin Schäfer, a former collector and a military historian from Germany.
(bloomberg.com)
Shirley Chidsey: The Female Spy Who Kept Uranium Out of the Nazis` Hands
Shirley Chidsey`s love of travel and adventure helped land her in the Congo during World War II, when as an OSS operative she helped the U.S. hoard precious uranium.
(thedailybeast.com)
The drone that killed JFK`s brother: Secret WWII anti-Nazi raid failed (PHOTOS, VIDEO)
The older brother of US President John F Kennedy died 72 years ago to the day – killed in a fundamentally flawed and secretive early ‘drone` mission codenamed ‘Operation Aphrodite`.
(mo4ch.com)
WWII aircraft carrier USS Independence off California coast in amazing state
Famed oceanographer Robert Ballard discovered the Titanic, the Bismarck, the USS Yorktown and John F. Kennedy`s PT-109. On Tuesday, he added another accomplishment to his list of documenting the world`s greatest shipwrecks: the first images in more than six decades of the USS Independence, an iconic World War II aircraft carrier scuttled in 1951 off the California coast, half a mile under the sea.
(mercurynews.com)
Doris Bohrer, World War II Spy for Allies, Dies at 93
Doris Bohrer, who as a spy for the Office of Strategic Services during World War II helped plan the Allied invasion of Sicily and traced the movement of German trains transporting prisoners to concentration camps, died at 93.
(nytimes.com)
Sparsely attended Normandy museum selling its D-Day tanks
For sale: tanks, good condition, some used during D-Day. The Normandy Tank Museum is selling its entire collection at auction before closing its doors because it failed to attract enough visitors. The sale includes tanks, military vehicles, trucks, aircraft and motorcycles, many of which have been restored to working order. More than 40 armored vehicles, along with thousands of military items used during World War II and dozens of mannequins in full battle dress, will be sold on September 18 by Artcurial, a Paris-based luxury auction house.
(chicagotribune.com)
Goebbels` wife had Jewish father, new document shows
The wife of Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels had a Jewish father, according to a new document discovered in the Berlin archives. It shows that the father of Magda Goebbels was a Jewish businessman named Richard Friedlander, who married Magda`s mother, Auguste Behrend, when Magda was about 7 years old. Friedlander had an affair in 1901 with Behrend before she married German engineer Oskar Ritshel, who had been blamed for impregnating Behrend before their wedding. Friedlander`s residency card, the document found in the archives, states that Magda is his biological daughter.
(timesofisrael.com)
What we think we know about 1936 Berlin Olympics is wrong
Owens` victories also fueled another misconception — that Hitler stalked out of the Olympics rather than have to shake the hand of someone the Nazis regarded as a racial inferior. It never happened. Except in one instance, Hitler didn`t congratulate any of the games` victors, German or foreign. The story of him storming out of the stadium is based on the self-serving testimony of the leader of the Nazi youth movement, Baldur von Schirach, at the Nuremberg trials a decade later. While the world press heralded Owens` performance, in a telling commentary on the racism in the United States at the time, his photograph did not appear in any newspaper throughout the American South. Hitler, in fact, behaved properly throughout the Olympics. After the opening ceremony staged with typical Nazi arrogance, where he marched around the stadium to great cheers, Hitler attended the most significant athletic events but tended to stay in the background.
(mystatesman.com)
The Vought V-173 (Flying Pancake) was an experimental aircraft tested by the Navy in 1942
The V-173 was one-of-a-kind experimental test aircraft built as part of the Vought XF5U `Flying Flapjack` World War II United States Navy fighter aircraft program. It was created when the Navy and NACA approved Chance Vaught`s manufacture of a small scale model for wind tunnel testing.
(thevintagenews.com)
Hitler`s philosophers: some of Germany`s greatest minds became enthusiastic supporters of the Third Reich
Until 1933 there had been hundreds of Jewish academics, including philosophers, in universities across Germany. In the year that Hitler became chancellor, more than 1,600 scholars were expelled from their posts. They included some influential philosophers like Edmund Husserl and also Karl Jaspers. In the wake of this purge, there is almost no evidence of any opposition from ‘Aryan` philosophers – no letters, campaigns or protests. As one commentator expressed it: `Their silence was strong.`
The expulsion of so many Jews left a considerable number of jobs vacant, and the standard required to obtain these was vastly reduced. The remaining philosophers quickly spotted the opportunities.
(historyextra.com)
Ten WWII innovations that changed the world we live in (for the better)
War pushes humanity to its outer limits. Even though horrific atrocities of war often overshadow the advancements made, there are indeed those that change the world forever – and for the better. So while we dream of a world where millions of people aren`t swept off the face of the Earth so that the rest of us can enjoy the scientific and technical byproducts of wars, here`s a list of ten revolutionary innovations that WWII gave birth to.
(thevintagenews.com)
Japan`s comfort women: Who were the 200,000 women sold for sex during WWII
From the early 1930s to the end of the Second World War, hundreds of thousands of women were forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese military. More than 200,000 Korean, Chinese, Taiwanese, Malaysian and women of other nationalities, euphemistically referred to as "comfort women", were enslaved by the Japanese Imperial Military in occupied territories. It is one of the biggest cases of human trafficking in the 20th century and more than 70 years later, the tragedy is still provoking international tensions.
(ibtimes.co.uk)
Diaries of SS Boss Heinrich Himmler have been found - Covering the years 1938, 1943 and 1944
A newly uncovered diary kept by Nazi mass murderer and SS monster Heinrich Himmler has revealed how he took a massage before ordering 10 Poles to their deaths and almost fainted when a Jew`s brain splattered on his coat after they were shot. Covering the years 1938, 1943 and 1944, the paperwork vanished at end of the Second World War and into the hands of the Red Army. Now it has been discovered in the Russian Military Archive in Podolsk filed under Dnewnik - Russian for diary. It is his service calendar where he recorded dates, places, meetings and his decision to send millions of people to their deaths.
(dailymail.co.uk)