I was eight years old at the beginning of the war, and my first memory is of being taken to the local school hall, where the gas masks were being issued. The man gave me a Mickey Mouse one to try which nearly asphyxiated me! These masks were made with two separate eyeholes and a [...]
Over one million children under the age of sixteen died in in World War II, not because of the bombs, but because they did not fit in as Hitler’s image of the “perfect” German. Many children and their parents living in countries, which had been invaded by the Germans, were imprisoned and killed because they [...]
On August 6, 1945, the United States used a massive, atomic weapon against Hiroshima, Japan. This atomic bomb, the equivalent of 20,000 tons of TNT, flattened the city, killing tens of thousands of civilians. While Japan was still trying to comprehend this devastation three days later, the United States struck again, this time, on Nagasaki. [...]
Japanese expansion in East Asia began in 1931 with the invasion of Manchuria and continued in 1937 with a brutal attack on China. On September 27, 1940, Japan signed the Tripartite Pact with Germany and Italy, thus entering the military alliance known as the “Axis.” Seeking to curb Japanese aggression and force a withdrawal of [...]
In 1939, Adolf Hitler was preparing for war. Though he was hoping to acquire Poland without force (as he had annexed Austria the year before), Hitler was planning against the possibility of a two front war. Since fighting a two front war in World War I had split Germany’s forces, it had weakened and undermined their offensive; [...]
The story of the atomic bomb started around the turn of the century when a small number of physicists began to think about, discuss, and publish papers about the phenomenon of radioactivity, the behavior of alpha particles, and the properties of various materials when irradiated. Initially, these persons included well-known scientists such as Ernest Rutherford [...]
On 16 Jul 1945, while President of the United States Harry Truman was at Potsdam, Germany to meet with his Allied counterparts, long-waited results reached him: The Manhattan Project, the American effort at building the atomic bomb, successfully detonated the first bomb during a test at Los Alamos, New Mexico, United States. Truman, unwilling to [...]
There’s nothing funny about Hitler, but he is endlessly fascinating. Since Congress passed the Nazi War Crimes Disclosure Act in 1998, almost 3 million classified files have been opened to the public – including a 1942 secret profile of Adolf Hitler compiled by the OSS. Here are some excerpts. PERSONAL APPEARANCE • Hitler never allows [...]
Obscure facts about Adolf Hitler. Frequently these supposed ‘Hitler facts’ involve lewd allusions to his sexuality, issues of health and hypochondria, and not least his tenuous relationship with religion. A particular favourite amongst mythologists is his alleged dearth of certain reproductive organs; this, however, would appear to owe more to the derogatory wartime songs of [...]
Adolf Hitler, who ruled Germany for 12 years, which resulted in millions of deaths in World War II, including the Holocaust, is regarded as one of the most despicable men in history, with his name becoming synonymous with evil. Born on the 20th of April, 1889, in Braunau am Inn, a town in Austria, Adolf [...]
Anne Frank is one of the most famous Jewish victims of the Holocaust because of the diary she kept during her time in hiding before being captured by the Nazis. She was only 13 years old when she and her family went into hiding. The writings from the two years she spent in such close [...]
Anne Frank Summary Information: Anne Frank is best known for her diary, which she wrote for just over two years while in hiding from the Nazis in Amsterdam during World War II. She received the diary as a 13th birthday present a few weeks before she and her family, along with four other people, went [...]
Over one million children under the age of sixteen died in in World War II, not because of the bombs, but because they did not fit in as Hitler’s image of the “perfect” German. Many children and their parents living in countries, which had been invaded by the Germans, were imprisoned and killed because they [...]
During World War 2, many children were moved from areas that were at risk from bombing. The children had to leave their families and go to live with strangers in less dangerous parts of the country. This was called “evacuation”. Foster parents usually took their children. However, many discovered that life away from home was [...]
I was eight years old at the beginning of the war, and my first memory is of being taken to the local school hall, where the gas masks were being issued. The man gave me a Mickey Mouse one to try which nearly asphyxiated me! These masks were made with two separate eyeholes and a [...]
Full statistics for the tragic fate of children who died during the Nazi genocide – Holocaust – will never be known. Estimates range as high as 1.5 million murdered children. This figure includes more than 1.2 million Jewish children, tens of thousands of Gypsy children and thousands of institutionalized handicapped children. Nazi persecution, arrests, and [...]
A West Virginia man is making the best of his retirement – while giving his grandsons the coolest playground in town. Bo Lakatos, of Morgantown retired last year, and it wasn’t long before he passed the extra time while putting his building smarts to good use. The project, a life-sized replica of the P-40 warplane [...]
Skeleton of hero World War II carrier pigeon found in chimney with a secret message still attached to its leg (and now Bletchley Park are trying to crack the code) David Martin, 74, found the stricken bird when he opened the disused fire place while renovating his Surrey home It is thought the pigeon may [...]
Renowned career soldier and war hero Basil L. Plumley – one of a select few to have fought in World War II, the Korean War and Vietnam – has died at 92. Plumley is a legend in the U.S. Army for his exploits and was awarded a medal for making five parachute jumps into combat. [...]
The M1 Bayonet is a bayonet that was designed to be used with the M1 Garand and was used by the United States Military during WWII. The blade is 10 inches long and the handle is 4 inches long. Before 1943, the M1 Garand and the M1903 Springfield Rifle had to use the M1905 [...]
A Ka-Bar Knife and sheath. The ‘Ka-Bar’ or the 1219C2 USMC Fighting/Utility knife was a combat knife that was issued to US troops during the Second World War. The knife had a 7 in Bowie type clip point blade, with a fuller or ‘blood grove’ on both sides. The clip edge is slightly concave [...]
The Duplex Drive The design goal in designing the Duplex Drive was to create a tank which could swim to an enemy held beach ahead of the infantry, instead of involving specialized landing craft for their delivery. These amphibious tanks could be unloaded a distance of approximately two miles from shore, where they would at [...]
World War 2 World War 2, also known as “WW2/WWII/The Second World War, started in 1939 after an unprovoked attack on Poland by Germany. After Hitler refused to stop his attacks on Poland, Britain and France declared war on Germany. World War 2 – Germany invading Poland Some countries did not join the [...]
World War 2 – The Attack on Poland The Invasion of Poland effectively began the Second World War. German mechanized and airborne components poured over the border in well-coordinated fast-moving land offensives and accurate air attacks in what became known as the “Lightning War” or Blitzkrieg. The Poles put up a valiant defense of their [...]
Introduction It all happened so quickly. At 7.55am on Sunday 7 December 1941, the first of two waves of Japanese aircraft began their deadly attack on the US Pacific Fleet, moored at Pearl Harbor on the Pacific island of Oahu. Within two hours, five battleships had been sunk, another 16 damaged, and 188 aircraft destroyed. [...]
Introduction In the whole of history there has never been a war like it. In its scale of destruction, the war on the Eastern Front was unique; from Leningrad to the Crimea, from Kiev to Stalingrad, the Soviet Union was devastated – at least 25 million Soviet citizens died. And in the end what did [...]
Commandant Josef Kramer was immediately arrested by the British liberators The Bergen-Belsen concentration camp was voluntarily turned over to the Allied 21st Army Group, a combined British-Canadian unit, on April 15, 1945 by Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler, the man who was in charge of all the concentration camps. Bergen-Belsen was in the middle of the war [...]
Click any thumbnail below to see larger image and description. WARNING – Images are graphic and uncensored, there are many images of deceased victims, who remain and will always apart of our history.
When the Soviet Army captured Budapest on January 17-18, 1945, it was too late to save the lives of 564,500 Jews who had been sent to the various death-camps run by the Nazis. The Budapest SS headquarters, however, was over-run by the Soviets before the Nazis were able to destroy a huge number of [...]
Introduction World War II was the largest and most violent armed conflict in the history of mankind. However, the half century that now separates us from that conflict has exacted its toll on our collective knowledge. While World War II continues to absorb the interest of military scholars and historians, as well as its veterans, [...]
