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Normandy during WW2 and now (204 pics)

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Some would say that World War Two began with Germany’s Invasion of Poland on the 1st September 1939 and the ultimatum of Britain that without a German withdrawal a State of War would exist. Needless to say there was no German withdrawal and WWII began, Britain, France, Australia and New Zealand declaring war on the 3rd of September 1939 Others would argue that world war two was simply the second round of world war one. Although the major powers had yet to realise it the continuance of the war between the Axis and Allies would result in the end of European dominance of the world and the destruction of their colonial empires. By renewing the fight they only ensured their own demise no matter who won the outcome. Some have claimed that the Treaty of Versailles was ‘harsh and unreasonable’ and therefore was the seed which guaranteed the second world war. Germany would seek to redress this wrong. In truth the Treaty of Versailles was no harsher than the very terms that the Germans had sought to impose on the Russians in 1917/18 with Russia forced to secede large tracts of territory and pay large indemnities in the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. In truth the greater cause of the second world war was the belief by many Germans that they had never lost the first world war. German territory had not been invaded, the troops felt they had never lost. In reality the army had to return to Germany to preserve the state from social meltdown, as Germany was in greater danger from internal enemies than the threat posed by the allies. Hence the belief that Germany had only lost the war due to a stab in the back at home. This breakdown however was the result of a state put under immense pressure and succumbing to economic pressure and political facture, in order to win a modern war, victory in the field is no longer enough, victory must be obtained over the whole system of the other nation. (i.e. destroy its will to fight). Germany had lost the strategic battle, its system had collapsed and hence it lost the war. The British Navy had succeeded in its blockade of the Germany economy and had thus brought about its ruin and defeat, (even if the Navy hadn’t proven itself in open battle). Germany had lost its allies, Turkey and Austria, and had failed in production with less air planes, few tanks and had run out of manpower. Although Germany had not lost the battle, it had lost the war. Welcome to a great collection of World War II photographs on the Internet. Experience World War II like you never seen it before by viewing some of the most dramatic photos taken during the war. Contribute to history by posting your comments on each photo. Videos are coming soon. World War 2 Facts 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 Lt. Gen. Lesley McNair, killed by the US Army Air Corps.  Between 1939 and 1945 the Allies dropped 3.4 million tons of bombs, An average of about 27,700 tons of bombs each month.  12,000 heavy bombers were shot down in World War 2   2/3 of Allied bomber crews were lost for each plane destroyed 3 or 4 ground men were wounded for each killed  6 bomber crewmen were killed for each one wounded Over 100,000 Allied bomber crewmen were killed over EuropeThere were 433 Medals of Honor awarded during World War 2, 219 of them were given after the receipiant's death.  From 6 June 1944 to 8 May 1945 in Europe the Allies had 200,000 dead and 550,000 wounded. The youngest US serviceman was 12 year old Calvin Graham, USN. He was wounded in combat and given a Dishonorable Discharge for lying about his age. (His benefits were later restored by act of Congress).   At the time of Pearl Harbor, the top US Navy command was called CINCUS (pronounced "sink us"), the shoulder patch of the US Army's 45th Infantry division was the swastika, and Hitler's private train was named "Amerika". All three were soon changed for PR purposes.  Germany lost 110 Division Commanders in combat 40,000 men served on U-Boats during World War 2; 30,000 never returned. More US servicemen died in the Air Corps that the Marine Corps. While completing the required 30 missions, your chance of being killed was 71%. Not that bombers were helpless. A B-17 carried 4 tons of bombs and 1.5 tons of machine gun ammo. The US 8th Air Force shot down 6,098 fighter planes, 1 for every 12,700 shots fired.  Germany's power grid was much more vulnerable than realized. One estimate is that if just 1% of the bombs dropped on German industry had instead been dropped on power plants, German industry would have collapsed. Generally speaking, there was no such thing as an average fighter pilot. You were either an ace or a target. For instance, Japanese ace Hiroyoshi Nishizawa shot down over 80 planes. He died while a passenger on a cargo plane.   It was a common practice on fighter planes to load every 5th found with a tracer round to aid in aiming. That was a mistake. The tracers had different ballistics so (at long range) if your tracers were hitting the target, 80% of your rounds were missing. Worse yet, the tracers instantly told your enemy he was under fire and from which direction. Worst of all was the practice of loading a string of tracers at the end of the belt to tell you that you were out of ammo. That was definitely not something you wanted to tell the enemy. Units that stopped using tracers saw their success rate nearly double and their loss rate go down. When allied armies reached the Rhine, the first thing men did was pee in it. This was pretty universal from the lowest private to Winston Churchill (who made a big show of it) and Gen. Patton (who had himself photographed in the act).   German Me-264 bombers were capable of bombing New York City but it wasn't worth the effort. A number of air crewmen died of farts. (ascending to 20,000 ft. in an un-pressurized aircraft causes intestinal gas to expand 300%!) Germany lost 40-45% of their aircraft during World War 2 to accidents.  The Russians destroyed over 500 German aircraft by ramming them in midair (they also sometimes cleared minefields by marching over them).  "It takes a brave man not to be a hero in the Red Army". - Joseph Stalin.  The average German officer slot had to be refilled 9.2 times.  The US Army had more ships that the US Navy.  The German Air Force had 22 infantry divisions, 2 armor divisions, and 11 paratroop divisions.  None of them were capable of airborne operations. The German Army had paratroops who WERE capable of airborne operations. When the US Army landed in North Africa, among the equipment brought ashore were 3 complete Coca Cola bottling plants.  84 German Generals were executed by Hitler Among the first "Germans" captured at Normandy were several Koreans. They had been forced to fight for the Japanese Army until they were captured by the Russians and forced to fight for the Russian Army until they were captured by the Germans and forced to fight for the German Army until they were capture by the US Army. World War 2 Facts 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 Lt. Gen. Lesley McNair, killed by the US Army Air Corps.  Between 1939 and 1945 the Allies dropped 3.4 million tons of bombs, an average of about 27,700 tons of bombs each month.  12,000 heavy bombers were shot down in World War 2.   2/3 of Allied bomber crews were lost for each plane destroyed.   3 or 4 ground men were wounded for each killed.   6 bomber crewmen were killed for each one wounded.   Over 100,000 Allied bomber crewmen were killed over Europe.   There were 433 Medals of Honor awarded during World War 2, 219 of them were given after the receipiant's death.   From 6 June 1944 to 8 May 1945 in Europe the Allies had 200,000 dead and 550,000 wounded.  The youngest US serviceman was 12 year old Calvin Graham, USN.  He was wounded in combat and given a Dishonorable Discharge for lying about his age. (His benefits were later restored by act of Congress).   At the time of Pearl Harbor, the top US Navy command was called CINCUS (pronounced "sink us"), the shoulder patch of the US Army's 45th Infantry division was the swastika, and Hitler's private train was named "Amerika". All three were soon changed for PR purposes.  Germany lost 110 Division Commanders in combat. 40,000 men served on U-Boats during World War 2; 30,000 never returned. More US servicemen died in the Air Corps that the Marine Corps. While completing the required 30 missions, your chance of being killed was 71%.  Not that bombers were helpless.   A B-17 carried 4 tons of bombs and 1.5 tons of machine gun ammo. The US 8th Air Force shot down 6,098 fighter planes, 1 for every 12,700 shots fired. Germany's power grid was much more vulnerable than realized.  One estimate is that if just 1% of the bombs dropped on German industry had instead been dropped on power plants, German industry would have collapsed. Generally speaking, there was no such thing as an average fighter pilot. You were either an ace or a target.  For instance, Japanese ace Hiroyoshi Nishizawa shot down over 80 planes.  He died while a passenger on a cargo plane. It was a common practice on fighter planes to load every 5th found with a tracer round to aid in aiming. That was a mistake.  The tracers had different ballistics so (at long range) if your tracers were hitting the target, 80% of your rounds were missing.  Worse yet, the tracers instantly told your enemy he was under fire and from which direction.  Worst of all was the practice of loading a string of tracers at the end of the belt to tell you that you were out of ammo.  That was definitely not something you wanted to tell the enemy.  Units that stopped using tracers saw their success rate nearly double and their loss rate go down. When allied armies reached the Rhine, the first thing men did was pee in it.  This was pretty universal from the lowest private to Winston Churchill (who made a big show of it) and Gen. Patton (who had himself photographed in the act). German Me-264 bombers were capable of bombing New York City but it wasn't worth the effort. A number of air crewmen died of farts. (ascending to 20,000 ft. in an un-pressurized aircraft causes intestinal gas to expand 300%!) Germany lost 40-45% of their aircraft during World War 2 to accidents The Russians destroyed over 500 German aircraft by ramming them in midair (they also sometimes cleared minefields by marching over them). "It takes a brave man not to be a hero in the Red Army". - Joseph Stalin The average German officer slot had to be refilled 9.2 times.  The US Army had more ships that the US Navy. The German Air Force had 22 infantry divisions, 2 armor divisions, and 11 paratroop divisions. None of them were capable of airborne operations. The German Army had paratroops who WERE capable of airborne operations. When the US Army landed in North Africa, among the equipment brought ashore were 3 complete Coca Cola bottling plants. 84 German Generals were executed by Hitler. Among the first "Germans" captured at Normandy were several Koreans. They had been forced to fight for the Japanese Army until they were captured by the Russians and forced to fight for the Russian Army until they were captured by the Germans and forced to fight for the German Army until they were capture by the US Army. The Graf Spee never sank, The scuttling attempt failed and the ship was bought by the British. On board was Germany's newest radar system. One of Japan's methods of destroying tanks was to bury a very large artillery shell with on ly the nose exposed. When a tank came near the enough a soldier would whack the shell with a hammer. "Lack of weapons is no excuse for defeat." - Lt. Gen. Mataguchi Following a massive naval bombardment, 35,000 US and Canadian troops stormed ashore at Kiska. 21 troops were killed in the fire-fight. It would have been worse if there had been Japanese on the island. The MISS ME was an unarmed Piper Cub. While spotting for US artillery her pilot saw a similar German plane doing the same thing. He dove on the German plane and he and his co-pilot fired their pistols damaging the German plane enough that it had to make a forced landing. Whereupon they landed and took the Germans prisoner. It is unknown where they put them since the MISS ME only had two seats. Most members of the Waffen SS were not German. Air attacks caused 1/3 of German Generals' deaths. By D-Day, the Germans had 1.5 million railway workers operating 988,000 freight cars and used 29,000 per day. The only nation that Germany declared war on was the USA. During the Japanese attack on Hong Kong, British officers objected to Canadian infantrymen taking up positions in the officer's mess.  No enlisted men allowed! By D-Day, 35% of all German soldiers had been wounded at least once, 11% twice, 6% three times, 2% four times and 2% more than 4 times. Nuclear physicist Niels Bohr was rescued in the nick of time from German occupied Denmark. While Danish resistance fighters provided covering fire he ran out the back door of his home stopping momentarily to grab a beer bottle full of precious "heavy water".  He finally reached England still clutching the bottle, which contained beer.  Perhaps some German drank the heavy water... Germany lost 136 Generals, which averages out to be 1 dead General every 2 weeks. DocumentsOnline allows you access to The National Archives' collection of digitised public records, including both academic and family history sources. Searching the index is free, and costs £3.50 to download an image Were you an evacuee during the Second World War? The British evacuation of its civilians, especially children, during the Second World War is recognized as having been the greatest social and family upheaval ever experienced in this country. The evacuation virtually emptied many towns and cities of their children. Schools closed, families were divided; streets and playgrounds were silenced. In the reception areas populations doubled or even trebled overnight. Women veterans Welcome to the home of the skeptical, irascible, doubting, iconoclastic Captain Critical, aka Captain Barb, whose pontificating will try to amuse, bemuse, irritate and generally annoy anyone bold enough to stay long enough to read the ramblings of a self appointed distaff critic who will continue to remind you that women are veterans too! Did you know that there are almost two million women veterans? From the American Revolution to Panama, Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq , women have served in some way in every conflict. Not that they were legal in the early days. History tells us that thirty three thousand women served in World War One and almost 500,000 took part in World War Two. During the Korean era 120,000 women were in uniform and seven thousand were deployed in theater during Viet Nam. During Desert Storm seven per cent of the total U.S. forces deployed were women - over forty thousand of them. On these pages you will find the history and accomplishments of those women who have served this country - voluntarily - since it's beginning. What was SOE ? S.O.E., the Special Operations Executive, was a British secret service formed in July 1940 - soon after the fall of France - to foster resistance among the civil population in Nazi-occupied Europe and to promote sabotage and subversion. Winston Churchill inspired the formation of S.O.E. and continued to support it until it was dissolved in 1946, its wartime task completed. The Womens Land Army was established during the First World War, with huge numbers of men volunteering to fight, the country was desperately short of labour. During the fist six months of the Second World War, over thirty thousand men previously working in agriculture had joined the forces. The government re-formed The Women's Land army and by 1944 there were 80,000 women volunteers working on the land. About a third of the volunteers moved to the countryside from Britain's industrial cities. Robert (Bob) Banbury married Joyce Pound on 2nd July 1941 at St Michaels Church, Albert Road, Stoke, Devonport, Plymouth. The ceremony took place in what had been the church hall. The church itself was destroyed by bombing on 21st April 1941 one of the heaviest air raids of the Plymouth Blitz. The hall was consecrated as a church and remained so until the church was rebuilt in 1953. Bob and Joyce should have been married in May 1941 but Bob was very badly injured in the air raid of 21st April and was too ill for the marriage to take place. He was fire fighting in the Dockyard that night (his night-time job during the day he was a civil servant in the Dockyard) when a bomb fell in the area where he was operating. Of the 20 men in that area only Bob survived. If you look carefully at the photograph you can see that he has his left arm in a sling and his left hand in a splint. What you cant see is the plaster cast that encased his body from chest to hips or the huge bandaging on his left leg. He returned to hospital immediately after the wedding. He carried the scars of that night for the rest of his life. He had little use of his left hand and arm. There were large chunks of muscle missing from his left arm and leg. His left hand (minus its little finger) had no feeling in it and to protect it from damage and the cold he always wore a specially made glove. He had small pieces of shrapnel from the bomb embedded all over his body. He used to amuse the children by hanging magnets from various locations on his body. It was a sort of magic party trick. Most of us are not aware of it today, but the word gung ho has been in English only since 1942 and is one of the many words that entered the language as a result of World War II. It comes from Mandarin Chinese gnghé,to work together, which was used as a motto by the Chinese Industrial Cooperative Society. Lieutenant Colonel Evans F. Carlson (1896 1947) borrowed the motto as a moniker for meetings in which problems were discussed and worked out; the motto caught on among his Marines (the famous Carlson's Raiders), who began calling themselves the Gung Ho Battalion. From there eager individuals began to be referred to as gung ho. Other words and expressions that entered English during World War II include flak, gizmo, task force, black market, and hit the sack. Everyone used torches in the blackout as the only light we ever saw outside at night was moonlight, so a lot of the time everywhere was black, if we had a long way to walk at night we would shine the torch on the ground several yards in front and as we walked we would switch the torch on and off every five seconds or so, this was supposed to make the battery last longer. We arrived at the shelter, mom and us kids scrambled inside and made ourselves comfortable, all the dads in the street, that were not away at the war, bravely stood outside at the front of the shelter, smoking and chatting to each other across the garden fences. After this first night we spent many nights down the shelter, we could hear distant explosions but that was all, eventually it would go quiet and the long continuous sound of the all clear would wail out, Gerry has gone, mom would say then we would go back to our beds. After the war ended the shelters were sold to the tenants for the princely sum of One Pound each. People dug them up and re-erected them on top of the ground, fitted them with proper wooden doors and used them as workshops or garden sheds. They lasted for decades after the war ended. The concrete interior was left in the ground intact, we filled it with water once again and used it as a paddling pool. This site is dedicated to our aviation pioneers, pilots, aircrew, ground crew, and general airforce personnel Our group consists of ex WW2 and Korea personnel, RNZAF, RAAF, RAF, Fleet Air Arm and US Airforce (trained) pilots and aircrew, ground crew, administration guys and gals, Aero Club trained pilots and the topdressing folk. These service personnel have served everywhere on the globe. Name any part of the world, and we have, amongst our group, someone who has been there, done a job, and tried out the local "hops". Underground kent is... A site dedicated to the many underground features that can be found not just in Kent but in other areas. They are mostly military fortifications that have been built over the last three centuries, but other features that included tunnels can also be found here. All sites are man made, or in the case of mines, heavily influenced by industrial usage. The aim is to provide a glimpse into the rarely seen and often ignored world that exists beneath our feet. Here you will find information on tunnels in Dover, Medway, Sheppey, Thanet, Grain and other areas. The women's Land Army During World War II, the British secret service hatched a master plan to smuggle escape gear to captured Allied soldiers inside Germany. Their secret weapon? Monopoly boxes. The original notion was simple enough: Find a way to sneak useful items into prison camps in an unassuming form. But the idea to use Monopoly came from a series of happy coincidences, all of which started with maps. Read more here How well I remember Deliverance Day in 1944 This was the beginning of the end of our six year war. Many nations took part in this exceptional historic day To help bring back justice and take tyranny away. I watched with baited breath as our planes filled the sky Many would be wounded and many would also die. What a lot we owe to all who took part in that historical day They gave us back our freedom and banished evil away. We should never forget those who fought for us to survive Just Thank God they gave you freedom and you are still alive. I was 9 (Freda Hughes) living in Dyke Road, Folkestone and coming up from the harbour in 1942 near the railway. The troops used to come up there throwing foreign coins to the kids. I used to take my year old nephew out in the pram. Across the other side of the railway there was a sweet shop. There were dummy bars of chocolate in the window (so they wouldn't melt) and the window was broken so I was taking them to play shops with. I heard a noise, I though it was a tank. It was a German plane machine gunning the railway line. I just let go of the pram. A neighbour came out and took me and the pram in. My mum said had I gone across the crossing to get home I'd have been killed. I was frightened, the noise was dreadful. When the siren for all clear sounded, the neighbours took me home. My mother always said, "God doesn't pay his debts in money", so I thought I was being paid back for stealing. I'd never steal again it's learnt me a good lesson! During the final year of my training as a nurse, there was an outbreak of Typhoid Fever in Farnworth, amongst those affected was the parish priest. A ward was opened specially to admit these cases. This was real nursing care. The patients were very ill, with high temperatures, diarrhoea consisting of green pea soup like stools. The rash was nothing like I had seen before, a pale rose coloured spot. Doctor drew a ring round the spots on one of the patients to illustrate to me how in a couple of days they had moved out of the ring a little. I was the only non Roman Catholic nurse on the ward, and had never spoken to a priest before. At first I was in awe of him, however he was very easy to like. It always seemed to be my task to bed bath him and take his temperature, take specimens of both faeces and urine. He was nursed in the side ward and I remember on one occasion he asked me to describe the view out of his window, he was unable to see the outside from his bed. The view was quite pleasant but not much to see. I told him about the walnut tree, not far away. I described the old house and the lake. The second time he asked me to tell him what was happening outside, there was very little activity, so I invented some things, and I wonder if he knew? My first memory as an eight year old boy at home in Hawkhurst in the Weald of Kent is of Sunday 3rd September 1939. It was a glorious hot sunny day and I was playing in the garden but was aware that something of great importance was taking place as my parents and our neighbours were gathered together listening to the radio. I then remember hearing the announcement by Neville Chamberlain that we were at war with Germany. Soon afterwards the air raid siren in the village sounded and my father called me indoors.After a while whilst we were all waiting for something to happen the All Clear sounded! Either just before or just after the declaration of war, I cannot remember which, we had a visit from some officials who wanted to see the top room in our house. It was an end of terrace, three storeys and a semi basement house half way up the hill into the village. As the view from the attic room was so extensive we were told it might be used as an observation post or to house a machine gun if necessary. In the surrounding countryside concrete blocks were erected some 3 foot cubed in lines across fields which were to hinder tanks in the event of an invasion.Outside of our home two large concrete blocks some 8 foot high and 4 foot square base were erected, one each side of the street. There were holes in these block into which girders spanning the road could be inserted.  JOIN THE AVIATION DIRECTORY! (Click image above) Do you own an aviation-related website? Want to have it shown in our ranked directory? Don't hesitate to take a free TGPLANES ACCOUNT to add it immediatly in our DIRECTORY! Other way, u can find there a lot of interesting websites, all of them are related to Aviation in general. War and Military Technology War Without End Forum The global war against terror from a British (aka American) perspective A Collection of WWII Letters To and From The Home Front. In this section you will find a whole host of great World War 2 films that have graced our cinema's and TV screens over the past 70 years. Some of those reviewed here were made during World War 2 for civilian consumption. Most however are big name epics of the 40's, 50's, 60's and 70's, featuring such stars as John Wayne, Richard Burton, Steve McQueen and many more. We also have some of the latest special effect masterpieces of the last decade. The list of films here is by no means complete and will be added to over the coming weeks. TENNESSEE MUSEUM OF AVIATION Collected here are documents from the 23 volume, 40 part, 25,000 page report of "HEARINGS BEFORE THE JOINT COMMITTEE ON THE INVESTIGATION OF THE PEARL HARBOR ATTACK CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES SEVENTY-NINTH CONGRESS" which was released on July 20, 1946. An entirely new and must-see attraction, this national museum presents Canada's military past and how it shaped the country. Its outstanding exhibitions explain Canada s rich military history from earliest times to the present, featuring the experiences of people on the battlefields and at home World War II Living History & Re-enacting Information I was 18 years old in February 1937 and was considering my future which was not promising as there was so little choice of employment in those days in the North-East of England, in particular West Hartlepool. I was working as a spare hand at the local steelworks which involved relieving machine operators as required. The talk was that war was inevitable and I decided that I would join the army and choose my regiment rather than wait for call-up. I would do a few years in the forces and if war did not come, I would enter the police force perhaps. I joined the 4/7th Royal Dragoon Guards at the cavalry barracks in Colinton, Edinburgh and in September 1938 was detached from my regiment to a motorised squadron attached to the Scots Greys in Palestine and served there until December 1939 when we were recalled to Britain for service in the BEF (British Expeditionary Force) in France. I was there for the period known as the phony war when nothing seemed to be happening. I was home on leave when the balloon went up with the invasion of Belgium by the Germans. Returning to France, things seemed rather chaotic and I did not reach my regiment before Dunkirk was cut off, and after a few false alarms, we were instructed to get out of France as quickly as possible. The roads were packed with refugees and were constantly being attacked by enemy aircraft. We could not get to any channel port and finished up at St Malo on the west coast and were taken off by a former holiday steamer and reached Southampton without being attacked. In all the confusion, it transpired that my mum and my dad had been informed that I was missing, believed killed. Fortunately, I was allowed a telegram when I landed to inform them that I was okay so their agony was short-lived, thankfully. In the 1825 address he delivered at the laying of the cornerstone for the Bunker Hill Monument, Daniel Webster made no effort to hide how moved he was by the sight of the Revolutionary War veterans at the head of the crowd of fifteen thousand, which, after a procession through the streets of Boston, gathered at Bunker Hill. It was fifty years to the day since the battle of Bunker Hill was fought, and the aging Revolutionary War veterans, including the frail Marquis de Lafayette, nearing the end of his farewell tour of America, had made an enormous effort to be present for the ceremony. The keynote of Webster's speech was America's progress, but two centuries later what is most memorable about his speech is its poignancy. Time and again Webster voiced his concern that the Revolutionary War veterans, most of them in their seventies and eighties, were a vanishing generation. "Those who established our liberty and our government are daily dropping from among us," he observed. "The great trust now descends to new hands." Behind Webster's description of the disappearing Revolutionary War generation was not just sadness, but generational envy, a belief that the "venerable men" whom the Bunker Hill Monument honored were superior to those of his own time. "We can win no laurels in a war for independence. Earlier and worthier hands have gathered them all." Webster concluded his speech by declaring, "Our proper business is improvement." This information service is a labour of love, maintained by (not so surprisingly) a history buff. I have always been interested in military history, and particularly so World War II, and wanted to be able to see all the latest WWII-related news at one glance without wasting hours browsing around or reading miserable auto-generated news alerts. I try to bring out different sides and views, like for example showing both dreadful and humorous aspects of the war, or using both left and right wing sources. All within reason, of course. It is easy to see that there are four topics that dominate this particular battlefield: World War II, Nazi Germany, Adolf Hitler and German militaria -- hence in fact the url and the website title "Hitler's Third Reich and World War II in the News". Some topics are on the other hand very infrequently visited, simply because there just isn't that much media coverage on them -- for example, WWII campaigns in China do not get all that much attention in the English speaking world. Since the World War II database here currently has tens of thousands of news reviews, it is inevitable -- but unfortunate -- that some of the older links are no longer working, no matter how often the database is manually purged by fixing, removing or disabling dead links. In fact, as many online newspapers only allow free access to their articles for a week or two, in order to avoid disappointments it is essential to visit us often to get the 'history' while it is still available. Although Germans introduced "Blitzkrieg" tactics, to a great extent they themselves evolved the tactical countermeasures to this form of attack. The Russians, who have fought two major defensive campaigns, have been quick to seize, adapt, and even improve on the defensive tactics employed by the Germans in the winter of 1941-42. The Imperial War Museum is unique in its coverage of conflicts, especially those involving Britain and the Commonwealth, from the First World War to the present day. It seeks to provide for, and to encourage, the study and understanding of the history of modern war and war-time experience. It is proud to be regarded as one of the essential sights of London. The Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP), was a non-military organization in WWII, which throughout its existence, Congress maintained was an experiment. Politics ended the experiment suddenly and with little notice, but that did not detract from their work or their remarkable determination to fly. Twenty-five thousand women applied to the program. Almost two thousand qualified and entered training. Successful graduates tested and ferried military aircraft and completed other piloting jobs to free up men for active service. They transported every make of airplane in the American armament, which included training, pursuit, and transport planes, along with fighters, and bombers. Some WASP received orders to fly planes that males had refused to fly, such as the B-26 Martin Marauder, also known as the 'Widow Maker'. The hope was to shame the men into flying them. Although the ploy successfully made men feel 'if a woman can do it, anyone can', eventually even the Army recognized how degrading that attitude was to the women pilots. After the complete their training, the WASP lived and worked at one hundred and twenty bases around the country. They wore uniforms that followed strict military code and took orders as if they served in the armed forces. They didn't. They had no life or accident insurance, no death benefits and could not be buried in a military cemetery or receive a burial with flags and honors. WASP could achieve no rank of significance outside their organization, nor could they give orders to men. Federal law prohibited women from flying military planes into combat or outside the boundaries of the United States, still, thirty-eight WASP died serving their country. World War II was an interesting time for women. While a woman wearing trousers in public still faced possible arrest by a crabby police officer, (in some places pants were illegal on women) two hundred thousand enlisted in the military and twelve million, many who had never worked outside their homes, took jobs in factories, shipyards, offices, and as civilian workers on military bases. These women preformed jobs that no one, often even the women themselves, expected they could do. Many worked in familiar roles such as sewing flags, uniforms, and parachutes, but others were mechanics, cryptographers and of course, the most famous, the thousands of Rosie the Riveters. They became a symbol for all the women workers. When the war ended, most women returned to their lives at home, though some continued to work. The unspoken rule in Washington, D.C. was that the role of women in the war receive little attention. The military feared that women might believe they could continue to do the jobs. After the WASP 'experiment' ended, the Pentagon ordered their files sealed. For over thirty years, no one talked, wrote, or learned about the pilots, and few were interested in the women who literally kept 'the home fires burning' while they worked in defence plants and shipyards. This page is intended to honour the wartime experiences of my dad, Ronald Arthur Tee, and to offer information on his division and regiment. He served in the 56th Reconnaissance Regiment, 78th "Battleaxe" Division of the British 1st, (later the 8th), Army from 1941 to 1946. Our family still listens with rapt attention to his accounts of the war, and the part he played in it. His family are all very proud and thankful to him, and all the other soldiers of WWII, - those who came back, and those who didn't. They have ensured our freedom for all the years since the war. Explore this section to gain a fascinating insight into the work we do to commemorate the war dead from the building and maintenance of our cemeteries and memorials to the establishment and preservation of our records The Commonwealth War Graves Commission today unveiled its innovative online education resource and visitor guide, to help children and adults alike better understand the sacrifice made by millions of servicemen and women during the two world wars. A new website has been launched to provide information about the Fromelles project and update the public on its progress. WAR, WOMEN, AND OPPORTUNITY World War II opened a new chapter in the lives of Depression-weary Americans. As husbands and fathers, sons and brothers shipped out to fight in Europe and the Pacific, millions of women marched into factories, offices, and military bases to work in paying jobs and in roles reserved for men in peacetime. For female journalists, World War II offered new professional opportunities. Talented and determined, dozens of women fought for--and won--the right to cover the biggest story of their lives. By war's end, at least 127 American women had secured official military accreditation as war correspondents, if not actual front-line assignments. Other women journalists remained on the home front to document the ways in which the country changed dramatically under wartime conditions. In the Pacific, war was not formally declared between the belligerents until after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. (See: Greater East Asia War). However, there was active fighting dating back to the 1930s, the cause of which can be seen in the political fragmentation and weakness of China combined with a strong Japan with a militaristic and expansionist ideology. In the 1920s, China fragmented into warlordism in which there was a weak central government, and Japan was able gain influence in China by imposing unequal treaties with what remained of the central government. This situation was unstable in that if China dissolved into total anarchy these agreements would be unenforceable while if China was able to strength, the strong China would be able to abrogate those agreements. In 1927, Chiang Kai-Shek and the National Revolutionary Army of the Kuomintang led the Northern Expedition. Chiang was able to militarily defeat the warlords in southern and central China, and was in the process of securing the nominal allegiance of the warlords in northern China. Fearing that Zhang Xueliang (the warlord controlling Manchuria) was about to declare his allegiance for Chiang, the Japanese intervened and set up the puppet state of Manchukuo. There is no evidence that Japan ever intended to directly administer China or that Japan's actions in China were part of a program of world domination. Rather, Japan's goals in China were strongly influenced by 19th century European colonialism and were to maintain a secure supply of natural resources and to have friendly and pliable governments in China that would not act against Japanese interests. Although Japanese actions would not have seemed out of place among European colonial powers in the 19th century, by 1930, notions of Wilsonian self-determination meant that raw military force in support of colonialism was no longer seen as appropriate behavior by the international community. Japanese actions were therefore roundly criticized and led to Japan's withdrawal from the League of Nations. During the 1930s, China and Japan reached a stalemate with Chiang focusing his efforts at eliminating the Communists whom Chiang considered to be a more fundamental danger than the Japanese. The influence of Chinese nationalism on opinion both in the political elite and the general population rendered this strategy increasingly untenable. Meanwhile in Japan, a policy of assassination by secret societies and the effects of the Great Depression had caused the civilian government to lose control of the military. In addition, the military high command had limited control over the field armies who acted on their own interest, often in contradiction to the overall national interest. There was also an upsurge in nationalism and anti-European feeling and the belief that Japanese policies in China could be justified by racial theories. One popular belief with similarities to the Identity movement was that Japan and not China was the true heir of classical Chinese civilization. In 1937, Chiang was kidnapped by Zhang Xueliang in the Xian Incident. As condition of his release, Chiang promised to united with the Communists and fight the Japanese. In response to this, officers of the Kwangtung Army without knowledge of the high command in Tokyo decided to manufacture the Battle of Lugou Bridge, also known as the incident at the Marco Polo Bridge, by which they succeeded in their intention of provoking a conflict between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan, the Sino-Japanese War). In 1939 Japanese forces tried to push into the Soviet far east from Manchuria. They were soundly defeated by a mixed Soviet and Mongolian force led by Georgi Zhukov. This stopped Japanese expansion to the North and Japan and the Soviet Union kept un uneasy peace until 1945. Japan's policies in the 1930s are remarkable for their disastrously self-defeating nature. Japan's grand strategy was based on the premise that it could not survive a war against the European powers without secure sources of natural resources, yet to secure those resources it decided to undertake the war that it knew it could not win in the first place. Moreover actions such as its brutality in China, and its practice of first setting up, and then undermining, puppet governments in China were clearly antithetical to Japan's overall goals, and yet it continued to persist in them anyway. Finally, this march to self-destruction is remarkable in that many individuals within the Japanese political and military elite realized these self-destructive consequences, but were unable to do anything about the situation. Also, there appears to have been no debate over policy alternatives which might have enabled Japan to further its goals in China. 'The Shetland Bus' Welcome to what is thought to be the only website specifically commemorating what became known as 'The Shetland Bus', a Shetland based boat operation to and from Norway, that took place during the Second World War (1939 - 1945). During late 1939 and the early 1940s, we in Birmingham were to suffer from quite a few air raids. It is somewhat difficult to set down here all the experiences we encountered at this particular time. We became accustomed to spending many long hours in the Anderson shelter at the bottom of the garden. This was a wooden construction with a corrugated iron cover, most of the structure being deep in the ground with about a fifth above the ground. It had a wooden door, which we bolted by means of a wooden bar fixed into two grooves either side of it. Inside there were two long benches at either side and in between these we had room for a small table on which we stood a small oil lamp. The benches were wide enough to sit upon and also had some space underneath for various provisions. The entire area of the shelter smelled dank and very earthy and at first it was unpleasant but gradually our nostrils became used to the odour and we even associated this smell with safety, as this was the place where we could have some hope of escaping death or injury. Of course, a direct hit was a disaster we did not care to contemplate. These pages are intended to be a general World War Two resource, providing background information and useful and interesting facts. Hopefully this will be a useful aid to those studying the history of World War II. Welcome To My WW2 Home Front Pages Welcome to my web site. My name is Gordon Tumber and I spent 28 years in all in the Catering Department. I graduated, or was let out on fairly good behaviour, from the Gravesend Sea School in January 1952. Some time before it went all posh and called itself a College. We called it many things but College was not among them. My memories of this are of hunger, hairy blankets and the cold wind of change. Especially on the Thames in December. All cheerfully accepted as you lay awake at night listening to the busy tugs manoeuvering those beautiful Ocean Liners that sailed in and out of Tilbury Docks every week. Adventure was waiting patiently in the wings. I was born in a quiet and rather sad town that was Derry before 1939. In the 1930s unemployment was high, money was scarce and our sole industry, shirt making, employed mainly women, so that many men were forced to seek work in places like London and Manchester. Along the wide river the docks lay idle as mercantile trade focused on Belfast. Yet, despite the lean times, there was little crime and my siblings and I passed our early years in a safe and secure little world. Then on 3rd September, 1939, our peaceful existence ended. War was declared. Grown ups greeted the announcement with horror and dismay, yet the news scarcely caused a ripple in my little circle of friends. We knew that wars were fought in far off lands, nothing to do with us in Derry. Everything would go on as usual boring old school and homework  lightened only by weekends and holidays. Halloween was just round the corner and then Christmas. However, we were soon to be disillusioned as events unfolded that would change everything familiar and control life to a degree hither unknown. Patricia McAdams BOMBER COMMAND HERITAGE is a voluntary not-for-profit organization. Doing what they can in the 21st Century to remember all those that gave so much for the British and Commonwealth effort during World War II We are on a journey of discovery (often rediscovery) into all aspects related to the RAF Bomber Command story. On September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland, conquering it in six weeks, as the Soviets invaded the eastern areas. During the German occupation, there were two distinct civilian uprisings in Warsaw, one in 1943, the other in 1944. The first took place in an entity, less than two square miles in area, which the Germans carved out of the city and called "Ghetto Warschau." Into the thus created Ghetto, around which they built high walls, the Germans crowded 550,000 Polish Jews, many from the Polish provinces. At first, people were able to go in and out of the Ghetto, but soon the Ghetto's border became an "iron curtain." Unless on official business, Jews could not leave it, and non-Jews, including Germans, could not enter. Entry points were guarded by German soldiers. Because of extreme conditions and hunger, mortality in the Ghetto was high. Additionally, in 1942, the Germans moved 400,000 to Treblinka where they were gassed on arrival. When, on April 19, 1943, the Ghetto Uprising commenced, the population of the Ghetto had dwindled to 60,000 individuals. In the following three weeks, virtually all died as the Germans fought to put down the uprising and systematically destroyed the buildings in the Ghetto. Established by Royal Charter in 1917, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission pays tribute to the 1,700,000 men and women of the Commonwealth forces who died in the two world wars. It is a non-profit-making organisation that was founded by Sir Fabian Ware. Since its inception, the Commission has constructed 2,500 war cemeteries and plots, erecting headstones over graves and, in instances where the remains are missing, inscribing the names of the dead on permanent memorials. Over one million casualties are now commemorated at military and civil sites in some 150 countries. Participate in our WW 1939-1945 Forum, for detailed study of the war, and is especially useful to the reader seeking to put a given subject or campaign into wider historical context. Often tagged as the "wonder weapon," it could have quite likely won the war for Hitler and his gang of hoodlums. Known as the Horten 229 and configured as a "flying wing" fighter and bomber, it was almost six decades earlier but very like the Air Force B-2, including being very stealthy and with radar avoidance characteristics. Fortunately for the rest of the world, the Nazi's squandered their powers with infighting or bad decisions and the Ho 229 never saw real production. At end of the war, American forces boxed up and shipped back to the states the prototypes and partially completed existing aircraft. Now the very same organization responsible for the B-2 took on reconstructing the Horton as simulation of radar avoidance. At the facility in California, Northrop Grumman Corporation used money, time and original blueprints to create a closely replication of the very advanced steel-and-wood bomber, complete with the same unique metallic glue and paint. Utilizing radar of similar and frequency utilized by the British coastal defenses of the second World War, engineers quickly discovered that the Ho229 would have been almost completely unseen by the Royal Air Force. Unfortunately this capability arrived too late to be an advantage for the Nazi forces. A flying wing was theoretically the most efficient aircraft configuration of the time, best suited to aerodynamics and structural weight efficiency. Arguably, the absence of the usual aircraft constituents, apart from a wing, must be in a natural manner consistent of benefits. In practice, however, the wing provides necessary stability and control, imposing constraints for the aircraft's design problems. Whatever gains in weight and the reduction of drag may be negatively, or at least partially, be the result of compromises required for stability and control. On the opposite, however, a flying wing suffers from natural stability and control constraints. The most advanced cutting-edge high technology by the Germans toward war's end, conclusively shown by Northrop's testing, was far superior as compared with Allied radar this time," filmmaker Mike Jorgenson told the national news. "It was significantly superior to anything in the air, operationally until the sixties." As far back as 1911, flying wing concepts were known to exist at the very dawn of aviation, with the Horton brothers as virtuosos of this format. The Horton brothers, Reimar and Walter, were for the most part, amateur and self-taught aircraft designers that were from Bonn. A third brother, also a pilot in the Luftwaffe, died in a bombing raid over Dunkirk. The two younger boys were teenaged enthusiasts of the flying game between the two great wars, a period of time whereby Germany was restricted by the Treaty of Versailles from any sort of building advanced aircraft. German flying of this nature was forced to go underground as civilian 'clubs' with teachers and instructors being World War One military pilots. Interest by the two brothers in the flying hobby and design was seen as early as ‘25 with the joining of a club in their hometown. The two boys began work on their first flying wing sailplane large enough to include a pilot designated as the Ho 1. Prior experiments were more of 'model' categories. During this 'Golden Age of Aircraft Design', the adherence to basics attracted the attention of an avant-garde aircraft designer named Alexander Lippisch led the two young Germans further and further from traditional trends of aircraft designing of the time that spanned more than two decades, more to experimenting with alternative and radical designs. They began building model planes that filled their parent' abode, eventually full sized man-carrying wooden sailplanes. Their first glider flew successfully in 1933 while they were still in their teens. By now, the two boys came to the attention of a German notable pilot of the great war, Hermann Goring. The Hortens' gliders were, in extreme contrast to other craft of the time, were very simple and aerodynamically pure. They consisted, in essence, of a very large wing similar to an albatross but with no tail. The pilot found himself prone within a sleek cocoon. Each design was beautiful and the embodiment of simplicity itself. In flight, they could certainly be likened to an oversized floating leaf or soaring hawk. But beyond the basic authenticity of what they represented was the minimal parasitical interference of their airframes. In a word, they were very 'slick' and even scalable to higher speeds. Hitler's regime in control and with the end of the Treaty of Versailles, Walter and Reimer entered the Luftwaffe as pilots. in 1939. Predominantly used as consultants, they endured misfortune from a reputation of being very much 'regular people' within the aeronautics community rather than with official connections. The move to all powered flight came easily to the Horten brothers in 1937 when a dual engine, pusher (rather than a mule, or pulling), engines evolved. Even with their ingenuity, the Luftwaffe was even now paying only small notice to their efforts. In 1942, however, they were grudgingly, albeit partly under-the-table, given support to their design of a twin engine turbojet powered fighter design with the wartime protocol as HO=IX. At this particular juncture of history, turbojet engines had been barely first been designed in not only Nazi Germany or, for that matter, a few nations in the entire world. And other wartime projects were obviously much more significant to Hitler, Goring and other powers within the regime. Even though the turbo jetted HO-9 did, in fact, reach nearly 500 mph in trials, the projects was moved over to the heretofore low-tech aircraft facility, Gothaer Waggonfabrik and became the Gotha Go 229, and became a fighter of great potential, even considering today standards. It would appear that 'pork barreling' is not new in the world. Very unfortunate for the declining Nazi formulation for the world or, certainly just opposite the rest of the world's populace, this ingenious craft never saw active service at this time. Other advanced designs of the Horton brothers during the forties included a supersonic delta-wing HO-X, a hybrid turbojet/rocket powered fighter capable of speeds over Mach 1.4. Tested successfully only as a glider (HO-XIII) and later with a piston engine. Even more frightening in retrospect was Hitler's favorite, the 'Amerika Bomber', being obviously designed to reach New York and other East coast cities. This hideous machine would have been built capable of only one-way flight with the crew being retrieved from the Atlantic off the coast of America by submarine. Top this off with the fact that Germany was on the way to perfecting an atomic weapon give pause to how fortunate that the second world was ended when it did. After World War Two, Reimar Horton moved to Argentina and continued designing and building his gliders and, apparently, a very unsuccessful commercial double engine flying wing transport, while at the same time pursuing his new career as rancher. The other brother, Walter, stayed in Germany after the war and was an officer in the post war German Air Force Luftwaffe. Reimar passed in 1994 at his ranch in Argentina while Walter left this mantle of life in 1998. In 1945, the war ended in a victory for the Allies. The Soviet Union and the United States subsequently emerged as the world's two superpowers, setting the stage for the Cold War which lasted for the next 46 years. The United Nations was formed in the hope of preventing another world conflict. The acceptance of the principle of self-determination accelerated decolonization movements in Asia and Africa, while Western Europe itself began moving toward integration. "Auschwitz is unique," explains series producer and writer Lawrence Rees. "It has a physical beginning in May 1940 and physical ending in January 1945, and is the site of the single largest mass murder in the history of humanity." Like the series, this website uses Auschwitz as a prism to try and understand something of the extermination process and of the mentality of the people who committed the crime. Rational, sane people sat down in various stages and made key decisions that ended in the killing of over six million women, men and children. Rose Palmer London When war broke out, I was evacuated to Kent. We were taken to church by coach, the sirens went and we were put back on the coach to our houses. Nothing happened, I stayed till January 1940 and when I was fourteen my family brought me back to work. I got a job in Knightsbridge earning seven and six pence a week. Then it closed down. I went to Berkeley Square to a boutique and had an exciting time. Film stars like Vivien Leigh, Beatrice Lily, Kay Kendal, and Lily Palmer. Lady Winterbottom never wore any knickers, and we used to have to grab the clothes and hang them on the line because they stank! When we couldnt get the material from the pattern swatch, I used to take them home and make colourful underwear and blouses and people used to admire my washing as I was living in a mews flat. After our house was bombed, I only had the clothes I had on. When the forces came from overseas, I had a wonderful time. I was hostess at Hans Crescent American Club and danced all night but I was never late for work. I made all my own clothes, mostly from blackout material. I used to spend time with my friend at the switchboard where she worked. One night a heavy air raid was on and the engineer rang and offered to take us home. We walked through Green Park and watched the dog fights of the planes caught in the searchlights. I was seventeen; he was eighteen, my blind date. He was called up into the navy and went all over the world, fought at D-Day and in many battles. We married January 1st 1944. Our daughter was born April 4th 1945 My boy friend asked me to marry him because hed been issued with all the tropical gear and was being posted to the east. I said, I cant, Ive only got ten coupons. Ten coupons was a years worth of coupons. So the operator said Terminate your call, your time is up, I said please dont cut us off, this is important, he said are you going to marry him or arent you? So I said yes, he said do you love him or dont you? So I said yes.Anyway, youre not supposed to be listening. He came home. We married but he never went to the Far East, it was all to fool the enemy! Then he came home with oiled stockings, warm clothing, weatherproof coats, big boots he was nearly in tears because he hated the cold. Hed been told he was to go to Russia. He didnt go there either! Again, to fool the army. He was at the D-Day battle where he hurt his head under fire, stitched up and hat put back on, and put back on duty on the gun. The ship was a floating dock. With my ten coupons, I made a sage green dress and jacket, made a nightdress and a padded bedjacket out of some turquoise satin which I bought in Petticoat Lane, and brown shoes. Net wasnt rationed so I made a pretty hat with two brown birds and net. My mother screamed and told me that birds were unlucky and that my wedding wouldnt last we were married 48 years and he died on 9th May, 1991. These pages catalogue the official reports of the most important event in Royal Air Force history, the Battle fought over Britain between the 10th July and 31st October 1940. For the first time, the complete Fighter Command Operational Diaries for the period have been published in full, day by day over the whole period the Battle. Supporting this official text are a series of pages detailing such facets of the Battle as the Commanders, the Aircraft and the changes in Tactics on both sides as the situation developed. Although some of the Fighter Command claims of the time (I.e. numbers of German aircraft shot down etc.) have since been proved to be greatly exaggerated on some days, it nevertheless does give a unique insight into the RAF's perspective of the Battle of Britain. Clothes were severely rationed, so everyone improvised wherever possible and the slogan 'Make do and mend' was designed to encourage people to do just that. I remember my delight in coming across a dress which, the shop-owner assured me, required no coupons at all - although this was reflected in the price. It was only when I got it home I realised it was made from dyed hessian. Shoes were made with wooden soles because that way they required fewer clothing coupons. There was quite an art in walking in them - a rocking step needed to be developed. Later, hinges were added, but these were unsuccessful as small stones became wedged in the hinge and the wearer was left having to hobble on the toe section until the offending object could be removed. The clatter they made was overcome by attaching an extra sole cut from an old bicycle tyre. Barrage balloon material made good waterproof macs so when a damaged one came down it quickly went missing. Silk parachutes, which were constructed from triangles of material, could be unpicked, re-stitched into rectangles and re-cut to make luxurious underwear. Consequently, when an airman was seen to bail out there was frequently a race between the authorities and civilians to recover the parachute, while sometimes a portion could be bought on the black market. Anne Butcher World War Two required a massive outpouring of manufacturing capabilities, giving rise to one of the world's largest in the form of the United States of America. World War II British legion Allied Warships Australian warship listing Welcome to NavWeaps Naval Weapons World's Armed Forces Forum Memorable Photos of WWII Introduction to WWII German Weapons During the final year of my training as a nurse, there was an outbreak of Typhoid Fever in Farnworth, amongst those affected was the parish priest. A ward was opened specially to admit these cases. This was real nursing care. The patients were very ill, with high temperatures, diarrhoea consisting of green pea soup like stools. The rash was nothing like I had seen before, a pale rose coloured spot. Doctor drew a ring round the spots on one of the patients to illustrate to me how in a couple of days they had moved out of the ring a little. I was the only non Roman Catholic nurse on the ward, and had never spoken to a priest before. At first I was in awe of him, however he was very easy to like. It always seemed to be my task to bed bath him and take his temperature, take specimens of both faeces and urine. He was nursed in the side ward and I remember on one occasion he asked me to describe the view out of his window, he was unable to see the outside from his bed. The view was quite pleasant but not much to see. I told him about the walnut tree, not far away. I described the old house and the lake. The second time he asked me to tell him what was happening outside, there was very little activity, so I invented some things, and I wonder if he knew? The Lancaster and Spitfires Paul Reed's Battlefields of WW2 The flight to the European Theater of Operations These pages catalogue the official reports of the most important event in Royal Air Force history, the Battle fought over Britain between the 10th July and 31st October 1940. For the first time, the complete Fighter Command Operational Diaries for the period have been published in full, day by day over the whole period the Battle. Supporting this official text are a series of pages detailing such facets of the Battle as the Commanders, the Aircraft and the changes in Tactics on both sides as the situation developed. Although some of the Fighter Command claims of the time (I.e. numbers of German aircraft shot down etc.) have since been proved to be greatly exagerated on some days, it nevertheless does give a unique insight into the RAF's perspective of the Battle of Britain. Shattered World is a series of online alternate history books, authored by Bobby Hardenbrook in serial fashion, that tell the story of an alternate Second World War. The books are written in the form of a detailed time-line, though there are also short stories included in many of the chapters. Shattered World has a relatively small but active Online Community "Those who go to war at the request of their nation do not know the fate that lies in store for them. This was a war of such overwhelming sound, fury and unrelenting horror that few combatants could remain unaffected," said Minister Duhamel. "While we cannot relive those awful years of a nation at peril in total war, and although the culture of that time is subsequently too distant for us to comprehend fully, we can give these 23 soldiers a dignity that is their due, and provide closure to their families." In 1940 a network of defenses was hastily built all over the British Isles to prevent an anticipated German invasion. The most common of these defenses were called pillboxes, squat concrete forts that were sited at road junctions, canals and other strategic points. With the passage of time it is estimated that less than 6,000 of a total of 28,000 pillboxes built still survive. They remain as permanent monuments and a silent tribute to the courage and tenacity of the British people during the dark days of 1940 when Britain stood alone against Nazi Germany. The Battle of Britain was the aerial conflict between British and German air forces in the skies over the United Kingdom in the summer and autumn of 1940. It was one of the most important moments in Britain's twentieth century history and a decisive turning point of the Second World War. Royal Air Force Fighter Command defeated the Luftwaffe's attempt to gain air supremacy over southern England and saved Britain from German invasion and conquest. On December 17, 1944, the Japanese army sent a twenty-three year old soldier named Hiroo Onoda to the Philippines to join the Sugi Brigade. He was stationed on the small island of Lubang, approximately seventy-five miles southwest of Manila in the Philippines, and his orders were to lead the Lubang Garrison in guerrilla warfare. As Onoda was departing to begin his mission, his division commander told him, “You are absolutely forbidden to die by your own hand. It may take three years, it may take five, but whatever happens, we’ll come back for you. Until then, so long as you have one soldier, you are to continue to lead him. You may have to live on coconuts. If that’s the case, live on coconuts! Under no circumstances are you to give up your life voluntarily.” It turns out that Onoda was exceptionally good at following orders, and it would be 29 years before he finally laid down his arms and surrendered. In February of 1945, just a couple months after Onoda arrived on Lubang, the Allied forces attacked the island, and quickly overtook its defenses. As the Allies moved inland, Onoda and the other guerrilla soldiers split into groups and retreated into the dense jungle. Onoda’s group consisted of himself and three other men: Corporal Shoichi Shimada, Private Kinshichi Kozuka, and Private Yuichi Akatsu. They survived by rationing their rice supply, eating coconuts and green bananas from the jungle, and occasionally killing one of the locals’ cows for meat. It was upon killing one of these cows that one of the soldiers found a note some months later. It was a leaflet left behind by a local resident, and it said, “The war ended on August 15. Come down from the mountains!” The Japanese guerrilla soldiers scrutinized the note, and decided that was an Allied propaganda trick to coax them out of hiding. It was not the only message they encountered; over the years, fliers were dropped from planes, newspapers were left, and letters from relatives with photos. Each attempt was viewed by the soldiers as a clever hoax constructed by the Allies. Lubang IslandsThe Lubang Islands, PhilippinesOnoda and his men lived in the jungle for years, occasionally engaging in skirmishes and carrying out acts of sabotage as part of their guerrilla activities. They were tormented by jungle heat, incessant rain, rats, insects, and the occasional armed search party. Any villagers they sighted were seen as spies, and attacked by the four men, and over the years a number of people were wounded or killed by the rogue soldiers. In September of 1949, over four years after the four men went into hiding, one of Onoda’s fellow soldiers decided that he had had enough. Without a word to the others, Private Akatsu snuck away one day, and the Sugi Brigade was reduced to three men. Sometime in 1950 they found a note from Akatsu, which informed the others that he had been greeted by friendly troops when he left the jungle. To the remaining men, it was clear that Akatsu was being coerced into working for the enemy, and was not to be trusted. They continued their guerrilla attacks, but more cautiously. Three years later, in 1953, Corporal Shimada was shot in the leg during a shootout with some fishermen. Onoda and Kozuka helped him back into the jungle, and without any medical supplies, they nursed him back to health over several months. Despite his recovery, Shimada became gloomy. About a year later, the men encountered a search party on a beach at Gontin, and Shimada was fatally wounded in the ensuing skirmish. He was 40 years old. For nineteen years, Onoda and Kozuka continued their guerrilla activities together, living in the dense jungle in make-shift shelters. Every now and then they would kill another cow for meat, which alarmed the villagers and prompted the army to embark on yet another unsuccessful search for the men. The two remaining soldiers operated under the conviction that the Japanese army would eventually retake the island from the Allies, and that their guerrilla tactics would prove invaluable in that effort. Nineteen years after Shimada was killed, on October of 1972, Onoda and Kozuka had snuck out of the jungle to burn some rice which had been collected by farmers, in an attempt to sabotage the “enemy’s” food supply. A Filipino police patrol spotted the men, and fired two shots. 51-year-old Kozuka was killed, ending his 27 years of hiding. Onoda escaped back into the jungle, now alone in his misguided mission. News of Kozuka’s death traveled quickly to Japan. It was concluded that since Kozuka had survived all those years, then it was likely that Lt. Onoda was still alive, though he had been declared legally dead about thirteen years earlier. More search parties were sent in to find him, however he successfully evaded them each time.Onoda and Suzuki But in February of 1974, after Onoda had been alone in the jungle for a year and a half, a Japanese college student named Norio Suzuki managed to track him down. When Suzuki had left Japan, he told his friends that he was “going to look for Lieutenant Onoda, a panda, and the abominable snowman, in that order.” Onoda and Suzuki became fast friends. Suzuki tried to convince him that the war had ended long ago, but Onoda explained that he would not surrender unless his commander ordered him to do so. Suzuki took photos of the two of them together, and convinced Onoda to meet him again about two weeks later, in a prearranged location. When Onoda went to the meeting place, there was a note waiting from Suzuki. Suzuki had returned to the island with Onoda’s one-time superior officer, Major Taniguchi. When Onoda returned to meet with Suzuki and his old commander, he arrived in what was left of his dress uniform, wearing his sword and carrying his still-working Arisaka rifle, 500 rounds of ammunition, and several hand grenades.Lt. Onoda Major Taniguchi, who had long since retired from the military and become a bookseller, read aloud the orders: Japan had lost the war, and all combat activity was to cease immediately. After a moment of quiet anger, Onoda pulled back the bolt on his rifle and unloaded the bullets, and then took off his pack and laid the rifle across it. When the reality of it sunk in, he wept openly. The modern world is still living with the consequences of World War 2, the most titanic conflict in history. Just over 67 years ago on September 1st 1939, Germany invaded Poland without warning. By the evening of September 3rd, Britain and France were at war with Germany and within a week, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and South Africa had also joined the war. The world had been plunged into its second world war in 25 years. Six long and bloody years of total war, fought over many thousand of square kilometres followed. From the Hedgerows of Normandy to the streets of Stalingrad, the icy mountains of Norway to the sweltering deserts of Libya, the insect infested jungles of Burma to the coral reefed islands of the pacific. On land, sea and in the air, Poles fought Germans, Italians fought Americans and Japanese fought Australians in a conflict which was finally settled with the use of nuclear weapons. World War 2 involved every major world power in a war for global domination and at its end, more than 60 million people had lost their lives and most of Europe and large parts of Asia lay in ruins.