[Homer_J_Simpson]

Free Republic University, Department of History presents World War II Plus 70 Years: Seminar and Discussion Forum
First session: September 1, 2009. Last date to add: September 2, 2015.
Reading assignment: New York Times articles delivered daily to students on the 70th anniversary of original publication date. (Previously posted articles can be found by searching on keyword “realtime” Or view Homer’s posting history .)
To add this class to or drop it from your schedule notify Admissions and Records (Attn: Homer_J_Simpson) by freepmail. Those on the Realtime +/- 70 Years ping list are automatically enrolled. Course description, prerequisites and tuition information is available at the bottom of Homer’s profile. Also visit our general discussion thread

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Selections from West Point Atlas for the Second World War
German Invasion of Russia – Operations, 22 June-25 August 1941
The Mediterranean Basin
The Far East and the Pacific, 1941 – The Imperial Powers, 1 September 1939

[BroJoeK]

August 23

"MAJOR EINSATZGRUPPEN MASSACRES OF JEWS, 1941-1942

"The Nazi Einsatzgruppen followed the Germany Army into Soviet territory beginning in June 1941.
Before the year was out, the Einsatzgruppen had shot hundreds of thousands of Jews."

British Code Breakers

"Despite Nazi attempts to keep secret the Einsatzgruppen extermination of Jews, news of mass murders did filter back into Germany and Allied countries. Reports of the unimaginable Nazi atrocities were met with disbelief and skepticism, and were assumed to pertain to military actions involving Russian defense forces.

"The British government had detailed knowledge of the killings.
On August 24, 1941, Prime Minister Winston Churchill, in a radio address, made public the scope of Einsatzgruppen activities in Eastern Europe.
He disclosed that "whole districts" were being exterminated, and that "scores of thousands of executions in cold blood" were being perpetrated by "German police-troops upon the Russian patriots who defend their native soil."

"Churchill didn't mention that Jews were being exterminated.
He could not reveal this since it would have warned the Germans that British intelligence forces had cracked their secret radio codes."