[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
Advance on Moscow – Operations, 26 August-5 December 1941
The Mediterranean Basin
The Far East and the Pacific, 1941 – Major Japanese War Objectives and Planned Opening Attacks

[Thane_Banquo]

I predict this will end badly for the Nazis.

[fso301]

Who knows what might have happened had Operation Typhoon gotten off to an earlier start?

[BroJoeK]

October 7, 1941

"Of the 30,000 Jews who made up the original population of the Kovno (Lithuania) Ghetto, more than 90 percent did not survive to liberation.

"During the first six weeks of the German occupation in 1941, Lithuanian extremists arrested thousands of Jews, imprisoning them in several old forts that ringed the city.
Almost 4,000 Jews perished.
Many women were raped, then shot.
The dead were thrown into pits.

"Systematic Einsatzgruppen murders began once ghetto gates closed in August.
In September some 1,600 men, women, and children were shot.
On October 4 about 1,800 were murdered, including 180 children and infant patients who were burned alive when the Germans set fire to the ghetto hospital.
The "Great Action" of October 28 separated Kovno Jews "fit" to work from those "unfit."
About 9,200 were sent "to the right," to be killed.
The remaining 17,000 toiled as slave laborers.

"In late 1943 the Nazis began to liquidate the ghetto, deporting many to concentration camps.
In March 1944 the SS dragged all children under the age of 12 from homes and hiding places.
This so-called "Children's Action" claimed 1,300 lives.
A mother's diary recorded the horror of watching her child "tossed like a puppy into the truck...." "

[CougarGA7]

• German forces close the ring around Viaz'ma entrapping the 16th, 19th, 20th, 24th and part of the 32nd Army.

• Major-General F.M. Kharitonov's 9th and Lieutenant-General A.K. Smirnov's 18th Army are encircled near Melitopol'. The two armies manage to break out by the 10th of October, but not before Smirnov is killed in action.

• The weather on the eastern front turns cold and wet transforming the poor Russian roads into quagmires.

[Poundstone]

Dear Homer,

i’ve noticed that recently your posts of the NYT have not included the pages containing the commentary of the NYT’s military analyst, Hanson Baldwin. Could you kindly check to see if you resume including his commentary? Now that the Germans are making their drive on Moscow (an event which will shortly cause Stalin to evacuate most of the Soviet government from the capital), I’m curious to see whether Baldwin will be shaken from his previous belief that Germany would probably lose its campaign in Russia. Thanks.