[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
North Africa, Auchinleck’s Offensive, 18 November-31 December 1941
The Mediterranean Basin
The Far East and the Pacific, 1941 – Major Japanese War Objectives and Planned Opening Attacks

[hinckley buzzard]

This time frame was a critical turning point in the war. If Hitler, instead of launching Barbarossa, had devoted his troops to throwing the allies out of North Africa completely, which he could have done, the war would have gone very differently.

The millions of troops he sent eastward to Russia would have easily destroyed the allies as a fighting force in Africa, probably knocking Britain out of the fighting. Churchill said as much to Roosevelt. That is how important the often underplayed African campaign was to the overall war effort.

Hitler's obsession with Russia, which cost him millions of troops and weaponry, was a fatal flaw which enabled the allies to prevail in Africa and defeat the Axis Powers' hopes of ultimate victory in Europe.

[CougarGA7]

• Hull, against army and naval advise to delay the commencement of war with Japan for at least three months, rejects Japan's latest peace proposal with a regid ten-point counter proposal that would almost certainly mean war.

• The Pearl Harbor task force leaves its anchorage on the southern coast of Etorofu in the Kurile Islands.