[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
Southeast Asia, 1941: Japanese Centrifugal Offensive, December 1941
Malaya, 1941: Topography-Japanese Centrifugal Offensive, December 1941-January 1942
The Far East and the Pacific, 1941 – Operations of the Japanese First Air Fleet, 7 December 1941-12 March 1942
The Far East and the Pacific, 1941 – American Carrier Operations, 7 December 1941-18 April 1942
Micronesia, Melanesia and New Guinea: Japanese Centrifugal Offensive-Japanese Fourth Fleet and South Seas Detachment Operations, December 1941-April 1942
Luzon, P.I., 1941: Centrifugal Offensive, 10 December 1941-6 May 1942-Fourteenth Army Operations on Luzon
Southern Asia, 1941: Japanese Centrifugal Offensive (and Continued Operations), January-May 1942
North Africa, Auchinleck’s Offensive, 18 November-31 December 1941
Eastern Europe, 1941: Soviet Winter Offensive – Operations, 6 December 1941-7 May 1942
The Mediterranean Basin

[BroJoeK]

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December 11, 1941:

• "Germany and Italy declare war on the United States. Germany, Italy, and Japan agree that none will pursue a separate peace.

• "A Jewish ghetto is established at Lutsk, Ukraine."

"SS General Arthur Greiser co-founded the Stahlhelm, a nationalist German veterans organization, after the First World War.
An SS administrator in Poland following the outbreak of the Second World War, he deported thousands of Jewish and Christian Poles to create living space for Germans in Eastern Europe.
A brutal Nazi, he was captured after the war, tried, and--after being paraded around Poznan in a cage--hanged in front of his former palace on June 20, 1946."

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[Snickering Hound]

Belushi wrote for the New York Times? The Germans attacked Pearl Harbor, and the Tirpitz was off Malaysia?

[tcrlaf]

The Tirpitz and a “German Aircraft Carrier” in the Pacific?

Better than admitting those insignificant Japanese did it, I guess.

And that “Hong Kong holding!” story is a farce, too. The “Gin Drinkers Line”, which is supposed to stop the Japanese for at least a month, is being held by just 3 battalions of untrained Canadian Conscripts, and will fall tonite when a Japanese Lt. and ten men take a key redoubt.

[CougarGA7]

• "We simply can't be beaten with America in." - Harold Nicolson

• 450 Japanese soldiers load into transports to attempt to land on Wake Island. When the task force got within 5,000 yards of the island, Wake's shore batteries opened up on the ships. The light cruiser Yubari was struck by four 5-inch shells forcing it to break off its approach. Battery "L" opened fired on the destroyer Hayate blowing the ship out of the water. After more hits on another destroyer and a transport, the Japanese were forced to withdraw.

• Germany and Italy declare war on the United States.

[thestob]

for later

[Enchante]

Interesting reference to possible “suicide” planes attacking Repulse and Prince of Wales. Is it known since if there were any cases of that so early in the war, or was it merely speculation?

A pilot might be hit by AA and opt to try to crash into the target if he thinks he’s doomed anyway, but I’ve never heard of the Japanese flying suicide missions so early in the war.

It does say something that it could be recognized clearly so early in the war that this ‘Kamikazi’ idea for aircraft fits with Japanese military culture, but I don’t know enough to have any idea what the source(s) of these references might be for the NY Times at this point in time.

[fso301]

I wonder if the Tirpitz made a stop at the secret Nazi Antarctic base on it’s way around the Cape?

[CougarGA7]

The last of today's audio is kind of interesting. They seem to have already dramatized the attack.

CBS - Congress Declares War on Germany

EIAR - Benito Mussolini Declares War on the U.S.

EIAR - Italy Radio Announces Declaration of War on USA

NBC - March of Time: Pearl Harbor

[Verginius Rufus]

Last night TCM showed "Back to Bataan" starring John Wayne and Anthony Quinn--made about the time that the Philippines were being liberated from Japanese control. It starts with the liberation of American POWs being held at a prison in the Philippines and shows the actual POWs with their names and hometowns.

Mostly it is about the Filipino resistance (Anthony Quinn is cast as a Filipino)...which made me think of Ferdinand Marcos writing the reports about his own alleged heroism (he slipped and used the wrong pronoun once, giving himself away)...which reminded me in turn of Kerry apparently authoring the reports that were the basis for one or more of his medals.

The movie was very pro-Filipino--surprising if you have been taught to believe that America was hopelessly racist towards Asians at that time.

[untenured]

Wow, reports on fighting in Russia, the Philippines, Malaya, Hong Kong, North Africa, Wake - it is now a breathtakingly world war. What must it have been like to watch it contemporaneously unfold?