[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 and the occasional radio broadcast 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
Anzio-Cassino Area, 1943: Attempts to Cross Rapido and Garigliano Rivers, 17-20 January 1944. Anzio Landing, 22 January 1944. German Counterattack at Anzio, 16-19 February 1944
Anzio-Cassino Area, 1943: Situation 18 May 1944 and Advance in Operation Diadem, 11-18 May. Anzio Breakout, 23-25 May and Turn to Rome, 25-30 May
The Western Pacific, New Guinea and the Philippine Islands: Allied Advances to the Marianas, Biak and Noemfoor, 22 April-24 July 1944, and Japanese Kon and “A” Go Operations 30 May-19 June 1944
China, 1941: Operation Ichigo, April-December 1944 and Situation 31 December

[BroJoeK]

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May 21, 1944:

• May 19: "Jews deported from Paris to Kovno, Lithuania, are machine-gunned by guards in a fenced enclosure after some of the prisoners attack SS troops.

• "The Germans transport Hungarian Jew Joel Brand to Turkey with a proposal from Adolf Eichmann that the Western Allies exchange 10,000 trucks for one million Eastern European Jews.
  Eichmann calls it "blood for trucks."
  Arrested by the British, Brand is sent to Lord Moyne (resident minister of state in the Middle East), who comments: "What shall I do with those million Jews?"

• May 21: "The Gestapo imprisons all 260 Jews of Canea, Crete, at Rethymnon, Crete."

"The Nazis began the deportation of Hungary's 725,000 Jews, most of them to Auschwitz, in the spring of 1944.
In this image of Orthodox men at Auschwitz-Birkenau, the man on the left is Rabbi Naftali Zvi Weiss from the town of Bilke."

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[BroJoeK]

(apologies for the duplicate post) :-(

[BroJoeK]

"Rain was the first enemy encountered by the 33d Division on New Guinea.
It turned company streets and training areas into calf-deep bogs of mud, necessitating constant maintenance of drainage facilities.

"Clothes and blankets quickly mildewed if stored too long between airings.
Small arms required frequent attention; a short period of neglect meant the beginnings of rust and corrosion.
Division engineers suffered more because of the downpours than any single unit. Charged with maintaining Dreger Road, engineer companies were forced to spend their days wading through mud in an effort to keep traffic moving.

"As time went on, however, New Guinea rains became accepted as a matter of course.
Daily routine progressed without interruption because of them, leaving the "rainy day" schedule a strictly Stateside innovation; the "clear day" schedule was the unusual.
Division entry into the shooting war appeared imminent at this point.
To offset the hindrance of weather much had to be done to keep the Division at a peak of combat efficiency.
Training in basic subjects began at the end of May.
In order to give artillery units more suitable areas in which to conduct firing exercises, all Division Artillery, under General Paxton, was dispatched to a new campsite at Fortification Point, forty miles up the coast from Finschhafen.
Here, the terrain was comparatively open, allowing the artillery wider latitude in conducting training exercises**."

**Since my Dad remembered those artillery training exercises, I put him at Fortification Point, 40 miles west of Finschafen. (!)

[Deo volente]

I’m seeing a lot of vertical lines all over the newspaper images. It’s not easy to read the text.

Great work you’re doing here, though!

[Seizethecarp]

Having changed the channel on the pResident during his presser this AM knowing that whatever he said would cause me to doubt whether Divine Providence still favored the nation I chose instead to take being reminded by Doolittle’s picture today to look up his Wiki bio again.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Doolittle

What a splendid patriot! Divine Providence certainly was working overtime to keep him alive repeatedly during his life (when so many other early aviators died)for example:

“In April 1926, Doolittle was given a leave of absence to go to South America to perform demonstration flights. In Chile, he broke both ankles, but put his P-1 Hawk through aerial maneuvers with his ankles in casts. He returned to the United States, and was confined to Walter Reed Army Hospital for his injuries until April 1927. Doolittle was then assigned to McCook Field for experimental work, with additional duty as an instructor pilot to the 385th Bomb Squadron of the Air Corps Reserve. During this time, in 1927 he was the first to perform an outside loop previously thought to be a fatal maneuver. Carried out in a Curtiss fighter at Wright Field in Ohio, Doolittle executed the dive from 10,000 feet, reached 280 miles per hour, bottomed out upside down, then climbed and completed the loop.”

[Rebelbase]

Permalift bra on last page looks dangerous.

[Rebelbase]

Communist party disbands but supports FDR bid for 4th term.

Why am I not surprised?

[fella]

Page 13 deserves a post all by itself.

[fso301]

A 6,000 plane raid must have been impressive.