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. Selections from West Point Atlas for the Second World War Normandy, 1944: The St. Lo Breakthrough – Operations 25-31 July 1944
The Marianas Islands: Tinian 1944 – Seizure of Tinian, 24 July-1 August 1944
The Marianas Islands: Guam 1944 – Invasion of Guam, 21 July-8 August 1944
Eastern Europe, 1941: Operation Bagration – Operations, 22 June-19 August, 1944
The Western Pacific, New Guinea, and the Philippine Islands: Allied Advances to the Palaus and Morotai, 30 July-17 September 1944 and Air Attacks on the Philippines, 7-22 September 1944
Northern Italy 1944: Allied Advance to Gothic Line, 5 June-25 August and Gains 29 August-31 December
China, 1941: Operation Ichigo, April-December 1944 and Situation 31 December
China-Burma, 1941: Third Burma Campaign – Slim’s Offensive, June 1944-March 1945
July 31, 1944:
- "Among 1300 Jews deported from Drancy, France (northwest of Paris), to Auschwitz are 258 Jewish orphans seized in and around Paris on July 24.
Upon arrival at the camp, all 500 children and 300 adults are gassed.
This is the last transport of Jews from the Drancy camp to Auschwitz.
In total, 73,853 Jews have been shipped from Drancy to their deaths at Auschwitz and Sobibór. - Late July: "French Jew Maurice Löwenberg, founder of the National Liberation Movement resistance group, is tortured to death by the Gestapo.
- "SS General Richard Baer becomes the new Auschwitz commandant.
- "46,000 Jewish inmates are gassed and cremated at Auschwitz."
"This drawing by Holocaust survivor Gyorgy Kadar conveys the extremes of life in the concentration camps:
Emaciated and downcast prisoners contrast with the well-fed and arrogant camp guard.
While some guards did not overtly abuse the inmates, others used their positions of power to inflict sadistic punishments and humiliations on the men and women under their control.
Behavior of this sort, although fueled by antisemitism and fanned by years of war, arose also from some dark crevice of the human consciousness where brute force, a lust for dominance, and complete disdain for the dignity and lives of a powerless 'enemy' had taken root."