Free Republic

<p>The NEW YORK TIMES has learned exclusively that U.S. forces in the Pacific plan a daring bombing raid on Tokyo, Japan on April 18. Our sources have revealed that Lt. Col. James H. Doolittle will be the leader of the raid. It will be the most daring operation yet in the young Pacific war.</p>

The English Channel meant that these Blitzkrieg tactics could not be continued against Britain. Hitler had great respect for Britain's navy and airforce and feared that his forces would suffer heavy casualties in any invasion attempt. Hitler, who had not seen the sea until he was over forty, lacked confidence when it came to naval warfare. As he told his naval commander-in-chief: "On land I am a hero. At sea I am a coward." At this stage Hitler still hoped that Britain would change sides or at least accept German domination of Europe. Immediately after the defeat of France in...

There are those who believe that people are merely a part of history, pieces of driftwood carried along by forces and currents often beyond our control. Others argue that history is shaped by individuals—that the right person in the right place can alter the course of human events. Certainly Osama bin Laden shifted the historical tide on September 11, 2001. As General Tommy Franks put it, bin Laden created a “crease in history” on 9/11, a fault line that changed how we piece together the past, how we live the present, how we look at the future. To their credit,...

“Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow” is full of visions of the dark, soaring New York cityscape, dogfights in the sky and the majestic Himalayan mountains. But what was the movie set like for the actors? A whole lotta blue. That’s because “Sky Captain,” despite its grandiose appearance, was filmed entirely against a blue screen with digital effects filled in. Though real actors star in it, almost everything else is fake. Think “Roger Rabbit” in reverse. While computer generated imagery has for years been a large presence in movies, “Sky Captain” is the first major motion picture made entirely...

WW2 Alternate History: All that is required for the triumph of evil As the war on the Pacific and European fronts grows more intense costing hundreds of thousands of American lives and faced with the prospect of being forced to fight a surging Soviet army should an occupation of Nazi Germany take place; Allied leaders ponder the offer of a negotiated armistice with Nazi Germany. On December 12, 1943, representatives of Great Britain, France the United States and Germany sign an armistice treaty under which all German troops are to leave any captured territory on the Western front and withdraw...

Have you ever lamented the road not taken, the kiss not stolen or the harsh word spoken? If so, and who hasn't, you understand on a personal level the appeal of a category of speculative fiction, or science fiction, known as alternate history.There are no mulligans in the real world, no do-overs in the game of life. But what if there were? What would you do differently and how would it change who you have become?Alternate history asks the same sort of questions on a grand scale.What if Hitler had survived and Germany had won World War II? What if...