On April 9, 1940 German ships land in several Norwegian cities from Narvik to Oslo. Thousands of German troops were deployed into Norway. At the same time German troops were moving into several Danish cities.
In 1942 Major general Esward P. King Jr. surrenders Bataan to the Japanese. The surrender was against General Douglas MacArthur's orders. 66,000 Filipino soldiers and 12,000 Americans were captured by the Japanese, which was the largest contingent of U.S. soldiers to be captured by the Japanese.
Saturday, April 9, 2011
April 8
Russians fighting for Crimea. |
Dietrich Bonhoeffer. |
General Omar Bradley. |
April 7
Italian commanders in Albania. |
The Yamato sinking. |
April 6
April 5
On April 5, 1945 Yugoslav leader Tito signs a treaty with the Soviet Union allwaing temporary entry of Soviet troops into Yugoslav territory.
Monday, April 4, 2011
April 4
On April 4, 1884 mastermind of the attack on Pearl Harbor, Yamamoto Isoroku is born. Isoroku was possibly Japan's greatest strategist and officer.
April 3
On April 3, 1942 the Japanese launch a major offensive against Allied troops in Bataan, the peninsula gaurding Manila Bay and the Phillippine Islands.
April 2
On April 2, 1941 German Lt. Gen. Erwin Rommel "The Desert Fox" resumes his advance into Libya to start the nine day recapture of Libya by the Axis powers.
April 1
On April 1, 1945 aftr losing 116 planes and suffering damage to three aircraft carriers, 50,000 American troops of the 10th Army under the command of Lt. Gen. Simon B. Buckner Jr., land on the Japanese island Okinawa. Okinawawas 350 miles south of Kyuchu, the southern most Japanese main island. The Americans decided Ikinawa would be a perfect place for a base of operations for a later attack on the Japanese mainland. Roughly 120,000 Japanese soldiers, militiamen, and laborers were on the island and fought hard against the Americans 1,300 ships loads of troops. The Japanese were under the command of Lt. Gen. Mitsuru Ushijima. The Japanese surprised the Americans with a massive attack on the beach head and kamikazes. While the Americans suffered no losses on the beach, the Japanese suffered 50,000 casualties, 12,000 of which were deaths. In the end approximately 117,000 Japanese were killed and 4,000 surrendered. Lt. Gen. Buckner was one killed by Japanese artillery three days before the Japanese surrender. Lt. Gen. Ushijima commited ritual suicide because of the defeat of his troops.
March 31
On March 31, 1940 the German auxilary cruiser Atlantis launches to go catch and sink Allied merchant ships.
March 30
On March 30, 1940 the Japanese set up a puppet regime in Nanking, China, the old capital of Nationalist China.
March 29
On March 29, 1945 Gen. George S. Patton and the 3rd Army take Frankfurt as "Old Blood and Guts" continues his march east.
March 28
On March 28, 1941 Admiral of the British fleet Andrew Browne Cunningham commands an attack on three major Italian cruisers and two destroyers in the Battle of Cape Matapan in the Mediterranean. Later that year in November, Admiral Cunningham would lead another attack on the Italians which would put an end to the threat from Italy's navy.
Sunday, March 27, 2011
March 27
On March 27, 1945 the Germans launched what was left of their V-2 rockets from the only remaining launch sight in the Netherlands. This attack added about 200 English and Belgian citizens to the death toll brought about by the V-2s.
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
March 26
On March 26, 1941 Italy uses the first detacable manned warhead torpedoes to sink a British cruiser in the Suda Bay, Crete. This added a new weapon to the navies' arsenal. It was called the "Chariot." The torpedo was unique because two men would steer the warhead until it was lined up with the target then launch it.
March 25
On March 25, 1941 Yugoslavia, even though they signed a declaration of nuetrality, signed the Tripartite Pact to join the Axis powers of Germany, Italy, and Japan.
March 24
On March 24, 1944 Maj. Gen. Orde Wingate, leader of the 77th Indian Brigade, or the Chindits, dies at 41 years old.
March 23
On March 23, 1944 300 Italian citizens were slaughtered by the Germans as a reprisal for an Italian partisan attack on and SS unit.
March 22
On March 22, 1942 Sir Stanford Cripps travels toIndia to visit Ghandi and discuss Indian independence. this would be known as the Cripps Mission.
March 21
Major General Henning von Tresckow. |
Sunday, March 20, 2011
March 20
On March 20, 1945 British troops liberated Mandalay, Burma. The British 14th Armywas under the command of Gen. William J. Slim and helped with the liberation of all of Burma from the Japanese.
March 19
On March 19, 1945 commander of the German Home Army, Gen. Friedrich Fromm was shot by a firing squad for his participation in the July assasination attempt on Hitler. Even though Fromm said it was a half-hearted participation, he was killed.
Friday, March 18, 2011
March 18
Public announcement of Japanese relocation. |
Children at the Heart Mountain Internment Camp in Wyoming. |
Thursday, March 17, 2011
March 17
On March 17, 1940 Dr. Fritz Todt, a German engineer, was named the Reich's Minister of munitions because of his innovations in industry and forced labor.
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
March 16
On March 16, 1945 the U.S. declares the volcanic island Iwo Jima secure. The island was won after months of extremely deadly and fierce fighting.
March 15
March 14
March 13
On March 13, 1944 London stopped travel from Ireland to Britain. The suspension was because the Irish government did not expel Axis-power diplomats from it's borders.
March 12
March 11
On March 11, 1942 Gen. Douglas MacArthur leaves the Phillipines as the islands defense are weakend by the Japanese. MacArthur was ordered to leave by President Franklin.
Thursday, March 10, 2011
March 10
On March 10, 1940 U.S. Undersecretary Sumner Welles goes to London after visiting Adolf Hitler to talk to British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain to try to keep the European War in Europe.
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
March 9
On March 9, 1945 the U.S. dropped 2,000 tons of recently invented napalm on Tokyo. The bombing raid killed between 80,000 and 130,000 Japanese civilians. Almost 16 square miles of the city was burned.
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Sunday, March 6, 2011
March 6
A group of Dutch Resistance fighters. |
Lt. Gen. Hanns A. Rauter. |
March 5
On March 5, 1953 Joseph Stalin dies. Stalin had ruled Russia with an iron fist all through the second world war. He was born in Georgia with the name Isoeb Dzhugashvili, to a drunk that beat him and a pious washerwoman. Stalin began studying Karl Marx and extreme left wing politics secretly while in seminary school. He was eventually expelled for his political beliefs.
Friday, March 4, 2011
March 4
On March 4, 1941 the British launch Operation Claymore which was the attempt to capture the Enigma decoding machine. the Operation in Norway proved to be very destructive, yet it was a failure.The Enigma was never retrieved.
Also in 1944 the U.S. Eighth Air Force launches a the first American bombing raid on the German capital, Berlin.
A British ship off the coast of Norway during Operation Claymore. |
The U.S. Eighth Air Force bombing Berlin. |
Berlin after the Eighth Air Force's bombing raid. |
Thursday, March 3, 2011
March 3
On March 3, 1945 Finland declares war on Germany and joins the Allies. Finland was under increasing pressure from the United States and the Soviet Union to join them. Also Germany had attacked Finland several times but was fought off by the famous skiing soldiers.
March 2
On March 2,1943 Australian land based planes launched an offensive against the Japanese on the Bismark Sea, in the Western Pacific.
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
March 1
On March 1, 1941 Bulgaria joins the Axis powers by signing the Tripartite Pact.This alliance with Germany caused the Soviet Union to target Bulgaria, which after the war agreed to be pro-Soviet.
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