January 31

Pvt. Eddie Slovik

On January 31, 1945 Pvt. Eddie Slovik became the only American executed for desertion. He was the first since the Civil War to be charged with this crime. Pvt. Slovik was a draftee originally classified as a 4-F for a prison sentence. He was later raised to a 1-A because of higher personnel needs. Because of this he was made a rifleman which was to his dismay because he hated guns.

January 30

On January 30, 1943 the British RAF launched a massive bimbing raid on Berlin. This attack would be the first of many until the end of the war. The Garmans were celebrating Hitler's teb year anniversary of his rise to power. German head of propoganda Joseph Goebbles and head of the Luftwaffte Herman Goring were making radio morale boosts for the German masses that night. they were explaining how Stalingrad would be the final battle before final victory. The RAF launched the bombing raid at the same time as the radio broadcasts. To add insult to injury the Germans were forced to surrender to the Russians in Stalingrad.

Berlin after an RAF bombing raid.

AGerman soldier surrendering to a Runssian soldier in Stalingrad.

January 29

 

On January 29, 1942 Iran signs a treaty with Britain and the USSR. The treaty said that the British and Russians would protect the people of Iran if they could build a supply route. The Iranian Parlaiment agreed and the supply route was called the "Persian Corridor" which went from the west to Russia.

January 28

On January 28, 1945 the 717 mile long road from Lashio, Burma to Kumming in southwest China was reopened by the Allies for a supply road. The road was called "Burma Road." The road was made by the Japanese in 1937, but blocked off due to combat threats.

8th Air Force bombing Wilhelmshaven. January 27, 1943.

Russian Red Army leading German prisoners after the siege was lifted. 

January 27, 1945.

January 27

On January 27, 1943, the 8th Air Force made the first bombing run against the Germans targeting the Wilhelmshaven port. Of 64 planes, 53 made it to and hit their target. 22 German planes were shot down in the attack and three American planes were shot down.
Also the Russian Red Army broke through the German siege line after 900 days of being trapped in the city of Leningrad. this battle cost many Russian lives. 

January 26

On January 26, 1945 American Lt. Audie Murphy was wounded in France.
Also the Soviets liberated the concentration camp network in Auschwitz, Poland. This finally revealed the horrors happening in the concentration camps. There were also 40 smaller "satellite" camps surrounding the main camp. there were actually three different camps in the Auschwitz complex.All three were run by Josef  Mengele, nicknamed "The Angel of Death." Auschwitz II, at Birkenau, there were 300 barracks, "bathhouses" or gas chambers, corpse cellars, and cremation ovens. The Red Army freed over 7,000 survivors from the camp. 

January 25

On January 25, 1942 Thailand declared war on the Allies. Thailand had been conquered by the Japanese on Decmber 8, 1941. The Japanese had help though from Thailand's Prime Minister Lang Pipul. Pipul wanted to share in the spoils of the Axis powers once they had overthrown China. As the war came to a close Pipul stayed loyal to Japan. Not a good plan.

January 24

On January 24 German General Friedrich von Paulus commander of the 6th army in Stalingrad, Russia, requests permission from Adolf Hitler to surrender to the Russians. Hitler refused.

January 23

On January 23, 1941 Charles A. Lindbergh appeals to the House of Foreign Affairs Committee on the Lend-Lease Act. He suggests to the committee that negotiations are made with Hitler to form nuetrality with Germany. His earlier denunciations of "the British, the Jewish, and the Roosevelt Administration" as instigators to the United States' involvement in the war cost him his support of other isolationists. Eventually in 1941 Roosevelt denounced Lindbergh publicly which caused him to resign as aviator from the Air Corps Reserve. He eventually returned to the Air Corps and contributed to the war effort. He flew 50 combat missions over the Pacific.