Shawn Janes, Author at World War 2 Collection

This Week in WWII: 2nd Week in August

1940
Bismark is commissioned. Bismarck was the first of two Bismarck-class battleships built for the German Kriegsmarine.
1945
Bockscar B-29 piloted by Charles W. Sweeney drops Atomic Bomb, Fat Man, on Nagasaki, Japan.
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This Week in WWII: 1st Week of August

By Shawn Janes |

1934 —
Adolf Hitler becomes Fuhrer of Germany. He was chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945 and dictator of Nazi Germany (as Führer und Reichskanzler) from 1934 to 1945. Hitler was at the center of the founding of Nazism, the start of World War II, and the Holocaust.
1936 —
The 1936 Olympic Games begin in Berlin. Hitler saw the Games as an opportunity to promote his government and ideals of racial supremacy, and did not want Jews or Blacks to be allowed to participate in the Games.
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This Week in WWII – 4th Week of July

By Shawn Janes |

1935
First flight of the B-17.
1940
Hitler tours Paris. Nazi attacks on Dover lead to the near destruction of the entire Defiant Squadron. Assassination attempt on Hitler: Count Fritz-Dietlof von def Schulenberg planned to shoot Hitler from a reviewing stand at a parade honoring Hitler.
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This Week in WWII – 2nd Week of July

By Shawn Janes |

1940
Churchill tells Beaverbrook that, “we have no continental army that can defeat the German military machine.” The Battle of Britain begins as Luftwaffe begins attacking shipping in the English Channel.
1942
Barbarossa: Nazis move toward Stalingrad USSR. Germans move toward Stalingrad.
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This Week in WWII: 1st Week in July

By Shawn Janes |

1940
British ships attack French Navy
1942
First European mission made by the 8th Air Force. Japanese troops take Guadalcanal.
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This Week in WWII – 3rd Week of June

By Shawn Janes |

1940
About 2,500 British troops perish when five Luftwaffe bombers attack the Lancastria, a Cunard luxury liner being used to transport troops. Hitler and Mussolini meet in Munich. Winston Churchill’s “Finest Hour” speech.
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This Week in WWII – 1st Week of June

By Shawn Janes |

1940
Evacuation of allied troops from Dunkirk ends. Nazi planes strike airfields, industrial sites, and buildings in Paris. This successful German effort to damage France’s economy, reduce its military, and create terror…
1941
The provisional French government is established.
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This Week in WWII – 4th Week of May

By Shawn Janes |

1935
First flight of the Messerschmitt Bf 109.
1940
Evacuation of allied troops from Dunkirk begins. The 27th is the worst day at Dunkirk. Churchill reprimands King Leopold of Belgium for seeking a separate peace with Germany. Conflict between Halifax and Churchill over Italy and the overall conduct of the war effort.
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This Week in WWII – 2nd Week of May

By Shawn Janes |

1944
Germany launches the first V-1 rocket on Britain. U.S. defeats the Japanese in an air battle known as the Battle of the Philippine Sea.
1945
The Red Army releases Commonwealth and US POWs at Stalag III-A, Luckenwalde.
1946
75 Nazis go to trial for the Malmedy Massacre, which occurred on 12-17-1944.
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This Week in WWII – 1st Week of May

By Shawn Janes |

1942
Japanese invasion repelled in Allied strategic victory. Surrender of all U.S. forces on Philippines.
1944
London Conference begins.
1945
VE Day (Victory in Europe Day). Germany surrenders, ending WW2 in Europe.
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