This Week in WWII – 3rd Week of December

1939

First Canadian troops arrive in Britain.

1940

Hitler issued a definitive directive that Operation Barbarossa would begin on May 15, 1941…it didn’t actually begin until 6/22/1941.

1941

Adolf Hitler becomes Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the German Army. FDR meets with Joint Chiefs of Staff and indicates that the US must retaliate for Pearl Harbor by bombing Japan as soon as possible. Arcadia conference between US and Britain begins in Washington DC.

1943

8th Air Force Attacks Kassel,Germany.

1944

Battle of the Bulge begins. Malmady Massacre…84 US POW’s were murdered in violation of the Geneva Convention. The SS shot seventy-one captured American POWs in the Malmedy massacre.