History

  • The Liberation of Breda

    Breda was liberated on 29 October 1944 by the 1st Polish Armoured Division. led by General Stanislav Maczek. A picture sometimes tells a thousand words, therefore below some pictures of that day 29 October 1944. Dutch Resistance fighters armed with captured German weapons celebrate the liberation of Breda by the Polish 1st Armored Division Honouring…

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  • “Lebensborn” translates to “wellspring of life” or “fountain or life.” The Lebensborn project was one of most secret and terrifying Nazi projects. Heinrich Himmler founded the Lebensborn project on December 12, 1935, the same year the Nuremberg Laws outlawed intermarriage with Jews and others who were deemed inferior. For decades, Germany’s birthrate was decreasing. Himmler’s…

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  • Contrary to the title and the picture above, this is not going to be a piece on ornithology. “Saw a bird of paradise today.”were some of the words that,Stanley McTacket wrote as he  prepared to go into battle on the Kokoda Track on August 19, 1942, Stanley McTackett took a moment to write a letter to…

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  • +++++CONTAINS SOME GRAPHIC IMAGES+++++ Science is very important hence scientists are very important, but unchecked and uncontrolled they can become masters of evil. If there is one thing that WWII as taught us that would be it. August Hirt (April 28, 1898 – June 2, 1945) was an anatomist with Swiss and German nationality who…

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  • Not all casualties during WWII were caused by battles or other war related events. Like any other era in history there were also other ‘regular’ disasters that occurred. However this disaster was indirectly linked to WWII actions. October 23 1942 – All 12 passengers and crewmen aboard an American Airlines DC-3 airliner were  killed when…

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  •   One of my favourite WW2 movies is Quentin Tarantino’s “Inglorious Basterds” Although the movie was mostly fictional it is based,albeit loosely, on Frederick Mayer and the operation he was to head up, “Operation Greenup” During World War II, the U.S. government’s newly formed Office of Strategic Services trained thousands of men and launched hundreds…

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  • Der Stürmer was an anti-Semitic “tabloid style” newspaper published by Julius Streicher from 1923 almost continuously through to the end of World War II. Der Stürmer was viewed by Hitler as playing a  significant role in the Nazi propaganda machinery and a useful tool in influencing the “common man on the street”. It was a…

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  • There were many attempts to assassinate Hitler; it is estimated that there have been around 35 attempts, some of which were quite bizarre. If any of them had been successful, the outcome of the war would have been drastically different. In fact, if the earlier ones in the 1920s and 1930s had succeeded, there may…

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  • Not an easy man to miss, Skorzeny stood 6 foot 4 inches tall and weighed 250lbs. And he was known as “Scarface” for a reason. He had a long, distinctive scar on his left cheek.   Skorzeny achieved ‘fame’ during the war for rescuing deposed Italian leader Benito Mussolini from an Italian hilltop fortress. Born…

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  • Arrow Cross Party

    It wasn’t only the Germans and Austrians who had Nazi parties. The Italians had the PNF, the Dutch had the NSB, and even the UK and the US had Nazi parties or equivalent to it. The Hungarians had “the Arrow Cross Party” or “Nyilaskeresztes Párt – Hungarista Mozgalom” The Arrow Cross Party was a national socialist…

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