Italy

  • The Battle of Ortona, fought in December 1943, stands as one of the most brutal and consequential engagements involving Canadian forces during the Second World War. Often overshadowed by larger operations in Normandy or the Eastern Front, Ortona nonetheless occupies a central place in Canadian military history. The battle was not merely a contest for

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  • For Hitler to accomplish his goals, he needed the support of men who were equally as evil as he was. His most willing henchman was Joseph Göbbels. Paul Joseph Göbbels was born on October 29, 1897, in Rheydt, Germany, an industrial city in the Rhineland. Because of a club foot that he acquired during a

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  • Thanksgiving World War II

    Some impressions and stories of Thanksgiving during World War II. American soldiers in Paris are shown leaving the famous Notre Dame Cathedral after a special Thanksgiving Day service. November 23, 1944. Sgt. Bill Murphy Jr. (Perryville, Kentucky) shares his Thanksgiving turkey with a small Italian girl on the 5th Army front in the San Marcello

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  • This is my interview with Maida Purdy, who wrote a book about her father, Robert Purdy. Robert Purdy was born in 1919 in Wisconsin and raised in Detroit, Michigan. After completing two years of college, he began working as a machinist and tool-and-die maker in Ford and Chrysler auto plants. During this time, he became

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  • Holocaust Testimonies

    Mara Ginic (now Kraus) was born in Zagreb, Yugoslavia in 1925. At the age of 3 or 4 she moved with her grandparents to Osijek, Slavonia(Nowadays in Croatia). When she was five years old her parents divorced and her mother moved to Belgrade, but she stayed with her father and grand parents in Osijek. When

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  • I don’t want to make this a current political blog, and I won’t.,but I need to get this off my chest. Much too often do I hear that the current generations, often referred to as Generation Y(Millennials) and Generation Z(iGen) have it so much harder then any generation before them. It really gets my blood

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  • The German operation to liberate Benito Mussolini from captivity in September 1943, commonly known as the Gran Sasso raid or Operation Eiche (“Oak”), remains one of the most studied commando actions of the Second World War. Beyond its tactical novelty, the raid highlights the interplay between military planning, political symbolism, and propaganda in a period

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  • Musica Italiano

    d Don’t worry I haven’t suddenly turned Italian and although the music in this blog will be in Italian, the text won’t be. The thing is every once in a while I like to deviate from my usually heavier historical subjects to a more light-hearted one. I love Italy, I had the chance to visit

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  • People often think that the Nazis came up with the concept of the concentration camps. In fact, it was the British, who invented concentration camps, which were first established in South Africa by the Brits during the Boer Wars in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. During World War II, the Nazis weren’t the

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  • Pope Pius XII is often referred to as “Hitler’s Pope,” but the Catholic Church’s connections with fascist regimes began before his papacy. It was his predecessor, Pope Pius XI, who actively sought ties with fascist leaders. On June 16, 1936, he met with Anton Mussert, the leader of the Dutch Nazi party. The 20th century

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