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| Welcome to www.worldwar-2.net! |
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The
modern world is still living with the consequences of World
War 2, the most titanic conflict in history. Just under
69 years ago on September 1st 1939, Germany invaded Poland without
warning sparking the start of World War Two.
By
the evening of September 3rd, Britain and France were at war with
Germany and within a week, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and
South
Africa had also joined the war. The world had been plunged into
its second world war in 25 years. Six long and bloody years
of total
war, fought over many thousand of square kilometres followed. From
the Hedgerows of Normandy to the streets of Stalingrad, the
icy
mountains of Norway to the sweltering deserts of Libya, the insect
infested jungles of Burma to the coral reefed islands of the
pacific.
On land, sea and in the air, Poles fought Germans, Italians fought
Americans and Japanese fought Australians in a conflict which
was
finally settled with the use of nuclear weapons. World War 2 involved
every major world power in a war for global domination and at
its
end,
more than 60 million people had lost their lives and most of Europe
and large parts of Asia lay in ruins.
I hope you will enjoy viewing
worldwar-2.net
and find its information both
helpful and interesting. The
website includes an exhaustive day by day timeline,
covering every event
that occured during World
War 2, by military theatre and in chronological order from 1939
through to 1945, which gives a fascinating insight into the
most devastating
war in our history. |
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"This
war is not an ordinary war. It is the war of the entire Russian
people. Not only to eliminate the danger hanging over our heads,
but to aid all people groaning under the yoke of Fascism"
Josef Stalin - 22nd June 1941
"The Red Army and Navy and the whole Soviet people must
fight for every inch of Soviet soil, fight to the last drop
of blood for our towns and villages...onward, to victory!"
Josef Stalin - July 1941
"We secured peace for our country for one and a half years,
as well as an opportunity of preparing our forces for defense
if fascist Germany risked attacking our country in defiance
of the pact. This was a definite gain to our country and a
loss for fascist Germany."
Josef Stalin - 3rd July 1941
"The Russian colossus...has been underestimated by us...whenever
a dozen divisions are destroyed the Russians replace them with
another dozen."
General Franz Halder
- August 1941
"As a result of the cold, the machine-guns were no longer
able to fire...the result of all this was a panic...The battle
worthiness of our infantry is at an end"
General Heinz Guderian - November 1941
"Oh merciful lord… crown our effort with victory… and
give us faith in the inevitable power of light over darkness,
of justice over evil and brutal force… Of the cross of
Christ over the Fascist swastika… so be it, amen."
Sergei - 27th November
1941
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11th August 1941
N/A
12th August 1941
Hitler issues Directive No.34 which
temporarily abandons Moscow as an objective in favour of the
Ukraine. Soviet forces counterattack at Staraya Russa south
of Lake Ilmen. US Navy takes over patrolling
convoy routes in the North Atlantic and tracking German submarines
for the Royal Navy in violation of Neutrality Act. Churchill
and Roosevelt sign the Atlantic Charter, an eight-point declaration
of peace aims.
13th August 1941
N/A
14th August 1941
N/A
15th August 1941
N/A
16th August 1941
Stalin acknowledges UK and US aid
plan and agrees to the ‘apportionment of our joint resources’.
Anglo-Soviet exchange agreement signed. 56th Panzer Korps of
Panzer Group 4 takes Novgorod on the road to Leningrad. German
and Romanian forces of Army Group South captures Nikolaev,
an important Soviet naval base on the Black Sea.
17th
August 1941
Army Group North in its drive toward
Leningrad captures Narva. The Romanians seal off and begin
a siege of the Black Sea port of Odessa. The USA reply's to Admiral
Nomura's proposals of the 6th August, rejecting any high level
meeting
until the present differences between Japan and the USA have
been resolved.
18th August
1941
Russians withdraw across the Dnieper
River, allowing the Panzer Group 1 to establish a bridgehead
across the river at Zaporozhe, in the Ukraine.
19th August
1941
A brigade of the 9th Australian Division
which is besieged at Tobruk is relieved by sea, as Polish reinforcements
arrive. South of Lake Illmen, the Soviet 38th
Army is close to outflanking the German 10th Corps, but the
German 56th Panzer Corps counterattacks the Soviets and rolls
through their positions. German submarines sink a Norwegian
and 3 British ships from the Convoy OG-71 of 22 ships and 9
escorts in the Atlantic Ocean.
20th August 1941
Adolf Hitler authorises the development
of the V-2 missile. German 11th Army captures Kherson on
the Black Sea and opens the gate to the Crimea. German 11th
Army captures Kherson on the Black Sea and opens the gate to
the Crimea.
21st August 1941
French
resistance member Pierre "Fabien" Georges commits
the first violent act of resistance against the Germans in
Paris when he assassinates a German naval cadet in the Barches-Rochechouart
Metro station. More than 150 Parisians would be shot by the
Germans in reprisal. Marshal Voroshilov tells the people of
Leningrad to defend their city to the last. Hitler orders the
investment, not capture, of Leningrad, and the transfer of
several divisions from the North and Centre to capture the
Crimea and the Donets basin, an industrial region vital to
the Soviet war effort. First Arctic convoy leaves Iceland for
Russia.
22nd August 1941
N/A
23rd August 1941
N/A
24th August 1941
Russians
counter-attack in the Gomel sector. Heavy Romanian losses
around Odessa. Churchill broadcast's and warns Japan that
its aggression must stop.
25th
August 1941
British and Russian troops invade Iran
against slight opposition after their initially friendly
demands, had been rejected. Panzer Group 2, along with the
2nd Army, attack southeast from their positions around Gomel
and Bryansk, in an attempt to link up with units of Army
Group South and encircle Kiev. Panzer Group 1 begins a breakout
towards the north from its bridgeheads across the Dnieper,
with the aim of linking up with units of Army Group Centre
east of Kiev. The German 6th Army engages the bulk of the
Soviet forces gathered around Kiev to stop them from retreating.
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| Russian
T-35r |
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| The
T-35 had five turrets carrying 3 main guns, two machine-guns
and a crew of 11, making it an impressive centrepiece for the
huge pre-war military parades, but little else. |
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Bulgaria |
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Casualties
(1941 - 1945):
Soldiers (Axis) - 3,000 Killed
Soldiers (Allied) - 9,000 Killed
Partisans - 1,000 Killed
Civilians - 3,000 Killed
Soviet Occupation - 40,000 Killed |
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