Category Archives: Book

This week in the War, 14–20 April 1941: Destroyer versus destroyer off the Tunisian coast

This week in the war, the Battle of the Tarigo Convoy was fought at night between the Italian and British navies near the Kerkennah Banks, off the Tunisian coast. Donald Macintyre’s book The Battle for the Mediterranean (Batsford, 1964) presents … Continue reading

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This week in the War, 7–13 April 1941: The USA moves further along the path to war

American involvement in the European conflict deepened, this week in the war, as the USA moved ever further from neutrality. On 10 April 1941, the American destroyer USS Niblack rescued the crew of a Dutch freighter, torpedoed off the coast … Continue reading

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This week in the War, 31 March–6 April 1941: Hitler invades Yugoslavia and Greece

This week in the war, on 6 April 1941, German forces invaded Yugoslavia and Greece. Goering’s Luftwaffe launched heavy attacks against Belgrade, despite the Yugoslavian capital having been declared an open city. Further Luftwaffe raids wrecked the Greek port of … Continue reading

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This week in the War, 17–23 March 1941: Aussie PM honoured in Pommie Land

This week in the war, Australian Prime Minister Robert Menzies was touring the British Isles. He was in Plymouth on 21 March 1941, and witnessed a heavy air raid, with the Luftwaffe dropping 20,000 incendiary bombs across the city. Twelve large … Continue reading

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This week in the War, 10–16 March 1941: Lend-Lease

This week in the war, 11 March 1941, President Roosevelt signed into law a statute that was diplomatically titled ‘An Act to Further Promote the Defense of the United States’; it was the famous Lend-Lease bill. Ideas and intentions that … Continue reading

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This week in the War, 3–9 March 1941: Gunther Prien perishes aboard the U-47

U-boat ace Kapitanleutnant Gunther Prien perished with his entire crew this week in the war, 8 March 1941, when the U-47 was sunk by the destroyer, HMS Wolverine. Formidable, indomitable, redoubtable were the adjectives that Churchill used to describe Prien, … Continue reading

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This week in the War, 24 Feb–2 March 1941: Diary of a Witness

Raymond-Raoul Lambert was one of the most prominent leaders of the Jewish community in France during the 1930s and the early years of the war. From 1941 to 1943, he headed the Union Générale des Israélites de France (UGIF), which … Continue reading

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In the news: France returns paintings stolen by the Nazis

According to the British newspaper The Guardian,  artwork stolen by the Nazis during World War II is about to be returned to the Jewish owners. Seven paintings were mentioned in the news release. Six were stolen in France. The seventh … Continue reading

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In the news: Eva Braun’s home movies

Eva Braun’s birthday was a day or so ago, 6 February (1912) and, last week, an article about her and the movies she made appeared in the Guardian and Observer (Robert McCrum and Taylor Downing, 27 January 2013). Eva and … Continue reading

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This week in the War, 27 Jan–2 Feb 1941: Occupied Paris

Hélène Pitrou was a child, growing up in Paris during the dark years, the years of German occupation. [Check the book by historian Julian Jackson, France–The Dark Years 1940-1944]. Hélène kept a diary, un journal, as one says in French. … Continue reading

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