Author Archives: secondbysecond

This week in the War, 12–18 May 1941: The ‘pig in a potato field’—Martin Bormann takes Hess’s job

On 13 May 1941, three days after Rudolf Hess had fallen from the sky above Scotland, Hess’s protégé, Martin Bormann, stepped into the Deputy Fuehrer’s shoes. The Office of Deputy Fuehrer was renamed the ‘Party Chancellery’, and Bormann was confirmed … Continue reading

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This week in the War, 5–11 May 1941: Rudolf Hess parachutes into Scotland on the night of 10/11 May 1941

Deputy Fuehrer, Rudolf Hess, dropped by parachute into Lanarkshire, Scotland, not far from Dungavel House, the country home of the Duke of Hamilton. It was the night of 10/11 May 1941—the night that London suffered its heaviest air raid of … Continue reading

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This week in the War, 5–11 May 1941: London Blitz, the night of 10/11 May 1941

Westminster Abbey, the Houses of Parliament, the British Museum—all were hit during the heaviest and last of the large Luftwaffe raids against London, on the night of 10/11 May 1941. In his book The Longest Night 10-11 May 1941: Voices … Continue reading

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This week in the War, 5–11 May 1941: Emperor Haile Selassie returns in triumph to Addis Ababa

On 5 May 1941, Haile Selassie—the man who had addressed the League of Nations to plead for help in the face of the Italian invasion of his country—returned to his Ethiopian capital in triumph. Colonel Orde Wingate—the controversial and highly … Continue reading

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This week in the War, 28 April–4 May 1941: British forces pull out of Greece, leaving Germany victorious

Dunkirk, Norway, and finally Greece. On 28 April 1941, the British evacuated their expeditionary force from the Greek mainland, thereby abandoning Britain’s last foothold on continental Europe to the conquering German army. The plight of Greece, that had begun with … Continue reading

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This week in the War, 21–27 April 1941: US aid goes to (Vichy-controlled) French North Africa

This week in the war, on 26 April 1941, the Murphy-Weygand Accord came into force. American diplomat, Robert Daniel Murphy, was Roosevelt’s ‘man in Algiers’. French general, Maxime Weygand, was posted to Algiers as the Vichy government’s ‘Delegate-General’ to their … Continue reading

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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, 31 March–6 April 1941: The Afrika Korps is on the move

On 31 March 1941, Erwin Rommel’s Italian and German forces attacked the British at Mersa El Brega. The Afrika Korps was on the move. In his book Knight’s Cross: A Life of Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, David Fraser tells the … Continue reading

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