Category Archives: Movie

This week in the War, 13–19 November 1944: Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo—The Movie

Barely two months after the Pearl Harbour attack, the United States began planning a reprisal raid against Japan. The result was the attack against Tokyo and other targets in April 1942. The so-called Doolittle Raid was led by Lt. Col. … Continue reading

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This week in the War, 25 Sept–1 Oct 1944: Colditz and The Red Fox

British Army lieutenant, Michael Sinclair, was killed this week in the war, on 25 September 1944. Sinclair, known to the Germans as The Red Fox, was shot and killed while attempting to scale the outer-perimeter fence of Colditz Castle, Germany’s … Continue reading

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This week in the War, 1–7 May 1944: Going My Way—the movie

This week in the war saw the release of the movie Going My Way, 3 May 1944. Bing Crosby stars as Father O’Malley, the young priest who is sent to take charge of the parish run by the very much older Father … Continue reading

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This week in the War, 10–16 May 1943: The Dam Busters

It is over fifty years since Australian-born writer, Paul Brickhill, wrote his bestselling account of the bombing raid on the dams that provided water and hydro-electric power to industries in the Ruhr valley. The book led to a movie and … Continue reading

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This week in the War, 26 April–2 May 1943: “Mincemeat swallowed rod, line and sinker”

This week in the war, in the early hours of the morning of 30 April 1943, British submarine HMS Seraph surfaced off the coast of Spain. A canister was brought on deck and opened to reveal a dead body dressed … Continue reading

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This week in the War, 23–29 November 1942: Casablanca—The Movie

With the Moroccan port of Casablanca in Allied hands following Operation Torch, American cinema audiences were treated to the first screening of the movie Casablanca. The film opened in New York City, this week in the war, on 26 November … Continue reading

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This week in the War, 13–19 April 1942: Thirty Seconds over Tokyo—The Doolittle Raid

Thirty Seconds over Tokyo was the title of a 1944 movie starring Spencer Tracy in the role of Lieutenant Colonel Jimmy Doolittle (and also the title of the book on which the film was based). This week in the war, … Continue reading

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This week in the War, 16–22 February 1942: The bombing of Darwin

This week in the war, on 19 February 1942, fighters and bombers from the carrier force of Vice-Admiral Chuichi Nagumo—who in November had launched his planes against Pearl Harbour—attacked Darwin, the largest city of northern Australia. The bombing of Darwin … Continue reading

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This week in the War, 26 May–1 June 1941: Sink the Bismarck!

“Sink the Bismarck, at any cost,” was the order that Winston Churchill gave to the Royal Navy when the world’s most powerful battleship was on the rampage in the North Atlantic. After a long and harrowing chase, Churchill’s wish was … Continue reading

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This week in the War, 23–29 December 1940: Christmas 1940

No two men were as different as King George VI of England and Rudolf Hess. They had nothing at all in common, —except that both were largely of German descent (George through George I of Hanover and through Queen Victoria’s … Continue reading

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