Subscribe to Second by Second World War- In the news: Remembrance Day/Veterans Day–11 November 2021Thursday 11 November 2021 — Remembrance Day Once again, we gather to remember that eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, when the guns fell silent and the great war ended. It is time to honour and … Continue reading →
- In the news: Remembrance Day/Veterans Day–11 November 2020Wednesday 11 November 2020 — Remembrance Day Once again, we gather to remember that eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, when the guns fell silent and the great war ended. It is time to honour and … Continue reading →
- In the news: Memorial Day 2020We honour our troops and veterans on Memorial Day, Monday 25 May 2020. The photograph to the left shows working dog Army K-9 officer Daga, a Belgian Malinois. Daga is a member of the 793rd Military Police Battalion—a unit that … Continue reading →
- In the news: Remembrance Day/Veterans Day–11 November 2019Monday 11 November 2019 – Remembrance Day Once again, we gather to remember that eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, when the guns fell silent and the Great War ended. It is time to honour and … Continue reading →
- Book review: Ernest HemingwayErnest Hemingway: A Biography — by Mary V. Dearborn Only after visiting ‘Hemingway House’—Ernest Hemingway’s former home, now a museum, in Key West, Florida—did I become a keen fan of Ernest Hemingway, the writer. For me, the appeal came partly … Continue reading →
- In the news: Remembrance Day/Veterans Day–11 November 2021
Category Archives: Book
This week in the War, 25–31 May 1942: Cologne—the thousand-bomber raid
This week in the war, at midnight on the night of 30/31 May 1942, Churchill announced to his dinner guests at Chequers that the RAF was, at that very moment, striking Cologne with over a thousand bombers. The guests included … Continue reading
Posted in Book, World War II
Tagged Averell Harriman, Cologne, Eisenhower, Hermann Goering, Heydrich, John Winant, thousand bomber raid
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This week in the War, 19–25 January 1942: The Wannsee Conference
On 20 January 1942, SS-Obergruppenfuehrer Reinhard Heydrich chaired one of the most infamous meeting in the history of the world: the conference held at an elegant lake-side villa in the Berlin suburb of Wannsee. Those present included Gestapo Chief Heinrich … Continue reading
Posted in Book, World War II
Tagged Final Solution, Heydrich, Holocaust, Jews, Mark Roseman, The Villa the Lake the Meeting, Wannsee
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Vignette: Les amants de Carcassonne—The Lovers of Carcassonne
If your taste in poetry is inclined towards the pure and noble, but at the same time, tragic, you need look no further than France’s Joë Bousquet (1897–1950). He was born in Narbonne, in the land of the Cathars and … Continue reading
Posted in Book, Vignette, World War II
Tagged bande dessinee, Carcassonne, Joe Bousquet, LF Bollee, Linette, Luca Malisan
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This week in the War, 19–25 May 1941: The invasion of Crete
On the morning of 20 May 1941, waves of Junkers 52s flew across the Mediterranean Sea and disgorged thousands of German paratroopers onto the Greek island of Crete. Coloured parachutes had been issued to officers, black for other ranks, and … Continue reading
Posted in Book
Tagged Antony Beevor, Bernard Freyberg, Crete, Junkers 52, Operation Market Garden, Operation Overlord, Ultra
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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
Posted in Book
Tagged Brown Eminence, Deputy Fuehrer, Martin Bormann, Party Chancellery, Rudolf Hess, SD, Sicherheitsdienst, Walter Schellenberg
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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
Posted in Book
Tagged Duke of Hamilton, Martin Allen, Peter Padfield, Rudolf Hess
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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
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
Posted in Book, World War II
Tagged Abyssinia, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Haile Selassie, Orde Wingate
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