Since the Second World War ended it has been popular to present the Soviet Union as an overwhelming economic and military colossus that was essentially undefeatable by 1942 if not earlier in the war. The groundwork for this belief was laid by German officers who after the war sought to cast blame for their own failures of leadership. American military leaders then latched onto these aguments. Doubtlessly this occured in part as a response to the Cold War era Communist threat.
The Hartford Connecticut Police Department recently received quite a surprise when during a gun buy back program a woman walked into the station with a World War II era Sturmgewehr 44; widely recognized as the world's first assault rifle. Heavy and awkward by today's standards, nevertheless when introduced the Sturmgewehr quickly became a prized possession capable of laying down tremendous firepower at standard combat ranges.
Manufactured in Nazi Germany during World War II only around 400,000 of these assault rifles were produced, and far fewer survive today.
For the first time in seventy years it will be possible, as of 2015, to buy a copy of Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf within Germany. What many of you may know is that since the end of World War II it has been illegal within Germany to, among other things, sell Mein Kampf, use/reproduce a swastika, and/or participate in, publish, or otherwise perform select activities that honor or commemorate the Third Reich.
However, copyright law, at least as applicable to Mein Kampf, is forcing an end to what have been entirely appropriate and needed policies.
The USS Laffey is best remembered today as the "ship that would not die" - this moniker given after the 2,200 ton destroyer survived five kamikaze and four bomb strikes that caused 103 casualties, from a crew of 336, all while the ship was on picket duty off Okinawa in the spring of 1945. However, what also must be remembered is that the USS Laffey, launched in 1943, is also the sole surviving World War era US Navy destroyer to have participated in the epic Battle for the Atlantic fought between the Allies and Nazi Germany.
The house where Anne Frank famously hid from the Nazi's during their Second World War occupation of the Netherlands is being opened to the public for a single day in December, 2011. Though able to escape Nazi capture for two years ultimately Anne Frank and her family were found - resulting in Anne Frank's death in a concentration camp in 1945. Anne Frank was one of over one hundred thousand Jews from the Netherlands killed by Germany during WWII.
Polish authorities have ordered a new investigation into the crimes against humanity committed at the Auschwitz concentration camp during World War II. The Germans murdered an estimated 1.5 million people at Auschwitz, located near Krakow, until the Red Army libereated the camp late in January 1945.
The crimes committed at Auschwitz were central to Nazi Germany's plans to create lebensraum in Eastern Europe - to be done mostly at the expense of the Slavic and Jewish people, though hundreds of thousands of Roma and other peoples characterized as "sub-human" were also murdered.
