Though the Panzer V "Panther" is often lauded as one of the Second World War's top tanks there is a serious question as to whether the immense resources put into developing and fielding this tank was worth it. Though a new tank design when it first appeared in the Wehrmacht's ranks during the summer of 1943, the Panzer V owed much to the superb T-34 that had spurred the Panther's development. That said, the effort to produce a new medium tank to replace the Panzer III and IV had actually started in 1938. However, the developmental process had been hamstrung by a variety of problems.
A hidden stash of Hitler's private art collection has been found. What's more, and rather uniquely, this time it appears the seven discovered paintings may have included items he might have actually bought. Normally, Hitler and his cronies were more likely to have stolen whatever it is they acquired. Massive looting ranked among the signature activities of the Third Reich during its sweep across Europe, that is once one gets past genocide, mass enslavement, and other such core Nazi values and pursuits.
Even more noteworthy is that the art appears to have been found in a Czech convent not far
On February 23, 1945 Joe Rosenthal of the Associated Press took perhaps one of the most remembered pictures of World War II: the raising of the US Flag over Iwo Jima's most dominating physical feature - Mount Suribachi. Rosenthal's image was actually of the second flag raising. The first had been done earlier in the morning by men of the 5th Marine Division, but this second raising would be of a larger flag.
On February 19, 1942 the President of the United States issued Executive Order 9066 - the order that set in motion the process whereby 120,000 mostly US citizens of Japanese descent were interned in camps for the remainder of the Second World War. The majority of those interned were natural born US citizens. In addition a significant minority were resident aliens or naturalized citizens. Finally, a small minority were German-American and Italian-American.
Following his arrest U.S. citizen Fred T. Korematsu challenged this order, and had his challenge go all the way to the U.S.
Early in 1943 the Red Army had launched a series of massive offensives across the breadth of the German Eastern Front. In particular, and as the German Sixth Army fought to its destruction at Stalingrad, multiple Soviet fronts, spearheaded by General N.F. Vatutin's Southwestern Front, surged across southern Russia. Meanwhile, Erich von Manstein, commanding the whole of the reconstituted German Army Group South, the former Army Groups A, B and Don, fell back before the Soviet advance and regrouped his armies.
Soviet General Cherniakhovsky’s 60th Army, part of Golikov’s Voronezh Front, took
The Battle for Kasserine Pass began on February 14, 1943 and to this day ranks as one of the worst American military performances in the twentieth century. That said, as bad as the Battle for Kasserine Pass went it could have been a lot worse. Instead, and saving the Allies from a more significant defeat, the Germans undermined their own chances to create a significant operational and even strategic level success because, in part, and as was all too common during the Second World War, they failed to create a unified command with clearly defined and agreed upon objectives.
On or about February 5, 1945 one of the remarkable heroes of the French Resistance and British Special Operations Executive (SOE) - Violette Szabo - was executed by the Nazi's following her July 1944 capture. Born in Paris on on June 26, 1921 Violette's familiy moved to London during her childhood. During WWII she joined the SOE.
Following her training and early in April 1944 Violette parachuted into German occupied France. She quickly went to work relaying valuable intel back to the Allies before returning to England at the end of the month.
On November 23,1942, and following the November 19, 1942 beginning of Operation Uranus, the spearheads from the Soviet Southwest and Stalingrad fronts, met at Kalach to Stalingrad’s west. They had cut off the entire German 6th Army and part of the 4th Panzer Army in a massive pocket. Following a belated and thwarted German relief effort the final role for the formerly proud and merciless 6th Army was to tie down the Soviet armies around Stalingrad as German Army Group A completed its withdrawal from the Caucusus.
