On 8 May 1995, the British prime minister, John Major, referred to the end of World War II as the end of a thirty years’ war; in this, he was correct: both sides saw this war as an attempt to complete a task left undone at the close of the First World War – the show-down which ended European global domination. The Second World War was, however, the ultimate catastrophe of modern history, laying waste the heart and soul of Europe. Here you will find contributions about this conflict, its prelude, conduct, and personalities – excluding non-military Nazi personalities, which are covered under the entry “Third Reich Era.” Also covered are contributions dealing with war crimes (and lies about alleged war crimes) committed in the course of the conflict. This does not include the “Holocaust,” which has a separate entry (and is not a war crime in the strict sense).
By Wolf Rüdiger Hess ∙ January 1, 1993
(Presented by videotape at the Eleventh IHR Conference, 1992) Wolf Rüdiger Hess studied at the Technical University in Munich, from where he graduated as a government-certified engineer in 1964. He is chairman of the Rudolf Hess Society (Postfach 1122, 8033 Planegg, Germany). He and his wife live in Bavaria. [He passed away on October 24,…
By John M. Ries ∙ October 1, 1992
For many people, the image of a great maritime disaster calls to mind the well-known sinking of the Titanic, which went down in April 1912 after striking an iceberg, taking the lives of 1,503 men, women and children. Others may think of the Lusitania, which sank on May 7, 1915, after being hit by a…
By Charles A. Lindbergh ∙ April 1, 1992
In May 1927, a shy, handsome young man from Michigan named Charles Lindbergh suddenly became the idol of millions when he landed his small airplane in Paris after a grueling 33-hour flight from New York – the first person to fly alone,nonstop, across the Atlantic ocean. Twelve years leater, this politically astute son of a…
By Roger A. Stolley ∙ April 1, 1992
Historians are still arguing over whether President Franklin Roosevelt knew in advance that Japanese forces were about to launch a devastating attack against the U.S. Pacific fleet at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on December 7, 1941. Mr. Roger A. Stolley, a resident of Salem, Oregon, has something important to add to this discussion. In the following…
By Hideki Tojo ∙ April 1, 1992
Published here for the first time in English is the postwar prison “diary” of Japanese General and Premier Hideki Tojo. After an outstanding army career and service as War Minister, Tojo served as Prime Minister from October 1941 to July 1944 – perhaps the most critical period in his country's history. A few weeks after…
By Dean C. Manion ∙ December 1, 1991
December 7. Whenever this fateful date reoccurs on the calelndar, it invariably revives a flood of tragic and painful recollections. The pain of recollection will be intensified this year when you read the recently published frank, and informative, memoirs of the widely experienced and universally respected General Albert C. Wedemeyer [Wedemeyer Reports! – Ed.]. This…
By Charles Lutton ∙ December 1, 1991
At 7:49 a.m. on Sunday, December 7, 1941, 183 Japanese dive- and torpedo-bombers, accompanied by Zero escorts, launched the first of two attacks against the American base at Pearl Harbor. A second wave of 168 Japanese aircraft arrived at 9 a.m. Eighteen operational warships, including four battleships, were sunk or heavily damaged; 188 aircraft were…
By Mark Weber ∙ December 1, 1991
Several months before Japan's December 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, President Franklin Roosevelt secretly authorized devastating American bombing raids against Japanese cities. A top secret document de-classified in 1970, but only made public a few years ago, shows that in July 1941 Roosevelt and his top military advisers approved a daring plan to use…
By Institute For Historical Review ∙ December 1, 1991
The following exchange of letters was published in The Best from Yank, The Army Weekly (Cleveland: The World Publishing Co., 1945). Yank, to quote from its editors introduction to the anthology, “was written by and for enlisted men” during the Second World War; The Best from Yank draws on material published between the summer of…
By Robert Clive ∙ October 1, 1991
The Web of Disinformation: Churchill's Yugoslav Blunder, by David Martin. San Diego and New York: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, 1990. Hb., 425 pp., $29.95; ISBN 0-15-18074-3. In the weeks preceding Hitler's pre-emptive attack on Stalin, events in the Balkans took a turn for the worse. On March 25, 1941, Yugoslav Prime Minister Cvetkovic went to Vienna,…
End of content
End of content
