History Forum / War History / World War II / July 2009

Since today marked the 68th Anniversary of Nazi Germany's attack on
the then Soviet Union (SU) it might be interesting to review info re.
this huge surprise attack especially since it changed the nature of
WW2 and started the Eastern war where Germany committed 65% - 75% of

Yesterday night I watched the movie "Valkyrie" staring Tom Cruise.
Overall I enjoyed it, after all there is so much details you can put
in a 2 hours long movie.
One scene makes me ask two questions. It is the scene where the

I have read that on the heels of the German invasion of Poland in 1939
there was a systematic roundup and liquidation of individuals thought
to be a threat to occupation. In one account I recall the
schoolmaster, the mayor, and the pharmacist in every village were

I'm trying to trace my half brother James Ullman who I believe was in
the Armoured Corps.  I have just been given a photo of him and I'm
told that the shoulder patch, which appears to be an iron fist, means
he would have been in  such a regiment. How can I find his number and

I'm reading up on the Axis ocupation of Yugoslavia and I'm looking for
a map that shows BOTH the Axis occupation zones / pupet states AND the
modern borders of the region.
Is there such a map on the internet?

I'm interested in setting up a role playing game set in an unconquered
France during WW2.  Is it possible to have a static front in 1941 that
lasts a year or two?  How difficult would life be in the rest of
France?

When I visited Fort Canning, Singapore I am a bit bemused that one of
its roads is named "Percival Road" leading to the old WW2 British
Command Centre . I also noticed that there are no roads or streets,
long or short, named after Winston Churchill; none at all.

Does anyone know of any link to websites which store examples of
official battle reports of battles fought in World War ii

A recent work on the presidency of Franklin Roosevelt was reviewed in
National Review by Conrad Black, who has himself written a massive
biography of FDR. In his review, Black made a surprising (to me)
claim.

I see the same few seconds of footage all the time, for example a far
off shot of a B-25 taking off from the Hornet and usually 2 other
shots on the deck of planes taking off, total time is probably 10
seconds.   Where is the rest of the footage?  Was it cut and edited

I'm looking for some hints on finding
the number of deaths in the netherlands,
especially Holland, for each year
1939-1945

I was watching a BBC documentary about the history of British-Iranian
relations, and one of the people who were interviewed was someone who
worked at the huge British-owned oil refinery at Abadan.
He said that the Germans did not bomb Abadan because they expected to

That was an old saying during WW II to be kept in mind when uing your
E6-B. But there were lots of navigation help sayings.Can anyone think
of any more?
Art Kramer

Book: THE GREAT CRUSADE
Author: H. P. Willmott
Publisher: The Free Press - 1990
This book was recommended to me as an interesting narrative history of World