Today in WWII History
World War II History for May 27
27 May 1941 - U.S. President Roosevelt proclaimed an “unlimited national emergency” amid rising world tension.
27 May 1941 - The German battleship Bismarck was sunk by British naval and air forces. 2,300 people were killed.
27 May 1942 - German General Erwin Rommel began a major offensive in Libya with his Afrika Korps.
27 May 1944 - U.S. General MacArthur landed on Biak Island in New Guinea.
Review of Killing Rommel
a novel by Steven Pressfield
View the full review page: Killing Rommel
Based on the real-life exploits of the British special forces Long Range Desert Group during World War II, Killing Rommel pits this elite group against the German Afrika Korps and its legendary commander Field Marshall Erwin Rommel.
Author Steven Pressfield brings this narration to life. Set to the point of view of a young lieutenant, he mixes historical facts, real events and even real people into this work of fiction. Pressfield’s dynamic ability to blend a story into the facts of real history is masterly.
Lt. Chapman starts the book as a tank officer in the 22nd Armoured Brigade, 7th Armoured Division commanding a reconnaissance troop of 4 tanks. The tale develops his role into the Long Range Desert Group, his training, wartime marriage, and many exploits up through the end of the Africa campaign. Their motto: Non Vi Sed Arte—Not by Strength, by Guile.
While Rommel is not actually killed in Africa, the act of supreme courage and daring by the outnumbered allied forces who defeated the ‘Desert Fox’ in Africa signaled an end to German supremacy.
Steven Pressfield’s other works include other historical novels Gates of Fire, Last of the Amazons, The Afghan Campaign, The Legend of Bagger Vance, and The Art of War.
Killing Rommel by Steve Pressfield – 3 minute clip
Book Details
Publisher: Bantam Books
Pub. Date: May 2008
ISBN-13: 9780385519700
368 pages
Homepage: http://www.killingrommel.com
Author: Steven Pressfield
Today in WW II History
World War II History for October 14
1933 - Nazi Germany announced that it was withdrawing from the League of Nations.
1944 - German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel committed suicide rather than face execution after being accused of conspiring against Adolf Hitler and the execution that would follow.
1944 - During World War II, the Second British Parachute Brigade liberated the city of Athens.
Today in WW II History
World War II History for July 1
1942 - German troops captured Sevestpol, Crimea, in the Soviet Union.
1942 - German U-boats attacked merchant ships in the Atlantic.
1942 - The Battle of El Alamein begins
On this day in 1942, Field Marshal Erwin Rommel is brought to a standstill in the battle for control of North Africa.
In June, the British had succeeded in driving Rommel into a defensive position in Libya. But Rommel repelled repeated air and tank attacks, delivering heavy losses to the armored strength of the British, and finally, using his panzer divisions, managed to force a British retreat-a retreat so rapid that a huge quantity of supplies was left behind. In fact, Rommel managed to push the British into Egypt using mostly captured vehicles.
Rommel’s Afrika Korps was now in Egypt, in El Alamein, only 60 miles west of the British naval base in Alexandria. The Axis powers smelled blood. The Italian troops that had preceded Rommel’s German forces in North Africa, only to be beaten back by the British, then saved from complete defeat by the arrival of Rommel, were now back on the winning side, their dwindled numbers having fought alongside the Afrika Korps. Naturally, Benito Mussolini saw this as his opportunity to partake of the victors’ spoils. And Hitler anticipated adding Egypt to his empire.
But the Allies were not finished. Reinforced by American supplies, and reorganized and reinvigorated by British General Claude Auchinleck, British, Indian, South African, and New Zealand troops battled Rommel, and his by now exhausted men, to a standstill in Egypt. Auchinleck denied the Axis Egypt. Rommel was back on the defensive-a definite turning point in the war in North Africa.
Technorati Tags: WWII, WWarII, History, Rommel, El Alamein, Egypt, U-Boats, Soviet Union, Merchant Ships
Today in WW II History
World War II History for June 12
1929 - Anne Frank was born in Germany. She wrote in her diary about growing up in occupied Amsterdam during World War II. She died in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in March 1945.
1940 - 54,000 British and French troops surrendered to German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel at St. Valery-en-Caux, on the northern Channel border.
Even after the evacuation of Dunkirk by the British Expeditionary Force, tens of thousands of British and Allied troops remained in France. Overwhelmed by the German invaders, over 3,000 Allied troops attempted to escape by sea but were stopped by German artillery fire. Surrender was the order of the day; among those taken prisoner were 12 Allied generals.
But all was not lost, as Britain refused to leave France to German occupation. Prime Minister Winston Churchill had already ordered more British troops back into France, and British bombers were also attacking German lines of communication. British and Allied troops were still active in other parts of France-some 50 British fighters and 70 bombers were moving on German forces.
But despite the British reinforcements and encouragement (Churchill flew to France himself to encourage the French leaders), General Maxime Weygand ordered the French military governor of Paris to ensure that the French capital remained an open city-that is, there was to be no armed resistance to the Germans. In short, he was pushing for an armistice, in effect, capitulation. The enemy would be allowed to pass through unchallenged. Weygand addressed his cabinet with his assessment of the situation: “A cessation of hostilities is compulsory.” He bitterly blamed Britain for France’s defeat, unwilling to take responsibility for his own inept strategies and failed offensives. Paris was poised for occupation.
Technorati Tags: WWII, WWarII, History, Anne Frank, Rommel, Britain, France
Today in WWII History
World War II History for May 27
1941 - U.S. President Roosevelt proclaimed an “unlimited national emergency” amid rising world tension.
1941 - The German battleship Bismarck was sunk by British naval and air forces. 2,300 people were killed.
On February 14, 1939, the 823-foot Bismarck was launched at Hamburg. Nazi leader Adolf Hitler hoped that the state-of-the-art battleship would herald the rebirth of the German surface battle fleet. However, after the outbreak of war, Britain closely guarded ocean routes from Germany to the Atlantic Ocean, and only U-boats moved freely through the war zone.
In May 1941, the order was given for the Bismarck to break out into the Atlantic. Once in the safety of the open ocean, the battleship would be almost impossible to track down, all the while wreaking havoc on Allied convoys to Britain. Learning of its movement, Britain sent almost the entire British Home Fleet in pursuit. On May 24, the British battle cruiser Hood and battleship Prince of Wales intercepted it near Iceland. In a ferocious battle, the Hood exploded and sank, and all but three of the 1,421 crewmen were killed. The Bismarck escaped, but because it was leaking fuel it fled for occupied France. On May 26, it was sighted and crippled by British aircraft, and on May 27 three British warships descended on the Bismarck and finished it off.
1942 - German General Erwin Rommel began a major offensive in Libya with his Afrika Korps.
1944 - U.S. General MacArthur landed on Biak Island in New Guinea.
Technorati Tags: WWII, WWarII, History, Bismarck, Sunk, Rommel, MacArthur, Roosevelt
Today in WWII History
World War II History for April 4
Erwin Rommel
1941 - In North Africa, Field Marshal Erwin Rommel captured the British held town of Benghazi.
1945 - During World War II, U.S. forces liberated the Nazi death camp Ohrdruf in Germany.
1945 - Hungary was liberated from Nazi occupation.
1949 - Twelve nations signed a treaty to create The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
Technorati Tags: WWII, WWarII, History, Rommel, NATO, Hungary, Ohrdruf
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