THELONG ROAD TO

VICTORY

A HISTORICAL NARRATIVEAND A CHRONOLOGICAL REGISTER

OF THE EVENTS OFTHE WAR IN EUROPE AND AFRICA

1939-1945WITH A LEADING ARTICLE

REPRINTED FROM

THE

i c TIMESMAY 8, 1945

LONDON :PRINTING HOUSE SQUARE

1945

Price Two Pence

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RISE AND FALL OF THE THIRD REICH

,THE LONG ROAD TO VICTORY0 N September 1, 1939, Germanarmour crossed the Polishfrontier and German aero-planes attacked Warsaw. Ten

days earlier the signature of a Russo-German non-aggression pact had pro-claimed the imminence of war and theGermans had now completed their pre-parations for its outbreak. They had per-fected a new method of warfare, later tobe known as Blitzkrieg, by a develop-ment of the tactics which had finally over-come the static defence systems of the lastwar . They now put into execution theirplan for overrunning Poland in a mechan-ized offensive of hitherto unknown mobi-lity. The air arm led the way, attackingthe enemy's centres of communication,scattering his columns on their way to theirconcentration points and blinding him byrendering his airfields unserviceable .Tanks formed the spearhead of the groundattack. They were followed by convoysof motor transport conveying infantry andguns. Thrusting into Poland from north,west, and south, these forces convergedon Warsaw before the Polish High Com-mand could establish control over thetroops dispersed along the country'sfrontiers.The campaign developed at a pace

which amazed the world . Within afortnight all western Poland was lostand the Polish army, so far as itwas still in being, had withdrawnbehind Warsaw, already closely invested .On September 17 the implicafiions of theRusso-German pact began to be revealed.Russian troops entered Poland from theeast and a few days later the strickencountry suffered its fourth partition. Bythe middle of Ocfober organized resist-ance in Poland had been crushed. There-after, for more than 18 months, the warin the east was to be conducted mainlyunder diplomatic forms .

FALL OF FRANCEIn the opening days of the war a British

Expeditionary Force which eventuallyamounted to 10 divisions crossed theChannel . Lord Gort was in command .The Armies took up their positions ontheir prepared lines. The world waited.Nothing happened . Both sides armed,the Germans more rapidly because theirwar industries were in full operation .Germany matured her plans ; Britain andFrance faced an unreal present and a

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menacing future ; and America talked ofa " phoney " war. The weakest point inthe German front was the long line of seacommunications with Narvik and theNorth Swedish iron fields . It was securedagainst British sea power by the Germanuse of sheltered Norwegian waters.

InFebruary the British, impatient of thisabuse of Norwegian neutrality, broke into rescue British prisoners from a Germanship . On April 9 Germany decided thatneutrality had served its purpose and in-vaded Denmark and Norway. The Danesyielded ; the Norwegians fought on andan Anglo-French Army went to theiraid . Imperfectly trained, inadequatelymunitioned, and lacking air cover, it wasforced to retire on its bases, from whichit was later withdrawn . During this briefcampaign the Germans revealed two moreof their secret weapons, the one military,the other political . The almost simul-taneous seizure of all the key points insouthern and western Norway was madepossible by the employment of parachutetroops, and the formation of the country'spuppet government after its conquest wasentrusted to a Norwegian traitor, oneQuisling, who " by merit raised to thatbad eminence," was to give his name tothe whole contemptible breed of which hewas the first notorious example.The unhappy issue of the Norwegian

campaign had immediate and decisivepolitical repercussions in Britain. At theclose of a debate in the House of Com-mons a division was challenged . The strongopposition vote decided Mr. Chamberlainto resign.

After consulting the Oppo-sition leaders the retiring Prune Ministeradvised the King to send for Mr. Churchill.Labour, which had hitherto held alooffrom office, entered the new Governmentrepresentative of all parties in the State .Its core was a small war Cabinet with Mr.Churchill as Prime Minister and Ministerof Defence.

Mr. Churchill took office onMay 10, a day of momentous events inEurope.

Happily for Britain the hourhad produced the man .THE MIRACLE OF DUNKIRKOn the same day the Germans opened

the campaign intended, according toHitler, to settle the course of history for1,000 years. Holland and Belgium wereinvaded simultaneously on what appearedto be an expanded version of the oldSchlieffen plan. The allies hastened tothe support of Germany's victims-theBritish to fill the gap between the Belgians

and the French, the French to act as thelink between the Belgians and the Dutch.The Germans did not interfere with thesemovements. Their main blow was to bestruck elsewhere. Realizing that motor-ized forces need not be held up by diffi-cult country, they traversed the Ardennes,crossed the Meuse between Sedan andNamur, and sent armoured divisions, witheffective air support, on their race to theChannel ports. In the closing days ofMay the Germans secured both Boulogneand Calais, and split the allied forces intwo. The position of the British in thenorth was now critical . Holland hadcapitulated on May 15, and Belgium onMay 28 . The seaway to England wasaccessible only through Dunkirk. Throughthis narrow gap there were safely evacu-ated in less than aweek some 330,000 men,nearly two-thirds of them British . Butall their equipment was lost.While these events were moving towards

their climax the French Prime Minister, M.Reynaud, sought to remedy an almost desperatesituation by making two appointments, ofwhich one proved futile and the otherdisastrous . Dismissing General Gamelin, heentrusted the French command to GeneralWeygand, who had been Foch's Chief of Staffand was regarded as the heir to his tradition.To strengthen his Cabinet he recalled MarshalPetain from his Madrid Embassy and gavehim the post of Vice-Premier .

Unable to stem the German rush to thecoast, Weygand reformed his armies behindthe Somme and the Aisne and a small BritishExpeditionary Force was landed in their sup-port . It was too late, and on June 14 theGermans entered Paris, which had beendeclared an open city. From Bordeaux,whither it had withdrawn, the French Cabinetrequested the British Government to releaseit from its obligation not to make a separatepeace. To thus the British Government-theCoalition Ministry which Mr. Churchill hadformed a month before-was prepared to con-sent if the French fleet first sailed to safetyin British ports .

Butthe British proposal wentfarther .

It offered the union of the two Statesin a common citizenship if France would fighton . The French Cabinet rejected this proposal,M. Reynaud, who had favoured it, resigned,and the octogenarian Petain took his place tobecome the central figure in the mosthumiliating episode in French history .

Petain's first act was to ask the Germansfor terms, and on June 22 an armistice wassigned at ComphBgne. It divided France intotwo zones, the one occupied, the other unoccu-pied, which were roughly equal in area butwere so designed as to give the Germanseverymilitary and economic advantage. The Ger-mans occupied the whole of northern Francedown to the Loire valley as well as the entireAtlantic coast to the Spanish frontier. Thefacilities for submarine warfare thus providedwere promptly strengthened by the occupationof the Channel Islands. Two days later thearmistice with Italy-Mussolini had found itopportune to declare war when the Germansforced the Somme barrier-drew France'steeth in the Mediterranean by binding her todemilitarize Toulon, her African ports, and aconsiderable stretch of her African territory.

It remained for Petain to complete thedestruction of the Third Republic . Presi-dent Lebrun transferred his constitutionalpowers to Petain, who at once proclaimedlumself Chief of the French State. As suchhe formed a Government in winch his evilgenius, Pierre Laval, was given the key post ofForeign Minister and thus placed in charge offuture negotiations with the Germans.But though France had fallen, there were

still Frenchmen. Before the armistice wassigned General de Gaulle had issued his firstcall for continued resistance . When all seemedlost he crossed to London, where on June 28the British Government recognized him asLeader of the Free French. Before Augustwas out most of French Equatorial Africa hadrallied to his standard, the Cross of Lorraine,but late in September his movement received acheck through his failure to gain Dakar.Nearly five years were to elapse before thepatriot and soldier who had organized newFrench forces in England and in the Frenchcolonies and had fostered the resistance move-ment in Metropolitan France was to re-enterParis as the living symbol of his country'sresurgence.

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PRELUDE TO RUSSIAN WARAfter the conquest of Poland the aim of

Russian policy, with a view of German inten-tions that events were to confirm in full,was to control the buffer zone lying betweenthe new German lines and Russian territoryproper . Her first step was the absorptionof the three Baltic States under the formof mutual assistance pacts-Estonia beforeSeptember was out, Latvia and Lithuaniaearly in October. Only Finland provedrecalcitrant and resisted by force the Russianclaim to control both the land and the seaapproaches to Leningrad. At first the Finnishresistance was brilliantly successful. Gradu-ally, however, the main Finnish position, theso-called Mannerheim line guarding south-eastern Finland, was broken up by Russianartillery, and by mid March, 1940, there wasagain an apparent peace in eastern Europe .

It lasted until the following October, whenItalian troops invaded Greece and soon showedthemselves increasingly unable to make head-way against their plucky and determinedenemy. For the moment, the Germans werecontent to watch events in eastern Europe,but in the spring of 1941 they developedelaborate plans, political and military, whichincluded aid to their embarrassed ally . Bulgariaand Rumania passed voluntarily into theGerman orbit-the latter after the loss ofBessarabia and the Bukovina to Russia-andYugoslavia would have followed their examplehad her people not revolted against theirGovernment . After a few tense days theGermans struck on April 6. Sweeping asidethe main Yugoslav forces, they penetrated theMonastir gap, occupied Salonika, turned uponthe Greek army which was driving the Italiansout of Albania, and on April 27 announced,in words which symbolized the condition ofEurope, that the swastika was floating overthe Acropolis.

WAR IN THE AIRThe R.A.F. at once took the offensive with

raids on the German naval bases and at theend of September the first serious air fighttook place over I-Ieligoland. But the clash of

arms in the air developed slowly, and for somemonths the R.A.F .'s main contacts with theenemy arose out of Coastal Command'scooperation with the Navy in keeping the seasclear. During this period, however, the leafletwar on Gerrpany was goring R.A.F . bombersinvaluable experience in night flying. Not tillMay, 1940, did German bombs dropped inKent and on Middlesbrough give hints ofwhat was to befall . The Battle of Britainopened on August 8. It lasted for a monthand was then gradually merged in the Battleof London, familiarly known as the Blitz .The original aim of the Luftwaffe was to pre-pare the way for the invading German armiesby depriving the R.A.F . of the airfields insouth-eastern England from which its fighterscould take off . This battle reached its heighton August 15, when 182 German aircraft weredestroyed in an attack on Croydon aerodrome.Damage was done to other fields and somewere temporarily put out of service in attackswhich reached their second climax on Septem-ber 15 with 185 German aircraft destroyed, butthe soil of England was kept inviolate by afew hundred young men flying machinesinferior to the enemy's in numbers but superiorin design. It was to these days that Mr.Churchill referred in his famous phrase"Never in the field of human conflict was somuch owed by so many to so few."

Defeated in its cooperation with the military,the Luftwafe fell back on its second function-that of terrorizing civilians . The first day-light attack on central London took place onAugust 24, the first all-night attack two nightslater. Early in September the Blitz began.At its height it was maintained for nearly 60consecutive nights . Buckingham Palace wasdamaged on September 11, and on the samenight an unexploded bomb, happily removedin time, threatened St. Paul's . The great in-cendiary attack on the City took place on thenight of December 29, 1940, and the Blitz isconsidered to have ended with the attack ofMay 10, 1941, which destroyed the House ofCommons and damaged the Abbey. Beforethis date the Luftwaffe had again changed itstactics . In its attempt to hamper British warproduction it had launched its attacks onCoventry, Birmingham, and Liverpool, and inthe hope of neutralizing the British commandof the sea it lead bombed Plymouth, South-ampton, and Portsmouth. Meanwhile theR.A.F ., still gathering its strength, had begunthe daylight sweeps over France and the nightattacks on German cities which were later toexercise so profoundan influence on the courseof the war.

WAR AT SEAOn the first night of the war a German sub-

marine sank the Athenia and opened whatbecame the Battle of the Atlantic . The conflictwas intense and prolonged, but the Atlanticlife-line was maintained . Though still neutralthe United States showed its concern to main-tain it . In September, 1940, the transfer of50 American destroyers to the British flag inconnexion with the lease of bases in theAtlantic and the Caribbean eased the strainan escort vessels, and in the following springthe American Lease-Lend Act-first fruits ofPresident Roosevelt's re-election to a thirdterm of office~nsured the flow of goods. Inhome waters large defensive minefields werelaid and the new German device of themagnetic mine countered by " degaussing "apparatus . There was little surface fighting .After the invasion of Norway the Navy forced

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its way to Narvik in two brilliant engagements .Later it covered the evacuation of the alliedtroops from Namsos and Narvik at the cost ofthe loss of the aircraft-carrier Glorious, andtook its great and gallant share in theoperations off Dunkirk. In the outer oceansthree British cruisers sought and found theGerman battleship Admiral Graf Spee andwith magnificent audacity forced her into theRiver Plate. When she came out she scuttledherself by Hitler's order . This was in Decem-ber, 1939, and not till ear=y in 1941 wereGerman surface ships again active . TheSchamhorst and the Gneisenau broke out inFebruary and were eventually driven to shelterin Brest, where they became targets for theR.A.F ., and on the night of May 21 theBismarck sailed out of Bergen . Three dayslater, when brought to action between Icelandand Greenland, she sank the Hood anddamaged the Prince of Wales, but whilemaking for a French Atlantic port shewas attacked by aircraft of the Fleet Air Arm.Her rudder and propellers were damaged byau- attack, and next day, May 27, the Navyclosed its net on her and sent her to thebottom.

Meanwhile Italy's entry into the war inJune, 1940, had transformed the naval situa-tion in the Mediterranean . It was essentialthat the powerful French fleet should not fallinto enemy hands. The French vessels atAlexandria were successfully neutralized, butthe admiral commanding the powerfulsquadron at Mers el Kebir rejected the pro-posals made to him and on July 3 the Britishreluctantly opened fire . A French battleshipwas blown up, two more were driven ashore,a fourth with some destroyers escaped toToulon. Four months later, on November 11,the comunand of the Eastern Mediterraneanwas secured when the Fleet Air Arm crippledthe Italian fleet as it lay at anchor in Tarantoharbour. Not till the end of the followingMarch did the Italian fleet again put to sea.Ordered by the Germans to break British com-munications with Crete and Greece, it wasbrought to action off Cape Matapan anddriven back to its home ports after seriouslosses . But the Germans had now taken overthe Mediterranean war, and before launchingtheir attack on Russia they safeguarded theirsouthern flank by using air power against seapower.

In the summer of 1941 British navalstrength in the Eastern Mediterranean wasweakening and Maltese heroism was alreadyenduring the grim ordeal of an air siege .

IN TIIB MEDITERRANEANThe last six months of 1940 were full of

peril to Britain's position as an imperial Power.Italian armies in Africa threatened Egypt, theSuez Canal, the Red Sea, and, with the ItalianNavy still in being, British supplies and rein-forcements had to be sent round the Cape .Actually the Italians achieved nothing beyondthe occupation of British Somaliland . Earlyin December, three months after MarshalGraziani had begun his lumbering advanceacross the Egyptian desert, Sir ArchibaldWavell struck back with the imperial forcesunder his command. The Italian Army brokeand surrendered, and the offensive, whoseoriginal objective was Tobruk, swept on untilon February 6, 1941, Australian troops enteredBenghazi .In mid-January British, Dominion, Indian,

and East and West African forces advancedfrom the Sudan and Kenya into Eritrea,Abyssinia, and Somaliland and in four months

destroyed Italy's East African Empire . Keren,the Eritrean mountain fortress, fell on March27 . Thereafter events moved swiftly . OnMay 5, five years after Mussolini had pro-claimed his Empire in the Piazza Venezia, HaileSelassie re-entered his capital, and a fortnightlater the Italian Viceroy, the Duke of Aosta,was a prisoner in British hands. The lastremnants of Italy's Ethiopian empire vanishedwith the surrenderof Gondar on November 27,1941 .Even before General Wavell launched his

attack, British aid had been sent to Greece.In the spring of 1941 the German menace tothe Balkans compelled further diversions ofstrength . A few days before the German on-slaught on Yugoslavia the German AfricaCorps under Rommel showed its strength inAfrica and compelled the evacuation of Ben-ghazi . A series of rearguard actions followedas General Wavell retreated, leaving a stronggarrison in Tobruk to withstand a historicsiege . The full scope of the German plan ofcampaign was now revealed . It proposed tocombine the German forces in Libya andGreece as elements in a common offensive tosecure command of the Eastern Mediterraneanand safeguard the southern flank of the armiessoon to be launched against Russia . Accord-ingly on May 20 strong German airborneforces were dropped in Crete.

The attacks ofGerman bombers had compelled withdrawal ofthe British fighters and the garrison had tofight without cover. The Navy, though sus-taining heavy losses, prevented an invasion bysea but more troops were dropped from the airand after 11 days' heavy fighting all Cretepassed into German hands.The stage was now set for the attack on

Russia . A few uneasy weeks slipped byduring which German and Russian forcesgathered all along the line from the Baltic tothe Black Sea. It may well be that the resistancein Greece and Yugoslavia imposed a fataldelay upon the German concentration . Nottill June 22 did Hitler, satisfied that he couldbetter Napoleon's example, give the order tomarch on Moscow.

TIDE'S SLOW TURNThe German armies concentrated on the

Russian front from the Baltic to Bessarabia,where Rumanian forces were in line with them,numbered over 160 divisions, about 20 ofwhich were armoured . They were divided intothree Army Groups, the northern under Field-Marshal von Leeb, the central under Field-Marshal von Bock, both north of the Pripetmarshes, and the southern under Field-Marshal von Rundstedt. An army of five divi-sions cooperated with the Finns. Five airfleets, each comprising from 800 to 1,200aircraft, cooperated with the armies . Thisgreat host numbered some 5,000,000 men,highly trained, fanatically confident, and admir-ably equipped for all eventualities-except theRussian winter. The Russians, though pro-bably stronger numerically, had not completedtheir concentration when attacked . They metthe onset with a defence in depth which, thoughit did not defeat the attack, checked itsmomentum and prevented any repetition of theGerman successes in Poland and France .They were far better found, especially in air-craft and tanks, than the Poles had been, andthe Finnish campaign had taught them valuablelessons . It must be added that they foughtmuch better than the French had done . Their

infantry, though often outflanked and overrunby German tanks, displayed the utmost deter-mination, frequently breaking out of the ringsof armour and mechanized infantry which theenemy had thrown around them. Above allthey had no reluctance to strip their owncountryside rather than allow its livestock andtransport and its stores of grain to fall intothe invaders' hands ; they had the greatadvantage of possessing ample space in whichto manoeuvre in retreat, and their commanders .with few exceptions, made all possible use ofthese assets .

In the north Leeb's forces overran the BalticStates, reaching the neighbourhood of Lenin-grad in September, while the Finns threatenedit from the north. Blockaded, except duringthe winter, when supplies reached it over frozenLake Ladoga, Leningrad bore famine, bom-bardment, and cold unflinchingly . In the centreBock reached Smolensk on July 16 and heldRussian counter-attacks during a 10 weeks'halt . Rundstedt's armies, after several victories,occupied Kiev (September 19), Odessa (Octo-ber 16), and Kharkov (October 24), and brokeinto the Crimea (October 29) to beleaguerSevastopol . The fall of Rostov (November 22)marked the eastward limit of this advance. Aweek later a Russian counter-stroke regainedthe city. Meanwhile the march on Moscowhad begun on October 5. At first Bock's armiesadvanced rapidly. By November 1 they hadtaken Rzhev, Vyasma, Kaluga, and Orel, andat one point they were but 60 miles from theirgoal. Although government departments,foreign missions, and many non-combatantshad been evacuated to Kuibyshev from thecapital and the situation was described as" grave," Stalin stayed. The RedArmy foughttenaciously ; the impetus of the attack waned.On November 16 Bock renewed the attack

with 51 divisions, attempting to combineencirclement from north and south with acentral thrust from Mozhaisk . After threeweeks' furious fighting the Russians held theirground ; and on December 7 the German HighCommand announced that all operations," being impeded by intanse cold," must belimited to securing safe winter quarters andsuitable positions for a spring offensive . Aidedby an exceptionally bitter winter which inflictedheavy losses on the invaders the Russianspressed them back from 25 to 60 miles on thewhole central front. On December 19 Hitlerannounced that he had taken the place ofField-Marshal von Brauchitsch as Commander-in-Chief of the Army, that he would " followhis intuitions," and reserve to himself allessential decisions in the military sphere . Theallies had every cause to approve the change .During the rest of the winter the Germans

stood on the defensive in fortified " hedge-hogs," the most important of which repelledRussian attacks . They suffered greatly fromthe attacks of well-organized Russian partisansinfuriated by their cruelties . But they yieldedno essential ground ; they had been reinforcedby Hungarian and Italian contingents andfrom their own reserves, and awaited thedrying of the ground for their offensive. InMay they expelled the Russians from theKerch Peninsula, but while they were thusengaged Marshal Timoshenko opened anoffensive which nearly retook Kharkov (May14-17), but was halted by Pock's counter-offensive across the Donetz (May 19-26) . TheGermans then turned on Sevastopol, which fellafter a desperate defence (July 1) . On June 26they opened dangerous, but eventually

disastrous, offensives against Stalingrad andthe Caucasian oilfields .STALINGRAD AND AFTERAt first the offensives prospered. The

Germans forced the Donetz and the Don lines,and reached Stalingrad, on the Volga, andMozdok, in the northern Caucasus . But theywere not strong enough for final victory onboth fronts . In Stalingrad they encounteredan epic resistance (September 5-November 18),and on November 19 began the Russians' reliefoffensive which cut the besieging army'scommunications and besieged it in turn . TheGerman Caucasus army, weakened by thedetachment o£ a force to relieve their Stalin-grad forces, was driven back . The relievingforce was defeated at Kotelnikovo (Decem-ber 29). On January 31, 1943, 46,000 men, allthat battle, hunger, and cold had left of over200,000 encircled soldiers, surrendered, withtheir commander, Field-Marshal von Paulus,outside Stalingrad . The whole southern frontgave way. The Germans had employed largenumbers of Hungarian and Italian troops onsupposedly quiet sectors on the flank of thegreat two-pronged salient which they had drivento the Volga and along the northern flank ofthe Caucasus. Lacking training and enthusiasm,these satellite forces were rapidly overpowered ;and their defeat involved that of their Germanmasters, who were now tardily discovering thatthe Russians, who, according to their Fiihrer,had been beaten beyond hope of recovery,possessed almost inexhaustible reserves of menand an inexhaustible spirit. These defeats com-pelled the Germans to spend themselves in avast series of rearguard actions fought alwaysin bitter cold, often in snowstorms, against anenemy whose endurance of cold and hardshipfar exceeded their own. The " hedgehogs "began to succumb to well-planned Russianattacks. By mid-March the Russians wereapproaching the Dnieper, and, though theGermans temporarily regained Kharkov, thebalance of the winter campaign was heavilyagainst them . They suffered further losses onthe central front, and on January 18 Leningradwas relieved . Yet they still planned anotheroffensive, though their last year in Russia hadcost them and their satellites over 2,000,000dead and prisoners.

On July 6 they attackedbetween Orel and Bielgorod, only to be foughtto a standstill, with immense losses of menand armour. By July 12 the Russians openeda general counter-offensive regaining Orel,Kharkov, and Taganrog, with many othertowns, by September 2.FROM MALTA TO PERSIAWith the loss of Crete, our situation in the

Mediterranean had worsened, in spite ofMiddle Eastern successes. In Iraq, where theex-Premier Rashid Ali and pro-Axis officershad seized power in April, 1941, had opposedour right of military passage guaranteedus by treaty, and attacked our aerodromeat Habbaniya, an expeditionary force hadrestored order and the lawful Government byJune 1. The Vichy French authorities in Syriahad allowed Germans flying to Iraq to useSyrian airfields . Imperial, Dominion, andFree French troops entered Syria on June 8and compelled the surrender of the garrisonon July 14 . In Persia German agents wereactive and increased in numbers after Hitler'sattack on Russia . The Shah neglected alliedwarnings until on August 25 Imperial troopsinvaded southern, and Soviet forces northernPersia, meeting only a token resistance,

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which ceased on August 28 . The Shah didnot abide by his undertakings and wasdeposed. Persia became an ally and openeda new line of communications with Russiaby road and rail. Nevertheless the fact thatthe enemy now held both the Mediterranean" narrows " between Sicily and Malta andbetween Crete and Cyrenaica under threat ofair attack cramped our Mediterranean opera-tions. Rommel, the German commander inLibya, received reinforcements and suppliesfrom Italy and Greece . Our reinforcementsand supplies reached Egypt round the Cape ofGood Hope, and were exposed to U-boatattack far longer than Axis transports cross-ing the Sicilian Channel. So when weadvanced into Libya in November we foundthe German armour and equipment superiorto ours, and though we relieved Tobruk anddrove the enemy from Benghazi he regained itin January, 1942 . Even when the UnitedStates was brought into the struggle by theJapanese attack of December 7, 1941, and theGerman and Italian declarations of war, manymonths passed before it entered the Mediterranean war in strength .

Meanwhile, onMay 26 Rommel opened a new offensive, whichafter alternations of fortune took Tobruk(June 21) and thrust our Eighth Army back toEl Alamein, 80 miles west of Alexandria . HereGeneral Auchinleck repulsed Rommel's attackin July . In October his successor, GeneralAlexander, having been reinforced by Britishinfantry and American Sherman tanksordered General Montgomery, the Commanderof the Eighth Army, to attack, and after afortnight's battle the counter-stroke drove theenemy headlong from Egypt with the loss oftwo-thirds of his army .The church bells ringing to celebrate the

victory carried a message of deliverance. Forover a year our naval position in the Mediterra-nean had been precarious . At one period wehad but three cruisers available there, and everybattleship had been lost or damaged.

Con-tinuously bombed Malta was also threatenedwith famine . Admiral Vian's remarkablebattle against an immensely stronger Italianfleet (March 22, 1942) in defence of the Maltaconvoy gave the heroic garrison and popula-tion of the island relief at a most anxiousmoment .

BRITAIN AND THE LIFE-LINEThe situation in the Atlantic remained

serious. The entry of the United States intothe war was followed by an intensified U-boatcampaign, which extended to the West Indies,and inflicted great losses on allied shipping .Brazil joined the allies in August, 1942 .The Germans carried combined operations

by strong groups of submarines-the " wolf-pack system "-to a high degree of efficiency.German aircraft ranged far into the Atlantic ;E-boats harassed vessels in the narrow seas .The journeys to Murmansk of the Arcticconvoys carrying the arms and supplies whichdid much to support Russian resistance,notably during the period of the removal ofindustrial machinery fromwestern Russia to theUrals, involved terrible hardships and heavylosses. On February 12 the Scharnhorst,Gneisenau, and Prinz Eugen slipped out ofBrest and, detected only near the Straits ofDover and covered by swarms of land-basedaircraft escaped to German waters . Thestruggle against the U-boats continuedthroughout the year. Early in 1943the Germans were still believed to beproducing U-boats at a rate much exceed-

ing their losses . Hitler's appointment late inJanuary of Admiral Donitz, a convincedadherent of unlimited submarine warfare, tobe Commander-in-Chief of the German Navygave evidence of the intention to increase thescale of these attacks . But three months laterthe number of monthly sinkings claimed by theenemy had fallen markedly, and in May it wasclear that the campaign against these pests ofthe seas was taking a favourable turn . By raid-August , 1943, more U-boats were being sunkthan merchant ships. New methods of attack,increased provision of escort craft, escortcarriers, and long-range aeroplanes, and theimmense output of shipping in the UnitedStates brought this relief .

BREACHING THE DAMSIn the air British attacks on Germany grew

more formidable monthly. Stages in itsdevelopment during 1942 were marked by thedaylight attack on Augsburg in April, the firstraid of over 1,000 bombers on Germany onthe night of May 30, and the participation inthe attack of the enterprising American airforces which were soon to equal and latersurpass the R.A.F . in numbers. August 17saw the first all-American bombing raid fromthis country . On January 27, 1943, theAmericans opened the series of large-scale day-light attacks with the heaviest bombers thatcontributed so greatly to the decline of Germanwar production . " Round-the-clock " bomb-ing by the R.A.F . began in the exceptionallyfine February of 1943 . The breaching ofthe Mohne and Eder dams on May 16 was amasterpiece of brave and accurate bombing.To these attacks, in which new tactical methodsand more destructive bombs were being em-ployed, the Germans, their Luftwafe mostlycommitted to the Russian war or shoring upItalian resistance, found no adequate reply." Hit-and-run " dashes at English coast townsand the " Baedeker raids " on historical monu-ments in the spring of 1942 were poor reprisalsfor the wrecked factories of the Ruhr. Duringthis phase land operations in western Europewere confined to raids on the French andNorwegian coasts-the most important andcostly of which was the mainly Canadianreconnaissance raid on Dieppe (August 19,1942). Throughout it powerful forces werebeing built up in Great Britain for foreignservice, while the Home Guard relieved theRegular Army of much of its burden ofdefence . The American troops who landedin Northern Ireland in January, 1942, wereforerunners of a great army.

It was in Africa, however, that the UnitedStates struck its first heavy blow against theAxis . Our attack at El Alamein had beenplanned in conjunction with a great Anglo-American descent on French North Africa,from which we could strike at what Mr.Churchill called " the underbelly " of the Nazimonster. On November 8 the allied expedi-tion landed . After a brief resistance the Frenchtroops in Morocco and Algeria surrendered tothe allied Commander, General Eisenhower,and the capitulation was signed by, AdmiralDarlan, whose subsequent assassination termi-nated the controversies aroused by the alliedacceptance of his useful change of front. Theenemy promptly landed troops in Tunisia andsent reinforcements to Rommel's retreatingarmy. The Eighth Army reached Tripoli(January 23) after a memorable pursuit of1,350 miles . By then heavy and indecisivefighting had begun in Tunisia . It lasted untilMay 7, when the allied armies, including excel-

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lent French troops, closed with General vonArnim's army, captured Tunis and Bizerta, andon May 13 took the surrender of the famousAfrika Korps. Nearly 250,000 prisoners, three-fifths of them Germans, fell into their hands.The allies now prepared to invade Italy,

which was suffering grievously from their navaland aerial attacks and had been defeatedmorally since El Alamein. On July 10 strongallied forces landed on the Sicilian coastand made good their footing . Italianresistance was weak, and although theGerman troops fought stoutly they hadall evacuated Sicily by August 17 . Thisdisaster overthrew Mussolini, who was aban-doned by most of his party and was im-prisoned but was afterwards rescued by theGermans. His successor, Marshal Badoglio,while assuring them that he would continuethe war, entered into secret negotiations withthe allied High Command. After variousdifficulties an Italian envoy signed the armisticeterms at Syracuse on September 3 on con-dition that they should not be published untilthe night of September 8-9 when the allieswere about to land near Naples .

LIBERATIONIn accordance with the armistice terms the

Italian fleet, still a substantial force of fivebattleships and seven cruisers with attendantdestroyers, put to sea and shaped course forMalta. It was attacked by German aircraftand the battleship Roma was sunk by adirect bomb. The other ships reached Vallettaon September 11 . The command of the seahad now passed to the allies and Sardiniaand Corsica were recovered by October 1,but land operations proved more hazardous.The day after the armistice was announcedallied troops landed in Salerno Bay. TheGermans, whom Italy's collapse had not takenby surprise, seized control, and concentratingrapidly almost drove the invaders into thesea. Supported, however, by fire from war-ships the allies held on until, after a criticalweek, the advance of the Eighth Army fromthe south relieved the pressure . Naples wasoccupied on October 1 and the enemy fellback to the line of the Volturno, where, over80 years earlier, Garibaldi had been checkedin his victorious advance. During a severewinter the river was crossed, but allied pro-gress was held up before Cassino and a suc-cessful landing at Anzio early in 1944 onlycreated a second deadlock . It was brokenon May 11 when the allies opened an attackwhich carried them through the Liri valley.A junction with the Anzio troops followedand on June 4 Rome was freed.The Germans rallied their unbroken forces

near Lake Trasimene, and, though theadvance continued, its speed was reduced.Siena and Leghorn were liberated in July,Florence in August, and early in Septemberthe allies forced the so-called Gothic line inthe Northern Apennines. But Bologna wasstill covered. All through the winter the alliespushed gradually forward, Ravenna falling inDecember, but it was not until April 10 thatthe final blow was struck . The Eighth Armyon the Adriatic front opened the attack, theFifth Army made its thrust a few days later,and on April 21 the allies entered Bologna.The defence now collapsed . The Germans

surrendered in tens of thousands, while par-tisan bands, their action coordinated byGeneral Cadorna, seized the industrial citiesof the north. Two days after the fall ofBologna the victorious allies had reached tha

Po . No serious opposition was offered at itscrossings, and through the closing days of Aprilthe advance swept on . Genoa, Turin, Milan,Brescia, Verona, already freed by the partisans,were entered, and Mussolini's life ended withthe final overthrow of his rdgime . Partisansshot him on April 28, the day before twoGerman officers signed the allies' terms o£ un-conditional surrender.

OnMay 2, in accord-ance with their provisions, nearly 1,000,000men, including Fascist Republicans, laid downtheir arms.FRANCE AND BELGIUM

British and American forces led by GeneralMontgomery landed on June 6, 1944, in theSeine Bay-a region which had known manylandings from England in earlier centuries. Theoperation, postponed for 24 hours, took placeduring a short break in the weather of whatturned out to be the stormiest June on record .Happily some such contingency had beenforeseen . All the world knew that large andsplendidly equipped forces were gathering mEngland, but the great secret had- been wellkept . British engineers had designed and pro-duced an artificial harbour, capable oftransport across the Channel there to provide,within a breakwater formed by caissons andsunken ships, an area of calm water contain-ing all facilities for landing men, guns, andstores. The enterprise was known as" Mulberry " ;

it bore fruit in due course.For weeks past persistent air attacks had

been made " on military objectives in NorthernFrance " with the object of breaking down allthe bridges across the Seine and the Loire andof creating a vast box in which the Germanforces, their communications cut, could bebrought to action and destroyed . This objectwas largely attained, but the vague officialformula also contained its secret . TheGermans had produced a jet-propelled, un-piloted aeroplane carrying about a ton ofexplosives to be launched against southernEngland in general and London in particularfrom concrete platforms in northern France .Before D Day over 100 of these platforms hadbeen discovered and destroyed, not withoutloss . Then the Germans produced a pre-fabricated ramp which could be assembledquickly and camouflaged thoroughly . A weekafter D Day the first flying-bomb, promptlynick-named " doodle-bug," fell on British soil .For 80 summer days and nights before thevictory in Normandy enabled the bombing sitesto be cleared Londoners were familiar withthe roar of the approaching bomb, the suddensilence and the crash on impact . In all 2,300bombs out of 8,000 launched eluded pursuitmachines, A.A . guns, and barrage balloonsand reached the London area. The costto both life and property was high . Some5,500 men, women, and children werekilled and over 16,000 seriously injured-thegreat majority in the London area . On thematerial side, both churches and hospitalssuffered heavily, but the worst damage was tohundreds of thousands of small houses .

BATTERING TIIE HINGEThe plan of invasion gave the British Caen

and the Americans Cherbourg as the first mainobjectives . Moving rapidly across the neckof the Cotentin peninsula the Americansentered Cherbourg -on the 20th day after theirlanding . Caen proved a harder nut to crack.It was not taken until July 9, and even thenthe Germans maintained themselves on thefarther side of the river on which it lies .

8

General Montgomery's plan, drawn up longbefore the landing, was to keep the enemy'sgreatest strength fighting hard in the Caen areawhile the Americans broke through in theCotentin peninsular and wheeled right roundto the Seine . For a full month afterCherbourg was taken the British and the Cana-dians battered at the hinge while the Americansprepared for their decisive stroke . Late in Julythey broke through the German lines intoBrittany, and, leaving the German garrisonsin the Atlantic ports to be dealt with later,swung round inland behind the enemy. TheGermans tetaliated by a strong westward thrustto cut the American armies in two . It failed,and the Normandy pocket began to form . OnAugust 8, anniversary of a black day for theGerman Army, the British and Canadianssmashed the hinge and drove towards Falaise,the Americans moving up north to join them .By August 12 such ofthe German Army as hadescaped the trap was hurrying towards theSeine, but the Americans reached it first andcrossed it above and below Paris. The city,where the French maquis had risen in revolt,was entered on July 25, while the Germans,thanks to a stand at Elboeuf, were movingtheir disorganized forces across the lowerSeine . Meanwhile great events were takingshape in southern France . On August 15 alliedtroops landed near Cannes . Toulon andMarseilles quickly fell, and the liberators, pre-ceded and supported everywhere by the menof the maquds, pushed up to Rhine valleyand drove the Germans towards and throughthe Belfort gap. By the end of August mostof France was free, save the Biscayan portsand Alsace-Lorraine.But the end was not yet . At the beginning

of September the British crossed first the Seineand then the Somme, liberated Brussels onSeptember 3, and on the following day enteredAntwerp, whose great harbour, thanks to theBelgian resistance movement, was securedintact, though as yet inaccessible from the sea.During these same days of expanding victorythe Americans, under Generals Hodges andPatton, crossed the Marne and raced for theMeuse and the Moselle. But supplies could nolonger keep up with the tanks, and the Germanshad begun to rally . One final effort was madeto break through into northern Germany. OnSeptember 17 large allied airborne forces weredropped in northern Holland to seize the cross-ings of the Maas and the lower Rhine. Arnhemwas the key point, and for an anxious week thestruggle raged about its bridge . It could notbe 'held, and on the night of September 25such elements of the British airborne divisionas were still on the river's northern bank werebrought across it to safety . After suffering1,000,000 casualties the Germans had at lengthstabilized their line .

RUSSIAN TRIUMPHSDuring the winter of 1943-44 the Russians

made steady progress on every sector of theirfront. Before November was over they hadliberated Kiev and many other cities, and hadcrossed the Dnieper on a wide front . Theycontinued to gain ground in the Ukraine andelsewhere after the New Year, and the Germanson several occasions incurred disastrous lossesby failing to retreat in time ; indeed, theirwhole conduct of operations on this frontsuggests that their intuitive Fiihrer had vetoedany rational scheme for a general shorteningof a fine which they had not enough troopsto hold . By March 31 the Russians had

isolated the Crimea and entered Rumania. InApril they invaded the Crimea, capturingSevastopol on May 9. The summer saw freshSoviet successes, a victory over the Finns inJune, successful thrusts into Poland and theBaltic Republics, and advances to theCarpathian foothills . A gallant rising inWarsaw by the Polish " Home Army " m ex-pectation of a Russian advance failed whenthe Russians received a check and theinsurgents surrendered (October 1) . TheRussians were also held in East Prussia, butthey had cleared the Germans from all but acoastal strip in the Baltikum by November .The satellites made haste to change sides,

Rumania late in August, Bulgaria, after anabsurd three days during which she was atwar with Germans and Russians, in September.Their armies were placed at the Russians'disposition, and were employed against theenemy in Hungary and Yugoslavia . The Finnsmade peace in September, and when theGermans refused to evacuate their territoryhelped the Russians to expel them. Russianand Norwegian troops entered Arctic Norway .The end of the year saw a lull on the Baltic-Polish front while the Russians prepared forthe invasion of Germany. But in the Danubebasin the Russians and their allies, afterliberating Belgrade and all Transylvama,fought their way up the Danube, secured thesupport of a large section of Hungarians, andcaptured Budapest on February 13 . Britishforces, cooperating with Marshal Tito's Yugo-slav patriots, harassed the Germans retreatingalong the Adriatic coast . British troops landedin Greece in October. The future of theGreek monarchy and the disposal of politicalpower proved decisive issues . Party jealousiesand deep-rooted suspicions and the hysteriacaused by famine and oppression exploded ina brief, ferocious civil war, in which our troopswere unhappily involved .

WEST OF THE RHINEIn the west the allies, faced by German

troops of high quality, still holding most ofthe Siegfried zone and ably led, made slowerprogress, often through floods and mud. Thelaborious clearing of the Scheldt approacheswas completed in mid-November, and Antwerpwas soon opened to traffic . Further souththeir capture of Aachen and their liberation ofMetz and Strasbourg marked further stages ontheir way to the Rhine. In mid-December,however, a heavy German offensive in theArdennes region checked their advancetowards Cologne, and threatened to disrupttheir front by a 40-mile penetration .Field-Marshal Montgomery's skilful disposi-

tions and General Patton's counter-stroke fromthe south defeated the attack, and in Februarybegan the penultimate allied offensive in thewest . It was entirely successful . Trier,Krefeld, Cologne, and Coblenz were inAmerican hands by March 17, and the un-expected seizure of Remagen bridge gave theAmerican Ninth Army a solid foothold acrossthe Rhine.

BY SEA AND AIRBefore chronicling the last stage of the war

by land its final developments by sea and airmust be recorded . Few blockade-runnersreached German-occupied ports with rubberand strategic minerals from Japan. The U-boats suffered heavily during the winter of1943-44 ; during several months the numbersunk exceeded that of their victims, andtheir attacks on allied shipping in the

Channel during the period of invasion metwith scanty success . But in December,1944, new types appeared fitted withdevices enabling them to remain submergedfor long periods, and thenceforward theiractivity was more marked, though it was largelycounter-balanced by the loss of bases, such asDanzig, and the bombing of shipyards. Inter-ference by German surface slops with ourArctic convoys was discouraged by the destruc-tion of the Scharnhorst by Admiral Fraser'ssquadron off the North Cape on December 25,1943 . The Tirpitz, also stationed in Norway,was disabled for long periods by Britishmidget submarines and naval aircraft, and wasfinally sunk by R.A.F. in November . Of thefew German warships that remained sea-worthy most were sunk by air attack duringthe final offensive.

In the air allied strategic bombing reachedan intensity in 1944 which told heavily onGerman arms production and graduallydestroyed the enemy's synthetic oil factorieson which he was entirely dependent afterlosing the Rumanian and Polish oilfields. Theuse of 10-ton bombs by theR.A.F . in March,when the United States 8th Air Force alonedropped 65,000 tons of bombs on the Reich ;the non-stop " bombing by day and nightof certain targets, the swarms of aircraftoperating literally in thousands from basesextending from Great Britain to Italy madethe last months of the war memorable. Jetaeroplanes brought into use by the enemy inthe previous autumn were too few and cametoo late to affect the issue for all their speed.His V 2 rockets killed and injured more than9,000 people in southern England, mostly inLondon, from September 8 to the fall of thelest on March 27, but did virtually no militarydamage .

TIC' FINAL ASSAULTIn mid-January the Russians surged forward

in Poland . By mid-March they had surroundedBreslau, broken into Brandenburg, and isolateda great part of the enemy's eastern armies inpockets with the Baltic at their backs. OnMarch 23 allied forces under Field-MarshalMontgomery began to cross the Rhine betweenRees and Wesel on a 30-mile front, while40,000 airborne troops landed in the enemy'srear . Four days later the allies were crossingthe Rhine at nearly 20 points and theirarmoured vanguards were thrusting deep intothe Reich. The fall of Vienna, of Bratislava,Breslau, Konigsberg, Danzig, and Stettin tothe Russians, their junctions with the Americanson the Elbe, the tale of how, breaching everydefence, they closed in furious house-to-housebattles with the defenders of Berlin are freshin all memories . So, on the west, are the Britishcapture of Bremen, Hamburg, and Lubeck, thesweep of American armies through central Ger-many to the Elbe, the surrenders in the Ruhrpocket, General Patton's swift capture ofNuremberg and Munich, the Nazi holy cities,the fall of Ulm to the French, and theAmerican march on Prague .Himmler's offer to make peace with the

western allies and not with Russia-which waspromptly rejected-the death of Hitler, the fallof Berlin, and D6nitz's futile attempt to resistin the east while surrendering in the westforeshadowed the end. On May 5 the Germanforces in Holland, Denmark, and north-westand southern Germany surrendered The finalgeneral surrender came yesterday . So perishedthe monstrous regime of the Third Reich underthe accumulated hatred provoked by its crimes .

TIE WAR

EUR

September1. Germany invaded Poland.3. Great Britain and France declared

war on Germany. German fleet offWilhelmshaven photographed fromR.A.F. bomber.

4. Small advanced parties of B.E .F .arrived in France . German fleetattacked by R.A.F.

9. Battle for Warsaw began.10 . Main force of B.E.F . began to arrive

at Cherbourg.13 . Vistula crossed by Germans at Annopol.14 . Germans entered Gdynia .15 . Przemysl captured by Germans.17 . Russian troops entered Poland . Air-

craft carrier Courageous sunk.24 . All-day air raid on Warsaw .27 . Warsaw surrendered .28 . Poland partitioned by Russia and

Germany.October

10 . Empire air-training scheme announced.14 . Royal Oak sunk by U-boat in Scapa

Flow.16 . First German air raid on British Isles

(Firth of Forth) ; Naval casualties.November

' A REGISTER ®F EVENTS,

1939

4. United States Neutrality Act passed.13 . First bombs on British soil (Shetlands) ;

no damage .18 . German magnetic mines sown from air .28 . Russia denounced non-aggression pact

with Finland.30. Finland invaded.

December13 . Battle of River Plate ; Admiral Graf

Spee scuttled on 17th.

February16. Altmark prisoners released by Cossack

in Norwegian waters .March

May

194®

12 . Finland signed Peace with Russia.16 . First British civilian killed by German

bomb (Orkney) .April

9. Denmark and Norway invaded byGermany.

10. Battle of Narvik ; first V.C. award ofwar.

11 . British troops landed in Norway .13 . Second battle of Narvik.

9 . First bombs on British mainland (nearCanterbury) .

10 . Holland, Belgium, and Luxembourginvaded by Germany ; first use ofglider-borne troops (by Germans) ;British forces entered Belgium. Mr .Chamberlain resigned ; Mr . WinstonChurchill became Prime Minister .British troops landed in Iceland.

11 . Germans crossed Albert Canal byundestroyed bridge. First Britishbombs on German mainland.

10

May, 194012. R.A.F. bombed Maastricht bridges.14. Rotterdam heavily bombed by Germans.

Formation of Home Guard (" LocalDefence Volunteers ") announced.

15. Dutch capitulation signed at 11 a.m .French front penetrated .

16. General Giraud captured by Germans.23 . Boulogne evacuated by British.24. First British industrial town attacked

by German Air Force (Middles-brough).

24-27. British brigade held Calais againsttwo German divisions.

28 . Belgian army capitulated at 4 a.m.Narvik captured by Germans.

June

July

August

September

E AND AFRICA

1939-1945

3. Dunkirk evacuation completed ; 211,532fit men, 13,053 casualties, and 112,546allied troops embarked at Dunkirkand the beaches . First bombs onParis.

5. Germans launched new offensive on theSomme and the Aisne.

8 . Aircraft carrier Glorious sunk .9. Norwegians ordered to cease hostilities.10. Italy declared war on Great Britain and

France as from 11th . Evacuationof Norway announced.

11 . French forces retired across Marne.14. Germans entered Paris.

CanadianInfantry brigade landed at Brest.

16. Germans pierced Magmot Line. Britishoffer of Anglo-French union rejected .

17 . Marshal P6tain formed Government,and announced that France had askedfor terms. Evacuation of B.E.F.from France completed.

22. France signed armistice with Germany ;with Italy on 24th .

27 . Germans reached Spanish frontier.'_8 . General de Gaulle :recognized by

British Government as leader of allFree Frenchmen.

30 . Channel- Islands occupied by Germantroops .

3. British attacked French capital ships atOran and Mers-el-Kebir.

4. Italians crossed Sudan border.5. Vichy Government broke off relations

with Great Britain .8. British attacked Richelieu at Dakar.

4. Italians invaded British Somaliland.8. " Battle of Britain " began.15 . Croydon aerodrome bombed .

182aeroplanes brought down over Britain .

17 . British forces evacuated Somaliland.24 . First air raid on Central London.25 . First R.A.F. raid on Berlin.26 . First all-night raid on London .

7. Three months' air attack on Londonbegan.

11 . Air raid on London ; BuckinghamPalace damaged, unexploded bombnear St. Paul's.

13 . Italian invasion of Egypt began.

September, 194015 . 185 aeroplanes shot down over Great

Britain.23 . George Cross and Medal instituted .

General de Gaulle and British war-ships arrived at Dakar ; attempt toland abandoned on 25th .

27 . Axis pact (Germany, Italy. Japan).October

28 . Greece invaded by Italy .29 . British troops landed on Greek terri-

tory.November

11 . First large Italian air raid on GreatBritain . Fleet Air Arm attackedItalian warships at Taranto.

14. Heavy air-raid on Coventry. This wasthe first mass raid on a Britishprovincial town .

December9. British opened offensive in Western

Desert ; Sidi Barram captured on11th, Sollum and Fort Capuzzo on17th .

29 . Heavy incendiary raid on City ofLondon. Guildhall and eight Wrenchurches destroyed.

January1941

5. Bardia captured by Imperial Forces.10 . Russo-German pact renewed.18 . Dive-bombing attacks on Malta began.19 . Kassala (Sudan) re-occupied. by British.22 . Tobruk entered by Australians .30. Derna captured by Imperial Forces.

February1. Agordat captured by British .3 . Cyrene occupied by British .6. Benghazi occupied by Australians.

15 . Kismayu occupied by African troops.26. Mogadishu (Italian Somaliland) occu-

pied by African troops.March

4. British raid on Lofoten Islands .9. Italian offensive in Albania.11 . Lend-Lease Bill signed by President

Roosevelt.16 . Berbera re-occupied by British .21 . Jarabub captured by British.24 . British Somaliland regained .27 . Revolt m Yugoslavia . Keren captured

by British and Indian forces.28 . Battle of Cape Matapan began.

April

May

3. Benghazi evacuated by British . Pro-Axis coup d'etat m Iraq .

5. Addis Ababa occupied by ImperialForces.

6. Greece and Yugoslavia invaded byGermans.

8. Massawa occupied by British forces .9. Salonika occupied by Germans.10 . British forces in action in Greece.12. First extensive daylight raids by R.A.F .13 . Belgrade occupied by Germans.26 . Egyptian frontier, at Sollum, crossed by

Axis forces.27 . Germans entered Athens.

1 . Evacuation of Imperial Forces fromGreece completed.

10. Rudolf Hess landed in Scotland byparachute after flight from Germany.Heavy air attack on London ; Houseof Commons destroyed .

May, 1941

June

it

July

15 . Sollum recaptured by British .19 . Duke of Aosta's forces surrendered at

Amba Alagi.19-31. Battle for Crete .24 . H.M.S . Hood sunk by Bismarck .27. Bismarck sunk.

1 . Evacuation of British and Greek forcesfrom Crete completed.

8 . Syria entered by British and Frenchforces .

22 . Russia attacked by Germany.

12 . Anglo-Russian mutual assistance treatysigned .

14. Allied forces occupied Syria.21 . First German air-raid on Moscow.

August7. First Russian air-raid on Berlin.

11 . Mr. Churchill and President Roosevelt,meeting on board U.S.S . Augusta,agreed on Atlantic Charter.

25 . British and Russian forces enteredPersia . Raid on Spitsbergen byBritish, Canadian and Norwegianforces.

September17 . R.A.F . wing in Russia in action .19 . Kiev occupied by Germans.25 . Germans attacked Crimea.

FrenchNational Committee formed.

26-27. Eighth Army formed .

October5. Battle for Moscow (lasted until Decem-

ber 6) .12. Briansk evacuated by Russians.16 . Odessa evacuated by Russians .19 . State of siege proclaimed in Moscow .24. Kharkov captured by Germans.29 . Germans began to cross Perikop Isthmus

into Crimea.November

1. Simferopol captured by Germans.14 . U.S . Neutrality Act amended. H.M.S

Ark Royal, torpedoed by U-boat,foundered while in tow.

16 . Colonel Keyes led raid on Rommel'sH.Q . at Beda Littorra .

18 . British offensive in Libya began.21 . Big tank battle S. of Sidi Rezegh (lasted

until December 6) .22. Rostov occupied by Germans.23 . Bardia occupied by New Zealand forces .25 . New attack on Moscow.

H.M.S .Barham sunk off Sollum.

26 . Russian advance of 70 miles in Ukraineannounced.

27 . Italians at Gondar surrendered.28. Russians re-occupied Rostov .

December7. Great Britain declared war on Finland,

Hungary and Rumania.8. Great Britain and United States of

America declared war on Japan afterattack on British and United Statesbases in Pacific .

9 . Siege of Tobruk raised.11 . Germany and Italy declared war on

United States of America.16 . Germans in retreat on Eastern Front.17 . German retreat from Gazala .

December, 194124 . Benghazi recaptured by British .26 . Second British raid on Lofoten Islands .27 . British raid on Vaagso and Maaloy, off

Norway .29 . Russians `re-occupied

Kerch

andFeodosia .

1942January

1 . 26 Nations' pact signed to Washington .2. Bardia recaptured by British .

12 . Sollum recaptured by British.17 . Halfaya recaptured by British .19 . Mozhaisk recaptured by Russians .21 . Second German counter-offensive in

N. Africa began.26 . American troops landed in Northern

Ireland.29 . Benghazi captured by Axis forces .

February4. Derna evacuated by British .11-12 . Scharnhorst, Gneisenau, and Prinz

Eugen escaped from Brest and sailedup Channel.

27 . Raid on French coast at Bruneval.

March1 . Russians launched offensive in Kerch

Pensinsula.28 . St. Nazaire raid .

April

May

June

16 . George Cross awarded to Malta.17 . Augsburg raided by R.A.F . in daylight .21 . General Giraud escaped from Germany.24 . First of series of " reprisal " raids on

historical monuments (Exeter).

16 . Kerch captured by Germans.26. Twenty-year Anglo-Soviet Treaty signed

in London . Axis offensive opened inLibya.

6-8. Heavy German attack on Free Frenchat Bir Hakeim.

13 . " Knightsbridge " evacuated by GuardsBrigade after heavy tank battles .

21 . Tobruk captured by Germans.24 . Germans advanced 50 miles across

Egyptian frontier.29 . Mersa Matruh captured by Germans.

July1 . Germans reached El Alamein. Germans

captured Sevastopol .4. U.S.A.A.F . took part in their first air

offensive against Germans.27 . Rostov evacuated by Russians.

August1. Gen. Montgomery took over command

of Eighth Army .5. Voroshilovsk captured by Germans.9. Krasnodar and Maikop captured by

Germans.11 . Aircraft-carrier H.M.S. Eagle sunk in

Mediterranean .17. First all-American bombing raid on

European front.19 . Nine-hour raid on Dieppe .24. Germans crossed Don in force at

Kletskaya.28. Russians opened offensive in Leningrad

area .12

September, 19425. Germans entered streets of Stalingrad .

23 . Russians launched counter-offensivenorth-west of Stalingrad.

October4. Small British raid on Sark.8. British prisoners taken at Dieppe put to

chains ; British retaliate as from 10th ;Germans unshackled on December 12.

23 . Battle of El Alamein began.

First full-scale employment of British para-troops .

November3. Axis forces retreat westwards in Egypt.8 . United States and British Forces landed

in French North Africa.11 . French forces in Algeria and Morocco

capitulated. Axis forces entered VichyFrance, and, from Sicily and Sardinia,began to arrive in Tunisia .

12 . Axis forces driven out ofEgypt. Germanattacks renewed at Stalingrad .

13 . Tobruk and Gazala captured by EighthArmy .

17 . Derna and Makili occupied by EighthArmy .

19 . Russian offensive in Stalingrad area.20 . Benghazi occupied by British.27 . Germans entered Toulon ; French fleet

scuttled.December

13 . Agheila evacuated by Axis forces.29 . Kotelnikovo captured by Russians .

January1. Velikiye Luki captured liy Russians .3 . Mozdok and Malgovek captured by

Russians .4. Nalchik captured by Russians .

11 . Kutelnikovo captured by Russians.13 . General Leclerc's Chad force occupied

Murzuk and Sebha (Fezzan) .14. President Roosevelt and Mr . Churchill

met at Casablanca ; " unconditionalsurrender " of Axis Powers demanded .

15 . Eighth Army attacked at Buerat.18 . Siege of Leningrad raised .20 . Proletarskaya captured by Russians .21 . Voroshilovsk captured by Russians .

Horns and Tarhuna captured byEighth Army.

22. Salsk captured by Russians .23 . Tripoli entered by Eighth Army.25. Voronezh captured by Russians .27. United States heavy bombers made first

raid on Germany (Wilhelmshaven).29. Tunisian border crossed by Eighth

Army .30. First daylight raids on Berlin by R.A.F .

Field-Marshal Paulus and 16 generalscaptured at Stalingrad .

31 . Zuara captured by Eighth Army.

February

1943

2. Remaining German forces at Stalin-grad

Generalrad capitulated.

6. G

hoer a com-mand North Africantheatre f opera-tions .

8. Kursk captured by Russians.12 . Krasnodar captured by Russians .14. Rostov and Voroshilovgrad captured by

Russians .16. Kharkov captured by Russians.25 . R.A.F.

began

"round-the-clock "bombing.

March, 1943

April

May

June

July

1 . First of saturation raids on Berlin.3. Rzhev occupied by Russians .

12 . Vyasma captured by Russians.15 . Kharkov evacuated by Russians.21 . Eighth Army attacked Mareth Line.

Byelgorod captured by Russians .30. Gabes occupied by Eighth Army .

7. Offensive opened by First Army inNorthern Tunisia.

10 . Sfax occupied by Eighth Army.12 . Sousse occupied by Eighth Army .26 . Longstop Hill captured by First Army .

3. Mateur captured by U.S . forces .6. Massicault captured by First Army .7. Tunis and Bizerta captured by Allied

forces .13. Axis forces in Tunisia surrendered.16 . MShne and Eder dams breached by

R.A .F .

11 . Pantellaria surrendered.12 . Lampedusa surrendered .

6. Germans launched offensive in Russia .10. Sicily invaded by Allied forces .12. Russian counter-attack launched .19. First allied raid on Rome .25. Mussolini resigned and arrested. Later

he was rescued by German parachutetroops .

26. Fascist Party dissolved.

August2. Hamburg, as a result of systematic

bombing by R.A.F., which began onJuly 24, had suffered the most seriousdamage of any industrial city of theworld, at a cost of 87 British aircraft.

4. Orel captured by Russians .5. Bielgorod captured by Russians .

15 . Taormina captured by Eighth Army.17. Resistance in Sicily ended.23. Kharkov captured by Russians .26. French Committee of National Libera-

tion recognized by Allies.30. Capture of Taganrog by Russians

announced.September

3. Italian armistice signed. British andCanadian troops landed in Italy .

8. Italy surrendered to Allies.9. Allied forces landed at Salerno.10 . Italian fleet reached Malta. Rome

occupied by German troops . Salernooccupied by Fifth Army .

16 . Novorossisk captured by Russians .17 . Capture of Briansk by Russians

announced.

1. Naples occupied by Fifth Army.4. Corsica liberated.7. Dnieper crossed by Russians .12. Agreement with Portugal for use of

Azores announced.12-13. Attack on Volturno River opened .13 . Italy declared war on Germany.

13

October, 194314 . Italy accepted as co-belligerent in war

against Germany.23 . Melitopol captured by Russians.25 . Capture

of Dnepropetrovsk

andDneprozerzhinsk by Russiansannounced.

November1. Germans' land retreat from Crimea cut

off.4. Eighth Army captured Iserma and linked

up with Fifth Army at Castelpetroso.5 . Vatican bombed.6. Kiev captured by Russians .18 . R.A.F . Bomber Command began

" Battle of Berlin," which continueduntil March 24, 1944 .

23 . 8th Army crossed R. Sangro in strength .28 . Teheran Conference (Marshal Stalin,

President Roosevelt, Mr . Churchill) .

December4-6. Cairo Conference (President Roose-

velt, Mr. Churchill, President ofTurkey).

10. Capture of Znamenka by Russiansannounced.

14. Capture of Cherkosy by Russiansannounced.

19 . Four war criminals hanged at Kharkov.24. Appointment of Allied invasion chiefs

announced. Russians opened majoroffensive W. of Kiev .

26 . Scharnhorst sunk off North Cape .28 . Ortona captured by Eighth Army .31 . Zhitomir recaptured by Russians.

January1944

4. Battle for Cassino began.8. Kirovograd captured by Russians .i5 . Gen. Eisenhower assumed duties as

C.-in-C. Allied Expeditionary Force.20 . Capture of Novogorod by Russians

announced.Minturno captured by Fifth Army .

22. Amphibious landings by Allies S. ofRome. Nettuno and Anzio occupiedon 24th .

27 . Complete lifting of Leningrad blockadeannounced.

February1 . Kingisepp (Leningrad front) captured

by Russians .3 . Germans opened offensive against Anzio

beach-head.8 . Nikopol captured by Russians .

15 . Cassino Abbey bombarded by Allies .18 . Staraya Russa captured by Russians .22. Krivoi Rog captured by Russians .

First coordinated air attack on Ger-

1st

rd

First heavy attack by U.S . bomberson Berlin .

10 . Russians opened offensive on 2ndUkrainian front.

13 . Kherson captured by Russians .15 . Heavy air and artillery bombardment

of Cassmo by Allies.

19 . Evacuation of Sardinia by Germansannounced.

25 : Capture of Smolensk by Russiansannounced.

many from bases in U.K. and

March4. Russians opened offensive

Italy.

on29 . Full armistice terms signed by. Italy . Ukrainian front.6. Russians opened offensive on

October Ukrainian front.

Marcb, 194424 . By this date Bomber Command, R.A.F.,

had dropped 44,845 tons on Berlin .28 . Nikolaiev captured by Russians .30 . Cernauti captured by Russians .31 . Russians entered Rumania.

April

May

June

July

10 . Odessa captured by Russians .13 . Simferopol (capital of Crimea) captured

by Russians.15 . Tarnopol captured by Russians .18 . Balaklava captured by Russians .

9. Sevastopol captured by Russians.11 . Fifth and Eighth Armies opened

offensive, crossing Rapido and Garig-liano rivers .

15 . French troops cut Gustav line in Italy.18 . Cassino captured by British forces,

Monastery Hill by Polish troops .22. British and American forces opened

offensive from Anzio. Hitler linecut by Canadians.

25 . Patrols of Fifth Army linked up withAnzio beach-head forces, afteradvance of 60 miles .

4. Rome occupied by Allied troops .5-6. Allied air-borne troops made landing

behind German line in Normandy.6. D DAY.-Allied troops landed in

France between base of CherbourgPeninsula and Caen .

8. Bayeux liberated.10 . Russians opened offensive on Karelian

front.12 . Mr. Churchill visited the beach-head

in Normandy.13 . Flying bomb attacks on Britain began.19 . Elba captured by French forces . Perugia

captured by Eighth Army.20. Viipuri captured by Russians .23 . Russian offensive opened on central

front .26 . Vitebsk captured by Russians .27. Cherbourg liberated by U.S . forces .28. Mogilev captured by Russians . Castag-

neto captured by Fifth Army, Monti-ciano by U.S . forces .

3. Siena captured by French forces .Minsk captured by Russians.

9. Caen captured by British and Canadianforces .

12 . Russians advanced 21 miles on Balticfront.

13. Vilna captured by Russians.14 . Pinsk and Volkovysk captured by

Russians.16. Arezzo occupied by Eighth Army

troops . Grodno captured byRussians.

18. British and Canadian troops attackedand broke through area east of theOrne and south-east of Caen . Anconacaptured by Polish forces .

19 . Leghorn captured by U.S . forces.20 . Attempted assassination of Hitler and

staff by German officers .23 . Pskov captured by Russians .24 . Lublin captured by Russians .26 . Lvov and Dvinsk captured by Russians .27 . U.S . forces W. of St. Lo broke through

German lines .28 . Przemysl, Yaroslav, and Brest Litovsk

captured by Russians .31 . Avranches occupied by U.S . forces .

14

August, 19441 . Warsaw rising by Polish Home Army

began (ended October 2) . Americantroops entered Brittany.

3. Rennes occupied by U.S . forces .4. Purge of German army announced.7. R.A.F. attacked German line south of

Caen prior to full-scale offensive byCanadian forces .

9. St. Malo and Le Mans captured byU.S. forces .

11 . Florence evacuated by Germans.12 . Germans began retreat from Normandy.14. Canadians opened major attack on

approaches to Falaise .15 . Allied troops landed in France from

Mediterranean.17. Falaise captured by Canadian Forces .20. Gen. Montgomery issued last orders as

Commander of Allied land forces .Toulon entered by French troops .Toulouse captured by F.F .I.

21 . U.S . forces crossed Seine in force .25. Pans liberated. Rumania declared war

on Germany.29. Constanza captured by Russians.30 . Ploesti captured by Russians . Rouen

captured by Canadian forces .31 . Bucharest entered by Russians.

September1 . Gen. Eisenhower assumed direct control

of all Allied Armies m France.Dieppe captured by Canadian forces.

2. German Gothic line in Italy broken byEighth Army .

3. Brussels liberated by British. Lyonsliberated. Pesaro captured by Polishforces.

4. Cease fire in Finland following pre-liminary armistice with Russia.Antwerp captured by British.

5. Russia declared war on Bulgaria .8 . Bulgaria declared war on Germany.

Russians crossed Rumanian-Bulgarianfrontier . Li¬ge captured by U.S.forces ;

Ostend

by

Canadians.German rocket attacks on Englandbegan, the first falling at Chiswick .

9. Hostilities between Russia and Bulgariaceased .

11 . German frontier crossed by U.S. troopsnorth of Trier.

12. Le Havre captured by British .13 . Armistice signed between Russia, Great

Britain and the United States andRumania.

15 . Siegfried line breached by U.S . forces .17 . British 1st Airborne Division landed in

Holland ; withdrawn from Arnhemon September 25-26.

19 . Brest captured by U.S . forces .20 . British forces reached the Rhine (River

Waal) at Nijmegen.22. Boulogne surrendered to Canadian

forces. Tallinn (capital of Estonia)captured by Russians . Capture ofRimini by Eighth Army announced.

30. Calais surrendered to Canadian forces.

October3. Dyke at West Kapelle on island of

Walcheren breached by R.A.F. Truceat Dunkirk to allow civilians toleave town .

4. Allied forces landed on Greek mainlandentered Patras .

October, 19449. Canadian and British forces landed to

rear of Germans south of the mouthof Scheldt. Russian forces reachedBaltic coast near Libau.

9-19 . Mr . Churchill (with Mr . Eden) visitedMoscow for talks with Marshal Stalin .

11 . Club (capital of Transylvania) capturedby Russians.

13 . Riga (capital of Latvia) captured byRussians .

14 . Athens entered by British.15 . Death of Field-Marshal Rommel

announced. Petsamo captured byRussians . Hungarian request forRussians .

18 . Russians crossed East Prussian borderand occupied Eydtkuhnen .

20 . Belgrade occupied by Russians .21 . German Commander of Aachen signed

unconditional surrender.22. Russians to Finland reached Norwegian

frontier.23 . Recognition by Allies of General de

Gaulle's administration as ProvisionalGovernment announced.

26 . British forces crossed Scheldt and landedon Beveland peninsula .

28 . Arnustice signed between Bulgaria andthe Allies.

31 . British forces reached the Maas.

November1 . British landed on Walcheren Island .2. Belgium cleared of Germans ; they re-

entered on December 16 . Belgiumfinally liberated February 4, 1945.

3. Flushing captured by British .6. Liberation of Monastir by Yugoslav

forces announced.12. Tirpitz sunk in Troms6 fjord by R.A.F.20. Belfort captured by French.22 . Mulhouse captured by French . Metz

captured by U.S . forces .24. Strasbourg captured by Allies .28 . Antwerp port re-opened to traffic .

December4. Enemy bridgehead west of the Maas

eliminated by British forces.5 . Arnhem-Nijmegen sector flooded by

Germans.9. Russian forces reached Danube N. of

Budapest .16. Germans opened counter-offensive in

the Ardennes .17. Field-Marshal Montgomery appointed

to command American 1st and 9thArmies in addition to British 2nd andCanadian 1st Armies .

22 . Deepest penetration of German counter-offensive-Laroche (40 miles) .

26 . U.S . airborne troops in Bastognerelieved .

27 . Germans driven out of Celles and Ciney.30 . Hungary declared war on Germany.31 . Rochefort recaptured by Allies . New

offensive opened by U.S . forcesbetween Bastogne and St . Hubert .

January1945

11 . Laroche re-captured by British and U.S .forces.

14. Radom (Central Poland) captured byRussians .

15

January, 194516 . British forces launched attack from

Sittard, in Holland, against Germansalient Eof the Maas.

17 . Warsaw enteredby Russians .18 . Lodz and Cracow captured by Russians.19 . Tilsit captured by Russians.20. Armistice with Hungary signed m

Moscow . Tannenberg captured byRussians. French forces openedattack in Vosges.

21 . Allenstein and Insterburg captured byRussians.

23 . Bromberg captured by Russians.24 . Gleiwitz (Silesia) captured by Russians.26 . By this date German forces in Ardennes

had been forced back to Germanfrontier.

27 . Memel captured by Russians, liberatingLithuania.

28 . German Pomerania invaded.31 . Russians broke into province of Bran-

denburg.February

1 . Russians 50 miles from centre of Berlin.Thom captured by Russians.

2. Colmar captured by French forces.4. Belgium liberated.4-11 . Crimea Conference (Mr. Churchill,

President Roosevelt, Marshal Stalin) .6. Russians forced the Oder S.E. of

Breslau.8. British and Canadian forces opened

offensive S.E . of Nijmegen ; Cleveand Gennep captured on 12th.

11 . Russians forced the Oder N.W . ofBreslau .

12 . Priim captured by U.S. forces.13 . Budapest completely occupied by

Russians. Reichswald forest clearedby Canadian forces .

15. Breslau surrounded by Russian forces .16. Rohrbach captured by U.S . forces.19 . Goch captured by Scottish and Canadian

forces .23 . U.S. forces opened attack from direction

of Aachen towards Rhine at Diissel-dorf. Poznan captured by Russians .

25. Ddren and Julich captured by U.S .forces.

28 . Neu Stettin captured by Russian forces.March

1. Miinchen-Gladbach captured by U.S.forces .

2 . Trier and Krefeld captured by U.S.forces .

6 . Cologne captured by U.S. forces .7 . Rhine crossed at Remagen by U.S .

forces.8 . British and Canadian forces launched

attack on German bridgehead atXanten.

9. Stolp (on Danzig-Stettin coast road)captured by Russians . Xantencaptured by British forces .

11 . German bridgehead at Wesel elimi-nated.

12. American forces launched new attackfrom Remagen bridgehead . Kiistrin(on E. bank of Oder opposite Berlin)captured by Russian forces .

14. First use of 10-ton bombs by R.A.F .17. Coblen z captured by U.S. forces .

Brandenburg (E. Prussia) capturedby Russians.

18. Biggest daylight air attack on Berlin.19. Worms and Saarbriicken captured by

U.S . forces .21 . Ludwigshaven entered by U.S . forces .

March, 194523 . Allied forces

under Field-MarshalMontgomery began Rhine crossingsbetween Rees and Wesel ; 40,000 air-borne droops landed m two hours.

24. Darmstadt captured by U.S . forces .27 . Last rocket fell at Orpington. In all

1,050 reached England.28 . Gdynia captured by Russians. Last air-

raid warning sounded in London .29 . Mannheim captured by U.S . forces .30 . Danzig and Kiistnn captured by

Russians. Dutch frontier crossed byCanadian First Army

April1 . Germans in Ruhr area trapped ; by the

19th twenty-one divisions destroyed .3 . Hamm and Cassel captured by U.S .

forces.4. Bratislava (capital of Slovakia) captured

by Russians . French forces enteredKarlsruhe .

5. Minden reached by British forces .9 . K6nigsberg (capital of E. Prussia) cap-

tured by Russians . Allied offensiveopened in Italy. Pocket battleshipAdmiral Scheer sunk by R.A.F .

10. Hanover captured by U.S . forces .11 . Essen captured by U.S . forces.12. President Roosevelt died .13 . Vienna liberated by Russians .14. Canadian forces in Holland reached

North Sea and captured Leeuwarden .French forces began land and seaattack on Germans in Bordeaux areaafter U.S. air attack .

16. Nuremberg entered by U.S. forces ;organized resistance ended on 20th .Lutzow, last German battleship, sunkby R.A.F .

20 . Civilian casualties in the U.K . due toenemy action from outbreak of war,146,760 .

21 . Bologna captured by Allies . Dessauentered by U.S. forces . Berlin suburbsreached by Russians .

22 . Stuttgart captured by French forces .23 . River Po reached by Allies . Black-out

restrictions removed in Great Britain .24. Himmler offered to surrender German

Reich to Governments of GreatBritain and United States .

April, 194526 . Russian and American forces linked up

on the Elbe near Torgau . Veronacaptured by Fifth Army . Bremensurrendered to British . Milan liberatedby Italian partisans. Marshal Petamarrested at frontier.

Total civilian casualties in Londonregion by enemy attacks 80,307.

27 . Genoa captured by American forces .28 . Mussolini executed by Italian partisans

m Milan.29. Unconditional surrender of German

armies in Italy signed at Caserta.Hostilities ceased 12 noon (G.M.T .),May 2.

Munich entered by U.S . forces .Venice entered by British . Britishforces crossed Elbe S.E . of Hamburg.R.A.F. bombers dropped their firstload of food in German-occupiedHolland.

30 . Turin entered by U.S. forces .

FireGuard orders cancelled.

May1. Death of Hitler in Berlin announced

by Germans. Grand Admiral D6nitzappointed himself as successor.

New Zealand troops of Eighth Armyentered Monfalcone and linked upwith Marshal Tito's forces .

2 . Berlin surrendered to Russians at 3 p.m .British and Russian forces linked upm Wismar area on the Baltic .

Triestecaptured by New Zealand troops .

3 . Hamburg captured by British .4. German First and Nineteenth Armies

surrendered to American forces .American Fifth Army crossedBrenner Pass and linked up withSeventh Army.

5. All German forces in Holland, N.W .Germany, and Denmark, includingHeligoland and Frisian Islands sur-rendered as from 8 a.m. (B.D .S.T.) .

7. Act of unconditional surrender ofGerman armed forces signed atRheims at 2.41 a.m ., and ratified inBerlin on May 9.

S. VE Day in British Isles .

Oslo liberated .9. Channel Islands liberated. Victory Day

celebrated in Moscow .

June

12 . Unconditional surrender of Germansin Crete .

5. German surrender entered into force at16.40 hours.

Leading Article from TBE TIMES

The war with Germany is ended. To-day-` VE Day"-victory will be formallyproclaimed . The task to which GreatBritain and France set their hands nearlysix years ago, in furtherance of whichnearly all the peace-loving nations of theworld have successively enrolled them-selves, has been faithfully accomplished .The official announcement will be made at3 o'clock by the PRIM MumsTER and theKING will broadcast to his peoples at 9 .Yesterday COUNTSCHWERIN VON KRGSIGK,speaking with the scarcelymorethantitulardignity of German Foreign Minister, butas the best mouthpiece still remaining tothe fallen Government, acknowledged tothe world the unconditional surrender ofhis country . This was the climax to theseries of piecemeal submissions . One byone the commanders of the defeated Ger-man armies, each for the remnants of thefighting formations that his orders can stillreach, have yielded to their conquerors ;first fell the army of Italy, then the forcesopposing the British and Canadians in thenorth-west and those fighting the Ameri-cans in Bavaria, and at last the garrison ofNorway and the broken divisions stilldesperately holding the field in the east .With the signature of a Soviet delegate tothe formal act of surrender made yesterdayby GENERAL JGDL to GENERAL EISEN-HOWER, finality is reached . Except whereGerman detachments are still offeringsporadic and unauthorized resistance, theguns have ceased to fire anywhere inEurope, and silence has fallen in thestricken lands where the din of warthundered so recently . Of the tremendouspanoply with which HITLER and hisfollowers set out to conquer the worldnothing is left.

The ships, the aircraft, thetanks, the guns, and the untold multitudesof fighting men-all have been destroyedor have been placed at theabsolutedisposalthe conquerors . The very German Stateitself, which commanded this vast array ofmaterial power, is dissolved in the momentof defeat ; and there is no authority left inthe land save that which the allied com-manders can supply.So passes to its just doom of ignominy

and ruin the most monstrous dominionthat pride, cruelty, and the lust of powerhave ever sought to impose upon thesuffering millions of the nations. Thepledge is fulfilled which the PRIMEMINISTER gave to the world in the daywhen all seemed lost for liberty : thecurse of HITLER is lifted from the browsof mankind.

As was the enormity of the1 7

design for the subjugation of a continent,so is the apocalyptic completeness of theoverthrow. Never in the history of warhas the entire, fighting strength of a greatmilitary State been more decisively groundinto fragments and overwhelmed in theuttermost catastrophe of defeat.

Of thehosts that once seemed innumerable andinvincible, millions have left their boneson the lost fields from Stalingrad to Caen ;millions more have been herded into cap-tivity ; and the survivors, cut off and sur-rounded in pockets of hopeless resistance,as helpless in their own country as in thelands they have invaded, have beensaved from destruction only by sur-render .

In a score of the great cities ofGermany scarcely a building standsintact ; the Russian armies have sweptlike an avenging hurricane over the shat-tered avenues and palaces of Berlin .

Inthe factories where, through the length andbreadth of the Reich, all the resources ofa rich andpopulous nation wereharnessed,even in time of peace, to the making ofengines of destruction, the wheels ofindustry have stopped.

The fields are leftuntilled by the liberation of the foreignslaves upon whose labour German agri-culture had come to depend .

Famine andpestilence lower over Germany ; only bythe efforts of her conquerors can she hopeto escape or moderate their ravages .More terrible in the perspective of thehuman story even than the material ruinis the universal execration that the yearsof the domination have earned for theGerman name .

The Third Reich goesdown to destruction unmourned, even bythose nations which in the time of its pros-perity were content to appear its friends .

It is with the slave empires of theancient east, and not with any polity ofthe European tradition, that the National-Socialist despotism must be compared ;yet it was more barbarous than thesebecause less primitive, because it was adeliberate attempt to destroy the work ofcenturies of advance, in which humanityhad struggled towards finer forms ofpolitical and spiritual life.

" The soul of" savagery is slavery ."

The epigram istrue, though it is but a negative expressionof a truth that may be stated in positiveterms : the soul of civilization is liberty.The civilization that has been reared inEurope on the double foundation ofclassical thought and Christian faith andthence propagated rougd the world iscentred upon a belief in the inalienabledignity and rights of every human

soul . It was these rights and thisdignity that National Socialism set it-self to obliterate. It was a consciousand calculated conspiracy. The thou-sand years of supremacy, which HITLERprophesied in all seriousness for theThird Reich, were to be secured by theuse of overwhelming mechanical force,first to destroy and then to deprive of anypossibility of revival, freedom of thought,freedom of expression, freedom of wor-ship, and all the fundamental rights ofman, as the inheritors of European culturehave learned to treasure them . That wasthe dedication of German power to theservice of barbarism, and that was theevil against which Great Britain andFrance, as principal heirs and championsof the tradition of liberty in Europe, tookup the challenge .The British people went to war for the

second time in a generation with a sternand sombre resolve . The exalted moodof 1914 was not recaptured . Exaltationof a different order was to come after-wards, and in a darker hour. An instinctiveloathing there was of arrogance, brutality,and bad faith, but most of all perhaps inthose first days there was the grim deter-mination, rooted in the traditions of thisgreat though tolerant people, to stand firmat last against a menace which, thoughits full definition was yet to come,was plainly real and growing. Andin this act of simple faith and quietduty there was a complete answer to theclaims and boastings of the enemy. TheGerman rulers justified the servitude theyhad imposed upon their own people as themeans to securing a unified nation ; in con-trast to the fanatical devotion they hadsucceeded in evoking they mocked theanarchy of class and party faction, whichthey presented as the prevailing attributesof peoples bred to parliamentary self-government and economic liberty. Later,as their malign grip was extended over oneafter another of the lands surroundingthem, they developed their doctrine into agrandiose claim to restore the lost unityof Europe, under German leadership, bythe power of the sword. The meansremained the same ; for in the service ofthe German war machine the conqueredpopulations were reduced to a slaveryunexampled since the pre-Christian ages .Some specious colour seemed to be givento the German tales of the superiority ofthe "new order" when France fell, asmuch riven by internal doubts and divi-sions as broken by the overwhelmingnumbers and armament of the Wehrmacht,until through years of suffering the Frenchpeople were to atone for their moment ofweakness with that shining resilience undermisfortune which has done so much towin for historic France her place in the

1 9

admiration and affection of civilized man-kind. Meanwhile the British Common-wealth was left to hold the ramparts offreedom alone in the face of a continentenslaved and bestridden by the enemy .The British people rose to the full stature

of their ancient greatness only after thetragic glory of Dunkirk . The great disasterdeprived them of all their meagre landarmament and left them apparently help-less to meet the assault of the most terribleengine of war ever constructed ; but theissues had become plain, and in the newcertainty was a new strength . A vauntingenemy and a sceptical world were to beshown that there resides a power of unitedaction in a free nation far surpassinganything thatdictatorship can impose uponits subjects. The unchecked play of partycontroversy in a community mature in thepractice of self-government is possible onlybecause there is ultimate agreement onthe supreme ends that all party pro-grammes attempt, by their conflictingmeans, to serve. It is the demonstration,not the contradiction, of the final harmonyon which the life itself of a nation reposes.Under the guidance of the leader called toauthority in the hour of crisis the Britishpeople became aware of the hidden sourcesof their strength . It was MR. CHURCHILLwho told them that, because of the toler-ance and variety that they had fosteredfor centuries, they were " the most united" of all the nations " ; and they proceededby their actions to prove that his wordswere true . The instant and unquestioningself-dedicationwith which men and womenalike, at the summons of Parliament,placed their lives and their property atthe disposal of their leaders, who them-selves represented all parties in the Stateworking as one, vindicated a native self-discipline and gave substance to the proudhope that this was to be "their finest" hour." It saved this island and ; by sodoing, won the war. The conflict wasjoined between the unity of the spirit,which inspires free men to the defence ofa universal cause, and the regimenteduniformity that is enlisted to enforce thewill of despots ; and the outcome throughmany perils and escapes was henceforthnever in doubt .The clear vision of MR. CHURCHILL'S

leadership soon enabled men to perceivethat this unity of free men was itself astrategic force . The common impulse ofpatriotism among all parties in the State,sweeping the millions into the services andthe Home Guard, the Merchant Navy, thefactories and civil defence, was reflectedupon a wider scene . Already the greatDominions, by the spontaneous identifica-tion of themselves with the cause of themother country, now reaffirmed in themoment of greatest danger, had shown the

capacity of five sovereign nations to thinkand act at a supreme crisis as a singlepeople . The forces of resistance were notso narrowly confined as the enemy sup-posed . Against HiTLER'S Europe could beset Canada, Africa, India, Australasia, andall the oceans of the world .

This islandmight be submerged beneath the flood ;but the forces of freedom, linked by thesteel chain of sea-power, would surely liveon .

Moreover, while the forlorn hope ofa few British airmen snatched victory fromthe massed squadrons of the Luftwaf}e,and later while the civil population in thetowns endured uncomplaining a nightlyrain of bombs, Britain was left in no doubtthat the lonely struggle was being watchedwith sympathy by powerful friends acrossthe Atlantic, already eager to rendermaterial aid in the conflict, and becominggradually conscious that the cause of re-sistance to German tyranny was in thefullest sense their own. The patientguidance of American opinion, until thepeople, convinced in their hearts that theUnited States belonged by vocation andduty to the united brotherhood of nationsfighting for freedom, were stung to battleby treacherous attack in the east and bythe defiant provocation of the Naziboasters, was the supreme service renderedto his age by the great President whoseuntimely loss casts a shadow over to-day'scelebrations. We may rejoice thatFRANKLIN RoosEvELT lived to see, shiningclear on the horizon, the lights of thevictory for which he laid down his life .

If MR . RoosEvELT was the inspiredinterpreter of the ideals of the UnitedNations, it fell to MR. CHURCHILL to playthe principal part in determining the grandstrategy of the alliance . His was the highimaginative vision that insisted, even whenEngland lay isolated before the imminentthreat of invasion, upon preparing adesign of war that should afford full scopefor the existing unity of the Empire, andfor the larger unity of world Powers ofwhich he foresaw it must become thenucleus before victory was achieved . Astrategy concentrated upon the safety ofthe British Isles would have lost the war .But it needed courage of the rarest orderto act upon that opinion when actionmeant diverting to the Middle East theonly armoured formation available tomeet the expected descent upon theChannel coasts . With a mind steeped inmilitary history, the PRIMEMINISTER COm-mitted his country to the pursuit of itstraditional strategy, to maintain theEmpire's lines of communications roundthe globe, to contain the enemy withinthe ring of sea-power, and to challengehim on land at the extreme limits of hisdominion until his strength should beginto exhaust itself. Thus would time be

19

won to mobilize the reserves of theimperial Commonwealth, and to range inthe line for the decisive stroke the forcesof all other nations that would rally tothe standard of liberty.The old strategy proved its virtue in the

old way. Like a greater autocrat beforehim, HITLER attempted to escape from theconstriction of sea-power by breaking outto the east, and so committed himself to agrapple with a people so numerous and soindomitable that even his vast armieswould bleed to death. When his Japaneseally, with ruthlessness and faithlessness tomatch his own, embarked four monthslater upon an ambitious scheme of con-quest, which - seemed to look towards ajunction of the triumphant despotisms ofEurope and Asia on the frontiers of Indiaor the shores of the Persian Gulf, blowsfell that shook the foundations of theCommonwealth system in the Far East.But the advent of the new ally was of fargreater significance than the entry of thenew enemy . "The new world, with all" its power and might," to use MR.CHURCHILL'S prophetic phrase of 1940," stepped forth to the rescue and the" liberation of the old."

Thenceforth the story of the war is thatof the development of an ever closer unityamong the allied nations, while on theenemy's side the system of uniformitythrough repression was rendered hard andbrittle by constantly progressive degreesof brutality and enslavement. Comrade-ship in the field led on to unified commandand common counsel among the heads ofallied States. The defensive phase of thewar was passed . The enemy plungedagainst the bands which contained him,but they held. Then with the great vic-tories of El Allamein and Stalingrad theprocess of compression began. For 1,400miles the German hosts were borne back-wards across the plains of Russia andPoland into the streets of theirown capital .Their comrades in the south were drivenalong the coast of Africa ; at its westernextremity the American armies enteredthe field, and both together pressed onover the sea to Sicily, Calabria, Rome,striking down the Fascist despotism asthey went, and finally in these latter daysto the passes of the Alps .

Most decisiveof all came the great expedition, patientlyprepared and consummately executed, tostorm the Channel coast, to liberateFrance, to force the passage of the Rhine,and to pour armed men in overwhelmingpower into the heart of Germany, thereto meet the Russian ally on the banks ofthe Elbe.The victory has been won by the joint

action of many peoples, and only by con-tinued unity in war and peace can its fruits

be garnered and guarded . Unity in war isstill the paramount obligation . The aggres-sive and domineering brutality of self-centred militarism has still to be shatteredin the Far East: From now on the westernPowers will be able to concentrate over-whelming force against an enemy begin-ning to reel under the blows alreadydelivered. The full work of peace cannotbe taken up until the bloodthirsty preten-sions of Japan have been checked for ever.No doubt the nations that have submittedthemselves to a common discipline for thepurposes of war against a common enemy,like the British parties that in their smallersphere set the example of restraint fiveyears ago, will each turn again one dayto the development of its distinctive lifeand its distinctive political tradition. It isnatural and it is right that this should beso. But these same nations have to keepthe memory of the lesson they havelearned in the hard school of war, that theideals that unite them are nearer to theirhearts and more vital to their safety thanthe opinions or the habits or the intereststhat divide. For many months now theefforts of statesmanship and diplomacyhave been devoted to the means of per-petuating the brotherhood of nations thathas won the war, so that it may hence-forth stand sentinel over the forces ofdestruction' and death now overcome .

Itis of good augury that the news of victoryin thewest comes while the delegates of thenations are already assembled at SanFrancisco charged with the duty offounding a central institution of worldunity .

Only if that supreme political ex-pression of the idea towards which theallied nations have been fighting their way

through six of the most terrible years ofhistory can be built firm and true, power-ful and permanent, will, humanity, havesome recompense for the millions of pre-cious lives that have been spent in huntingdown the beast of prey.

Finally, on a day that will stand as asolemn date in history, it is not possibleto-celebrate so great a deliverance withoutthe sense that a larger design has beenfulfilled than is comprehended in the calcu-lations of strategy. Now that the dangeris passed, it may be acknowledged thatthere was a time when, had the enemy'smastery of the art of war matched theimmense superiority of his material power,no human valour or effort could havethwarted his deadly purpose. In the lastresort that which has sustained resistancewhen all seemed lost, not only in Englandbut in all the enslaved lands, is the faiththat in the order of the universe the justcause, provided that the last measure ofdevotion and sacrifice be offered to it,will not be allowed to fail . It is right toaffirm to-day that thatfaith stands ju_-stified .The noblest of English Kings, who hadcome as near as our generation to finalsubmersion beneath the barbarian flood,wrote after his victory : " I say, as do all" Christian men, that it is a divine purpose"that rules, and not fate." In the samespirit KING ALFRED'S . remote descendant,GEORGE the SIXTH, goes to St. Paul'sCathedral on Sunday to render thanks onbehalf of all his peoples to the only giverof victory .

Non nobis, Domine .

" Not" unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto" thy name give the praise : for thyloving" mercy, and for thy truth's sake."

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