No Spanish Civil War in 1936 (my new Timeline)

[maverick]

Ah, Churchill...you're such an asshole!

Also...

Finally! an update!

[bm79]

This is a long time running, and details start to get foggy, but is Corsica still in Free French hands? I think so, IIRC, and if so the Germans, even after the fall of Gibraltar, now have two large enemy bastions along their Mediterranean coastal possessions. If they both remain in Allied hands, then all of German-occupied western Europe would remain within Allied bomber range. A concerted effort by British, French, and Spanish crews flying Mosquito bombers on low-altitude raids against the transport links across the Pyrenees could severely crimp the German logistical situation in the Iberian Peninsula.

[Rakhasa]

Originally Posted by bm79

I think so, IIRC, and if so the Germans, even after the fall of Gibraltar, now have two large enemy bastions along their Mediterranean coastal possessions. If they both remain in Allied hands, then all of German-occupied western Europe would remain within Allied bomber range.

More then two, I think. There are four islands in the Balearic, and then there is Malta, and Crete.

And of course there is that minor island on the North Sea, Great Brian or something...

[The Red]

I think Churchill underestimates the fact that if Russia falls the situation is very very grave.

(please dont make this a TL were Russia doesn't win the war single handedly....PLEEEASEEE)

[Dr. Strangelove]

Originally Posted by bm79

This is a long time running, and details start to get foggy, but is Corsica still in Free French hands? I think so, IIRC, and if so the Germans, even after the fall of Gibraltar, now have two large enemy bastions along their Mediterranean coastal possessions. If they both remain in Allied hands, then all of German-occupied western Europe would remain within Allied bomber range. A concerted effort by British, French, and Spanish crews flying Mosquito bombers on low-altitude raids against the transport links across the Pyrenees could severely crimp the German logistical situation in the Iberian Peninsula.

I think I forgot about Corsica too.

I don't think I mentioned what happened with Corsica after the Italian armistice, so I am going to assume the germans pulled a Crete with it in the chaos of the 1940 retreat. With Corsica still in allied hands, Ciano would have a very, very hard time justifying his behaviour towards the allies.

Still, the Baleares and North Africa make nice staging points for allied aviation, specially now that the Luftwaffe is being moved east. I considered the idea of the germans trying to assault Mallorca a la OTL Crete, but the losses of paratroopers in the Battle of Cadiz have been enough to make Hitler abandon the idea.

I think Churchill underestimates the fact that if Russia falls the situation is very very grave.

Churchill is gambling that, when Russia falls, the americans will already be in Europe and the allies will have at least liberated Spain and won't be fooled by the germans a second time.

Bear in mind that germany has already suffered many more losses than IOTL. Conquering Russia will be a pyrrhic victory, since even making it to the Urals, getting an armistice with whoever succeeds Stalin and guarding their newfound Lebensraum will literally bleed them white, while the allies can still count in hordes of american soldiers.

[bm79]

Originally Posted by Dr. Strangelove

I think I forgot about Corsica too.

I don't think I mentioned what happened with Corsica after the Italian armistice, so I am going to assume the germans pulled a Crete with it in the chaos of the 1940 retreat. With Corsica still in allied hands, Ciano would have a very, very hard time justifying his behaviour towards the allies.

Still, the Baleares and North Africa make nice staging points for allied aviation, specially now that the Luftwaffe is being moved east. I considered the idea of the germans trying to assault Mallorca a la OTL Crete, but the losses of paratroopers in the Battle of Cadiz have been enough to make Hitler abandon the idea.

Given how badly the Regia Marina did against Allied forces, and the fact that the French evacuation of the Métropole will need Corsica as a cover, a ret-con would be in order to have Corsica fall into German hands... I love this TL, and throwing a wrench into the works pains me, but Corsica has to be settled one way or the other...

[bm79]

Originally Posted by Rakhasa

More then two, I think. There are four islands in the Balearic, and then there is Malta, and Crete.

And of course there is that minor island on the North Sea, Great Brian or something...

I was specifically referring to the Balearics and Corsica as the two Mediterranean bastions of the Allied forces. Since Italy is only engaged against the Soviets in this TL, Malta, Cyprus, and Alexandria lose their importance in a fight against the Germans...

[Dr. Strangelove]

Originally Posted by bm79

Given how badly the Regia Marina did against Allied forces, and the fact that the French evacuation of the Métropole will need Corsica as a cover, a ret-con would be in order to have Corsica fall into German hands... I love this TL, and throwing a wrench into the works pains me, but Corsica has to be settled one way or the other...

Fair enough. The next installment will include a retcon about the Battle of Corsica in the spring of 1941. I don't think the germans need italian help for this: IOTL they didn't need the Regia Marina to conquer Crete.

[bm79]

Originally Posted by Dr. Strangelove

Fair enough. The next installment will include a retcon about the Battle of Corsica in the spring of 1941. I don't think the germans need italian help for this: IOTL they didn't need the Regia Marina to conquer Crete.

ITTL, the French will be fighting tooth and nail for Corsica... I don't see this as being a walk-over...

[Dr. Strangelove]

Originally Posted by bm79

ITTL, the French will be fighting tooth and nail for Corsica... I don't see this as being a walk-over...

You don't have to fight for the entire island: once the airfields are taken, the rest is just a foregone conclussion. Just see how the allied position in Crete collapsed IOTL after the germans took Maleme airfield, even if their landings had failed miserably elsewhere.

[Geekhis Khan]

Ohoho!!! Evil, tricksy Churchillssss.....

There's a reason I'm subscribed to this masterpiece!

FYI: Grammar nitpick. Even though "news" really is a plural word we anglophones treat it as a singular word for some reason.

So rather than "These are really great news" it should more properly be "This is really great news".

Still, though, you're one hell of a lot better at English than most of my fellow Yanks. Were it not for the tiny little things I'd have assumed you were a native English speaker (no offense ).

[Dr. Strangelove]

BATTLE OVER THE STRAITS

“the standoff in the straits during 1942 is the best empirical proof of Einstein’s theories: those 10 kilometers of sea were wider for the germans than hundreds of kilometers in the Russian steppes”. –Enrique Líster.


With the war in western europe seemingly over, both opposing armies kept glaring at each other from both sides of the Gibraltar Straits. With the invasion of the Baleares discarded due to the appalling losses of german paratroopers in Cádiz, Hitler toyed with the idea of crossing the Straits of Gibraltar and invade Morocco. Convinced that such a move would prompt Ciano to redeclare war against the allies, he thought that the loss of northern africa would be the last nail in the allied coffin.



Bf-109 fighters over Gibraltar, April 1942.




From www.ucronia.es/debate, 1995

BELERIAND
WI Operation Herakles had succeeded?

MILLAN_ASHTRAY
Oh, for fuck’s sake. Your rawishness is annoying now.

BELERIAND
Why? I was just asking a cool PoD. If the fascists had invaded the Rif and continued all the way to the Sahara they would have destroyed the allies before american troops could arrive to prepare Sealion. Imagine Rommel’s tanks rampaging through northern Africa, lol.

GENERAL_FRANCO
Rommel going to Africa is NEUMA. In fact, any german general going to Africa after the italian armistice is NEUMA. The germans simply did not have any way to oppose the allied air and naval superiority around Ceuta, and any invasion force would be destroyed within weeks.

REAL_MADRID_FAN
Now, give the raw a rest. His idea is workable, with a 1940 PoD. First, let’s assume Hitler is reasonable (I know, you are yelling NEUMA right now, but bear with me) and decides to leave Russia alone until he definitely, positively, has assured the allied defeat. He keeps millions of soldiers cracking hard the national resistance and preparing them to cross the Straits. He does not redeploy 80% of the Luftwaffe’s effective force to Eastern Europe. Within a few weeks, and in the narrow time window when north african airfields are still few and ill-prepared, the Luftwaffe pounds the allied airforce into submission. With air superiority over the straits gained, they are able to strike into the allied fleet at Casablanca and Las Palmas, crippling most of the allied naval assets. In June 1942 the germans are able to land around Ceuta and start advancing inland…


GENERAL_FRANCO
…by which point, and assuming that, even with butterflies the americans will still declare war in the OTL date, and start varyag-rushing troops and planes in droves towards northern Africa. Even if the germans occupy northern morocco and Algeria, the terrain and the supply lines will bog them down in th edesert, while the allies set up their counteroffensive in French West Africa.
Anyway all of this is academic, since it is based on the assumption that a man that ended his days babbling about his corsican youth and unable to wipe his own ass was able to act in a rational way. Operation Herakles was never more than an elaborate act of armchair masturbation in the OKH part, since when work on it started Germany did not have the necessary resources. In fact, the plan called for the support of italian warships that had already spent two years rotting at the bottom of La Spezia harbor…


With the preparations of Barbarossa so advanced, Germany has bitten more than it can chew. There is no way that ArmeeGroup Iberia, stripped of most combat formations, with the bare minimum of men necessary to occupy the Peninsula, and with its air support cut to the minimum, can even attempt to cross a Strait of Gibraltar protected by the allied navies.

However, there is a small window of opportunity in the spring of 1942 where the germans could have crippled the allied forces in northern africa if they had really wanted to. Right after the Evacuation, the allies’ first concern was to reorganize their enormous and demoralized army standing in northern Africa. Thousands of veteran soldiers –both british and spanish- were sent to Britain and Canada to refit and retrain via a very long and convoluted route to avoid iberian waters, and thousands more started to prepare the defense of the north african coast against an eventual invasion.


Spanish aviators in an improvised airfield near Larache, Spanish Morocco, April 1942.



However, no invasion would be possible without gaining decisive air superiority, and the germans could have achieved that if they had attacked with full force in April 1942, when the allied airfields in Morocco were still few and improvised, to the extent that entire, otherwise operational wings of the spanish airforce, could not operate because there were not enough airfields for them. However, most of the luftwaffe units located in Spain had started redeploying in Poland and the Balkans, and this prevented the start of air attacks against northern Africa until late April, when the logistical situation for the allies was getting better.

Still, after Hitler gives the order for a full attack on airfields and military installations on Morocco in April 28, the first days of bombardments cause great damage and raise a lot of concern in the spanish leadership. In subsequent raids in the following weeks, the germans strike as south as Casablanca and as east as Algiers, being able to hit allied shipping.

During early May, the allied pilots fight epic battles over the strait and northern Africa, knowing that if they are defeated, the chances of ever conquering the Motherland back are nil. They operate from dozens of improvised airfields that are little more than dirt tracks, and using planes salvaged from the Iberian retreat that are starting to become obsolete against the ever more modern german planes. On the other hand, the germans really do their best with their limited numbers. Soon german airfields in Iberia become preferred targets of the resistance.


Aerial battles over the north African coast.


However, Hitler’s greatest enemy is again himself. He is now more focused on the Soviet Union, and when he orders that some Luftflottes be transferred back to the Mediterranean theater in late May, it is already too late, since American planes are already starting to arrive into Morocco and tipping the balance. The Battle of the Rif will continue for May and June, but the germans will never be able to repeat the successes of early May and their losses will start ramping up in the face of the new American and American-made planes they are facing. Finally, in early July 1942, Goering is forced to admit that the allies now hold air superiority over the straits and cancels all offensive operations.

“… The victory in the Battle of the Rif: not the beginning of the end, but indeed the end of the beginning. It was our first major strategic defeat of Hitler, and allowed us to do Sealion before the Russians could completely recover from the first german offensive…”- Winston Churchill.

[maverick]

Oh, finally an update!

One more push, and Russia here we come!

[Milarqui]

So, I suppose the Battle of the Rif is the equivalent to El-Alamein in OTL? Because Churchill said that El-Alamein was the end of the beginning of WWII.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Originally Posted by Milarqui

So, I suppose the Battle of the Rif is the equivalent to El-Alamein in OTL? Because Churchill said that El-Alamein was the end of the beginning of WWII.

It is the equivalent of El Alamein as in it is the deepest advance the germans made in the western front. From now on, the german tide will only fall back against the allied counteroffensives. In the west, that is.

[Wendell]

This is great. I like your use of a discussion format which manages to postulate on our timeline.

[The Red]

So are we getting Barbarossa next?

[Linense]

I just finished read the whole story you are writing so far and I feel great.
I hope to update soon.

PD: Forgive if it does not understand this message but I am realizing the translation by an automatic translator.

Greetings.

[RCAF Brat]

It looks like the battle of the Rif is also an Alt-Battle of Britain, what with the Luftwaffe trying to gain superiority over a body of water (in this case the straights of Gibraltar) so that the army can cross, and of course the Germans only have a half baked plan to do that. Add to it the fact that the competent Generals actually have no intention of even trying, ditto for the navy, and of course the Germans are going no farther.

And I see that Churchill has been reading Machiavelli... He's going to screw the USSR over while defeating Germany. Clever. And it looks good on both Hitler and Stalin.

It's such a shame that in reality they had to let Stalin win so that we could beat Hitler, it would have been so much better if a way for both of them to lose had been found.

[Dr. Strangelove]

So, to celebrate this timeline's 1st anniversary, what better than a large, meaty update? :

THE PACIFIC: SPRING 1942

In March 1942 the US navy finally decides to take the initiative and start probing towards the Japanese Home Islands, in hopes that the IJN can be dragged to a decisive confrontation. The first effects of the buildup in american industry are starting to be felt, and the Pacific Fleet is slowly recovering from the Pearl Harbor debacle. By 1943 the americans will be hammering their way towards Japan, even if it is only by the force of numbers.

Having admitted that the battle in New Guinea and the Solomons can be reduced to a sideshow, the americans decide to start pushing in the Central Pacific towards the Mariana islands and the important base of Truk. They expect that, once the Marshall and Marianas are captured, they can be used as a base to both liberate the Philippines and invade the Home Islands.

In March 25 a task force commanded by the Hornet and the repaired Saratoga leaves Pearl Harbor towards the Marshall islands. With the bulk of the Kido Butai busy raiding the Indian ocean with no plans to return soon[1], the Americans expect that the Japanese do not present much resistance until it is too late.

From www.commonpedia.com/Battle_of_Tarawa

…It was the first great offensive of the United States in the Pacific Theater after the failed landings at Guadalcanal the last fall. The serious resistance the Japanese put up was a warning for the Americans of what would come during the rest of the Central Pacific campaign.

…the 1st Marine Division landed unopposed in Betio island in April 8[2], only to have to fight for three bloody days against the fanatical defense of a detachment of Imperial Marines.

…Despite the capture of the island being more difficult and bloody than expected, this first great victory in almost a year catalized American morale in a moment when the American public debated whether to enter the war in Europe or not. News of the victories in the Marshall islands in April and May 1942 helped Roosevelt to sweeten the pill of the American declaration of war to Germany, at a time when victory in the Pacific seemed uncertain.

Marines at the beach in Betio Atoll, April 9 1942.


[1]Deciphering of Japanese codes is starting to be fruitful for the Americans.

[2]Since the Americans have attacked Tarawa without warning, the Japanese have neglected the fortifications of the island, who are far less extensive than IOTL. OTL, the American raid on the nearby atoll of Makin in August 1942 had warned the Japanese of Tarawa’s strategic position. Also, take into account that the Japanese are devoting many more resources than IOTL to New Guinea and Burma.

The Japanese receive the news of the American advance in the Marshalls with surprise, almost with offense. The allies’ natural role should be to be mopped up by the Imperial Forces, not to successfully assault island fortresses. However, the advance of the American fleet in the Central Pacific is seen too as a golden chance to put into practice Yamamoto’s strategy of a decisive battle against the American fleet.

From War in the Pacific, 1937-1945, by Tomás Clancy Rebollo, Ed. Cuesta, Madrid, 1992

…while a tactical and moral victory for the Japanese, whose victory disease had not yet superseded their traditional fear of a direct engagement against the Americans, and with the short term strategical advantage of stopping the American advance towards the Marianas, the battle of Ebon[3] had the nocive effect of giving them enough confidence to embark in what would become the australian debacle. Convinced that the americans would not try to advance towards the Marianas in what remained of 1942, the plans for a final push in the SOPAC[4] theater that would force Australia to fight an unwinnable battle and allow Japan to concentrate in the central pacific.

…while the americans did not lose any carrier at Ebon, they failed to make any significant damage to the IJN, and lost enough planes to be forced to stop their invasion of the Marshall islands. Given the amount of resistance the japanese would give in the Marshalls, one has to wonder if the defeat at Ebon was not more beneficial to the americans in the long run.

[3]That’s a remote atoll in the southernmost tip of the Marshall archipelago. Of course, this being a naval battle between carriers, it took place some hundreds of miles away from the otherwise obscure and useless atoll.
[4]South Pacific Theater. With MacArthur dead, there is a single Southern Pacific command that covers all territories covered by OTL’s SOWESPAC + the solomons and New Caledonia.

In New Guinea, the australians have held out for a year, succesfully preventing the japanese from reaching Port Moresby. The Japanese victory at Ebon, that prevents American offensives in the central pacific for a couple of months, frees enough Japanese naval resources so that they can attempt a naval invasion of Port Moresby in June…




A fire aboard USS Saratoga during the Battle of Ebon, May 13 1942




MAY 1942

“…in the spring of 1942, the american leadership was already convenced that war on Germany would have to be declared in any moment. The german threat was now too big to ignore, and the american public started to acknowledge it, even if trying to stop the japanese juggernaut in the Pacific was understandably their first concern.
In April 1942, Roosevelt and I met at the Açores, this time as allies in a common struggle against japanese agression. My goal for that meeting was to make that alliance complete.

…I was not alone this time: Craveiro Lopes as the host, and De Gaulle and Durruti as guests insisted that America had to join the fight if they ever wanted to take back their homelands. “-Winston Churchill.

The Açores meeting, less than a month after the end of the Iberian campaign ends with nothing but promises from Roosevelt to increase aid and to attempt to convince the american public that war with Germany is unavoidable. The american fleet in the atlantic is already doing everything it can to escort the convoys until the end of the exclusion zone, and there is little that can be done besides extending it.

If the american attitude towards the war in Europe is cautiously shifting towards interventionism, the Latin American nations are brewing with pressure to try and help the allies.

First, and even when Spain’s relationship with her former colonies has not been the best for the past century, the large spanish colonies in countries like Cuba, Mexico or Argentina are doing an intense lobbying effort to try to drag these countries into the war, hoping that the United States follow suit. Spanish propaganda films and broadcasts have targeted the Latin American audience for some time now –they don’t even have to dub it- and intellectuals all over the continent are making continuous calls for more american interventionism.

Of course, the south american states cannot do much in their own. They have no fleet to speak of and their armies are woefully undertrained and underequiped, even if american counselors and gear has been pouring south of the border. But their leaders are realizing that the german menace can be used as a nice tool to distract the population from other domestic issues.


From “Life”, May 1942

…even considering that the japanese menace ought to be our first concern, the american people cannot forget that the German Reich represents the polar opposite of all America stands for. If Germany captures the Açores and the Canary Islands, there is nothing preventing the nazis from becoming a maritime power that could succesfully challenge the protection two oceans give to America. Should the germans wish to extend their tyrannical rule to the european colonies in the Caribbean, or even the latin republics[1], we could easily find ourselves with a great menace in our own backdoor. Sooner or later, America has to acknowledge that its cynical attitude towards the nations that are fighting alongside her in Asia and the Pacific cannot hold for too long. The soldiers of the british empire are giving their lives helping us to turn back the jap tide. The french possessions in the southern pacific are our last stronghold if we want to prevent the japs from encircling Australia. Portuguese soldiers are fighting in the jungles of Burma and New Guinea even if their motherland is occupied by nazi Germany. In the last meeting of allied leaders at the Açores President Durruti offered to send a spanish expeditionary force to collaborate in the liberation of the Philippines, even when this writer is sure he has more pressing concerns. What have we done to pay the selfless help the United Nations are giving us in the Pacific?


[1]This is NEUMA and the author is forgetting that Monroe Doctrine thingy, but since when does good old fearmongering care about facts?


Only a few days after this issue hits the streets, Life’s writer gets an answer:


From La Nación, Buenos Aires, May 10 1942

HUNDREDS DIE IN LINER ATTACK –NAZI SUBMARINE ESCAPES
Recife, May 9: Brazilian authorities confirm that the ocean liner Brasil from the Cia de navegación Austral[1] en route from Veracruz to Buenos Aires has been sunk by a german submarine 500 miles off the brazilian coast. The coast guards are searching for survivors, but hundreds are feared death. The german government…



From www.commonpedia.com/Jorge_Negrete

Jorge Alberto Negrete Moreno (November 30, 1911 – May 9, 1942) is considered one of the most popular Mexican singers and actors of all time.

…After working in Havana and Hollywood he was called to act in "¡Ay Jalisco, No Te Rajes!" ("Hey Jalisco, Don't Back Down!") which made him an international Latin star and helped formulate the charro film genre..

…his death when the liner he was traveling to Buenos Aires was sunk by a german u-boat abruptly cut what was a promising career. The public outrage and the antigerman demonstrations sparked by his death were the catalizer of Mexico and Argentina’s declaration of war to Germany.

Above: Inavertently saving democracy.


OK, it’s not that straightforward. The Brasil was sunk in waters technically inside the american exclusion zone, but such incidents were quite common in the Atlantic far from the US coast, and the latin american navies did not quite have the capability to oppose a sustained u-boat offensive. During the last months, german submarine commanders operating near south american waters had grown more and more overconfident, but sinking a liner –even if the captain probably confused it with a merchant coming from Casablanca or Freetown- is going too far.

The sinking of the Brasil gives Argentine president Ortiz[2] a golden chance to cement his power, though. A pro-ally himself, he has not been able to declare war on Germany because of the pro-axis factions in the army and because Argentina is making a better business remaining neutral and feeding the allies with her grain. But since the germans occupied all of Spain, demonstrations instigated by the large [3] spanish community in Argentina have increased, and the more pro-axis proponents in the argentine army seem more timid. This gives Ortiz the chance he was waiting for to get rid of the officials more opposed to his policies.


“…the german ambassador has declined to put forward to the government of the German Reich our demands of compensation for the sinking of the Brasil. This nation has already taken too many offenses from the german government in the last years, while we saw impotent how our european brothers tried in vain to defend their homeland against tyranny. This incident is the last straw. I have asked the National Congress to pass a resolution declaring war on the German Reich, effective immediately, and will ask the rest of chiefs of state in the Pan American Union to follow Argentina’s example.”- May 14 1942.

[1]Both exist IOTL, by the way.
[2]OTL, he died of diabetes in July 1942 after having given up effective power in 1940. ITTL, he has been following a treatment to keep the disease at bay.
[3]In 1936 37% of the population of Buenos Aires had been born in Spain or was of spanish origin.




Demonstration in favor of Spain, Buenos Aires, May 1942.


Mexico follows two days later. Despite the country’s official policy of neutrality, the Spanish Republic and Mexico had been close partners during the late 30’s, and Mexico had been the most vocal opposer of the german invasion of Spain, cutting all diplomatic ties with Germany in January 1941. Only the lack of resources to do the war on its own prevented Mexico from declaring war when Germany completed the occupation of mainland Spain. The massive public outrage caused by the sinking of the Brazil and Negrete’s death, and Argentina’s declaration of war just tipped the balance. The Mexican congress declares war on Germany in May 16.

Hitler does not care: everybody knows that the declarations of war by latin american states (Cuba the 17th, Chile and Brazil the 20th, Colombia the 21st…) mean nothing and will only give the U-boats an excuse to sink their ships… and he has more pressing concerns in the other side of the world.



“…the real menace is Nazi Germany. The other nations in America have grasped that menace and are now rallying against it. And what do the United States of America do? Do they hear Britain’s distress call? Do they try to help Spain and France, just like they helped us when we struggled to gain our independence? Do they go and attempt to justify their role of leader of the american republics?” – Walter Winchell’s radio column, May 21 1942.

What Winchell does not know is that Roosevelt is already working in his speech to give once the United States declare war on Germany, and considering to ask the Congress to declare war as soon as possible.

What happens the next day just surprises everybody:

“Can anyone hear me? This is Lt Krumovsky, Border Guard detachment 34832 NKVD. We are under attack of unidentified forces. Repeat, unidentified forces are attacking our outpost. We are under heavy artillery fire…” – One of many radio transmissions in the Soviet-German border, 3:45 AM, May 22 1942.


“…and the coward and unprovoked attack on the Soviet Union are only the last specimen in a long list of infamous actions that the nazi regime has done since Hitler rose to power. America thought she could stand idle and away from the concerns of the world protected by two oceans. We did not want to recognize the Japanese threat in time and suffered an attack that will be remembered as one of the most vicious treacheries in recorded histories. Do we want to suffer the same fate at Germany’s hands? No, America will finally awake and take the burden that the rest of the free world is asking her to take. In this battle between light and dark, when the destiny of the world is at the balance, America cannot pretend to be neutral, or to limit her engagement to her selfish interest. There is something more important at the stake, and I hope this House recognizes this when voting this resolution” – Franklin D. Roosevelt addresses the Congress asking for a Declaration of War against the german Reich, May 25 1942.




Deep into the Ukraine, June 1942.