1942: Roosevelt Willing to Sacrifice 120,000 Troops in “Second Dunkirk” to Help Soviets, Churchill Outraged

In 1942, the situation for the Soviet Union in the war against Nazi Germany took a dramatic turn for the worse. Soviet troops suffered defeats in Crimea and near Kharkov. German forces began a rapid advance westward, moving toward the shores of the Caspian Sea and the Caucasus region. Given the situation, the USSR beganContinueContinue reading “1942: Roosevelt Willing to Sacrifice 120,000 Troops in “Second Dunkirk” to Help Soviets, Churchill Outraged”

1944 Romania Switches Alliances in WW2: Out of the Frying Pan, Into the Fire

In late August 1944, World War II was clearly coming to a swift close for Romania. Having sided with Nazi Germany under the government of Ion Antonescu, Romania observed the Red Army’s August 1944 Jassy-Kishinev offensive crush the Axis front in northeastern Romania. With no realistic chance of survival, the Romanian Army declared a unilateralContinueContinue reading “1944 Romania Switches Alliances in WW2: Out of the Frying Pan, Into the Fire”

Lunch With the Nazis: Soviet Report on Events After Germany’s Unconditional Surrender: 11 May 1945

Germany’s capitulation document – or as Bob Hope put it, “The paper so nice, they signed it twice…” – was signed in Reims on 7 May 1945, and again the next day in Berlin, at the insistence of the USSR that Germany bring the war to an end in the same city from which itContinueContinue reading “Lunch With the Nazis: Soviet Report on Events After Germany’s Unconditional Surrender: 11 May 1945”