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Second World War tweets from 1944
@RealTimeWWII
I livetweet the Second World War as it happened on this date in 1944 & for 2 years to come (2nd time around). Created by Alwyn Collinson, realtimewwii@gmail.com
Second World War tweets from 1944’s Tweets
Finland has negotiated peace with the USSR, breaking their alliance (“co-belligerence”) with Germany. Finns have agreed to expel all Germans & give up conquered Soviet lands. Red Army & Finnish officer compare their watches to see if armistice has come into effect:
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Advancing Allied forces have crossed the border between France & Belgium, & are being greeted ecstatically by locals who have suffered four years of German occupation.
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Spitfire's long-range fuel tanks are swapped with barrels, allowing delivery of fresh beer (chilled by high-altitude flight) to Allied front lines. Officially designated "Modification XXX" by RAF. Read more: spitfiresite.com/2012/01/modifi
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To supply badly-needed beer to advancing Allied troops in France, British engineers have modified Spitfire fighter planes to carry underwing barrels:
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Battlemap produced by US General Staff shows last two weeks of the war in Europe: major breakthroughs in France & Romania, as Allied forces smash from Normandy to capture Paris & Red Army reach Bulgarian border via Bucharest:
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Red Army troops have reached Bucharest, unopposed by Romanians who have been ordered to surrender to Soviets. As new government has not yet negotiated an armistice with Moscow, Red Army is still taking Romanian troops as prisoners & seizing food from locals as they advance.
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Soviet Foreign Minister Molotov says that Polish Warsaw uprising is "a purely adventuristic affair & Soviet Government could not lend its hand to it". Stalin, rebuffing pleas to from Churchill to aid Poles, calls the Home Army "a pack of criminals".
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Despite being just miles away, in the suburbs of Warsaw on the eastern bank of the River Vistula, & aware of anti-Nazi uprising by Polish resistance, Red Army has not advanced for a month, allowing Germans time to regroup & crush Poles.
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A month after Polish Home Army rose up & captured Warsaw from Nazi occupiers, city is now surrounded, cut off by German forces, constantly bombed by Luftwaffe:
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Red Army have captured Ploiești, Romania, largest remaining source of oil for Axis forces. Refineries have been wrecked by massive Allied bombing campaign, with just 20% of normal production left in operation.
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An anti-German armed uprising has begun in Slovakia, with 18,000 Slovak troops attacking occupying Wehrmacht forces & Nazi-allied puppet government.
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Germans have brought a "Karl-Gerät" super-heavy siege mortar to crush the Polish uprising in Warsaw. It can fire from 6 miles away, & needs to be accompanied by tanks to carry ammunition. Polish sappers show scale as they work to defuse a dud shell which failed to explode:
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Germans are bombarding Warsaw with artillery & aircraft, willing to level the city to destroy Polish resistance. Today, Prudential House skyscraper, site of the first television broadcasts in Europe, was hit by a 2-ton mortar shell, inflicting terrifying damage.
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Polish fighters are now trapped in Warsaw's Old Town, surrounded by German forces, almost starving. Andrzej Slawinski, 15: "We ate all the horses, then all the dogs & cats, pigeons of course. And then there was nothing left." americanradioworks.publicradio.org/features/warsa
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South African William Fairly is one of Allied pilots flying from Italy to parachute supplies to Polish resistance: "There was no difficulty in finding Warsaw. The city was in flames but with so many huge fires burning, it was almost impossible to pick up the target marker flares"
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The Warsaw uprising against German occupiers is suffering badly from lack of food, ammunition & weapons. Despite US & UK requests, USSR refuses to either drop supplies, or allow Allied planes to do so from Soviet airbases. Churchill & Roosevelt have personally messaged Stalin:
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PLUTO pipelines, product of 2 years' complex engineering, will reduce Allied armies' reliance on oil tankers, vulnerable to German bombing & bad weather.
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Operation PLUTO (Pipe-Lines Under The Ocean) has required invention of flexible steel pipe, which can be laid across the Channel by Royal Navy ships towing a gigantic 60ft. drum codenamed "Conundrum".
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British engineers have built the world's first undersea oil pipeline between UK & France: "Pipeline Pluto" stretches 70 miles from the Isle of Wight to Cherbourg, supplying Allied armies with fuel & lubricants.
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German propaganda spreads rumours of a forthcoming "V-2" wonder weapon, which will turn the tide of the war. British cartoonist David Low mocks the concept: "I understand that our beloved Führer is to personally invent a gadget that will win the war."
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In less than a month since breaking out of Normandy beaches landing zone, Allied armies in France have reached River Seine & liberated Paris. New York Times map shows rapid advance, with advance forces reaching Swiss border from southern beacheads:
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Soldiers from France's West African empire, particularly Senegal, make up large part of Free French troops fighting for De Gaulle. Unlike in segregated American army, black & white troops fight side-by-side against Nazis. Black French soldier confronts a captured German officer:
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Majority of Free French forces are black African troops; they are not permitted to take part in liberation of Paris, as white soldiers are "more desirable". For Paris parade, Allies order blacks replaced with Spanish Republicans & fair-skinned Arabs. More: news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/eur
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Free French leader General Charles de Gaulle leads a victory parade through the streets of Paris, ceremonially re-lighting Eternal Flame at the Arc de Triomphe & attending mass in Notre-Dame Cathedral- ignoring occasional sniper fire from German hold-outs concealed on rooftops.
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A Parisian civilian assaults a German soldier after his surrender to a French resistance fighter; photo by Robert Capa:
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Crowds cheering the Allied liberation of Paris scatter amid the sound of gunfire, as French fascists & Wehrmacht snipers open fire during a celebratory parade.
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Streets of Paris are packed with cheering French crowds, welcoming Allied troops as they march into the city after four years of German occupation. Watch now:
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Free French leader General de Gaulle has entered Paris with American & French troops to announce city's liberation: "We are here in Paris... Paris oppressed, downtrodden & martyred but still Paris- free now, freed by the hands of Frenchmen.""
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The German garrison occupying Paris has surrendered; Allied forces are entering the capital to link up with French resistance forces who have been fighting for six days.
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King Michael of Romania has broadcast pro-Allied messages on radio, orders Romanian army to arrest fascist politicians & stop resisting invading Soviets. Fighting has broken out between Romanian border guards & German forces.
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French resistance fighters, including 18 year old Simone Segouin, are battling Germans in streets of Paris; she's come from fighting in liberation of Chartres, where she captured 25 German soldiers at gunpoint.
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As Germans retreat & French resistance fighters seize control, many conduct humiliating reprisals against those who collaborated with occupiers: these women, accused of sleeping with the enemy, are beaten, shaved, stripped & marched through streets of Paris.
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Commander of Paris's outnumbered German garrison, Dietrich von Choltitz, is declining to burn city or blow up bridges. Contravening Hitler's direct orders, he's seeking to negotiate with advancing Allied armies.
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11 year old Shoshin Gishitomi is carrying his year-old brother when Tsushima Maru sinks. He spends 3 days adrift, surviving on soy sauce. "I thought my brother was still on my back, but what was left was just the sash that I'd used to tie him to me.”
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Japanese passenger vessel Tsushima Maru has been torpedoed by US submarine Bowfin. Americans don’t know she’s evacuating 1,788 civilians from Okinawa, almost half children. Ship sinks in minutes, rest of convoy sailing away without attempt at rescue. Just 59 children survive.
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23-year-old King Michael of Romania has launched a coup against fascist dictator Antonescu, trying to break Axis pact with Nazis & join the Allies.
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Many French cities have suffered catastrophic damage in last two months, turned into fortresses by German garrisons & smashed by Allied artillery & bombing. Two boys view ruins of their home, Saint-Lô, Normandy:
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Hitler: "The commanding general [of German occupied Paris] is to defend the city to the last man and if necessary, to go down with the city." Germans have planted mines under bridges across the Seine & made plans to burn major Parisian landmarks.
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