1919-1937

Stalin's regime begins periodic campaigns that will be called the Great Purge and will kill more than 724,000 Soviet citizens, deemed enemies of the state and the Soviet revolution.

Britain's foreign minister, Anthony Eden, considers Mussolini an unreliable gangster. He dislikes his government sending Lord Halifax on diplomatic missions abroad in his place. Eden resigns and is succeeded by Halifax, who is to be associated with the government's policy of appeasement.

Expulsions of Jews has begun in Czechoslovakia.

Hitler orders the release of several hundred Jews from concentration camps. In Britain, Prime Minister Chamberlain announces that "His Majesty's government has been greatly impressed by the urgency of the problem." He speaks of the possibility of Jews finding refuge in Tanganyika and British Guiana.

The German army enters Prague peacefully. Czechoslovakia ceases to exist. The government of Neville Chamberlain is outraged by Hitler having ignored his promise at Munich to respect what remained of Czechoslovakia. Chamberlain now believes that Hitler's word is worthless.

- Hitler ordered the extermination of mentally ill.  S3,

In the state of Delaware, nylon stockings appear on the market for the first time.

The U.S. Navy has moved the base of its Pacific Ocean fleet from San Diego to its naval base at Pearl Harbor, in the Hawaiian Islands. Admiral Yamamoto Isoruku, commander of Japan's Combined Fleet, describes the move as "tantamount to a dagger pointed at our throat.

German forces began a blitzkrieg of the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg, skirting France's "impenetrable" Maginot Line. Belgium was invaded by Germany and maintained resistance for 18 days.  S4, S8, History.com,

German troops occupied Paris and Marshal Philippe Petain became the head of the French government and sued for peace. Gertrude Stein translated Petain’s speeches and hailed him as a hero of the French nation.  S4, Germans enter Paris.  S8, History.com,

-  Trotsky assassinated in Mexico - History.com,

-  Because Germany has failed to destroy Britain's ability to strike with fighter airplanes, Hitler drops his plan for a cross-channel invasion of Britain.

FDR proclaims an unlimited national emergency - History.com,

The US Navy destroyer "Reuben James" was torpedoed by a German U-boat off Iceland, killing 115, even though the United States had not yet entered World War II.
USS Reuben James Exhibit - NARA    S5,

Russian offensive in Moscow drove out the Nazi army.  S5,

=1942  1942 Timeline       WW2 Timeline, 1942

-  Daylight Saving time instituted - History.com, 69/;[635t

Japanese sub bombards Midway - History.com,

British and US intelligence received information on Nazi plans for the Holocaust: "It has been decided to eradicate all the Jews." This was part of a dispatch from a Chilean consul in Prague, Gonzalo Montt Rivas, to Santiago of a German decree that Jews abroad could no longer be German subjects.  S6,

The first US air strike against Japan, an air squadron from the USS Hornet led by Lt. Col. James H. Doolittle (d.1993), raided Tokyo and other Japanese cities. 16 U.S. Army B-25 bombers broke through Japanese defenses to strike Tokyo and other cities in broad daylight. The North-American B-25B Mitchells were launched from the deck of the aircraft carrier Hornet, and after striking their targets, flew on to China. 2 of the 80 men drowned. 3 of 8 captured by the Japanese were executed and 1 died in a prison camp. Doolittle later became the commander general of the Eighth Air Force. In 1943 Ted Lawson authored “Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo,” an account of the bombing of Tokyo.   S6,

-  The Battle of Coral Sea Begins - History.com,

Four men landed on a Long Island beach from a German submarine with plans to sabotage NYC’s water system and industrial sites across the Northeastern US. [see Jun 27]  S6,

Four men landed on a Florida beach from a German submarine with plans to sabotage US industrial sites. [see Jun 27]  S6,

A Japanese submarine shelled Fort Stevens, Oregon, at the mouth of the Columbia River.  S6,

First deportations from the Warsaw Ghetto to concentration camps; Treblinka extermination camp opened.  S8,

FDR broadcasts message to Vichy France leader Marshal Petain - History.com,

Polish Christians come to the aid of Polish Jews - History.com,

Extract: Walter talked about the poison Oak and how most all of the soldiers got into it in one form or another. He said when someone got it they had to spend 7 days in the hospital to get over it. The only thing they had for it was some pink stuff they rubbed on it. Since you had to crawl around on the ground and move through the brush, etc you couldn't help but keep getting it - [Interview 2 July 2003, page 2, 3 - Link]

Basic Training:  Learn to shoot a gun - How to use a compass - Quick Order Drill - Hikes: 20-mile hikes and 5-mile fast hikes - Close-order drill (Every Morning) - Got up at 5am each morning, sweep & Mop barracks, make bed and fall out for Reveille, eat breakfast, then Close-order drill.  [Interview 2 July 2003 - Link]

According to Walter on 13 Jan 2011, he kept this Bible in his left uniform pocket - and kept it there throughout his time in Europe.

-  The head of Murder, Inc. is executed - History.com,
-  8th Air Force bombs Berlin - History.com,

-  Germans liquidate the town of Oradoursur-Glance in France - www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/timeline/oradour.htm 
-  Joe Nuxhall makes MLB debut at 15 - History.com,

Walt:  Life at "J" Area -  [S1, p 27] -                                                                                                    
    -- Light training
    -- Lots of Speculation
    -- Each Company set up in a separate field separated by hedgerows serving as fences
    -- No towns were close to the area
    -- Division Band and USO shows
    -- French cider and Calvados
    -- Daily 5 mile forced marches

Allies slaughtered by Germans in Arnhem - History.com,

413th to serve with the 1st Canadian Army -    -
-- Picked up by Polish soldiers driving British trucks with Canadian marks and rolling on US tires  [S1, p 29] - "The primary mission of the 1st Canadian Army was to clear the northern approaches to Antwerp" -  "While the British Infantry reduced the stubborn German stronghold on Walcheren Island in one of he bloodiest assaults of the entire war…" - "…the Canadian Army set out to throw the Germans back north of the Maas estuary." - "If these two objectives could be attained, Antwerp, the largest port on the European continent, would be cleared as a supply base for all Allied armies on the Western Front." - "The American breakthrough from Normandy had halted in the western fringes of the Siegfried Line for lack of supplies." - The 413th relieved the 56th Brigade of the 49th British Inf. Div. (Polar Bears) - 413th, 1st Battalion captured the first Reg. German prisoner - The next day the 413th took its first town – Trek, Belgium - by I Co.   [S1, p 33]  

-  Battle of Leyte Gulf ends - History.com,

Walt:  "spent in an assembly area in and around Zundert, preparing for further advances;"  Most Seagulls had been blooded - knew when to duck and could tell the difference between an American and a German machine gun - Trench foot training now made sense - they were wet all the time -  [S1, p 34] -
S16, ("Canals of Holland")

Trench Foot - Wikipedia Article   | 

Walt:  Holland Canals:
The canals in Holland were about waist or chest deep and we had to wade in them because we were pinned down by a German tank for about 2 or 3 days. We were wet and cold and could not get dry - this is where we all got trench foot. You could not dig foxholes in the ground because the area was below sea level. We did dig our foxholes in the mounds of dirt along the canals. This was dirt piled up when they dug the canals  (Interview 1 Sept 2005)

The Houses and barns in Holland were built together, very clean people. There were canals everywhere. Lots of little ones and the big ones that fed the little ones. There were lots of big windmills that was used to grind feed and generate electricity.  (Interview 2 July 2003 - Doc0871.pdf)

FDR elected a record fourth time - History.com,

Soviet master spy ( Richard Sorge) is hanged by the Japanese - History.com,

Siegfried Line  -

Aachen, Germany - Some generic videos in 1944 - 29 Oct 1944 - 1944 - 31 Oct 1944 - 1944 - 1944 -
 -

Walt:  1st Battalion:  Headed for Durwiss "in a daylight attack across almost a thousand yards of open, muddy fields.  The companies shouldered their way into town through a terrific volume of mortar, machine gun, artillery, and small arms fire.  Company A suffered its heaviest causalities in the half hour before entering town; B Company, which also got pinned down, lost almost a platoon.  German observers hiding in a bypassed shed on the lip of an immense open coal pit at the edge of town had obtained perfect fire on the approaching 1st Battalion." - "Durwiss was buttoned up only after eery skirmishes in the reinforced cellars and connecting tunnels which had served as air raid shelters and barracks for the German defenders."  [S1, p 46]

French troops drive through the Beffort Gap to reach the Rhine   S8,

Wikimedia.org Link - Inden, Germany

Walter had suffered a shrapnel wound to his left forearm.  The scar is 2 to 3 inches in length and is centered on the bottom part of his forearm.  [S26]

The shrapnel came from a German hand grenade "They were long like a pipe but bigger on one end and they could throw them a long way" [S27]  "Potato Masher"  .

The Germans had a machine gun nest and were firing tracer bullets over their heads - Dad thought he could get close enough to throw a grenade at the machine gun but before he could throw it he was hit with shrapnel.  [Interview with Walter C. Robbins, Sr., 22 March 2010]

What did they do for you on the field after you were wounded? They had a little brown tablet, they'd give you that and a shot of Penicillin.  [Interview, 2 July 2003, Doc0871.pdf]

Hospitals

-  US approves end to internment of Japanese Americans - History.com,
-  Waffen SS murder 81 US POWs at Malmedy - www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/timeline/malmedy.htm

Walt Spent night at Camp Kilmer, New Jersey  S1 p 114,

-    Potsdam Conference begins.  S8,

Soviets declare war on Japan, Invade Manchuria - History.com, -

Physical Description:  Brown Eyes, Brown Hair, Height:  5' 8", Weight:  175, White

Camps

Fort Benjamin Harrison (Induction) - Indianapolis, Indiana

Camp Adair (Boot Camp) - Oregon

Camp Hyder - Arizona

Camp Horn - Arizona

Camp Granite - California

Fort Carson - Colorado

Camp Kilmer (Departure) - New Jersey

Camp Lucky Strike (France)

Camp San Luis Obispo (Discharge)  -California