Media, News, Publishing: News update 21/03/2020 (2368)

By this time, the situation in Italy had deteriorated sharply: dissatisfaction with Mussolini's regime grew, contradictions between the "black shirts" (fascist police) and the army - "the king's soldiers" intensified. In July, Rome was bombed for the first time since the start of the war. Mussolini's regime was falling apart, and he himself, demoralized and frightened, persuaded Hitler to conclude peace with Russia "like Brest-Litovsk" in order to save the German-Italian front in the West. Hitler, on the other hand, demanded from "his friend the Duce" the adoption of "the most severe measures" in the country.

In such an environment, Mussolini was overthrown: on July 25, he was summoned to the palace of King Victor Emmanuel, arrested and sent to prison in an ambulance. He did not find a single defender, even among the Nazis. The formed non-partisan government of Marshal Badoglio disbanded the fascist party. Many anti-fascists have been released from prison.

Hitler tried at all costs to prevent Italy from leaving the war. Having blocked its borders with Germany and France, a newly formed group of troops under the command of Rommel was transferred there. Hitler ordered the disarmament of the Italian army, the seizure of the fleet and aircraft, the arrest of the government and the royal family. But almost all of his orders came too late. In early September, the British and Americans landed in the south of the country, and Badoglio signed a secret truce with them, tantamount to Italy's withdrawal from the war. Upon learning of this, Hitler decided that Southern Italy and the German divisions in it were "irretrievably lost", and gave the order to take up defenses in the Italian north. However, the situation suddenly changed. For unknown reasons, the allies hesitated, lost the pace of the offensive and delayed the complete liberation of Italy for a long time. This hitch gave new hope to Hitler. He tried to restore Mussolini's regime. German paratroopers under the command of the two-meter SS man Otto Skorzeny freed Mussolini, who was under arrest in the Abruzzi mountains, and transported him to Germany. He soon founded the Italian Social Republic in the northern part of the country, which was nothing more than a name on a map. Meanwhile, an anti-fascist guerrilla war was unfolding in Italy. In Rome, declared by the German command an "open city", i.e. outside the combat zone, the Gestapo nevertheless raged. The Allies were steadily advancing north. In July 1944 they entered Rome, but the final victory came to them in Italy only in May 1945.

In Germany, by 1943, everything was subordinated to the provision of military needs. Even in peacetime, Hitler introduced compulsory labor service for every German. Millions of prisoners of concentration camps and inhabitants of conquered countries deported to Germany worked for the war. All of Europe conquered by the Nazis worked for the war.

Hitler promised the Germans that Germany's enemies would never set foot on German soil. On the distant approaches to the "German stronghold" and on its borders, a powerful defense was created. The military construction organization Todt built the Atlatic Wall - a chain of fortifications on the northern coast of France, as well as fortifications in the Balkans, in Norway, and Finland.

And yet the war came to Germany. The raids began as early as 1940-1941, and since 1943, when the Allies achieved complete air superiority, massive bombardments became regular. Huge four-engine bombers "Liberator", "B-17" ("Flying Fortress"), "Halifax" and "Lancaster" wave after wave, up to a thousand aircraft each, bombed Germany day and night. Bombs fell not only on military and industrial facilities, but also on residential areas. Dozens of cities were reduced to ruins. In Dresden alone, in one night, the number of deaths, according to various estimates, ranged from 60 to 100 thousand people (the figure was even called 250 thousand).

Scholars and politicians still argue today whether the bombing of Germany was necessary when the outcome of the war was not in doubt. Were they revenge for the bombing of England in 1940-1941, for the destroyed English city of Coventry, the ruins in London? It is useless to look for right or wrong in such disputes, because war is inherently immoral.

In the summer of 1944, an event occurred that decided the outcome of the war in the West: Anglo-American armies landed in France. The so-called second front began to operate. Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin agreed on this back in November-December 1943 at a meeting in Tehran. They also decided that at the same time the Soviet troops would launch a powerful offensive in Belarus. The German command expected the invasion, but could not determine the beginning and place of the operation. For two months, the Allies carried out diversionary maneuvers, and on the night of June 5-6, 1944, unexpectedly for the Germans, in cloudy weather, they dropped three airborne divisions on the Cotentin Peninsula in Normandy. At the same time, a fleet with Allied troops moved across the English Channel.

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суббота, 21 марта 2020 г.

News update 21/03/2020 (2368)

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суббота, 21 марта 2020 г.

News update 21/03/2020 (2368)

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суббота, 21 марта 2020 г.