Broadcasts from the Blitz: How Edward R. Murrow Helped Lead America into War
ASIN: 1597970123
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London, England · November 6, 1940 On this date in 1940 a German Heinkel 111 was shot down and sank in the shallows off southern England. A waterlogged X‑Geraet (“X‑device”) was recovered. The X‑Geraet played a role in the Battle of the Beams, a period early in the war when German bombers were equipped with…
Washington, D.C. · September 8, 1939 On this date in 1939, eight days after Nazi Germany invaded neighboring Poland, triggering World War II in Europe, President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared a state of “limited national emergency.” The underfunded and undermanned U.S. military forces were strengthened, and the next year Congress provided major military budget increases, which led…
London, England • July 8, 1941 On this date in 1941, 5 months before the United States was drawn into World War II, the Boeing B‑17 Flying Fortress was flown in combat for the first time, this by the Royal Air Force in an attack on the North German port of Wilhelmshaven. The first production model, the…
Washington, D.C. • September 8, 1939 On this date in 1939, 8 days after Nazi Germany invaded neighboring Poland and triggered World War II in Europe, President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared a state of “limited national emergency.” The proclamation directed measures “for the purpose of strengthening our [U.S.] national defense within the limits of peacetime authorizations.”…
Rheine Airfield, Lower Saxony, Germany • June 15, 1943 On this date in 1943 the world’s first jet-powered bomber, the Arado Ar 234 Blitz (English, Lightning), made its appearance in the skies over Northwestern Germany. The flight of this all-metal, single-seat, twin-jet prototype came 11 months after the first flight test of a fully configured Messerschmitt Me 262…
Washington, D.C. · December 20, 1940 On this date in 1940 President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed William Knudsen to head a 4‑member board (Office of Production Management, or OPM) to plan for national defense and coordinate aid to Great Britain following Germany’s total blockade of that island nation in mid-August (Battle of the Atlantic). A Danish…