Warsaw, Poland • September 1, 1939 Eighty-six years ago World War II in Europe began on this date in 1939 in Danzig (now the present-day Polish city of Gdańsk) when the elderly German training ship Schleswig-Holstein, under the guise of a ceremonial visit to the city, bombarded Poland’s naval base in Danzig harbor. After a…
Beirut, Lebanon • July 12, 1941 During their advance on the Iraqi capital of Baghdad in May 1941, the British were harassed by Luftwaffe aircraft (Heinkel bombers and Messerschmitt fighters) flown in support of the pro-German Iraqi government of Prime Minister Rashid Ali al‑Gaylani. (Al‑Gaylani or El‑Ghalani, who helped found the anti-Western and anti-Semitic Muslim…
Berlin, Germany • October 15, 1939 On this date in 1939 Adm. Wilhelm Canaris, head of the German Abwehr (military intelligence), directed Capt. Theodor von Hippel to raise a commando unit that would become known by year’s end as the Brandenburgers. The name derived from the unit’s training site, Brandenburg on the Havel, roughly 54 miles/87 km…
Warsaw, Poland · September 1, 1939 World War II in Europe began on this date in 1939 in Danzig (now the present-day Polish city of Gdańsk) when the German training ship Schleswig-Holstein, under the guise of a ceremonial visit to the city, bombarded Poland’s naval base in Danzig harbor. After a fierce daylong fight Danzig…