N1104

The private had been waiting for fifteen minutes. He sat on the bench outside the treatment room of the field hospital, holding his arm against his chest the way men hold injuries they are trying not to think about. His wound had been dressed lightly and inadequately by the aid station that sent him here. … Read more

A wounded private sat on a bench outside a field hospital treatment room, holding his arm against his chest. His wound had been hastily and inadequately bandaged at the aid station that sent him here. He had been told to wait, and he had been waiting for fifteen minutes. The colonel arrived twelve minutes after … Read more

In 1948, a seven-year-old girl in Berlin sat down to write a letter. Around her, the city lay in ruins. Two million people faced the threat of starvation. Soviet forces had blocked every road and railway into West Berlin. But Mercedes Simon was not writing about hunger or fear. She was writing to complain about … Read more

The German invasion of the Netherlands on May 10, 1940, brought World War II to a country that had hoped to remain neutral. The Dutch army surrendered after just five days of fighting, and Queen Wilhelmina and the government fled to London. Over the following months, the Nazi occupiers imposed increasingly harsh anti-Jewish measures. Jewish … Read more

When the war in Europe ended in 1945, there was an almost unseemly scramble for the secrets of the defeated regime. The obvious prizes, such as scientific experts and Nazi technology, are well known, with Britain, France, the United States, and the Soviet Union competing directly as the Cold War began to unfold. But there … Read more

Gustav Franz Wagner was born on July 18, 1911, in Vienna, then part of Austria-Hungary. He trained as a mechanic and served as a soldier in the Austrian Army from 1928. His main political goal was the annexation of Austria into the German Reich. He joined the German Nazi Party on January 19, 1931. Beginning … Read more

On July 20, 1944, Adolf Hitler met with Italy's fascist leader Benito Mussolini, just hours after German military officers attempted to assassinate him at the Wolf's Lair, his East Prussian headquarters in Rastenburg. The plot marked the culmination of efforts by several groups within the German resistance who hoped Hitler's death would trigger an anti-Nazi … Read more

In February 1945, the leaders of the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union met at Yalta in Crimea to discuss the postwar reorganization of Germany and Europe. One key point of their meeting was that after the war, Nazi leaders would be found and prosecuted. In November 1945, a tribunal of American, … Read more

When Nazi Germany invaded the Netherlands on May 10, 1940, the Luftwaffe deployed paratroopers to seize key positions and support the rapid advance of ground troops. Heavy aerial bombardment of Rotterdam culminated on May 14 with the destruction of its entire historic center. Faced with the threat of similar devastation in Utrecht, Dutch forces surrendered … Read more