After The Battle #148 – Wilhelmshaven

Tony Colvin tells the story of this German port city on the North Sea which was greatly extended during the Nazi era to become the largest state – owned naval dockyard in the world, with Hitler labelling it the ‘Kriegshafen des Grossdeutschen Reiches’ (War Port of the Greater German Reich). The Liverpool Blitz – Although many of the iconic images of the Blitz were taken in London, numerous other cities outside the capital suffeRed heavy damage and loss of life. As a major port with extensive docks, Liverpool was an obvious target for the Luftwaffe, which began its first operations against the city in August 1940. Neil Holmes describes the devastating effect this had. Banner of Victory over the Reichstag – Nikolai Bodrikhin and Tony Le Tissier recount the tale of how Stalin gave a speech on November 6, 1944, in which he said ‘The Red Army is now coming up to its last conclusive mission; together with the armies of our allies, we have to complete the defeat of the German Army, kill the fascist beast in its own lair and raise the banner of victory over Berlin.’ for the Red Army soldier ‘the lair of the fascist beast’ meant only one thing; the Reichstag building in Berlin.

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