The Scots played an important role in the Allied victory - from the battlefields of North Africa to life on the home front. Members of the Polish army, navy and air force, stationed in Scotland, fired on the Nazi bombers and fought in the Battle of Britain.
Scotland suffered more than 500 German air raids during the course of the war. These ranged from single aircraft attacks to planned bombings conducted by 240 planes intending to strike terror and fear into the civilian population. More than 2500 Scot's died as a result and 8000 were injured.
On 13 and 14 March 1941, Clydebank was the target of one of the most intense Luftwaffe bombing raids of World War II. Each night, over 200 German bombers attacked, aiming to destroy naval, shipbuilding and munitions targets. Clydebank's housing bore the brunt of the raids.
But a new book - Luftwaffe Over Scotland, by Les Taylor - claims the fishing port was the second most bombed place in Britain after London. The reason was not because of its strategic value, but Peterhead's geographical position. It was the first urban area the Luftwaffe saw as they attacked the UK from Norway.
The First War (1296–1328) began with the English invasion of Scotland in 1296, and ended with the signing of the Treaty of Edinburgh–Northampton in 1328.
On 17 March, the official figure for homeless people who had been allocated accommodation was 11,350. The German bombing campaign on Clydebank of 13 and 14 March 1941 had resulted in more deaths and destruction than anywhere else in Scotland during the war.
This autumn marks the 75th anniversary of the Blitz - the massive, almost nightly air raids on London and cities including Coventry and Manchester. The largest air raids in Scotland were directed against Clydeside - especially Clydebank - in the spring of 1941 while Aberdeen was also bombed on many occasions.
The Cardiff Blitz (Welsh: Blitz Caerdydd); refers to the bombing of Cardiff, Wales during World War II. Between 1940 and the final raid on the city in March 1944 approximately 2,100 bombs fell, killing 355 people. Consequently, it and the surrounding area were heavily bombed.
The Germans too snapped into action. Ever since Mussolini had begun to falter, Hitler had been making plans to invade Italy to keep the Allies from gaining a foothold that would situate them within easy reach of the German-occupied Balkans. On September 8, Hitler launched Operation Axis, the occupation of Italy.
On December 11, 1941, Italy declared war on the United States in response to the latter's declaration of war upon the Empire of Japan following the attack on Pearl Harbor four days earlier. Germany also declared war on the U.S. the same day.
Italy joined the war as one of the Axis Powers in 1940, as the French Third Republic surrendered, with a plan to concentrate Italian forces on a major offensive against the British Empire in Africa and the Middle East, known as the "parallel war", while expecting the collapse of British forces in the European theatre.
The Corpo Aereo Italiano (literally, "Italian Air Corps"), or CAI, was an expeditionary force from the Italian Regia Aeronautica (Italian Royal Air Force) that participated in the Battle of Britain and the Blitz during the final months of 1940 during World War II.
Fascist Italy, prior to its collapse, suffered about
200,000 casualties, mostly POWs taken in the invasion of Sicily, including more than 40,000 killed or missing.
Italian campaign (World War II)
| Date | 10 July 1943 – 2 May 1945 (1 year, 10 months and 22 days) |
|---|
| Location | Italy, San Marino, Vatican City |
Bombings of Vatican City occurred twice during World War II. The first occasion was on the evening of 5 November 1943, when a plane dropped bombs on the area south-west of Saint Peter's Basilica, causing considerable damage but no casualties.
Rome had been the capital city of Italy for around 70 years, but large parts of the city were more than 2,500 years old.
| Bombing of Rome |
|---|
| Date 16 May 1943 – 5 June 1944 (1 year, 2 weeks, 6 days) Location Rome, Italy Result Allied victory |
| Belligerents |
| United Kingdom United States | Germany Italy |
| Commanders and leaders |
The Allies Target Italy: 1943Did you know? Among the British and American Allied troops fighting in the Italian Campaign were Algerians, Indians, French, Moroccans, Poles, Canadians, New Zealanders, African Americans and Japanese Americans. The decision to attack Italy was not made without debate.
Belarus suffered the worst devastation of any country during the war in terms of a percentage of its population. Over a quarter of its population, 2,290,000 people, died during the conflict. In terms of total numbers, the Soviet Union bore an incredible brunt of casualties during WWII.
The D simply stands for “day.” The designation was traditionally used for the date of any important military operation or invasion, according to the National World War II Museum. Thus, the day before June 6, 1944, was known as D-1 and the days after were D+1, D+2, D+ and so on.
Kraków was saved because no one planned to destroy it. After the fall of Communism in 1989, the story was revised. Kraków was just not one of these cities. The legend of the whole city being mined before its 'liberation' seems no more than a legend nowadays.
Liverpool experienced its first air raid in August 1940 and was targeted regularly through the autumn of 1940 with 15 raids in September and nine in October.
V2 rockets were first launched against England in September 1944. Over the next few months, nearly 1,400 struck London. They were less accurate than V1 missiles, but since they travelled at the speed of sound, and so made no warning noise before impact, it was almost impossible to defend against them.
Hull was the most severely damaged British city or town during the Second World War, with 95 percent of houses damaged. It was under air raid alert for 1,000 hours. More than 5,000 houses were destroyed and half of the city centre destroyed.
