Search results for ""author walter s. zapotoczny jr""
Fonthill Media Ltd Road To Auschwitz: The Deportation of the Slovak Jews by the Hlinka Guard
The holocaust began for the Slovka Jews in Autumn of 1938, when Slovakia became an autonomous region. Jewish property was confiscated and businesses liquidated at bargain prices all in an effort to "Aryanize" the country. But by March 26, 1942 the first trainloads of Jews deported from Slovakia embarked to their final destination at Auschwitz, and death camps in the Lublin area. The mechanism for rounding up the Jews and subsequent forced deportation was the Hlinka Guard. By October 1942 the Hlinka Guard had overseen the deportation of some 60,000 Slovak Jews. During the 1944-1945 German occupation, another 13,500 Jews were deported and 5,000 imprisoned. Many of the Jews ended up at the Auschwitz Birkenau Concentration and Extermination Camp. After a brief respite, the Hlinka guard once again took to rounding up, and persecuting Jews throughout Slovakia. Slovak Gypsies (Roma) were also persecuted by the Hlinka Guard. Hlinka Guardsmen were used to do the dirty work, killing suspect Roma rebels in front of their wives and children, and then murdering the entire family.
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Fonthill Media Ltd Crushing the Japanese Surface Fleet at the Battle of the Surigao Strait: The Last Crossing of the T
In late 1944, the Second World War in the Pacific was going badly for Japan. The U.S. Pacific fleet had moved to the Mariana Islands in support of General MacArthur’s army, which had landed on the east coast of Leyte in October. The U.S. 7th Fleet was near the Surigao Strait off Leyte. The Japanese strategy was to entrap the U.S. Navy’s 7th Fleet by its naval forces from the north in the Sibuyan Sea, and with assault from the south from Surigao Strait. On the afternoon of 24 October, 7th Fleet torpedo-boats moved through Leyte Gulf and Surigao Strait into the Mindanao Sea south of Leyte, and by dusk were in position on their patrol-lines. Covering the northern part of the strait, were posted the destroyer squadrons, cruisers, and battleships to form the horizontal bar to a "T" of vast fire power which the enemy would be forced to approach vertically as he moved forward. With overwhelming force, the impenetrable gauntlet defeated the Japanese at Surigao Strait and played a significant in winning the Battle of Leyte Gulf and in so helping to secure the beachheads of the U.S. Sixth Army on Leyte against Japanese attack from the sea.
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Fonthill Media Ltd The Aztec Eagles: The Forgotten Allies of the Second World War
Very few people would include Mexico in the list of U.S. World War II Allies. Sadly, Mexico's aid to the United States and the Allies has been largely ignored by historians and is mostly absent from American history books. When the Mexican aviators had the opportunity to show their courage in battle, they did so with valor. Allied theater commander General Douglas MacArthur commended the pilots and 150 support personnel. The 31 pilots of Mexican Expeditionary Force 201st Fighter Squadron flew missions supporting ground troops in the Philippines and long-range sorties over Formosa. The Aztec Eagles helped the Allies defeat Japan. They helped end the isolationism of Mexico. They paved the way for important agreements between the United States and Mexico. They helped modernize the Mexican Air Force and demonstrated that Mexico could mount a successful expeditionary force. Significant as these achievements are, perhaps the unit's most important legacy is that the Aztec Eagles fought for honor and for Mexico as Allies in WWII, creating national pride throughout their homeland. That pride endures and is evident today as the story of the Aztec Eagles can be heard in towns and villages across the nation.
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