Witness History: World War Two history

The battle of Mandalay in WW2

In March 1945, the British Fourteenth Army were advancing on the city of Mandalay in central Burma, now known as Myanmar, which was held by the Japanese Army. The army

The Chindits

During World War Two, an unconventional special force was formed. Known as the Chindits, they fought behind enemy lines in Burma, now Myanmar during 1943 and 1944 in the

Nagasaki bomb

On 9 August 1945, the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan, killing at least 74,000 people. It led to the end of World War Two in Asia, with Japan su

World War Two’s Rome escape line

Between September 1943 and June 1944 in World War Two, the Italian capital Rome was occupied by German soldiers. Italy had surrendered and thousands of Allied prisoners

VE Day celebrations

The end of the Second World War in Europe came on 8 May 1945, after more than five years of conflict. British Prime Minister Winston Churchill announced that people coul

The death of Adolf Hitler

On 30 April 1945 Adolf Hitler killed himself in a bunker in the German capital Berlin as Soviet Red Army soldiers closed in. But first he married his lover Eva Braun, and

Exercise Tiger: Disastrous D-Day rehearsal

In April 1944, the Allies planned Exercise Tiger to practise their landing on France's Normandy beaches ahead of D-Day. During the rehearsal, a German fleet attacked, sin

'I wrote Schindler's List'

In 1980, Australian author Thomas Keneally stumbled across the story of Oskar Schindler while buying a briefcase in Beverly Hills, in the USA. The owner of the shop, a P

The mystery of Raoul Wallenberg

Raoul Wallenberg, a Swedish diplomat, saved thousands of Hungarian Jews from the Nazis during World War Two. Once Soviet troops reached Budapest, Wallenberg reported to

The Purple Heart Warriors

During World War Two, a Japanese American battalion became one of the most decorated army units in US military history. The 442nd Regimental Combat Unit earned more than

The woman who saved 2,500 children from the Warsaw ghetto

Irena Sendler was a Polish social worker who risked her life to save 2,500 Jewish children from the Warsaw ghetto during World War Two. Irena, a Catholic, was able to e

Saving lives on D-Day

Charles Norman Shay was a field medic in the United States Army when he landed on the Normandy beach codenamed Omaha on D-Day. On June 6, 1944, the US 1st Infantry Divis

The woman whose weather report changed the date of D-Day

In 1944, a young Irishwoman called Maureen Flavin drew up a weather report that helped change the course of World War Two. Maureen was working at a post office in Black

The 'comfort women' of World War Two

Between 1932 and 1945, hundreds of thousands of women and girls across Asia were forced into sexual slavery by the Imperial Japanese Army. Referred to as "comfort women"

The last eruption of Mount Vesuvius

The Mount Vesuvius eruption that buried Pompeii in 79AD is well known, but far fewer people know about the last time the volcano erupted in 1944. It was World War Two, a

French child evacuees of World War Two

In August and September 1939, tens of thousands of children began to be evacuated from Paris. The move, part of France's 'passive defence' tactic, aimed to protect child

The WW2 escape line that fooled the Nazis

In 1940 a daring rescue operation began to help Allied servicemen escape from Nazi-occupied France. French resistance fighter Roland Lepers was among those who guided st

Wang Jingwei: China’s traitor or protector?

In 1937, Japan invaded China committing atrocities including the Nanjing Massacre. Wang Jingwei was a Chinese national hero and second-in-command of China’s ruling Nation

Axis Sally: World War II traitor who broadcast for the Nazis

In 1949, Mildred Gillars – otherwise known as Axis Sally – became the first woman in American history to be convicted of treason. The former Broadway showgirl broadcast

Vidkun Quisling: Norway's traitor

In December 1939, fascist Norwegian politician Vidkun Quisling travelled to Berlin from Oslo for a secret meeting with Adolf Hitler. Quisling suggested to Hitler that th