World War II

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Texas Explorer Finds the Deepest Shipwreck Ever

USS Samuel B. Roberts went down in WWII fighting Japanese warships in Philippine Sea

(Newser) - In its determined last stand in October 1944, the Sammy B took on the Japanese during a World War II battle that eventually sent it down to the ocean floor. The US Navy destroyer (official name: the USS Samuel B. Roberts) remained lost to humankind for nearly 80 more years—...

With a Big Archives Release, a Pope's Legacy Is at Stake

Current pontiff Francis orders online posting of 'Jewish' files from archives of WWII era's Pius XII

(Newser) - Pope Francis has ordered the online publication of 170 volumes of its so-called Jewish files from the recently opened Pope Pius XII archives, the Vatican announced Thursday, amid renewed debate about the legacy of its World War II-era pope. The documentation contains 2,700 files of requests for Vatican help...

After 77 Years, US Soldier Killed in WWII Identified

Pfc. Sanford Keith Bowen died fighting in France in early 1945

(Newser) - The remains of an Ohio soldier killed while fighting in France during World War II have now been positively identified, Defense Department officials announced Monday. Pfc. Sanford Keith Bowen, 26, of Ashland, was part of Company I, 3rd Battalion, 157th Infantry Regiment, 45th Infantry Division, the AP reports. The unit...

Joy, Sadness as WWII Vets Return for D-Day Ceremony

Events were scaled down for 2 years during the pandemic

(Newser) - Joy and sadness in acute doses poured out Monday on the beaches of Normandy. As several dozen D-Day veterans—now all in their 90s—set foot on the sands that claimed so many colleagues, they are thankful for the gratitude and friendliness of the French toward those who landed here...

Review of Archives Flooded in 2011 Turns Up WWII Clue

1944 report found in archive may have led to missing American's remains

(Newser) - The remains of an American airman who went missing in action in World War II may finally be on their way home, thanks to a chance discovery of records in flood-threatened archives in Thailand. US and local authorities held a solemn ceremony Wednesday at an air base in eastern Thailand...

Crews Try to Save The Sullivans
Crews Try to Save
The Sullivans

Crews Try to Save The Sullivans

World War II destroyer, named for 5 brothers, is taking on water

(Newser) - A decommissioned World War II-era destroyer docked near downtown Buffalo was taking on water and listing perilously on Thursday. Crews were working to keep the USS The Sullivans from sinking at its berth at the Buffalo and Erie County Naval & Military Park, where it had been open for tours....

New Tool in Hunt for Looted Art: a Deck of Cards

Foundation creates it to highlight missing pieces plundered by the Nazis

(Newser) - A group dedicated to finishing the work of World War II's Monuments Men is betting on a deck of playing cards—and reward money—to help find missing works of art taken by the Nazis. Inspired by the US military's history of creating playing cards related to missions,...

His 'Deeply Human Act' in WWII Is Still Remembered

US military pilot Gail Halvorsen dropped sweets for children during Berlin Airlift

(Newser) - A US military pilot known as the “Candy Bomber” for his candy airdrops during the Berlin Airlift after World War II ended has died. Gail S. Halvorsen was 101 when he died Wednesday following a brief illness in his home state of Utah, surrounded by family, per the AP...

1945 Letter Finally Delivered: 'It's Like He Came Back to Me'

John Gonsalves' widow received letter intended for late husband's mother

(Newser) - A letter sent from a US soldier stationed in Germany to his mother in Massachusetts has been delivered 76 years after it was sent, per the AP . Army Sgt. John Gonsalves, 22 at the time, wrote to his mother in Woburn in December 1945 after the official end of WWII,...

Bomb Dropped From Aircraft During WWII Just Exploded

4 injured in Munich blast

(Newser) - A World War II bomb exploded at a construction site next to a busy railway line in Munich on Wednesday, injuring four people, one of them seriously, German authorities said. A column of smoke was seen rising from the site near the Donnersbergerbruecke station, the AP reports, with the Wall ...

Cool Archaeological Site Found Due to Retreating Glacier
Cool Archaeological Site Found
Due to Retreating Glacier
in case you missed it

Cool Archaeological Site Found Due to Retreating Glacier

Researchers race clock to study WWI barracks cavern

(Newser) - Sure, it’s cool. A cave in the Italian Alps that sheltered soldiers during World War I is full of interesting archaeological treasures. It’s like a time capsule. The objects recovered—straw mattresses, helmets, newspapers—were found thanks to climate change. The cavern barracks was “literally frozen in...

New Book Examines Hitler's Fatal Miscalculation

Declaring war on US wasn't just madness, authors say

(Newser) - The fates of nations could have gone in various directions in early December 1941. Japan might have attacked British installations in Asia instead of Pearl Harbor. Italy and the Vichy government of France could have followed through on negotiations to form a close alliance. And Adolf Hitler might have avoided...

Survey Finds Awareness of Major Holocaust Fact Is Lacking

52% of UK respondents didn't know how many Jews were murdered

(Newser) - A survey released Wednesday found what organizers say is a lack of awareness in Britain about the Holocaust and a major episode in the country's rescue of Jews ahead of World War II, reports the AP . The Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, a New York-based group that...

Germany to Compensate Jewish Survivors of Siege of Leningrad

Agreement secures pensions for 6.5K Holocaust survivors

(Newser) - A German program to compensate Holocaust survivors for their suffering in World War II has been expanded to cover around 6,500 more survivors, including thousands of Jews who survived the siege of Leningrad. They will receive the equivalent of $435 a month for the rest of their lives under...

Seized by the Nazis, It Could Now Break Auction Records

Meissen porcelain collection goes up for auction next month

(Newser) - A collection of Meissen porcelain once seized by Nazis for Adolf Hitler himself is going up for auction next month. The Jewish owners of the 18th-century pieces, German lawyer Franz Oppenheimer and his Austrian wife Margarethe, fled Germany for Austria in 1936, then escaped to Budapest a little over a...

Scientists Work to Tie Uranium Cubes to Nazis

Hundreds were lost in the years following WWII

(Newser) - At the close of World War II, some 664 "Heisenberg cubes" belonging to the Nazis were dug up from a field near physicist Werner Heisenberg's secret subterranean lab and brought to the US. Kurt Diebner was at the same time also running a lab focused on trying to...

He Almost Fired on 3 Kids in WWII. Now, a Joyous Reunion

'My heart is bursting,' says American vet Martin Adler, 97

(Newser) - Martin Adler still has nightmares about his experience in World War II. But there are happy memories, too, like that day in October 1944 when he posed for a photo with three Italian children he'd nearly killed. Adler, then a 20-year-old private, had been searching the village of Monterenzio...

Man Who Kept Nazi-Era Tank in Basement Finds Out His Fate

It's a fine of $300K, plus a suspended 14-month prison sentence for German senior

(Newser) - In took 20 soldiers nearly nine hours to extract a Nazi-era military tank from an elderly German man's basement in 2015, just one of the many eyebrow-raising items found in his Heikendorf home. The man was also in possession of an anti-aircraft gun, a torpedo, machine guns and assault...

Jewish Artifacts Thought &#39;Lost For All Time&#39; Found in US
Jewish Artifacts Thought
'Lost for All Time' Found in US
in case you missed it

Jewish Artifacts Thought 'Lost for All Time' Found in US

Funeral scrolls, community records were illegally taken from eastern Europe around WWII

(Newser) - The Justice Department says it's recovered funeral scrolls, manuscripts, community records, and other priceless historical items stolen from Jewish people during the Holocaust that were thought to have been "lost for all time." The 17 artifacts dating from 1840 were taken from Jewish communities in Romania, Hungary,...

Palace Where Enigma Codes Were Cracked to Return to Life

The Nazis destroyed the Saski Palace in 1944

(Newser) - Poland is reviving plans to reconstruct a historic Warsaw palace where the German Enigma machine codes were first cracked in 1932 and that Nazi German occupying forces blew up in 1944. In a ceremony Wednesday at the site where the Saski Palace stood, President Andrzej Duda handed a law drafted...

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