SecondWorldWar.nl
Personal recollections from world war two veterans and civilians.
WWII NEWS
Looking for a D-day book? You can find them here- Escaping the train to Auschwitz
By Althea Williams and Sarah Ehrlich
BBC News
read the amazing story here -
Escape from Auschwitz
A true story. Kazimierz Piechowski is one of just 144 prisoners to have broken out of the notorious Nazi camp and survive.
one of the survivors tells his story - Missing warplane found in Canadian Lake
The wreackage of Avro Anson was found in lake Cowinchan after having been missing more than 70 years.
Read the story here -
Keep them Rolling weekend
Veel voertuigen uit de tweede wereldoorlog zijn dit weekend te zien in st. Isidorushoeve. meer info... -
Remains of 134 WWII soldiers repatriated to Japan
19 march 2013
Six family members of Japanese World War II soldiers were in Indonesia on Monday, along with representatives from each nation’s government, in order to receive the remains of their kin that died in battle from a village in the easternmost province of Papua. Residents of the village gave them some 9,000 bone fragments of 134 Japanese soldiers who, until now, were never repatriated.
Source: japandailypress - 2500 WWII grenades found in Dutch farm field.
5 march 2013 German high-explosive grenades from the Second World War where found in a pasture in Gilze this Tuesday. The grenades where probably dumped their. They were discovered in the soil after the owner of the land found five grenades on the surface. The grenades where most likely for a Flak battery in the area.The shells are packed into boxes and temporarily stored in the bunker complex near Gilze-Rijen where they will be distroyed soon.
Source: NU.nl - Another body of a British soldier from WWII found in Holland
18 october 2012 The body of a British soldier from WW2 was found today in a field grave north of the village Bemmel in the Netherlands. The body was by chance during maintenance work while digging a canal.
The soldier probably belonged to the 50th Northumbrian Infantry Division. And was probably killed in the aftermath of operation Market Garden.
The body has been transported to Soesterberg for identification.
It is the second body of a British ww2 soldier that has been found in the past weeks. Last month the body of a British airborne soldier was found at Ginkel Heath near Arnhem.
Source: NOS - Secret hideout from WWII found in Leeuwarden, The Netherlands.
12 october 2012
In a framing factory a secret hide-out was found that has been used during world war two by people that where hiding from the nazi's. The owner of the building had died earlier this year. When his family cleared the furniture from the building they found that they could move one of the walls. After stripping away the wallpaper they found a keyhole. Behind the door there was a build-in bed and some old newspapers, sheets and a coat. The discovery was done by Coby van der Haring. He knew his parent had hid people during the war but he had never known the location of the hiding place.
Source: Telegraaf -
German World War II artillery found in Russian mountains
16 september 2012
Police in a mountainous region of southern Russia have found five German World War II-era artillery guns along with ammunition for them.
The guns - 76-millimeter cannon - are in good condition, according to police in Kalbardino-Balkaria Republic, the location of Mount Elbrus, the tallest mountain in Europe.
Read more -
German WWII warplane found in The Netherlands (IJsselmeer)
A Messerschmitt BF-109 was recovered from the water last week.
Read the full article -
Lost Lancaster crew identified after 68 years by wireless operator's wedding ring
1 october 2012
The wreckage of a missing RAF Lancaster bomber shot down 68 years ago on D-Day has been identified by a British historian from the inscription on a crew member's gold ring. ...
Read the full article here (source: the telegraph) -
Bodies of 26 WWII soldiers found
28 september 2012
The remains of 26 soldiers who died in World War II, were found in the Rostov region in the south of Russia.
The names of three of the soldiers have been determined one had is name engraved on a medallion and another had an inscription on a personal spoon. ...
Read the full article here (source: the voice of Russia) -
A Polish girl's journey across three continents
16 september 2012
When Soviet troops marched into Poland on 17 September 1939, it was the beginning of an extraordinary journey for schoolgirl Danuta Maczka. ...
Read the full article here (source: BBC) -
D-Day veteran Marion Gray, 92, receives France's Knight of the Legion of Honor award @ La Chatelaine in Upper Arlington
2 March 2012
The first Franklin County man wounded in battle on D-Day was Sgt. Marion Charles Gray.
The Colombus Dispatch (local newspaper) reported it after the June 6, 1944, Normandy landings. Gray's left arm and right leg were hit with shrapnel when he finished dragging a hurt soldier onto Omaha Beach.
Gray's arm was paralyzed. He was evacuated to a hospital in England when the smoke cleared.
"The government said he could go home," said Linda Neth, 64, Gray's daughter, who jumps in and tells the heroic parts because sometimes her father doesn't...
Read the full article here - Hal Shook, a St. Paul's parishioner and World War II veteran, received the French Legion of Honor Medal
2 March 2012
Harold Shook of Cary, right, who flew 105 combat missions during the World War II...
Read the full article here - "Only the tank Commander knows what's going on."
8 February 2012
WW2 vet recalls his time as Sherman Tank gunner with the 8th:
Newly arrived Sherman tankers soon realized they were out-gunned by the heavy German panzers. "Their shells ripped right through us," Barber said. "Ours just bounced off the panzers. We had to use our superior speed to out-flank them and target their weak spots, the sides and rear."...
Read the full article here - WW2 monument stolen in Mariënberg.
A bronze statue of a woman and child commemorating world war two in Mariënberg has been stolen from it socket last weekend. The statues have been broken from the socket. At the base of the monument there are the eight names of the local resistance fighters who lost their lives during the German occupation.
1 March 2012 The monument Photos of the socket after the theft
- New footpath in the Netherlands from Amsterdam to Westerbork commemorating the Holocaust. Opening on 27 January 2012
21 January 2012 - Tuskegee airman buried in Arlington on day his remarkable story as a WWII fighter is played out in movie theaters across USA
21 January 2012 - French Consulate Honors 25 WWII Veterans in South Florida
18 januari 2012
Read more... - US diving crew finds wreck of British submarine used in Second World War
12 January 2012
WEBSITE UPDATES
- 23 October 2015: Restyling main portal website SecondWorldWar.nl
Go to homepage - 9 March 2014: A British chaplain with the 1st US Ranger battalion
Read the full story here - 9 March 2014: The WWII saga of US Ranger battalion
Read the full story here - 8 March 2014: Pete House, 590 FA, A Battery, 106st Infantry Division, Battle of the Bulge
Read the full story here - British WWII Normandy Veteran wishes to honor lost comrades with avenue of remembrance
The full story here - Son of wwii veteran looking for information
Son of a veteran of the Middlesex Regiment is looking for the people of Enschede that are in a wartime photo of his father.
Photo here - Enschede in WWII
New website about the city of Enschede in the Netherlands in WWII. Resistance, the bombardements of the city, the luftwaffe on airfield Twente. - An infantryman's evening activities
27 March 2012
"...'You stupid idiots. Do you think you can take on the bloody German Army all on your own? What the hell do you think our artillery is trying to do for us now?" Read more... - Operation Manna photos
26 march 2012Previously unpublished photos - source unknown and old photocards from 1945. See here... - Charles Skidmore, Glider Pilot 91st Squadron 439th Troop Carrier Group
22 March 2012
"...As the glider settled on the water, Skidmore removed his flak vest, tore a large piece of fabric off the side of the cockpit and rolled out into the water. He and the pilot headed for the nearest hedgerow for protection." Read more... - An infantryman's afternoon activities
29 February 2012
"...He turned round with his battle dress top drenched with blood from a bullet wound in his neck. He calmly said 'keep it going lads, I had better get this seen to'" Read more... - An infantryman's morning activities
26 January 2012
"...He had sustained this wound, amongst others, in taking on a German tank with his sten-gun. Naturally, he came off second best." Read more... - Parachuted over occupied France
23 January 2012
Bomber pilot John M. Carah recalls Read more... - A moving letter
22 January 2012
Letter from Belgium after a food drop mission by an American bomber crew Read more... - A bombing mission over Germany
22 January 2012
Al Hymes (RCAF veteran) recalls his lancaster being shot down over Germany Read more... - The surivor
18 January 2012
Al Hymes (RCAF veteran) recalls his lancaster being shot down over Germany Read more... - An infantryman's night-time activities
17 January 2012
Welsh veteran John A. Davies recalls Holland November 1944 Read more... - Daughter chronicles her father's World War II experiences
16 january 2012Susan Berger about her father, a veteran of the 390th Bomb Group, USAAF Read more...