"The long-awaited climax of the great Allied air offensive against Germany came like a thunderclap last week. It was the opening of the Battle of Berlin... According to the [British Ministry of Economic Warfare], the Germans have evacuated nonessential civilians (children, invalids and the aged) just as the British had from London three years before. But all evidence indicated that government officials and essential workers still remained in the German capital."
Berlin police counted 5,680 dead.
More on the bombing of Germany can be read here...
"Side by side with with the fighting men who ride to battle goes an army of men who fight with tools and machinery, instead of guns and tanks... That army of fighter-mechanics has grown in importance with the increase in the Army's dependence on motorized equipment. They operate beyond the glow of headlines - but without the aid of mechanics the Army's wheels would never turn." This article discusses the various complications and contradictions inherent with Irish neutrality in the face of the Nazi march on Europe. Even though it was clear to see that an Allied victory would certainly be an Irish benefit and the Germans had already fire-bombed Irish cities twice, the Irish leader Eamon De Valera (1882 - 1975) was hellbent on seeing to it that Ireland never played favorites. Lieutenant Colonel Richard Mangrum, USMC, was a seasoned veteran in "the Cactus Air Force" that fought the good fight at Henderson Field from Guadalcanal in 1942:
"For eight weeks the author and his fellow pilots shared the primitive life of the other Marines at Henderson Field. Some portion of his squadron was almost constantly in the air, attacking enemy reinforcements." One of Hitler's refugees from Warsaw recalled the terror of the Nazi attack on her city:
"In a mad panic I ran through streets that were a sea of flames, dragging by the hand my two children, aged eight and three. I have seen wounded and dead. I lost many friends and all my belongings. I was a refugee. And for months I suffered hunger and cold... I can still see myself pressed against the wall, holding the children tight, and waiting, waiting for the bomb to crash..."
Click here to read about the fall of Paris...
"Lieutenant K. F. Brandes of the German Army was killed on October 24 [1944] on the right bank of the Dnieper. A diary was found on him. I have seen many diaries of German officers and soldiers... It was written by a clever and educated man. Brandes was a Fascist. He calls the conquest of Europe the 'German Spring'. Like his colleagues he came to Russia for 'lebensraum'... But as distinct from other Hitlerites, Brandes saw the limit of his dreams. He faithfully described the disintegration of the German Army, showed the meanness of the men who are still ruling Germany. I will cite the most interesting excerpts from his diary." | 
