istoryworld
Events relating to europe
The Nazis build a new style of concentration camp, at Auschwitz in Poland, in which the fit will work and the unfit will be killed
German industrial enterprises are moved from the vulnerable Ruhr valley to the slave labour facilities of Auschwitz
British engineer Barnes Wallis designs a bouncing and rotating bomb for use against German dams
Pierre Laval becomes head of the government in German-backed Vichy France
Germany launches a bombing campaign specifically targeting historic British cities with three stars in the Baedeker guidebook
George VI awards the George Cross (for civilian valour) to the entire besieged island of Malta
German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer flies to neutral Sweden to contact the British on behalf of conspirators against Hitler
Hitler orders a massacre at Lidice, a village near Prague, in retaliation for the death of Heydrich
Anne Frank and her family go into hiding in an Amsterdam attic
Treblinka is constructed, in Poland, as the Nazis' first large-scale and purpose-built death camp
A renewed German campaign eastwards in Russia results in the capture of Sebastopol and the Crimea
Russia's new heavy industry is relocated to the east to escape the German advance
Bernard Montgomery is appointed commander of the demoralized British and Commonwealth Eighth Army in North Africa
Canadian troops provide most of the assault force in a disastrous raid on Dieppe
A desperate battle begins for the city of Stalingrad, with house-to-house fighting between Germans and Russians
Hitler, disregarding the armistice, sends German troops to take control of Vichy France
Soviet tanks complete the encirclement of 20 German divisions at Stalingrad
French crews in Toulon scuttle the fleet to prevent it falling into German hands
The loss of merchant shipping to U-boats reaches a peak in the Battle of the Atlantic, with 1.5 million tons sunk in the last quarter of the year
French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre expounds his theory of existentialism in Being and Nothingness ('L'Être et le néant')
English contralto Kathleen Ferrier makes her London début in Handel's Messiah in Westminster Abbey
Pablo Picasso transforms a bicycle's handlebars and saddle into Head of a Bull
Jean-Paul Sartre begins a new career as a dramatist with his first play, The Flies ('Les Mouches')
With much of the German Sixth Army destroyed, the survivors led by Field Marshal Friedrich Paulus surrender at Stalingrad
New Allied successes against the German U-boats provide a turning point in the battle of the Atlantic
