Hi, this is Jim Lee, and your resident historian at World War II History’s blog Steve Terjeson was gracious enough to ask me to write a short guest article.
I have just started blogging and am doing my best to stick to the theme suggested by my domain name which is http://www.70-years-ago.com/blog. To be honest I am finding it difficult to stick strictly to the ’70 years ago’ theme as in the course of researching what happened exactly on that day in 1940 as I find so many other pictures, films, audio and assorted other information of interest. In my ’70 years ago’ world right now we are dealing with the end of the ‘Sitzkreig’. The ‘Phoney War’ since the invasion of Poland has come to an abrupt end with the invasion of Poland and Denmark.
What impressed me most about this period of German aggression is that it was not the cake walk that I had thought it was. The Germans had to do some real fighting. The Norwegians, the Danes and the British put up a valiant defense that is well documented. That is another thing that surprised me. How some of these events were so well documented. The Germans had a well oiled publicity machine that traveled with their troops and kept their homefront well informed.
A subtopic that I am becoming most interested in is the civilian involvement in World War II. What went on at the homefront? How did the people without uniforms become a part of the battle as with terror bombing? How did both sides react to this unprecedented interruption of their lives? How did they affect the conduct of the war? What was the slippery slope that was slid down from the invasion of Poland to the terror bombing of both sides that followed? How did the rules of civilian engagement change from the beginning of the war until the bitter end in the streets of Berlin?
Many questions that I will attempt to address in a thoughtful manner. I am always looking for comments on content and presentation. I will be constantly on the lookout for new ways to stretch the boundaries of WordPress and the blogging format. For me the most outstanding feature of a blog is its ability to interact with the visitor. Please accept my invitation to interact. All it takes is a glance at World War II History’s incredible blog to see that there is a wealth of historical knowledge here. I look forward to sharing with you all.
Jim Lee
sasjzl ‘at’ earthlink.net
http://www.70-years-ago.com/blog
