WWII in real time

Fighting at Keren has been brutal- 1 Indian soldier, Richpal Ram, led a bayonet charge with right foot blown off by Italian artillery shell- he has died & been awarded a Victoria Cross.

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In Eritrea, the advance of Indian & British troops has been fought to a dead halt in the jagged mountains above the the Italian outpost of Keren. https://t.co/ymHqFbi9o7

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Noach: Germans exchange Jewish men's wives & "compel them at pistol point to have sexual relations in the presence of the children & all their families." More: https://t.co/U9GjCm43wF

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Noach Zabludowicz reports increasing brutality towards the Jews of Poland: "Germans are breaking into overcrowded Jewish houses with guns" & force Jews into humiliating sexual displays.

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Austria has begun deporting its Jewish citizens to the new-built ghettoes of Nazi-occupied Poland; first trainload of 2003 Jews leaving Vienna now.

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Another Italian counterattack in Albanian mountains is bloodily repulsed in bitter weather conditions- snow so deep, Greeks are digging trenches in it: https://t.co/uoo2kdy8B7

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In Nazi-occupied Paris, writer Jean Galtier-Boissière is keeping a record of French collaborators: "Fine wines flow & banned beefsteaks hide under fried eggs. Fat cats rule the New Order... while housewives queue in the snow for turnips." https://t.co/VYD2z0AnDD

PM Churchill cables President Roosevelt: "Many drifting straws show Japan's intention to make war on us- to encroach on Indochina, even to attack Australia."

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Admiral Nomura, new Japanese ambassador to the USA is meeting the President for first time- assures Roosevelt of "Japanese amity" & peaceful intentions in Pacific . https://t.co/jFrB3n88ME

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German General Erwin Rommel has arrived in Tripoli with newly formed "Afrikakorps"- ready to face an Allied army for control of North Africa. https://t.co/p4AEJwreEZ

All British commandos in Italy captured- their translator, Anglo-Italian ex-waiter Fortunato Picchi, has been tortured by local fascists & shot as a traitor.

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Admirers of American President Franklin Roosevelt send him handmade Valentine's cards, like this one from Wisconsin, celebrating the President's third term of office: https://t.co/Gg1X2DeQgr https://t.co/FQaeWei5cS

Hendrik Koot, a Dutch Fascist, has died of wounds from street-fighting versus Jewish defence groups- Nazi authorities in Amsterdam promise "severe reprisals"

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Doris Ward (17), nurse, leaves hometown Bristol today for war work, not knowing when she'll return- opening sealed envelop,e she finds a Valentine's Day card from her fiancé Harry: https://t.co/oomUdJSkC1

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Hitler now meeting Yugoslav Premier, Dragisa Cvetkovich- threatening invasion if he doesn't join Fascist Axis, "the New Order of Europe".

A roomful of chemical apparatus makes just drops of penicillin a day. Doctors trying to extract leftover penicillin from Constable Alexander's urine to re-inject him. https://t.co/B0LKoz2o0H

Overnight, Alexander's temperature has dropped & his deadly infection has stopped spreading; doctors are astonished. But supplies of new penicillin drug are tiny.

Occupying Nazis in Amsterdam have registered the addresses of all Dutch Jews, so they don't need to force them to move into a segregated ghetto as in Poland- so they're just creating a "visual ghetto": https://t.co/Tvj0YmrOiU

German occupiers of Netherlands have closed off Amsterdam's Jewish quarter with barbed wire, blaming "Jewish-provoked rioting".

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Southern France has temporarily banned the sales of clothes due to severe shortages- northern France, occupied by Germany, no longer exports any textiles. Rationing begins soon.

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