istoryworld
Events relating to germany
German industrial enterprises are moved from the vulnerable Ruhr valley to the slave labour facilities of Auschwitz
Germany launches a bombing campaign specifically targeting historic British cities with three stars in the Baedeker guidebook
German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer flies to neutral Sweden to contact the British on behalf of conspirators against Hitler
The German V-2 rocket is successfully tested by Wernher von Braun and his team at Peenemünde
An international declaration condemns Germany's 'bestial policy of cold-blooded extermination'
Hitler appoints Karl Dönitz as commander of the German navy
Martin Bormann, previously head of the party secretariat, becomes Hitler's personal secretary
Two hydroelectric schemes in the Ruhr valley are destroyed by the RAF's Dam Busters and their bouncing bombs in Operation Chastise
Belsen, used as a prisoner-of-war camp since 1940, is turned into a concentration camp
The Hamburg Fire Department coins the word Feuersturm ('firestorm') to describe the unprecedented effects of an RAF raid on the city
The RAF bomb the German V-2 rocket research station at Peenemünde
Allied bombers begin four months of night-time raids on Berlin
Italy changes sides and declares war on her recent ally, Germany
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, in Buchenwald, writes his Letters and Papers from Prison
Adolf Hitler narrowly escapes death from a bomb placed by Claus von Stauffenberg
The Messerschmitt Me 262 fighter-bomber flies into combat, introducing the jet era in aerial warfare
from July - more than 5000 Germans, among them Rommel, die because of the Stauffenberg plot
Romania changes sides to fight with the Red Army against Germany
Allied bombing of Berlin forces Hitler to take refuge in his underground bunker
British bombers launch a devastating raid against Dresden, killing tens of thousands in a firestorm
The Soviets instal a puppet government in Romania while the fight continues against Germany
Patton's Third US Army is the first Allied force to cross the Rhine, at Oppenheim, south of Mainz
Montgomery's Twenty-First Army Group crosses the Rhine at several points in the north
Adolf Hitler orders a scorched earth policy within Germany, in the path of the advancing Allies
Dietrich Bonhoeffer is executed in a Nazi concentration camp just a month before the end of the war in Europe
