WW2 Tweets @RealTimeWWII@mastodon.muage.org

Jean Baldwin, in Blitzed Plymouth: "Leaving school we're hit by the smell of charred wood & gas from fractured pipes." 3700 houses have been destroyed, leaving thousands homeless.

In Plymouth, a communal air raid shelter in Portland Square has suffered a direct hit from a German high-explosive bomb. 76 people hiding from the Blitz killed.

German invaders of Yugoslavia have killed 36 Serbian civilians in city of Pancevo, hanging & shooting locals in random reprisal for "partisans" firing at Wehrmacht.

9-year-old Jean Baldwin, in Plymouth: "We were sheltering with mother in the cupboard under the stairs when father says the next-door house is on fire & we have to run. Outside the night is as light as day- every building is blazing."

Plymouth racked by bombings; force of explosions has blown a double-decker bus onto the roof of the gutted central bus garage.

Luftwaffe now attacking Plymouth in a brutal Blitz- British have lit decoy fires outside town to try & distract bombers, but city is still being smashed.

German panzer & mountain divisions now assaulting Thermopylae, where Anzac troops are making a last stand to protect the Allied retreat. Australian General Vasey: "Here we bloody well are & here we bloody well stay.”

After threats from German occupiers, Danish bookseller changes sign to: “Learn German in just 10 days- quickly, before our friends the Nazis leave.”

In Nazi-occupied Denmark, a bookseller has been fined for advertising: “Learn English in just 10 days- quickly, before the Tommies arrive!”

Sepp Dietrich, head of SS "Adolf Hitler" regiment, has accepted surrender of northern Greek forces- in secret, to avoid angering the Germans' Italian allies.

Allied troops are retreating in Greece via truck & lorry- leaving outflanked Greek soldiers trudging south to try & get away from Germans:

New stamp issued to mark Hitler’s birthday; as with all German stamps, postal service pays to license the Führer’s likeness, paying Hitler millions of Reichsmarks.

Yesterday was Hitler’s 52nd birthday. German radio announces he spent the day in the Balkans, “directing victorious Wehrmacht troops as they advance into Greece.”

German radio claims British have shot all heathy animals in Belfast Zoo, so that they can blame Luftwaffe bombs for killing them; Nazis denounce the British for inventing "atrocity fairytales".

RAF pilot Roald Dahl reports on the “Battle of Athens”: “Wherever I looked I saw an endless blur of enemy fighters whizzing towards me from every side.” http://www.ww2wrecks.com/portfolio/roald-dahl-and-the-battle-of-athens-on-20-april-1941/

The Royal Air Force in Greece- 12 British Hurricane fighters- have been ordered to fly in formation above Athens to boost civilian morale. There they’ve met over 100 Luftwaffe planes sent to attack the city.

Coward has just returned from a propaganda tour of USA, secretly funded by British Intelligence: "London's behaviour is absolutely magnificent. Much better than gallant. Wish the whole of America could really see & understand it."

Noel Coward, British writer, actor & spy, reports from bombed London: "I’m at the Savoy. Pretty bad Blitz overhead, but the orchestra kept on playing.”

London's smouldering from its worst bombing yet; 2300 people died last night, thousands of buildings destroyed; great shopping centre of Oxford Street left devastated:

If Thermopylae falls, road to Athens lies open to German invaders- Anzacs fight to defend the same mountain pass as the Spartans, 2400+ years ago: