WW2 Tweets @RealTimeWWII@mastodon.muage.org

Japanese Naval College have finished its annual war games, this year planning a "hypothetical" surprise attack on US Naval base of Pearl Harbor.

"At night the surrounding ring is clear to see, illuminated by fires that light up the horizon, which here & there give the sky a wonderful yellow hue."

Soviet military journalist Yury Krymov, trapped in Ukraine, is writing a last letter to his wife: "All around, wherever you look there are German tanks or machine gun nests... it's our fourth day, within this circle of fire."

East of Kiev, 10,000s of Red Army soldiers still resist in tattered pockets, fighting without food & sometimes without bullets- just knives against the Wehrmacht.

Germans now occupying ravaged Kiev; Nazi SS murder squads are combing city for Jews & Communists, to "liquidate the Bolshevik menace".

Paris is the City of Light no more: stung by recent wave of sabotage, Nazi occupiers have ordered a curfew from 9pm-5am; any French found on streets will be arrested.

British potato drive aims to save badly-needed cargo space by reducing food imports. Britons urged to sing pro-tato ditties:
"Potatoes new. Potatoes old
Potato (in a salad) cold
Enjoy them all including chips
Remembering spuds don’t come in ships"

As food grows scarcer in UK, Britons are being urged to eat more potatoes; government suggests recipes like mashed-potato sandwiches.

Luftwaffe using incendiary bombs to flush Red Army out of hiding in Russian forests; one German soldier: "That unique smell, sweet & acrid- the burnt flesh of men & horses."

With the capture of Kiev, Axis forces have crushed Red Army opposition from Baltic to Black Sea; next target is Moscow. New York Times map:

Reza Shah, King of Iran, has been forced to abdicate the throne in favour of his son, at demand of British & Soviet invaders- despite threatening to shoot the general who suggested he surrender.

Kiev, the "Jewel of the Ukraine", is now a shattered shell, booby-trapped with thousands of landmines in bitter last act by Soviets.

Over 500,000 Red Army troops have been trapped in the "cauldron" around Kiev- largest encirclement in military history. Wehrmacht: "Their annihilation is now in progress."

For six weeks, German bombs & artillery have smashed Kiev; Stalin's orders to trapped defenders: "Stand fast, hold out, & if need be, die."

German troops have broken into surrounded city of Kiev- Red Army defenders, trapped by encirclement of Wehrmacht's panzers, are fighting a bitter last stand.

What cartoonist Theodor Geisel- better known by pen-name "Dr. Seuss"- thinks of those who argue that Jewish Americans are dragging USA to war with Germany:

Lindbergh: Jews, the British & Roosevelt must stop pushing US to war in Europe: "We are on the verge of war, but it is not yet too late to stay out."

Charles Lindbergh, "America First" isolationist, warns American Jews against backing a US war with Germany: "They would be the first to suffer its consequences."

In line with Hitler’s order, German panzers are being pulled off front lines around Leningrad & sent south by train, to join assault on Moscow.

Hitler tells German generals: a frontal assault on encircled city of Leningrad is pointless- he wants to send German troops south, to take Moscow. "Let St. Petersburg wither on the vine."