​When it comes to the Battle of the Bulge, most people (including myself) seem to concentrate on a small number of iconic stories. Whether it is the succinct snarkiness of the famous "NUTS!" response to a surrender demand (and the subsequent rescue of the 101st by Patton's Third Army), the heroic front-line defense by units such as 28th Infantry, or German commandos wearing US uniforms, all of these stories capture the popular imagination and dominate the history books.
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Somewhat lost in these great stories is that, as the new year dawned, the US was ready to punch back and take the initiative from the Germans. On this day, 03 January 1945, the 3rd Armored Division (SPEARHEAD) launched a counter offensive designed to drive southeast, link up with Patton's army, and trap the overextended Germans behind a wall of steel. From the 3rd through the 9th, Spearhead ground eastward, pushing against stout resistance from German rearguard elements determined to slow the American advance. After a brief respite Spearhead resumed the lead on 13 January, battling village-to-village until they were relieved on the 21st for rest and rehabilitation.

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So Allie and I just finished watching the final season of "The Man in the High Castle", an alternate history of what might have been if the Axis won WW2. The show is based on a 1962 novel with the same premise by Phillip K. Dick. But dire prognostications about "what could happen" if America lost were happening almost 20 years before Dick published his work.

To me, American Locomotive is the king of terrifyingly dark WW2 advertising. They had a run of various adverts in 1943 that are designed to shock the reader with the consequences of defeat and inspire (or coerce) them into throwing their full support behind the war effort.

I am aware of 6 advertisements, all of which I have collected and presented here. While all are striking, the most stark to me the one where we the viewer are staring down the barrels of a Japanese firing squad while the rising sun flies over the capitol building.
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Do any of these give you the willies, even just a little bit, despite WW2 being so far in the past?

On 16 September 1945, the British formally accepted the Japanese surrender in Hong Kong, bringing an official end to an enemy occupation that had lasted over three and a half years. While the people of Hong Kong were not freed of colonial rule (they remained a colony / dependent territory of the UK), the city once again flourished and quickly became a hub of international finance and trade.

On the 29th of August 1944 the 28th Infantry Division, a unit of the Pennsylvania Army National Guard, paraded under the Arc de Triomphe  and down the Champs Élysées within the newly liberated city of Paris. While Allied forces had allowed Free French troops to have the honor of entering Paris first and accepting the German surrender, the men of the 28th Infantry, bearing the distinctive “bloody bucket” keystone insignia, represented the bulk of those fighting in the ETO — men from outside of continental Europe fighting for the freedom of strangers. ​

On this day in history (25 July 1940) the following order was given: Aggressively attack invaders; act on your own initiative; regard any surrender broadcast or announcement as enemy propaganda; resist to the end.
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These dire instructions came not from Stalin or the Japanese high command, but instead from General Henri Guisan and the Swiss government who understandably feared an imminent invasion from their belligerent Italian and German neighbors. This pronouncement was in addition to earlier instructions to fight to the last drop of blood and to the last cartridge.

On this day (13 July) in 1945, some communists did the only thing they are useful for – fight fascist assholes. Following their invasion of Yugoslavia, the Germans, Italians, Hungarians and Bulgarians (the aforementioned assholes) set up a predictably brutal occupation of the country.
 
This caused some unlikely fellows to join forces, at least for a time. First were the hardcore Yugoslavian nationalists known as the Chetniks, whose standard featured a skull-and-crossbones and whose membership was mainly composed of those royal to the monarchy. Their foil was the Communist Party of Yugoslavia, and the Commander-in-Chief of their military forces Josip Tito. Together they launched what became known as the Uprising in Montenegro against occupying Italian troops. 

On this day in 1944 U.S. Soldiers and Marines encountered the largest Banzai attack of the Second World War. Approximately 4,000 able-bodied Japanese Soldiers, followed by their walking wounded, surged out of their positions and towards the American forces that were steadfastly working their way across the island of Saipan. With fixed bayonets and flags waving they sought to annihilate the American invaders in close combat.

On June 22 1940, the French signed an armistice with invading German forces that would officially end the Battle of France in the early morning hours of the 25th. Over the course of six weeks the invading Huns had battled French, Belgian and Commonwealth forces in a dynamic and fluid campaign.

​On this day in 1941 German paratroopers (Fallschirmjägers) fulfilled what would become a traditional airborne task: airfield seizure. They also demonstrated what an absolute nightmare airborne operations can be, especially with the technique still in its infancy at the time.
 
First, with the good (well good for the Nazis… so bad?). After leaping into the sky above the island of Crete the day prior, German forces eventually captured one of their key objectives, Maleme Airfield. This allowed them to rapidly fly in reinforcements to support the paratroopers who had been fighting pretty much on their own. This success was due in large part to the absolute confusion by thousands of paratroopers descending at multiple points all over the island almost at once, and exacerbated by Allied communication issues. 

On this day (April 30th), in 1945, the Third Reich began its final disintegration with two significant events. First, at around 3:30pm, Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun committed suicide (if you want to hate them even more they killed his dog to test the cyanide first). Only a few hours later, under the cover of darkness, Lieutenant Rakhimzhan Qoshqarbaev of the 674th Infantry Regiment was the first Soldier to hoist a Soviet flag over the Reichstag.

While the fate of Germany had been sealed for quite some time (at least since the Battle of the Bulge), these events served as significant symbolic stakes through the heart of the Nazi regime. The Hitler suicide (which the Germans tried to spin as ole’ Adolf dying as a hero defending Berlin) touched off a leadership shakeup and a rash of imitation suicides by high-ranking Nazis fearful of falling into Allied hands. The raising of a flag over the capitol of a defeated enemy is a timeless symbol of conquest, and surely buoyed the spirits of those still engaged in brutal city fighting. While the flag didn’t last long (it was destroyed by Germans in the continuing back-and-forth fight) it would be re-staged and re-shot like many significant events throughout the war.