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Zero Hour (1944 Film)
''Zero Hour'' is a 22-minute 1944 Canadian documentary film, made by the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) as part of both the wartime ''Canada Carries On'' and ''The World in Action'' series. The film was produced by Stuart Legg. ''Zero Hour'' describes the Axis and Allied invasions that have taken place during the Second World War. Synopsis During the Second World War, the Axis powers employed joint or combined operations to launch invasions in Europe and Asia. In Norway, Nazi Germany launched an amphibious invasion while the island of Crete was overwhelmed by an airborne invasion. Japan also had been successful in its Japanese imperialist wars in Asia. In all instances, the invading forces were able to strike quickly, using small lightweight weaponry and the elements of surprise and combined forces to achieve victory. By 1940, the Allies, who had been reeling from the many defeats, had learned the hard tactical lessons with England being the first to react. After creati ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stuart Legg
Stuart Legg (31 August 1910 – 23 July 1988) was a pioneering English documentary filmmaker. At the 14th Academy Awards in 1941, Legg's National Film Board of Canada film '' Churchill's Island'' became the first-ever documentary to win an Oscar. Also in contention for Best Documentary that year was Legg's film '' Warclouds in the Pacific''. Biography Francis Stuart Legg was one of three children born to Ethel Green Legg and Arthur Legg, a solicitor. He attended Marlborough College and St John's College, Cambridge, where he read the mechanical sciences (engineering) tripos. While at Cambridge, he made ''Varsity'' (1930) with the university's Film Society, which was followed two years later by ''Cambridge'', produced with "some involvement" from British Instructional Films. Following graduation, Legg was hired as an assistant to director Walter Creighton at Publicity Films. For Creighton, he made two films, and met John Grierson, who would become his mentor and life-long friend a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Second Sino-Japanese War
The Second Sino-Japanese War was fought between the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic of China and the Empire of Japan between 1937 and 1945, following a period of war localized to Manchuria that started in 1931. It is considered part of World War II, and often regarded as the beginning of World WarII in Asia. It was the largest Asian war in the 20th century and has been described as The Asian Holocaust, in reference to the scale of Japanese war crimes against Chinese civilians. It is known in China as the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression. On 18 September 1931, the Japanese staged the Mukden incident, a false flag event fabricated to justify their Japanese invasion of Manchuria, invasion of Manchuria and establishment of the puppet state of Manchukuo. This is sometimes marked as the beginning of the war. From 1931 to 1937, China and Japan engaged in skirmishes, including January 28 incident, in Shanghai and in Northern China. Chinese Nationalist and C ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pacific War
The Pacific War, sometimes called the Asia–Pacific War or the Pacific Theatre, was the Theater (warfare), theatre of World War II fought between the Empire of Japan and the Allies of World War II, Allies in East Asia, East and Southeast Asia, the Pacific Ocean, Pacific and Indian Oceans, and Oceania. It was geographically the largest theatre of the war, including the Pacific Ocean theater of World War II, Pacific Ocean theatre, the South West Pacific theater of World War II, South West Pacific theatre, the Second Sino-Japanese War, and the brief Soviet–Japanese War, and included some of the Largest naval battle in history, largest naval battles in history. War between Japan and the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic of China had begun in 1937, with hostilities dating back to Japanese invasion of Manchuria, Japan's invasion of Manchuria in 1931, but the Pacific War is more widely accepted to have started in 1941, when the United States and United Kingdom entered the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fortress Europe
Fortress Europe () was a military propaganda term used by both sides of World War II which referred to the areas of Continental Europe occupied by Nazi Germany, as opposed to the United Kingdom across the Channel. World War II defences In British phraseology, Fortress Europe meant the battle honour accorded to Royal Air Force and Allied squadrons during the war, but to qualify, operations had to be made by aircraft based in Britain against targets in Germany, Italy and other parts of German-occupied Europe, in the period from the fall of France to the Normandy invasion. Simultaneously, the term Festung Europa was being used by Nazi propaganda, namely to refer to Hitler's and the Wehrmacht's plans to fortify the whole of occupied Europe, in order to prevent an invasion by Allied forces. These measures included the construction of the Atlantic wall, along with the reorganization of the ''Luftwaffe'' for air defence. At the end of 1942, instructions by propaganda ministe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wehrmacht
The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the German Army (1935–1945), ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previously used term (''Reich Defence'') and was the manifestation of the Nazi regime's efforts to German rearmament, rearm Germany to a greater extent than the Treaty of Versailles permitted. After the Adolf Hitler's rise to power, Nazi rise to power in 1933, one of Adolf Hitler's most overt and bellicose moves was to establish the ''Wehrmacht'', a modern offensively-capable armed force, fulfilling the Nazi regime's long-term goals of regaining lost territory as well as gaining new territory and dominating its neighbours. This required the reinstatement of conscription and massive investment and Military budget, defence spending on the arms industry. The ''Wehrmacht'' formed the heart of Germany's politico-military po ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
North African Campaign
The North African campaign of World War II took place in North Africa from 10 June 1940 to 13 May 1943, fought between the Allies and the Axis Powers. It included campaigns in the Libyan and Egyptian deserts (Western Desert campaign, Desert War), in Morocco and Algeria (Operation Torch), and in Tunisia ( Tunisia campaign). The Allied war effort was dominated by the British Commonwealth and exiles from German-occupied Europe. The United States entered the war in December 1941 and began direct military assistance in North Africa on 11 May 1942. Fighting in North Africa started with the Italian declaration of war on 10 June 1940. On 14 June, the British 11th Hussars and part of the 1st Royal Tank Regiment, (1st RTR) crossed the border from Egypt into Libya and captured Fort Capuzzo. This was followed by an Italian counter-offensive into Egypt and the capture of Sidi Barrani in September. The British recaptured Sidi Barrani in December during Operation Compass. The Italian 1 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Operation Torch
Operation Torch (8–16 November 1942) was an Allies of World War II, Allied invasion of French North Africa during the Second World War. Torch was a compromise operation that met the British objective of securing victory in North Africa while allowing American armed forces the opportunity to begin their fight against Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy on a limited scale. The French colonies were aligned with Germany via Vichy France but the loyalties of the population were mixed. Reports indicated that they might support the Allies. The American General Dwight D. Eisenhower, supreme commander of the Allied forces in Mediterranean and Middle East theatre of World War II, Mediterranean theater of the war, approved plans for a three-pronged attack on Casablanca (Western), Oran (Centre) and Algiers (Eastern), then a rapid move on Tunis to catch Axis forces in North Africa from the west in conjunction with the British advance from Egypt. The Western Task Force encountered unexpected ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Front (military)
In a military context, the term front can have several meanings. According to official US Department of Defense and NATO definitions, a front can be "the line of contact of two opposing forces."Leonard, B. (2011). Department of Defense Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms: As Amended Through April 2010. (n.p.): DIANE Publishing Company. p. 193 This front line can be a local or tactical front, or it can range to a theater. An example of the latter was the Western Front in France and Belgium in World War I. Relatedly, front can refer to the direction of the enemy or, in the absence of combat, the direction towards which a military unit is facing. Conversely, the term " home front" has been used to denote conditions in the civilian sector of a country at war, including those involved in the production of matériel. Front can also refer to the lateral space occupied by a military unit as measured from the extremity of one flank to the other. The amount of front occu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Soviet Union
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet Union, it dissolved in 1991. During its existence, it was the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country by area, extending across Time in Russia, eleven time zones and sharing Geography of the Soviet Union#Borders and neighbors, borders with twelve countries, and the List of countries and dependencies by population, third-most populous country. An overall successor to the Russian Empire, it was nominally organized as a federal union of Republics of the Soviet Union, national republics, the largest and most populous of which was the Russian SFSR. In practice, Government of the Soviet Union, its government and Economy of the Soviet Union, economy were Soviet-type economic planning, highly centralized. As a one-party state go ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and several of its European Axis allies starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during World War II. More than 3.8 million Axis troops invaded the western Soviet Union along a front, with the main goal of capturing territory up to a line between Arkhangelsk and Astrakhan, known as the A-A line. The attack became the largest and costliest military offensive in history, with around 10 million combatants taking part in the opening phase and over 8 million casualties by the end of the operation on 5 December 1941. It marked a major escalation of World War II, opened the Eastern Front—the largest and deadliest land war in history—and brought the Soviet Union into the Allied powers. The operation, code-named after the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa ("red beard"), put into action Nazi Germany's ideological goals of eradicating communism and conquering the western Soviet Union to repopulate it w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dieppe Raid
Operation Jubilee or the Dieppe Raid (19 August 1942) was a disastrous Allied amphibious attack on the German-occupied port of Dieppe in northern France, during the Second World War. Over 6,050 infantry, predominantly Canadian, supported by a regiment of tanks, were put ashore from a naval force operating under the protection of Royal Air Force (RAF) fighters. The port was to be captured and held for a short period, to test the feasibility of a landing and to gather intelligence. German coastal defences, port structures and important buildings were to be demolished. The raid was intended to boost Allied morale, to demonstrate the commitment of the United Kingdom to re-open the Western Front, and to support the Soviet Union, which was fighting on the Eastern Front. The made a maximum effort against the landing as the RAF had expected, and the RAF lost 106 aircraft (at least 32 to anti-aircraft fire or accidents) against 48 German losses. The Royal Navy lost 33 landing craft ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Reconnaissance
In military operations, military reconnaissance () or scouting is the exploration of an area by military forces to obtain information about enemy forces, the terrain, and civil activities in the area of operations. In military jargon, reconnaissance is abbreviated to ''recce'' (in British, Canadian, Australian English) and to ''recon'' (in American English), both derived from the root word ''reconnoitre'' / ''reconnoitering''. The types of reconnaissance include patrolling the local area of operations and long-range reconnaissance patrols, which are tasks usually realized in the United States of America by U.S. Army Rangers, cavalry scouts, and military intelligence specialists, using navy ships and submarines, Aerial reconnaissance, reconnaissance aircraft, satellites to collect raw intelligence; and establishing observation posts. Moreover, espionage is different from reconnaissance, because spies work as civilians in enemy territory. Etymology The word is derived from the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
