Video: final order issued to attack Pearl Harbor (at 6:21)

(Tuesday, December 2, 1941, five days before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor) — A radio signal containing the code words “Niitaka yama nobore” (Climb Mount Niitaka) was received by Vice-Admiral Chuichi Nagumo aboard his flagship Akagi today, ordering the Japanese aircraft carrier strike force to attack Pearl Harbor on Sunday, December 7, 1941 (December 8 in Tokyo). Continue reading Japanese strike force ordered to attack Pearl Harbor 70 years ago today (1941) →

Video: Kurusu arrives in San Francisco (@ 2:26)

(Friday, November 14, 1941, 23 days before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor) — Smilingly expressing the hope of “making a touchdown” in his negotiations with President Roosevelt and Secretary of State Cordell Hull, special Japanese envoy Saburo Kurusu arrived in San Francisco today after a flight from Tokyo. Continue reading Japanese envoy arrives in San Francisco 70 years ago today (1941) →

Video: Panic grips Mosocw (@ 7:38)

(Thursday, October 16, 1941, Eastern Front of World War II) — The Soviet Union government began moving eastward today to Kuibyshev (modern Samara), but Joseph Stalin remained in Moscow.

The citizens of Moscow frantically build tank traps and other fortifications for the coming siege by the Germans.

Video: First snow, Zhukov (@ 3:41)

(Friday, October 10, 1941) — As the first snows of winter fell before Moscow, Soviet General Georgy Zhukov was recalled from Leningrad today to take charge of the defense of Moscow on the Eastern Front of World War II.

(click here to watch the full program, with Lindbergh @ 2:59:45)

(Friday, October 3, 1941) — Aviator Charles A. Lindbergh tonight told a rally in Fort Wayne, Indiana, sponsored by the America First Committee that U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt was leading the United States along a road which, “not many steps ahead,” might involve the suspension of the Congressional elections in 1942.

(Friday, October 3, 1941, 10:33 a.m. EST) — German leader Adolf Hitler declared in a speech in Berlin today (one day after the Battle of Moscow began) that Russia had been “broken” and would “never rise again.”

Video: Lord Beaverbrook arrives in Moscow @ 8:14

(Monday, September 29, 1941) — The First Moscow Conference opened today as American Averell Harriman and Lord Beaverbrook representing the United Kingdom met with Joseph Stalin to give assurances that those two leading Allies of World War II would aid and support the Soviet Union in the common fight against Nazi Germany.

The Unknown War - The Siege of Leningrad - 02/05

(Wednesday, September 10, 1941) — Two days into the Siege of Leningrad, Soviet leader Joseph Stalin appointed General Georgy Zhukov today to replace Marshal Kliment Voroshilov as Leningrad Front commander in the Eastern Front theatre of World War II.