Reply #28: The chronology of World World II

[HamdenRice]

Seriously. I had read about the war, talked to relatives in the war, and had a pretty good grasp of it.

But only after the 100th or so history channel program have I really developed a feel for the total chronology of the U.S. portion, and how events in the European and Pacific theaters related to each other.

It was remarkably short, in a way. That's the insight. My father who was in WWII used to talk about the phoney war period, which I never quite understood. But basically from Pearl Harbor till D-Day (December 1941 to June 1944) was almost two and a half years during which the US was preparing and practicing (eg the invasion of Italy).

Then wooommmp -- from D-Day to the fall of Berlin was less than a year!