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Three years to the day after Germany launched an invasion of the USSR, Red Army have begun Operation Bagration: a huge offensive in east Europe, aimed at enveloping & crushing German Army Group Centre.
On Valentine’s Day, Americans exchange cards with loved ones separated by war & distance- including these military themed ones lamenting the “draft that blew you away from me” (military conscription).
US Army maps show the last month of war across the world, from American island-hopping in the Pacific to Red Army advances in Ukraine & Estonia. They also mark German encirclement of the Allied bridgehead at Anzio, Italy:
"Why die for Hitler?" Allied planes are dropping leaflets over southern Italy urging Italian soldiers not to fight, warning Germany is using "Italy as a shield against the overwhelming superiority of the United Nations".
Both Axis & Allied nations are struggling with severe labour shortages, as working-age men are conscripted into armed forces. From Australia to Canada, women are being recruited into factories to keep industries going:
American territory in Hawai'i & Alaska have both been bombed already by Japanese planes, but this is the first aeriel assault on an American state.
All American citizens are being asked to spend 10% of their income buying war bonds: US government is seeking to raise huge sums of money by voluntary subscription rather than taxes.
Norwegians refuse en-masse to support the Nazi war effort, & resist SS effort to recruit a "Norse legion" to fight Communism in the USSR:
British propaganda proclaims fascists will be defeated, as in the past: "We beat 'em before… we'll beat 'em again!"