Category: World Civ-World War Two

The Most Damning Evidence of a U.S. Coverup of Soviet War Crimes

On Monday, the U.S. National Archives released 1,000 declassified documents pertaining to the 1940 massacre of 22,000 Poles by the Soviet Union. The Cliffs Notes version? America’s coverup of the infamous Katyn Massacre was more extensive than previously thought.

For years, Poles and Polish-Americans have alleged that the U.S. government suppressed information about the Soviet Union’s guilt in the World War II-era murders, which were aimed at killing off Poland’s military and intellectual elite. As recently as 1992, the State Department said it “lacked irrefutable evidence” in the early 1950s to substantiate claims that the USSR, not Nazi Germany, carried out the crimes. But today’s documents show the concrete proof U.S. officials had in their hands in the 1940s regarding the Soviet Union’s guilt.

You can see all of the newly-released documents and maps at the National Archives site here.

10 Minute documentary on the Katyn massacre

Amazing Photos from the Battle of the Bulge

From Dec. 16, 1944 to Jan. 25, 1945, American, British, Canadian, Belgian, and French forces fought to stop the final major German offensive of World War II: The Battle of the Bulge was launched in the heavily forested Ardennes Mountains of Belgium. While Allied forces ultimately triumphed, the bitter victory left tens of thousands dead on both sides. Here, in a series of rare photos from LIFE.com, is a look back at the pivotal, brutal, seven-week struggle known as the Battle of the Bulge.