The seizing of Europe’s bells

Story by Stephen J. Thorne

The bells that rang out across allied nations after the First World War ended what for many had been a four-year silence enforced by regulation in some places and imposed by confiscation in others.

In Germany and across Europe, tens of thousands of bronze bells—some imparting “the songs of the angels” since the 12th century—had been seized and melted down for arms and munitions.

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“Prisoners of war” special feature awardedGOLD for Best Interactive Story 2018
At the 2018 Canadian Online Publishing Awards in Toronto on Nov. 14, Legion Magazine was awarded Gold for Best Interactive Story for “Prisoners of War.” The win marks the third time in the past three years Legion Magazine has won awards in this category, with a Gold in 2017 for “Cold Comfort” and a Silver in 2016 for “Blood in the Mud.”

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Gerda Munsinger: spy or party girl?

“If a woman wants to make a career for herself, she must learn to listen. When men want to talk, I let them talk,” said the woman behind the sex scandal that rocked the country in the 1960s.

Listening is a good skill for a mistress—or a spy, as Gerda Munsinger was suspected of being when she had relationships with at least two Canadian cabinet ministers.

The German beauty was born in Konigsberg, East Prussia (now Kaliningrad, Russia), in 1929 and lost track of her family during the Second World War. After the war, she had an affair with an officer of the KGB, the Russian spy and security agency. She frequently crossed between East and West Germany, raising suspicions of espionage in American border police, who arrested her in 1949.
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Choose our next cover for
The Battle of Ortona

Late in 1943, Canadian troops attacked the German-held Italian city of Ortona. The goal was to push up the eastern coast, then swing inland on a road leading straight to Rome. In fierce fighting, Canada prevailed in Ortona’s labyrinth of death. Read about the day-by-day battles—street by street, house by house, and hand to hand—in THE BATTLE OF ORTONA.

Pick up a copy of The Battle of Ortona on newsstands across Canada starting February 1.

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