Non-combatants accounted for the
bulk of Second World War deaths

Story by Stephen J. Thorne

The first casualty of war may be the truth, but the last and just as certain is the non-combatant.

As many as 85 million people were killed during the Second World War but fewer than 30 per cent were military. More of the dead were victims of war crimes than legitimate battle.

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The last of the U-boats is scuttled

Story by Sharon Adams

On Feb. 12, 1946, U-3514 was sunk off the coast of Northern Ireland in Operation Deadlight, meant to ensure elimination of the German submarine fleet after the war.

The sub was sunk at 10:04 a.m. by ship guns and depth charges, the last of 116 scuttled by the Royal Navy.

In anticipation of the end of the war in early May 1945, German U-boat captains began scuttling their own boats, preventing an estimated 200 from falling into the hands of the Allies. On May 4, the German Navy ordered all U-boats to go to ports in Norway. On May 8, there were 156 still afloat.

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February 13, 1969

The Front de libération du Québec bombs the Montreal Stock Exchange, injuring 27.

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The Victoria Cross is established

Story by Sharon Adams

In the mid-1800s, the highest British military honours were almost exclusively awarded to senior officers under the observant eye of generals. But generals rarely make it to the front lines, where the heroism of brave junior officers and enlisted men mostly went unrecognized except among themselves.

The Crimean War changed that. For the first time, a war was covered by journalists. William Howard Russell of The Times reported on the bravery and plight of ordinary soldiers. A new award, open to all ranks, was proposed—the Victoria Cross, instituted on Feb. 5, 1856.

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A new era of war films triumphs

Story by Stephen J. Thorne

Like westerns, the popularity of war films comes and goes with the shifting times. Front Lines Weekly looks at some of the best war films of the past six decades and what is coming in the wake of the success of the innovative First World War film 1917. A series of landmark anniversaries, along with the dwindling numbers of Second World War veterans, may be behind a spate of recent and coming war films that take advantage of advanced and more judiciously applied computer-generated imagery, as well as more thoughtful sets and storylines.

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February 7, 1945

British, American and Russian leaders meet at an undisclosed location near the Black Sea to decide on the final phase of the war against Germany.

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Mathematicians’ stab at alternative history unwelcome among WW II buffs

Story by Stephen J. Thorne

Many, if not most, historians have maintained for eight decades that Germany could have won the Battle of Britain had Adolf Hitler just done a couple of things differently.

Recently, six mathematicians created a new methodology and essentially proved them right, sparking a social media outcry among Second World War buffs, warbird fanatics and proud Britons who would prefer to let their “finest hour” speak for itself.

“Bugger off,” wrote Peter Hollis, whose Facebook cover photo is a flapping Union Jack, “we won.”

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Secret deliveries

Story by Sharon Adams

In June 1943, a German agent penetrated a network in France set up to bring large numbers of escaped Allied airmen back to Britain.

A new one was urgently needed. MI9, the British military intelligence department, entrusted the task, code-named Operation Bonaparte, to a pair of French-Canadian volunteer spies.

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January 29, 1856

Queen Victoria issues a warrant establishing the Victoria Cross.

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