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Free Republic University, Department of History presents World War II Plus 70 Years: Seminar and Discussion Forum
First session: September 1, 2009. Last date to add: September 2, 2015.
Reading assignment: New York Times articles delivered daily to students on the 70th anniversary of original publication date. (Previously posted articles can be found by searching on keyword “realtime” Or view Homer’s posting history .)
To add this class to or drop it from your schedule notify Admissions and Records (Attn: Homer_J_Simpson) by freepmail. Those on the Realtime +/- 70 Years ping list are automatically enrolled. Course description, prerequisites and tuition information is available at the bottom of Homer’s profile. Also visit our general discussion thread

Selections from West Point Atlas for the Second World War
Advance on Moscow – Operations, 26 August-5 December 1941
The Mediterranean Basin
The Far East and the Pacific, 1941 – Major Japanese War Objectives and Planned Opening Attacks

"Leningrad: Our objective has been achieved. Will now become a subsidiary theatre of operations." - Franz Halder
"The Stavka has familiarized itself with your report and will permit you to create blocking detachments in those divisions that show themselves to be unreliable. The purpose of the blocking detachments is to prevent the unauthorized withdrawal of units and, in instances of flight, to halt them using all necessary weaponry." - Stavka response to Eremenko's request to form blocking detachments to prevent his troops from retreating without orders.
Yamamoto travels to Tokyo to see Nagano to try and dissuade him from pursuing war preparations against the United States to no avail.

September 5, 1941

"In its first days Le Juif et la France drew 100,000 Parisians.
Exhibits appealed to French patriotism by portraying the Jew as the enemy, a monster intent on destroying France."

Frome DANFS. Doesn’t exactly sound unprovoked to me:

” The “Greer Incident” occurred 4 September At 0840 that morning Greer, carrying mail and passengers to Argentia, was signaled by a British plane that a Nazi submarine had crash-dived some 10 miles ahead. Forty minutes later the DD’s soundman picked up the underseas marauder, and Greer began to trail the submarine. The plane, running low on fuel, dropped four depth charges at 1032 and returned to base, while Greer continued to dog the U-boat. Two hours later the German ship began a series of radical maneuvers and Greer’s lookouts could see her pass about 100 yards off. An impulse bubble at 1248 warned Greer that a torpedo had been fired. Ringing up flank speed, hard left rudder, Greer watched the torpedo pass 100 yards astern and then charged in for attack. She laid a pattern of eight depth charges, and less than two minutes later a second torpedo passed 300 yards to port.

“Greer lost sound contact during the maneuvers, and began to quarter the area in search of the U-boat. After 2 hours, she reestablished sound contact and laid down a pattern of 11 depth charges before discontinuing the engagement. Greer had held the German raider in sound contact 3 hours and 28 minutes; had evaded two torpedoes fired at her; and with her 19 depth charges had become the first American ship in World War II to attack the Germans.

“When news of the unprovoked attack against an American ship on the high seas reached the United States public feeling ran high. President Roosevelt seized this occasion to make another of his famed “fireside chats,” one in which he brought America nearer to outright involvement in the European war. Declaring that Germany had been guilty of an act of piracy, President Roosevelt in effect unleashed American ships and planes for offensive action as he stated `’in the waters which we deem necessary for our defense, American naval vessels and American planes will no longer wait until Axis submarines lurking under the water, or Axis raiders on the surface of the sea, strike their deadly blow first.” The period of “undeclared war” in the Atlantic had begun.”