re: What fascinates you concerning WW2?

I guess fifteen people thought I was talking about current events. I was not. Japan's militant rise and nationalism was insane to read about. Germany we all know.

No one thought Hitler or Togo was an evil guy until they had total control.

I also think the way Japan destroyed China is interesting. The scale of the carnage over the better part a decade is insane. It's also interesting that the US didn't really pursue as many war crimes against the Japanese as they should have.

Nanking was hardly a handful of civilians.

Yes we did kill hundreds of thousands in bombing raids but, at the time, that was viewed by both sides as part of a greater strategic operation. Bayoneting pregnant women and children on a whim is a hell of a lot different.

Why the frick did Germany declair war on the USA?

Why did Germany invade the USSR?

If they don't do those two things, they probably take over all of Europe.

There was a 6 part series on hitler on disc channel a few weeks back. All from when he was rejected from an art school and enlisted in the army, faked his way thru that and won medals. He was an extremely good pep talker and could influence anyone . He would also higher a photograper to take 1000s of photos in certain poses to put in the paper to make him look powerful. It was all propaganda. He had most of the german govt officals arrested b4 he took power so he couldnt be contested. It was pretty interesting.

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they killed a handful of civilians

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I didn't know you were fricking stupid. Seriously.

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Why the frick did Germany declair war on the USA?

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This was Hitler's dumbest move, but he, reasonably so, felt as though the United States was on the verge of jumping into the war outright anyway and wanted to open up his U-Boats to unrestricted submarine warfare to choke off the British. The United States was already supplying the British Empire and the Soviet Union and the FDR administration was openly belligerent in rhetoric and deed in regards to Germany.

I would argue that he should have taken his chances with waiting for FDR administration to initiate hostilities first, because the gain from starting the war earlier didn't come close to offsetting the possibility of non-American entry. Hitler greatly underestimated the difficulty FDR would have had bringing the U.S. into the war in Europe without legitimate cause.

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Why did Germany invade the USSR?

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Lots of reasons. First and foremost, knocking the USSR out of the equation entirely effectively makes victory impossible for the British Empire. Hitler was constantly wary of the possibility of the USSR being wooed over to the British side and launching a preemptive offensive against Germany and her allies. Geopolitically speaking, the USSR juggernaut being so close to the German frontier and to the Ploesti oilfields in Romania, which were the entire life blood of the Germany military machine, was always a source of tremendous concern. Defeating the USSR in a quick, blitzkrieg campaign like had occurred in France, would secure Germany food and vital resources while absolutely securing their Eastern flank from any legitimate military threat. It would also deprive the British of any hope of victory and would likewise threaten the Middle East and Africa. It would have won Germany the war.

Hitler on Declaration of War Against the United States

Hitler on his decision to invade the USSR

The fact that Hitler had such a hard on for Stalingrad totally fricked him. He put his nuts on the table and the rest is history.

And regarding the OP, the Market Garden always fascinated me as I had a couple of great uncles there and told me a lot of stories about their experiences there.

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Look up Unit 731

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Damn. I learned something for the day.