Erich von Falkenhayn is most associated with the Battle of Verdun in 1916 - one of World War One's bloodiest battles. Falkenhayn was criticised for his tactics at Verdun and after the war he tried to justify the tactics that he used - that led to the deaths of tens of thousands of German soldiers. Falkenhayn was born in 1861 in West Prussia.

The Battle of Stalingrad is considered by many historians to have been the turning point in World War Two in Europe. The battle at Stalingrad bled the German army dry in Russia and after this defeat, the Germany Army was in full retreat. One of the ironies of the war, is that the German Sixth Army need not have got entangled in Stanlingrad.

Within Europe there was a mixed reaction to the divorce of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon. While Henry VIII waited for an outcome to come from the Pope (Clement VII), there is evidence that Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, took the view that the Pope should come out in support of Catherine of Aragon and made his views clear to the Papacy.

Tadeusz Sawicz, thought to be the last surviving Polish Battle of Britain airman, died on October 19 th , 2011at the age of 97. Sawicz fought against the Germans as an airman in the Nazi attacks on Poland in September 1939, the Battle of France (April/May 1940) and the Battle of Britain. Sawicz remained in the RAF until 1947.

After the swift and successful invasion of Poland on September 1 st 1939, many young Polish Air Force fighters made their way to Britain. The Luftwaffe had full control of the skies over Poland. Any attempt to fight the Nazis in the air over Poland would have been futile. However, rapidly modernising French and British air forces were an attractive alternate from doing nothing, especially as the RAF had been equipped with the ultra-modern Spitfire and Hurricane.

Czechoslovakia's resistance movement, like others in Europe, was split between those loyal to Stalin and those loyal to their government in exile. Like other resistance units in Europe, they played an important part in World War Two - if only for the intelligence they gathered for the Allies. Czechoslovakia had ceased to exist when Hitler sent in his forces to Slovakia in March 1939 in defiance of the Munich Agreement.