Originally Posted by boris116

Thanks, Perseus!

The next question:
Who was the intermediary for the Stalin's attempt to reach a separate peace with Germany in 1941?

Hmm

Levrentiy Beria via the Bulgaria Ambassador Ivan Stamenov?

Originally Posted by MontyB

Hmm

Levrentiy Beria via the Bulgaria Ambassador Ivan Stamenov?

Very good, Monty!

Your turn!

Ok this is a bit more cryptic than I want it to be but it is a very easy question.

What event took place on the 17th August 1943 and what made it unusual? (I have checked 6 locations for this event, 3 say the 17th and 3 the 15th so I really dont know how there can be such a descrepency but the event remains the same).

Bonus if you can say who broke the news to those involved before the event.

Allied troops reach Messina and occupy all of Sicily, Italy.

Operation 'Double Strike': First U.S. daylight air raid, with 229 B17's (36 shot down), on Schweinfurt (and Regensburg) in Germany, 320 km; the Americans attempting a daylight raid without fighter escort.
Schweinfurt was the location of huge ball-bearing factories that supplied most of the ball-bearings for the entire German military. The second raid on 14 Octobre, 291 B17's now with 60 loses.

597 RAF bombers bomb German Rocket Launching Site Peenemünde.
The production of the V1 Flying Bomb began in Germany in 1942, but the actual launch was delayed until 1944 because of successful Allied bombing of bomb sites.

Originally Posted by Team Infidel

Allied troops reach Messina and occupy all of Sicily, Italy.

Operation 'Double Strike': First U.S. daylight air raid, with 229 B17's (36 shot down), on Schweinfurt (and Regensburg) in Germany, 320 km; the Americans attempting a daylight raid without fighter escort.
Schweinfurt was the location of huge ball-bearing factories that supplied most of the ball-bearings for the entire German military. The second raid on 14 Octobre, 291 B17's now with 60 loses.

597 RAF bombers bomb German Rocket Launching Site Peenemünde.
The production of the V1 Flying Bomb began in Germany in 1942, but the actual launch was delayed until 1944 because of successful Allied bombing of bomb sites.

Nope, Nope and Nope.
However as you didnt list the event I had better go check my dates.

The date seems to be disputed (beats me how) so depending on your source it could be listed as the 15th August 1943.

U.S. troops retake Kiska island in the Aleutians.

Originally Posted by Team Infidel

U.S. troops retake Kiska island in the Aleutians.

Indeed but what was so odd about it?

Kiska had apparently been evacuated about ten days prior to the landing.

Yeah that will do, I am really finding this date annoying as I now have a third date of August 7th.

But anyway here is one site with information on the battle and its odd nature.

http://canadianheroes.org/henri/the-...iska-story.htm

The answer to the two parts to the question were.

1) What event took place on the 17th August 1943 and what made it unusual?

A) The batlle for Kiska, it was unusal because there was a sizable number of combat related fatalities and yet the Japanese had abandoned the island some time before.

2) Bonus if you can say who broke the news to those involved before the event.

A) Tokyo Rose apparently broadcast their destination and a warning to them while they were in transit.

All yours Team Infidel.

At it's hightest troop strength in 1945, what was the population of the United States Army in terms of number of soldiers? You need to be within 1000 soldiers to be correct.