Time-line
1938
At the beginning of 1938, the Austrian
government, in an effort to maintain its independence from Germany,
ordered a referendum to decide whether to join Germany, and thus
reneged on a pledge to German Chancellor Adolf Hitler to agree to
the merging of the two countries. Pro-independence supporters were
expected to prevail in the balloting, and Italy's Prime Minister
Benito Mussolini pledged to defend the Austrian regime against a
German occupation.
On March 9, Rupert von Trapp completed
his medical school studies.
On March 11, after Hitler persuaded
Mussolini to renege on his pledge to the Austrians, a coup in Austria
coincided with the arrival of German troops to seal the unification
of Germany and Austria. The bells of Salzburg were rung in
celebration at the insistence of the German military. German laws
were adopted quickly that removed Jewish doctors from Austria's state
hospitals.
The Von Trapp Family Choir declined an
invitation to sing at the celebration of Adolf Hitler's birthday on
April 20.
On May 20, in anticipation of a German
invasion, the government of Czechoslovakia mobilized their military.
A clandestine plot by senior leaders of the German military and
civilian leadership determined to depose Hitler by force in the event
he order Germany to engage Czechoslovakia in armed combat.
The Trapp family fled Austria in June
by train, eventually reaching England, and toured Europe over the
summer. The Austrian frontier is sealed shortly after there
departure. Against the will of Georg von Trapp, Heinrich
Himmler, a chief architect of the Holocaust,
takes control of his villa in Aigen.
At this time, it was a matter of
common knowledge that political opponents of the Nazi Party were
being committed to concentration camps. In the summer of 1938, a
concentration camp was opened in Mauthausen, Austria at the site of
a quarry operation. The steps leading up from where stone was removed
by prisoners became known as the “Stairs of Death.”
In fall, the von Trapp family secured
an advance from an American concert promoter and departed for the
United States aboard the American Farmer, arriving on
October...
Negotiations between allies France and
England versus Germany over the summer resulted in the withdrawal of
France and Britain's threats of force to defend Czechoslovakian
sovereignty over the ethnically German portions of the country known
as the Sudetenland. Without the support of its allies, Czechoslovakia
allowed German troops to occupy the Sudetenland without armed
resistance in early October.
Ernest
Hemingway published “The
Fifth Column and the First Forty-Nine Stories”
on
October 14. The “Fifth
Column”
refers to a clandestine force of sympathizers who support an invading
force by way of espionage and sabotage. People of Germanic heritage
were viewed with suspicion as Europe and the United States witnessed
the expansion of Germany.
On
November 9, anti-Jewish mobs in Germany and Austria carried out
extensive vandalism of Jewish businesses, houses, schools, hospitals
and synagogues. Local authorities did not intervene as they watched
countless window panes shattered and fires lit, earning the event the
title “Kristallnacht” - the Night of Breaking Glass. Many Jews
were killed in the process, and tens of thousands of Jews were sent
to concentration camps in the wake of this event, triggered by a
reaction to a German diplomat being killed by a Polish Jew.
1939
Johannes
von Trapp was born in Philadelphia to Georg and Maria on January 19.
In
February, the von Trapp was notified that their visa would not be
extended.
In
March, they left by ship on the Normandie to tour Scandanvia.
On
September 1, German troops invaded Poland.
On
September 3, France England declared war on Germany, and Winston
Churchill was appointed as Britain's First Lord of the Admiralty.
On
September 17, the Soviet Union invaded Poland
On
October 6, the former territory of Poland was divided and annexed by
the two invaders.
From
October 7 to 11, upon returning the the United States aboard the
Bergensfjord from their Scandanavian tour, the Trapp Family
Choir was taken into custody on Ellis Island by immigration
authorities. Rupert was spared incarceration due to his status as an
applicant to immigrate.
On
November 30, the Soviet Union's Red Army invaded Finland.
1940
On
March 13, hostilities between Finland and the USSR ended. The
invasion of Finland by the Soviet Union's Red Army in the winter of
1939-40 was repelled by a force that was greatly outnumbered. The
Finnish troops were trained to maneuver in Arctic environments,
featuring infantry on skis, and camouflagued by white parkas.
On
April 9, Germany invaded Norway. The British
Navy's assault on Narvik, Norway in the spring of 1940 sought to
deprive Germany of strategically important sources of iron ore for
their war machine. Austrian mountain troops held the Navy and five
times as many British and French troops at bay by holding high ground
above the port and its entrances. The British could not contest these
positions due to the absence of troops trained in extreme cold and
mountainous and snow-covered terrain. Despite their targets
proximity to the Arctic Circle, only summer uniforms were brought on
board by the British. Norway remains under German occupation until
the end of the war.
On
May 10, Germany invaded Belgium and the Netherlands. On the same day,
Neville Chamberlain resigned and was replaced by Winston Churchill as
the British Prime Minister.
On
Jun3 22, after British and French forces were pushed back to the sea,
an armistice between Germany and France established a German
occupation zone in northern France that included all of France's
Atlantic coastline.
On
July 3, negotiations with the French admiral in command of a large
contingent of vessels in Algeria failed to secure British objectives
that would at least neutralize the threat that the formidable naval
force there would fall into the hands of Germany. A massive barrage
of British naval artillery destroyed the WWI era Battleship Britagne,
with a thousand sailors on board perishing.
In
the summer, German air forces attacked British military targets in
Great Britain. British counter attacks on Berlin included a sortie
that inadvertantly bombed the civilian population. The Battle of
Britain then excalated, as Hitler ordered the daily bombing of London
over the course of September and October.
Germany's
inability to destroy Britain's coastal defenses pre-empted the
launch of Operation Sea Lion, a planned amphibious and airborne
invasion of Britain.
1941
On March 11, the third anniversary of
the annexation of Austria by Germany, the United States officially
ended its neutrality when President Roosevelt signed lend-lease
legislation providing financial and material aid to Great Britain,
the Soviet Union, Free France, China, and other allies.
On June 22, Germany launched Operation
Barbarossa, invading the Soviet Union in the largest invasion in the
history of warfare. The intentional deprivation of food to foreign
troops and civilians in areas that fell under German control led to
the starvation of millions.
During the summer of 1941, the United
States halted the export of petroleum to Japan. Negotiations were
accompanied by the positioning of naval assets by both countries in
preparation for battle over the Dutch West Indies, a strategic souce
of petroleum and rubber, and the majority of Americans acknowledged
the likelihood that the United States would enter the war as
combatants.
On December 7, Japan attacked American
ships recently deployed to Pearl Harbor in the Hawaiin Islands.
Within days the United States declared war on Japan, Germany and
Italy.
1942
In May, Hitler and Mussolini meet in
Salzburg. In this meeting, Mussolini commits to the large scale
deployment of Italy's Eighth Army to the Eastern Front that would
follow in June. The force includes three newly created divisions of
mountain (alpini) troops.
During the summer, the von Trapps
perform for an Army camp in Stowe, Vermont. Later they buy farmland
on Luce Hill there.
1943
On January 26, Soviet forces target
Italy's Alpini divisions, the last remaining units of the Eight Army.
By February, Italy's Eigth Army no
longer exists in Russia, after suffering heavy casualties.
On March 9, on the fourth anniversary
of Rupert's graduation from medical school, Rupert and Werner von
Trapp report as draftees of the U.S. Army. They become innaugural
members of the U.S. Army Ski Troops, the predecessor of the 10th
Mountain Division. They soon become U.S. Citizens.
On May 16, the Allies bomb Rome.
On July 10, the Allies invade Sicily.
On July 23, the King of Italy deposes
Mussolini.
On September 8, General Eisenhower
announces the surrender of Italy. The Allies and Germans battle to
occupy Italy over the next 20 months.
October
18 to November 11 – At the Third Moscow Conference,
the Allies(China,UK,US,USSR) agree that after the war, Austria will
be treated as the first victim of Nazi aggression, and be permitted
to regain its independence.
1944
The 10th Mountain Division
deploys to Italy.
The allies drop a single bomb on
Salzburg's Cathedral. During the war, fifteen allied sorties result
in the destruction of close to half the city's buildings.
1945
March 29 – Soviet forces cross
Austria's eastern frontier. The Red Army suffers heavy losses, and
their victory is followed by their perpetrating vast amounts of sex
crimes over several years time, eventually leading the Soviets to
strictly garrison its occupation forces in Austria in 1948.
April 29 – French forces cross
Austria's western frontier.
May 8 – Germany surrenders. British
and American forces enter Austria. Austria is occupied by the
Allies(France,UK,US,USSR) until 1955, when its independence is
restored. Salzburg becomes the center of American occupation
operations in Austria, and Werner and Rupert von Trapp return to
Austria as occupying forces in American uniforms.
July 26 – The Allies(China,US,USSR)
submit Postdam Declaration of terms for Japaneses surrender. The
“prompt and utter destruction” of Japan is threatened.
August 6 – The United States drops
an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan.
August 8 – The Soviet Union declares
war on Japan, breaking a six year truce.
August 9 – The Soviet Union invades
Manchuria, previously occupied by Japan. Later that day, the United
States drops a second atomic bomb on Japan, this time in Nagasaki.
August 15 – A recording of the
Emperor of Japan is broadcast on radio announcing his acceptance of
the Postdam Declaration – ending hostilities in World War II. Japan
is occupied by American forces.
The von Trapp brothers return to
Vermont.
1947
Rupert
von Trapp graduates from the University of Vermont, and marries
Henriette Lajoie, whom he had six children.
1948
Werner von Trapp marries Salzburg
native Erika Klambauer,
a childhood friend of his sister, Martina, and with whom he had six
children.
1950
Werner von Trapp erects a stone chapel to honor WWII veterans on
the hill above the family home, carrying the stones used to build it
up the hill in his ruck sack.
Ski
Troops in WWII
The
invasion of Finland by the Soviet Union's Red Army in the winter of
1939-40 was repelled by a force that was greatly outnumbered. The
Finnish troops were trained to maneuver in Arctic environments,
featuring infantry on skis.
The British
Navy's assault on Narvik, Norway in the spring of 1940 sought to
deprive Germany of strategically important sources of iron ore for
their war machine. Austrian mountain troops held the Navy and five
times as many British and French troops at bay by holding high ground
above the port and its entrances. The British could not contest these
positions due to the absence of troops trained in extreme cold and
mountainous and snow-covered terrain. Despite their targets
proximity to the Arctic Circle, only summer uniforms were brought on
board by the British. Norway remains under German occupation until
the end of the war.
The
United States formed the 10th
Mountain Division in 1943, before the advent of recreational skiing
in America. Austrian ex-patriots, among them the von Trapp brothers,
Rupert and Werner, were instrumental in training American troops with
no prior experience on skis or alpine conditions. The 10th
Mountain distinguished themselves for valor, suffering among the
highest casualty rates of any unit in the war. They exceeded the
expectations of their foes, achieving surprise by taking terrain
thought to be impassable, leading to the capture of troops and
positions that gave the allies a vital strategic advantage.
