Eighty years ago this week Princess Elizabeth joins the army

 

Just before her nineteenth birthday, the heir to the British throne, Princess Elizabeth was finally allowed to join the ATS, women's branch of the British Army, the first British female royal to serve in uniform. Moreover, it was the uncomfortable battledress, which was seen as proletaraian. To begin with at least her contact with comrades was strictly limited;  she was taken to lunch every day at a nearby officers' mess and was chauffered to and from Windsor Castle to sleep. She finally succeeded in talking to her comrades over mugs of tea and did learn to drive and basic vehicle maintenance.

The two largest cities in neutral Switzerland were bombed by US B-24s, eight on Basel; six on Zurich. They were part of a much larger force tasked with bombing central Germany but which had encountered adverse weather and had sought targets of opportunity. There were no fatalities in Basel (100 were injured) but six died in Zurich. The pilot and navigator in the Zurich incident were court-martialled but acquitted.

President Roosevelt finally admitted publicly that he was crippled by polio, which had been an open secret in the political world. He was known to be desperately ill to the extent that the contest to be his vice-presidential running mate in the 1944 had been a virtual presidential candidature. He apologised for addressing Congress from a seat, confessing that he was burdened by 10lbs of steel calipers at the bottom of his legs.