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World War II (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter timschochet
- Start date
The U.S.S. Emmons was one of those destroyers. After D-Day, she was redeployed to the Pacific where she was eventually sunk by kamikazes at Okinawa.
timschochet
Footballguy
I did mention it a couple of posts ago, in passing, but the source I am using (Delivered From Evil) doesn't emphasize it as much as it does the infantry and Rangers. There is plenty of glory to go around in the Omaha Beach battle, IMO.Copeman said:
timschochet
Footballguy
The Normandy Landings: Gold and Juno
The assignment which Bernard Montgomery had given to Sir Miles Dempsey's 2nd Army was an extremely ambitious one. Landing on beaches Gold, Juno, and Sword- that is, from west to east- his frces were ordered to seize by evening of the first day the cities of Caen and Bayeux and the road between them while securing an "airborne bridgehead" across the River Orne on the far left of the eastern flank. From this firm base, armored columns were to drive inland or south to reach the high ground 20 miles from the Channel coast. This was indeed a bold plan, if not a starry eyed one, which took no account of Rommel's strengthening of the coast defenses.
On Gold, the specialized armor operated like a textbook exercise, clearing mines, smashing concrete fortifications adn filling craters. Within an hour armored assault teams had cleared three exits and the jubilant Tommies rushed through them to the heights beyond. At the eastern end of the 50th's front Crabs also cleared the way, but a German 88 in a pillbox knocked out two Petards, whereupon a Crab destroyed it. When the pillbox fell, the German defense also began crumbling. By evening, the 50th Division held a beachhead 6 miles wide by 6 deep.
At Juno the wind and tide created worse complications for the troops of the 3rd Canadian Division. Many of the craft foundered and sank. One battalion lost 20 out of 24 boats. Even so, casualties were surprisingly light. Once ashore, the assault troops were supported by DDs launched only 800 yards out. Within an hour the waterfront strongpoints were overwhelmed, but there was difficulty in gaining exits from the beaches. Reserves could not reach them because the narrow beaches behind them were choked with armor, guns and transport. It was an hour and a half before they could force a passage, and this delay took some of the momentum out of the attack.
Farther east progress was swifter, although one company was cut to half-strength after it landed by mistake in frnt of a well-armed strongpoint. Only the bold intervention of a flak ship, which almost ran aground to take the German position under fire, saved this formation from annihilation. By the time a regiment of French-Canadians arrived, the German beach guns were wiped out and only snipers remained to contest it. Beach exits wre seized and by nightfall the Canadians were 7 miles inland. They probably would have penetrated deeper if the wind and the fast-flowing tide had not made such a hopeless confusion of 2nd Army's complicated timetables, while creating traffic jams so enormous and tangled that many a beachmaster was left choking and incoherent with helpless rage. Eisenhower's roadbound habits of thought, shared by every Allied top commander, had stuffed into the Allied beaches such a surfeit of vehicles- so many of them unnecessary- that it was simply impossible for reserves to obstacles in time for the arrival of the second wave coming in on the second tide. Even so, by nightfall the 3rd Canadian Division's spearheads were in sight of Caen. 2 battalions were only 3 miles from the city's northwestern outskirts. But they got no further and this was the deepest penetration of the day.
The assignment which Bernard Montgomery had given to Sir Miles Dempsey's 2nd Army was an extremely ambitious one. Landing on beaches Gold, Juno, and Sword- that is, from west to east- his frces were ordered to seize by evening of the first day the cities of Caen and Bayeux and the road between them while securing an "airborne bridgehead" across the River Orne on the far left of the eastern flank. From this firm base, armored columns were to drive inland or south to reach the high ground 20 miles from the Channel coast. This was indeed a bold plan, if not a starry eyed one, which took no account of Rommel's strengthening of the coast defenses.
On Gold, the specialized armor operated like a textbook exercise, clearing mines, smashing concrete fortifications adn filling craters. Within an hour armored assault teams had cleared three exits and the jubilant Tommies rushed through them to the heights beyond. At the eastern end of the 50th's front Crabs also cleared the way, but a German 88 in a pillbox knocked out two Petards, whereupon a Crab destroyed it. When the pillbox fell, the German defense also began crumbling. By evening, the 50th Division held a beachhead 6 miles wide by 6 deep.
At Juno the wind and tide created worse complications for the troops of the 3rd Canadian Division. Many of the craft foundered and sank. One battalion lost 20 out of 24 boats. Even so, casualties were surprisingly light. Once ashore, the assault troops were supported by DDs launched only 800 yards out. Within an hour the waterfront strongpoints were overwhelmed, but there was difficulty in gaining exits from the beaches. Reserves could not reach them because the narrow beaches behind them were choked with armor, guns and transport. It was an hour and a half before they could force a passage, and this delay took some of the momentum out of the attack.
Farther east progress was swifter, although one company was cut to half-strength after it landed by mistake in frnt of a well-armed strongpoint. Only the bold intervention of a flak ship, which almost ran aground to take the German position under fire, saved this formation from annihilation. By the time a regiment of French-Canadians arrived, the German beach guns were wiped out and only snipers remained to contest it. Beach exits wre seized and by nightfall the Canadians were 7 miles inland. They probably would have penetrated deeper if the wind and the fast-flowing tide had not made such a hopeless confusion of 2nd Army's complicated timetables, while creating traffic jams so enormous and tangled that many a beachmaster was left choking and incoherent with helpless rage. Eisenhower's roadbound habits of thought, shared by every Allied top commander, had stuffed into the Allied beaches such a surfeit of vehicles- so many of them unnecessary- that it was simply impossible for reserves to obstacles in time for the arrival of the second wave coming in on the second tide. Even so, by nightfall the 3rd Canadian Division's spearheads were in sight of Caen. 2 battalions were only 3 miles from the city's northwestern outskirts. But they got no further and this was the deepest penetration of the day.
kblitz
Footballguy
A couple of years ago there was a thread about Heinrich Severloh the possible "Beast of Omaha"
He wrote a book in german about his memories of that day. While I don´t care about the ongoing debate if he had realy shot over 1000 GIs or a couple of hundred, it gives a interesting perspective of a soldier who stood on the other side of the landing.
There are a couple of well researched and well written articles about his memories in german but not so much in english:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinrich_Severloh
http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?t=62104
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1848195/posts
He wrote a book in german about his memories of that day. While I don´t care about the ongoing debate if he had realy shot over 1000 GIs or a couple of hundred, it gives a interesting perspective of a soldier who stood on the other side of the landing.
There are a couple of well researched and well written articles about his memories in german but not so much in english:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinrich_Severloh
http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?t=62104
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1848195/posts
Ozymandias
Footballguy
It should be pretty interesting, and I will record it.But it won't be as good as Tim.
ScottNorwood
Footballcutie
Tim's a great guy, but I'm not sure I'd be too keen on seeing him in HD
RudiStein
*Not really a bail bondsman
Meh. If it portrays him accurately, he certainly was a self-righteous SOB.
timschochet
Footballguy
The Normandy Landings: Sword Beach
At Sword Beach, the attacking British 3rd Division was supported by ferocious predawn bombardment by Flying Forts and Liberators, followed by medium bombers and fighters ranging up and down the coast seeking targets of opportunity. It made a strip of coast 3 miles wide and a half mile deep tremble and shake. When it ended, the British troops went in behind their special armor (25 DDs) to strike the dazed German defenders. Within a hour 3 exits for tanks had been opened from the beaches. Hermanville had been captured, and the way seemed clear for a dash to Caen.
But here traditional British Army caution intervened, and the attack lost its impetus. British armor moving toward Perier Rise was driven back into Hermanville by the 88s of the 21 Panzer, and their assault was stalled. A renewed but still cautious assault was held up by 2 German strongpoints called Morris and Hillman. Morris surrendered at 1:00 pm after a heavy bombardment, but Hillman- a network of positions 600 by 400 yards- held out stubbornly, delivering a furious fire at any British formations attempting to move inland south of it. Hillman was reduced until late in the evening when 2 squadrons of Shermans led infantry against it. But the damage had been done.
Gradually it became apparent to Maj. Gen. T.C. Rennie, commander of the British 3rd Division, that he could not make that bold dash upon Caen that would prove to be of such great strategic value in the Allied invasion. To make it, he needed armor, not infantry; massed, swift-moving armor. This was available in Rennie's 27th Armored Brigade comprising 190 Shermans and 33 light tanks. But 2/3rds of 27th Brigade's strength was too deeply entangled in the fighting on the beaches to be available for the dash on Caen. Rennie, though an able soldier, was extremely cautious. And so, Montgomery's dream of a dash on Caen was unfulfilled.
Meanwhile, General Rennie was anxiously asking himself, where is the 21st Panzer Division? It was between Caen and the British, preparing to attack. Gen. Erich Marcks told Colonel von Oppelin-Bronikowski, the commander of the Panzers chosen for the assault, "If you don't succeed in throwing the British into the sea, we shall have lost the war." But Oppelin did not. Heavily gunned Shermans and emplaced British infantry hurled Oppelin back with a heavy loss of tanks. Then a simultaneous fly-in of 250 gliders so unraveled Marcks that he fell back on Caen.
At Sword Beach, the attacking British 3rd Division was supported by ferocious predawn bombardment by Flying Forts and Liberators, followed by medium bombers and fighters ranging up and down the coast seeking targets of opportunity. It made a strip of coast 3 miles wide and a half mile deep tremble and shake. When it ended, the British troops went in behind their special armor (25 DDs) to strike the dazed German defenders. Within a hour 3 exits for tanks had been opened from the beaches. Hermanville had been captured, and the way seemed clear for a dash to Caen.
But here traditional British Army caution intervened, and the attack lost its impetus. British armor moving toward Perier Rise was driven back into Hermanville by the 88s of the 21 Panzer, and their assault was stalled. A renewed but still cautious assault was held up by 2 German strongpoints called Morris and Hillman. Morris surrendered at 1:00 pm after a heavy bombardment, but Hillman- a network of positions 600 by 400 yards- held out stubbornly, delivering a furious fire at any British formations attempting to move inland south of it. Hillman was reduced until late in the evening when 2 squadrons of Shermans led infantry against it. But the damage had been done.
Gradually it became apparent to Maj. Gen. T.C. Rennie, commander of the British 3rd Division, that he could not make that bold dash upon Caen that would prove to be of such great strategic value in the Allied invasion. To make it, he needed armor, not infantry; massed, swift-moving armor. This was available in Rennie's 27th Armored Brigade comprising 190 Shermans and 33 light tanks. But 2/3rds of 27th Brigade's strength was too deeply entangled in the fighting on the beaches to be available for the dash on Caen. Rennie, though an able soldier, was extremely cautious. And so, Montgomery's dream of a dash on Caen was unfulfilled.
Meanwhile, General Rennie was anxiously asking himself, where is the 21st Panzer Division? It was between Caen and the British, preparing to attack. Gen. Erich Marcks told Colonel von Oppelin-Bronikowski, the commander of the Panzers chosen for the assault, "If you don't succeed in throwing the British into the sea, we shall have lost the war." But Oppelin did not. Heavily gunned Shermans and emplaced British infantry hurled Oppelin back with a heavy loss of tanks. Then a simultaneous fly-in of 250 gliders so unraveled Marcks that he fell back on Caen.
timschochet
Footballguy
D-Day, Concluded
Thus D-Day, the historic June 6, 1944- came to an end. The failure to take Caen may have been important, but nothing could obscure the great victory that was achieved on this date. Not enough credit has been given to the German defenders- so many of them youths or middle-aged men equipped with outmoded weapons- who fought so valiantly against the best the Allies could hurl at them, They did all that Rommel could have desired.
D-Day demonstrated the decisiveness of Allied air power. Throughout the day, the Luftwaffe put fewer than 100 fighters aloft. Outnumbered 55 to 1, German pilots did next to nothing to halt the Allied invasion, though with only 3 times more planes they possibly would have stopped it.
Erwin Rommel's "longest day" had been long enough for the Allies to come to France. But though D-Day was over, Overlord was just beginning. The narration shall continue with the immediate days following, which were filled with important events and battle.
Thus D-Day, the historic June 6, 1944- came to an end. The failure to take Caen may have been important, but nothing could obscure the great victory that was achieved on this date. Not enough credit has been given to the German defenders- so many of them youths or middle-aged men equipped with outmoded weapons- who fought so valiantly against the best the Allies could hurl at them, They did all that Rommel could have desired.
D-Day demonstrated the decisiveness of Allied air power. Throughout the day, the Luftwaffe put fewer than 100 fighters aloft. Outnumbered 55 to 1, German pilots did next to nothing to halt the Allied invasion, though with only 3 times more planes they possibly would have stopped it.
Erwin Rommel's "longest day" had been long enough for the Allies to come to France. But though D-Day was over, Overlord was just beginning. The narration shall continue with the immediate days following, which were filled with important events and battle.
Uwe Blab
Footballguy
Was flipping back and forth between this and the game last night (DVRing the whole thing too). Looks to be very well done with some incredible footage, but HOLY CRAP was there some graphic footage from Guadalcanal. :X
Ozymandias
Footballguy
STRATEGIC BOMBING OF GERMANY
On 14 February, 1942, Directive No. 22 was issued to British Bomber Command. Bombing was to be "focused on the morale of the enemy civil population and in particular of the industrial workers." Factories were no longer targets. This was partly due to reconnaissance showing that the bombing was wildly innaccurate.
The effects of strategic bombing were very poorly understood at the time and grossly overrated. Particularly in the first two years of the campaign, few understood just how little damage was caused and how rapidly the Germans were able to replace lost production—despite the obvious lessons to be learned from the United Kingdom's own survival of the blitz.
Mid-way through the air war, it slowly began to be realized the campaign was having very little effect. Despite an ever-increasing tonnage of bombs dispatched, the inaccuracy of delivery was such any bomb falling within five miles of the target was deemed a "hit" for statistical purposes, and even by this standard, as the Butt Report made clear many bombs missed. Indeed sometimes in post raid assessment the Germans could not decide which town (not the installation in the town) had been the intended target because the scattering of bomb craters was so wide.
These problems were dealt with in two ways: first the precision targeting of vital facilities (ball-bearing production in particular) was abandoned in favour of "area bombing" – This change of policy was agreed by the Cabinet in 1941 and in early 1942 a new directive was issued and Air Marshal Arthur Harris (commonly known as "Bomber" Harris) was appointed to carry out the task – second as the campaign developed, improvements in the accuracy of the RAF raids were joined by better crew training, electronic aids, and new tactics such as the creation of a "pathfinder" force to mark targets for the main force.
"Bomber" Harris, who ran the bombing campaign, said "for want of a rapier, a bludgeon was used". He felt that as much as it would be far more desirable to deliver effective pin-point attacks, as the capacity to do so simply did not exist, and since it was war, it was necessary to attack with whatever was at hand. He accepted area bombing knowing it would kill civilians. (We have previously talked about the firebombing of Hamburg in 1943.)
The disruption of the German transportation system was extensive. Despite German efforts to minimize loss of industrial productivity through dispersal of production facilities, as well as the extensive use of slave labour, the Nazi regime experienced a decline in the ability to supply materiel. Furthermore, the Luftwaffe had been significantly weakened in the course of their defensive efforts so that by mid 1944, the Allies experienced day-time air dominance for the balance of the war, which would be critical to the Allied success in the Normandy Campaign and subsequent operations to the end of the war.
The US Air Force joined this effort in 1943. The American Eighth Air Force conducted its raids in daylight and their heavy bombers carried smaller payloads than British aircraft in part because of their heavier (as needed) defensive armament. USAAF leaders firmly held to the claim of "precision" bombing of military targets for much of the war, and energetically refuted claims that they were simply bombing cities. In reality, the day bombing was "precision bombing" only in the sense that most bombs fell somewhere near a specific designated target such as a railway yard. Conventionally, the air forces designated as "the target area" a circle having a radius of 1000 feet around the aiming point of attack. While accuracy improved during the war, survey studies show that, in the over-all, only about 20% of the bombs aimed at precision targets fell within this target area. .In the fall of 1944, only seven per cent of all bombs dropped by the Eighth Air Force hit within 1,000 feet of their aim point.
Nevertheless, the sheer tonnage of explosive delivered by day and by night was eventually sufficient to cause widespread damage, and, more importantly from a military point of view, forced Germany to divert resources to counter it. This was to be the real significance of the Allied strategic bombing campaign—resource allocation.
U.S. operations began with 'Pointblank' attacks, designed to eliminate key features of the German economy. These attacks manifested themselves in the infamous Schweinfurt raids. Formations of unescorted bombers were no match for German fighters, which inflicted a deadly toll. In despair, the Eighth halted air operations over Germany until a long-range fighter could be found; it proved to be the P-51 Mustang, which had the range to fly to Berlin and back.
With the arrival of the brand-new Fifteenth Air Force, based in Italy, command of the U.S. Air Forces in Europe was consolidated into the United States Strategic Air Forces (USSTAF). With the addition of the Mustang to its strength, the Combined Bomber Offensive was resumed. Planners targeted the Luftwaffe in an operation known as 'Big Week' (20 - 25 February 1944) and succeeded brilliantly - losses were so heavy German planners were forced into a hasty dispersal of industry and the day fighter arm never fully recovered.
On 27 March, 1944, the Combined Chiefs of Staff issued orders granting control of all the Allied air forces in Europe, including strategic bombers, to General Dwight D. Eisenhower, the Supreme Allied Commander, who delegated command to his deputy in SHAEF Air Chief Marshal Arthur Tedder. When the Combined Bomber Offensive officially ended on 1 April, Allied airmen were well on the way to achieving air superiority over all of Europe. While they continued some strategic bombing, the USAAF along with the RAF turned their attention to the tactical air battle in support of the Normandy Invasion. It was not until the middle of September that the strategic bombing campaign of Germany again became the priority for the USSTAF.
Strategic bombing has been criticized on practical grounds because it does not always work predictably. And in fact, one of the avowed aims was to destroy the enemy's morale and will to fight. This simply did not happen, whether it was in Britain during the Blitz, or in Germany during the latter stages of the war.
Much of the doubt about the effectiveness of the bomber war comes from the oft-stated fact that German industrial production increased throughout the war. While this is true, it fails to note production also increased in the United States, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, Canada and Australia. And, in all of those countries, the rate of production increased much more rapidly than in Germany. Until late in the war, industry had not been geared for war and German factory workers only worked a single shift. Simply by going to three shifts, production could have been almost tripled with no change to the infrastructure. However, attacks on the infrastructure were taking place. The attacks on Germany's canals and railroads made transportation of materiel difficult.
The attack on oil production, oil refineries and tank farms was, however, extremely successful and made a very large contribution to the general collapse of Germany in 1945. In the event, the bombing of oil facilities became Albert Speer's (in charge of Germany's war production) main concern; however, this occurred sufficiently late in the war that Germany would soon be defeated in any case. Nevertheless, it is fair to say the oil bombing campaign materially shortened the war, thereby saving many lives.
German insiders credit the Allied bombing offensive with severely handicapping them. Speer repeatedly said (both during and after the war) it caused crucial production problems. Admiral Karl Dönitz, head of the U-Boat arm, noted in his memoirs that failure to get the revolutionary Type XXI U-boats (which could have completely altered the balance of power in the Battle of the Atlantic) into service was entirely the result of the bombing. Post war assessment did not fully support this.
In all, the RAF and the USAAF dropped almost 2.8 million tons of bombs on Germany and German targets during the war. Of this total, slightly more than half was by the USAAF. Over 57,000 German aircraft were shot down, for the loss of almost 21,000 Allied bombers and 18,000 fighters. Almost 160,000 Allied men, pilots and crew members, were lost.
We will talk about the most controversial bombing attack in a later post. The firebombing of Dresden.
On 14 February, 1942, Directive No. 22 was issued to British Bomber Command. Bombing was to be "focused on the morale of the enemy civil population and in particular of the industrial workers." Factories were no longer targets. This was partly due to reconnaissance showing that the bombing was wildly innaccurate.
The effects of strategic bombing were very poorly understood at the time and grossly overrated. Particularly in the first two years of the campaign, few understood just how little damage was caused and how rapidly the Germans were able to replace lost production—despite the obvious lessons to be learned from the United Kingdom's own survival of the blitz.
Mid-way through the air war, it slowly began to be realized the campaign was having very little effect. Despite an ever-increasing tonnage of bombs dispatched, the inaccuracy of delivery was such any bomb falling within five miles of the target was deemed a "hit" for statistical purposes, and even by this standard, as the Butt Report made clear many bombs missed. Indeed sometimes in post raid assessment the Germans could not decide which town (not the installation in the town) had been the intended target because the scattering of bomb craters was so wide.
These problems were dealt with in two ways: first the precision targeting of vital facilities (ball-bearing production in particular) was abandoned in favour of "area bombing" – This change of policy was agreed by the Cabinet in 1941 and in early 1942 a new directive was issued and Air Marshal Arthur Harris (commonly known as "Bomber" Harris) was appointed to carry out the task – second as the campaign developed, improvements in the accuracy of the RAF raids were joined by better crew training, electronic aids, and new tactics such as the creation of a "pathfinder" force to mark targets for the main force.
"Bomber" Harris, who ran the bombing campaign, said "for want of a rapier, a bludgeon was used". He felt that as much as it would be far more desirable to deliver effective pin-point attacks, as the capacity to do so simply did not exist, and since it was war, it was necessary to attack with whatever was at hand. He accepted area bombing knowing it would kill civilians. (We have previously talked about the firebombing of Hamburg in 1943.)
The disruption of the German transportation system was extensive. Despite German efforts to minimize loss of industrial productivity through dispersal of production facilities, as well as the extensive use of slave labour, the Nazi regime experienced a decline in the ability to supply materiel. Furthermore, the Luftwaffe had been significantly weakened in the course of their defensive efforts so that by mid 1944, the Allies experienced day-time air dominance for the balance of the war, which would be critical to the Allied success in the Normandy Campaign and subsequent operations to the end of the war.
The US Air Force joined this effort in 1943. The American Eighth Air Force conducted its raids in daylight and their heavy bombers carried smaller payloads than British aircraft in part because of their heavier (as needed) defensive armament. USAAF leaders firmly held to the claim of "precision" bombing of military targets for much of the war, and energetically refuted claims that they were simply bombing cities. In reality, the day bombing was "precision bombing" only in the sense that most bombs fell somewhere near a specific designated target such as a railway yard. Conventionally, the air forces designated as "the target area" a circle having a radius of 1000 feet around the aiming point of attack. While accuracy improved during the war, survey studies show that, in the over-all, only about 20% of the bombs aimed at precision targets fell within this target area. .In the fall of 1944, only seven per cent of all bombs dropped by the Eighth Air Force hit within 1,000 feet of their aim point.
Nevertheless, the sheer tonnage of explosive delivered by day and by night was eventually sufficient to cause widespread damage, and, more importantly from a military point of view, forced Germany to divert resources to counter it. This was to be the real significance of the Allied strategic bombing campaign—resource allocation.
U.S. operations began with 'Pointblank' attacks, designed to eliminate key features of the German economy. These attacks manifested themselves in the infamous Schweinfurt raids. Formations of unescorted bombers were no match for German fighters, which inflicted a deadly toll. In despair, the Eighth halted air operations over Germany until a long-range fighter could be found; it proved to be the P-51 Mustang, which had the range to fly to Berlin and back.
With the arrival of the brand-new Fifteenth Air Force, based in Italy, command of the U.S. Air Forces in Europe was consolidated into the United States Strategic Air Forces (USSTAF). With the addition of the Mustang to its strength, the Combined Bomber Offensive was resumed. Planners targeted the Luftwaffe in an operation known as 'Big Week' (20 - 25 February 1944) and succeeded brilliantly - losses were so heavy German planners were forced into a hasty dispersal of industry and the day fighter arm never fully recovered.
On 27 March, 1944, the Combined Chiefs of Staff issued orders granting control of all the Allied air forces in Europe, including strategic bombers, to General Dwight D. Eisenhower, the Supreme Allied Commander, who delegated command to his deputy in SHAEF Air Chief Marshal Arthur Tedder. When the Combined Bomber Offensive officially ended on 1 April, Allied airmen were well on the way to achieving air superiority over all of Europe. While they continued some strategic bombing, the USAAF along with the RAF turned their attention to the tactical air battle in support of the Normandy Invasion. It was not until the middle of September that the strategic bombing campaign of Germany again became the priority for the USSTAF.
Strategic bombing has been criticized on practical grounds because it does not always work predictably. And in fact, one of the avowed aims was to destroy the enemy's morale and will to fight. This simply did not happen, whether it was in Britain during the Blitz, or in Germany during the latter stages of the war.
Much of the doubt about the effectiveness of the bomber war comes from the oft-stated fact that German industrial production increased throughout the war. While this is true, it fails to note production also increased in the United States, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, Canada and Australia. And, in all of those countries, the rate of production increased much more rapidly than in Germany. Until late in the war, industry had not been geared for war and German factory workers only worked a single shift. Simply by going to three shifts, production could have been almost tripled with no change to the infrastructure. However, attacks on the infrastructure were taking place. The attacks on Germany's canals and railroads made transportation of materiel difficult.
The attack on oil production, oil refineries and tank farms was, however, extremely successful and made a very large contribution to the general collapse of Germany in 1945. In the event, the bombing of oil facilities became Albert Speer's (in charge of Germany's war production) main concern; however, this occurred sufficiently late in the war that Germany would soon be defeated in any case. Nevertheless, it is fair to say the oil bombing campaign materially shortened the war, thereby saving many lives.
German insiders credit the Allied bombing offensive with severely handicapping them. Speer repeatedly said (both during and after the war) it caused crucial production problems. Admiral Karl Dönitz, head of the U-Boat arm, noted in his memoirs that failure to get the revolutionary Type XXI U-boats (which could have completely altered the balance of power in the Battle of the Atlantic) into service was entirely the result of the bombing. Post war assessment did not fully support this.
In all, the RAF and the USAAF dropped almost 2.8 million tons of bombs on Germany and German targets during the war. Of this total, slightly more than half was by the USAAF. Over 57,000 German aircraft were shot down, for the loss of almost 21,000 Allied bombers and 18,000 fighters. Almost 160,000 Allied men, pilots and crew members, were lost.
We will talk about the most controversial bombing attack in a later post. The firebombing of Dresden.
Last edited by a moderator:
timschochet
Footballguy
Overlord, Continued
At Caen the Anglo-Canadians lay 50 miles closer to the heart of France than the Americans, and had the chance to break out into open tank-fighting country while gathering in airfields and airfield sites to support the attack. Precious fighting room might be captured before the German army could be committed to battle. But it didn't happen. On June 7, a British brigade's attempt to force a way into the city through Lebisey was stopped cold. Canadians also attempting to break out encountered elements of the formidable 12th SS Panzer Division new arrived on the battlefield. Soon units of the Hitler Youth appeared as well as Gen. Fritz Bayerliein's redoubtable Panzer Lehr Division, probably the finest German formation in France. Rommel now shielded Caen with 2 suburb and one good armored division, together with the Hitler Youth and those various line formations that had defended the sector on D-Day.
Their dispositions were typical of the German genius for war, their adaptability to any situation and their matchless skill at combining and coordinating the efforts of infantry, armor, and artillery, and this in the face of Allied aerial superiority. In preparation for the Battle of Villers-Bocage (June 9-11, 1944), General Bayerlein sent in all his half-tracks to the rear, realizing he would not move far or fast in any direction. He dug in his tanks as mobile strongpoints, cleverly camouflaged with only a foot or two of turret visible above the ground. Infantry were deployed among the tracks in ditches or ruined roadsides houses. Against these forces Montgomery sent 2 veteran divisions of his old 8th Army: 51st Highland and 7th Armored. They gained no ground. Everytime the aerial strikes would throw the Germans back, they counterattacked shorty afterwards. Gradually there began to appear among the British a disturbing caution. There were indeed many brave and valiant soldiers among the Anglo-Canadians, but the spirt and elan that had animated many of them during D-Day began to wilt in the Caen battles.
The key to British caution was that, from Churchill on down, there was a sense that they simply could not sustain any more significant casualties. The British Second Army, joined by the First Canadian Army, were the absolute last of the reserves the British could expend in World War II. After this, the cupboard was empty. It is, of course, absurd to suggest that a British Tommy anxious to take care of himself would ever be mindful of such overall strategic considerations. But when something is in the air, one need not understand it to catch it. The battle ended up in a standoff.
At Caen the Anglo-Canadians lay 50 miles closer to the heart of France than the Americans, and had the chance to break out into open tank-fighting country while gathering in airfields and airfield sites to support the attack. Precious fighting room might be captured before the German army could be committed to battle. But it didn't happen. On June 7, a British brigade's attempt to force a way into the city through Lebisey was stopped cold. Canadians also attempting to break out encountered elements of the formidable 12th SS Panzer Division new arrived on the battlefield. Soon units of the Hitler Youth appeared as well as Gen. Fritz Bayerliein's redoubtable Panzer Lehr Division, probably the finest German formation in France. Rommel now shielded Caen with 2 suburb and one good armored division, together with the Hitler Youth and those various line formations that had defended the sector on D-Day.
Their dispositions were typical of the German genius for war, their adaptability to any situation and their matchless skill at combining and coordinating the efforts of infantry, armor, and artillery, and this in the face of Allied aerial superiority. In preparation for the Battle of Villers-Bocage (June 9-11, 1944), General Bayerlein sent in all his half-tracks to the rear, realizing he would not move far or fast in any direction. He dug in his tanks as mobile strongpoints, cleverly camouflaged with only a foot or two of turret visible above the ground. Infantry were deployed among the tracks in ditches or ruined roadsides houses. Against these forces Montgomery sent 2 veteran divisions of his old 8th Army: 51st Highland and 7th Armored. They gained no ground. Everytime the aerial strikes would throw the Germans back, they counterattacked shorty afterwards. Gradually there began to appear among the British a disturbing caution. There were indeed many brave and valiant soldiers among the Anglo-Canadians, but the spirt and elan that had animated many of them during D-Day began to wilt in the Caen battles.
The key to British caution was that, from Churchill on down, there was a sense that they simply could not sustain any more significant casualties. The British Second Army, joined by the First Canadian Army, were the absolute last of the reserves the British could expend in World War II. After this, the cupboard was empty. It is, of course, absurd to suggest that a British Tommy anxious to take care of himself would ever be mindful of such overall strategic considerations. But when something is in the air, one need not understand it to catch it. The battle ended up in a standoff.
timschochet
Footballguy
Overlord, Continued
The Bocage is a hilly region extending almost as far back as Brittany. Hedgerows- up to 12 feet high- are everywhere. This area is also noteworthy because it is the one place in Western Europe whose majority of inhabitants still believe in witchcraft to this day. The German army holding the Bocage, though much inferior to the forces around Caen, including in its ranks dragooned Poles, Serbs, and Russians eager to surrender, was given by the landscape a defensive advantage canceling out the Americans' superior mobility and air power.
It fell to General Collins's VII Corps to clear the Bocage. Collins was already something of a legend in the American army, and his nickname "Lightnin' Joe" was gained by his speed and energy. The 10th child of a destitute Lousiana family, Collins was another of those underprivileged Americans who went to West Point to get a free education. He had also stagnated between wars and did not make Lt. Colonel until he was 44 and the army had begun to expand. At one time he considered leaving the service to become a lawyer. Cultivated in his love of literature and the opera, sophisticated from his wide travels, he was a hard driver who did not hesitate to relieve officers who did not meet his standards.
Collins had two good infantry divisions in the 4th and 9th, but his other formations- the green 90th and 79th- were sluggish and skittish. In the Bocage German tactics of infiltration worked against such troops, forcing them to panic or to withdraw because they were "outflanked". The Germans hurled a succession of local assaults in battalion strength against the Americans. Fortunately for Collins he had the help of the airborne divisions. Though lightly armed and without the support of armor, the paratroopers fought valiantly to hold onto the passages through the floods so vital to Collin's breakout. It was the 101st that took Carentan on June 12 assisted by the 2nd Armored. On the 13th of June, the units from Utah and Omaha beaches were finally in contact across the great divide of wetlands that had divided them. The way was now clear for Collins to move on Cherbourg.
The Bocage is a hilly region extending almost as far back as Brittany. Hedgerows- up to 12 feet high- are everywhere. This area is also noteworthy because it is the one place in Western Europe whose majority of inhabitants still believe in witchcraft to this day. The German army holding the Bocage, though much inferior to the forces around Caen, including in its ranks dragooned Poles, Serbs, and Russians eager to surrender, was given by the landscape a defensive advantage canceling out the Americans' superior mobility and air power.
It fell to General Collins's VII Corps to clear the Bocage. Collins was already something of a legend in the American army, and his nickname "Lightnin' Joe" was gained by his speed and energy. The 10th child of a destitute Lousiana family, Collins was another of those underprivileged Americans who went to West Point to get a free education. He had also stagnated between wars and did not make Lt. Colonel until he was 44 and the army had begun to expand. At one time he considered leaving the service to become a lawyer. Cultivated in his love of literature and the opera, sophisticated from his wide travels, he was a hard driver who did not hesitate to relieve officers who did not meet his standards.
Collins had two good infantry divisions in the 4th and 9th, but his other formations- the green 90th and 79th- were sluggish and skittish. In the Bocage German tactics of infiltration worked against such troops, forcing them to panic or to withdraw because they were "outflanked". The Germans hurled a succession of local assaults in battalion strength against the Americans. Fortunately for Collins he had the help of the airborne divisions. Though lightly armed and without the support of armor, the paratroopers fought valiantly to hold onto the passages through the floods so vital to Collin's breakout. It was the 101st that took Carentan on June 12 assisted by the 2nd Armored. On the 13th of June, the units from Utah and Omaha beaches were finally in contact across the great divide of wetlands that had divided them. The way was now clear for Collins to move on Cherbourg.
timschochet
Footballguy
Overlord Interlude: The Rockets
The first V-1 rockets- small, pilotless, self-propelled bombs- fell on London a week after D-Day. They did not appear to be very frightening, and the British immediately called them buzz bombs or doodlebugs. But there was nothing comical about their successors, the one-ton V-2s, which buried themselves deep in the ground before exploding. Flying at 3,000 miles an hour, the V-2 could not be heard approaching. The only warning was the roar of its explosion on impact. In all, the V-2s killed 8,000 British- nearly as many as the entire Blitz of 1940- before this new threat to Britain was ended by Allied capture of the launching sites in the north.
The scientists behind Hitler's "secret weapons" were located in a secret laboratory in Peenumunde, Germany. At the end of the war, there was a serious race between American, British, and Russian intelligence as to who could get to this lab first and "invite" the surviving scientists there to come work for them. The Russians essentially won this contest; the majority of scientists were "invited" to come to Moscow, where they were eventually responsible for the development of Sputnik. However, the main prize, Werner Von Braun, architect of the V-2s, managed to escape and ended up in American hands. Relocating to Huntsville, Alabama, Von Braun was the scientist most responsible for the development of America's space program. Late in his career, Von Braun, now a major celebrity in America, released his autobiography, called I Aim For The Stars. Comedian Mort Sahl joked that it really should be called, I Aim For The Stars But Sometimes Hit London.
The first V-1 rockets- small, pilotless, self-propelled bombs- fell on London a week after D-Day. They did not appear to be very frightening, and the British immediately called them buzz bombs or doodlebugs. But there was nothing comical about their successors, the one-ton V-2s, which buried themselves deep in the ground before exploding. Flying at 3,000 miles an hour, the V-2 could not be heard approaching. The only warning was the roar of its explosion on impact. In all, the V-2s killed 8,000 British- nearly as many as the entire Blitz of 1940- before this new threat to Britain was ended by Allied capture of the launching sites in the north.
The scientists behind Hitler's "secret weapons" were located in a secret laboratory in Peenumunde, Germany. At the end of the war, there was a serious race between American, British, and Russian intelligence as to who could get to this lab first and "invite" the surviving scientists there to come work for them. The Russians essentially won this contest; the majority of scientists were "invited" to come to Moscow, where they were eventually responsible for the development of Sputnik. However, the main prize, Werner Von Braun, architect of the V-2s, managed to escape and ended up in American hands. Relocating to Huntsville, Alabama, Von Braun was the scientist most responsible for the development of America's space program. Late in his career, Von Braun, now a major celebrity in America, released his autobiography, called I Aim For The Stars. Comedian Mort Sahl joked that it really should be called, I Aim For The Stars But Sometimes Hit London.
Ozymandias
Footballguy
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timschochet
Footballguy
Did you relate this earlier? Sorry, I can't even remember anymore. Anyway, it's worth repeating, because it's in the timeline.I am looking forward to a major effort on Leyte Gulf, Ozy. One of the great naval battles in all of history. You're going to have to outdo yourself there.
Ozymandias
Footballguy
I am just waiting for you to finish Overlord and the breakout.
P.S. You also told the Mort Sahl joke in post 1049.
P.S. You also told the Mort Sahl joke in post 1049.
timschochet
Footballguy
Did I? LOLAccording to the timeline I've got, the breakout doesn't come until after the Russian offensive and the attempt to kill Hitler. The latter event is rather involved and will take several posts, I imagine.I am just waiting for you to finish Overlord and the breakout.P.S. You also told the Mort Sahl joke in post 1049.
Ozymandias
Footballguy
Operation Bagration is June 22
Caen liberated July 9
Operation Cobra July 24 (breakout)
Operation Dragoon (South of France) Aug 15
Leyte Gulf is not until October.
Caen liberated July 9
Operation Cobra July 24 (breakout)
Operation Dragoon (South of France) Aug 15
Leyte Gulf is not until October.
timschochet
Footballguy
OK. I'm going to finish with Overlord, then do Bagration and Warsaw, then the July 12 plot, then go back to Caen and follow that through to Dragoon. After that, I plan on writing about the 442nd before closing out 1944 with the Battle of the Bulge.So you can intersperse the pacific stuff as you decide.
kblitz
Footballguy
The Engelbergtunnel is typical example of the influence of allied bombing on industrial production. It is located 10 km outside of Stuttgart and was earlier a Autobahn/highway tunnel. Because of the heavy bombing of industrial facilities the tunnel was closed in 1944, a second flour was built in and a concentration-labor camp was installed where prisoners had to assemble wings for the Me262. Very often Prisoners were "lend" directly to the company they had to work for, in the case of Engelberg, Messerschmitt. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Engelberg_tunnel
kblitz
Footballguy
Pretty impressive carrier for a SS-Sturmbannführer.
timschochet
Footballguy
Overlord, Continued
Cherbourg's defenses had been designed to repel an attack from the sea. It's landward fortifications were not strong. Moreover, the defending troops were not the best; actually a ragtag of sailors., supply troops, clerks, Luftwaffe ground personnel and other rear echelon soldiers all beneath the command of Gen. Karl Wilhelm von Schlieben. Collins was astonished but pleased to discover that Schlieben was not making a stand on the high ground outside the city but had retired to its inner forts. On June 22, following a heavy aerial bombardment, the Americans attacked.
Though the defenders were poor quality troops, they were inside huge concrete bunkers from which they could deliver withering machine-gun fire, and this stiffened their spines. They compelled the Americans to conduct a house-to-house street fighting campaign. One by one the bunkers were reduced. Schlieben and his men fought a fierce, bloody battle which lasted for 5 days; on the 27th, he surrendered with his 800 remaining men. It is traditional that the victorious commander treat the losing general to a meal after such a battle; but Omar Bradley, angered at the way Schlieben had fought a losing battle that had cost many lives on both sides when he knew there was no chance of success, refused to attend. Meanwhile, the delirious American soldiers had discovered Cherbourg's vast stocks of champagne and cognac. The officers tried to restrain them (well, some did, and others joined them) but it made no difference. Finally, the command came from General Eddy: "OK, everybody take 24 hours and get drunk."
Cherbourg had fallen but in name only; the port was gone. Or so it seemed to Schlieben before he finally surrendered. Col. Alvin Viney, who planned to reopen it, clamed that "The demolition of the port of Cherbourg is a masterful job, beyond a doubt the most complete, intensive, and best-planned demolition in history." Estimates of how long it would take to make it operational again- based on a similar predicament at Naples- were 3 days. It took closer to 3 months. The Germans had blocked all port basins whith sunken ships, sown the harbor with a variety of mines, destroyed all cranes, demolished the Gare Maritime, housing the port's heating plants and electrical control system, and blown 18,000 tons of masonry into the deep basin that had housed transatlantic liners.
Nevertheless, the redoubtable American engineers set immediately to work restoring the port, while on the eastern Allied flank the British 2nd Army made its third attempt on Caen.
Cherbourg's defenses had been designed to repel an attack from the sea. It's landward fortifications were not strong. Moreover, the defending troops were not the best; actually a ragtag of sailors., supply troops, clerks, Luftwaffe ground personnel and other rear echelon soldiers all beneath the command of Gen. Karl Wilhelm von Schlieben. Collins was astonished but pleased to discover that Schlieben was not making a stand on the high ground outside the city but had retired to its inner forts. On June 22, following a heavy aerial bombardment, the Americans attacked.
Though the defenders were poor quality troops, they were inside huge concrete bunkers from which they could deliver withering machine-gun fire, and this stiffened their spines. They compelled the Americans to conduct a house-to-house street fighting campaign. One by one the bunkers were reduced. Schlieben and his men fought a fierce, bloody battle which lasted for 5 days; on the 27th, he surrendered with his 800 remaining men. It is traditional that the victorious commander treat the losing general to a meal after such a battle; but Omar Bradley, angered at the way Schlieben had fought a losing battle that had cost many lives on both sides when he knew there was no chance of success, refused to attend. Meanwhile, the delirious American soldiers had discovered Cherbourg's vast stocks of champagne and cognac. The officers tried to restrain them (well, some did, and others joined them) but it made no difference. Finally, the command came from General Eddy: "OK, everybody take 24 hours and get drunk."
Cherbourg had fallen but in name only; the port was gone. Or so it seemed to Schlieben before he finally surrendered. Col. Alvin Viney, who planned to reopen it, clamed that "The demolition of the port of Cherbourg is a masterful job, beyond a doubt the most complete, intensive, and best-planned demolition in history." Estimates of how long it would take to make it operational again- based on a similar predicament at Naples- were 3 days. It took closer to 3 months. The Germans had blocked all port basins whith sunken ships, sown the harbor with a variety of mines, destroyed all cranes, demolished the Gare Maritime, housing the port's heating plants and electrical control system, and blown 18,000 tons of masonry into the deep basin that had housed transatlantic liners.
Nevertheless, the redoubtable American engineers set immediately to work restoring the port, while on the eastern Allied flank the British 2nd Army made its third attempt on Caen.
timschochet
Footballguy
Overlord, Continued
On the morning of June 19, the worst storm in 20 years broke out on the Channel coast of France. It tore apart one of the Mulberries off the Allied beaches and destroyed 140,000 tons of supplies. The storm continued until June 23, bringing unloading to a standstill and delaying the third assault on Caen until June 26. Three of the British Army's finest divisions- 14th Scottish, 11th Armored, and 43rd Wessex- were to take part as the VIII Corps under Lt. Gen. Richard O' Connor. The hero of the early desert warfare had escaped from an Italian prison after 2 years of confinement and welcomed back to the war by his old friend Monty. O'Connor was attacking on a 4 mile front with 60,000 men and 600 tanks supported by 700 guns. The plan was to get around Caen's western flank by gaining the thickly wooded banks of the River Odon.
A furious artillery bombardment helped the British to achieve early penetrations. But once the barrage lifted, the Germans began firing back. This was the Somme all over again- an unimaginative assault, a straightforward infantry bash. Unworthy of such a master tactician as O'Connor, it came just as two Panzer divisions arrived from the east. Just like World War I, this turned into a vicious, grinding, yard by yard advance, the exception being the tanks. On June 29, in pouring rain, British armor at last crossed the bloody Odon to gain the heights of Hill 112. At this point General Dollman of 7th Army, in his last order before he killed himself, pleaded with General Hauser of II Panzer Corps to hurl both his armored divisions against the British right. He did, and the Germans were thrown back. In probably the finest fighting of the British in Normandy, superbly supported by Allied air, the German counterstroke was stopped cold. Unfortunately, General Dempsey misread the battle. Believing that the Germans would strike again, he ordered a withdrawal to the other side of the river. With this Monty closed down the operation, and the third attempt to take Caen had failed.
And so once again, the frustration that had so beset the British in the First World War, which had made them so fearful of this repetition in the first place- had been repeated. Days of bloody fighting and casaulties in order to seize a much desired objective, only to pull back at the first sign of counterattack. But Montgomery was determined to find a way to victory.
On the morning of June 19, the worst storm in 20 years broke out on the Channel coast of France. It tore apart one of the Mulberries off the Allied beaches and destroyed 140,000 tons of supplies. The storm continued until June 23, bringing unloading to a standstill and delaying the third assault on Caen until June 26. Three of the British Army's finest divisions- 14th Scottish, 11th Armored, and 43rd Wessex- were to take part as the VIII Corps under Lt. Gen. Richard O' Connor. The hero of the early desert warfare had escaped from an Italian prison after 2 years of confinement and welcomed back to the war by his old friend Monty. O'Connor was attacking on a 4 mile front with 60,000 men and 600 tanks supported by 700 guns. The plan was to get around Caen's western flank by gaining the thickly wooded banks of the River Odon.
A furious artillery bombardment helped the British to achieve early penetrations. But once the barrage lifted, the Germans began firing back. This was the Somme all over again- an unimaginative assault, a straightforward infantry bash. Unworthy of such a master tactician as O'Connor, it came just as two Panzer divisions arrived from the east. Just like World War I, this turned into a vicious, grinding, yard by yard advance, the exception being the tanks. On June 29, in pouring rain, British armor at last crossed the bloody Odon to gain the heights of Hill 112. At this point General Dollman of 7th Army, in his last order before he killed himself, pleaded with General Hauser of II Panzer Corps to hurl both his armored divisions against the British right. He did, and the Germans were thrown back. In probably the finest fighting of the British in Normandy, superbly supported by Allied air, the German counterstroke was stopped cold. Unfortunately, General Dempsey misread the battle. Believing that the Germans would strike again, he ordered a withdrawal to the other side of the river. With this Monty closed down the operation, and the third attempt to take Caen had failed.
And so once again, the frustration that had so beset the British in the First World War, which had made them so fearful of this repetition in the first place- had been repeated. Days of bloody fighting and casaulties in order to seize a much desired objective, only to pull back at the first sign of counterattack. But Montgomery was determined to find a way to victory.
timschochet
Footballguy
Overlord, Continued
In more than a month of fighting, the British Second Army still had not captured Caen. In desperation, Montgomery and Dempsey launched a massive aerial attack on the city the night of July 7, hoping it would clear the way for an assault the following morning. But the airmen, fearful of hitting friendly troops, delayed their attacks too long. Instead of wrecking the German defenses, they all but destroyed the ancient city. Caen was still burning when the British and Canadian divisions attacked the next day. 2 days of savage combat against the 12th SS Panzers followed. Some battalions lost as many as 25% of their men. But they finally fought their way into Caen, while on the west the 43rd Wessex crossed the Odon once again to seize Hill 112, only to lose it once again- and then regain it on July 10, the day Caen finally fell.
It was captured in 34 bloody, costly days after Monty confidently predicted he would take it, and now a storm of criticism fell on the man with the black beret. Eisenhower was furious at the delay, which he believed had frittered away the time he had gained on his great gamble to attack on June 6. He wanted to fire Monty, but dared not risk upsetting the alliance. What Ike did not know was that both Alan Brooke and Churchill would have approved sacking Monty; they were fed up as well with the cold and controversial little commander. But no one moved directly against him, probably because the great blow his removal would strike at British pride.
Some war historians now believe that, had Montgomery and his subordinates not been so cautious, the European war could have been won in September. This is highly debatable. There is no doubt that the Allies hoped to finish France and reach Germany before the winter set in. With the Russian offensive just beginning (which I will get to shortly) it appeared in that summer of 1944 to most of the world that Germany was collapsing. Some reporters actually believed it would be possibly days before the inevitable surrender, especially after the attempt on Hitler's life on July 20. But Germany proved much more resiliant than anyone expected.
In more than a month of fighting, the British Second Army still had not captured Caen. In desperation, Montgomery and Dempsey launched a massive aerial attack on the city the night of July 7, hoping it would clear the way for an assault the following morning. But the airmen, fearful of hitting friendly troops, delayed their attacks too long. Instead of wrecking the German defenses, they all but destroyed the ancient city. Caen was still burning when the British and Canadian divisions attacked the next day. 2 days of savage combat against the 12th SS Panzers followed. Some battalions lost as many as 25% of their men. But they finally fought their way into Caen, while on the west the 43rd Wessex crossed the Odon once again to seize Hill 112, only to lose it once again- and then regain it on July 10, the day Caen finally fell.
It was captured in 34 bloody, costly days after Monty confidently predicted he would take it, and now a storm of criticism fell on the man with the black beret. Eisenhower was furious at the delay, which he believed had frittered away the time he had gained on his great gamble to attack on June 6. He wanted to fire Monty, but dared not risk upsetting the alliance. What Ike did not know was that both Alan Brooke and Churchill would have approved sacking Monty; they were fed up as well with the cold and controversial little commander. But no one moved directly against him, probably because the great blow his removal would strike at British pride.
Some war historians now believe that, had Montgomery and his subordinates not been so cautious, the European war could have been won in September. This is highly debatable. There is no doubt that the Allies hoped to finish France and reach Germany before the winter set in. With the Russian offensive just beginning (which I will get to shortly) it appeared in that summer of 1944 to most of the world that Germany was collapsing. Some reporters actually believed it would be possibly days before the inevitable surrender, especially after the attempt on Hitler's life on July 20. But Germany proved much more resiliant than anyone expected.
timschochet
Footballguy
Götterdämmerung
In order to understand why Germany did not surrender in the late summer of 1944, there are several factors that need to be considered. The first is that Germany in 1944 faced an extremely similar situation as they did in 1918, when they chose to surrender. (The main difference, of course, was that the Germans were not yet starving; however, they were facing day and night bombing, so in some ways their situation was worse.) In 1918, the leading generals (Bismarck and Ludendorf) informed the cabinet that the war could not be won, and the Social Democrats, led by Ebert, chose to accept Wilson's generous offer of peace. Adolf Hitler's entire political career was based on a criticism of these events. As he argued in Mein Kampf, why should Germany, its armies extended all throughout Europe, have surrendered? Surely treachery was involved. Hitler had said several times that it would not happen again, not with him in charge. Indeed, on September 1, 1939, on the outbreak of war, he stated that THIS time Germany would fight to the end.
There is no doubt that FDR's policy of "Unconditional Surrender" had an effect on this as well. Many of the German generals, as we shall see, believed a "reasonable" peace could be made with the Americans and British, possibly even one that would allow them to continue to fight the Soviets. But even if this did not happen, they argued that Germany should surrender anyhow, if the result was the destruction of the homeland. What they could not conceive in their worst nightmares was the incredible fact that the man they had chosen to lead them DID want Germany to be destroyed; in fact, if he could not conquer the world, he actually relished this prospect. And to understand this, we have to go deep into Germanic mythology, and Adolf Hitler's favorite composer, the magnificent Richard Wagner.
Götterdämmerung (English: Twilight of the Gods) is the last in Richard Wagner's cycle of four operas entitled Der Ring des Nibelungen (English: The Ring of the Nibelung, or The Ring for short). The title is a translation into German of the Old Norse compound word Ragnarök, which in Norse mythology refers to a prophesied war of the gods which brings about the end of the world. There is no need to describe the whole opera here, it's enough to explain that it ends in the "glorious" destruction of everything. For most Germans, the Ring represented a mythology, pre-Christian, that Christianity had never quite been able to conquer, but to Wagner, and later Hitler, it meant much more. Both men believed in the final exaltation of the spirit that such death and destruction would bring. Hitler adored Wagner, visited his grave, and attended the Bayreuth festival every year. There is no question that much of Nazi philosophy and practices were a result of this strange but great composer's ideas.
Of course Adolf Hitler wanted victory above all. But if he could not get it, the utter destruction of everything was something he looked forward to. It is impossible to comprehend his actions in the remaining months, and the effect they would have on both his nation and the Allies fighting him, without understanding this fundamental fact.
In order to understand why Germany did not surrender in the late summer of 1944, there are several factors that need to be considered. The first is that Germany in 1944 faced an extremely similar situation as they did in 1918, when they chose to surrender. (The main difference, of course, was that the Germans were not yet starving; however, they were facing day and night bombing, so in some ways their situation was worse.) In 1918, the leading generals (Bismarck and Ludendorf) informed the cabinet that the war could not be won, and the Social Democrats, led by Ebert, chose to accept Wilson's generous offer of peace. Adolf Hitler's entire political career was based on a criticism of these events. As he argued in Mein Kampf, why should Germany, its armies extended all throughout Europe, have surrendered? Surely treachery was involved. Hitler had said several times that it would not happen again, not with him in charge. Indeed, on September 1, 1939, on the outbreak of war, he stated that THIS time Germany would fight to the end.
There is no doubt that FDR's policy of "Unconditional Surrender" had an effect on this as well. Many of the German generals, as we shall see, believed a "reasonable" peace could be made with the Americans and British, possibly even one that would allow them to continue to fight the Soviets. But even if this did not happen, they argued that Germany should surrender anyhow, if the result was the destruction of the homeland. What they could not conceive in their worst nightmares was the incredible fact that the man they had chosen to lead them DID want Germany to be destroyed; in fact, if he could not conquer the world, he actually relished this prospect. And to understand this, we have to go deep into Germanic mythology, and Adolf Hitler's favorite composer, the magnificent Richard Wagner.
Götterdämmerung (English: Twilight of the Gods) is the last in Richard Wagner's cycle of four operas entitled Der Ring des Nibelungen (English: The Ring of the Nibelung, or The Ring for short). The title is a translation into German of the Old Norse compound word Ragnarök, which in Norse mythology refers to a prophesied war of the gods which brings about the end of the world. There is no need to describe the whole opera here, it's enough to explain that it ends in the "glorious" destruction of everything. For most Germans, the Ring represented a mythology, pre-Christian, that Christianity had never quite been able to conquer, but to Wagner, and later Hitler, it meant much more. Both men believed in the final exaltation of the spirit that such death and destruction would bring. Hitler adored Wagner, visited his grave, and attended the Bayreuth festival every year. There is no question that much of Nazi philosophy and practices were a result of this strange but great composer's ideas.
Of course Adolf Hitler wanted victory above all. But if he could not get it, the utter destruction of everything was something he looked forward to. It is impossible to comprehend his actions in the remaining months, and the effect they would have on both his nation and the Allies fighting him, without understanding this fundamental fact.
Snotbubbles
Footballguy
Awesome thread. Thanks guys, I anxiously await the next installment.
My grandmother came to America at some time during World War II. She lost her parents and some aunts and uncles to the Holocaust so the Warsaw Ghetto section really chokes me up reading it. When she came over, her father and mother stayed in Europe because they refused to leave, but they sent their children to America. Next time I see her, I'll see if she will give me any information on what she can remember about the time.
My grandmother came to America at some time during World War II. She lost her parents and some aunts and uncles to the Holocaust so the Warsaw Ghetto section really chokes me up reading it. When she came over, her father and mother stayed in Europe because they refused to leave, but they sent their children to America. Next time I see her, I'll see if she will give me any information on what she can remember about the time.
Ozymandias
Footballguy
After the Allies had successfully completed the landings and were advancing in France, Field Marshal Von Rundstedt (commander of all the troops in France) called the German General Staff to report. When they asked him for his recommendations, he said: "Make peace, you idiots!"Hitler fired him the next day, replacing him with Von Kluge.
JaxBill
Footballguy
Anybody see the Samurai Subs show on National Geographic last night? Apparently, the Japanese had developed these subs that held three bombers and launch them from this ramp on the deck of the sub. (They called them bombers but these were single engine aircraft that held the bombs underneath like P-47s).
This was apparently Yammamoto's plan. He wanted the subs to go long distances and launch these aircraft against Washington or New York. After the admiral's death the plan was changed to attack the Panama Canal. At least 5 of these subs were constructed. The sub was en route when Japan surrendered. After the war, the US scuttled the subs just off Oahu so they wouldn't fall into the hands of the Russians.
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/20...rines-pictures/
This was apparently Yammamoto's plan. He wanted the subs to go long distances and launch these aircraft against Washington or New York. After the admiral's death the plan was changed to attack the Panama Canal. At least 5 of these subs were constructed. The sub was en route when Japan surrendered. After the war, the US scuttled the subs just off Oahu so they wouldn't fall into the hands of the Russians.
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/20...rines-pictures/
timschochet
Footballguy
Bagration
Along the entire front from the Baltic to the Carpathian mountains during June 1944, the Soviets were visibly preparing to attack. The Germans looked for them to strike south of the Pripet Marshes, for here they were already deep into Poland. A 3 month pause waiting for the spring thaws to dry had given Marshal Zhukov the time to repair rail communications in this sector.
Instead, the Soviets surprised the Germans by attacking north of the Pripet Marshes, in White Russia where the enemy still held much of their soil. Soviet communications here were excellent and gave the assault early momentum. No fewer than 166 divisions in 4 "fronts" or army groups moved against the German Army Group Center, now under Gen. Field Marshal Ernst von Busch, who had taken over after Kluge was badly injured in a car accident. The Soviet operation was code-named "Bagration" after a prince who had fought in the Battle of Borodino. Once again the extent of the German front was its undoing. Busch asked Hitler for permission to withdraw 90 miles west of the line of the Berezina River. Such a step back could have taken the momentum out of the Soviet offensive. As usual, Hitler refused.
All that space in the center of the sector was to the advantage of the Russians with their newly increased maneuvering skill. The value of American supplies was also evident, as were the new Josef Stalin tanks. A breakthrough was achieved immediately and within a week the Soviets advanced 150 miles. Moving in a giant pincers with converging horns north and south (a maneuver strikingly similar to the one executed by the Germans in the opposite direction 3 years earlier) the Soviets virtually destroyed Army Group Center with a loss of over 200,000 men. By mid-July the Red Army had not only driven the Germans out of White Russa but had recaptured Minsk and overrun half of northeastern Poland.
On July 14, the Soviets launched their long expected summer offensive south of Pripet. Now they were attacking on a vast front. By July 31, they had entered Praga, a suburb of Warsaw on the east side of the Vistula river. Here they paused. The Russians had moved 400 miles in little more than a month and their momentum had taken them far from their supply bases, so now the offensive was coming to a halt. At this juncture, Moscow Radio encouraged the Polish underground Home Army to stage its long awaited uprising in Warsaw. The promise was, if they could start to overthrow the Nazis there, the Russian troops would cross the Vistula to aid them.
Along the entire front from the Baltic to the Carpathian mountains during June 1944, the Soviets were visibly preparing to attack. The Germans looked for them to strike south of the Pripet Marshes, for here they were already deep into Poland. A 3 month pause waiting for the spring thaws to dry had given Marshal Zhukov the time to repair rail communications in this sector.
Instead, the Soviets surprised the Germans by attacking north of the Pripet Marshes, in White Russia where the enemy still held much of their soil. Soviet communications here were excellent and gave the assault early momentum. No fewer than 166 divisions in 4 "fronts" or army groups moved against the German Army Group Center, now under Gen. Field Marshal Ernst von Busch, who had taken over after Kluge was badly injured in a car accident. The Soviet operation was code-named "Bagration" after a prince who had fought in the Battle of Borodino. Once again the extent of the German front was its undoing. Busch asked Hitler for permission to withdraw 90 miles west of the line of the Berezina River. Such a step back could have taken the momentum out of the Soviet offensive. As usual, Hitler refused.
All that space in the center of the sector was to the advantage of the Russians with their newly increased maneuvering skill. The value of American supplies was also evident, as were the new Josef Stalin tanks. A breakthrough was achieved immediately and within a week the Soviets advanced 150 miles. Moving in a giant pincers with converging horns north and south (a maneuver strikingly similar to the one executed by the Germans in the opposite direction 3 years earlier) the Soviets virtually destroyed Army Group Center with a loss of over 200,000 men. By mid-July the Red Army had not only driven the Germans out of White Russa but had recaptured Minsk and overrun half of northeastern Poland.
On July 14, the Soviets launched their long expected summer offensive south of Pripet. Now they were attacking on a vast front. By July 31, they had entered Praga, a suburb of Warsaw on the east side of the Vistula river. Here they paused. The Russians had moved 400 miles in little more than a month and their momentum had taken them far from their supply bases, so now the offensive was coming to a halt. At this juncture, Moscow Radio encouraged the Polish underground Home Army to stage its long awaited uprising in Warsaw. The promise was, if they could start to overthrow the Nazis there, the Russian troops would cross the Vistula to aid them.
timschochet
Footballguy
The Warsaw Uprising
Gen. Tadeusz Bor-Komorowski had about 40,000 men in his Polish Home Army. General Bor had heard the sound of the Soviet guns across the Vistula and seen the bombs exploding on German positions in the city. He had taken great heart fromt the Moscow radio broadcasts calling upon him to rise and promising help. On August 1 at 5:00 in the afternoon thousands of windows flashed as they were thrown open in the sun and a hail of bullets riddled German soldiers on the streets below. Civilians cleared the street and then the Polish freedom fighters poured out of their houses to launch the attack. Within 15 minutes an entire city of about a million inhabitants was engulfed in battle.
The Germans threw 5 full divisions against the Poles. 3 more, including the veteran Hermann Goering Division, were rushed to Warsaw from Italy. From London the Polish government-in-exile appealed to the Allies to aid their soldiers fighting with only one week's supply of food and ammunition.
Stalin ignored all appeals to go to the aid of the Poles, whether from Churchill or FDR, or General Bor of Premier Mikolayjcyk of the Polish government-in-exile, who flew from London to Moscow to plead with Stalin. The Russian dictator called the Warsaw rising "a reckless and fearful gamble" made by a "handful of power-seeking criminals." Their uprising, of course, was exactly what he wanted. Bor's Home Army was filled with Polish patriots as fiercely anticommunist as they were antifascist. With Stalin's simple cunning, he intended to allow his German military enemies and his Polish political enemies to kill each other off. So the Red Army marked time on the other side of the Vistula while this mutual slaughter continued.
It was a violent street-by-street battle. Sometimes German tanks herded hundreds of Polish women and children together and drove them in front of them as a shield. Because the only means of communication between the Polish-held sectors was through the sewers, much of the fighting was underground. German soldiers dropped grenades into the manholes or jumped into them to give hand-to-hand battle. Poles and Germans struggled to the death standing waist-deep in filth. Men perished by the knife or were drowned in slime. The uprising continued for 2 months, and at the end of each day the Warsaw Radio broadcast the notes of the Polish patriot Chopin's famous Polonaise. Gradually, the German's overwhelming weight of numbers pressed the Poles to the ground. On the last day the Warsaw Radio broadcast the sorrowing strains of Chopin's Death March to signal that the Polish Uprising had ended in defeat and death. In its last broadcast, Radio Warsaw said:
This is the stark truth. We were treated worse than Hitler's satellites, worse than Italy, Romania, and Finland. May God, who is just, pass judgment on the terrible injustices suffered by the Polish nation, and may He punish accordingly all those who are guilty. Your heroes are the soldiers whose only weapons against tanks, planes and guns were their revolvers and bottles filled with gasoline. Your heroes are the women who tended the wounded and carried messages under fire, who cooked in bombed and ruined cellars to feed children and adults, and who soothed and comforted the dying. Immortal is the nation that can muster such universal heroism. For those who have died have conquered, and those who live on will fight on, will conquer and again bear witness that Poland lives while the Poles live.
Nearly 250,000 Poles perished in the Warsaw Uprising, and when the Red Army's formations at last crossed the Vistula, they entered a ruined city whose streets were littered with the reeking, rotton corpses of the unburied dead.
Having successfully engineered the removal of his Polish enemies at Katyn and in this uprising, Josef Stalin now proceeded to transform Poland from a German occupied zone to a Russian one. For the next 45 years the Soviet Union would rule Poland with a bloody fist.
Gen. Tadeusz Bor-Komorowski had about 40,000 men in his Polish Home Army. General Bor had heard the sound of the Soviet guns across the Vistula and seen the bombs exploding on German positions in the city. He had taken great heart fromt the Moscow radio broadcasts calling upon him to rise and promising help. On August 1 at 5:00 in the afternoon thousands of windows flashed as they were thrown open in the sun and a hail of bullets riddled German soldiers on the streets below. Civilians cleared the street and then the Polish freedom fighters poured out of their houses to launch the attack. Within 15 minutes an entire city of about a million inhabitants was engulfed in battle.
The Germans threw 5 full divisions against the Poles. 3 more, including the veteran Hermann Goering Division, were rushed to Warsaw from Italy. From London the Polish government-in-exile appealed to the Allies to aid their soldiers fighting with only one week's supply of food and ammunition.
Stalin ignored all appeals to go to the aid of the Poles, whether from Churchill or FDR, or General Bor of Premier Mikolayjcyk of the Polish government-in-exile, who flew from London to Moscow to plead with Stalin. The Russian dictator called the Warsaw rising "a reckless and fearful gamble" made by a "handful of power-seeking criminals." Their uprising, of course, was exactly what he wanted. Bor's Home Army was filled with Polish patriots as fiercely anticommunist as they were antifascist. With Stalin's simple cunning, he intended to allow his German military enemies and his Polish political enemies to kill each other off. So the Red Army marked time on the other side of the Vistula while this mutual slaughter continued.
It was a violent street-by-street battle. Sometimes German tanks herded hundreds of Polish women and children together and drove them in front of them as a shield. Because the only means of communication between the Polish-held sectors was through the sewers, much of the fighting was underground. German soldiers dropped grenades into the manholes or jumped into them to give hand-to-hand battle. Poles and Germans struggled to the death standing waist-deep in filth. Men perished by the knife or were drowned in slime. The uprising continued for 2 months, and at the end of each day the Warsaw Radio broadcast the notes of the Polish patriot Chopin's famous Polonaise. Gradually, the German's overwhelming weight of numbers pressed the Poles to the ground. On the last day the Warsaw Radio broadcast the sorrowing strains of Chopin's Death March to signal that the Polish Uprising had ended in defeat and death. In its last broadcast, Radio Warsaw said:
This is the stark truth. We were treated worse than Hitler's satellites, worse than Italy, Romania, and Finland. May God, who is just, pass judgment on the terrible injustices suffered by the Polish nation, and may He punish accordingly all those who are guilty. Your heroes are the soldiers whose only weapons against tanks, planes and guns were their revolvers and bottles filled with gasoline. Your heroes are the women who tended the wounded and carried messages under fire, who cooked in bombed and ruined cellars to feed children and adults, and who soothed and comforted the dying. Immortal is the nation that can muster such universal heroism. For those who have died have conquered, and those who live on will fight on, will conquer and again bear witness that Poland lives while the Poles live.
Nearly 250,000 Poles perished in the Warsaw Uprising, and when the Red Army's formations at last crossed the Vistula, they entered a ruined city whose streets were littered with the reeking, rotton corpses of the unburied dead.
Having successfully engineered the removal of his Polish enemies at Katyn and in this uprising, Josef Stalin now proceeded to transform Poland from a German occupied zone to a Russian one. For the next 45 years the Soviet Union would rule Poland with a bloody fist.
timschochet
Footballguy
Introduction to the Plot Against Hitler
It is now time in the narrative to tell the fascinating story of the German General's plot against Hitler. There are some points I wish to make about this event before narrating it:
In the years since the fall of the Third Reich, a great mythology has been built up around this story. (No, I have not yet seen the Tom Cruise movie, so I have no idea if it adds to this or not.) The fact is that modern day Germany has never been able to come to grips with the crimes of the Nazis, and the role that common Germans played in it. Therefore, these men have been built up into national heroes, representative of the German populace, which had by 1944 seen the errors of its ways and wanted to be done with Hitler. Shrines all over Germany honor the brave men who gave their lives trying to preserve the dignity of the German state.
That is the mythology. The truth is far different, especially regarding the German public. Certainly by the summer of 1944, with the bombs falling on their heads, they wanted an end to the war above all else. But they did NOT want to remove Hitler. Adolf Hitler was still regarded as the savior of Germany, and the common German was unaware of any military mistakes he might have made. They would have been shocked to learn that the generals were planning to remove him, and when they did learn it, they certainly did not regard these men as heroes, but instead as traitors. As we shall see, they heartily approved of the actions that Hitler took to secure his rule. Older Germans can claim today (as many have done) that they cheered when they heard the news that some generals had attacked Der Fuhrer; most of them will be lying.
As for the bravery of the generals; there is no doubt that some of them were very brave men, as will be related here, and willing to give up their lives. Most of them were devout Christians who were shocked at the excesses of the Nazi regime. Yet, in some ways, they are as guilty for the crimes of that regime as anyone. The Army Generals knew what Hitler was from the beginning. They allowed him into power and allowed him to keep and expand his power because his goals were the same as theirs: a repudiation of Versailles, and a strong Germany once again. Worse, they allowed Hitler to harness their amazing talents to fight a war that nearly succeeded in conquering the world. As the victories mounted, they did not complain. They were gleeful to be doing their part for the glory of the Fatherland.
Only when it all began to fall apart, with Stalingrad and North Africa, did the generals gradually begin to realize that their commander in chief was irrational. Only when they realized that Germany would not only lose the war but be destroyed, and that this thought was not unappealing to Hitler (see my above post) did they plan to bring him down. With this in mind, it is a little difficult, IMO, to regard them as among the great heroes of history. It's now time to tell their story, and then you guys can decide for yourselves.
It is now time in the narrative to tell the fascinating story of the German General's plot against Hitler. There are some points I wish to make about this event before narrating it:
In the years since the fall of the Third Reich, a great mythology has been built up around this story. (No, I have not yet seen the Tom Cruise movie, so I have no idea if it adds to this or not.) The fact is that modern day Germany has never been able to come to grips with the crimes of the Nazis, and the role that common Germans played in it. Therefore, these men have been built up into national heroes, representative of the German populace, which had by 1944 seen the errors of its ways and wanted to be done with Hitler. Shrines all over Germany honor the brave men who gave their lives trying to preserve the dignity of the German state.
That is the mythology. The truth is far different, especially regarding the German public. Certainly by the summer of 1944, with the bombs falling on their heads, they wanted an end to the war above all else. But they did NOT want to remove Hitler. Adolf Hitler was still regarded as the savior of Germany, and the common German was unaware of any military mistakes he might have made. They would have been shocked to learn that the generals were planning to remove him, and when they did learn it, they certainly did not regard these men as heroes, but instead as traitors. As we shall see, they heartily approved of the actions that Hitler took to secure his rule. Older Germans can claim today (as many have done) that they cheered when they heard the news that some generals had attacked Der Fuhrer; most of them will be lying.
As for the bravery of the generals; there is no doubt that some of them were very brave men, as will be related here, and willing to give up their lives. Most of them were devout Christians who were shocked at the excesses of the Nazi regime. Yet, in some ways, they are as guilty for the crimes of that regime as anyone. The Army Generals knew what Hitler was from the beginning. They allowed him into power and allowed him to keep and expand his power because his goals were the same as theirs: a repudiation of Versailles, and a strong Germany once again. Worse, they allowed Hitler to harness their amazing talents to fight a war that nearly succeeded in conquering the world. As the victories mounted, they did not complain. They were gleeful to be doing their part for the glory of the Fatherland.
Only when it all began to fall apart, with Stalingrad and North Africa, did the generals gradually begin to realize that their commander in chief was irrational. Only when they realized that Germany would not only lose the war but be destroyed, and that this thought was not unappealing to Hitler (see my above post) did they plan to bring him down. With this in mind, it is a little difficult, IMO, to regard them as among the great heroes of history. It's now time to tell their story, and then you guys can decide for yourselves.
Last edited by a moderator:
timschochet
Footballguy
The Plot Against Hitler Part One
The immense and growing material power of the Anglo-Americans had convinced Erwin Rommel that his balancing act had come to an end. He had failed in his first obligation: to throw the Allies into the sea. The deception of Fortitude, Hitler's refusal to release the armor in the early, critical hours, Rundstedt's insistence on keeping the panzers well back and the incredible might of the Allied air forces were too much for him to overcome. Once the Allies were safely ashore and beginning to build their forces, he knew, as he had long suspected, that the war was lost. He must now inform Der Fuhrer that there was no hope. On June 12 he wrote a long and deeply pessimistic letter to that effect to the high command, requesting that it be shown to Hitler.
(This letter writing is typical of the German generals from even before the beginning of the war. They were always talking bravely about confronting Hitler, but almost no one ever wanted to do it. So they would often write memorandums declaring the foolishness of this policy or that, and then request that others show these protests to the German leader. This almost never happened. Sadly, Rommel seemed just as cautious of directly confronting Hitler.)
Rundstedt, at this point, however, was unafraid of confronting Der Fuhrer. A few days later he managed to persuade Hitler to meet him and Rommel near the front. It was a stormy meeting. Hitler's response to their pleas to withdraw into a new defensive line received the unfailing reply: no retreat. Rommel also angered Hitler by protesting a so-called incident at Oradour-sur-Glane. There the infamous SS Das Reich Division, in reprisal for the killing of a German officer, had driven the women and children into a church, and then set the village on fire. Men and boys emerging from blazing buildings were mowed down by machine-gun fire. The church was blown up and all 600 women and children were murdered. Hitler was unmoved when Rommel also told him that there were two villages named Oradour and that the SS had massacred the wrong one. "Such things bring disgrace to the German uniform", he argued. (How Rommel could have been ignorant of the fact that such "disgraces" had been occuring by men in German uniforms for the last 5 years is a little hard to believe.) Rommel added, "How can you wonder at the strength of the French Resistance behind us when the SS drive every decent Frenchmen into joining it?"
"That has nothing to do with you!" Hitler snapped. "Your business is to resist the invasion."
Undaunted, Rundstedt and Rommel then bodly broached the subject of peace overtures to the Western Allies. With that, Hitler adjourned the meeting and left. As Ozymandias has already noted, at this point Rundstedt phoned Berlin and told Keitel, "End the war, you bloody fools!" For this and other signs of "defeatism", he was relieved of command in the West and replaced by Kluge, who had recovered from his injuries on the Soviet front.
Meanwhile, Rommel had stayed in touch with the conspirators, whom we will get to in a moment. The Desert Fox represented to them the best hope of leading the nation once Hitler was assasinated. He was the greatest general of the war, and the most admired German after Der Fuhrer. The problem was that Rommel was torn: he felt it was unpatriotic to take such an action if there was any hope of convincing Hitler that the war was lost. He decided to make one more try: yet another letter.
The immense and growing material power of the Anglo-Americans had convinced Erwin Rommel that his balancing act had come to an end. He had failed in his first obligation: to throw the Allies into the sea. The deception of Fortitude, Hitler's refusal to release the armor in the early, critical hours, Rundstedt's insistence on keeping the panzers well back and the incredible might of the Allied air forces were too much for him to overcome. Once the Allies were safely ashore and beginning to build their forces, he knew, as he had long suspected, that the war was lost. He must now inform Der Fuhrer that there was no hope. On June 12 he wrote a long and deeply pessimistic letter to that effect to the high command, requesting that it be shown to Hitler.
(This letter writing is typical of the German generals from even before the beginning of the war. They were always talking bravely about confronting Hitler, but almost no one ever wanted to do it. So they would often write memorandums declaring the foolishness of this policy or that, and then request that others show these protests to the German leader. This almost never happened. Sadly, Rommel seemed just as cautious of directly confronting Hitler.)
Rundstedt, at this point, however, was unafraid of confronting Der Fuhrer. A few days later he managed to persuade Hitler to meet him and Rommel near the front. It was a stormy meeting. Hitler's response to their pleas to withdraw into a new defensive line received the unfailing reply: no retreat. Rommel also angered Hitler by protesting a so-called incident at Oradour-sur-Glane. There the infamous SS Das Reich Division, in reprisal for the killing of a German officer, had driven the women and children into a church, and then set the village on fire. Men and boys emerging from blazing buildings were mowed down by machine-gun fire. The church was blown up and all 600 women and children were murdered. Hitler was unmoved when Rommel also told him that there were two villages named Oradour and that the SS had massacred the wrong one. "Such things bring disgrace to the German uniform", he argued. (How Rommel could have been ignorant of the fact that such "disgraces" had been occuring by men in German uniforms for the last 5 years is a little hard to believe.) Rommel added, "How can you wonder at the strength of the French Resistance behind us when the SS drive every decent Frenchmen into joining it?"
"That has nothing to do with you!" Hitler snapped. "Your business is to resist the invasion."
Undaunted, Rundstedt and Rommel then bodly broached the subject of peace overtures to the Western Allies. With that, Hitler adjourned the meeting and left. As Ozymandias has already noted, at this point Rundstedt phoned Berlin and told Keitel, "End the war, you bloody fools!" For this and other signs of "defeatism", he was relieved of command in the West and replaced by Kluge, who had recovered from his injuries on the Soviet front.
Meanwhile, Rommel had stayed in touch with the conspirators, whom we will get to in a moment. The Desert Fox represented to them the best hope of leading the nation once Hitler was assasinated. He was the greatest general of the war, and the most admired German after Der Fuhrer. The problem was that Rommel was torn: he felt it was unpatriotic to take such an action if there was any hope of convincing Hitler that the war was lost. He decided to make one more try: yet another letter.
Snotbubbles
Footballguy
I don't think it's really hard to believe that Rommel was ignorant to all the indignities that the Germans were committing. After all, he had spent most of his time in North Africa and as you stated treated his prisoners with a certain amount of respect. Actually confronting Hitler on some of the appalling things that were going on leads me to believe that, at the most, he suspected what was going on without any actual firsthand knowledge. Plausible deniability.
timschochet
Footballguy
He had been involved in the original invasion of Poland, which featured many atrocities. He was a major figure in the invasion of France in 1940. He returned to Germany several times during the war. I'm not saying he knew about the Holocaust (I have no idea about this) but it's hard for me to believe that Rommel was unaware. I suppose anything is possible.Snotbubbles said:
Ozymandias
Footballguy
It is unlikely that he was totally unaware. However, in a totalitarian state, facts are sometimes hard to come by. What there is, are rumors, word of mouth, friend of a friend, kinds of things. And sometimes, you just don't want to know; or delve into it too deeply. If you do, you become a troublemaker, you may make yourself a target, maybe miss out on a cherished opportunity. I suspect it was more like that.
timschochet
Footballguy
The Plot Against Hitler, Continued
Rommel's letter to Hitler was even more pessimistic than the last one, concluding: Our troops are fighting heroically, but even so, the end of this unequal battle is in sight. Kluge, who had come to France believing he could turn the tide but had quickly changed his mind, forwarded Rommel's letter to Hitler with an even gloomier cover letter of his own.
Before Der Fuhrer could reply, Erwin Rommel on July 17 began his daily tour of the front. With him was his aide, Capt. Helmut Lang. In late afternoon they began driving back to La Roche Guyon. Because the air was full of Allied aircraft, the driver took the back roads. Suddenly 2 British Typhoons appeared behind them flying at great speed only a few feet above the road about 300 yards ahead. Before he could reach it the leading enemy plane opened fire. The first shell struck the left side of the staff car. The driver's left shoulder and left arm were shattered. A shower of flying windshield glass struck Rommel's face. He was hurled against the windshield's steel support, the impact causing a triple fracture of his skull. He immediately lost conciousness.
With the driver so badly wounded, the car spun out of control. It struck a tree stump, skidded to the left side of the road and turned over in a ditch. All the occupants, including Rommel, were thrown onto the ground, where the second British aircraft tried to bomb them.
Lang and a sergeant carried Rommel, still unconscious, to safety. He was taken to a Catholic hospital, where a French doctor attended to his numerous facial wounds, especially cuts around his left eye and mouth. The doctor did not believe the Desert Fox would live. Later Rommel and the driver were taken to a Luftwaffe hospital about 25 miles away. That night the driver died, but a few days later Rommel was transferred to the care of a specialist in his hospital at St. Germain.
The man whom the conspirators against Der Fuhrer hoped to proclaim the president of the Reich still lay unconscious and close to death when, on the following day- July 20, 1944- they moved to kill Hitler.
Rommel's letter to Hitler was even more pessimistic than the last one, concluding: Our troops are fighting heroically, but even so, the end of this unequal battle is in sight. Kluge, who had come to France believing he could turn the tide but had quickly changed his mind, forwarded Rommel's letter to Hitler with an even gloomier cover letter of his own.
Before Der Fuhrer could reply, Erwin Rommel on July 17 began his daily tour of the front. With him was his aide, Capt. Helmut Lang. In late afternoon they began driving back to La Roche Guyon. Because the air was full of Allied aircraft, the driver took the back roads. Suddenly 2 British Typhoons appeared behind them flying at great speed only a few feet above the road about 300 yards ahead. Before he could reach it the leading enemy plane opened fire. The first shell struck the left side of the staff car. The driver's left shoulder and left arm were shattered. A shower of flying windshield glass struck Rommel's face. He was hurled against the windshield's steel support, the impact causing a triple fracture of his skull. He immediately lost conciousness.
With the driver so badly wounded, the car spun out of control. It struck a tree stump, skidded to the left side of the road and turned over in a ditch. All the occupants, including Rommel, were thrown onto the ground, where the second British aircraft tried to bomb them.
Lang and a sergeant carried Rommel, still unconscious, to safety. He was taken to a Catholic hospital, where a French doctor attended to his numerous facial wounds, especially cuts around his left eye and mouth. The doctor did not believe the Desert Fox would live. Later Rommel and the driver were taken to a Luftwaffe hospital about 25 miles away. That night the driver died, but a few days later Rommel was transferred to the care of a specialist in his hospital at St. Germain.
The man whom the conspirators against Der Fuhrer hoped to proclaim the president of the Reich still lay unconscious and close to death when, on the following day- July 20, 1944- they moved to kill Hitler.
Ozymandias
Footballguy
HIDEKI TOJO--22 JULY 1944
By coincidence, almost at exactly the same time as the conspirators moved against Hitler, the Japanese removed their Prime Minister, Hideki Tojo.
On October 17, 1941, Hideki Tojo had been summoned to the Japanese Imperial Palace and told by Emperor Hirohito that he was to be the new Prime Minister.
On 3 November, Admiral Nagano explained in detail the Pearl Harbor attack to Hirohito. The eventual plan drawn up by Army and Navy Chiefs of Staff envisaged such a mauling of the Western powers that Japanese defense perimeter lines—operating on interior lines of communications and inflicting heavy Western casualties—could not be breached. In addition, the Japanese fleet which attacked Pearl Harbor was under orders from Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto to be prepared to return to Japan on a moment's notice, should negotiations succeed.
On 5 November, Hirohito approved in Imperial conference the operations plan for a war against the West and had many meetings with the military and Tōjō until the end of the month. On 1 December, another imperial conference finally sanctioned the "War against the United States, England and Holland".
Tōjō continued to hold the position of Army Minister during his term as Prime Minister, from 18 October 1941 to 22 July 1944. He also served concurrently as Home Minister from 1941-1942, Foreign Minister in September 1942, Education Minister in 1943, and Commerce Minister in 1943.
His popularity was high in the early years of the war, as Japanese forces went from one victory to another. However, after the Battle of Midway, with the tide of war turning against Japan, Tōjō faced increasing opposition from within the government and military. To strengthen his position, in February 1944 Tōjō assumed the post of Chief of the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff. But, after the fall of Saipan, he was forced to resign on 18 July 1944. He retired to the first reserve list and went into seclusion.
After Japan's unconditional surrender in 1945, U.S. General Douglas MacArthur issued orders for the arrest of the first forty alleged war criminals, including Tōjō. Soon, Tōjō's home in Setagaya was besieged with newsmen and photographers. Inside, a doctor named Suzuki had marked Tōjō's chest with charcoal to indicate the location of his heart. When American military police surrounded the house on 8 September 1945, they heard muffled shots from inside. Major Paul Kraus and a group of military police burst in, followed by George Jones, a reporter for The New York Times.
Tōjō had shot himself 4 times in the chest, but despite shooting directly through the mark, the bullets missed his heart and penetrated his stomach. At 4:29, now disarmed and with blood gushing out of his chest, Tōjō began to talk, and two Japanese reporters recorded his words. "I am very sorry it is taking me so long to die," he murmured. "The Greater East Asia War was justified and righteous. I am very sorry for the nation and all the races of the Greater Asiatic powers. I wait for the righteous judgment of history. I wished to commit suicide but sometimes that fails.”
He recovered and was tried by the International Military Tribunal for the Far East for war crimes and found guilty of the following crimes:
count 1 (waging wars of aggression, and war or wars in violation of international law)
count 27 (waging unprovoked war against the Republic of China)
count 29 (waging aggressive war against the United States of America)
count 31 (waging aggressive war against the British Commonwealth of Nations)
count 32 (waging aggressive war against the Kingdom of the Netherlands)
count 33 (waging aggressive war against the French Republic)
count 54 (ordering, authorizing, and permitting inhumane treatment of Prisoners of War (POWs) and others)
Hideki Tōjō accepted full responsibility in the end for his actions during the war. Here is a passage from his statement, which he made during his war crimes trial:
“It is natural that I should bear entire responsibility for the war in general, and, needless to say, I am prepared to do so. Consequently, now that the war has been lost, it is presumably necessary that I be judged so that the circumstances of the time can be clarified and the future peace of the world be assured. Therefore, with respect to my trial, it is my intention to speak frankly, according to my recollection, even though when the vanquished stands before the victor, who has over him the power of life and death, he may be apt to toady and flatter. I mean to pay considerable attention to this in my actions, and say to the end that what is true is true and what is false is false. To shade one's words in flattery to the point of untruthfulness would falsify the trial and do incalculable harm to the nation, and great care must be taken to avoid this.”
He was sentenced to death on 12 November 1948 and executed by hanging on 23 December 1948. In his final statements he apologized for the atrocities committed by the Japanese military and urged the American military to show compassion toward the Japanese people, who had suffered devastating air attacks and the two atomic bombs.
Tōjō is often considered responsible for authorizing the murder of millions of civilians in China, the Philippines, Indochina, and other Pacific island nations, as well as tens of thousands of Allied POWs.
Although he accepted responsibility, there is no doubt that he was serving under the Emperor. However, it was important to the US that Hirohito not be charged with war crimes, so Tojo was made to bear the ultimate responsibility, probably unfairly. But in the end, it was probably wise that the US allowed Hirohito to continue as the head of state. Otherwise, the risk of guerrilla warfare and uprisings could have threatened what ended up being a very successful occupation of Japan, with the eventual development of a genuinely democratic nation.
By coincidence, almost at exactly the same time as the conspirators moved against Hitler, the Japanese removed their Prime Minister, Hideki Tojo.
On October 17, 1941, Hideki Tojo had been summoned to the Japanese Imperial Palace and told by Emperor Hirohito that he was to be the new Prime Minister.
On 3 November, Admiral Nagano explained in detail the Pearl Harbor attack to Hirohito. The eventual plan drawn up by Army and Navy Chiefs of Staff envisaged such a mauling of the Western powers that Japanese defense perimeter lines—operating on interior lines of communications and inflicting heavy Western casualties—could not be breached. In addition, the Japanese fleet which attacked Pearl Harbor was under orders from Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto to be prepared to return to Japan on a moment's notice, should negotiations succeed.
On 5 November, Hirohito approved in Imperial conference the operations plan for a war against the West and had many meetings with the military and Tōjō until the end of the month. On 1 December, another imperial conference finally sanctioned the "War against the United States, England and Holland".
Tōjō continued to hold the position of Army Minister during his term as Prime Minister, from 18 October 1941 to 22 July 1944. He also served concurrently as Home Minister from 1941-1942, Foreign Minister in September 1942, Education Minister in 1943, and Commerce Minister in 1943.
His popularity was high in the early years of the war, as Japanese forces went from one victory to another. However, after the Battle of Midway, with the tide of war turning against Japan, Tōjō faced increasing opposition from within the government and military. To strengthen his position, in February 1944 Tōjō assumed the post of Chief of the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff. But, after the fall of Saipan, he was forced to resign on 18 July 1944. He retired to the first reserve list and went into seclusion.
After Japan's unconditional surrender in 1945, U.S. General Douglas MacArthur issued orders for the arrest of the first forty alleged war criminals, including Tōjō. Soon, Tōjō's home in Setagaya was besieged with newsmen and photographers. Inside, a doctor named Suzuki had marked Tōjō's chest with charcoal to indicate the location of his heart. When American military police surrounded the house on 8 September 1945, they heard muffled shots from inside. Major Paul Kraus and a group of military police burst in, followed by George Jones, a reporter for The New York Times.
Tōjō had shot himself 4 times in the chest, but despite shooting directly through the mark, the bullets missed his heart and penetrated his stomach. At 4:29, now disarmed and with blood gushing out of his chest, Tōjō began to talk, and two Japanese reporters recorded his words. "I am very sorry it is taking me so long to die," he murmured. "The Greater East Asia War was justified and righteous. I am very sorry for the nation and all the races of the Greater Asiatic powers. I wait for the righteous judgment of history. I wished to commit suicide but sometimes that fails.”
He recovered and was tried by the International Military Tribunal for the Far East for war crimes and found guilty of the following crimes:
count 1 (waging wars of aggression, and war or wars in violation of international law)
count 27 (waging unprovoked war against the Republic of China)
count 29 (waging aggressive war against the United States of America)
count 31 (waging aggressive war against the British Commonwealth of Nations)
count 32 (waging aggressive war against the Kingdom of the Netherlands)
count 33 (waging aggressive war against the French Republic)
count 54 (ordering, authorizing, and permitting inhumane treatment of Prisoners of War (POWs) and others)
Hideki Tōjō accepted full responsibility in the end for his actions during the war. Here is a passage from his statement, which he made during his war crimes trial:
“It is natural that I should bear entire responsibility for the war in general, and, needless to say, I am prepared to do so. Consequently, now that the war has been lost, it is presumably necessary that I be judged so that the circumstances of the time can be clarified and the future peace of the world be assured. Therefore, with respect to my trial, it is my intention to speak frankly, according to my recollection, even though when the vanquished stands before the victor, who has over him the power of life and death, he may be apt to toady and flatter. I mean to pay considerable attention to this in my actions, and say to the end that what is true is true and what is false is false. To shade one's words in flattery to the point of untruthfulness would falsify the trial and do incalculable harm to the nation, and great care must be taken to avoid this.”
He was sentenced to death on 12 November 1948 and executed by hanging on 23 December 1948. In his final statements he apologized for the atrocities committed by the Japanese military and urged the American military to show compassion toward the Japanese people, who had suffered devastating air attacks and the two atomic bombs.
Tōjō is often considered responsible for authorizing the murder of millions of civilians in China, the Philippines, Indochina, and other Pacific island nations, as well as tens of thousands of Allied POWs.
Although he accepted responsibility, there is no doubt that he was serving under the Emperor. However, it was important to the US that Hirohito not be charged with war crimes, so Tojo was made to bear the ultimate responsibility, probably unfairly. But in the end, it was probably wise that the US allowed Hirohito to continue as the head of state. Otherwise, the risk of guerrilla warfare and uprisings could have threatened what ended up being a very successful occupation of Japan, with the eventual development of a genuinely democratic nation.
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timschochet
Footballguy
The Plot Against Hitler, Continued
Col. Klaus Philip Schenk, Count von Stauffenberg, was the sort of German aristocrat with whom Adolf Hitler never felt at ease. He was the descendant of a long line of Swabian noblemen. One of his ancestors was Gen. Count von Gneisenau, who fought on the British side in the American Revolution and at Waterloo and became one of the Prussian army's most famous field marshals. Stauffenberg was a devout Catholic, a brilliant scholar, a musician, a superb horseman and something of a poet. His was the unconscious grace and ease of manner that always put the nose of the self-conscious Adolf Hitler badly out of joint. (This is one reason I have resisted seeing the Tom Cruise flick, even though this subject fascinates me: I simply cannot imagine Cruise in this role.)
Although an aesthete and an intimate of the German poet Stefan George, Stauffenberg surprised both his family and friends by deciding in 1925 to enter the army. Ten years later he came to the attention of Gen. Ludwig Beck, then the chief of the German General Staff. Beck, a small frail man with an iron will, was by then distrustful of Adolf Hitler. He feared what would happen if Hitler sought a renewal of the struggle of World War I. (In 1938, Beck actually wrote a paper on this subject which was remarkably far-seeing: a new struggle with Britian and France, he predicted, would result in many early victories for Germany. But sooner or later they would face the British Empire backed by the economic might of the United States. Germany lacked the economic resources to fight a long war, and would eventually be crushed by Russia and America.)
As the Third Reich grew more and more powerful throughout the 1930's, Beck gathered around him a group of conspirators. Stauffenberg was one of them, and most of the others were like them: intelligent, high-minded aristocrats. Some were high ranking commanders, including Franz Halder, Beck's replacement on the German General Staff. Their first attempt to kill and/or overthrow Hitler was on the eve of his planned assault against Czechoslovakia in September of 1938, which the conspirators believed would lead to war at the time. Apparently there were elaborate plans made to seize the Nazi machinery in Berlin, and many if not most of the German generals were in on the scheme. I write "apparently" because we only have their word after the fact, and even that is limited to those very few who survived Hitler's wrath in 1944. Supposedly, the revolt was quashed when Chamberlain agreed to come to Munich- the British and French, by submitting to German demands, let Hitler "off the hook."
(This 1938 aborted rebellion is the subject of several books in itself. Hjalmar Schacht, among others, used it in his defense at Nuremberg. I personally have a hard time believing it. Perhaps if the war had started, and it appeared Germany was going to lose, THEN they might have tried to revolt. But I note that in the fall of 1939 England and France DID declare war on Germany, bringing about the crisis that the conspirators so feared, and yet no action was taken.)
According to the mythology, the conspirators spent the next several years secretly meeting and planning how to overthrow Hitler. They certainly met, and talked, but the whole thing was little more than a social club. Beck was clearly a man of great courage, but indecisive and with no idea how to lead a rebellion. As the early victories turned to later defeats, especially after Stalingrad and North Africa, the group grew larger and more determined. But they still had no real plan. None of these men possessed the ruthlessness and organizing genius without which no conspiracy could succeed.
Hitler of course, being one of the most paranoid rulers ever to live, expected this conspiracy, and many more like it. He was not an easy man to kill. He wore a bulletproof vest and in his military cap were 3 and a half pounds of laminated steel plate. His bodyguards were all sharpshooters, and he himself was a marksman who always carried a revolver. His traveling timetables were well-kept secrets, which he always changed at the last moment. Hitler boasted that he had a sixth sense for danger, but what had actually protected hm was that he rarely appeared where he was expected to be.
Col. Klaus Philip Schenk, Count von Stauffenberg, was the sort of German aristocrat with whom Adolf Hitler never felt at ease. He was the descendant of a long line of Swabian noblemen. One of his ancestors was Gen. Count von Gneisenau, who fought on the British side in the American Revolution and at Waterloo and became one of the Prussian army's most famous field marshals. Stauffenberg was a devout Catholic, a brilliant scholar, a musician, a superb horseman and something of a poet. His was the unconscious grace and ease of manner that always put the nose of the self-conscious Adolf Hitler badly out of joint. (This is one reason I have resisted seeing the Tom Cruise flick, even though this subject fascinates me: I simply cannot imagine Cruise in this role.)
Although an aesthete and an intimate of the German poet Stefan George, Stauffenberg surprised both his family and friends by deciding in 1925 to enter the army. Ten years later he came to the attention of Gen. Ludwig Beck, then the chief of the German General Staff. Beck, a small frail man with an iron will, was by then distrustful of Adolf Hitler. He feared what would happen if Hitler sought a renewal of the struggle of World War I. (In 1938, Beck actually wrote a paper on this subject which was remarkably far-seeing: a new struggle with Britian and France, he predicted, would result in many early victories for Germany. But sooner or later they would face the British Empire backed by the economic might of the United States. Germany lacked the economic resources to fight a long war, and would eventually be crushed by Russia and America.)
As the Third Reich grew more and more powerful throughout the 1930's, Beck gathered around him a group of conspirators. Stauffenberg was one of them, and most of the others were like them: intelligent, high-minded aristocrats. Some were high ranking commanders, including Franz Halder, Beck's replacement on the German General Staff. Their first attempt to kill and/or overthrow Hitler was on the eve of his planned assault against Czechoslovakia in September of 1938, which the conspirators believed would lead to war at the time. Apparently there were elaborate plans made to seize the Nazi machinery in Berlin, and many if not most of the German generals were in on the scheme. I write "apparently" because we only have their word after the fact, and even that is limited to those very few who survived Hitler's wrath in 1944. Supposedly, the revolt was quashed when Chamberlain agreed to come to Munich- the British and French, by submitting to German demands, let Hitler "off the hook."
(This 1938 aborted rebellion is the subject of several books in itself. Hjalmar Schacht, among others, used it in his defense at Nuremberg. I personally have a hard time believing it. Perhaps if the war had started, and it appeared Germany was going to lose, THEN they might have tried to revolt. But I note that in the fall of 1939 England and France DID declare war on Germany, bringing about the crisis that the conspirators so feared, and yet no action was taken.)
According to the mythology, the conspirators spent the next several years secretly meeting and planning how to overthrow Hitler. They certainly met, and talked, but the whole thing was little more than a social club. Beck was clearly a man of great courage, but indecisive and with no idea how to lead a rebellion. As the early victories turned to later defeats, especially after Stalingrad and North Africa, the group grew larger and more determined. But they still had no real plan. None of these men possessed the ruthlessness and organizing genius without which no conspiracy could succeed.
Hitler of course, being one of the most paranoid rulers ever to live, expected this conspiracy, and many more like it. He was not an easy man to kill. He wore a bulletproof vest and in his military cap were 3 and a half pounds of laminated steel plate. His bodyguards were all sharpshooters, and he himself was a marksman who always carried a revolver. His traveling timetables were well-kept secrets, which he always changed at the last moment. Hitler boasted that he had a sixth sense for danger, but what had actually protected hm was that he rarely appeared where he was expected to be.
Ozymandias
Footballguy
However, it should be stated that the German Army was convinced that the Allies would not let Germany get away with the Anchlluss of Austria in March 1938. They were wrong, and Hitler was right. Then they were convinced the Allies wouldn't let them get away with the annexation of the Sudetenland in September 1938. They were wrong. Hitler was right. By this time, Hitler had built a winning record. Hard to fire a coach when he is winning every game.
timschochet
Footballguy
The Plot Against Hitler, Continued
Beck and his conspirators decided against trying to shoot Hitler because they knew that if the first shot missed, there would not be a second one. So they chose time bombs. Because they were such amateur assassins, it did not occur to them that there were other means: hand grenades, contact bombs, poison,etc. Of the 5 or 6 recorded attempts on Hitler's life, all involved time bombs.
Stauffenberg had been chosen as the assassin because he had direct access to Hitler. He belonged to the organizational department of the German high command and travelled extensively in the conquered territories. He reported regularly to his superiors and on several occasions to Hitler, standing within 3 feet of him. In North Africa in April 1943, the count was severly wounded by a strafing enemy airplane. He lost an eye, his right and two fingers of his left hand. Making a painful recovery in a hospital, Stauffenberg resolved to kill "the enemy of the world". Hitler, with his hero-worshipping admiration of brave men, much as he might surround himself with toadying desk soldiers such as Keitel and Jodl, was impressed with Stauffenberg's wounds and remembered him.
Stauffenberg had offered to sacrifice himself to be certain of killing Hitler. But it was refused because he had been chosen to direct the uprising that was to follow Der Fuhrer's death. Thus, thesine qua non of successful assassination had been ruled out. It is also likely that Stauffenberg had been chosen because Rommel, the man whose popularity was expected to give momentum to the movement, now lay at death's door. Though not as famous, the count's family name and aristocratic origins would count for something among the German people.
The bomb he was to carry weighed 2 pounds. It would explode after a glass capsule containing acid was broken and the acid ate away the wire holding back the firing pin from the percussion cap. It took exactly 10 minutes for this to happen, and it was done silently. The explosive was hexite, which gives off no fumes.
Actually, Stauffenberg made 4 attempts to kill Hitler. On December 23, 1943,he was summoned to a headquarters conference. He had a bomb in his briefcase, but Hitler did not appear as scheduled. On July 11, 1944, the count flew to the Berghof carrying a bomb, but although Hitler was present, he did no act because Himmler was not there. Four days later another meeting was set for the Berghof, but before it took place Hitler flew off to the Wolf's Lair. July 20, then, became Der Tag.
Beck and his conspirators decided against trying to shoot Hitler because they knew that if the first shot missed, there would not be a second one. So they chose time bombs. Because they were such amateur assassins, it did not occur to them that there were other means: hand grenades, contact bombs, poison,etc. Of the 5 or 6 recorded attempts on Hitler's life, all involved time bombs.
Stauffenberg had been chosen as the assassin because he had direct access to Hitler. He belonged to the organizational department of the German high command and travelled extensively in the conquered territories. He reported regularly to his superiors and on several occasions to Hitler, standing within 3 feet of him. In North Africa in April 1943, the count was severly wounded by a strafing enemy airplane. He lost an eye, his right and two fingers of his left hand. Making a painful recovery in a hospital, Stauffenberg resolved to kill "the enemy of the world". Hitler, with his hero-worshipping admiration of brave men, much as he might surround himself with toadying desk soldiers such as Keitel and Jodl, was impressed with Stauffenberg's wounds and remembered him.
Stauffenberg had offered to sacrifice himself to be certain of killing Hitler. But it was refused because he had been chosen to direct the uprising that was to follow Der Fuhrer's death. Thus, thesine qua non of successful assassination had been ruled out. It is also likely that Stauffenberg had been chosen because Rommel, the man whose popularity was expected to give momentum to the movement, now lay at death's door. Though not as famous, the count's family name and aristocratic origins would count for something among the German people.
The bomb he was to carry weighed 2 pounds. It would explode after a glass capsule containing acid was broken and the acid ate away the wire holding back the firing pin from the percussion cap. It took exactly 10 minutes for this to happen, and it was done silently. The explosive was hexite, which gives off no fumes.
Actually, Stauffenberg made 4 attempts to kill Hitler. On December 23, 1943,he was summoned to a headquarters conference. He had a bomb in his briefcase, but Hitler did not appear as scheduled. On July 11, 1944, the count flew to the Berghof carrying a bomb, but although Hitler was present, he did no act because Himmler was not there. Four days later another meeting was set for the Berghof, but before it took place Hitler flew off to the Wolf's Lair. July 20, then, became Der Tag.
timschochet
Footballguy
The Plot Against Hitler, Continued
July 20, 1944
Stauffenberg came to the Wolf's Lair to report. In his briefcase was the time bomb. He immediately encountered changes. The conference would not be at 1:00pm as he and his coconspirators expected, but a half hour earlier because Mussolini was due to arrive at 3:00pm and Hitler wanted extra time to prepare for him. This was no real obstacle, but the change of location was. Instead of being in Hitler's underground bunker, where the bomb would explode in a confined space and kill everyone, it was to be a prefabricated wooden building aboveground. Because it was a hot day the windows would undoubtedly be open, thus dissipating the concussion. There would be survivors.
We can only use conjecture regarding the count's thoughts at this moment. No doubt he must have considered aborting. He had aborted earlier because Himmler was not present, and Himmler was not to be at this meeting, either. (The conspirators rightfully considered Heinrich Himmler their main foe once Hitler was dead. There would be a struggle at that point between the army and the SS as to who would control the state, and Himmler was the one man who might unify the forces against the conspirators before they could seize control.) Also, there was no way to be 100% sure that the bomb would kill Hitler, and if it did not, this was the one and only chance they would have. Yet, Stauffenberg must have believed he would not have another opportunity. As history shows, he decided to go full speed ahead with his plans.)
Stauffenberg met Keitel and explained what he wanted to say. Keitel, always fearful of his master's wrath, nodded nervously and said, "Yes, but above all be brief." Stauffenberg excused himself and went into Keitel's lavatory where he broke the acid capsule with a pair of pliers. Three minutes later he was in the conference room where Hitler sat at the middle of a big rectangular table surrounded by about two dozen officers and stenographers. On Hitler's right Gen. Adolf Heusinger was on his feet reporting. To Heusinger's right sat his aide, Col. Heinz Brandt. Stauffenberg stood between and behind Heusinger and Brandt. He put his briefcase on the floor resting against one of two huge oaken supports that upheld the table. There, its blast would flow directly toward Hitler, probably blowing off his legs. Excusing himself, Stauffenberg went outside. He went to the telephone exchange to tell the sergeant major there that he expected a call from Berlin and wanted to be notified the moment it came in. The sergeant major nodded. Stauffenberg strolled nonchalantly toward the office of Gen. Erich Fellgiebel, a coconspirator. At the sound of the explosion he would drive at top speed for the airport and fly to Berlin to start the revolution.
Five minutes, four minutes. He waited.
July 20, 1944
Stauffenberg came to the Wolf's Lair to report. In his briefcase was the time bomb. He immediately encountered changes. The conference would not be at 1:00pm as he and his coconspirators expected, but a half hour earlier because Mussolini was due to arrive at 3:00pm and Hitler wanted extra time to prepare for him. This was no real obstacle, but the change of location was. Instead of being in Hitler's underground bunker, where the bomb would explode in a confined space and kill everyone, it was to be a prefabricated wooden building aboveground. Because it was a hot day the windows would undoubtedly be open, thus dissipating the concussion. There would be survivors.
We can only use conjecture regarding the count's thoughts at this moment. No doubt he must have considered aborting. He had aborted earlier because Himmler was not present, and Himmler was not to be at this meeting, either. (The conspirators rightfully considered Heinrich Himmler their main foe once Hitler was dead. There would be a struggle at that point between the army and the SS as to who would control the state, and Himmler was the one man who might unify the forces against the conspirators before they could seize control.) Also, there was no way to be 100% sure that the bomb would kill Hitler, and if it did not, this was the one and only chance they would have. Yet, Stauffenberg must have believed he would not have another opportunity. As history shows, he decided to go full speed ahead with his plans.)
Stauffenberg met Keitel and explained what he wanted to say. Keitel, always fearful of his master's wrath, nodded nervously and said, "Yes, but above all be brief." Stauffenberg excused himself and went into Keitel's lavatory where he broke the acid capsule with a pair of pliers. Three minutes later he was in the conference room where Hitler sat at the middle of a big rectangular table surrounded by about two dozen officers and stenographers. On Hitler's right Gen. Adolf Heusinger was on his feet reporting. To Heusinger's right sat his aide, Col. Heinz Brandt. Stauffenberg stood between and behind Heusinger and Brandt. He put his briefcase on the floor resting against one of two huge oaken supports that upheld the table. There, its blast would flow directly toward Hitler, probably blowing off his legs. Excusing himself, Stauffenberg went outside. He went to the telephone exchange to tell the sergeant major there that he expected a call from Berlin and wanted to be notified the moment it came in. The sergeant major nodded. Stauffenberg strolled nonchalantly toward the office of Gen. Erich Fellgiebel, a coconspirator. At the sound of the explosion he would drive at top speed for the airport and fly to Berlin to start the revolution.
Five minutes, four minutes. He waited.
timschochet
Footballguy
The Plot Against Hitler, Continued
Inside the conference room Colonel Brandt reached down to place Stauffenberg's briefcase on the other side of the support. Exactly why he did this is not known. Perhaps it was in his way. Whatever the reason, this action in all probability saved Hitler's life. The bomb was now away from Der Fuhrer, who was leaning across the table, studying a map. General Heusinger was concluding his report on the Eastern Front: "If the Army Group around Lake Preipus is not withdrawn immediately, there will be a catastrophe-"
A blazing sheet of flame flashed out from beneath the table followed by a horrible, rocking roar. Wavers of concussion flattened the men around the table, and the table itself was lifted into the air and hurled into a corner. The walls and ceiling were torn to shreds and blocks of concrete from the building's outer shell rained rained down. Wood splinters flew about like bullets, bloodying and burning everyone. For some reason everyone's hair stood on end. An SS general's thick hair stood erect capped with flames. Screams and moans came from the stricken. "Murder! Murder!" One officer cried. "Where is Der Fuhrer?"
He was on the floor, pinned beneath a fallen beam, but he was still alive. Four men- including Colonel Brandt- had received their death wounds while all the others were either shocked or wounded in varying degrees; but Hitler suffered only temporary paralysis fo his right arm and a punctured eardrum. He had been saved by the tabletop and the support, both the results of chance, that ageless nemesis of the incomplete plotter.
Outside Stauffenberg heard the explosion and saw smoke and the flying debris. He assumed Hitler had been killed. He leaped into a waiting automobile driven by Lt. Werner von Haeften and sped away for the airport. It was now up to General Fellgiebel to shut down or destroy all communications from the Wolf's Lair. He ran toward the smoking and wrecked building and saw Keitel and Hitler staggering about outside, each supporting the other. Fellgiebel was stunned. If he had sent a coded message to the Wehrmacht headquarters in the Bendlerstrasse in Berlin saying that the plot had failed, he would have saved many conspirators, perhaps most of them. But he was so paralyzed by terror at the sight of a live Hitler that he did nothing. Hitler was able to get in touch with Himmler, whose headquarters were 20 miles away, and the SS chief hurried to the Wolf's Lair. Then Hitler shut off communications and no message reached the Bendlerstrasse.
It is no hyperbole to say that Heinrich Himmler was ecstatic by the news of the foiled assassination. He had always hated the army and especially the general officers, whom he thought should be replaced by his own SS. This was a golden opportunity to do away with most of them. He would blame the guilty and innocent alike, and so eliminate all of his enemies. The fact that he would take this action at the same time as the war was being quickly lost, and that Himmler would only haste the defeat by crippling the Wehrmacht at this critical juncture, appears not to have occurred to him at all, or if it did, it did not bother him.
Inside the conference room Colonel Brandt reached down to place Stauffenberg's briefcase on the other side of the support. Exactly why he did this is not known. Perhaps it was in his way. Whatever the reason, this action in all probability saved Hitler's life. The bomb was now away from Der Fuhrer, who was leaning across the table, studying a map. General Heusinger was concluding his report on the Eastern Front: "If the Army Group around Lake Preipus is not withdrawn immediately, there will be a catastrophe-"
A blazing sheet of flame flashed out from beneath the table followed by a horrible, rocking roar. Wavers of concussion flattened the men around the table, and the table itself was lifted into the air and hurled into a corner. The walls and ceiling were torn to shreds and blocks of concrete from the building's outer shell rained rained down. Wood splinters flew about like bullets, bloodying and burning everyone. For some reason everyone's hair stood on end. An SS general's thick hair stood erect capped with flames. Screams and moans came from the stricken. "Murder! Murder!" One officer cried. "Where is Der Fuhrer?"
He was on the floor, pinned beneath a fallen beam, but he was still alive. Four men- including Colonel Brandt- had received their death wounds while all the others were either shocked or wounded in varying degrees; but Hitler suffered only temporary paralysis fo his right arm and a punctured eardrum. He had been saved by the tabletop and the support, both the results of chance, that ageless nemesis of the incomplete plotter.
Outside Stauffenberg heard the explosion and saw smoke and the flying debris. He assumed Hitler had been killed. He leaped into a waiting automobile driven by Lt. Werner von Haeften and sped away for the airport. It was now up to General Fellgiebel to shut down or destroy all communications from the Wolf's Lair. He ran toward the smoking and wrecked building and saw Keitel and Hitler staggering about outside, each supporting the other. Fellgiebel was stunned. If he had sent a coded message to the Wehrmacht headquarters in the Bendlerstrasse in Berlin saying that the plot had failed, he would have saved many conspirators, perhaps most of them. But he was so paralyzed by terror at the sight of a live Hitler that he did nothing. Hitler was able to get in touch with Himmler, whose headquarters were 20 miles away, and the SS chief hurried to the Wolf's Lair. Then Hitler shut off communications and no message reached the Bendlerstrasse.
It is no hyperbole to say that Heinrich Himmler was ecstatic by the news of the foiled assassination. He had always hated the army and especially the general officers, whom he thought should be replaced by his own SS. This was a golden opportunity to do away with most of them. He would blame the guilty and innocent alike, and so eliminate all of his enemies. The fact that he would take this action at the same time as the war was being quickly lost, and that Himmler would only haste the defeat by crippling the Wehrmacht at this critical juncture, appears not to have occurred to him at all, or if it did, it did not bother him.
timschochet
Footballguy
The Plot Against Hitler, Continued
Now the revolt and counterrevolt degenerated into what might be called a comedy of errors were there not so much at stake. Stauffenberg arrived at the Bendlerstrasse to find that next to nothing had been done. With his friend, Gen. Friedrich Olbricht, he began telephoning as many commands as he could to report that the revolt had begun. He was only successful in Paris, Vienna, and Munich, where open uprisings arose. Meanwhile, Gen. Friedrich Fromm, the commander of the reserve army and a coconspirator, telephoned the Wolf's Lair and was told by Keitel that Hitler was alive and Stauffenberg was suspected of planting the bomb. To save his own skin, Fromm tried to arrest Stauffenberg and Olbricht. They not only refused to surrender, they arrested Fromm. But they did not place him under guard.
Stauffenberg still believed that Hitler was dead, and that the revolution had arrived. Yet he did nothing concrete to organize it, except to speak into a battery of telephones. He did not go on the air proclaiming revolt, and he did not move to take over the radio station, the telephone and telegraph or the post office- the vital nerve centers of government and therefore of antigovernment. He did not even put a guard around his headquarters; anyone could come and go as they pleased. Stauffenberg was in a state of constant euphoria produced by the sight of that liberating bomb blast, and he actually believed that all of the military installations in Berlin, including the all-important Battalion of Guards, were on his side. But they were not. When Stauffenberg ordered Maj. Otto Ernst Remer of the guards to arrest Goebbels, this devout Nazi merely notified Goebbels and requested instructions.
The conspirators worked into the night telephoning, telephoning, telephoning. Nothing concrete was undertaken by Beck, Stauffenberg, Olbricht, Gen. Erich Hoepner, Col. Merz von Quirnheim, and Lieutenant von Haeften, the six men at the heart of the conspiracy. They were still at work when a handful of SS soldiers under Lt. Col. Franz Herber broke into the War Ministry and started shooting. Stauffenberg was wounded in the left arm. All were arrested, and General Fromm emerged from hiding to conduct a brief court-martial. Beck and Hoepner were given the opportunity for honorable suicide. Beck shot himself but Hoepner declined, unwisely- as he might have suspected. He was arrested and reserved for a more agonizing end. Stauffenberg, Quirnheim, Olbricht and Haeften were taken out in the courtyard and shot. Stauffenberg's last words were: "Long live our sacred Germany."
In 1980, the German government established a memorial for the failed anti-Nazi resistance movement in a part of the Bendlerblock, the remainder of which currently houses the Berlin offices of the German Ministry of Defense (whose main offices remain in Bonn). The Bendlerstrasse was renamed the Stauffenbergstrasse, and the Bendlerblock now houses the Memorial to the German Resistance, a permanent exhibition with more than 5,000 photographs and documents showing the various resistance organizations at work during the Hitler era. The courtyard where the officers were shot on 21 July 1944, is now a memorial site, with a plaque commemorating the events and a bronze figure of a young man with his hands symbolically bound which resembles Count von Stauffenberg.
Now the revolt and counterrevolt degenerated into what might be called a comedy of errors were there not so much at stake. Stauffenberg arrived at the Bendlerstrasse to find that next to nothing had been done. With his friend, Gen. Friedrich Olbricht, he began telephoning as many commands as he could to report that the revolt had begun. He was only successful in Paris, Vienna, and Munich, where open uprisings arose. Meanwhile, Gen. Friedrich Fromm, the commander of the reserve army and a coconspirator, telephoned the Wolf's Lair and was told by Keitel that Hitler was alive and Stauffenberg was suspected of planting the bomb. To save his own skin, Fromm tried to arrest Stauffenberg and Olbricht. They not only refused to surrender, they arrested Fromm. But they did not place him under guard.
Stauffenberg still believed that Hitler was dead, and that the revolution had arrived. Yet he did nothing concrete to organize it, except to speak into a battery of telephones. He did not go on the air proclaiming revolt, and he did not move to take over the radio station, the telephone and telegraph or the post office- the vital nerve centers of government and therefore of antigovernment. He did not even put a guard around his headquarters; anyone could come and go as they pleased. Stauffenberg was in a state of constant euphoria produced by the sight of that liberating bomb blast, and he actually believed that all of the military installations in Berlin, including the all-important Battalion of Guards, were on his side. But they were not. When Stauffenberg ordered Maj. Otto Ernst Remer of the guards to arrest Goebbels, this devout Nazi merely notified Goebbels and requested instructions.
The conspirators worked into the night telephoning, telephoning, telephoning. Nothing concrete was undertaken by Beck, Stauffenberg, Olbricht, Gen. Erich Hoepner, Col. Merz von Quirnheim, and Lieutenant von Haeften, the six men at the heart of the conspiracy. They were still at work when a handful of SS soldiers under Lt. Col. Franz Herber broke into the War Ministry and started shooting. Stauffenberg was wounded in the left arm. All were arrested, and General Fromm emerged from hiding to conduct a brief court-martial. Beck and Hoepner were given the opportunity for honorable suicide. Beck shot himself but Hoepner declined, unwisely- as he might have suspected. He was arrested and reserved for a more agonizing end. Stauffenberg, Quirnheim, Olbricht and Haeften were taken out in the courtyard and shot. Stauffenberg's last words were: "Long live our sacred Germany."
In 1980, the German government established a memorial for the failed anti-Nazi resistance movement in a part of the Bendlerblock, the remainder of which currently houses the Berlin offices of the German Ministry of Defense (whose main offices remain in Bonn). The Bendlerstrasse was renamed the Stauffenbergstrasse, and the Bendlerblock now houses the Memorial to the German Resistance, a permanent exhibition with more than 5,000 photographs and documents showing the various resistance organizations at work during the Hitler era. The courtyard where the officers were shot on 21 July 1944, is now a memorial site, with a plaque commemorating the events and a bronze figure of a young man with his hands symbolically bound which resembles Count von Stauffenberg.
timschochet
Footballguy
The Plot Against Hitler, Concluded
At the Wolf's Lair Hitler's paralyzed arm had been placed in a sling and his ear stuffed with cotton. He rushed off to the train station to meet Mussolini. The former Italian dictator actually looked the worse of the two: sunken cheeks and white hair had replaced the old arrogance and the jutting jaw. He had become Hitler's tool, the puppet ruler of the Salo Republic, with no power whatsoever.
Hitler was joyous. He believed, and stated, that the bomb was "Divine Providence, God's Intervention." He believed that surely this meant the war would be won. Mussolini congratulated him, keeping his real thoughts to himself. Hitler went on to say that now he would have his revenge on all those who had stood in his way. He meant the Army and aristocracy of Germany, the ones he had resented and hated ever since he had been a vagabond in Vienna. Himmler was already making a list.
Over the next several months, 7,000 suspects were rounded up, arrested and tortured. Show trials were given, the equal of the worst excesses of Stalin during the Purges. Many of these were held in the People's Court, run by Roland Freissler, a fanatical Nazi who berated his victims in some of the most sickening "trials" ever held. In many of these, the "defense" attorneys would yell at their "clients" with the same ferocity as the prosecution. The sham finally ended when, in February 1945, a bomb hit the building housing the People's Court, killing Freissler.
Hitler ordered that the "culprits" be hanged on meat hooks, and film taken. This was done, and Der Fuhrer would invite guests to watch these films with him day after day. Hitler would giggle as his enemies were shown dead and hanging limply in front of him. As the news from the two fronts got worse and worse, he seemed to take a greater pleasure in watching these home movies. It was a pleasurable escape.
At the Wolf's Lair Hitler's paralyzed arm had been placed in a sling and his ear stuffed with cotton. He rushed off to the train station to meet Mussolini. The former Italian dictator actually looked the worse of the two: sunken cheeks and white hair had replaced the old arrogance and the jutting jaw. He had become Hitler's tool, the puppet ruler of the Salo Republic, with no power whatsoever.
Hitler was joyous. He believed, and stated, that the bomb was "Divine Providence, God's Intervention." He believed that surely this meant the war would be won. Mussolini congratulated him, keeping his real thoughts to himself. Hitler went on to say that now he would have his revenge on all those who had stood in his way. He meant the Army and aristocracy of Germany, the ones he had resented and hated ever since he had been a vagabond in Vienna. Himmler was already making a list.
Over the next several months, 7,000 suspects were rounded up, arrested and tortured. Show trials were given, the equal of the worst excesses of Stalin during the Purges. Many of these were held in the People's Court, run by Roland Freissler, a fanatical Nazi who berated his victims in some of the most sickening "trials" ever held. In many of these, the "defense" attorneys would yell at their "clients" with the same ferocity as the prosecution. The sham finally ended when, in February 1945, a bomb hit the building housing the People's Court, killing Freissler.
Hitler ordered that the "culprits" be hanged on meat hooks, and film taken. This was done, and Der Fuhrer would invite guests to watch these films with him day after day. Hitler would giggle as his enemies were shown dead and hanging limply in front of him. As the news from the two fronts got worse and worse, he seemed to take a greater pleasure in watching these home movies. It was a pleasurable escape.
timschochet
Footballguy
Introduction to the 442
Before returning to the liberation of France, I am now going to take the opportunity to tell the story of the 442nd Infantry Regiment, the most highly decorated regiment in the history of the United States armed forces.
This is probably my favorite story of World War II. It is, of course, a tale of great valour, nobility, and heroism, and it's also very exciting to read about. But I also believe, and I write this unashamedly, that this story represents everything great that the United States has to offer the world: our freedom, idealism, and unconquerable spirit. Like the story that inspired the movie Glory, which is quite similar, this is a tale about true Americans who needed to prove themselves as such, and did so on the battlefield.
As with the Warsaw Ghetto, I will be writing this one almost all myself, with sources used mainly as background material. And yes, its going to take some time to tell correctly. Like the Ghetto story, I need to go back into history a bit to explain the Japanese American experience, particularly in Hawaii; that is the only way this story can really be understood IMO. But patience; it will be worth it. If you enjoy war stories, this one is for you. (On the other hand, if you don't enjoy war stories, why are you bothering to read this thread?)
One note: there were actually more than one Japanese-American infantry regiment, and during the course of the war some of these merged with each other. Since we're dealing with basically the same troops, I have chosen not to confuse the tale anymore than I have to by listing the various names and when they merged. You can find this information at Wikipedia or other sources if you're really interested. For the purposes of this narrative, I will refer to the units by the number they eventually immortalized: the 442.
Before returning to the liberation of France, I am now going to take the opportunity to tell the story of the 442nd Infantry Regiment, the most highly decorated regiment in the history of the United States armed forces.
This is probably my favorite story of World War II. It is, of course, a tale of great valour, nobility, and heroism, and it's also very exciting to read about. But I also believe, and I write this unashamedly, that this story represents everything great that the United States has to offer the world: our freedom, idealism, and unconquerable spirit. Like the story that inspired the movie Glory, which is quite similar, this is a tale about true Americans who needed to prove themselves as such, and did so on the battlefield.
As with the Warsaw Ghetto, I will be writing this one almost all myself, with sources used mainly as background material. And yes, its going to take some time to tell correctly. Like the Ghetto story, I need to go back into history a bit to explain the Japanese American experience, particularly in Hawaii; that is the only way this story can really be understood IMO. But patience; it will be worth it. If you enjoy war stories, this one is for you. (On the other hand, if you don't enjoy war stories, why are you bothering to read this thread?)
One note: there were actually more than one Japanese-American infantry regiment, and during the course of the war some of these merged with each other. Since we're dealing with basically the same troops, I have chosen not to confuse the tale anymore than I have to by listing the various names and when they merged. You can find this information at Wikipedia or other sources if you're really interested. For the purposes of this narrative, I will refer to the units by the number they eventually immortalized: the 442.
timschochet
Footballguy
The 442 Part One
Up until the American Civil War, the Kingdom of Hawaii survived mainly by servicing the whaler ships that arrived their on their way to and from America, Asia, and Europe. Most of the commerce were controlled by whites, the children of New England missionaries, who had married into the Hawaiian Alii (royal) families and inherited much of the land, then considered worthless. Around the time of the Civil War, two events permanently changed Hawaiian fortunes: first, it was discovered how to bring water to the barren plains of Oahu and Kawaii (part of this was done by diverting water from rivers, and even more by discovering the existence of water underground) and second, the Confederate embargo on trade to Europe created a need for sugar, and it was discovered that this crop grew as well in Hawaii as it did in Louisiana. This was the start of Hawaii becoming incredibly rich due to its agriculture. Other crops besides sugar were added over the next several decades, most notably pineapples stolen from South America around the turn of the century. Following the end of the Civil War, Louisiana, jealous about the sugar, led a push in congress for tarriffs on Hawaiian goods. The Hawaiian businessmen of American descent solved this irritation by seizing control of the government, ousting the Hawaiian queen, and convincing the United States to annex the islands in order to "protect" their citizens there.
But a bigger problem perplexed these same men, the leaders of the community, descendents of the missionaries, and founders of the companies Dole and C & H: who would work the fields? Such backbreaking work as was necessary was not believed suitable for the white men. The Civil War had ended slavery, so that was out. At first, the native Hawaiians were tried out in the fields, but they were considered too lazy. Also, their numbers had mostly died out due to measles. Next, Chinese and Filipinos were imported. These failed. The Chinese in particular could not wait to serve their promised 6 years on the plantations and then relocate to the big cities where they would marry Hawaiian women and hopefully purchase land. Both they and the Filipinos were independent, deadly when provoked, (this was a time of great violence) and sought to set down lasting roots in the community.
The haoles (whites) were horrified. This was not what they wanted at all. Forever fearful of the "yellow peril", they passed laws restricting the rights of Chinese to marry, own property, etc. Nothing worked. The main problem, several of the planters explained in the newspapers, was the Chinese were not docile enough to remain on the fields and do what they were told. What Hawaii needed was a group of men who would work in the fields like slaves without complaint, who loved their land back home enough that they would not want to stay in Hawaii when their time was done, but would return from where they came, who would not intermarry, but would be content to live without women for years if need be. Men who knew their duty. The obvious choice was the Japanese.
A select group of haole businessmen travelled to Japan at the turn of the century, which was then in the midst of the Meiji Revolution. They negotiated with the Japanese government for contract labor to bring to Hawaii, starting with around 10,000 men. No women would be allowed. The men would earn around 6 cents a day, but other than that they were basically indentured servants. They would agree to work for six years on the plantations, at that point return to Japan. This was the beginning of the great Japanese emigration to Hawaii. While it occurred roughly around the same time as Japanese also emigrated to California, Oregon, and Washington, the circumstances were very different, because Hawaii, being such a small place controlled by only a few men, every aspect was tightly regulated. More importantly, the Japanese were sought and welcomed by the Hawaiian population (at least those that counted.) Conversely, the ones who came to the west coast of America were unwelcome almost from the moment they arrived. This difference between the two is vastly significant and would play a major part in the treatment of these people during World War II, and in the makeup and attitudes of the 442.
Up until the American Civil War, the Kingdom of Hawaii survived mainly by servicing the whaler ships that arrived their on their way to and from America, Asia, and Europe. Most of the commerce were controlled by whites, the children of New England missionaries, who had married into the Hawaiian Alii (royal) families and inherited much of the land, then considered worthless. Around the time of the Civil War, two events permanently changed Hawaiian fortunes: first, it was discovered how to bring water to the barren plains of Oahu and Kawaii (part of this was done by diverting water from rivers, and even more by discovering the existence of water underground) and second, the Confederate embargo on trade to Europe created a need for sugar, and it was discovered that this crop grew as well in Hawaii as it did in Louisiana. This was the start of Hawaii becoming incredibly rich due to its agriculture. Other crops besides sugar were added over the next several decades, most notably pineapples stolen from South America around the turn of the century. Following the end of the Civil War, Louisiana, jealous about the sugar, led a push in congress for tarriffs on Hawaiian goods. The Hawaiian businessmen of American descent solved this irritation by seizing control of the government, ousting the Hawaiian queen, and convincing the United States to annex the islands in order to "protect" their citizens there.
But a bigger problem perplexed these same men, the leaders of the community, descendents of the missionaries, and founders of the companies Dole and C & H: who would work the fields? Such backbreaking work as was necessary was not believed suitable for the white men. The Civil War had ended slavery, so that was out. At first, the native Hawaiians were tried out in the fields, but they were considered too lazy. Also, their numbers had mostly died out due to measles. Next, Chinese and Filipinos were imported. These failed. The Chinese in particular could not wait to serve their promised 6 years on the plantations and then relocate to the big cities where they would marry Hawaiian women and hopefully purchase land. Both they and the Filipinos were independent, deadly when provoked, (this was a time of great violence) and sought to set down lasting roots in the community.
The haoles (whites) were horrified. This was not what they wanted at all. Forever fearful of the "yellow peril", they passed laws restricting the rights of Chinese to marry, own property, etc. Nothing worked. The main problem, several of the planters explained in the newspapers, was the Chinese were not docile enough to remain on the fields and do what they were told. What Hawaii needed was a group of men who would work in the fields like slaves without complaint, who loved their land back home enough that they would not want to stay in Hawaii when their time was done, but would return from where they came, who would not intermarry, but would be content to live without women for years if need be. Men who knew their duty. The obvious choice was the Japanese.
A select group of haole businessmen travelled to Japan at the turn of the century, which was then in the midst of the Meiji Revolution. They negotiated with the Japanese government for contract labor to bring to Hawaii, starting with around 10,000 men. No women would be allowed. The men would earn around 6 cents a day, but other than that they were basically indentured servants. They would agree to work for six years on the plantations, at that point return to Japan. This was the beginning of the great Japanese emigration to Hawaii. While it occurred roughly around the same time as Japanese also emigrated to California, Oregon, and Washington, the circumstances were very different, because Hawaii, being such a small place controlled by only a few men, every aspect was tightly regulated. More importantly, the Japanese were sought and welcomed by the Hawaiian population (at least those that counted.) Conversely, the ones who came to the west coast of America were unwelcome almost from the moment they arrived. This difference between the two is vastly significant and would play a major part in the treatment of these people during World War II, and in the makeup and attitudes of the 442.
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