SC 167571 – The 2d Battalion, 16th Infantry, that cleared the road and fields of mines, marching through the Kasserine Pass and on to Kasserine and Farriana, Tunisia. 26 Feb 1943. Photo : McGray.
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Feb
03
2010
Dec
23
2009
2. Mengele Lived in Sao Paulo Area
Document experts from the United States compared the handwriting on documents seized in the Bosserts’ home to known handwriting samples contained in Mengele’s SS-personnel file, the original of which was obtained by OSI and hand-carried to Brazil (The US government’s document team was composed of Gideon Epstein from INS, Dr Antonio Cantu, then of the FBI, and Dr David Crown, an independent consultant). In addition, the experts examined the paper and ink from the confiscated material to determine if there was any evidence that the documents were written after the date of Mengele’s purported death.
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Dec
07
2009
Desert Warfare, German Experiences in World War II, Ma Gen Alfred Toppe, US Army Command and General Staff College, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas 66027-6900
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Nov
13
2009
Category : Veterans Taps
It is with a heavy heart that we belatedly learn of the passing of another of our Distinguished Veterans and a Valued Comrade. This sad news concerns the passing of Dr Katsumi Nakadate, Hq 681st GFA who passed away on 29 November 2007. In the latest issue of the Thundermailcall (#21, November 2009) an article concerning Dr. Nakadate) is as follows :
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Oct
11
2009
We left our assembly area near Landerneau, France at one o’clock on the afternoon of September 27 1944, heading for that Western Front. The first two days were uneventful, as we covered around 300 miles, stopping at dusk by pulling off the main road. We slept beside our vehicles, by the side of the road, wrapped up in our blankets.
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Aug
18
2009
Category : Germany
After Action Report – 82nd Airborne Division – May 1945
1 – Narrative
By nightfall, April 30, 1945, the 82nd Airborne Division had established a small bridgehead east of the Elbe River in the vicinity of Bleckede, Germany. This bridgehead had been established by the 505th Prcht Inf Regt in a splendid example of coordination and river crossing technique by a veteran regiment.
During the night of April 30 – May 1, the plan was to build up sufficient forces from the 504th Parachute Infantry, which was arriving by train approximately five hours from the Elbe River, so as to attack out of the bridgehead with that regiment by daylight. One battalion of this regiment arrived at the bridgehead by 0430-H and with a full appreciation of the value of time it jumped off at 0500-H, the regiment being reinforced during the day by the later arrival of its other battalions. Troops completing the 4 – 6 day train trip from the Koln area were immediately en trucked and taken into the bridgehead. Then, after being briefed and issued ammunition, they were committed to the attack. It was obvious that the German was disintegrating rapidly and it was of the utmost importance that regardless of the physical condition of our troops, the momentum of our drive be maintained until the enemy was completely destroyed or overrun.
Aug
12
2009
Category : War Politic Papers
The newly unearthed diaries of a colorful assassin for the wartime Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the forerunner of the CIA, reveal that American spy chiefs wanted Patton dead because he was threatening to expose allied collusion with the Russians that cost American lives. The death of Gen George Smith Patton Jr, in December 1945, is one of the enduring mysteries of the war era. Although he had suffered serious injuries in a car crash in Manheim, Germany, he was thought to be recovering and was on the verge of flying home. But after a decade-long investigation, military historian Robert Wilcox claims that OSS head Gen “Wild Bill” Donovan ordered a highly decorated marksman called Douglas Bazata to silence Patton, who gloried in the nickname “Old Blood and Guts”. His book, “Target Patton”, contains interviews with Mr Bazata, who died in 1999, and extracts from his diaries, detailing how he staged the car crash by getting a troop truck to slough into Patton’s Cadillac and then shot the general with a low-velocity projectile, which broke his neck while his fellow passengers escaped without a scratch. Mr Bazata also suggested that when Patton began to recover from his injuries, US officials turned a blind eye as agents of the NKVD, the forerunner of the KGB, poisoned the general. Wilcox told The Sunday Telegraph that when he spoke to Mr Bazata : He was struggling with himself, all these killings he had done. He confessed to me that he had caused the accident, that he was ordered to do so by Wild Bill Donovan. Donovan told him : ‘We’ve got a terrible situation with this great patriot, he’s out of control and we must save him from himself and from ruining everything the allies have done.’ I believe Douglas Bazata. He’s a sterling guy.
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Jul
17
2009
The 102nd Infantry Division was activated on September 15 1942 at Camp Maxey, Texas and moved on September 16 1943 to the 3rd Army #4 Louisiana Maneuvers. It was then transferred to Camp Swift, Texas on November 18 1943, arrived at Fort Dix, New Jersey, June 23rd 1944, staged at Camp Kilmer, New Jersey, September 6 1944 until departed the New York Port of Embarkation on September 12th 1944.
The 102nd Infantry Division arrived in France on September 23rd 1944, crossed into Belgium on October 31st; crossed into Holland the same day and entered, finally, Germany on November 29th 1944.
When war was over, the 102nd Infantry Division returned to the New York POE on March 11th 1946. It was inactivated at Camp Kilmer, New Jersey, on March 12th 1946.
Campaigns : Rhineland, Central Europe
August 1945 Location : Gardelegen (Hannover) Germany
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Jul
13
2009
CHAPTER II
Planning the Counteroffensive
Details of the Plan
About 25 September Generalorberst Alfred Jodl was ordered to begin a detailed analysis of the Hitlerian concept, the only function now left to the great General Staff. Some latitude remained to the individual staff officers and those favored few in the high echelon of command who retained access to the Führer in kneading and shaping the very general outline handed down by Hitler into an operations plan. The outline as it now had taken shape contained these major points :
- (a) the attack should be launched sometime between 20 and 30 November;
- (b) it should be made through the Ardenne in the Monschau – Echternach sector;
- (c) the initial object would be the seizure of bridgeheads over the Meuse River between Liège and Namur;
- (d) thereafter, Antwerp would be the objective;
- (e) a battle to annihilate the British and Canadians would ultimately be fought north of the line Antwerp, Liège, Bastogne (1);
- (f) a minimum of thirty divisions would be available, ten of which would be armored;
- (g) support would be given by an unprecedented concentration of artillery and rocket projector units;
- (h) operational control would be vested in four armies and two panzer armies abreast in the lead, two armies composed largely of infantry divisions to cover the flanks;
- (i) the Luftwaffe would be prepared to support the operation;
- (j) all planning would aim at securing tactical surprise and speed;(k) secrecy would be maintained at all costs and only a very limited number of individuals would be made privy to the plan.
Jul
12
2009
Case/Goering Hermann
Translation by Herma Plummer
Information supplied by Franz Peter Weixler
Krailling, near Munich
November 11 1945
In connection with the Nurnberg trials against/et. al., I would like to make the following statement with the express authorization that it may be used in the trial.
I was a prisoner of the Gestapo from January 16 1944 to April 1945. I had been indicted for treason before the People’s Court and the only reason I was not executed was the fact that my files were destroyed once in Berlin, and once at the Gestapo office in Nurnberg. One of the reasons for my indictment was the fact that I had told friends the truth about the parachute enterprise in Crete in May 1941, and also that I had taken pictures there. I am attaching an order of the German Army, which I appropriate and kept, issued by the divisional staff of the Parachute Division, commanded by General Kurt Student. I shall now describe the manner in which I was enabled to take the photo mentioned above.
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Jul
11
2009
Category : Airborne Operations, Archives Movies, Fallschirmjäger, German Airborne
Section 8
Reflection on the Absence of Russian Air Landings
It is surprising that during World War II the USSR did not attempt any large-scale airborne operations. Although Soviet Russia was the first country in the world which during peacetime had experimented with landing troops by air and had organized special units for this purpose*, its wartime operations were confined to the commitment of small units which were dropped back of the German front for the purpose of supporting partisan activities and which had no direct tactical or strategic effect. The reasons can only be surmised and might have been any or all of the following :
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Jul
11
2009
Section 4
Air Transported Troops
The original German plan to use Army troops for this purpose and to equip and train them accordingly was abandoned early in the war. The 22. Infanterie Division, which had been selected in peacetime for the purpose, participated in airborne operations only once, in Belgium and in Holland in 1940. It was found that their double equipment-one set for regular ground combat, the other for use in air-landing operations constituted an obstacle; consideration for their special mission limited their employment for ground combat. When a fresh commitment in line with their special mission became a possibility in Crete, it was found impossible to bring them up in time. On the other hand, as early as the Norway campaign, mountain troops were flown for commitment at Narvik without much prior preparation. While in this case non tactical transport by air was involved, the previously mentioned commitment in 1941 of the 5. Gebirgsjaeger Division in the airborne operation against Crete took place after only short preparation and was entirely successful.
On the basis of these experiences the idea of giving individual Army units special equipment for airborne operations was abandoned. The German High Command set about finding ways and means to adapt all Army units for transport by air with a minimum of changes in their equipment. The results were never put into practice because after Crete the Germans did not undertake any other airborne operations on a large scale. Crete, however, proved that the German mountain troops, because of their equipment and the training which they had received, as well as their combat methods, were particularly suited for missions of this nature. In the future the goal must be to find a way of committing not only mountain and infantry divisions but panzer and motorized formations in airborne operations. Their equipment and organization for this purpose will depend upon the evaluation of technical possibilities which cannot be discussed in detail here. The chief demand which the military must make upon the technical experts is that the changes required for such commitment be kept to a minimum. A way must be found to determine the best method for such a change so that the troops can undertake it promptly at any time.
Jul
10
2009
This study was written for the Historical Division, EUCOM, by a committee of former German officers. It follows an outline prepared by the Office of the Chief of Military History, Special Staff, United States Army, which is given below :
1-A) A review of German airborne experience in World War II
1-B) An appraisal of German successes and failures
1-C) Reasons for the apparent abandonment of large-scale German airborne operations after the Crete operation
2-A) German experience in opposing Allied and Russian airborne operations
2-B) An appraisal of the effectiveness of these operations
3-A) The probable future of airborne operations.
It is believed that the contributors to this study represent a valid cross-section of expert German opinion on airborne operations. Since the contributors include Luftwaffe and Army officers at various levels of command, some divergences of opinion are inevitable; these have been listed and, wherever possible, evaluated by the principal German author. However, the opinions of Generalfeldmarschall Albert Kesselring are given separately and without comment wherever they occur in the course of the presentation. The reader is reminded that publications of the German Report Series were written by Germans and from the German point of view. Organization, equipment, and procedures of the German Army and Luftwaffe differ considerably from those of the United States armed forces.
This study is concerned only with the landing of airborne fighting forces in an area occupied or controlled by an enemy and with the subsequent tactical commitment of those forces in conventional ground combat. The employment of airborne units in commando operations, or in the supply and reinforcement of partisans and insurgents, is not included in this study, nor is the shifting of forces by troop-carrier aircraft in the rear of the combat zone. Such movements, which attained large size and great strategic importance during World War II, should not be confused with tactical airborne operations.
May
03
2009
Adolf Hitler : Mein Kampf
Bitte beachten : DIE UNIVERSALITÄT DER MENSCHENRECHTE, Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung. Internationaler Pakt über bürgerliche und politische Rechte. Band 256, 19. Dezember 1966 (Seite
308) Artikel 19 der Menschenrechte : Jedermann hat das Recht auf Freiheit der Meinung und der Meinungsäußerung; dieses Recht umfaßt die unbehinderte Meinungsfreiheit und die Freiheit, ohne Rücksicht auf Staatsgrenzen Informationen und Gedankengut durch Mittel jeder Art sich zu beschaffen, zu empfangen und weiterzugeben.
Zuwiderhandlung ist ein “Verbrechen gegen die Menschlichkeit”.
Entschuldigungen man habe ja nur Verordnungen und Befehle ausgeführt,
gelten seit den Nürnberger IMT-Verfahren 1945/46 nicht mehr.
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Apr
28
2009
Some weeks ago I was in Lanzerath, Belgium and was interviewing a left alone old men who was a German Pioneer in the Warsaw Getho in Poland. Is military job was as a Pioneer to blow doors away to allow the SS Killers to enter houses and kill Men, Women, Children and even Pets. It was just before Germany had decided to erase the city from the planet. After talking over 4 hours, he told me in German : You know Gunter since December 1945 when I was sent back home I wasn’t able (we are in 2009) to sleep a single night. When I asked what the trouble was he just said : the most terrible are those dead that refuses to die. I will try one day to publish this over 4 hours interview but I have to translate it first in English because of the terrible things that he told me.
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Apr
06
2009
The Third United States Army was first activated as a formation during the First World War on November 7 1918, at Chaumont, France, when the GHQ-AEF issued General Order # 198 organizing the Third Army and announcing its headquarters staff. On the 15th, Maj Gen Joseph T. Dickman assumed command and issued Third Army General Order # 1 The third Army consisted of three corps (III, Maj Gen John L. Hines; IV, Maj Gen Charles Muir; and VII, Maj Gen William G. Hahn) and seven divisions.
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Feb
27
2009
Category : Shoah & Holocaust
Allied Forces. Supreme Headquarters. G-5
US Group Control Council.
Inspection of German concentration camp for political prisoners located at Buchenwald on the north edge of Weimar, made by :
- Brig Gen Eric F. Wood
- Lt Col Chas H. Ott
- CWO S. M. Dye
on the morning of April 16th 1945. PW & DP Division
US Group Control Council APO 742
Annex No. To Rcn. Report of April 21st 1945
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Feb
20
2009
Category : Kristallnacht, Shoah & Holocaust
The term Kristallnacht [Night of Broken Glass] refers to the organized anti-Jewish riots in Germany and Austria, on Nov 9 – Nov 10, 1938. These riots marked a major transition in Nazi policy, and were, in many ways, a harbinger of the Final Solution.
Nazi antisemitic policy began with the systematic legal, economic, and social disenfranchisement of the Jews. This was accomplished in various stages (e.g. The Nuremberg Laws of 1935, which, among other things, stripped German Jews of their citizenship). One of these steps involved the deportation of Polish Jews who were residing in Germany (est. 56.500).
On the night of Oct 27, 1938, 18000 Polish Jews were deported, but were initially refused entry into Poland by the Polish authorities. Caught in between, the Jews were forced to camp out in makeshift shelters. Upon hearing that his family was so trapped, 17 year-old Herschel Grynszpan, a student in Paris, shot the third secretary of the German Embassy, Ernst vom Rath, whom he mistook for the ambassador. This assassination served as a welcome pretext for the German initiation of Kristallnacht. Reinhard Heydrich (the head of the Reich Main Security Office which oversaw the Gestapo, police and SD operations) sent a secret telegram at 0120-H, Nov 10, 1938 to all headquarters and stations of the State Police; all districts and sub-districts of the SD. He gave instructions for the immediate coordination of police and political activities in inciting the riots throughout Germany and Austria.
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Feb
02
2009
Category : B-17 #42-97904
Dear Gunter
I am in the middle of a new research that has found that the dead crew of a crashed B-17 were miss-identified and are buried under the names of another crew that died that day.
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Jan
29
2009
Category : Battle of the Bulge, Germany
With the help and the work from my American friend David Gettman, the son of Lt Henry ‘Shorty’ Gettman, Platoon Leader of the 1st Platoon, 99th Reconnaissance Troop, 99th Infantry Division (1-99/99th Inf Div), 1st Army, ETO, WW II, Gerolzhofen, Germany, post VE Day.
In loving memory of Henry ‘Shorty’ Gettman, May 18 1911 – May 24 1983, and dedicated to all those heroes who proudly wore the Golden Caltrop of the 99th Reconnaissance Troop, and the Checkerboard of the 99th Infantry Division, the Battle Babies. Your sacrifice will not be forgotten.
Action This Hour !
On No 1, Fire 1 !
On No 2, Open 3 !
Advance !
Kill or be killed !
Geronimo !
Spinner !
Contact !
Pilot to Bombardier !
Open bombay doors !
Bombs away !
Gung Ho !
1000, 2000, 3000, Yank !
Yep, in the movies it sounds dramatic. But ‘breaking in’ at the front with dough boys on patrols through the snow – that’s another story. That is the true story. The story of Reconnaissance on reserve. The story of the battle of the defense of Höfen, Germany, November 9 to December 12 1944.
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