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Gold Remains a Good long-term Investment Whether the dollar goes up or down, gold is still going to be a good investment because we have virtually all the important central bankers focused on growth and not inflation. Gold is a dynamic metal....

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Request for Identication - Crashed Plane 1945 I need the following answers : (Body) German or British ? (Plane) German or British ? I have studied the photos for more than an hour and I am still wondering because the Cockpit looks like an AAF P-38's...

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Marty & Cindy : Unpublished Photos 17th A/B 1945 Another Wartime photos set and like the one before it's a really good one. Joe Summers Pontoon bridge over the Rhine River. Note signs : (left) seems to be a "one way - Red Ball Express",...

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Marty & Cindy : Unpublished Photos 17th A/B 1945 And here is the next set Wartime photos of the 17th Airborne Division. My Dad took a photo of the same concrete bunker from a distance. It had a Russian star on top of it when he took the photo....

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Marty & Cindy : Unpublished Photos 17th A/B 1945 Well, these new photos are fields photos and request from me some researches. This is exactly what I like to do, so it will take a little more time as usual to be posted. And once again thanks to Cindy...

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Photos from our Visitors and Friends

Category : 1914-1918, 2nd Div-AEF

I am sorry. I have been (and still am) busy with the snow and also with the jeep I am refurbishing.
Here are the photos I have found in the Incoming Directory. I have also to say that if you upload a photo to the web server and don’t send me a quick note about it, this make really hard for me guess what going on.

A wonderful photo from World War One. Unfortunately I have no idea of who sent this to me. Anyway thank you. Caption : American Soldiers and Children – a natural combination, whether in France, Italy or as in the above picture, Germany. Here are Men of B Company, 9th Infantry, 2nd Division, in Bendorf, Germany, 1919.
Thank you for this very nice photo !!!
Gunter
PS : If you sent this photo, tell me more about it and I will be really happy to credit you as well as tell things about your Grandpa.

Some Lines on the 82nd Airborne Division

Category : 082nd Airborne Division


Put on your boots, boots, boots
And parachute-chute-chutes
We’re going up, up, up
And coming down, down, down
We’re All American and proud to be
For we’re the soldiers of liberty
Some ride their gliders to the enemy
Others are sky paratroopers
We’re All American and fight we will
‘Til all the guns of the foe are still
Airborne from skies of blue
We’re coming through, let’s go
Put on your boots, your parachutes
Get all those gliders ready to attack today
For we’ll be gone into the dawn
To fight them all the 82nd way

AMERICA’S GUARD OF HONOR

Where is the prince who can afford to cover his country with troops for its defense as that ten thousand men descending from the clouds, might not, in many places, do an infinite deal of mischief before a force could be brought to repel them ?

Benjamin Franklin, 1784

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(22)50/4-Js-340/68 : Josef Mengele (05)

Category : Holocaust, Josef Mengele

a. Polish Auschwitz Trials

To put this matter in perspective, it is useful to review several cases in which the system worked properly, as a way of ascertaining what might have happened in Mengele’s case. Dr Hans Muench was one of Mengele’s colleagues at Auschwitz. He appears on the UN War Crimes Commission List, the CROWCASS List, and in specific allegations that mention Mengele. He appears on the list of perpetrators prepared by a US war crimes investigator that was transmitted to Poland on November 6, 1946, as well as in various other documents concerning crimes at Auschwitz. In Muench’s case, however, Polish authorities made a strong push for apprehension. His formal extradition was requested by the Poles on September 30, 1946, even though they did not know his whereabouts (Muench Extradition File, NARA: RG466). OSI also discovered a list of 193 individuals whose extradition was requested by Poland (French Foreign Ministry Archives; see appendix, p. 102); this listing and the Wanted Report issued by ‘the Poles identifies Muench’s whereabouts as ‘unknown’. Following the issuance of the Wanted Report, Muench’s name was carried on the Third Army Wanted List for January 1947. He was apprehended and ultimately extradited to stand trial in Poland.
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(22)50/4-Js-340/68 : Josef Mengele (02)

Category : Holocaust, Josef Mengele

In February 1985, responding to suggestions that Josef Mengele had a relationship with US personnel and institutions, during the period immediately following World War II, and being eager to assist in locating and bringing him to justice, the Attorney General ordered OSI to conduct an investigation.
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(22)50/4-Js-340/68 : Josef Mengele (01)

Category : Holocaust, Josef Mengele

US Department of Justice
Criminal Division
In the Matter of Josef Mengele
Report to the Attorney General of the United States October 1992
Exhibits Prepared by :
Office of Special Investigations Criminal Division
Neal M. Sher Director
Eli M. Rosenbaum Principal Deputy Director
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Kay Summersby – Ike Was my Boss (11)

Category : Archive Stories, Kay Summersby

Suddenly the plane shot upward, roaring away from the airfield. We all smashed back against our seats. Maybe the wheels won’t come down, someone said in a small voice. Snuffy Nixon, the navigator, stuck his head in the cabin and broke the silence. Don’t worry, folks. I just got mixed up in my figuring and picked the wrong country. Not France ! we cried. No, said Snuffy, it’s not France. But it’s not England, either. He grinned over at me. This is Kay’s home. We almost landed in southern Ireland !
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Kay Summersby – Ike Was my Boss (10)

Category : Archive Stories, Kay Summersby

Returning from Cairo to Algiers, I began digging away at the minor mountain of paper accumulated on my desk. Memories of Egypt and Palestine faded completely as I worked late each night to reduce those piles of the General’s fan mail. Like everyone else at headquarters, however, I was still busier on unofficial duties… working overtime on the old rumor that Gen Marshall, not Gen Ike, would head the new American Expeditionary Force building in Britain, and that Ike would go to Washington to become Chief of Staff.
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Kay Summersby – Ike Was my Boss (9)

Category : Archive Stories, Kay Summersby

Big Brass gathered for the Cairo Conference were concerned mostly with world-wide strategy. But they also wanted to hear testimony on the war raging right there in the Mediterranean… so Gen Marshall dispatched a special C-54 to bring the star witness. Instead of flying over in lonely pomp, Gen Eisenhower made a characteristic gesture. He invited about a dozen of his lower-rank staff members to go along : There’s no use wasting all the space in this big plane, he explained. Besides, it may be the only chance you’ll ever get to visit the Middle East.
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Kay Summersby – Ike Was my Boss (7)

Category : Archive Stories, Kay Summersby

The King’s visit was so hush-hush that we drove to Maison Blanche airport just as usual, with only the motorbike escort to clear our way. No special guards were provided. At the field, we moved down to a distant corner and joined the British High Brass, including Admiral Cunningham and Air Chief Marshal Tedder. Butch whispered he would open the door for His Majesty.
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WW-2 Conferences, Moscow Oct 1943

Category : War Conferences

JOINT FOUR-NATION DECLARATION

The governments of the United States of America, United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, and China;

- United in their determination, in accordance with the declaration by the United Nations of January, 1942, and subsequent declarations, to continue hostilities against those Axis powers with which they respectively are at war until such powers have laid down their arms on the basis of unconditional surrender;
- Conscious of their responsibility to secure the liberation of themselves and the peoples allied with them from the menace of aggression;
- Recognizing the necessity of insuring a rapid and orderly transition from war to peace and of establishing and maintaining international peace and security with the least diversion of the world’s human and economic resources for armaments;
Jointly declare :

  • 1. That their united action, pledged for the prosecution of the war against their respective enemies, will be continued for the organization and maintenance of peace and security.
  • 2. That those of them at war with a common enemy will act together in all matters relating to the surrender and disarmament of that enemy.
  • 3. That they will take all measures deemed by them to be necessary to provide against any violation of the terms imposed upon the enemy.
  • 4. That they recognize the necessity of establishing at the earliest practicable date a general international organization, based on the principle of the sovereign equality of all peace-loving states, and open to membership by all such states, large and small, for the maintenance of international peace and security.
  • 5. That for the purpose of maintaining international peace and security pending the re-establishment of law and order and the inauguration of a system of general security they will consult with one another and as occasion requires with other members of the United Nations, with a view to joint action on behalf of the community of nations.
  • 6. That after the termination of hostilities they will not employ their military forces within the territories of other states except for the purposes envisaged in this declaration and after joint consultation.
  • 7. That they will confer and cooperate with one another and with other members of the United Nations to bring about a practicable general agreement with respect to the regulation of armaments in the post-war period.

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Hitler Reichstag, Sept 1 1939

Category : War Politic Papers

hitlersaluteFor months we have been suffering under the torture of a problem which the Versailles Diktat created – a problem which has deteriorated until it becomes intolerable for us. Danzig was and is a German city. The Corridor was and is German. Both these territories owe their cultural development exclusively to the German people. Danzig was separated from us, the Corridor was annexed by Poland. As in other German territories of the East, all German minorities living there have been ill-treated in the most distressing manner. More than 1.000.000 people of German blood had in the years 1919-1920 to leave their homeland.

As always, I attempted to bring about, by the peaceful method of making proposals for revision, an alteration of this intolerable position. It is a lie when the outside world says that we only tried to carry through our revisions by pressure. Fifteen years before the National Socialist Party came to power there was the opportunity of carrying out these revisions by peaceful settlements and understanding. On my own initiative I have, not once but several times, made proposals for the revision of intolerable conditions. All these proposals, as you know, have been rejected – proposals for limitation of armaments and even, if necessary, disarmament, proposals for limitation of war making, proposals for the elimination of certain methods of modern warfare.
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German Airborne Operations (3)

Category : Airborne Operations, Archives Movies, Fallschirmjäger, German Airborne

BillLeeSection 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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Fallschirmjäger Operations WW-2 (2)

Category : Fallschirmjäger

Fallis-001Section 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.

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Fallschirmjäger Operations WW-2 (1)

Category : Fallschirmjäger

fallschirjmager-abzeichenThis 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.

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The Battle of the Bulge (1)

Category : Battle of the Bulge, The Bulge (CMH)

UNITED STATES ARMY IN WORLD WAR II
Stetson Conn, General Editor
Advisory Committee
(As of 1 July 1964)

- Fred C. Cole
Washington and Lee University
- Lt Gen August Schomburg
Industrial College of the Armed Forces
- James A. Field, Jr.
Swarthmore College
- Maj Gen Hugh M. Exton
US Continental Army Command
- Earl Pomeroy
University of Oregon
- Brig Gen Ward S. Ryan
US Army War College
- Theodore Ropp
Duke University
- Brig Gen Elias C. Townsend
US Army Command and General Staff College
- Lt Col Thomas E. Griess
United States Military Academy
- Office of the Chief of Military History
Brig Gen Hal. C. Pattison, Chief of Military History

Chief Historian, Stetson Conn
Chief Histories Division, Col Albert W. Jones
Chief Editorial and Graphics Division, Col Walter B. McKenzie
Editor in Chief, Joseph R. Friedman

eagle

… to Those Who Served

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10th Mountain Division (OOB-WW-2)

Category : 010th Mount Div, US Army - World War 2

10-md-01The 10th Infantry Division was activated on July 15 1946 at Camp Hale, Colorado, as 10th Light Division (Pack Alpine) and moved to Camp Swift, Texas, on June 22 1944, where if was re-designated 10th Mountain Division on November 6 1944.
The 10th staged then at Camp Patrick Henry, Virgina on December 27 1944 until departed Hampton Roads Port of Embarkation on January 6 1945, and completely arrived in Italy on Januray 18 1945.
When hostilities ceased, the 10th Mountain Division was sent back to the USA et Hampton Roads on August 11 1945 and moved then to Camp Carson, Colorado on August 16, 1945 and was inactivated there on November 30 1945.

10th Mountain Division – Casualties
- Killed in Action : 872
- Wounder in Action : 3134
- Died of Wounds : 81
10th Mountain Division – Commanders
- Maj Gen Lloyd E. Jones : July 1942 – November 1944
- Maj Gen George P. Hays : November 1944 – Deactivation

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AAF’s Groups WW-2

Category : Army Air Forces

b-17-pistol-packing-mama

This is the second part of this study on the United States Army Air Force in World War Two. This part contains the list of the Air Force Groups.
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Kay Summersby – Ike Was my Boss (1)

Category : Archive Stories, Kay Summersby

Tossed by the fortunes of war into close association with World War IPs top leaders, Miss Summersby tells the inside story of military command from a woman’s point of view. Hers is a portrait of General Dwight D. Eisenhower as few could see him, continuously, at moments of tension, making great decisions, during long hours of routine work, and while he relaxed at bridge or horseback riding.
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3rd Infantry Division (OOB-WW-2)

Category : 003rd Inf Div, US Army - World War 2

Stationed at Fort Lewis, Washington and known as the 3rd Division it moved to Fort Ord, California Jan 22 1940 then returned to Fort Lewis, May 19 1940. It moved again to Hunter-Liggett Military Reservation, California May 25 1941 for IX Corps California Maneuvers. The 3rd returned to Fort Lewis again on Jul 1 1941 and participated in the Fourth Army Maneuvers Aug 15 to Aug 30 1941. The 3rd was then transferred to Fort Ord, California on May 1 1942 and was re-designated 3rd Infantry Division on Aug 1 1942. Sent to Camp Pickett, Virginia on Sep 22 1942, it staged at Camp Patrick Henry, Virginia on Oct 27 1942 and departed Hampton Roads Port of Embarkation on the same date. The 3rd Inf Div assaulted Fedala North Africa on Nov 8 1942, assaulted Sicily Jul 10 1943 and arrived Italy Sep 18 1943. On Jan 22 1944, the 3rd assaulted Anzio then southern France on Aug 15 1944. The division entered into Germany on Mar 13 1945, arrived New York POE Sep 4 1946 and then Camp Campbell Kentucky Sep 8 1946.
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SOE Operations Western Europe (N-Z)

Category : OSS & SOE

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Special Operations Executive Summary of Operations in Western Europe
This summary refers only to those operations with the fullest material in the files. For reasons of space it does not refer to every operation mentioned in the records. Similarly, the newly released records do not contain evidence on every operation which was mounted by the sections.
Source : Adam Matthew Publications
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SOE Operations Western Europe (A-M)

Category : OSS & SOE

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Special Operations Executive Summary of Operations in Western Europe
This summary refers only to those operations with the fullest material in the files. For reasons of space it does not refer to every operation mentioned in the records. Similarly, the newly released records do not contain evidence on every operation which was mounted by the sections.
Source : Adam Matthew Publications
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100th-442nd RCT (Issei Nisei Kibei)(1)

Category : France (North)

The story of the 100th Battalion, 442nd Regimental Combat Team is rooted in the history of the Japanese in Hawaii and America itself. As the second generation of Japanese born abroad, or the first Japanese generation born in Hawaii and America through the early 1910s and 1920s, the Nisei were American citizens and part of the larger greatest generation to be of the right age to face the conflict of World War II. This generation of Japanese born abroad best personifies the blending of American and Japanese cultures that laid the foundation for a resolute, cohesive, and dedicated unit that accomplished every assigned mission without fail. The importance of Japanese immigration to Hawaii and the United States lies not in the fact that it did occur, but rather in how it occurred and in its consequences. Like many that came to America, the Japanese came for economic reasons. Unlike many Europeans, however, the bulk of the Japanese came to the United States not to escape the old country and settle in the new world, but rather with the intent to return home rich after a short period of contract labor, in what actually equated to indentured servitude. Many did not return and before long had established a solid and unique Japanese American culture ‘one that often faced severe prejudice’.
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The Battle of San Pietro 43/44

Category : Archives Movies, San Pietro 43-44

The Battle of San Pietro is a 1945 documentary film directed by John Huston about the Battle of San Pietro In fine during World War II. The film is unflinching in its realism and was held up from being shown to the public by the United States Army. Huston quickly became unpopular with the Army, not only for the film but also for his response to the accusation that the film was anti-war. Huston responded that if he ever made a pro-war film, he should be shot. General George C. Marshall came to the film’s defense, stating that because of the film’s gritty realism, it would make a good training film; subsequently the film was used for that purpose. Huston was no longer considered a pariah; he was decorated and made an honorary major. In 1991, The Battle of San Pietro was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”.
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Order of Battle : 1st Armored Division 1940-1945

Category : 001st AD : OOB, 001st Armored, US Army - World War 2

1st-Armored-DivisionColonel Daniel Van Voorhis took a cadre of 175 Officers and Enlisted Men from Fort Eustis to Fort Knox in February 1932 and established a Provisional Armored Car Platoon. This was based on an earlier effort, but was predicated on a new Cavalry Regiment which was published that year. Also published, but never implemented, was a Cavalry Division which reflected the – then – unnatural assimilation of machines into the Horse Cavalry. Van Voorhis’s cadre and platoon became the kernel for the 7th Cavalry Brigade, which went active on March 1, 1932 at Fort Knox. At first, it was nothing more than a headquarters detachment and the Armored Car Platoon. On Jan 3, 1933, the 1st Cavalry Regiment was relieved from assignment to the 1st Cavalry Division, and was moved from Fort A D Russell to Fort Knox. The earlier Mechanized Platoon was incorporated into the new Regimental TO & E (Table of Organization & Equipment), and the result was the 1st Cavalry Regiment (Mechanized), which went active on January 16, 1933.
The new Regimental commander was Col Van Voorhis, late of the experimental Mechanized Force, while the executive officer was Adna Chaffee. The Post Commander of Fort Knox was Brig Gen Julian R. Lindsey, another cavalryman.
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