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famous/infamous quotes

Discussion in 'WWII General' started by bronk7, Jun 19, 2020.

  1. Takao

    Takao Ace

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    Really?

    The 62 U-Boats on patrol on May 1st, 1945, would suggest otherwise.
     
  2. Christopher67

    Christopher67 Member

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    Lste WW2 German High Command "question and response" joke...

    Q: What side will Germany be on for the next war?
    A: I don't know. But whatever side the Italians are on will be the loser....


    QUOTE:
    "What is life? Life is the nation. The individual must die anyway. Beyond that lies the nation".

    This is a quote by ADOLF HITLER, uttered by him after Stalingrad.
    Now before you say, "Wasn't he a bad man" think of this. Greek statesmen during their classical period, had a slogan for the "City-State" that said,

    "The state is more important than the individual"

    So, Hitler was only reiterating an old Greek concept.

    And finally....
    An unknown Tommy was being interviewed by a journalist in 1917. The "Tommy" was exasperated at the course of the war, and finally came out with...

    "There's too much f@#king artillery in this war!"
     
  3. Christopher67

    Christopher67 Member

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    oh...and speaking of submarine losses...

    I don't have any figures, but I remember reading that submarine crew fatalities in ww2 Germany were exceeded as a percentage figure by only one other group...

    And that group was tank crews....

    Further, if German submariner morale was unaffected, why did Doenitz withdraw the U-boats from the Atlantic after losing 41 U-boats in the month of May 1943 alone?

    Morale must have been a factor in that decision, a lack of morale going all the way to the top...
    Also, German submariner morale had peeks and troughs. It had two peaks, one in mid 1940? not dsure exactly when, but it was referred to as "The Happy Time".
    The second "peak" was just after U.S. entry into the war, during the first half of 1942, and this was called the "Second Happy Time."

    By mid-1943, morale had taken another dive, and I'm not sure it ever recovered
    Chris
     
  4. Christopher67

    Christopher67 Member

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    another indicator of the state of mind of Karl Doenitz is the placement of anti-aircraft guns onto all U-boats with orders to "fight it out" when aircraft were encountered by boats on the surface.

    One doesn't have to be a mind reader to imagine what was going through the minds of U-boat crews when they first heard what Doenitz was expecting them to do. It's symptomatic of just how desperate Karl Doenitz had become. U-boats were defeated in the battle of the Atlantic when it became problematic to impossible for them to operate on the surface at night.

    Once this point was reached, I am fairly sure that orders like the above would not have helped morale at all.

    The Type XXI U-boat, for all it's survivability, came to late to affect the course of the war, like most other Nazi wonder weapons, too little too late
     
  5. Takao

    Takao Ace

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    Less an indicator of state-of-mind...More an indicator of changing tactics to meet a changing situation.

    The automatic 37mm that was being introduced, somewhat shifted the favor to the U-Boats. However, as one side changes it's tactics, the other side will as well, and the Allies did. No longer were singular attacks similes upon. The first aircraft spotting a U-Boat would call any other aircraft in and attack as a group, overwhelming the boat's AA defense. Thus, the pendulum swung back to the Allies, and Doenitz rescinded the order.
     
  6. Takao

    Takao Ace

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    Is there not a military axiom about hitting the enemy where he is weak, not where he is strong.

    Doenitz lost 41-43 U-boats sunk & 37 damaged, in return for sinking 58 vessels. No matter the morale of the men, Germany could not afford that ratio, as she was not producing U-Boats fast enough to maintain that exchange rate.

    The U-Boat loss rate was unsustainable for Germany, morale was immaterial.
     
  7. Carronade

    Carronade Ace

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    Supposedly when Churchill was informed of the Italian declaration of war, he said "It seems only fair, we had them last time."
     
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  8. Poppy

    Poppy grasshopper

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    my x's father came over in 1948-50, somewhere around that time.
    that quote is exemplary of German humour for the time and circumstance.
     
  9. CAC

    CAC Ace of Spades

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    I always think of this dude when Italians are mentioned....
     
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  10. ColHessler

    ColHessler Member

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    I think I was 17 when I saw Bertorelli. I thought he was cool, and said that catchphrase of his a lot.
     
  11. Class of '42

    Class of '42 Active Member

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    "You cannot invade the mainland United States. There would be a rifle behind each blade of grass."

    Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto
     
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  12. Takao

    Takao Ace

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    Another Infamous/bogus Yamamooto quote.

    It has never been substantiated or proven. Often said to be in Prange's papers, but no one has ever found it.

    The 2nd Amendmenters/NRA love this quote(and they are probably the ones that created it).
     
  13. bronk7

    bronk7 Well-Known Member

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    Morale is a big factor in combat
     
  14. bronk7

    bronk7 Well-Known Member

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    let's review
    1. German cities are in '''ruins'''
    2. not happy campers, the Russians, are in Berlin
    3. Germany has lost the biggest war ever--that '''very few had wanted'''
    4. Uboats 75% losses
    from same book page 45
    5.Kapitanleutenant Cremer ''''became a free man in the ruins of Hamburg'''

    ''''all around me was emptiness. Most of my comrades were no longer alive, the years of my youth had gone. Like so many others I had given my best in a war which very few of us had wanted and in which the faith and readiness for sacrifice of the German people.......had been most terribly abused''''
    bold mine

    this surely doesn't sound like a defiant winner
     
  15. Riter

    Riter Well-Known Member

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    It meant you're not the first.
     
  16. bronk7

    bronk7 Well-Known Member

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    it's in the ending of the movie Kelly's Heroes
    [​IMG]
     
  17. Poppy

    Poppy grasshopper

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    -wondering if this quote would be more contributed to Kuribayashi, as his father lived in the US from 1928 to 1930 (if ive read that right).
    Tadamichi Kuribayashi - Wikipedia
     
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  18. Takao

    Takao Ace

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    Show me Japanese plans for invading the US. Or, show me where the Japanese considered invading the US.
    To the best of my knowledge, there was never any consideration giving to the US, let alone actual planning.

    So, why would any Japanese officer say such a thing.

    Conversely, the US never planned, under War Plan Orange & it's iterations, to invade Japan. The very idea of mounting an invasion was an anathema to military planners back then.
     

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