Lesser known details of WW2 part four

Luftwaffe Division commander casualties

GL Süssman 7th Airborne killed on 20.5.1941

GM von Wedel 10th Field killed 5.2.1944

GL Pistorious 4th Field killed 27.6.1944

GL Peschel 6th Field killed 30.6.1944

GM Crisolli 20th Field killed 12.9.1944

GM Erhard 7th Flak killed 17.4.1945

GM Krämer 11th Falk killed 11.5.1945

 

The Daimler-Benz DB 601 was a German aircraft engine built during World War II. It was a liquid-cooled inverted V12, and powered the Messerschmitt Bf 109, among others.

The DB 601Aa was licence-built in Japan by Aichi as the Atsuta and Kawasaki as Ha-40 to be used in the Ki-61 Hien and in Italy by Alfa Romeo as R.A.1000. for C.202 .

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daimler-Benz_DB_601

 

Werner Best

http://www.holocaustresearchproject.org/nazioccupation/best.html

Lucky to survive as he was one of the persons creating holocaust.

"By 1935 Best was already a Standartenfuhrer – during World War Two he was promoted to SS- Obergruppenfuhrer – and the closest collaborator of Heydrich in building up the Gestapo and the Security Services. Between 27 September 1939 and 12 June 1940 Werner Best was Chief of Section l of the Reich Main Security Office (RSHA) and it was in this capacity that he was charged and found guilty with complicity in the murder of thousands of Jews and Polish intellectuals."

 

Churchill´s bodyguard:

Guarding the bulldog - Times Online

Driving back from Buckingham Palace in 1940, after the king had asked Churchill to form a government, Thompson congratulated him on the "enormous task" he had undertaken. "God alone knows how great it is," Churchill replied. "All I hope is that it is not too late. I am very much afraid it is, but we can only do our best." Tears welled in his eyes. He was 66.

In the desperate days of the fall of France in June 1940, the pair headed off to try to find the French cabinet. Before takeoff, Churchill asked Thompson for his revolver. "One never knows," he said. "I do not intend to be taken alive." No histrionics, these, for they were, as Thompson put it, truly "flying blind". "Incredible!" he wrote. "The prime minister of Great Britain high in the air, trying to find the whereabouts of our principal ally... A terrible fantasy."

They tracked down Reynaud, the French prime minister, to a chateau near Tours. It was dangerous on the ground, too, for Reynaud's mistress, Madame Hélène de Portes, was furious at Churchill's desperate pleas for France to continue fighting. "She came out in a fury of hatred," Thompson recollected. "I caught her and silenced her hysterics. She had no gun, though we found a knife on her person..."

Returning over the Channel, their civilian aircraft dived suddenly as a German Heinkel was spotted close by attacking fishing boats. Churchill refused to have a fighter escort — they were more needed elsewhere, he insisted — and the pilot sought cover in the sea mist. They stayed at wave-top height until the English coast was reached. "We had no more than Winston's Colt and my automatic," Thompson recalled. "Some German pilot will never know how close he came to winning the Iron Cross — First Class."

The Irish nationalist Michael Collins got short shrift when he complained at being hunted like an animal after Churchill put a £5,000 reward on his head. "You're lucky," Churchill said, and told him of the reward the Boers had posted when he had escaped them: "They only offered £25 for me." In Moscow, Thompson warned him that his room was almost certainly bugged. Churchill stamped the floor and said: "This is Winston Churchill speaking. If you have microphones in my room it is a waste of time. I do not talk in my sleep."

 

Wehrmacht and training time for new privates....

Second World War Books Review

The most obvious program was to accelerate the induction of young men into the army. Normally men were inducted in the year that they reached the age of eighteen. However, in 1943 the date of induction was pushed forward to provide replacements sooner. The class of 1924 (men born in 1924, reaching the age of eighteen in 1942) had received about six months' training and entered combat in the winter of 1942-1943. The class of 1925 (age eighteen in 1943) was drafted in May 1943 and sent to the front as early as September 1943 after only four months' training. The class of 1926 was drafted in the late fall of 1943 before reaching eighteen and was given only four months' training before being sent to units beginning in March 1944. The class of 1926 was available nine months earlier than would normally have been the case and made an enormous number of men available in the spring of 1944.

 

" When asked to design a crest and motto for 100 Group ", recalls Jack Short, "one wag produced a drawing of an aircrew officer peering through the keyhole of a bathroom (ostensibly at a young lady in a tub ) with the motto, " We snoop to conquer"! As things turned out not too far removed from the Chester Herald approved version of "Dare to Discover" and a bright-eyed owl over a signals motif."

From " Confounding the Reich " by Bowman and Cushing

 

funny my generation belived you would get pregnant , guess as a male the same result would happen ! lol

 

On April 13, 1945, the day after President Franklin Roosevelt’s sudden death, Justice Robert H. Jackson delivered a speech before the American Society of International Law entitled “The Rule of Law Among Nations,” advocating Roosevelt’s position that trials, instead of summary executions, should be the fate of Nazi war criminals, including Adolf Hitler. It was this speech that flagged Jackson to President Truman as a viable choice for making Roosevelt’s dream a reality.

Nuremberg Timeline

 

Hitler and Pearl Harbor:

Did you expect the attack on Pearl Harbor?

ALFRED JODL: The attack came as a complete surprise. It was a complete surprise to me, and I had the feeling it was also a surprise for the Fuehrer; for he came, in the middle of the night, to my map room in order to give the news to Field Marshal Keitel and myself. He was completely surprised.

The Avalon Project : Nuremberg Trial Proceedings Volume 15

 

Some ww2 pics...

World War II from behind the lens - Israel Travel, Ynetnews

 

The Detroit Arsenal Tank Plant

The Detroit Arsenal Tank Plant was once the largest in the world | detnews.com | The Detroit News

In response to the idea of the tank being an integral part of the war effort, military planners decided to ramp up production of this overland vehicle as quickly as possible. In fact, the Arsenal received its first contract to build 1,000 M3 tanks in late August of 1940. The tanks were first delivered to the Army in April 24, 1941, while the plant was still under construction.

"For Chrysler to be able to furnish the Army with a 35-ton tank from scratch after only seven and a half months was nothing short of miraculous," said Mike Davis, historian and author of the book "Detroit's Wartime Industry: Arsenal of Democracy." "And while the product they produced -- the M3 -- wasn't the best tank in the world, it set the stage for the production of the more practical M4."

At its peak the plant was running 24 hours a day, seven days a
week with close to 5,400 workers turning out nearly 1,000 tanks a month.

The euphoria of the plant's production successes was highlighted by a visit on September 18, 1942 by then-president Franklin Roosevelt who made the Arsenal his first stop on a tour of the nation's war-production facilities. After returning to Washington, the president called the Detroit Arsenal "an amazing demonstration of what can be done by the right organization, spirit and planning."

 

Jan J. Safarik: Air Aces Home Page

Allied beaufighter aces

Braham, John Robert Daniel 19
Turnbull John Howard 13
Shipard, Mervyn Charles 13
Fumerton, Robert Carl 13
Buchanan, John Kenneth 13
Hughes, Frederick Desmond 12
Downing, Alwyn Berriman 12

etc.

 

Fortress Artillery Pieces 1941 - 1944 and Finland

FMP - Finnish Fortress Artillery 1941 - 1944

FINNISH ARMY 1918 - 1945: ARTILLERY PART 2

In Northern Finland Germans laughed at first when they saw the most typically used 120 K/78 de Bange cannons in action but their suspicion changed as soon as they saw the excellent results gained. Germans even filmed these guns in action and used the film for propaganda purposes - they were so impressed! Super heavy 155 K/77 de Bange was more accurate weapon than any of the newer models although they had to use "wrong" ammunition intended for howitzers of the same calibre. Their range was additionally increased from 9 to 11 km by lifting the wheels on the stand.

 

In the US during WW 2 losses due to industrial accidents actually outnumbered battlefield casualties substancially. There were:

About 7 million industrial casualties in the US during WW 2.
Between 1941 and 1943 there were 37,600 fatalities....Or, about 7,500 more than GI's killed in combat.
Industrial fatalities averaged 17,000 per year throughout the war.
An average of 27,000 workers per day were absent from work due to injury.
Approxmately 250,000 workers suffered permanent disabilities from industrial accidents.
Another 4.5 million were temporarily or partially disabled.
A total of 36, 333,333 manhours of labor was lost due to accidents.

All this without being bombed! Imagine Germany's plight!

Where is OSHA when you need them.....

 

Wollheim Memorial

Italy:

Italian workers, as citizens of an allied fascist state, enjoyed a special position at first. Between March 1941 and December 1942, around 250,000 Italian industrial workers came to Germany. As of March 1943, at Mussolini’s command, they were supposed to return to Italy. After his overthrow in July 1943 and the German occupation of Rome, the German administration refused to permit the return of the Italians still working in Germany. After a wartime labor conscription of several age groups, the Germans later switched to a policy of forced labor as well. Overall, another 100,000 civilians from Northern Italy and 600,000 so-called Italian military internees were deported to Germany by 1945.

 

When engineer Reginald Mitchell learned his new fighter plane was to be called "The Spitfire," he said, "It's just the sort of bloody silly name they would give it."

To the Ramparts! - washingtonpost.com

 

Oslo Report - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Oslo Report was one of the most spectacular leaks in the history of military intelligence. Written by Hans Ferdinand Mayer on November 1,2, 1939 during a business trip to Oslo, Norway, it described several German weapons systems, current and future. Mayer mailed the report anonymously in the form of two letters to the British Embassy in Oslo, where they were passed on to MI6 in London for further analysis, and proved to be an invaluable resource to the British in developing counter-measures, especially to navigational and targeting radars, and contributed to the British winning the Battle of Britain.

The Oslo Report was received with indifference or even disbelief by British Intelligence, the notable exception was Dr. R.V. Jones, a young Ph.D. physicist who had recently been put in charge of a new field called "Scientific Intelligence". Jones argued that despite the breadth of information and a few inaccuracies, the technical details were correct and argued that all the electronic systems divulged therein be further explored.

In his 1989 book, Jones summarized the importance of the Oslo Report as follows:

It was probably the best single report received from any source during the war. ...Overall, of course, the contributions from other sources such as the Enigma decrypts, aerial photographs, and reports from the Resistance, outweighed the Oslo contribution, but these were all made from organizations involving many, sometimes thousands of individuals and operating throughout most of the war. The Oslo Report, we believed, had been written by a single individual who in one great flash had given us a synoptic glimpse of much of what was foreshadowed in German military electronics.

 

Trent Park - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

During World War II Trent Park was used as a special prison for captured German generals and staff officers. They were treated reasonably hospitably with special rations of whisky and regular walks in the grounds. Many of the rooms inside the mansion had been equipped with hidden microphones and listening devices, and thus the British military was able to gather important military information and an intimate inside-view into the minds of the German military elite. They received information about war crimes, political views and got a clearer picture of the military resistance that led to the unsuccessful coup on July 20, 1944. 84 Generals and a number of lower ranking staff officers were brought to Trent Park. More than 1,300 protocols were written by the time the war ended; a selection of these was published in English in 2007 under the title Tapping Hitler's Generals.

 

Harold Marcus Ervine-Andrews

Harold Marcus Ervine-Andrews (1911 - 1995) - Find A Grave Memorial

He was serving as an acting captain with the East Lancashire Regiment, when he performed the deeds for which he was awarded the VC, on the Canal de Bergues just outside of Dunkirk on the night of May 31-June 1, 1940.

His citation reads:

"For most conspicuous gallantry on active service on the night of the 31st May/1st June, 1940. Captain Ervine-Andrews took over about a thousand yards of the defences in front of Dunkirk, his line extending along the Canal de Bergues, and the enemy attacked at dawn. For over ten hours, notwithstanding intense artillery, mortar, and machine gun lire, and in the face of vastly superior enemy forces, Captain Ervine-Andrews and his company held their position. The enemy, however, succeeded in crossing the canal on both flanks, and owing to superior enemy forces, a company of Captain Ervine-Andrews' own battalion which was despatched to protect his flanks was unable to gain contact with him. There being danger of one of his platoons being driven in, he called for volunteers to fill the gap, and then, going forward, climbed on to the top of a straw-roofed barn from which he engaged the enemy with rifle and light automatic fire, though at the time the enemy were sending mortar-bombs and armour-piercing bullets through the roof. Captain Ervine-Andrews personally accounted for seventeen of the enemy with his rifle and for many more with a Bren gun. Later, when the house which he held had been shattered by enemy fire and set alight and all his ammunition had been expended, he sent back his wounded in the remaining carrier. Captain Ervine-Andrews then collected the remaining eight men of his company from this forward position and when almost completely surrounded, led them back to the cover afforded by the company in the rear, swimming or wading up to the chin in water for over a mile. Having brought all that remained of his company safely back, he once again took up position. Throughout this action, Captain Ervine-Andrews displayed courage, tenacity, and devotion to duty worthy of the highest traditions of the British Army and his magnificent example imbued his own troops with the dauntless fighting spirit which he himself displayed."

 

Some interesting facts on the US draft:

After being passed by congress in September 1940, it took nearly 1 million workers to set up 125,000 registration points and 6,400 local draft boards.

16.5 million men were registered between the ages of 21 and 35. Note the age range. Germany started the war drafting down to 18 years of age and up to 36. This was greatly expanded as the war continued.

As a publicity stunt, Board 1 was put in Fearless County Tennessee and headed by Sergeant Alvin York, the WW 1 war hero.

Just over 30% of all draftees were rejected by the US military for health reasons or physical defects. Most commonly, muscle or bone defects / malformations, heart or circulatory problems, mental deficency, hernia and, syphillis. The two coasts and the deep South had the most rejections in many areas over 50% were 4F. The mid-west and Pacific Northwest had the fewest rejections.

Conscientious objection was not a major issue. Religious groups like Mennonites and Jehova's Witness amounted to less than 6,000 cases. Most accepted civilian service or non-combatant service as an alternative.
Although draft dodgers were not a major issue, they did exist. Where caught they got anywhere from six months to three years in prison. In some more rural areas dodgers, who wanted more nothing to do with the government than trying not to serve particularly waged gunbattles with government agents sent to track them down.

There were interesting cases like that of Joseph C. Salak chief clerk of Board 25 in Chicago. He had to draft himself! Assigned to the 361st Engineer battalion he was in Rheims when the inevidable happened. A GI just as tired, dirty and, unshaven as himself saw him and exclaimed in surprise, and a bit of anger, "Hey! You're the s.o.b. that drafted me!"