Western front-interesting bits of information

After the war Heinz Guderian compared French tanks with those available to German commanders in 1940.

The French tanks were better than ours in armour, guns and number, but inferior in speed, radio-communication and leadership. The concentration of all armoured forces at the decisive spot, the rapid exploitation of success, and the initiative of the officers of all degrees were the main reasons of our victory in 1940.

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/GERguderian.htm

 

HIGHEST NIGHT PHOTO

The highest night photograph of the war was taken on April 18, 1944, over Osnabruck. The RAF Mosquito crew used a target indicator flash and took the picture from 36, 000 feet.

( The question you want to ask during an evening in the pub to show you know everything about WW2... )

http://members.iinet.net.au/~gduncan/1944.html

 

The first airborne assault in WW2

Airborne assault on Sola Airfield, Norway 1940

http://www.axishistory.com/index.php?id=4828

 

Belgian fortifications May 1940

http://niehorster.orbat.com/021_belgium/forts/_forts-part_01.htm

 

'The Shetland Bus', a Shetland based boat operation to and from Norway, that took place during the Second World War (1939 - 1945).

http://www.shetland-heritage.co.uk/shetlandbus/

 

SOE and the exploding rat

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/war/wwtwo/soe_gallery_05.shtml

 

The French Army

Fusil Mitrailleur 1924/29

Two triggers (?!) the front for single shots and the rear for automatic fire...Interesting!

 

Stanley Newcourt-Nowodworski Black propaganda

Paris 9-13 June 1940

Out of population of 2,7 million at least 2 million left the capital.

So now you know if the city seemed quite empty in pics June 1940...



"Hey! Where is everybody?"

 

From D Parker "To win the winter sky"

Rotation back stateside was only available after a tour of 200 combat hours of flying time. With a P-47 flying tactical missions it might take 100 missions , while only 40 as a long-range P51 escort with the 8th Air Force.

 

Luftwaffe suffered 2,262 pilots killed or missing from January through May of 1944 which is close to 100% of the front line air-crew strength of the day fighter force.

Over 32% of German aircraft losses in the first half of 1944 came from non-combat related causes. ( Pilots were ill-trained and could scarcely navigate their way back to base )

" To win the winter sky " By D Parker

 

yes very true.... but then again all of the experienced pilots were killed on the easter front along with over 6000 planes

 

Here is a nice list of German aces. I don't know how many were stationed over the East.

http://www.axishistory.com/index.php?id=7886

 

Jimmy Doolittle Reminiscences About World War II

http://www.historynet.com/culture/people/3038106.html?featured=y&c=y

On August 7, 1942, the two generals met with Eisenhower to review plans for the invasion. "When Ike asked Georgie what action he proposed to take as ground commander, Georgie was all ready with a very positive, detailed invasion plan," recalled Doolittle. When he had finished, Eisenhower nodded, obviously pleased, then turned to Doolittle. "I replied with a very stupid answer," he remembered, telling him, "I will not be able to do anything until the air fields are captured and supplied with fuel, oil, ammunition, bombs, spare parts, and all the necessary ground personnel." Doolittle realized that his pragmatic reply disappointed Eisenhower. "It was a dumb thing," he said, "to tell a general with as much logistics experience and military service as Eisenhower." Subsequently, Doolittle learned that Ike had cabled General Marshall, stating: "`Patton satisfactory. I do not want Doolittle.' . . . General Marshall replied `You may have anyone you prefer. We still recommend Doolittle.'" This situation "put Ike in a bad spot," Doolittle said, "and that made him dislike me even more. Although he finally agreed to accept me, it took me almost a year to really sell myself to him." Despite this inauspicious beginning, Doolittle eventually became one of Eisenhower's boys.

In 1943, General Eisenhower awarded Doolittle the Distinguished Service Medal, and "the citation that came with it," Doolittle told me, "was one of the oddest you'll ever see. It says in substance that this man has improved more during his service with me than any other senior officer in my command."

 

EUGENE ESMONDE VC




In the Straits of Dover, Esmonde led the 825 Squadron of six Swordfish aircraft to attack the "Channel dash" German ships. The squadron encountered a hail of fire from the German ships off Calais in their desperate but unsuccessful attempt at least to damage the enemy vessels. Esmonde’s plane sustained a direct hit, just after he had fired its torpedo, he continued the run-in towards his target until his plane burst into flames and crashed into the sea. The attack continued and three of the other Swordfish were also shot down and their crews killed. Five men of Esmonde’s flight survived, four of them wounded. The four officers received the DSO, while the sole rating who survived received the Conspicuous Gallantry Medal. Admiral Ramsey stated that ‘the gallant sortie of these six Swordfish constitutes one of the finest exhibitions of self sacrifice and devotion to duty that the war has yet witnessed’.

Esmonde was awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross for his actions, which was gazetted on the 3rd March 1942. A memorial to Eugene Esmonde is at Woodlands Cemetery, Gillingham, Kent.


http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/theartofwar/valgal/valour/INF3_0447.htm


http://www.royalnavalmuseum.org/info_sheets_eugene_esmonde.htm

 

Kurowski, Franz: The Brandenburgers

On 30th May, with the fall of Paris imminent, a special group of Brandenburgers consisting of an assault team with two Abwehr officers, drove along the main road to Paris, working their way into the melee of refugees and headed for the French capital. They reached the city on 9th June. Disguised as Dutch, French, and Belgian refugees, they spoke to one another in those three languages. They were not found out. The assault team drove to the government quarter and stopped in front of the annex of the bureau deuxieme, the seat of the French secret service. The mood there was one of disintegration. Trucks sat in the courtyard. Soldiers were busy loading the secret files in heavy crates.
The Brandenburgers abandoned their disguises and seized the staff of the office. The soldiers were captured and the files secured. The French government left the city on 10th June. All the secret files captured in Paris by the Germans were shipped to Berlin aboard several trains. They included the central card index and the files of the surete nationale, the national security agency, which was subordinate to the Ministry of the Interior.

http://stonebooks.com/archives/980127.shtml

 

Just after World War II started, Göring said "If a single enemy aircraft ever appears over Berlin, you can call me Meier!" ("Meier" is a common German surname, analogous to the English "Smith").

By the end of the war, Berlin's air raid sirens were bitterly known to the city's residents as "Meier's trumpets", or "Meier's hunting horns."

 

I heard it as an Allied "Fighter" over Berlin?
Also a Hebrew name
Meir (Meyer), masculin
coincides with German word for Mayor/Leader
After the P-51 (flying gas can)
"Say Hello to the (Little Friends)!"
Meyer

 

Read that in 1945 it was said once Germany was divided to parts : The British got the ruins, the French the wines and the US the view.

 

6th Cavalry Group

It had entered the war with the task of operating as the Third U.S. Army's primary land intelligence unit. Known additionally in this capacity as the Army Information Service, the 6th Cavalry Group roved ahead in armored cars and jeeps and kept Third U.S. Army HQ (called 'Lucky Forward') informed of both German and American troop dispositions and locations. This allowed Gen. Patton to often know more about where his men were than did the corps and divisional commanders. Because of this the 6th Cavalry Group was informally nicknamed 'Patton's Household Cavalry.'

http://www.ospreypublishing.com/content2.php/cid=245

 

7 October 1944

The Kembs Dam. This was another No 617 Squadron special operation. The Kembs Dam on the Rhine, just north of Basle, held back a vast quantity of water and it was feared that the Germans would release this to flood the Rhine valley near Mulhouse, a few miles north, should the American and French troops in that area attempt an advance. The Squadron was asked to destroy the lock gates of the dam. 13 Lancasters were dispatched. 7 aircraft were to bomb from 8,000ft and draw the flak, while the other 6 would come in below 1,000ft and attempt to place their Tallboys, with delayed fuses, alongside the gates. American Mustang fighters would attempt to suppress flak positions during the attack. The operation went according to plan. The gates were destroyed but 2 Lancasters from the low force were shot down by flak.

http://www.raf.mod.uk/bombercommand/images/ke0710.jpg