Evidence of Plagiarism found in Author Stephen Ambrose's books.

Why am I not surprised. On the bottom shelf eh....probably not selling and they are overstocked..... ?

Checked over his latest on the 15th a.f stories. although interesting he has not mentioned that the smaller cities Flak was mounted on trains and of course would be moved around so they would not become prime targets in the static positions like the heavy flak towers in Wien which housed twin 128mm guns. The guns mentioned were probably 105mm's as well as the notorius 88mm. Also I noted at the beginning of the exerpts it is mentioned that the B-24 crews lost 50 % casualties. Well for a fact this is pure rubbish. possibly 20 % max as seen by their loss lists in each one of the groups. I have one of the histories, a two volume set on the 449th bomb group and they sure didn't even come close. Mr. Ambrose needs to interview more than just the bomb crew vets to get the story complete.......try the archiv's dude and ask for the stinkin mission reports.....

E

 

SOME HISTORIAN ambrose is, what a POSEUR!!!

 

Well that poser is making more money that U and me put together.....very sad. I'll be interested in what his next book will cover......no I won't !

E

 

All I can say is that his name will never mean anything to me ever--other than MUD.

I know that thats sadly the truth that this dork is raking in all that lettuce, by plagerism and by stealing and lying to the vets.

I cannot believe that Oberst Hans von Luck--in his book, mentions having been friends with ambrose and that ambrose was such an honorable person. HA!!!!!!!!!!!! If only Oberst von Luck were still alive to know the truth....

 

More ammo for you Ambrose 'fans'. Check this site by Mark Bando, who wrote some good books on the 101st Airborne Div. and the 2nd Armoured in Normandy. Being an authority himself on the 101 A/B he has something to say about Ambrose too!

Go to this link and scroll down to 'Ambrose live on C-span'

Besides that, this site is worth your attention anyway!!!! Especially if you want the REAL story behind EASY!

http://www.101airborneww2.com/bandofbrothers2.html


Stevin

[ 05 February 2002: Message edited by: Stevin Oudshoorn ]</p>

 

interesting article. I am sure i have heard that comment from General Roosevelt before. It would not have been in a movie, would it

 

All I can say is Haa haa haa, and that proves the point I have been making about Ambrose on this forum for over a year now.

 

When did oberst Van Luck die? Also I was just watching the history channel and they had a thing on about d day and every few minutes they had ambrose talking, it was getting very annoying.

 

I'm not sure exactly when von Luck passed away--I heard it was either in the lats 1980's or early 1990's.

I did hear that Siegfried Knapp was still living and in Ohio. He wrote SOLDAT.

 

Ohio, thats only a few hours drive for me. It would be awesome to meet him. Oh well I don't have a car and I don't know him, so it would bad to just show up at his door.

 

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by panzergrenadiere:
Also I was just watching the history channel and they had a thing on about d day and every few minutes they had ambrose talking, it was getting very annoying.<hr></blockquote>

Yes, I was watching the same series and I agree. The one statement he made I know was totally incorrect was when he said "that the Germans were not trainined to make independant decisions. It was centralized and they could not react quick enough unless they had orders otherwise" This is a bunch of crap.

This is what made the Wehrmacht able to fight against the odds. The ability to make a decision at the platoon level. Even towards the end of the war when Hitler was giving detailed orders to field units, the Leutnants and Hauptmanns were making decisions typically reserved for Obersts and Generals. For example, when assigned to the 38th SS Panzergrenadier division my grandfather was assigned to the divisional staff while awaiting the arrival of the newly assigned commander. They were no more than 4,000 strong and have not had an onsite commander for 5 weeks. They received orders to move out for action. Apparently, the corps was under the impression there was a divisional commander onsite. Nevertheless, my grandfather and another obersturmbannfuhrer too control and barked out orders setting the division in motion. A commander finally arrived a week later when they were engaged in defensive fighting. This shows the capability and the reason why the Wehrmacht was successfull. It also shows how totaly incompetant and big of a fake Ambrose truly is. Steams me up!!!!!!

 

He lives in Xenia Ohio--to be exact. If he is listed in the phonebook--just simply write a letter and or call--its from my experiance that vets love the attention. Call up the operator and see if he is listed--or at least his wife Lilo ot their son.

 

The Germans weren't quick enough to react.....? As you guys have said what a gbunch of crap ! About 10 years agao I was starting to do an exhaustive study on the Monte Cassino campaign with the 1st FJD up on the hill.....they didn;t react fast enough and had to let their leaders lead them around ? ! Bull puckey I say. Seems they were quite wise in digging in and holding on while being overwhelmed with numbers of troops, shells, tanks and aircraft and then retreated by their own will. sounds like to me someone we know needs to quite a bit more research. Poop on the guy and the History channel. Reminds me too much of the e-mails I sent to them and others about their coverage of Enemy at the Gates and their personal feelings that the two sharpshooters had it out in Stalingrad, what a farce !! I only watch the history channel now for the photo coverage and many times mute the speakers.

2 cents out the door

E

 

I feel the same way that you do my friend...... I think it was last night or late Saturday night that the History Channel had a doc in color on a group of fighter pilots flying Thunderbolt fighters. I watched some of it through blurry eyes but was too tired to stay up to watch it all.

 

I got introuble because I threw stuff at the tv when I got angry at some of the things Ambrose said. Dam him, not only is what hes says crap, but he got me grounded. I have read so many accounts of german commanders acting independently in battle, for him to cut down the germans like that really ticked me off. From what I've read of his books and listened to him say, it seems he is not very objective towards boths sides during the war. Plus during the D-day stuff on the history channel they called the stug III the panzer IV. Also some icing on the cake was how they refered to Rommel as wanting to fight a ww1 style battle and not being up to date with mobile warfare. The only good thing during the episode was the film with the panzers and the fighting, I've could've done better narrating it.

On a lighter note I got to see a panzerfaust up close for the first time on saturday. I never realized how heavy they were.

 

I would love to see that jerko tell that to Rommels face. Rommel--not up to date on mobile warfare? OHMIGOD!!!! One has to wonder how Rommel, with almost no supplies--managed to first--kick some butt, make holding actions etc, and last as long as the DAK did--using his "ww1" mentality.

I hope nobody here has spent any money on that jerks trashy books--what a waste of your money and fine trees.

You guessed it correctly--he does not give both sides the equality in his books. I personally know German Officers who also led successful small unit actions. I am good friends with an Artillery Leutnant who on the Eastern Front--when his guns were out of ammo, he and his men sucessfully destroyed a platoon of T-34s with multicharge stickgrenades and Panzerfausts.

I think I will inform Bernard of this, so he can use it as another reference at his next speech with the historical group he is in.

 

So, i guess we can all agree that Ambrose is the type of author we should recommend to our kids for a fine and accurate view of history.

 

Dear Bish--yep. Unfortunately--too many people have bought his useless trash. I looked at maybe 2 of his books and saw they were garbage. At that time fortunately--I had other main interests--like anything to do with the Eastern Front and the Battle of Stalingrad, and collecting uniforms and insignia--that I couldnt buy his junk books if I were so inclined. Welllll, maybe I could get a book, but--I found others much more better to spend my money on.

 

I know all authors make errors. Going through soem of my books i've picked up some real good ones, especially captions to photos. The number of Pz IVs refered to as Tigers is unreal. But from all i've heard about this guy, he tops the lot. He does not just make errors, he seems to peddal himself as the No 1 expert, and resuses to admit when there is something he does not know. In my view, the sign of a person who really knows his subject is not that he knows it all, but can admitt whne he does not know something, but he knows how to find the answer.

 

Guys :

I think Ambrose has tried to copy an Ernie Pyle type of style, and that of first person accounts. In this day and age of interested historians and enthusiaists an author needs to report both sides of the story. It just makes sense as the readership of this day is much more in tune with history not as it was some 55 plus years ago. We can go literally almost anywhere we want by using the computer. It used to be just the library or if you were fortunate enough to be part of a vets organization or knew vets personally then you were in luck. My gosh the computer age has opend so many doors just the last 5 years it is incredible. So when we consider what Mr. Ambrose has done we must look to see if his works have filled a gap......a gap to what I do not know. Sloppy reporting for sure and not giving the other sides accounts for sure........but heck aren't the Allies always the winners anyway ? ! and who needs to know about the bad guys.....

bbbbbbbllllllllllllllllttttttttt...........

enough of this thread for me

E