Lesser known details of WW2 part four

GI

term used throughout WW2 in referring to nearly anything related to the US Army. It was generally understood to stand for Government Issue, but actually began when supply clerks listed garbage cans as GI for galvanized iron.

( maybe many over here know this but I did not... )

 

These are interesting statistics. I am interested in the 41 executed by the allies. I wonder if there is a list of these and reasons behind the executions. I would guess as a result of war crimes tribunal.

 

These are interesting statistics. I am interested in the 41 executed by the allies. I wonder if there is a list of these and reasons behind the executions. I would guess as a result of war crimes tribunal.

 

Aha! Found something

http://www.ess.uwe.ac.uk/WCC/warcrimgenrls.htm

seems like all of the German Generals tried by the Russians were executed.

 

General Anton Dossler was executed by Americans in 1945 for ordering the execution of American Rangers in Italy in 1944. After the Battle did a full feature on it several years ago in issue 94 www.afterthebattle.com/ab-con1.html

 

Unity Mitford's retreat on the Isle of Mull
The House with the Nazi flag-
http://heritage.scotsman.com/places.cfm?id=446552005

 

Sergeant John Hannah

http://members.iinet.net.au/~tcosgrove/vcross.html

"On 15/16 September 1940 a Hampden of 83 Squadron, piloted by a Canadian Pilot Officer C. A. Connor, was attacking barges in Antwerp. As Connor came in and bombed on his second run, at 2,000 feet, his aircraft was violently struck. Shells hit the bomb bay, the tail boom, the wing petrol tanks, and in an instant the rear interior was aflame. Quickly the aluminium floor then melted, leaving a large hole through which the rear-gunner had no option but to bale out. Sent back to see what was happening, the navigator from up front found himself unable to open the dividing door, saw that the gunner was gone and that the wireless operator, Sergeant John Hannah, was apparently on fire, and baled out too, expecting his pilot to follow. But Hannah, a determined Scot not yet nineteen years old, was able to smother the flames around him. Despite the fact that the stored ammunition was now bursting from the heat, he forced the jammed door open, grabbed an extinguisher and started to put out the remaining fires, beating at the last with his logbook when the second extinguisher went out.

Though burnt on the hands and face he then crawled forward to help the pilot, passing him maps and the navigator's log. With both wing tanks holed, Connor brought the aircraft back and made a successful landing. Sergeant Hannah was awarded the VC for gallantry, determination and devotion to duty. Unhappily, these two men did not survive for long. Connor, who received the DFC, was killed only a few weeks later; Hannah, the youngest airman ever to be awarded the VC, went on to instructional duties but never really recovered his health. He was invalided out in 1942 and died soon after the war, still in his twenties and leaving a widow and three young daughters."

 

That reminded me of the story about Sgt. James Ward, a co-pilot on a Wellington of 75 squadron. On July 7, 1941 his aircraft was attacked by a Me-110 and the wing was set on fire over the North Sea. He crawed out onto the wing and put the fire out using a canvas cockpit cover. He was tied to a rope but it was still dangerous. He got the Victoria Cross also and also was lost on operations within two months of getting the Cross. He was from New Zealand.

The pilot got the Distinguished Flying Cross and the rear gunner got the Distinguished Flying Medal.

 

Andrew Higgins and his landing craft

General Dwight Eisenhower is quoted as saying, "Andrew Higgins ... is the man who won the war for us. ... If Higgins had not designed and built those LCVPs, we never could have landed over an open beach. The whole strategy of the war would have been different."

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/ship/lc.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Higgins

 

From Danny parker " To win the winter sky"

Assessment shows that only eight of Germany´s 107 aces with more than 100 kills joined the Luftwaffe after summer 1942...

 

Field Marshal Lord Alanbrooke
War Diaries 1939-1945

http://www.ucpress.edu/books/pages/9716.html


Alanbrooke on Churchill

"He knows no details, has only got half the picture in his mind, talks absurdities... And the wonderful thing is that 3/4 of the population of the world imagine that Winston Churchill is one of the great Strategists of History...Without him England was lost for certainty, with him England has been on the verge of disaster time and time again."

Churchill on Alanbrooke:

"I thump the table and push my face towards him, what does he do? Thumps the table harder and glares back at me."

Alanbrooke on Eisenhower:

"I am afraid that Eisenhower as a general is hopeless! He submerges himself in politics and neglects his military duties, partly, I am afraid, because he knows little if anything about military matters."

Alanbrooke on Stalin:

"He has got an unpleasantly cold, crafty, dead face and whenever I look at him I can imagine his sending people off to their doom without even turning a hair."

 

Nazi camps and numbers

A practice was established to tattoo the inmate identifiction numbers. This was originated in the following way: In Auschwitz, the camp numbers were initially sewn on the clothes. With the increased death rate it became difficult to identify corpses, since clothes were removed from corpses. Therefore the medical personnel started to write the numbers on the corpses' chests with indelible ink. Difficulties increased in 1941 when Soviet POWs came in masses, and the first several thousand of tattoos was applied to them. This was done with a special stamp with the numbers to be tattooed composed of needles. The tattoo was applied to the upper left part of the breast. In March 1942, the same method was used in Birkenau.

The tattoo was the prisoner's camp number, sometimes augmented with a special symbol: some Jews with a triangle, Roma with letter "Z" (from German Zigeuner for "Gypsy"). In May 1944 the Jews received letters "A" or "B" to indicate particular series of numbers.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Identification_in_Nazi_camps

 

POW Jargon

Slang of the Americans held by the Germans

Appell- Roll call held to count the prisoners

Ferrets- Germans who wandered through the compound to catch prisoners in escape attempts

Goons - Name given to the Germans and also anything associated with them

Goon skins- Fake German uniforms made by the prisoners

Penguins- Prisoners who dispersed dirt and sand from tunnels

Stooges - Prisoners who kept an alert eye for Germans and warned other prisoners

 

Found an old story that was quite interesting. Especially if it had taken place...

IN 1941-42 the United States intended that France, together with soon-to-be defeated Italy, Germany and Japan, was to be part of a protectorate run by the Allied Military Government of the Occupied Territories (Amgot). According to the agreement of November 1942 between Admiral Jean-François Darlan and US General Mark Clark, which secured France's commitment to the Allied cause, Amgot would have abolished its national sovereignty, including its right to issue currency.

Some US historians believe this plan stemmed from President Franklin D Roosevelt's antipathy towards Charles de Gaulle. Roosevelt saw him as a dictator-in-training and sought to prevent him from ruling post-Pétain.

http://mondediplo.com/2003/05/05lacroix

Ooops!!!!!!!

 

I think this forgotten aspect is in fact something essential in Franco-Amercian relations. I don't think Amgot would have worked , but the fact that Roosevelt even thought about, it explains a lot post war relations between both countries and De Gaulle's attitude. (particulary the 1966 episode). Thank you for bringing this up. Just as a matter of coincidence: I found some U.S. 1944 occupation bills at a flee market this morning, I didn't buy them (15 euro each..) , they are interesting material though.

 

On June 25, 1943, the 100 BG flew its first combat mission for Eighth Air Force against the submarine yards at Bremen, Germany -- the beginning of the "Bloody Hundredth"’s legacy. The group inherited the "Bloody Hundredth" nickname from other bomb groups due to the amount of losses it took. Although the 100 BG’s losses were no more than any other units’ at the war’s end, the group experienced several instances where it lost a dozen or more aircraft on a single mission, whereas most units suffered losses in consistent small amounts.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/100th_Air_Refueling_Wing

 

Remember General Weidling for example from the Downfall movie:

On 22 April, German dictator Adolf Hitler ordered that Weidling be executed by firing squad. Hitler believed that, as commander of the LVI Panzer Corps, Weidling had ordered his corps to retreat from the advancing Soviet forces. Ordering a retreat would be in defiance of Hitler's standing orders to the contrary. As such, Weidling's actions required a death sentence. But, there turned out to be a misunderstanding and the situation was cleared up before Weidling's execution took place.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helmuth_Weidling

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From Tony Le Tissier " Slaughter at Halbe "

General Weidling told that General Busse had threatened to have him shot if he failed to link up with the 9th Army, and that Hitler threatened him with the same fate if he did not go to the defence of the city...

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Interesting days those...

 

While resting at the South Carolina retreat of Bernard Baruch, FDR developed severe abdominal pains on April 28, 1944, diagnosed as acute cholescyctitis. He was treated with parenteral codeine. The pain subsided by May 1, but recurred the next day. He was again treated with codeine, and after two days became asymptomatic.

FDR returned to Washington and had a cholecystogram on May 26. Dr. McIntire, an otolaryngologist, interpreted it as a normal study. Dr. Bruenn, a cardiologist, said it showed a well-functioning gallbladder, but had evidence of a group of cholesterol stones. Bruenn, therefore, put FDR on a low-fat diet. Oddly, no surgeon was asked to review the study.

http://www.doctorzebra.com/prez/g32.htm

 

Fighter Command, and especially its head, Air Chief Marshal Dowding, had no faith in close range attacks. The recommended range for opening fire was 400 yards. At a meeting of the Gun Sub-Committee at Air Ministry on 5 July 1939, Dowding insisted that " it was by no means axiomatic that the closer they ( the fighters ) got to the bomber the more bullets would hit it". When the Battle began, the eight guns of a Spitfire or a Hurricane had the
" Dowding Spread ": they were harmonized ( focused ) so that the bullets converged at a distance of 400 yards. This was a confession of failure.

The best shots changed their guns to suit their attacks.Men like Sailor Malan, and Al Deere, liked to get in close and make sure of a kill. They re-harmonized at 250 yards, sometimes less.Eventually, Fighter Command agreed.

From Derek Robinson " Invasion, 1940 "

 

Always makes my morning to read parts of ww2 I never knew of keep up the good work!