Discussions on WWII

Ost front

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 23:35:09 GMT

German Death Cards Pictures

Wed, 09 Jul 2008 23:35:36 GMT

Hi Folks,

If you are interested I will be posting thousands of death card photos of Iron Cross winners on the website:

www.ironcross.org

Periods will include WWI, WWII

Branches will include Waffen SS, Luftwaffe, Heer, Kriegmarine and more branches.

If you have any real photos of Iron Cross winner please post them too !

Thanks,

shopbags

huge albums of WWII rare photos

Thu, 22 May 2008 22:05:19 GMT

see this albums about german on the ost front, very interesting : tons of rare photos

WWII Naval Combat

Sun, 04 May 2008 18:32:43 GMT

Another nutty hobby influenced directly by WWII.

http://gizmodo.com/386883/maker-faire-remote-controlled-battleships-fighting-with-bb-gun-cannons

A friend had sent me this link, attempting to surprise me with something I had never heard of. "That's funny," I informed him, that I had done research on this stuff about two or three years ago. It's big in the midwest and Texas, but nothing much here in the Pacific Northwest. It's pretty big in Australia I guess.

Seems they do just random engagements, rather than attempt to have actual historic battles like Jutland, or Iron Bottom Sound. But still interesting none the less.

Here are some related links.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Model_warship_combat
http://www.rcnavalcombat.com/rcnavalcombat/
http://www.westernwarshipcombat.com/

British Soldier's Song

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 20:43:17 GMT

I uploaded this for my professor, but I figured I'd share. It's a German propaganda song set to the tune of "Onward Christian Soldiers"

Download: http://www.sendspace.com/file/77h3ju

Onward conscript army
You have naught to fear
Isaac Hore-Belisha
Will lead you from the rear
Clad by Monty Burton
Fed on Lyon’s pies
Fight for Yiddish conquests
While the Britons die
Onward conscript army
Marching on to war
Fight and die for Jewry
As we did before

You must die for Poland
Pay your debt of thanks
To your benefactors:
International banks
To place against the Germans
Beneath the Jewish star
Onward toward the shambles
Good cattle that you are
Who but Europe’s Jewry
Would finance war again?
Forward for the slaughter
For the Hebrews game

Driven toward the shambles
Like a flock of sheep
By lying propaganda
By their plans laid deep
So for Israel Moses Sieff
You must fight and die
That Marks and Spencer’s neon signs
May still light up our sky

Forward on to Poland
10 million men shall fall
that Judah’s reign of terror
May hold us all in thrall

ATLANTIKWALL - the largest BUNKER ARCHEO website

Mon, 14 Apr 2008 13:22:09 GMT

This is the most interesting and well informed website about the westwall in France and Europe, with photos, posts and informations given by great specialists of german Blockhaus, TODT buildings and lines defenses made by the german in France. This website is lead by great specialists among whom you can find Alain Chazette who has writen one of the best books about german bunkers in France :

(direct link to the forum by clicking the picture)
Register and you will find weirdies german souvenirs in France

Sherman at Biville (France)

Mon, 14 Apr 2008 10:37:57 GMT

Here in Biville, near Cherbourg, on the normandy coast are still lying some old destroyed sgherman, one half track, a M8 armored car and a french Panhard tank.
They were used as target for french army and since the ground has been let by the army, they remain there. It is now rare to see such tank in situ

Have an eye on this excellent website where you can see all the link to the topic :
http://aviation-ancienne.forumactif.com/photos-personnelles-f47/champ-de-tir-de-biville-t3498.htm

For the Tread-Heads..

Wed, 02 Apr 2008 22:48:12 GMT

Herr Moderator- Please flag this if you feel it doesn't fit the community.

This made me smile.

http://gizmodo.com/375333/guy-builds-nazi-tiger-tank-invades-michigan

heavy german tanks (3)

Tue, 01 Apr 2008 14:12:22 GMT

heavy tank plans

heavy tank photo simulation

model of the tiger III maus

Gebirgsjager in Caucasus (Nov 1942)

Tue, 01 Apr 2008 13:09:29 GMT

Начало советского контрнаступления под Сталинградом (Военно-историческая реконструкция - 2007)

Mon, 11 Feb 2008 20:30:43 GMT

Начало советского контрнаступления под Сталинградом

Год выпуска: 2007
Страна: Россия
Жанр: Военно-историческая реконструкция
Продолжительность: 0:30:35
Перевод: Не требуется
Режиссер: Донской музей

В ролях: В реконструкции приняли участие более 200 членов военно-исторических клубов из Волгограда, Ростова-на-Дону, Москвы, Пятигорска, Керчи, Екатеринбурга и других городов.

Описание: В Волгограде, 18 ноября 2007 года, в пойме реки Царица состоялась военно-историческая реконструкция "Начало советского контрнаступления под Сталинградом". В реконструкции учавствовали военно-исторические клубы: "Пехотинец" из города Волгограда, клубы из городов Москва и Ростова-на-Дону.

(c) http://metallsearch.ru

Доп. информация: Впервые местом проведения такого театрализованного представления выбрана пойма реки Царица, практически в центре города-героя. В реконструкции приняли участие более 200 членов военно-исторических клубов из Волгограда, Ростова-на-Дону, Москвы, Пятигорска, Керчи, Екатеринбурга и других городов. Зрители увидели оборонительные бои за город, клятву красноармейцев у красного знамени, прибытие эшелонов из тыла, исход беженцев, разведку немецкой армии, танковые атаки, рукопашный бой и пленение немцев. Форма красноармейцев и солдат вермахта, их оружие воссозданы почти с музейной точностью. На поле боя можно было увидеть немецкую противотанковую пушку, советские минометы, немецкий "Опель" (он же - отечественный "Москвич"). Волгоградский клуб "Пехотинец" пытался собрать немецкий танк Т-1, но пока он лишь изображает подбитую военную технику. Зато Донской военно-исторический музей, где директором Иван Стреляев, привез мотоциклы, спаренную зенитную установку на автомобиле "Штеер" и два немецких танка. Танк Т-2 создан, как рассказывают "народным умельцем" на базе гусеничного транспортера ГАЗ-71, танк Т-3 воспроизведен в заводских условиях из отечественной БМП. Бронеавтомобиль БА-64, который таскал противотанковую пушку-"сорокапятку", восстановлен ростовчанами. От 20-й гвардейской мотострелковой дивизии в реконструкции участвовала батарея 76-миллиметровых дивизионных пушек ЗИС-3, наверняка участвовавших в боях Великой Отечественной войны. Наступала Красная армия с танком Т-34 - одним из тех, что стоят перед музеем-панорамой "Сталинградская битва". Завести сумели только один танк - у второго, как говорят, разморожен двигатель. Завершилась реконструкция не только победой, но и массовым братанием участников представления с волгоградцами.

(c) http://news.vdv-s.ru

URL: http://dimmus.com/video/STALINGRAD_2007.wmv && http://torrents.ru/forum/viewtopic.php?t=659585

Hello and a post of mine,

Tue, 29 Jan 2008 16:46:33 GMT

Hello to all here. Just found this group and my first post here.
I have always had an interest in history and WWII however recent family documents have lead me to a MUCH greater understanding of the events and stories of the War. I have gone from being passively educated to massively educated and growing more all along. Wanted to post a link that to an entry I put up on my personal page about family involvement in the War and my own personal odyssey to learn more. My wife's grandfather served in the Aleutians and spent a big chunk of the action in a Russian Internment camp. Uncles on both sides of her family were killed in the Philippines during Leyte Gulf operations. Anyway, here is the entry and thanks to all who post here. I will most likely be a lurker and reading alot or your information.

http://wildwose.livejournal.com/17658.html

first step of the german tv in 1943 in Paris

Tue, 15 Jan 2008 22:21:23 GMT

FERNSEHESENDER PARIS :
the German have settled a tv in PAris in september 1943.The tvwaves were sent for the top of the Eiffel tower, as today they still are. here is an excellent article about that :
"Four years later, towards the end of 1942, British Intelligence sources were considerably puzzled by strange and unintelligible radio signals that had been reported. After investigation they established beyond doubt that some form of television waveform was originating from the Continent, and direction-finding tests pinpointed the source as Paris or a point in direct line between Paris and London. There was no clue as to what purpose the transmissions were serving. It was impossible, surely, that the Germans, short as they were of skilled men, had put the French television service into commission as an entertainment? This was all the more unlikely because very few receivers existed even when the French were running the service in 1939. It was possible that the enemy, falsely relying on the supposed security afforded by the limited range at which it is possible to resolve a picture-a very different problem from receiving and photographing a waveform-were using the service for some military purpose. There was no immediate answer to the problem". (link of the webpage here http://www.earlytelevision.org/raf.html)
250 tv were available. First this tv was only made for german troops leisure, in hospital etc...and was available only 3 hours a day.
It stopped when Paris was freed by the allied in 1944 august the 12.

heavy tanks wwII-

Tue, 15 Jan 2008 18:08:06 GMT

interesting webpage about the heavy +1.000 tons Panzer:

Schwere Minenraümer

Tue, 15 Jan 2008 17:53:34 GMT

I thought I knew all the type of panzer of the WWII, but discovered this one which is a Minesweeper armored tank, weird and heavy, which was used on the Ostfront. Don't know how many were built, don't know if the german used it from another tank or polish factory, here is the monster...

Last weekend

Tue, 06 Nov 2007 19:49:51 GMT

We reenacted a D-Day+2 scenario,
Lots of tanks, and tons of fun.
Also a huge dinner for my promotion to unit Leutenant.

Pictures here

and a great slide show with audio here

all images by ebolagrande

Crossposted
ww2,wwiireenacting,reenacting,sokkmonkey

NKVD

Sat, 03 Nov 2007 20:46:07 GMT

I need some information; specifically, links to accredited research projects of sorts. I'm looking for information on the effect of the NKVD upon the common Soviet front-line soldier for a paper I'm writing. The entire paper eventually comes down to a look at post-Leninist communism during WWII to the common soldier, but a huge part should be (I think, at least) the role that the NKVD played. Any information at all would be helpful, thanks in advance!

Google Video: "Brits who fought for Hitler"

Wed, 24 Oct 2007 14:20:45 GMT

The Brits Who Fought For Hitler: The Britisches Freikorps unit of the Waffen SS served alongside the Nazis on the Eastern Front. Its members wore the death’s head insignia and took German rank. They helped defend Berlin even as Hitler retreated to his bunker. But each and every member was recruited from British, Canadian, Australian and South African soldiers who volunteered to betray their country.

Hope you are all doing well

Japan has quit

Fri, 12 Oct 2007 19:25:02 GMT

I thought some of you might be interested in this. I found it at an antique shop somewhere in north Texas. This is something I've been looking for for a long time now. It's dated August 15, 1945. (sorry about the bad picture, but all I have right now is a cell-phone camera)

This is a special find for me because my grandpa Alva Rose served during the war. He was on his way to take part in the ground invasion of the Japanese homeland. Luckily he only had to serve during the occupation due to Japan's surrender. He most likely would've been killed if an invasion would've occurred, and as weird as it is to say, my Dad and I might not be here today if not for the atomic bombs that ended the war. I live in my Grandpa's old house here in Oklahoma, and I hung this newspaper in his garage where he used to hang out all the time. I think he would appreciate it. This newspaper's headline means that my Grandpa is headed home soon!!

A couple of side notes: This is my first post here, I have been interested in World War 2 for about ten years now. I also thought the recent war documentary that aired on PBS was excellent.

Fri, 12 Oct 2007 16:26:16 GMT

A German U-Boat lost at sea 2, May 1945 has been found in Danish waters.

http://uboat.net/announce.html?story=60

And info about the boat: http://uboat.net/boats/u2359.htm

And the boat under attack: http://news.webshots.com/photo/1026781307033241453Ftzipawqyk

Story of USS Arizona survivor

Mon, 01 Oct 2007 07:29:55 GMT

As usual, there was a warm breeze that Sunday morning. We had just finished breakfast and drifted out of the compartment to get a little air. This was our normal routine on weekends as we had no work station to report to. It was fortunate for us that we were able to sleep in until 6:30 as many of us had been out the night before. Just as we left the mess area we heard this noise. We went outside to take a look because it's usually very quiet. When we arrived we could hear and see there were airplanes. I looked across the bow of the ship and could see large plumes of smoke coming up from Ford Island. At first, we didn't realize it was a bombing. It didn't mean anything to us until a large group of planes came near the ship and we could see for the first time the rising sun emblem on the plane wings. The bombing was becoming heavier all around us and we knew this was REALLY IT! At first there was a rush of fear, the blood started to flow real fast. It was then that general quarters sounded over the speaker and everything became automatic. My battle station was on a forward 5 inch gun and it was standard practice to keep only a limited amount of ammunition at the guns. There was only one ready gun crew on each side and mine wasn't one of them. There we were, the Japanese dropping bombs over us and we had no ammo. All the training and practicing for a year and when the real thing came we had no ammunition where we needed it. As unfortunate as this was, that simple fact was to save my life. Somehow the gun captain pointed at me and said, "you go aft and start bringing up the ammunition out of the magazines". The aft magazines were five decks below.

A few moments later I found myself deep below the water line in a part of the ship I normally would never be in. I remember getting these cases of ammo powder and shells weighing about 90 pounds each. I had begun lifting shells into the hoist when a deafening roar filled the room and the entire ship shuddered. It was the forward magazine. One and a half million pounds of gun powder exploding in a massive fireball disintegrating the whole forward part of the ship. Only moments before I stood with my gun crew just a few feet from the center of the explosion. Admiral Kidd, Captain Van Velkenburg, my whole gun crew was killed. Everyone on top.

Seconds after the explosion the lights went out and it was pitch black. Almost immediately a thick acrid smoke filled the magazine locker and the metal walls began to get hot. In the dark and not being able to breath, we made our way to the door hatch, only to find it shut and locked. Somehow we were able to open the hatch and start to make our way up the ladder. I was nauseated by the smell of burning flesh, which turned out to be my own as I climbed up the hot ladder. A quick glance around revealed nothing in the darkness, but the moaning and sounds of falling bodies told me that some of my shipmates had succumbed to defeat and had died in their attempt to survive.

Getting through that choking kind of smoke was a real ordeal, the kind of smoke that really hurt your lungs. After awhile I began to get weak and lightheaded. I could feel myself losing the battle to save my own life. I hung to the ladder, feeling good. I felt that it was all right for me to let go. At that moment I looked up and could see a small point of light thru the smoke. It gave me the strength to go on. After what seemed to me like an eternity, I reached the deck gasping and choking. I laid down for a few moments. The warm Hawaiian air filled my lungs and cleared my head. I glanced over to the forward end of the ship to see nothing but a giant wall of flame and smoke.

Behind me, a marine lay dead on the deck, his body split in two. I began to realize there were dead men all around me. Some men were burning, wandering aimlessly. The sound of someone shouting "put out the fire" cut through the sound of the battle, but it was obvious the ship was doomed. I made my way to the side of the ship, which by this time was sinking fast and jumped off the fantail. The shoreline of Ford Island was only a short distance. There was burning oil all around the ship, but the aft was clear. After swimming to shore, I was taken to the naval air station. Every table in the mess hall had a man on it. After the attack was over, many of the battleship sailors, myself included, were taken to the USS TENNESSEE. I was there for one week and then transferred to the USS LEXINGTON and an appointment with a place called the Coral Sea.

by George D. Phraner

George Phraner served aboard USS ARIZONA, USS LEXINGTON, and USS NASSAU. Medals include the American Defense with star, Asiatic-Pacific with four stars, American Area, Victory, and Good Conduct.

George-Dewey Phraner, Jr. passed away on September 7, 2001. He was intered into Turret #4 aboard the USS Arizona on December 7, 2001.

http://www.ussarizona.org/survivors/phraner/index.html

The War by Ken Burns...

Wed, 26 Sep 2007 20:52:25 GMT

Sorry for any cross-posting, but has anybody else been watching the premier of Ken Burns's new documentary film, The War?

I can't recommend it highly enough! He's done an amazing job once again, finding a way to make sense and give a personal scope to something that was so mind-bogglingly enormous and horrible. Rather than try to cover everything (which is basically impossible), he chose to focus on four towns in America (Sacramento, CA; Mobile, AL; Waterbury, CT; and Luverne, MN) and how the war affected the people there. He also occasionally will focus on the timeline of events or specific battles as the war progressed, but almost always in relation to people from those towns who were peronally involved. He also touches on many of the more controversial events and developments of the war on the Home Front, from the Japanese-American internment camps (and likewise the volunteer segregated Japanese-American combat units), to the Jim Crow military and race riots in factories, to the decision in 1943 to show the Americans at home real photos and films of combat and American casualties.

What really makes this particular film stand out from all his others (The Civil War, The West, Baseball, etc.) is that most of the personal stories are told by those who actually witnessed or experienced the events, rather than just actors reading, and there's lots of family photos and movies, as well as tons of solid combat footage, some of which I've never seen before (and I've seen alot).

That's only so far with three episodes. It will continue airing the rest of this week on your local public television stations, and the DVDs are already available (but pricey!). I think Netflix would be a perfect option to watch it if you've missed it.

Walther WENCK

Thu, 30 Aug 2007 00:40:52 GMT

I've recently discovered that Walther WENCK, the younguest General in the Werhmacht, was a close relative in my wife's family. I was so curious about his history as I knew perfectly that he took part in the last days of the IIIrd Reich's defense.
He was leading the 12th german army and decided to join the west side to surrender to the american on the Elbe instead of being kept prisonner by the Soviet Army.
He helped many cilivians refugees fleeing to the west and gave them food.
As Hitler asked him to save Berlin from the russian encirclement, he suprised the russian form the south west but failed in Potsdam. He has then opened a corridor to the 9th Army in order to save most of germans. He crossed the ELbe and faced death from the russian snippers during the crossing. He died in 1982 in a car accident.
I hope I could find more of his personnal history as some of his family are still in live in Berlin.

A naive question

Sat, 04 Aug 2007 21:45:00 GMT

Let's say, if the Allies had lost on the Western Front in World War 2, would the Nazis be able to hold Germany/Italy/France to themsleves under some sort of a peace accord, so that the Russians would get Eastern Europe without moving any further?

This seems plausible, because Soviet Union was exhausted fighting the war all by itself, and if the Allies didn't fight in Western Europe, Russians might have stopped on the German border not being able to move any further and sign some peace treaty or something.

I am trying to understand what the odds were for Germany/Soviet Union at the time.

If anyone could educate me on that, please?

Alright, I'm going out on a bit of a limb here.

Fri, 06 Jul 2007 05:28:52 GMT

I checked the Userinfo page, and didn't see anything saying whether subject-related fiction was allowed or not, so I'm going to share a snippet of a story that I'm working on. I hope it's allowed :/ Brief explanation of the plot at the bottom of the page, also beneath the cut.

Once again, dreams of home and of far-away comrades were interrupted by the thundering drone of the Luftwaffe passing overhead, and Flannery woke from her fitful sleep. Realizing that she had kicked her dingy old blanket away at some point in the night, she wrapped it tightly around her thin shoulders in an attempt to ward off the cold. Winter here, she realized, was going to be hell.

The only light came from the feeble glow radiating from the lamp on Hauptmann Wilhelm's desk; the world outside looked completely dark. She guessed there were still several hours before dawn, and lay quietly back against the uncomfortable mat serving as her bed, hoping that the squadron flying overhead would fade into the distance so she could go back to sleep. The walls creaked and shuddered as one of the German planes rumbled closer overhead than the others, and after tossing and turning for some time, the redhead decided to give up on sleep for now. She liked sleeping because, in her dreams, she could pretend for a moment that she was home in Brooklyn with her family. More frequently, she would dream about the field hospital and all the soldiers she had met there, those who lived and those who died....and then she would wake, often to the sound of planes overhead or artillery fire, and remember that she was a prisoner of war, that her fate was now in the hands of a few soldiers of a country that seemed hell-bent on destroying the world as they knew it.

She stared at the ceiling for a long while, immersed in thoughts of home and listening to the quiet scratching sounds of a pen on paper. There was a squeak as Wilhelm shifted in his chair, and then a long, weary sigh. Flannery knew that sound, she heard it night after night. He was writing a letter to the family of a lost soldier, informing them of the death of a son, a husband, or a father...She almost felt sorry for him. He may have been a high ranking officer of the Wehrmacht, and he may have been holding her prisoner, but when it came down to it, he seemed to have a degree of humanity about him that she hadn't really expected. He cared about his men, he cared about his home, and he cared about his family.

After a long period of silence, during which Flannery realized that the Luftwaffe had gone at last, the Hauptmann spoke. "You should go back to sleep." he said, quietly setting his pen down and taking a sip of coffee, which had long since gone cold.

"So should you." she muttered, shifting on her mat to mask her surprise at the fact that he knew she was awake.

"I have things to do. You don't." he replied, curtly. "Enjoy the rest while you can." Silence again fell over them, and she closed her eyes and waited, but still sleep would not come. She shifted onto her side and watched him write; he would pause every once in a while as if lost in thought, occasionally rub sleep out of his eyes and then continue. After some time, he folded the letter and placed it in an envelope that he had already addressed, and sealed it before slumping back in his chair with another soft creak. He sighed again and rubbed his eyes, then finally stood.

She watched as his feet passed out of her line of sight, and then closed her eyes again. After a moment, she felt a slight extra weight fall across her shoulders, and she opened her eyes to find that he had draped his blanket over her. "Look outside." he murmured softly, and she glanced up to see the a few scattered snowflakes drifting past the window. "It looks pretty now, doesn't it?" he chuckled, settling onto the bed above her and turning out the light. "You won't think so by the month's end."

"It snows in America, too." she whispered, drawing the blankets more tightly around herself.

"America...after the war, I think I'd like to see it. There's nothing left for me in Berlin, now that my family is all dead...maybe I can start over when I get there. Maybe I can forget."

“I don’t think anyone will be able to forget.” Flannery replied, gently. “I won’t. Since I’ve gotten here, the face of every soldier I’ve saved, and especially every soldier I haven’t, their faces have all been etched into my memory, and I think that’s how it’s supposed to be. Someone has to remember. You should move on if you can, but never forget.”

“Maybe you’re right. But…for now, we shouldn’t worry about it. Get your rest; it’s been a long week.”

Flannery nodded, and nothing more was said. She didn’t know how long she lay awake after that, but the last thing she remembered before finally returning to her sleep was the sight of the first snow of the year drifting serenely past the window, and the calm sound of Wilhelm’s steady breathing.

Ok, really quick explanation:

Flannery is an American girl (a medic at a field hospital) who's been captured by the Wehrmacht during WWII. I don't have it written out how she got there, yet...that comes in an earlier chapter that I have in my head, but not on paper.

Wilhelm is the hauptmann (captain) who's in charge of the division that captured her. He doesn't believe in killing women or children, so she's still alive.

I do realize that in reality, she would have probably been a nurse at best, and not an actual medic. She's not a combat medic anyway, she was working at a field hospital far back from the front lines. Anyway yes, it is fiction, I'm just having fun with it.

Let me know what you think!

(also posted on my DeviantART page.)