Tag Archives: WWII

WWII

Pearl Harbor

Pearl Harbor

Pearl Harbor

 

The above map is a section of a map of Pearl Harbor that one of the Japanese pilots carried. If you look close it shows where the ships were expected to be.  Also the designated targets for each Japanese squadron. It is an interesting look at such a seminal historic event. Albeit through a lens different from what we normally see.

Pearl Harbor will always have a special place in our national psyche. The general public had no idea that relations with Japan had degraded so far. Most eyes were focused towards Europe and the rise of Germany. The government, however, knew that Japan was possibly an issue.

Jumping on the bandwagon that we “knew” Pearl Harbor was going to be attacked is sort of silly and actually immaterial. Once Japan invaded China the US took a course of action that made war almost unavoidable. On June 24th, 1941 President Roosevelt froze all Japanese assets in the US. With international cooperation throughout the world, Japan’s access to oil was cut off.  Its current reserves were set to last only about three years, half that if it continued to expand its war machine.

The decision was made by their high command to strike out and take the resources they needed from the Dutch East Indies, but they knew the US would not sit idly by and allow it.  They decided that the best course of action was to attack the US fleet in Pearl Harbor with the goal of landing such a devastating blow that the US would not have time to recover before the resources were secured, and by then the Japanese hoped to secure a peace treaty without fighting the US. They really underestimated the United States, a mistake that many enemies have made over the years.

 

 

Movie Reviews, WWII

Movie Review: Dunkirk

 

Dunkirk (2017) (BD) [Blu-ray]

Dunkirk

In a nutshell, the Battle of Dunkirk was fought in Dunkirk France between May 26 to June 4, 1940.  Ther German army had started their blitzkrieg and pushed the combined French and British armies to the beaches of Dunkirk. Surrounded and on the brink of total defeat over 400,000 allies stared death or capture in the eyes. *Spoiler* In the end, thanks to an incredible civilian effort almost 85% of them would be evacuated to the British Isles.

The movie does what it can to capture the desolation and danger of the allies on that beach. Does it actually do that though? Well yes, in a way. See it uses a very interesting storytelling device. It breaks the saga into three different pieces. First dealt with the troops that were stranded on the beach. The second with the British pilots that were trying to keep the enemy aircraft off the beach. Lastly, the civilians that took part in the evacuation with their personal crafts.

Good device for telling the story and the director, Christopher Nolan, does what he can with his device. The thing is all three phases actually happen at different times. The men were on the beach for a week. The pilots over the beach for an hour. The civilians in their vessels for a day. As such, there are a lot of things happening at once, but many scenes are shown from all three “time angles”. Honestly, where it should have made for a compelling story, it just kind of mished and mashed into incoherency.

Did I like it? Not really. I made it through but don’t remember a lot. None of the cast really stuck out and yes, I know there were some big names there. It was just for a war movie it was sort of blah.

See it if you want. Would I recommend it? Eh. Maybe. was it historically accurate? Check here.

 

 

WWII

The Iron Cross

The Iron Cross

The Iron Cross

 

The Iron Cross is probably one of the most distinctive military decorations that there has ever been.  Beyond just a commendation it also became part of the identity of the German army in the past and into the present.

Its design can be traced back to the Crusades when the King of Jerusalem gave the Teutonic Order permission to combine their solid black cross to the silver Cross of Jerusalem. The first award as a military decoration goes back to 1813 and the Napoleonic Wars. The Prussian King decided that it would best symbolize courage and strength. The decoration would be used again during the Franco-Prussian War, World War I and World War II.

As a symbol of the German Army it was used during World War I and retired at the end of the war. Only to be brought to the fore again by the Nazis in 1939. Sometimes even adorned with the swastika. After the war, it fell out of favor but was reinstated in 1956 by the West Germans. After reunification, it remains the symbol of the German Army today in various forms.

Interestingly enough, the Iron Cross citation was never revived in Germany post WWII. Though they did reissue the awards won during the war without the Nazi symbols attached to them. There has been somewhat of a movement to reinstate the Iron Cross award. In the meantime, though a new award has been put in place at the same level, The Cross of Honor for Bravery.  Which is more reminiscent in design to an older Prussian medal.

WWII

Il Duce Was Here (Mussolini on Display)

Mussolini

Il Duce Was Here (Mussolini on Display)

 

Yes, the epaulets on display here were worn on the uniform of Il Duce himself, Benito Mussolini, dictator of Italy. He was not always a dictator, however.

Through the use of force, intimidation and pure outright politics he climbed to the top of the heap of the Italian fascist movement. In 1922 he reached the very top. In the March on Rome he and 30,000 of his “black shirts” quickly and surprisingly bloodlessly was handed control of the Italian government. On October 28, 1922 King Victor Emmanuel III signed the order making Mussolini the Prime Minister.

Over the course of the next few years he used the democratic system to set himself up as a dictator. Eventually granting the fascist one-party control of the country. Looking to flex his muscle in a world on the brink of war, Mussolini invaded Ethiopia in 1935. What proved to be an opening act in a decade of war. He took the chance to side with Germany as a member of the Axis powers.

Knowing that Italy was not completely prepared for a continental war in 1939 he hoped that Germany would be able to defeat France and England quickly.  His forces would remain focused on North Africa. He was looking for a seat at the victory celebration without a lot of effort.

In 1943 the Allied invasion of Italy sort of blew up his plan. By 1945 he found himself deposed and on the run. Eventually, he was captured and executed by Italian partisans. An ignominious end for Il Duce, but maybe not ill deserved.

 

 

 

 

Word and Phrases, WWII

Wednesday Words & Phrases: Doodlebug

Image result for doodlebug
What a cute little doodlebug!

Doodlebug

The first thing comes to mind is a pet name for a little kid. That is how I always heard it and when I hear it I think, “Awwww…” So that is what I thought it was.

It turns out that doodlebug has been around the American vernacular for a very long time but came to more prominence during WWII. American soldiers stationed in the UK during the war gave the nickname to the German V1 bombs that were being hurled against the British.

Now you may think that based on the word doodle, or “to play about”, that the name was given based on the sometimes erratic patterns the bombs would take to their targets. But no. See the name doodlebug was also given to a type of mini race car that was popular in the 1930’s. As it turns out the V1 in flight sounded a lot like the straight-through exhaust system of the mini-cars. So the name stuck.

 

 

WWII

The Buzz on the V-1 (Not VH1 Totally Different!)

The Buzz on the V-1

The Buzz on the V-1

You now how it is when you read about something and then when you see it in reality you are sort of taken aback? That was the feeling when I came across this V-1 rocket. During WW2 the Germans rained these down on Britain. In all almost 10,000 were produced and fired. Even with only about 25% hitting anything close to a target they were an effective and cheap method of warfare that allowed Germany to harass British soil after the Blitz had been turned back.

Power by a pulse jet engine it made a very distinctive sound and became known as the buzz bomb. The guidance system was sate of the art for the time, weights pendulums and gyroscopes, flight control given by compressed air this “autopilot” system meant all you had to do was point in the general direction and watch it fly. If you were lucky the almost 2000lb payload would hit something important. If not, then just hearing them in the air was enough to rattle the civilians.

An Effective Distraction?

Where the V-1 was most effective was in sapping resources from the allied war effort. Not only did Britain have to concentrate on the methods and tactics of intercepting and defeating them, but almost a quarter of all the strategic bombing missions that the Allies carried out on the mainland centered around the underground bunkers that housed the launch and building facilities in Northern France, Belgium and the Netherlands. On March 29th, 1945 the last V-1 struck British soil and brought the buzz bomb era to an end.

 There were lessons learned from these instruments of terror. In a way we still use these weapons today. Everything from the Tomahawk Cruise Missiles to the drones that current are being used to great effect.
WWII

The Soldiers of Imperial Japan

The Soldiers of Imperial Japan

The Soldiers of Imperial Japan

In 1931 the Imperial Japanese Army numbered just under 200,000 men and officers. It was with this force that they invaded Manchuria under the guise of protecting Japanese owned railroads against Chinese bandit attacks. This eventually blossomed in all out war between China and Japan. That war that lasted until 1945.

Not content to be fighting bandits and the Chinese army, they used their client state in Manchuria as a launching pad into the Soviet Union. Yes,  from 1932 to 1941 the Russians and Japanese were fighting all along the Chinese border. Remember that from the history books? In 1941 the two sides agreed on a non-aggression pact that ended that conflict. There were only a few actual battles. Most of which the Russians won. Very little territory changed hands. Bigger wars were on the horizon for each.

The Men

The men that made up the army were conscripted, given medical examinations and classified with Class 1-A. The highest classification that said the men were fit for duty. There were a total of five classifications. Depending on if the nation was at war or not would depend on what happened to the men after they received their classifications.  It was possible that a full mobilization of the male population would have been serving in the military in some way shape or form.

In 1941 the Imperial Army numbered around 1.7 million troops, most of which would be serving in China with the rest spread out across the Pacific.  By the 1945 the army numbered more than 5.5 million.

The Casualties

As far as casualties suffered during World War Two, approximately 2.5 million killed. Presumed dead and missing totaled around 800,000 and just about 7,500 prisoners of war. Yes, that number is correct and reflects that something in the men behind those numbers. Death was preferable to capture and dishonor.  Let that sink in for a minute when you look at the photo.

One other thing to think about. The last official surrender by an Imperial Japanese soldier occurred in December 1974, almost thirty years after the war ended.

 

WWII

The Prison Door

A Prison Door From Nuremberg

The Blame

The cause for a war is something that usually can not be attributed to one man. When it comes to WWII it would be easy to say that Adolf Hitler took civilization to the brink of destruction. It was his voice that rose above the crowd and took him to power. His desire to punish the enemies of his country. His personality that convinced millions to follow him on the path to war. It was he who decided that anyone that was not part of the “Aryan” race were to be considered subhuman and disposable.

One man alone however can not shoulder the entire blame. While many Germans followed because they didn’t have much choice, many more followed because they agreed with the vision of what Germany should be according to Hitler. When the war ended Hitler was not there to take responsibility for his actions, but many of those who served him were.

The Trial

After the war many of these men, civilian and military, were taken into Allied custody. They would stand trial, though many probably did not deserve it. The German town of Nuremburg would become the place for these trials and there the story of the war gained a new dimension. Some simply said they were following orders and were not responsible for the atrocities. Some argued that they were right for what they did. In total 185 Germans stood trial for their actions during the war. Twelve were sentenced to death. Eight life sentences and seventy-seven prison lengths of various terms.

The Prison Door

While they awaited trial the men remained in the jail located at the Palace of Justice. The door in the photo above is from that prison. The men spent their days in a small cell, fed through a slot in the door and taken back and forth to the proceedings under armed guard. While in their cells each door had a soldier assigned to it. Their job was not to prevent escape, but not in they way you may think.

Rather than being worried that the prisoners would break out and make a run for it, they feared that if left alone the prisoners would take their own life. Like Hitler did. Doing this would mean they would avoid responsibility for the crimes they committed. Even so, six men escaped justice via suicide, including Hermann Göring. The prison door above is a reminder that while one man can not start a war. It stands also as a reminder that sometimes there is justice.

Word and Phrases, WWII

Kilroy Was Here

Kilroy was here

Kilroy Was Here

 

The doodle and phrase seems to be everywhere that US Soldiers have visited throughout the years.  It is really cool to think that something like this went viral before the term going viral even came to be. So who is Kilroy and where does he come from? Now that is an interesting story.

Mr. Chad

The origin of the doodle part, the bald man, big nose, hands looking over a wall, most likely originated in Britain in the early days of WWII. That character, named Mr. Chad, was a response to the rations during the war. His image would appear on walls with a phrase such as “Wot? No tea?” Or whatever was in short supply at the time.  US servicemen stationed in Britain took note of Mr. Chad and took him onto the continent during the invasion of France.

Kilroy

The name Kilroy is a little tougher to nail down. For the most part it is thought that Kilroy wasn’t a real person, just a neat name to go with the image. There is however at least one possibility that makes sense. In 1946 a radio contest tried to find out where the name came and phrase came from. One of the contestants was James J. Kilroy, a steel worker from Massachusetts. During the war his primary job was inspecting tanks and ship hulls.

As Kilroy explained to the ATA:

I started my new job with enthusiasm, carefully surveying every inner bottom and tank before issuing a contract. I was thoroughly upset to find that practically every test leader [the head of a work crew] I met wanted me to go down and look over his job with him, and, when I explained to him that I had already checked the job and could not spare the time to crawl through one of those tanks again, he would accuse me of not having looked the job over.

I was getting sick of being accused of not looking the jobs over and one day as I came through the manhole of a tank I had just surveyed, I angrily marked with yellow crayon on the tank top, where the tester could see it, ‘Kilroy was here.’

The following day, a test gang leader approached me with a grin on his face and said, ‘I see you looked my job over.’ I nodded in agreement.

Kilroy figured that other workers may have seen his mark and took the expression with them when the went in the military. He was able to provide witness and collaboration for the events and won the contest.

Uncle Joe?

That seems like a good enough answer to me.  The best Kilroy story though by far is from the Potsdam Conference in 1945. Churchill, Truman and Stalin were meeting to make their plans for the post war world. During a break Stalin reportedly went into one of the restrooms. When finished he came out asking one of his aids who Kilroy was. Not even Uncle Joe could avoid a visit by Kilroy!

 

WWII

Airborne Assault

Assault From The Sky An American Airborne Trooper Uniform

Airborne Assault

Who would want to jump out of a perfectly good airplane? Well, there were many men who did during WWII. In operations that ranged from the Normandy Invasion to Operation Market Garden to the final jump into Germany the Airborne troops took their life in their hands to end up where there were needed, when they were needed.

101st Airborne Division

The most famous of the airborne troops in the US Army came from the 101st Airborne Division, the Screaming Eagles who first saw battle during the Normandy invasion. Tasked with jumping behind the German line to capture strategic targets in advance of the landings, they were to use a combination of parachute drops and gliders to reach their targets. It did not go well.  The start of their offensive led to the troops ending up widely scattered, sometimes miles from their targets.

That first night they lost almost 1,500 men. But with an incredible fighting spirit and some reinforcements they were eventually able to reach their goals. During the rest of the campaign they would serve as a mobile reserve, filling gaps in the line and relieving other units. As  one of the best units they saw a lot of action. But the heavy losses of men and material took its toll. The spent the summer of 1944 refitting and reinforcing the unit. Called upon several more times to make drops and fill gaps in the lines the 101st would eventually find its place in history at Bastogne where they stood surrounded by the Germans at the Battle of the Bulge.

The Uniform

The uniform in the picture would be an example of the in from these men wore. They were light troops, fast and mobile but often lacked the heavier weapons of regular infantry. But all things considered it was not the weapons that made them the best . It was the warrior nature, the never say die attitude. Whatever drove these men to jump out of perfectly good airplanes, showed itself even more once they hit the ground.