Interesting facts of military history

The German army in WW2 has, generally, failed to produce the type of soldier successful in Partisan or Guerilla operations, the only notable exceptions being General Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck in East Africa or Wassmus in the Middle East. The German military mind had perhaps seen something repugnant in france-tireur operations and in men who fight in such uncenventional operations.

From Panzer elite by James Lucas

In a way I disagree. The Branderburger units and Skorzeny operations? Nothing about them.

 

I think the Germans suffer by comparison here.

The British invested heavily in irregular forces (LRDG, Chindits, etc etc)

All occupied territories had partisan forces to a greater or lesser extent (Yugoslavia and Russia in particular)

On the other hand, I'd say Germany had little need for such forces until about 1945, by which point it was rather too late.

 

I'm not saying the Germans had none, just less than the Allies (and less publicised). And that this was because they had less need.

Skorzeny is the obvious candidate here, but actually I'd say he was very under-utilised. Reading his biography they seemed to have only undertaken a relative handful of missions throughout the war.

Eben Emael was simply a good use of paratroops to capture an objective by surprise, rather than a true irregular warfare. It's not much different to the Allied use of paratroopers in Overlord to seize and hold objectives

Bottom line though, to run a successful guerilla or partisan movement (as opposed to special forces) you need to be operating behind enemy lines but in relatively friendly territory. For the Germans, that doesn't happen until very late in the war. That article might as well have pointed out that Finland was lacking troops specialised in desert warfare

What the Germans did have a lot of practice I was anti-partisan warfare. I bet you could find a lot of resourceful leaders in that field

 

Battle of Warsaw (1920) - Wikipedia

After the Polish Kiev Offensive, Soviet forces launched a successful counterattack in summer 1920, forcing the Polish army to retreat westward in disarray. The Polish forces seemed on the verge of disintegration and observers predicted a decisive Soviet victory.

The Battle of Warsaw was fought from August 12–25, 1920 as Red Army forces commanded by Mikhail Tukhachevsky approached the Polish capital of Warsaw and the nearby Modlin Fortress. On August 16, Polish forces commanded by Józef Piłsudski counterattacked from the south, disrupting the enemy's offensive, forcing the Russian forces into a disorganized withdrawal eastward and behind the Neman River. Estimated Russian losses were 10,000 killed, 500 missing, 30,000 wounded, and 66,000 taken prisoner, compared with Polish losses of some 4,500 killed, 10,000 missing, and 22,000 wounded.

The defeat crippled the Red Army; Vladimir Lenin, the Bolshevik leader, called it "an enormous defeat" for his forces.[3] In the following months, several more Polish follow-up victories secured Poland's independence and led to a peace treaty with Soviet Russia and Soviet Ukraine later that year, securing the Polish state's eastern frontiers until 1939.

The politician and diplomat Edgar Vincent regards this event as one of the most important battles in history on his expanded list of most decisive battles, since the Polish victory over the Soviets halted the spread of communism further westwards into Europe. A Soviet victory, which would have led to the creation of a pro-Soviet Communist Poland, would have put the Soviets directly on the eastern border of Germany, where considerable revolutionary ferment was present at the time.

Why Stalin hated Poles....Here it is...he was losing the Warsaw battle!

Soviet High Command, at Tukhachevski's insistence, ordered the 1st Cavalry Army to march toward Warsaw from the south. Semyon Budyonny did not obey this order due to a grudge between commanding South-Western Front generals Aleksandr Yegorov and Tukhachevski. In addition, the political games of Joseph Stalin at the time the chief political commissar of the South-Western Front, further contributed to Yegorov's and Budyonny's disobedience. Stalin, in search of personal glory, wanted to capture the besieged important industrial centre of Lwów. Ultimately, Budyonny's forces marched on Lwow instead of Warsaw and thus missed the battle.

 

Apparently, over a third of all German troops killed in WW2 ded between January -May 1945

 

For 1945...
Killed, is only about 13% Of total troop deaths. If you then add in missing & POWs, it rises to about 25% of killed, missing & POW of total KIA/MIA/POW totals.

 

Interesting! I might have to write in to that history magazine. Most amusing as they had an article about historical fact-checking in the same issue...

Can I ask what your sources are for casualties? Not doubting your figures, I'd like to have fact to back me up if I do write in!

 

Doing a little digging, I think the article is referencing Rüdiger Overmans, whose research indicated (in very rough terms) that there were ~3.5million deaths up until the end of 1944, then ~1.5million in 1945. If you include those who died in Soviet POW camps, it rises further. Not sure how Volksturm are included in these numbers, presumably they are simply counted as military deaths

 

Overman's figures are not entirely correct - but there are contemporary primary sources:

On May 10, 1945, the Wehrmacht Joint Staff (Army, Waffen-SS and Luftwaffe field units) presented an extrapolation* according to which the Wehrmacht between
1 September 1939 and 31 December 1944 had 3,376,000 casualties (killed, wounded, missing, captured).
For the last 4 months of 1945, this figure rose to an additional 4,617,000.
Of the losses before the last year of the war, 1,757,000 were confirmed as killed in action, while for 1945 the figure was 2,007,000.

In other words, 50% more German soldiers fell in the last 4 months of the war than in the previous 5 years

*source: OKW, WFSt, Org Abt, 10.05.45, Gesamtverluste (NARA RG 242, T 78, Roll 398.)

 

Everybody has a different answer.
German casualties in World War II - Wikipedia

 

One of the plethora of Naval Battles fought around and as part of the Guadalcanal Campaign. With the Wasp sunk and the Enterprise damaged and having to withdraw for repairs from this battle, the US Navy had no, zero, zip, nada, operational fleet carriers in the Pacific! The USS South Dakota took a bomb hit to its number two main battery turret, and only had the use of four of her six forward 16in guns when she was engaged in the second Naval Battle of Guadalcanal two weeks later.
The US Navy was at its finest during this period, Iron men.

 

Didn’t we borrow a couple of RN carriers for a short time during this period?

And why was the USS Ranger not moved to the PTO to help out as well?

 

Enterprise was patched up enough in the forward area to participate in the final battles for Guadalcanal (her captain refused to operate the repaired forward elevator for fear it would get stuck in the down position). When the crisis was over - and Saratoga returned to action - Enterprise was sent home for a much-needed overhaul, and it was at this point that HMS Victorious was briefly assigned to join the USN in the Pacific (we might recall that she had been occupied in Operation Torch in November 1942). She served in the South Pacific from May-July 1943, operating in company with Saratoga. The saw no action; naval activity was mainly cruiser-destroyer battles, and land-based air could support Allied operations in the theater. The carriers conducted an interesting experiment, concentrating attack planes on Sara and fighters on Victorious.

Two factors with Ranger;

She was considered our least effective CV, due to her small size, lack of protection, and low speed, only 29 knots; although our carriers had catapults, they used rolling takeoffs almost exclusively.

There was need for her in the Atlantic; she also was in Torch as the Guadalcanal campaign reached its peak. Before that she had escorted troop convoys, which was considered a priority mission. Later in the war she carried out attacks against German shipping and installations in Norway. She also conducted training and transport duties, not glamorous but nonetheless needed.

 

Our Navy never shone brighter than during the period from Midway through the end of 1943. The Japanese were extremely good sailors with very capable ships, and the world's best torpedo. They came down the slot and inflicted the greatest defeat in US Naval history at Savo Island. The Marines were alone, cut off, short of food and ammunition. The Japanese were determined to exterminate them. The Navy threw everything they had into the fight to help hold onto Guadalcanal. Two of the four US Fleet Carriers lost in the war happened supporting the Guadalcanal Campaign, plus Saratoga was torpedoed and Enterprise badly damaged twice. Five of the seven heavy cruisers lost were in the Solomons. All three light cruisers lost, were in this area as well.
If you want to read something motivating, the story of that fight, with Halsey committing the last two undamaged major naval units in theater to stop the Japanese. This was it, he was all in. Adm. Ching Chong China Lee's four destroyers getting savaged, two ripped apart and sunk, one limping away after losing its bow (sank the next day) and the last hit in the engine room and limping out of the battle. Lee's USS Washington gliding through the still waters of Ironbottom sound, through the survivors and wreckage of the destroyers, the sailors in the water cheering the big battleship on as its crew threw life rings and dropped Carley floats for them. Then tearing the Japanese battleship Kirishima apart with expert gunnery from Washington's 16in guns. Epic stuff.