When I read Richard's description of the five-year dossier of information on Britain as "...a useful travel guide to be handed out to the troops when they landed." It reminded me again to read the little booklet in my Dad's memorabilia called "Germany." It has a maple leaf on the front and the inside cover says "This book has nothing to do with military operations. It deals only with civilian life in Germany and withthe way you should behave to the German civilian population. This book is published in November, 1944, at a time when our Armies have barely entered Germany and Hitler an dthe Nazi regime have not yet been overthrown....." It is a travel guide for the British/Allied troops going into Germany. It is interesting that the writers try to both assert ethical & moral behaviour towards civilians it also stongly enforrces that troops should be "...on your guard..." An insight into the thinking that was going on at that time and the information they knew such as it does list knowledge of the killing of civilians in countries the Germans occupied, however the numbers are quoted in the hundreds of thousands, not millions. A reminder to me that it is not only the large books written by authors/researchers but reading actual documentation that I can find from World War II that will truly educate me on this period of history that fascinates us all.

I recieved "German Amoured Cars and Reconnaisssance Half-Tracks" the other day.From Osprey Books. Can't say I'd reccomend it.

Ordered Stackpole books, "Infantry Aces" and "Waffen SS Tank Battles" from Amazon.

dora book

Focke-Wulf Dora Volume I is waiting in the post office....

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"Mannen die niet deugden" ("Men that were no good") By Ger Verrips. A book about a Dutch waffen-SS soldier from the Dutch Legion. About what he went through, but also the background; why he went and what happened after he came back and how he looks at it now.

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G'day,

I'm finishing, "To the Green Fields Beyond" by S. O'Leary. It's the story of the Australian 6th Division Cavalry Commandos. The title comes from the unit patch of brown, red and green.The phrase was coined, "Through blood and mud to the green fields beyond." Quite appropriate given the theatre of operations were the jungles of New Guinea.

Cheers

Owen

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http://www.owenzupp.com
Author. "Down to Earth"

Men at War edited by Ernest Hemmingway

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"Well, I don't believe that climate change is just an issue that's convenient to bring up during a campaign. I believe it's one of the greatest moral challenges of our generation."
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Barack Obama

Kai :

I think you will enjoy the EE editions of volume 1 Dora 9. great book and if you luv colour more the better from the photos and the well done profiles. J. C. and I have chatted by phone on several ideas about JG 301 since the publication.

right at the moment re-reading through I. and III./NJG 11 archival KTB from Freiburg plus some "secret" stuff on NJGr 10 I just pulled off my shelves hidden for some 10 years, well dang it all I finally found it

E down Thor, down

"Het verhaal van de Hitlerjugend"
(The story of the Hitlerjugend)

Brenda Ralph Lewis

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A while back I got Osprey's Sturmartillerie and Panzerjäger 1939 - 45 as a present. I sent Osprey a lengthy e-mail detailing the numerous mistakes and just plain wrong stuff in this book. I couldn't believe Bryan Perrett put his name on it.

One of my more extreme notes was a rebuttal to a picture of a knocked out Hetzer with a US soldier standing by it on pg 38 captioned: A blown-out Hetzer, evidently caught in a village under bombardment. From the massive fractures in the main armor, it seems to have suffered a direct hit from a large-caliber high explosive shell. My rebuttal was something to the effect: [i]No, it didn't suffer a "large-caliber high explosive shell" hit. It was knocked out by Private Kenneth G. Walker, Co F, 142nd Infantry Regiment, 36th Infantry Division with a bazooka at Oberhoffen Germany. Private Walker is posing with his kill. The reason for the massive damage is that location on the vehicle is where most of the ammunition for the main gun is stored. The bazooka hit set off the ammunition wrecking the vehicle.

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Truth is stranger than bullshit!

so Terry what do you expect ? do you think osprey will reply with a thank you ? .......... doubtful but many of us know of the countless mistakes all through their military WW 2 lineage. cheap stuff, profiles are usually bogus in one way or another

back on track...........reading through the latest issue of the 339th fg assoc. newsletter ~ too many veterans passing by ~

Funny that, E~, I was just going through the 339th FG unit history by Turner Publishing....

Am expecting a rather "Christmas-like" amount of books...on account of the low $$$ and the fact that no one seem to bid on Ebay anymore... I got about 10-15 books for not much more than $10-$15 a piece (never mind that in EUR!), where I would have paid easily quadruple that in years prior.....

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Got this little book as extra...

BATTLE FOR THE RHINE (Paperback)
by R. W. Thompson

I´ll be reading some of it in the train on my way to the Foreigner concert tonight...

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Just finished A BRIDGE TOO FAR...

...Just started THE ROMMEL PAPERS. Does it get any better than that?

Stevin you have the official 339th fg history ..... ? good on you, that is one I do not have although I have been a freind of the fg for some 10 years now......

ok prepared to be bombarded with questions very soon from that book. Actually I need the comments or a copy of pages from one air combat, but for that I will send you a private soon....

re-reading some of the German LW Night fighter data for this December back in 44........very depressing stuff-too many losses, weather and maintenance problems, aces doing well others are getting shot down, MIA, lost friends in the Ardenne forest(s), it's cold and dank, fog is terribly low, Mossies above the cloud deck...........on it goes

Let them come Erich. The 339th FG history got loads of pilot pics....I am at your disposal...Still have to look up the LW guys in my books. Hope to do that later tonite.

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super, you probably already figured it out but will place it here, the 339th fg was instrumental along with the 2nd SF and the 355th fg from letting the JG 301 JG totally destroy the US 491st and 445th bg's...........am looking for a copy of the text in the 339th fg book of the 26 Nov. 44 mission, the one my cousin was shot down on ..........

no prob with the other pages Stevin, it is drak in my little hole today, with some power out-tages cold rain freezing up not to high above me causing some major probs in my area of the Sphere E ♫

A quick look reveals that 339's 503 sqn held the record for most a/c shot down in one day; 18....on Nov. 26th....the record would stand for only one day; the next day, 362nd FS would claim 19!

Many pilots claimed their K14 gunsight was credit to the many hits....

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well I am opening up Danny Parkers "To win the Winter sky" late tonight after all go home from a little party, want see his mistakes again with cross reference to the LW missions, his section on Bodenplatte is a real mess, but at least he had the guts to put something in print where no-one has really tried to cover the winter 44-45 air events from both sides.......... ~

E ♫

Interesting to see Bert Stiles was KIA with 339 on this day....Victim of "Target Fixation" I was told...

If nothing substantial has been written on the airwar in winter 44-45, there is a great project open to someone to research and write a book. The things I have come across, not in the least the things you sent me lately, are very depressing indeed. Just imagine the scale the losses were incurred, and under which circumstances....This does deserve more attention...

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I agree on the air war in the winter of 4-45, one reason why I have mentioned at least the LW MIA doe snot count the Allied pilots to. I have laughingly pushed Martin and now Skipper for a side research project into the dark coniferous woods. there are hunts going on and some pieces are fitting into the lost puzzle.

Yes Bert was in attack position on an Fw 190A-9 of either I. or II./JG 301 when he focused intently so much on his target, the Fw banked away and up and Bert went in.......a tragic story