Creighton Williams Abrams, Jr.
General, United States Army

http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/abrams.htm



His World War II commander, General George S. Patton, Jr., once said: "I'm supposed to be the best tank commander in the Army but I have one peer - Abe Abrams. He's the world champion."

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Note the previous message as well, thanx!

WAR CRIMINALS: Convicted generals and senior officers

Some "forgotten" cases:

General ANDRAE:

Former Commander-in-Chief in Crete. Tried by a Greek court at Athens and sentenced to life imprisonment.

General Nicola BELLOMO :

Italian Army. Tried by a British court at Bari in Italy, for killing escaped British officers, prisoners of war, after recapture; sentenced to death 28.7.45; shot on 11.9.45.

General Nikolaus von FALKENHORST:

Former Commander-in-Chief in Norway. Tried by Mixed British-Norwegian court at Brunswick for handing over captured members of Commandos to the SS. for execution; sentenced to death 2.8.46 (sentence commuted to 20 years’ imprisonment 3.12.46).

General Eberhard von MACKENSEN:

Tried by British war crimes court in Rome, as responsible for the massacre, by way of reprisals, of over 300 Italian civilians in the Ardeatine Caves, near Rome. Sentenced to death by shooting on 30.11.46. (Sentence commuted to life imprisonment 4.7.47.)

General Kurt MAELZER:

Tried by a U.S. military court at Florence, Italy, and sentenced to 10 years imprisonment on 14.9.46 (7 years remitted), for parading U.S. prisoners of war through the streets of Rome.

General MAELZER was also tried by a British court and sentenced to death on 30.11.46, together with General von Mackensen (q.v.), for complicity in the Ardeatine Caves massacre. Sentence confirmed, but death penalty commuted to life imprisonment (4.7.47).

Air Marshal Erhard MILCH:

Tried by the U.S. No. II Court at Nuremberg, January-April, 1947, for deportations, enslavements and criminal medical experiments on human beings (Crimes against Humanity); sentenced to life imprisonment 17.4.47.

General Otto von STULPNAGEL:

Ex-Governor of Greater Paris. Committed suicide in prison in Paris, 6th February, 1948, to avoid trial

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

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Now something interesting:


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

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Following heavy bombing raids in 1941, the RN School of Navigation left its home in Portsmouth Dockyard and moved to the recently requisitioned Southwick House, the ancestral home of the Thistlethwayte family. The House was chosen to play a central role as the forward headquarters of SHAEF(Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force).



The wall map shown in the background of the photograph is the actual map used during the invasion of Europe and is set to the position it was at on 6 June 1944. It was commissioned from the toy firm of Chad Valley and arrived in sections. The pieces covered the European coastline from Norway to the Spanish border so as not to give away any secrets. The two carpenters who erected the essential sections of the Normandy coastline of the map in the Wardroom were required to remain in Southwick House to maintain secrecy until the invasion was underway.

http://battleshiphmsvanguard.homeste...yadPhotos.html

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Check the one above as well!

http://answereng.bravepages.com/answers.htm

WHAT WAS THE LENGTH OF THE 'ATLANTIC WALL': From Kirkenes (Finish-Norwegian border) to the Pyrenees, 4800 km!

OPERATION BOLERO: The American built-up in Great Britain (from 36.000 in May 1942 to 1.5 million in May 1944)

HOW LONG WERE THE LINES TO THE TOILETS: Sometimes as longs as 400 metres!( Of course some toilet humour!!!)

HOW MANY MAPS WHERE PRINTED: 170.000.000 (one hundred seventy million!), from the landing beaches alone 40.000.

'PICCADILLY CIRCUS': Assemble area for the ships, south of the Isle of Wight.

BATTLE CRUISER 'ORION': First ship to open fire on D-day, at 05.10 hours (target, Mont Fleury)

'RUPERT': (the para-doll) Behind German position dropped dolls that detonated fireworks when they hid the ground and would mislead the German defence.

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Von Brauchitsch and gratitude towards Hitler:

It appeared that a problem of sex would prove Brauchitsch's undoing as it had that of Blomberg and Fritsch. For this officer was on the point of getting a divorce, an action frowned upon by the military aristocracy.

On Sunday, January 30, Jodl recorded that Keitel had called in Brauchitsch's son 'in order to send him to his mother (he is to get her assent
to the divorce),' and a couple of days later he reported a meeting of Brauchitsch and Keitel with Goering 'for a discussion of the family situation'.

Goering, who seemed to have made himself an arbiter of the sex difficulties of the generals, promised to look into the matter. On the same day, Jodi further noted, 'the son of Brauchitsch returns with a very dignified letter from his mother'. The inference was that she would not stand in her husband's way.

Nor would Goering and Hitler disapprove of a divorce, which the new commander of the Army actually
obtained a few months after assuming his new post. For both of them knew that Frau Charlotte Schmidt, the woman he wanted to marry, was, as Ulrich von Hassell said, 'a two hundred per cent rabid Nazi'.

William L. Shirer, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich (1959)

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/GERbrauchitsch.htm

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A chain of allied sabotage and reconnaissance bases on Swedish soil stretched from the only point where Finland, Norway and Sweden converge to the province of Jämtland. One of the main purposes of these bases was to hinder the retreat of the German forces from Arctic Norway.

There were two groups taking orders from the interallied (US & UK) Special Force Headquarters (SFHQ) serving on the border between Swedish Jämtland and Norwegian Northern Trøndelag. One consisted of members of the Norwegian Linge-company, who were conducting Operation Woodlark, and the other mainly of Americans of Norwegian descent belonging to the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) Norwegian Special Operations (NORSO) Group, who were conducting Operation Rype.

http://hem.fyristorg.com/arcticwar/report_jamtland.html

http://www.ossog.org/norway/norso_02.html

During the war, there was formed a rather special and unique unit, which served with the US Army. This unit, named ”99th Battalion (separate) was to participate in an upcoming Norwegian campaign.

All men who were transferred, or volunteered, to the 99th battalion, had to know how to speak norwegian, and many originated from the ”norwegian” areas in Minnesota. Only a very few had actually ever been to Norway, but as many as 950 men of Norwegian heritage started their basic education at Camp Ripley, Minnesota.

The original purpose of 99th, was to participate in ”Operation Plough” – the concept of advanced sabotage actions in Norway, and men from this unit were the only americans ever to operate on Norwegian soil during WW 2. That particular operation was ”Operation Rype” in the Tröndelag area. The "Rype" group consisted of 15 men, and they were transported in two groups. The first group, however, jumped out over Swedish territory, and got interned for a period.
This operation, main target: the railway, took place during the autumn of 1944, and consisted of a group of saboteurs led by Major William Colby. They stayed in the border areas between Norway and Sweden until the liberation of Norway.


http://www.nuav.net/usa.html

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General George S. Patton never allowed himself to flinch under fire and strongly disapproved of officers taking cover, even during heavy bombing. One day during World War II, he found Major General Terry Allen in charge of a camp riddled with slit trenches. "Have you got a slit trench too?" he asked. "Yes, sir," Allen replied, pointing, "right over there." Without a word, Patton walked over to the hole, unzipped his pants, and urinated into it.



http://www.anecdotage.com/index.php?aid=14473

In October 1944, the Japanese circulated bulletins claiming that most of the ships in America's Third Fleet had been sunk or were retiring. "Our ships have been salvaged," Admiral Halsey drily replied, "and are retiring at high speed toward the Japanese fleet."

Shortly after one of General Patton's units crossed the Seine at Melun on August 26, 1944, Dwight Eisenhower received a formal military report detailing the operation - to which Patton had added the following note: "Dear Ike, Today I pissed in the Seine."

"I pissed in the Rhine today," he declared several months later. "For God's sake send gasoline!"

One day Montgomery hopped into a London taxi. "Waterloo," he declared. "Station?" the driver quipped. "Certainly," Monty replied with a glance at his watch. "We're a bit late for the battle!"

American observers in World War II monitoring Benito Mussolini's radio addresses were puzzled by the fact that he consistently referred to FDR simply as "Delano."
The mystery was soon cleared up by Italian speakers, who gracisouly explained that "Del Ano" is Italian for "of the anus."

"In January 1942, I received my call-up papers," Peter Ustinov once recalled. "At my selection board interview, I was asked if I had any preferences as to the arm I wished to serve in. I told the officer I was interested in tanks. his eyes blazed with enthusiasm. 'Why tanks,' he asked keenly. I replied that I prefered to go into battle sitting down. His sparkle faded abruptly and I soon thereafter received a letter ordering me to report to an infantry regiment."


After the historic attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, many Californians feared that Japanese bombers could strike the mainland. Blackouts were enforced and air-raid drills undertaken to prepare the area for the worst. Among the most worried Los Angelenos was Warner Bros. chief Jack Warner. Well aware that the Lockheed aircraft plant in Burbank, just blocks from his studio, was certain to be a high-value target, he was horrified one day to have someone point out that, from the air, a Japanese bomber might not be able to tell the difference. Warner promptly visited the studio's paint shop and ordered the erection of an enormous sign on the roof of one of the Warner soundstages. The result? A twenty-foot arrow pointing to Burbank, along with the words: LOCKHEED - THAT-A-WAY!

During World War II, British soldiers discovered that placing a condom over a gun's barrel would keep the weapon dry and stop it from icing up.
No such condoms existed for larger weapons, however, and it was suggested to Winston Churchill one day that 18" long specimens be made to cover larger artillery pieces.

Churchill agreed, with two stipulations. First, the larger condoms would clearly be labeled "For Use By British Servicemen". And second? The condoms would also be labeled "Small"!



And much more on the site...

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Two important chess personalities were lost in WW2.

Vera Menchik-Stevenson was the first female world chess champion from 1927-1944, the first woman to be a match for the male chess elite. She died 1944 in Kent, England. A V-1 hit her home.

In contrast to her, the extraordinary German chess talent Klaus Junge bears the blame for his death. As a young fanatic SS officer, he died during the defense of Hamburg in April 1945, refusing to resign.

http://www.geocities.com/siliconvall...78/menchik.htm
http://web.inter.nl.net/hcc/rekius/salz1942.htm

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If someone tries to remove the speck in your right eye, will you turn to him the other also?

Thanx KnightMove,

that was interesting as Chess is my hobby ( as well? )...


Long viewed as a kind of British 'Area 51' , the vast underground complex at Corsham, Rudloe Manor, Box near Bath, England was the wartime home of a joint War Office/ U.S. Government plant for the assembly of the famous 'Jeep' light reconaissance truck. The plant turned out over 85,000 jeeps between 1942-45 releasing thousands of tons of shipping space for other uses.



A rare 1944 view of the main jeep production line at Corsham.

The complex was not however, excavated for military use being originally a quarry for the famous Bath Stone.

http://www.willys-mb.co.uk/rudloe.htm

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The Dickin Medal - The Animals VC

"White Vision" VC, Royal Air Force, No. 190 Squadron

Awarded the Dickin Medal, the Animals VC. This pigeon was carried in a Catalina of 190 Squadron, a squadron that was formed at Sullum Voe in 1943. The Catalina ditched in the North Sea due to engine failure in October 1943. Owing to radio failure no SOS was received from the aircraft and no position obtained. The crew released the pigeon which returned to base carrying a message detailing the whereabouts of the Catalina.
White Vision had flown 60 miles over heavy seas against a headwind of 25 miles an hour with visibility only a hundred yards at the place of release and three hundred yards at the place of arrival. The crew were all rescued safe and well. "White Vision", later renamed "Saviour", was bred by the Fleming brothers of Motherwell in 1941.

http://www.scotsatwar.org.uk/raf/vc.html

http://cedarvalley.virtualave.net/ar...kens_medal.htm

The PDSA Dickin Medal was instituted by Maria Dickin in 1943 and was immediately recognised as "the animals' VC".

http://www.pdsa.org.uk/pages/page01_13.cfm

William of Orange - Award: May 1945 "For delivering a message from the Arnhem Airborne Operation in record time for any single pigeon, while serving with the APS in September, 1944". This pigeon was released at 4.30am with an important despatch and performed the unequalled feat of covering 260 miles, 135 of them over the sea, in 4 hours 25 minutes to his home loft. The flying speed was therefore 1,740 yards per minute, nearly 60 miles an hour, showing great endurance and determination. William of Orange was bred by Sir William Proctor Smith of Bexton House, Bexton, near Knutsford. He was trained by the Army Pigeon Service and at the end of the war Sir William bought William of Orange "out of service" for 135 pounds and ten years later it was recorded that he was still alive although he was too old to race or breed. Lady Smith, presented the Dickin Medal, that had been awarded to William of Orange, to the Royal Signals Museum in 1965.

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Kai, I thought for a minute that the Dutch had awarded their highest medal to a pigeon...Rereading the post, I came to a different conclusion, fortunatly!!

Thanks for all these posts, Kai! These often obscure facts about the war are very interesting and make me often think; 'I have to get into that....'

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"Facts are meaningless. You could use facts to prove anything that's even remotely true!" - Homer Simpson

(banner by Otto)
www.basher82.nl

Thanx Stevin!

I myself find these little details very interesting and especially books that contain these little mysteries here and there are more fun than the usual heavy data...



BTW. I noticed Jari Litmanen played in a friendly game in Sweden and scored one from a penalty so I think he´s back in the first team soon...

[ 18. October 2003, 08:18 AM: Message edited by: Kai-Petri ]

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You're absolutely right, Kai. This thread has given me a lot of information on missions, people, dates, etc. that I probably never had come across if it wasn't for this thread. Several times I have been able to put info into projects I was already working on.

Many a night I sat behind the PC surfing the net searching for more information on an obscure detail that had been posted here!!!

YES!! JARI is BACK! I saw him play in the Sweden game. I am SO glad he is back. Jari is one of my all time favorite (ajax)players. I keep telling Christa our (first) son will be named Jari, but she doesn't want it. It is a pity he is injured often, but we already knew that from his first period with Ajax. When he returned we were so excited. I really dread the day he will leave Ajax. I hope that is still a few seasons away. Even though he doesn't play that lot, due to his injuries, it is striking how much better he can make the team play when he does play. He also doesn't need time to get back into the game; once he is on the field, he is there!

And besides, Jari is such a cool guy. His Dutch is excellent and nothing ever faces him. He is always cool, calm and collected! What can I say, I love the guy. Oh, and he is still in the top of the CL top scorers list!!!

I wish Pasanen was as good as Jari. Pasanen is a very decent defender, but it seems to me he never really grew into the player he had the potential for.

Anyway, I hear Dutch team Heerenveen got themselves a Fin from Helsinki. Can't think of his name right now.

__________________
"Facts are meaningless. You could use facts to prove anything that's even remotely true!" - Homer Simpson

(banner by Otto)
www.basher82.nl

Yep,

Pasanen has potential and there are days when he is excellent and days when he is not... Well, we´ll see.

Hmmm... I know there are some young players in Holland showing their talent but I haven´t heard yet of new signings. Maybe soon...

BTW, looking forward for more of this!





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http://www.militaryhistoryonline.com.../bastogne.aspx

General McAuliffe´s famous "Nuts", which had to be explained to the Germans, and incidentally, also to civilian Belgian and French friends. The latter, when told it was a gesture of defiance, replied "Ah, the word of Combrun", referring to an unprintable that Napoleon's General Combrun had used under similar circumstances. There is now a "Nuts" street in Bastogne, as well as a "Place McAuliffe".

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Persecution of Jewish chess players in the 3rd Reich:

Even though it is a rather harmless topic, Nazi policy in chess shows more clearly than anything else the idiocy of the entire ideology. The most important German chess personalities had been Jews. They were the ones to make Germany dominant in chass at this time. But all of them were excluded from playing chess. They had to leave the 3rd Reich chess federation (Großdeutscher Schachbund). It was forbidden to publish any Jew’s chess games but lost ones. Openings from Jewish players were renamed, e.g. Aaron Nimzovich’s Nimzo-Indian defense into east-indian.

1st world champion of chess had been Willhelm Steinitz, an Bohemian-Austrian German speaking Jew (he died 1900). He was succeeded by the German Jew Dr. Emanuel Lasker, who is to date the longest reigning World chess champion (1894-1921), and most likely will be forever. Lasker had to leave Germany in 1935, like many others, for example master Jacques Mieses.
http://www.chess-poster.com/great_players/lasker.htm

Siegbert Tarrasch, probably the most important theoretic of this time (and rival of Lasker) died in 1934. He suffered from discrimination already, but was lucky enough not to experience the Nuremberg racial laws.
http://www.ballo.de/tarrasch_english.htm

The Russian world champion Alexander Alekhine lived in France at this time. After the Germans occupied France, he made a deal to get a visa. He published anti-semitic articles for German newspapers, decrying Jewish masters like Lasker, Rubinstein, Nimzovich to play uncreative, illogical and/or cowardly chess. Even though he later denied to be the author, chess world did not forgive him. He died in 1946 under unclear circumstances.
http://www.ishipress.com/alekhine.htm
http://www.geocities.com/SiliconVall.../7378/nazi.htm

About Jewish chess:
http://torahscroll.com/chess/history2.htm

A site in German:
http://www.ewetel.net/~heike.focken/aljech1.htm

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If someone tries to remove the speck in your right eye, will you turn to him the other also?

Soon, Kai, Very soon!

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"Facts are meaningless. You could use facts to prove anything that's even remotely true!" - Homer Simpson

(banner by Otto)
www.basher82.nl