Salon Kitty

Salon Kitty was a Berlin brothel used by the SD for espionage purposes before and during World War II.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salon_Kitty

The idea to use Salon Kitty for espionage purposes came from Reinhard Heydrich, but SD chief Walter Schellenberg did most of the work.

One of the customers was Count Galeazzo Ciano, Foreign Minister of Italy, whose forthright opinions about the Führer were not particularly positive. Another one, SS commander Sepp Dietrich, wanted all the 20 girls for an all-night orgy but he dropped no secrets. Additionally, Goebbels had been marked as a client by some. He, apparently, enjoyed the 'lesbian displays' that were otherwise considered anti-social acts outside of that context.

However, British agent Roger Wilson, under his cover identity of Romanian press secretary Ljubo Kolchev, noticed when the wires were rerouted to another listening position. He became a regular customer of Salon Kitty, with a regular girl, and later arranged a wiretap to three cables. Now British intelligence heard some of the same conversations SD did. Wilson was later captured and sent to a POW camp.

In 1976, these events were turned into the highly controversial film Salon Kitty, directed by Tinto Brass and starring Helmut Berger as Walter Schellenberg (re-named Helmut Wallenberg) and Ingrid Thulin as Kitty Schmidt (re-named Kitty Kellermann.)

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Ted Knight

AKA Tadeus Wladyslaw Konopka

Bronze Star (five times, service in WWII)

http://www.nndb.com/people/563/000049416/

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What a cool site you found KP. They have a bunch I did not even know about such as Andy Rooney and Matt Dillion. I wish they would have given a short history of what they did to earn the metal.

http://www.nndb.com/honors/280/000043151/

Do they show the Mary Tyler Moore show dubed in Finnish ?

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Work Harder ! Millions on welfare are depending on you.

Hello TA152!

Over here we seldom dub the movies like many other countries do. We just have the Finnish text in the lower part of what people are saying. Recently some kids´ movies have been dubbed in Finnish though as many kids are too young to read fluently.

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From Parssinen´s "Oster Conspiracy"

On Halifax´s first meeting with Hitler:

" After a ride up the mountain, Halifax narrowly averted an early disaster as he was getting out of the car. Hitler was decked out in local costume, which included black trousers, white silk socks, and pumps. Halifax assumed that he was a footman, and was about to hand him his hat and coat when Neurath , the German foreign minister , whispered hoarsely " Der Führer! Der Führer!" Halifax barely avoided mistaking the dictator of one of the world´s most powerful military powers for a servant in livery....

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If Waffen-SS training was dangerous so was the training for Commandos:

More than forty men were killed under training at the Commando Training Centre at Achnacarry.

( Neillands: Dieppe )

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I agree Tim! Great thread and I'm ratinging it the 5 stars it deserves.

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"The only good is knowledge and the only evil is ignorance." Socrates

This is believe-it-or-not territory, but actually true! In August 1944 four Italian prisoners escaped from Camp 243 at Amisfield Mains farm, Haddington, East Lothian and managed to get into nearby East Fortune airfield (now the Museum of Flight).
They boarded a Mosquito and the one pilot in the group managed to get the engines started. However, he couldn't fathom how to get the plane moving, and told his companions the fuel tanks were empty. The four gave themselves up.
Legend has it that when the tanks were later inspected by RAF groundcrew, they were found to be almost full!

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Regards,

Gordon
http://www.freewebs.com/thehistoryvault/
http://s2.photobucket.com/albums/y20/Historian/

What was "Pink Lady?"

Torpedo fluid that PT boat crews drained and distilled into 190 proof alcohol, which they then mixed with grapefruit juice to make a potent drink.

http://www.5ad.org/Answers1.htm

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Generals

At the end of the war the US had 1,500 generals, the Germans almost 2,500 and the Red Army over 10,000.

The Germans´ losses 786 generals of whom 253 KIA, 44 died of wounds, 81 committed suicide, 23 executed by Hitler, 41 executed by Allies, 326 died of other causes.

From McCombs et al WW2 facts

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GI

term used throughout WW2 in referring to nearly anything related to the US Army. It was generally understood to stand for Government Issue, but actually began when supply clerks listed garbage cans as GI for galvanized iron.

( maybe many over here know this but I did not... )

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These are interesting statistics. I am interested in the 41 executed by the allies. I wonder if there is a list of these and reasons behind the executions. I would guess as a result of war crimes tribunal.

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American by birth, TEXAN by the grace of GOD!

These are interesting statistics. I am interested in the 41 executed by the allies. I wonder if there is a list of these and reasons behind the executions. I would guess as a result of war crimes tribunal.

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American by birth, TEXAN by the grace of GOD!

Aha! Found something

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

seems like all of the German Generals tried by the Russians were executed.

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American by birth, TEXAN by the grace of GOD!

General Anton Dossler was executed by Americans in 1945 for ordering the execution of American Rangers in Italy in 1944. After the Battle did a full feature on it several years ago in issue 94 www.afterthebattle.com/ab-con1.html

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Regards,

Gordon
http://www.freewebs.com/thehistoryvault/
http://s2.photobucket.com/albums/y20/Historian/

Unity Mitford's retreat on the Isle of Mull
The House with the Nazi flag-
http://heritage.scotsman.com/places.cfm?id=446552005

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Regards,

Gordon
http://www.freewebs.com/thehistoryvault/
http://s2.photobucket.com/albums/y20/Historian/

Sergeant John Hannah

http://members.iinet.net.au/~tcosgrove/vcross.html

"On 15/16 September 1940 a Hampden of 83 Squadron, piloted by a Canadian Pilot Officer C. A. Connor, was attacking barges in Antwerp. As Connor came in and bombed on his second run, at 2,000 feet, his aircraft was violently struck. Shells hit the bomb bay, the tail boom, the wing petrol tanks, and in an instant the rear interior was aflame. Quickly the aluminium floor then melted, leaving a large hole through which the rear-gunner had no option but to bale out. Sent back to see what was happening, the navigator from up front found himself unable to open the dividing door, saw that the gunner was gone and that the wireless operator, Sergeant John Hannah, was apparently on fire, and baled out too, expecting his pilot to follow. But Hannah, a determined Scot not yet nineteen years old, was able to smother the flames around him. Despite the fact that the stored ammunition was now bursting from the heat, he forced the jammed door open, grabbed an extinguisher and started to put out the remaining fires, beating at the last with his logbook when the second extinguisher went out.

Though burnt on the hands and face he then crawled forward to help the pilot, passing him maps and the navigator's log. With both wing tanks holed, Connor brought the aircraft back and made a successful landing. Sergeant Hannah was awarded the VC for gallantry, determination and devotion to duty. Unhappily, these two men did not survive for long. Connor, who received the DFC, was killed only a few weeks later; Hannah, the youngest airman ever to be awarded the VC, went on to instructional duties but never really recovered his health. He was invalided out in 1942 and died soon after the war, still in his twenties and leaving a widow and three young daughters."

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That reminded me of the story about Sgt. James Ward, a co-pilot on a Wellington of 75 squadron. On July 7, 1941 his aircraft was attacked by a Me-110 and the wing was set on fire over the North Sea. He crawed out onto the wing and put the fire out using a canvas cockpit cover. He was tied to a rope but it was still dangerous. He got the Victoria Cross also and also was lost on operations within two months of getting the Cross. He was from New Zealand.

The pilot got the Distinguished Flying Cross and the rear gunner got the Distinguished Flying Medal.

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Work Harder ! Millions on welfare are depending on you.

Andrew Higgins and his landing craft

General Dwight Eisenhower is quoted as saying, "Andrew Higgins ... is the man who won the war for us. ... If Higgins had not designed and built those LCVPs, we never could have landed over an open beach. The whole strategy of the war would have been different."

http://www.globalsecurity.org/milita...ms/ship/lc.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Higgins

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