Aeroplane names

General H Alexander "Patches" C-47
General Omar Bradley " Mary Q " C-47
PM Winston Churchill " Commando" LB-30
General Charles de Gaulle " France" C-56
General Douglas MacArthur " Bataan " B-17
Field Marshall Bernard Montgomery " #19082" B-17
President Roosevelt " Sacred Cow " C-87

__________________

From Fallschirmjäger by Quarrie

" During the war, centralised parachute training was abandoned and relegated to regimental training schools. However, shortages of aircraft and fuel meant that few men in the higher-numbered Fallschirmjäger divisions received any jump training. The CO of 4. Fallschirm division, Generalmajor Heinrich Trettner, for example, was not entitled to wear the Parachutist´s Badge.

__________________

Luftwaffe strength by 1941

1,700,000 personnel

Anti-Aircraft artillery branch 35% ( 571,000 )

Signal troops 18%

Flying units 580,000 ( late 1941 ) i.e. 36% but most of these were ground support personnel or paratroopers.

Altogether the Luftwaffe amounted to 20 per cent of Germany´s total manpower under arms that year (1941 ), a considerable reservoir of trained men and women.

From Luftwaffe Field divisions by Kevin Conley Ruffner

PS. Don´t ask me about the remaining percentage of men. Probably robbing Göring jewels and paintings around Europe...

__________________

Monty asked The US air force to bomb german positions in Normandy. They said, 'Do it yourself!'. So he did.
By the way, blood on the risers is my favorate song.

__________________

Caption reads: Laxatives caused an elephant called Stefan to release an out-pouring of poo, burying it's pitiful trainer alive.

Three plants produced 94 percent of Germany's synthetic rubber. Two plants produced four fifths of the cyanide used to make airplane Plexiglas. One plant made four fifths of the bydrazine hydrate used as a rocket and V-weapon propellant. And one plant made virtually all of the elemental phosphorus needed for tracer bullets and chemical warfare.

The Integration of the German Oil, Chemical, Rubber and Explosives Industries

Check the chart on effect of the bombing of the oil industry below. As the text says " The first two months of strategic bombing undid the results of three years’ strenuous work by the Germans." I´d say the result seems quite effective although I know that you can use charts to "prove anything"...


http://www.sturmvogel.orbat.com/images/ussbs/fig12.gif

__________________

In Oct 1941 Himmler spent a weeklong hunting party at Schönhof, the hunting lodge of Joachim von Ribbentrop. The Italian foreign minister, Count Ciano was the guest of honor.On Oct 26th the party bagged 2,400 pheasants, 260 hares, 20 crows and one roebuck." Count Ciano alone shot 620 pheasants" Felix Kersten Himmler´s masseur writes, "he´s the champion. Ribbentrop shot 410 pheasants, Himmler only 95."

What a massacre...

Himmler about Ciano´s success " I wish the Italians in Africa had been such good shots..."

From Masters of death by Richard Rhodes

__________________

German antiaircraft artillery and related ammunition represented about a quarter of German artillery and munitions output by 1944. This had a direct impact on the ability of the industry to supply the artillery demands of the German army.

From Zaloga "Bagration 1944"

__________________

" Ripcord Plus twenty-four "

Codephrase sent by Eisenhower to postpone the D-day assault by 24 hours

__________________

G.I. Joe (March 24, 1943 in Algiers - June 3, 1961 in Detroit) is possibly one of the most famous pigeons in world history, serving much of its life in the United States Army Pigeon Service as one of over 54,000 pigeons in the force.

In World War II, G.I. Joe saved the lives of the inhabitants of the village of Calvi Vecchia, Italy, and of the British troops stationed there. The village was scheduled to be bombarded by the Allied forces on 18 October 1943, but the message that the British had captured the village, delivered by G.I. Joe, arrived just in time to avoid the bombing. Over a thousand people were saved.

He had flown 20 miles in 20 minutes and his speedy delivery....

In November 1946, G.I. Joe was presented with a high award, the Dickin Medal for gallantry.

G.I. Joe (pigeon - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

Pigeon Expresso: Famous Pigeons

__________________

France's contribution to the German war effort was considerable. At the end of the war, it is estimated that approximately 650,000 Frenchmen and 44,000 Frenchwomen had been sent to labour in Germany, making France the second largest contributor of unskilled labour - only Poland contributed higher numbers - and the largest contributor of skilled labour to the German economy (Atkin: 1998 p.174). Of the wealth Nazi Germany acquired from its occupied territories, some 40% came from France.

Occupied France

__________________

Being the most populated country of occupied Europe (except the Soviet Union) , it is logical that the French contributed for high numbers of workers. However, only a small proportion of these volunteered, despite Vichy efforts to convince workers. Most were forced to go to Germany and many worked in fact in prison factories or even death camps like Dora, Dachau etc...

__________________

The Ringelblum archives

The Ringelblum Archives consist of a collection of 1680 archival units (approx. 25,000 pages) retrieved from the ruins of the Warsaw Ghetto.

The Archives comprise government documents, materials concerning the ghetto resistance, testimonies of the fate of Jewish communities during the Holocaust, literature, works of art and private correspondence collected by victims of the Holocaust in order to pass on information about the Holocaust to future generations. This collection is absolutely unique, both in terms of its origin and its historic value. It mainly concerns the largest ghetto in Nazi-occupied Europe (approximately 500,000 inhabitants), but in fact it covers the whole of occupied Poland, documenting the Shoah, the fate of its Jewish community of 3.500,000 people. Nearly all the creators of the Ringelblum Archives perished, either in the ghetto or in the extermination camps.

Poland - Warsaw Ghetto Archives

Holocaust Museum Houston : Exhibitions [Show Exhibition]

Oyneg Shabbos (group) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

__________________

Heer Tradition Badges

An example. More on the site below:

Axis History Factbook: Heer Tradition Badges

The Schwedter Adler (also known as the Dragoon Eagle) was originally worn by the old "Brandenburger Dragoner", (1st Brandenburg Dragoon Regiment Nr. 2) and the tradition was passed on to the 6. Reiter-Regiment in 1921.

__________________

Nice pics as well:

Photo collection world war II

__________________

Edwin Black is author of IBM and the Holocaust:

IBM and Auschwitz

The five-digit Hollerith number was part of a custom punch card system devised by IBM to track prisoners in Nazi concentration camps, including the slave labor at Auschwitz.

Tattoos, however, quickly evolved at Auschwitz. Soon, they bore no further relation to Hollerith compatibility for one reason: the Hollerith number was designed to track a working inmate-not a dead one. Once the daily death rate at Auschwitz climbed, Hollerith-based numbering simply became outmoded. Soon, ad hoc numbering systems were inaugurated at Auschwitz. Various number ranges, often with letters attached, were assigned to prisoners in ascending sequence. Dr. Josef Mengele, who performed cruel experiments, tattooed his own distinct number series on "patients."

However, Hollerith numbers remained the chief method Berlin employed to centrally identify and track prisoners at Auschwitz. For example, in late 1943, some 6,500 healthy, working Jews were ordered to the gas chamber by the SS. But their murder was delayed for two days as the Political Section meticulously checked each of their numbers against the Section's own card index. The Section was under orders to temporarily reprieve any Jews with traces of Aryan parentage.

In some camps, such as Dachau and Storkow, as many as two dozen IBM sorters, tabulators, and printers were installed. Other facilities operated punchers only and submitted their cards to central locations such as Mauthausen or Berlin. In some camps, such as Stuthoff, the plain paper forms were coded and processed elsewhere.

IBM did not sell any of its punch card machines to Nazi Germany. The equipment was leased by the month. Each month, often more frequently, authorized repairmen, working directly for or trained by IBM, serviced the machines on-site-whether in the middle of Berlin or at a concentration camp. In addition, all spare parts were supplied by IBM factories located throughout Europe. Of course, the billions of punch cards continually devoured by the machines, available exclusively from IBM, were extra.

Central to the Nazi effort was a massive 500-man Hollerith Gruppe, installed in a looming brown building at 24 Murnerstrasse in Krakow. The Hollerith Gruppe of the Nazi Statistical Office crunched all the numbers of plunder and genocide that allowed the Nazis to systematically starve the Jews, meter them out of the ghettos and then transport them to either work camps or death camps.

The trains running to Auschwitz were tracked by a special guarded IBM customer site facility at 22 Pawia in Krakow. The millions of punch cards the Nazis in Poland required were obtained exclusively from IBM, including one company print shop at 6 Rymarska Street across the street from the Warsaw Ghetto.

__________________

Kai through an interview of a Crete Fallshirm vet, his response was that Hitler ordered an immediate disolvement of parachute training the Fallshirmjäger units were to be used as ground infantrie only and in fact reduce in numerical strength. Funny AA ABt. added, Flak and light Fla units added, through divisional reports; Stug Batteries added.

Trials of German Major War Criminals: Volume 1

Q. Do you recall what Canaris said about the Polish war at the time of its commencement?

A. I very well recall the hour at which Canaris entered, completely broken, and informed us of the fact that the situation had become serious after all, although it had appeared before as if the matter might still be postponed. He told us then: "This is the end."

Q. Now, do you recall attending conferences with Canaris at the Fuehrer's headquarters just prior to the fall of Warsaw?

A. I and Canaris took part in a conference which did not take place in the Fuehrer's headquarters, but in the so- called Fuehrer's train, shortly before the fall of Warsaw.

Q. Now, to the best of your knowledge and recollection, will you please explain, in as much detail as possible, to the Tribunal, exactly what was said and what took place at this conference in the Fuehrer's train?

A. First of all, Canaris had a short talk with Ribbentrop, in which von Ribbentrop explained political aims in general, with regard to the Polish regions, and in particular with regard to the Ukrainian question. Later the Chief of the O.K.W. took up the Ukrainian question in subsequent discussions which took place in his private working carriage. These are recorded in the notes which I took down immediately, on Canaris' commission. While we were still in the train of the Chief of the O.K.W., Canaris expressed serious scruples regarding the bombardment of Warsaw, stressing the devastating repercussions on foreign policy of such a bombardment. The Chief of the O.K.W. at that time, Keitel, answered that these measures had been laid down directly by the Fuehrer and Goering, and that he, Keitel, had had no influence on these decisions. He spoke these words - I can repeat them only after having read my notes - the Fuehrer and Goering telephoned frequently back and forth; sometimes I heard something of what was said, but not always.
Secondly, Canaris gave an earnest warning against the measures which he knew about, i.e., the projected shooting and extermination which were to be directed particularly against the Polish intelligentsia, the nobility, the clergy, as well as all elements that could be regarded as embodying the national resistance movement. Canaris said at that time - I am quoting more or less verbatim - "the world will at some time make the armed forces under whose eyes these events occurred also responsible for these events."

The then Chief of the O.K.W. replied - and what I am now going to say is based on my notes, which I looked through a few days ago - that these things had been determined by the Fuehrer, and that the Fuehrer, the Commander in Chief of the Army, had made it known that, should the armed forces refuse to have any part in these things or should they not agree with them, they would have to accept the fact that the S.S., the S.I.P.O. and such organisations would be simultaneously employed to carry out these very measures. Thus, at the side of each military commander, a corresponding civilian official would be appointed. This, in outline, was the subject of the discussion dealing with extermination measures and the policy of shooting.

Q. What, if anything, was said on the subject of France?

A. On the subject of France a discussion took place in the carriage of the Chief of the O.K.W. Canaris explained the situation in the West according to reports he had received from the "Abwehr" intelligence service. Canaris described the situation by saying that in his opinion a great attack was being prepared by the French in the sector of Saarbrucken. Hitler, who had entered the room in the meantime, intervened, took charge of the discussion and rejected in a lively manner the opinion which Canaris had just expressed, putting forward arguments which, looking back now, I must recognise as factually correct.

__________________

Empress of Britain (1930 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

The Empress of Britain was an ocean liner built by the John Brown shipyards in Scotland & owned by Canadian Pacific Steamship Company. In her time, she was the largest, fastest, and most luxurious ship to sail between England and Canada.

At around 9:20 AM on October 26, 1940, while traveling along the west coast of Ireland, the Empress of Britain was spotted by a German Focke-Wulf C 200 Condor long-range bomber, commanded by Oberleutnant Bernhard Jope. Jope’s bomber strafed the Empress three times and hit her twice with 250 kg bombs.

The bombs started a raging fire that could not be contained, and began to over take the whole ship. By 9:50 AM, Captain Sapworth gave the order to abandon ship. The fire was concentrated in the midsection of the ship, causing the passengers to head for the bow and stern and hampering launching of the lifeboats. Later that afternoon, the destroyers HMS Echo and Empress arrived. By then, the ship had been evacuated.

The fire had left the ship severely damaged and unable to move under her own power, but she was not sinking. At 9:30 AM on 27 October, a boarding party arrived and prepared the ship for towing. Hearing of the crippled liner by radio, U-32 caught up with the convoy towing the Empress of Britain later that day, and followed them for some time. Around 2:00 AM the next morning, October 28, U-32 fired three torpedoes, one of which hit. The Empress of Britain sank in nine minutes.

__________________