Serving in WW 2

Thank the beer haze for clearing my thoughts....

We have had a thread "Where would you serve in WW 2 for some time now. This thread starts a new idea off that one.

You are serving in your chosen position in WW 2. Share your experiances doing this with us.

I'll start: I'm a Chief Electrician's mate aboard the USS Astoria. We are in port today, September 4 1939. There are a number of manitenance problems E-Division is working on. Nothing serious, just routine stuff. The big job is getting #2 Main Condensate Pump out of two main. It burned up yesterday. It will have to be rebuilt.

 

Well... on September 4th 1939...

I would be sitting in a small farmhouse in Lower Silesia, where we recently arrived from Hildesheim, being briefed along with other Fallschirmjager NCOs from FJR1 by our officers on the fighting in Poland and the opportunities that may present themselves for an air-landing assault. We even had a small talk from Brauer this morning and I got collared by our Kompanie CO, Gotte, over Hans and Ludwig leaving the camp last night to 'liberate' some eggs. So far there seems to be talk of a drop ahead of our panzers to secure bridges and block river crossings west of Warsaw. But things seems to be moving fairly fast and some of the other NCOs dont think we will get a chance to see action. Luckily, I have a nice bottle of brandy and some chocolate to keep spirits up amongst the platoon. Seems we will be spending the afternoon checking equipment and cleaning weapons again...

Sgt. P. Brandt - Nr. 2 Trupp, Nr. 2 Zug, 3rd Kompanie, 1/FJR1

 

On 4 Sept39, I was under the command of General Turnage when he served as Commanding Officer of Marine Forces in North China, and Commanding Officer of the Marine Detachment, American Embassy, Peiping. (haha)

 

Well if we narrow it to September 4th, that puts me on HMS Keith, bobbing along blissfully unaware that this time next year I'd be one of the most experienced battle wary sailors in the Royal Navy.

 

Am laying in a hospital bed watching pretty frauline nurses, due to an 'accident' while training in a PZ I.
Alot of hush-hush rumors going round about some Belgium forts, although I won't be involved.
Just hope I get a chance to prove myself as a 'worthy' Panzer commander before this war is over.

 

Well, several weeks have passed since the war in Europe began. It seems a long way from Hawaii where my ship is home ported now. There has been alot of talk in the 'goat locker' (nb. Chief's mess) about the war and whether we'er going to get involved or not. Betting on the outcome and what not is quick becoming a serious pasttime for many of the crew.
Local ops and a trip out with the Lexington has played havoc with our repair and maintenance schedules. We are supposed to be getting some new AA guns soon but so far all the dockyards have done is weld on new splinter shields for our five inchers. The electricians and ICmen have been busy installing additional phone and electrical circuits for some of these new guns....if and when they arrive..ha! I ain't holding my breath on that one.
A couple of days ago the Cheng (Chief Engineer) called me in. He told me that because I had college (three hots and a flop looked pretty good with the depression raging...that's how I ended up here) I was being transfered to a commissioning program. With the call ups going on and all the new naval construction experianced naval engineers were in short supply. So, it looks like knife, fork and, spoon school for me. When, who knows? Maybe never. For now I'm keeping my mouth shut about this. We'll see what happens.

 

I do believe I'd be putting a round through a German colonel right now on a covert-ops mission in the heart of Germany.

Wheeeeeee!

 

But would you be Russian, America, British or other?

Personally, I'd be a fighter pilot for US Army Air Force over Italy.

 

Well,all better now.Word is "get ready for cross-channel invasion" after our glorious Luftwaffe is victorious.
Oh boy, and I hate boats.

 

Well it's 1940 and here we are in France. Hitler has ordered us to stop short of entering Dunqerque. We are chomping at the bits to get moving as the British and French are reeling from our rapid advance. We have them beaten but this foolish order to Halt. Some of the men including myself are more anxious now as Rommel himself has stopped at our unit and told us that we are allowed to make a reconnaisance of our enemy lines. We are going to take the loop hole and move the division in force.
Sgt. Juegen Himmelmann, 1st reg, 7th Panzer Div

 

Sept 4, 1939.
Calgary, Canada.
Today, I went to Murphys Pub on 7th Ave, and had a few drinks, awaiting the word on the radio about the news in Europe. It most likely be around 9pm by this time, so I'd probably head off home a few hours later to cool down.

 

oct. 1941.
i cant give my exact possition, it's confidentioal. ican say its in germany ! i picked off 2 germans today. almost got shot. it's nise to know i kill some son bitches, eh? i have plenty of ammo and enough germans to keep me busy all day.