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World War II


apantherfrommd

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7 hours ago, redrum said:

The Nazi 'Supermen' really thought they could beat the American/Russian/British/Canadian fighting men? Pffft!

Exactly, only a complete nutter or psycho would think they could win a multi-front war. As soon as Operation Sea Lion was scrapped after the failed Battle of Britain Germany was essentially fucked. Even then the Germans almost defeated the Soviets were it not for Hitler demanding to run the whole show. I still believe if Hitler would have just instructed his generals to do what they needed to do and determine all battle plans they would have defeated the Soviets before the end of 1941. Plus, declaring war on the US for essentially no reason? Hitler fought in WWI and he knew the entrance of the US into the war is what sealed Germany's fate (all those fresh American GI's). Did he really think the US in 1942 would be less capable than it was in 1917? That was beyond stupid.

Hitler was right in one respect, the Soviet Union was a rotten edifice of which all one needed to do was kick in the door. However you don't kick in the door, waive your dick around, piss in the corner, and then sit down in the living room. If Hitler would have taken Moscow which was an very easy and attainable goal had they stuck with the original strategic plan, the government would have collapsed and Stalin would have been found dead. I doubt the Soviet's would have surrendered but they would have sued for peace and re-drawn the Soviet Union with the new border somewhere east of Moscow.

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6 hours ago, IpMan said:

Exactly, only a complete nutter or psycho would think they could win a multi-front war. As soon as Operation Sea Lion was scrapped after the failed Battle of Britain Germany was essentially fucked. Even then the Germans almost defeated the Soviets were it not for Hitler demanding to run the whole show. I still believe if Hitler would have just instructed his generals to do what they needed to do and determine all battle plans they would have defeated the Soviets before the end of 1941. Plus, declaring war on the US for essentially no reason? Hitler fought in WWI and he knew the entrance of the US into the war is what sealed Germany's fate (all those fresh American GI's). Did he really think the US in 1942 would be less capable than it was in 1917? That was beyond stupid.

Hitler was right in one respect, the Soviet Union was a rotten edifice of which all one needed to do was kick in the door. However you don't kick in the door, waive your dick around, piss in the corner, and then sit down in the living room. If Hitler would have taken Moscow which was an very easy and attainable goal had they stuck with the original strategic plan, the government would have collapsed and Stalin would have been found dead. I doubt the Soviet's would have surrendered but they would have sued for peace and re-drawn the Soviet Union with the new border somewhere east of Moscow.

I am not really sure if it would have gone down that way in regards to the Soviet Union, but Hitler's fatal error of error's was taking on the Russians in the East, knowing Churchill was hell bent on stopping him and that Japan had woken a sleeping giant in the United States.  I believe he overestimated his U Boats ability to neutralize our Navy, and the Atlantic's geographical disadvantage for us.  The Atlantic did give Germany some protection against us.  But it was just prolonged.  It is shameful that we did not enter the war sooner.  I do not think Churchill, the great man he was, ever was over that. There is the enduring excuse that many did not know of the atrocities being done by Hitler.  I am not sold.  But back to the Russians, you watch these old  movies and even Hogan's Heroes and its always, "off to the Russian front" if you screwed up and were a German soldier.  The Russian front was just pure hell.   Freezing cold, little food and long odds of survival in a non stop battle.  Germany, given her size and such, had one hell of an army and Navy.  The U Boats were a formidable opponent for the Allies to deal with.  Sinking the Lusitania was an example of just how evil these bastards were.  

I wish I could take a peak in Bob Ballard's garage or basement or safe.  He finds the Lusitania, Bismarck, Yorktown and the Holy Grail of shipwrecks, the Titanic.  Imagine the treasures this man has "laying about".  Watch the movie Black Sea with Jude Law.  It will get you a thinking

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5 hours ago, LedZeppfan1977 said:

I am not really sure if it would have gone down that way in regards to the Soviet Union, but Hitler's fatal error of error's was taking on the Russians in the East, knowing Churchill was hell bent on stopping him and that Japan had woken a sleeping giant in the United States.  I believe he overestimated his U Boats ability to neutralize our Navy, and the Atlantic's geographical disadvantage for us.  The Atlantic did give Germany some protection against us.  But it was just prolonged.  It is shameful that we did not enter the war sooner.  I do not think Churchill, the great man he was, ever was over that. There is the enduring excuse that many did not know of the atrocities being done by Hitler.  I am not sold.  But back to the Russians, you watch these old  movies and even Hogan's Heroes and its always, "off to the Russian front" if you screwed up and were a German soldier.  The Russian front was just pure hell.   Freezing cold, little food and long odds of survival in a non stop battle.  Germany, given her size and such, had one hell of an army and Navy.  The U Boats were a formidable opponent for the Allies to deal with.  Sinking the Lusitania was an example of just how evil these bastards were.  

I wish I could take a peak in Bob Ballard's garage or basement or safe.  He finds the Lusitania, Bismarck, Yorktown and the Holy Grail of shipwrecks, the Titanic.  Imagine the treasures this man has "laying about".  Watch the movie Black Sea with Jude Law.  It will get you a thinking

By August 1941, just a few short months from the start of Barbarossa the German's were only 30 miles from the "gates" of Moscow so yes, the Soviets were in fact a very easy target IF the German's would have stuck to the original plan which they did not. Hitler first had Army Group Center stop 30 miles shy of Moscow to divert divisions to the St. Petersburg (Leningrad) Campaign which itself was a poorly executed shitstorm as the Finns and German's essentially refused to coordinate and work with each other. Then, to drive the nail in the coffin, Hitler diverted even more divisions from Army Group Center to push deeper and advance the southern campaign to the Caucasus. These two insane decisions is what sealed the German's fate in Russia. This gave the Soviets the time needed to reroute the Siberian Divisions to Moscow and later the southern campaign.

Moscow was easy pickings and Hitler blew it.

The irony is his generals were completely against invading Russia from the get, not because they thought it would fail, but because they believed taking Western Russia and the Balkans would prove to great an economic burden on the German state. They believed Russia was a no win insofar that if they succeeded the economic burden it would create would likely cripple the Reich. The Generals original plan, Operation Otto, focused on a lighting war straight to Moscow and the Caucasus, bypassing Leningrad and the north completely and leaving the north to the Finns.

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16 hours ago, IpMan said:

Moscow was easy pickings and Hitler blew it.

 

I'm sure the majority of his generals were thinking: 'Oh, that stupid rottenfuhrer!'

In the German Nazi SS a Rottenführer was a low ranking corporal. It also translates from German to mean "foreman". In general a rottenführer is a low-ranking bully who makes peoples' lives miserable.

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17 hours ago, IpMan said:

By August 1941, just a few short months from the start of Barbarossa the German's were only 30 miles from the "gates" of Moscow so yes, the Soviets were in fact a very easy target IF the German's would have stuck to the original plan which they did not. Hitler first had Army Group Center stop 30 miles shy of Moscow to divert divisions to the St. Petersburg (Leningrad) Campaign which itself was a poorly executed shitstorm as the Finns and German's essentially refused to coordinate and work with each other. Then, to drive the nail in the coffin, Hitler diverted even more divisions from Army Group Center to push deeper and advance the southern campaign to the Caucasus. These two insane decisions is what sealed the German's fate in Russia. This gave the Soviets the time needed to reroute the Siberian Divisions to Moscow and later the southern campaign.

Moscow was easy pickings and Hitler blew it.

The irony is his generals were completely against invading Russia from the get, not because they thought it would fail, but because they believed taking Western Russia and the Balkans would prove to great an economic burden on the German state. They believed Russia was a no win insofar that if they succeeded the economic burden it would create would likely cripple the Reich. The Generals original plan, Operation Otto, focused on a lighting war straight to Moscow and the Caucasus, bypassing Leningrad and the north completely and leaving the north to the Finns.

This decision to re-route the forces south instead of take Moscow is very well explained in that utterly brilliant "World at War" series. Hitler blew it there and then. Not that taking Moscow would have won the war for Germany, but it would have secured a foothold, changed the Eastern front dynamics in Germany's favour if only for a year, stopped the hundreds of thousands of death of German troops to the winter and disease, and prolonged the war long enough that the jet engines and rocket technology would have secured Germany an advantage they could actually leverage. The technological advantage Germany enjoyed at the very end was astounding, but all too late. No time to really sort out best use for the new jet fighters/bombers. Given another year or two, the Germans would most likely have developed mid-air refueling and smart bombs. They were a long way in front of the west. Except of course, nuclear. At the end of the day, the Manhattan project was always going to be the great decider.

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9 hours ago, rm2551 said:

 The technological advantage Germany enjoyed at the very end was astounding, but all too late. No time to really sort out best use for the new jet fighters/bombers. Given another year or two, the Germans would most likely have developed mid-air refueling and smart bombs. They were a long way in front of the west. Except of course, nuclear. At the end of the day, the Manhattan project was always going to be the great decider.

Why couldn't they just stick with making chocolate, Mercedes cars and Leica cameras?

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  • 1 month later...

 

 

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born 20 March 1917 Yes, she's alive, at least as of whatever this posting date was. Dame Vera Lynn.

She is best known for her 1939 recording of the popular song "We'll Meet Again", written by Ross Parker and Hughie Charles; the nostalgic lyrics ("We'll meet again, don't know where, don't know when, but I know we'll meet again some sunny day") were very popular during the war and made the song one of its emblematic hits. During the Phoney War, the Daily Express asked British servicemen to name their favourite musical performers: Vera Lynn came out on top and as a result became known as "the Forces' Sweetheart".
In 1941, during the darkest days of the Second World War, Lynn began her own radio programme, Sincerely Yours, sending messages to British troops serving abroad. She and her quartet performed songs most requested by the soldiers. Lynn also visited hospitals to interview new mothers and send personal messages to their husbands overseas. Her other great wartime hit was "The White Cliffs of Dover", words by Nat Burton, music by Walter Kent. - Wikipedia

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07 JUNE 1944
For now, the landing of Normandy is a success even if all the objectives originally planned are not achieved. To the west of the invasion beaches, the American sector is held by the 82nd and 101st airborne divisions parachuted on the night of June 6 (these two divisions having suffered a lot of losses and breakage) and by the 4th division of infantry having landed at Utah Beach at dawn (without encountering major problems). US parachute troops have a 15-by-15 bridgehead on the evening of June 7. In Omaha Beach, the situation of the 1st and 29th American infantry divisions at dawn is more critical. only a small piece of France soil. The landing of Commonwealth forces on the eastern flank has been difficult, but overall it is a great success. The paratroopers of the 6th Airborne Division seized the bridges over the Orne and made their connection with the troops disembarked at Sword Beach.

On the German side, the surprise is total. The storm that prevailed the night before in the Channel did not alarm the sentries on the coasts, nor the officers in their staffs. Allied air superiority prevents any movement and for the moment, no Panzer division has been called to repel the attackers at sea. Hitler is only informed of the Allied invasion at nine o'clock in the morning on June 6 : having gone to bed late, he fell asleep with sleeping pills and instructed that no one wake him up. Meanwhile, Rommel is in Germany and celebrates his wife's birthday. The same day, learning the news of the landing, he rolls towards Normandy to take things in hand.

The Germans launch their first counter-offensive towards Port-en-Bessin north of Bayeux where American and British troops are trying to gather their bridgeheads. The 716th German Infantry Division and the 21st Panzerdivision are designated to counterattack.

The Allied fighters, flying over Normandy, see the movements of German armored vehicles and destroy a large number of tanks and vehicles. They give up the counter-attack and decide to move at night. The paratroopers of the 6th Airborne Division, located east of the landing beaches in the vicinity of the village of Ranville, cling and defend their positions with the anti-tank guns freshly landed. Reinforced by the 3rd British division, they repel the advanced elements of the 21st Panzerdivision who fall back on the defensive line of Caen. In order to seize the latter, General Montgomery orders the launch of Operation Perch, which begins the same day.

Meanwhile, hundreds of American and British gliders landed in Normandy, often behind the lines of the German forces, forcing the latter to retreat.

 

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7 hours ago, apantherfrommd said:

 

 

Related image

born 20 March 1917 Yes, she's alive, at least as of whatever this posting date was. Dame Vera Lynn.

She is best known for her 1939 recording of the popular song "We'll Meet Again", written by Ross Parker and Hughie Charles; the nostalgic lyrics ("We'll meet again, don't know where, don't know when, but I know we'll meet again some sunny day") were very popular during the war and made the song one of its emblematic hits. During the Phoney War, the Daily Express asked British servicemen to name their favourite musical performers: Vera Lynn came out on top and as a result became known as "the Forces' Sweetheart".
In 1941, during the darkest days of the Second World War, Lynn began her own radio programme, Sincerely Yours, sending messages to British troops serving abroad. She and her quartet performed songs most requested by the soldiers. Lynn also visited hospitals to interview new mothers and send personal messages to their husbands overseas. Her other great wartime hit was "The White Cliffs of Dover", words by Nat Burton, music by Walter Kent. - Wikipedia

Of course the inspiration for Roger Waters' beautiful song:

 

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On 6/8/2018 at 2:41 PM, Walter said:

Wow! Nice photos! 

Great shots.

The USS San Francisco memorial in SF. You can see the damage from Japanese shells. The captain, Dan Callaghan was killed in the battle.

image.thumb.png.e678159d17ae69c330c270c78418118d.png

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