World War II

Dazzle Camo

by

A Mrs. Nora Holloway from the Military Gear Blog (Opennes Note:  The blog links to an an online store so it could be subtle spam)sent me an email a few days asking me to share an article she wrote concerning the history and possible future use of Dazzle Camoflage on military ships and vehicles.   She posits that perhaps there may be a resurgence in the use of dazzle camo based on recent research showing it is marginally effective in low-tech environments.   Dazzle Camo was used extensivley on ships in WWII but for some reason I highly doubt that it will make a comeback. Painting and repainting military vehicles … More after the Jump…

D-day: The 67th Anniversary

by

None of us in America should forget D-day, today 67th anniversary of the opening of the Second Front against Hitler in WWII.  The national archives has an excellent page with a election of documents and photographs related to that day.  Her are some photos that will hopefully provoke some refection on the sacrifices of our grandfathers and what has been characterized as “The Greatest Generation.”  And a link to the text of an excellent speech by Ronald Reagan on the 40th Anniversary: The Boys of Pointe du Hoc Let us never forget our men and women in uniform.  

Book Review: The German Way of War by Robert M. Citino

by

This book is an interesting read to say the least, Dr. Citino makes the case that there is a specifically German “way of war”. That way, is what he calls operational maneuver. He traces the development of this “way of war” from the 17th century battles of the Frederick William I, the “Great Elector” of electoral Brandenburg and scion of the Hohenzollern Dynasty through to the end of World War II and the final defeat of Nazi Germany. I am not myself so convinced that the discussion should end there based on my experience talking to current German soldiers about war and battle during partnership exercises while I have been … More after the Jump…

Sixty-Sixth Anniversary of Hitler€™s Death

by

On this day 66 years ago, Hitler did the world a favor and took his own life.   Unfortunately, he should have done it in 1923 and saved the world upwards of 100,000,000 dead while he pursued his ambition of being a great war leader and genocide.   Less than two weeks after his death the leaders of his supposed 1,000 year Reich signed the Unconditional Surrender of Germany’s Armed Forces and ended World War II in Europe.   It would take another four months for the Allies to force Imperial Japan to do the same thing.  This is the BBC’s announcement of his death: Hitler_is_dead

The German Way of War?

by

Is there such a thing? That question hit me this morning as I was reading a book review in an old copy of the Journal of Military History. The book in question was Death of the Wehrmacht: The German Campaigns of 1942 (Modern War Studies), by Robert M. Citino and it was reviewed in the January 2009 issue of the Journal. The reviewer made mention that one of the prevalent theories about the German army is that in World War II they fought a completely different war than the one they were designed for and that goes far to explaining the ultimate German defeat. The argument is that the German … More after the Jump…

Book Review: Panzer Battles by F.W. von Mellenthin

by

This is one of the most influential memoirs written by a former German Officer. The cover of the copy I own highlights that it “was the book on General Schwarzkopf’s desk during the Gulf War.” I found it to be a well written book with some pretty good accounts of the battles von Mellenthin participated in as a staff officer as well as some battles he did not participate in. I would not go so far as to say that this book is a definitive account of German tank warfare in World War II but it comes very close. Mellenthin does an outstanding job of describing the operational and sometimes … More after the Jump…

Heroe’s Portraits: Sydir Kovpak

by

 Sydir Kovpak was a Ukrainian partisan in World War II who fought the Germans behind the lines in the Ukraine and a two-time winner of the Hero of the Soviet Union. Kovpak began his military service in World War I and after that war he joined the Bolsheviks and fought in the Russian Civil War that established the Soviet Union. In World War II he was in command of partisan units in the Ukraine throughout World War II. He led a large band of partisans in the Carpathians in 1943 in an attempt to destroy the oil infrastructure there and deny the oil fields to the Germans. The attempt was … More after the Jump…

Heroe€™s Portraits: Lyudmila Pavlichenko

by

Lyudmila Pavlichenko was a female Soviet sniper during World War II.   She is credited with 309 confirmed kills and was awarded the Soviet Union’s highest medal for bravery, the Hero of the Soviet Union in 1943.   After being wounded by a mortar in 1942 she was pulled from combat because of her growing fame and was commissioned.   She spent the rest of the war as an instructor at a sniper school.   After the war she completed a degree and spent the rest of her life working as a historian, mostly with the Russian Navy.   Hero of the Soviet Union Citations are very difficult to find, … More after the Jump…

Heroe€™s Portraits: Staff Sergeant Stanley Bender, US Army

by

Staff Sergeant Stanley Bender, US Army SSG Bender was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for actions in France during World War II.   He climbed on top of a knocked out tank to locate the source of machine-gun fire that had stopped his company’s advance.   Then he led his squad through a ditch to attack the position and started an assault on the German position in which he killed 37 and captured a further 26 German soldiers.   He survived the war and passed away in 1994.   He is buried in Oak Park, WV. His citation is here: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at risk of life … More after the Jump…

Heroe’s Portraits: Captain Charles Upham.

by

Captain Charles Upham is one of the three men who were awarded the Victoria Cross twice.   Both his awards were won during World War II, the first in the Battle for Crete in 1941 and the second at the Battle of El Alamein in 1942.   He was captured in the action that earned him the second VC and spent the remainder of the war as POW in Colditz prison.   He retired to New Zealand after the war and bought a farm.   He died in 1994 at the age of 86 in a Christchurch, New Zealand.   His VC and Bar are on display at the Queen … More after the Jump…

Book Review: Soldat: Reflections of German Soldier, 1936-1949 by Sigfried Knappe

by

Book Review: Soldat: Reflections of  German Soldier, 1936-1949 by Sigfried Knappe and Ted Brusaw

I realized this morning that it has been a while since I posted a book review and I just finished re-reading this book yesterday and thought I would post a review of it.

This is a ghost-written account of Major Knappe’s time in the Wehrmacht between 1936 and his release from Russian captivity in 1949.   I first read this book in the mid-90s when it was first released.   At the time, I was very much into reading about World War II and thought that reading a book from the German perspective would be enlightening.   I was not disappointed with this book.

More after the Jump…

Battle Analysis: The German Invasion of Russia in 1941

by

The German invasion of European Russia was a huge mistake for several reasons, the biggest being that Germany had insufficient forces to win in the first year.   Another reason was the force disparity between the German and Russian armies there is also the almost total lack of realistic logistics planning on the part of the German High Command or OKH.   The German army did not have contingency plans for a winter campaign and were thus caught flat-footed when Russia failed to capitulate in 1941; this lack of planning was despite the recommendations of such officers as Guderian and Manstein.

More after the Jump…

WW II Tanks Panther-T-34 visual comparison

by

Was talking about WWII tanks at work today and while looking at pictures of the various tanks the visual similarities between the German Panther and Soviet T-34 Jumped out at me. The top photo is of a Panther and the bottom photo is a T-34.   I have always read that the Panther was developed specifically to counter the threat of the T-34 but it never hit me how alike they looked.   They have a similar turret, glacís plate, commanders cupola, even the tracks looks superficially similar at a glance.   It just started to make me wonder if the German designers of the Panther had a captured T-34 … More after the Jump…

+ More