tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post7274362193149728081..comments2024-03-29T04:28:54.043-07:00Comments on Chant du Départ: The 7th of June, 1944 - D + 1OldAFSargehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15935839956936191547noreply@blogger.comBlogger50125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-37441631640072345132020-06-09T04:14:44.028-07:002020-06-09T04:14:44.028-07:00I can see how easy it would be to get disoriented ...I can see how easy it would be to get disoriented up in the lake country.OldAFSargehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15935839956936191547noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-561623303195418692020-06-08T18:35:45.151-07:002020-06-08T18:35:45.151-07:00(Don McCollor)...there was one MN POW pair that tr...(Don McCollor)...there was one MN POW pair that tried. Plan was to escape down the Mississippi River to Mexico and friendlier places south. They stole a small rowboat. Now the upper Mississippi is slow, sluggish, draining through swamps and lakes and the current hard to follow. A couple days later, a game warden got a call: "there's two guys rowing a boat round and round an island in the lake"...Don McCollorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18028324869570493102noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-55711737765251442512020-06-08T17:15:28.535-07:002020-06-08T17:15:28.535-07:00Not like they had anywhere to go in those out of t...Not like they had anywhere to go in those out of the way places!OldAFSargehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15935839956936191547noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-20699444446890509132020-06-08T16:28:55.039-07:002020-06-08T16:28:55.039-07:00(Don McCollor)...there were POW camps in MN, ND, a...(Don McCollor)...there were POW camps in MN, ND, and Ontario with prisoners doing non war-like work (and being nominally paid for shocking grain, picking potatoes, and cutting pulpwood). At one camp deep deep in the woods of northern MN or Ontario with no fences and token guards German prisoners were told "if you come back in three days, we will not consider that you tried to escape"....Don McCollorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18028324869570493102noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-51758098676273535302020-06-08T04:46:59.838-07:002020-06-08T04:46:59.838-07:00Fascinating!Fascinating!OldAFSargehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15935839956936191547noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-83885282903732031432020-06-08T04:30:56.121-07:002020-06-08T04:30:56.121-07:00There is a series of books about Rhode Island , mo...There is a series of books about Rhode Island , more specifically Narragansett Bay, during WWII. There were at least two secret POW camps here, one was primarily about training a post war German police force and the other about denazification. One is "World War II Rhode Island" published by "The History Press" (), the other "Defenses of Narragansett Bay" written by Walter Schroeder. Old Guns.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-6694380591810876522020-06-07T18:14:37.088-07:002020-06-07T18:14:37.088-07:00My father was on a troop ship heading into the Net...My father was on a troop ship heading into the Netherlands for his eventual assignment to Berlin. The ship was also carrying returning German POWs. Their American guards were not real nice to them. Even my Dad was shocked at the treatment they received.<br /><br />When my Dad worked in Supply in Berlin, one of the warehouse workers was former Afrika Korps, everyone called him Red. Dad spoke highly of the man, Dad liked the Germans. His older brother Charlie did not. I think I've mentioned that before.<br /><br />I kinda doubt the stories of Germans fighting going back to Germany. Germans are very attached to their <i>Heimatsland</i>. A friend of mine in Colorado had a German wife. She couldn't stand Colorado, it wasn't green like Germany.<br /><br />Germans serving in Spain during the Napoleonic Wars actually would get physically ill from missing their homeland.<br /><br />I can't believe any German would want to stay here back in the day, our beer sucked back then!OldAFSargehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15935839956936191547noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-27595112769148479512020-06-07T18:01:02.797-07:002020-06-07T18:01:02.797-07:00Quite a few Germans fought going back to Germany, ...Quite a few Germans fought going back to Germany, and then did their very best to legally immigrate to the States.<br /><br />Once they made it to England, they were relatively safe. Once they were on ship bound for the States, they were safer. Safest once they landed on these shores.Beanshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15293778848879361153noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-30370663434209713642020-06-07T16:53:43.026-07:002020-06-07T16:53:43.026-07:00I am often struck by the thought that nearly all o...I am often struck by the thought that nearly all of those men in the photos, probably all of them, are, by now, most certainly dead. But yeah, how many made it to the end of the war. Heck, how many made it to next week.<br /><br />As to the POWs, how many came home to a barely recognizable Germany to discover their families were all dead?<br /><br />War sucks.OldAFSargehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15935839956936191547noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-47042318099408117202020-06-07T16:51:25.921-07:002020-06-07T16:51:25.921-07:00juvat - They aren't as extensive as they used ...juvat - They aren't as extensive as they used to be, you probably saw one of the few remaining. Probably not as substantial as the older ones.OldAFSargehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15935839956936191547noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-17243056071856029662020-06-07T16:50:22.944-07:002020-06-07T16:50:22.944-07:00It made all the difference!
The invention of a he...It made all the difference!<br /><br /><i>The invention of a hedge-breaching device is generally credited to Curtis G. Culin, a sergeant in the 2nd Armored Division's 102nd Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron. However, military historian Max Hastings notes that Culin was inspired by "a Tennessee hillbilly named Roberts", who during a discussion about how to overcome the bocage, said "Why don't we get some saw teeth and put them on the front of the tank and cut through these hedges?" Rather than joining in the laughter that greeted this remark, Culin recognized the idea's potential. (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhino_tank#Invention" rel="nofollow"><b>Source</b></a>)</i>OldAFSargehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15935839956936191547noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-28743591404692443752020-06-07T16:46:30.423-07:002020-06-07T16:46:30.423-07:00The Ninth Air Force, aka the American Luftwaffe.
...The Ninth Air Force, aka the American Luftwaffe.<br /><br />They stopped calling it the Air Corps in June 1941, after that it was the Army Air Forces, or just Air Force (as in 8th Air Force, 9th Air Force, etc.)OldAFSargehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15935839956936191547noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-88220471392902048612020-06-07T16:43:44.206-07:002020-06-07T16:43:44.206-07:00Sometimes Butter Bars just can't help themselv...Sometimes Butter Bars just can't help themselves...OldAFSargehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15935839956936191547noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-11361314218394043992020-06-07T16:29:32.619-07:002020-06-07T16:29:32.619-07:00I stopped the car when we visited Omaha a while ba...I stopped the car when we visited Omaha a while back and walked along some of them. Even to my eyes, it would have been difficult and a lot had changed since then.juvathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09096708575138552532noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-22985591407445117232020-06-07T16:28:30.459-07:002020-06-07T16:28:30.459-07:00When I look at those photographs, especially the o...When I look at those photographs, especially the one outside the cafe, I have to wonder how many of those guys were alive on June 8th, or May 15th. At least most of the German POW's would likely be. I may be reading more into it that is actually there, but I think there's more relief and realization in the later than the former. juvathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09096708575138552532noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-10067043073235291732020-06-07T16:09:45.500-07:002020-06-07T16:09:45.500-07:00(Don McCollor)...bad officers had more severe curs...(Don McCollor)...bad officers had more severe curses placed on them. An account I ran across of one new one new officer exposing himself in the open "observing". As they sheltered from the incoming German artillery, a Sgt put a pistol in his ear "Do that again Sir, and you will be missing in action"...Don McCollorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18028324869570493102noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-45740284180290529562020-06-07T15:26:10.051-07:002020-06-07T15:26:10.051-07:00The bocage was a problem in one sense in that ther...The bocage was a problem in one sense in that there was generally only one opening from the road or lane to each field, and the Germans had all those openings covered by machine guns, mortars and/or artillery. It was good ol' American ingenuity to take steel beams from beach defenses and use them, after appropriately shaped and welded, on the front of tanks (mostly Shermans, I think but am not sure) which could then crash through the very dense hedgerows and make new openings into the fields. It gave the element of surprise back to the Americans. A great example of useful recycling!Tom in NChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03576958446243001152noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-34959055436740676512020-06-07T15:21:36.028-07:002020-06-07T15:21:36.028-07:00Get What more involved?? Oh, the Army Air Corps.....Get What more involved?? Oh, the Army Air Corps... :-)<br />There were quite a few GI's who wish they had had a bit better bomb aiming during Operation Cobra...Tom in NChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03576958446243001152noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-35088109031712112722020-06-07T15:04:56.386-07:002020-06-07T15:04:56.386-07:00Exactly!Exactly!OldAFSargehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15935839956936191547noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-22825621346464204062020-06-07T14:59:53.701-07:002020-06-07T14:59:53.701-07:00No problem. Thing is, intel officers in both the ...No problem. Thing is, intel officers in both the American army and the British tried to tell the commanders what Le Bocage was like. And nobody believed them, or believed it was as bad as it was.<br /><br />Basically plant encrusted cement walls. That's the best description. Thick cement walls made of rubble and held together by really old mortar.<br /><br />Nobody really understood it until they got into it. And then it was almost too late.Beanshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15293778848879361153noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-49554734011097204842020-06-07T14:03:42.226-07:002020-06-07T14:03:42.226-07:00Beans should get to work on a glossary of the thin...Beans should get to work on a glossary of the things I forget to define in the post.<br /><br />So, I'm guessing you (or other readers) wouldn't know what a <i>Panzerraketenbüchse 43</i> is either? (A German type of bazooka, not to be confused with a <i>Panzerfaust</i> - literally "armored fist," a one shot man-portable anti-tank weapon.)<br /><br />I should have explained what <i>Le Bocage</i> was, I have a picture, I just haven't included it yet.<br /><br />I think I'm just going to keep going with this story. You can all watch the book being written as it happens. We'll see how that goes.<br /><br />Yes, I need to remember to define things as I go.<br /><br />Thanks Suz!OldAFSargehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15935839956936191547noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-91704481771052627412020-06-07T13:13:38.567-07:002020-06-07T13:13:38.567-07:00Thank you Beans for clarifying what a bocage was/i...Thank you Beans for clarifying what a bocage was/is...I was wondering what in the heck???<br /><br />Yes, Sarge, you should continue with this. If you only work on it once a year around this time, it is going to take quite a while to get it done...some of us get impatient to see what happens next...just saying... Suzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07117433684554337583noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-76244640363367103862020-06-07T12:53:37.351-07:002020-06-07T12:53:37.351-07:00Well, SSG Andersen knows too. Hopefully the lieute...Well, SSG Andersen knows too. Hopefully the lieutenant does stay alive, I do have some small say in that regard.OldAFSargehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15935839956936191547noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-68571766375753965152020-06-07T12:52:50.932-07:002020-06-07T12:52:50.932-07:00They were so young and we owe them so much.They were so young and we owe them so much.OldAFSargehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15935839956936191547noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-24527565928347859402020-06-07T11:56:39.081-07:002020-06-07T11:56:39.081-07:00I'd say for the promotion to hold the 2nd LT h...I'd say for the promotion to hold the 2nd LT has to stay alive to remember and tell someone back at headquarters? That SGT Brandt - he might be the one in family lore who had to leave town in a hurry under mysterious circumstances...Williamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05720206407574457665noreply@blogger.com