He said the hardest thing to live with in his life was the lie told to these young naive boys that the Shermans could go up against the German Panzers.
"Large numbers of tanks will be needed, and their losses may be expected to be high, but losses in tanks probably will, to a very large extent, replace losses in manpower. . . ."
Perhaps Major Christmas thinks tanks are controlled remotely.
Also on this thread:
The war in China goes on and on. Ambassador Grew protests to the Japanese over American property being bombed.
The war in Spain is actually about to enter its final phase, as Franco's forces gain momentum and the Loyalist area of control shrinks.
In sports, Georgia Tech travels to Berkeley for a scheduled non-conference game and boxers are rated for 1938 accomplishements.
FYI- Schmeling became a German paratrooper.
Japan expected the capture of Hankow and Canton to seal victory at last. With a million men now on the mainland, and desperate to find some end to the war, she made one more effort to force China into a settlement. A New Order for East Asia based on an anti-Communist bloc of Japan, China and Manchukuo was announced and the Chinese Government invited to join on condition of repudiating its anti-Japanese past and "reforming its personnel." Now that Japan had control of China's ports, railroads and major cities and of north China, the Shantung peninsula, the Yangtze valley and the southern coast, the Japanese believed the Kuomintang would have to capitulate. To negotiate the settlement they had won over no less an emissary than Wang Ching-wei, Vice-President of the Kuomintang, who along with others had come to believe the Nationalist cause was lost. Partly motivated by old resentment of Chiang Kai-shek and ambition to succeed him even as a collaborationist, Wang was ready to accept the necessity of Japan as a new ruling dynasty.
For Chiang no acceptable future was possible if he submitted. He remained, as always, impervious to the buffeting of events. Nothing ever changed him. He was welded to the belief that China would outlast Japan and that history must bring him foreign allies. Loosely organized and agrarian, China could sustain herself, even though isolated, in the far west— at what reduced level or cost in suffering did not matter. A slender egress by road into Burma, hacked out of the mountains by hand labor, had just been opened. Chiang would hold out in Chungking beyond the enemy's reach until Japan ultimately clashed with Russia or the Western powers. He rejected all terms.
On the failure of Wang's mission in December 1938 the situation congealed. Japan reaffirmed inclusion of occupied China in the New Order and her resolve to "exterminate" the Kuomintang Government which "no longer exists except as a mere local regime." Chiang Kai-shek publicly reaffirmed on December 26 the resolve to maintain China's independence. Except for local punitive campaigns, military advance came to a stop; Japan had no appetite to go further. The war was left unfinished, the million men remained. In 1940 a puppet government under Wang Ching-wei was installed at Nanking but as long as independent China continued to exist and resist, the occupation troops could not be withdrawn.
Barbara W. Tuchman, Stilwell and the American Experience in China, 1911-45
Max Schmeling was still considered a hero in Germany, despite his loss in the ring. He later participated in the invasion of Crete, and was thought killed in action at one point, although he survived those wounds.
As for Public National Bank - it appears that it was acquired by Banker’s Trust in 1955. At the time Public was said to have the 4th largest branch network in NYC. Bankers became part of Deutsche Bank in 1932.
Tanks in 1938? We had crap, I seem to recall Jeb Stewarts, not Shermans at the maneuvers upstate NY. (In pictures taken at the time.) Once the auto industry took over production, we produced the Shermans. (Nicknamed “The Ronson Lighter”) Our designers came up with some really neat prototypes to take on the Tigers, but by the time they were ready, it was over, over there. The Grant used in the Africa campaign was a monstrosity, a tank only Bogart would love. What beat the German tanks was our tank production lines, not the quality,the quantity. The Russians had the best tank, it was fast, maneuverable, simple to drive and quickly produced. They too had the benefit of having a production line capable of quickly replacing their losses along with a transportation network. One on one the Germans had the better tank, but against 15 to 1 it was a losing battle.
Did anybody notice the story above about the guy who amputated his own hand when he got it stuck in a school furnace? He had to cut his hand off with a pocket knife to free himself and according to the reporter, he did a "neat job" of it.
Yes the Sherman stunk but the Germans had one advantage over the Allies. They could ship their tanks by rail. We had to use LSTs which eliminated the possibility of Tiger-sized monsters.
Incidentally, I just checked a history of The Second Armored Division by Donald E Houston which confirms my memory (on p 292) that when the Germans defending the Siegfried Line were slaughtering the Shermans the 2nds commanding general Harmon brilliantly ordered a motorized cavalry charge — by light tanks armed only with 37mm guns. The lights charged so fast the German gunners couldn’t track them, panicked and fled their positions.
So there’s a little known fact: the first breach of the Siegfried Line (September 1944) was carried out by tanks much smaller and lighter than Shermans. (The rear doors to the pill boxes were no match for the 37mms.)
Of course, it’s better known that on Christmas Day 1945 the Second Armored wiped out the German Second Panzer Division. They had 155mm anti-tank guns do what Sherman’s couldn’t.
The description of French tank tactics (’40 to 80 over 1000 yards of front’) demonstrates why the French were overrun by the Panzer attack.
In 1938 war between the USA and Japan was unthinkable.
As I recall US Army doctrine in World War II was that the tank forces were not supposed to engage enemy tanks. That was the task of the Tank Destroyers. However it should be noted that the Tank Destroyer units were disbanded after the war after a dose of hard reality.
On December 28 in Chungking, China's wartime capital for the next seven years, Stilwell was to have a personal meeting with Chiang Kai-shek. By now he had been authorized to return to Peiping preparatory to the end of his tour in May and so his stay in Chungking was short, lasting only from December 19 to 31. It was enough to decide that the remote provincial 500-year-old city with its steep streets and steps climbing up from the river, its open sewers and dank fogbound climate in winter was a "sloppy dump." The meeting with the Generalissimo and Mme. Chiang lasted for only fifteen apparently agreeable minutes. "Very cordial," Stilwell recorded. "Both looked extremely well. They were quite frank. Gave me a photo and their blessing." The signed photograph subsequently occupied a prominent place in Stilwell’s living room in Peiping, perhaps more in defiance of the Japanese than from admiration of the Generalissimo.
Barbara W. Tuchman, Stilwell and the American Experience in China, 1911-45, p. 197
One thing I found amusing about Major Christmas’ statements is that he says that our tanks are superior, but also say the exact use of the tank in war is unsettled. How would you know if your system is superior if you don’t know how you are going to use it.
Interesting. Our tanks weren’t exactly the biggest and the best but they were fixable and reusable.
The article on Spain was interesting. Herbert L Mathews was such a shill for Mussolini in a later article its hard to take him seriously.