Replies

Free Republic University, Department of History presents World War II Plus 70 Years: Seminar and Discussion Forum
First session: September 1, 2009. Last date to add: September 2, 2015.
Reading assignment: New York Times articles delivered daily to students on the 70th anniversary of original publication date. (Previously posted articles can be found by searching on keyword “realtime” Or view Homer’s posting history .)
To add this class to or drop it from your schedule notify Admissions and Records (Attn: Homer_J_Simpson) by freepmail. Those on the Realtime +/- 70 Years ping list are automatically enrolled. Course description, prerequisites and tuition information is available at the bottom of Homer’s profile. Also visit our general discussion thread.

Selections from West Point Atlas for the Second World War
Soviet Summer and Fall Offensives: Operations, 17 July-1 December 1943
Allied Advance to Volturno River, Reorganization, and Attack on Gustav Line (17 January-11 May 1944)
The Far East and the Pacific, 1941: Status of Forces and Allied Theater Boundaries, 2 July 1942
India-Burma, 1942: Allied Lines of Communication, 1942-1943
New Guinea and Alamo Force Operations: Clearing the Huon Peninsula and Securing the Straits, 19 September 1943-26 April 1944
Cartwheel, the Seizure of the Gilberts and Marshalls, and Concurrent Air and Naval Operations, 30 June 1943-26 April 1944

October 11, 1943:

October 10: "A non-Jewish Latvian named Yanis Lipke rescues three Jews in Riga by offering ghetto guards two packs of cigarettes for "some Yids to work in my kitchen garden"; See October 11, 1943.
"At the Sobibór death camp, a revolt is planned by Jewish laborers and Jewish Red Army POWs; See October 13, 1943.
October 11: "One day after rescuing three Jews from the Riga (Latvia) Ghetto by asking guards for Jews to labor on his property, Yanis Lipke rescues additional Jews with the same ruse.
"At the Sobibór death camp, new arrivals panic and run toward barbed wire, only to be machine-gunned by guards."

"Josef Glazman was the deputy commander of the Vilna (Lithuania) Ghetto police and the leader of the Betar youth group.
His negotiations with the leaders of Jewish youth groups produced a unified Resistance faction known as the FPO (United Partisans Organization).
Glazman was responsible for gathering intelligence about the German and Lithuanian forces, training new recruits, and organizing housing within the ghetto.
He was killed in a gunfight with the Germans in the Naroch Forest in October 1943."

"An Italian soldier and Italian sailor hug as they celebrate the announcement that Italy has declared war on Germany.
For many soldiers, their rejoicing would be short-lived.
Italy's new government, headed by Marshal Pietro Badoglio, surrendered to the Allies on September 8, and five weeks later King Victor Emmanuel III took the next step, declaring war on Germany.
As a result, hundreds of thousands of Italian soldiers in the regions controlled by German troops were disarmed by the Germans and sent to internment camps.
Thousands perished."

"A Jew, recently apprehended by a Danish Nazi (center, in black raincoat and hat), is rescued by his fellow Danes.
As the Nazi escorted the Jew through the streets, an angry crowd forced him to surrender his prisoner to the Danish police.
Once safely inside the police station, the gendarmes helped the Jew escape.
The Danish police consistently refused to cooperate with the German occupation authorities."

“U.S. Fliers Down 102 planes.....”

Not so much....

The Munster raid was an expensive flop, actually. 30 Bombers and crews confirmed lost, 3 immediate write-offs, and 102 damaged out of 236 that crossed the coast. This does not include Bomber Command losses, either.

The 100th Bomb Group was almost completely wiped out after this raid, and previous losses.

The returning bombers claimed 183 kills, but Luftwaffe records show only 27 losses/writeoffs, across all Euro fronts.

It's little appreciated and for obvious reasons not much discussed that the bombing campaign was 100% effective but in ways nobody expected. The goal was to destroy production os the Luftwaffe ON THE GROUND by taking out manufacturing, ball bearing lands, and fuel refineries. That was only partially successful. Speer increased production from 1943-1944.

Instead,our bombers became bait to lure up the Luftwaffe where it was destroyed by tight bomber formations (not as well) and then long range fighter escorts (devastatingly). In June 1944, Germany was using one-third of its entire military production vs. western bombers! This was when they desperately needed air support in the east.

In 1879, Lord Chelmsford used his column, marching in the open, to do the same thing with the Zulus, who were slaughtered when they attacked compact British lines of volley fire and Gatling guns.

And, in Iraq, quite by accident, we found that our troops on the ground acted as the same lure to pull in Al-Qaeda from all over the world Zaqwari was a Jordanian). I call it the roach motel technique: put the hotel out and the roaches will come.