What REALLY irked Adolf Hitler about Ike: No, not the fact that Eisenhower was Supreme Commander

daily mail ^ | 9/11/2019 | dominic lawson

[max americana]

"This bizarrely conflicted view was even more pronounced in Hitler’s attitude towards the U.S. In World War I, Corporal Hitler had been given two captured American soldiers to escort back to his brigade HQ and he was appalled by the fact that the pair were of German descent.

From that moment on, Hitler was transfixed by the notion that the best of Germans had emigrated to the U.S. (attracted by the potential for self-realisation in its vastness) and that Germany should prove itself to be a mighty state that would persuade its ‘children’ to return.

Hitler would constantly complain that ‘American soil had been fertilised by Germans’ and that his historical mission was to reverse that process.

Simms points out: ‘In the late 1930s, he briefly experimented with a really quite grotesque plan for an international “exchange” of German-Americans for German Jews.’

SNIP

As Simms writes: ‘The Fuhrer was aware that the supreme command of the Allied Expeditionary Force had been given to Dwight Eisenhower, descended from the Eisenhauers . . . who left the Saarland for Pennsylvania.’

Then there was General Clarence Huebner, General Walter Lauer, General Donald Stroh, General Paul Baade and General Bertram Hoffmeister — all from German emigrant families, leading the pulverisation of Hitler’s regime.

[Berosus]

“I know Eisenhower was a career Army man but he had no combat experience. He was a good administrator but I wonder if he had an advisor.”

Before the war, Eisenhower himself was an advisor to Douglas MacArthur in the Philippines. Years later, when somebody asked Eisenhower if he had met MacArthur, he answered, “I studied dramatics under him for seven years.” And the first president of the Philippines, Manuel Quezon, liked Eisenhower, because while MacArthur tended to describe every situation as better than it really was, Eisenhower answered all his questions truthfully.

[Southside_Chicago_Republican]

Yep. When I get back to the area, I am always struck by all of the German surnames, place names, blond hair and rosy cheeks, which I don’t often run into where I am now. It’s like getting reacquainted with...home.

[Jumper]

Marx and Lenin suck so much that the best of Europe escaped before the royal families created a new class of rulers to keep the surfs in line. Tossing as God and their Devine right of kings... Communist and socialist stuffs became the new Pope on the block. At least Hitler was a decent Corporal.

[Oatka]

Hitler hated the Prussians, and all the Generals with the “vons” in their names.

My dad came over here in the early '20s. He was a cadet in the German navy in WWI and said that he hated all the "vons" at the academy as they were penniless but acted like they were millionaires with their class attitude.

The sidebar here is second or third hand as he never said anything to us about it. The superintendent across the street (son was a buddy of mine) fought with the Germans on the Russian front and he and my dad would talk about "The Old Country".

His son said he heard my old man say that he got into the academy because his father was a game-keeper on the Kaiser's estate and pulled some strings. Because of that my dad stayed loyal to the Kaiser when the fleet mutinied and gained everlasting hatred from his Communist shipmates. Said that was why he bailed to the U.S., as during the turmoil after the war, "they were after me."

He was the only one to survive WWII. Grandpa and grandpa were killed in the air raids. I have two middle names, after my dad's two brothers, one in the army, the other the navy, who disappeared in the war.

[dfwgator]

It was going to be either the Communists or the Nazis taking over Germany in the 1930s.

[Sirius Lee]

I know Eisenhower was a career Army man but he had no combat experience. He was a good administrator but I wonder if he had an advisor.

it has been said (and I think proven) that amateurs talk of strategy but the pros talk logistics.

[Albion Wilde]

Dwight Eisenhower, descended from the Eisenhauers . . . who left the Saarland for Pennsylvania.’ Then there was General Clarence Huebner, General Walter Lauer, General Donald Stroh, General Paul Baade and General Bertram Hoffmeister —

And Freidrick Trumpf.

[Cvengr]

My grandfather fought both in WWI and WWII, with his being a Medic at Rapido. Still noted in his National Geographic World Atlas.

[Bonemaker]

“The death verdict against Kesselring generated outrage in the United Kingdom, where Kesselring was viewed sympathetically by his former foes, including the former Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, and Alexander, who sent a telegram to Prime Minister Clement Attlee in which he expressed his hope that Kesselring’s sentence would be commuted.....

As his old opponent on the battlefield”, he stated, “I have no complaints against him. Kesselring and his soldiers fought against us hard but clean.”

Death sentence and eventually prison were commuted and he was basically exonerated.

[M. Thatcher]

IKEA’s greatest mistake was allowing Monty to execute Market Garden...

Nope. IKEA’s greatest mistake was wordless assembly directions.

[nopardons]

I'm NOT the one who is "confused"; not I !

How many years ago did those German scholars decided that others ( not I; but the books and articles I've read ) wrote "pure fantasy" ?

In 1989, as a sequel to his A NERVOUS SPLENDOR, Frederic Morton published THUNDER AT TWILIGHT, which has many chapters laying out, in full detail, which I paraphrased and posted snippets of. And he did extensive research, from original papers, notes, and letters. I suggest that you read his books!

Add to that, as background to what led up to WWI, there's FRANCIS JOSEPH AND HIS COURT, by Herbert Vivian, published in 1917 an is taken from the memoirs of Count Roger De Resseguier, the son of Franz Joseph's Court Chamberlain. I have a first edition ( 1917 ) of this, which I inherited from my great grandmother.And in it, written in pencil, by a woman ( a friend of my great grandmother's ) who was a member of this court, are corrections to incorrect info, as well as her own memories of what it was REALLY like!

From THUNDER AT TWILIGHT, page 192 :"......April 1914,Gravrilo Princep knew one thing for sure. He knew that he must reach Apis or at least one of his men. They would help him achieve his purpose."

"......an authentic agent of the Black Hand, the Serbian Army Major, Voislav Tankosic."

Tankosic claimed that he would make contact with Apis, but when the news of the Emperor's ill health came, things were called of for a while.

p. 219-222 discusses how Princip and two of his friends met with three black hooded and black robed members of The Black hand, what the assassins were asked, what they replied, the oath they took, and that they were given cyanide pill.

I'm not going to type out each page in this book and suggest that you read it.

And as a prelude to the above, I have the first edition of the 1917 book FRANCIS JOSEPH AND HIS COURT by Herbert Vivian, from the memoirs of Roger De Resseguier, that was given to my great grandmother by a friend, who had been a Lady In Waiting at this Court and wrote in pencil corrections to some statements in this book, as well as some of her first hand memories of these times.

I shan't go into why all of this is a rather personal thing for me, but will state that I am of Hungarian descent and have written NO "fantasy" at all, on this thread.

[BroJoeK]

nopardons: "How many years ago did those German scholars decided that others ( not I; but the books and articles I've read ) wrote "pure fantasy" ? "

David Fromkin's book, "Europe's Last Summer, Who Started the Great War in 1914?" is copyright 2004.
It is based largely on German research after WWII.
So it takes into account previous works, such as you mentioned.

I would not claim, because I don't know if, Fromkin's are the last words on this subject, and will be quite interested in anything published since 2004.

But naturally many Germans did not want to take the blame for the First World War and did their best to hide the evidence.
Fortunately for history, copies of original documents were kept in scattered places to be tracked down by intrepid investigators.

nopardons: "p. 219-222 discusses how Princip and two of his friends met with three black hooded and black robed members of The Black hand, what the assassins were asked, what they replied, the oath they took, and that they were given cyanide pill. "

Right, I have no doubt that member of Serbia's Black Hand were involved with Princips & Co., but some people still dispute that Apis himself directed them.
And nowhere that I've seen does it say Russians were involved.

[nopardons]

Personally, I didn't give a flaming DAMN what a bunch of Germans, following WW II had to say about the assassination of the heir apparent to the Austro-Hungarian throne in 1914! As of course they were ( and still ARE ) trying to exculpate their actions or lack thereof.

I'm not going to read all of my books, nor even just one of them, and then carefully type out exact quotes and page numbers, just to prove to YOU that calling what I previously posted, WHICH IS HISTORICALLY CORRECT, is "fantasy"! Believe me or don't; however, IF this is a topic that you are interested in, I suggest that you read the first two books, at the least, that I mentioned' especially the one that I quoted. But you'll have to do without my family's eye witness accounts...as I try very hard to not post such personal things on an open thread.

Supposedly there are now available reprints of my 1917 book; however, none of them are going to contain the handwritten notes, that my book has...so that's not going to help things any.

There's an awful lot of background info, vis-a-vis the assassination and WW I, that must be taken into consideration, when talking about this horrific war! But that's off this thread's topic and I try to not take over a thread, with off topic stuff. Perhaps, someday, there'll be a thread here, where we can get into all of that.

[BroJoeK]

Sorry, but your cute idea that Austrians only wanted an apology and for lack of it WWI started is truly just fantasy, but whose exactly?

The real truth is that with prodding from the Kaiser’s High Command Austria issued a (iirc) 10 point ultimatum, which the Serbs accepted in whole except for minor modifications to one point.

That was the start of WWI, FRiend.
It’s all in the book.

[nopardons]

What you wrote is only partly true!

Read "THUNDER AT TWILIGHT" for starters.

You apparently are stuck with your opinion, that you read in one book, without understanding the entire picture; nor what preceded it all, diplomacy of that time, the complete player list, nor why that war could have been at the least, somewhat forestalled.

[NorseViking]

British Empire belongs on top.

[BroJoeK]

nopardons: "You apparently are stuck with your opinion, that you read in one book, without understanding the entire picture; nor what preceded it all, diplomacy of that time, the complete player list, nor why that war could have been at the least, somewhat forestalled. "

My little library of First World War books begins with Tuchman & Fromkin, includes MacMillan, Ferguson, Keegan, Mossier & Catherwood.
Today there are very few who still find the Great War controversial enough to debate, but there are still many who buy the German propaganda -- which Germans like Hitler himself believed -- that first, Germans did not start it and second, that Germans did not lose that war.

It's what drove Germans to Round Two in 1939.

In fact, by 1900 Germany was the great revisionist power, growing population, growing industrial power, growing cultural influence, growing military prowess.
And "lebensraum" was not something Hitler invented, it was around when Hitler was born.
So Fromkin's book "Europe's Last Summer" reviews the age overall and then reveals events between the Kaiser's High Command and Austria -- how Germans pushed reluctant Austrians into war and then responded to mobilization by Russia with a German invasion of... Belgium & France.

Sure, other countries played roles too -- by refusing to accept Austria's aggression against Serbia, or refusing to accept Germany's declaration of war against Russia, they expanded a small local conflict into global war.
But it all began with the Kaiser's High Command pushing reluctant Austrians to issue war ultimatums and then not accept Serbia's compliant response.

Fromkin's c2004 chapter titles:

Prologue
Out of the Blue
The Importance of the Question
A Summer to Remember

Part One: Europe's Tensions

1. Empires Clash
2. Classes Struggle
3. Nations Quarrel
4. Countries Arm
5. Zarathustra Prophesies
6. Diplomats Align

   Part Two: Walking Through Minefields

7. The Eastern Question
8. A challenge for the Archduke
9. Explosive Germany

   Part Three: Drifting Toward War

10. Macedonia -- Out of Control
11. Austria -- First off the Mark
12. France and Germany Make their Play
13. Italy Grasps; Then the Balkans Do Too
14. The Slavic Tide
15. Europe Goes to the Brink
16. More Balkan Tremors
17. An American Tries to Stop it

    Part Four: Murder!

18. The Last Waltz
19. In the Land of the Assassins
20. The Russian Connection
21. The Terrorists Strike
22. Europe Yawns
23. Disposing of the Bodies
24. Rounding up the Suspects

    Part Five: Telling Lies

25. Germany signs a Blank Check
26. The Great Deception
27. Berchtold Runs Out of Time
28. The Secret is Kept

    Part Six: Crisis!

29. The Fait is not Accompli
30. Presenting an Ultimatum
31. Serbia More or Less Accepts

    Part Seven: Countdown

32. to 42: Day by Day timeline of events

    Chapter 43: Shredding the Evidence

    Part Eight: Conclusion, the Mystery Solved

    Epilogue

From Chapter 20: The Russian Connection:

"Was Russia somehow involved in the plot against Austria's future leader?
In government circles, people asked that question at the time, and in scholarly circles, academics have asked that question ever since.

Russian involvement would have made little sense.
Franz Ferdinand was the leading pro-Russian in his government; therefore removing him from the scene would have run counter to Russia's interests.
Of course his political views were misunderstood elsewhere, so perhaps they were in St. Petersburg as well.
Perhaps the extent of his friendship was not fully understood.
But as a champion of monarchism throughout Europe, surely, on fiercely held principle, the Czar would have opposed such a murder."

[Vigilanteman]

Anzio Beachhead was not in Germany proper. Thus, MacArthur’s boast would have still made sense if he had excluded every battle from Iwo Jima onward. But, he didn’t.