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To: Congressman Billybob
I was up until 3:15 a.m. this morning, tracking down real figures on attacks, sabotage and casualties in Germany after WW II. Finally found the records for VII Corps (Patton's unit). Sent the info to Jerry Agar on-air in Raleigh, who's temporarily filling in for their morning man. He broke the story this morning.

So are you just going to drive us crazy or are you going to inform us good folk who don't live anywhere near Raleigh what they are?

I'm going to guess that the number of deaths is about 600.

46 posted on 07/21/2003 7:06:53 PM PDT by Tribune7
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To: Tribune7
So far, I've only been able to get the data for VII Corps, which was only part of the American occupation of Germany, which as you recall was divided into four sectors -- American, British, French and Russian. But here are the conclusions:

1. The US had about the same number of troops in Germany after WW II as it now has in Iraq. (That makes comparisons very easy.)

2. If VII Corps (Patton's unit) was typical of the other units, the US suffered the same casualties, meaning both wounded and killed, by enemy action in Germany then, as it is in Iraq today. And the casualties continued at about the same rate for almost a year.

3. The nature of sabotage in Germany was different -- US communications depended on transmission over wires strung on poles, and those were the primary target -- but the number of acts of sabotage were about the same.

4. Heinrich Himmler, head of the SS, created the "Werewolves" just before Germany fell. It used recruits as young as 12 to carry out armed attacks on Americans, and others. About half the attacks, however, were by German soldiers and some foreigners who entered the country to carry out such attacks. These were not organized centrally.

5. Most people belived until December, 1945, that Hitler might still be alive and encouraging the attacks. General Eisenhower was still under standing orders to "capture Hitler." There were rumors that Hitler was operating out of Bavaria, or Argentina, among others. Documents captured in December finally pinned down the suicide of Hitler and Eva Braun and the burning of their bodies outside the Bunker, in May, 1945.

6. Neither the New York Times nor any other major American news outlet said of Germany in 1945-46 that the US was "in a quagmire," or that the losses "were excessive," or that the American people were growing "tired of the losses," or that the war "might not have been justified." In short, the differences between 1945-46 and 2003-2004 are not in the facts on the ground, but solely in how the press is reacting to the facts on the ground.

You will, no doubt, see that every paragraph above from the history of US soldiers in Germany after WW II is a nearly identical parallel to the current situation in Iraq. If these facts are dug out and finally reported, putting the German occupation side by side with the Iraq one, it will be another battle for truth that began on the Internet, and I am the person who fired the first shot in that battle.

Congressman Billybob

P.S. I hope that satisfactorily answers your questions. If your estimate of 600 casualties then includes wounded, it is slightly high. If it is deaths only, it is way high.

47 posted on 07/21/2003 7:26:12 PM PDT by Congressman Billybob ("Don't just stand there. Run for Congress." www.ArmorforCongress.com)
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