Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

OKINAWA GAINS ARE SLOWED AS RESISTANCE INTENSIFIES; BIG B-29 FORCE HITS TOKYO (5/19/45)
Microfilm-New York Times archives, Monterey Public Library | 5/19/45 | W.H. Lawrence, George E. Jones, Lindesay Parrott, Sidney Shalett, Harold Callender, Gladwin Hill

Posted on 05/19/2015 4:31:18 AM PDT by Homer_J_Simpson

1

 photo 0519-hill_zpshfnjrlyp.jpg

2

 photo 0519-hill2_zpsfz1wsdfk.jpg

3

 photo 0519-hill3_zpsri0onhtv.jpg

4

 photo 0519-hill4_zps04zfg20m.jpg

5

 photo 0519-hill5_zpslgyrs5ni.jpg

6

 photo 0519-hill6_zpss6li7yi3.jpg

7

 photo 0519-hill7_zpspdgu6hjf.jpg

8

 photo 0519-hill8_zpssu7io6gh.jpg

9

 photo 0519-hill9_zps9rberajy.jpg

10

 photo 0519-hill10_zpshaxteoku.jpg

11

 photo 0519-hill11_zps1j6gci7s.jpg


TOPICS: Extended News
KEYWORDS: history; milhist; realtime; worldwarii
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-34 last
To: Homer_J_Simpson
Once again, you've cured some of my ignorance, this time regarding use of POWs after the war. I knew that Russia had kept millions of German soldiers, many of whom never returned, but I was unaware of similar Allied actions. Yesterday's thread described French and British retention of German POWs for rebuilding, and today we read about America keeping Germans and Italians.

What I find interesting, personally, is how I've never even considered the subject before now. No book or movie I've read or seen mentioned it--they focused on the war itself--and apparently I have little imagination or curiosity. There's a lesson for me there....

21 posted on 05/19/2015 1:15:30 PM PDT by Hebrews 11:6 (Do you REALLY believe that (1) God IS, and (2) God IS GOOD?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: Hebrews 11:6; Homer_J_Simpson

Don’t be fooled by the stern tone of the article regarding the German POWs. A lot of them had it better here than they would have had it back in Europe. A plant engineer my dad worked with was one of them. He stayed in a “camp” in Louisiana where he was employed in farm labor. They lived in a barracks/dormitory setting, worked on farms during the days, occasionally had dinner with the farm families, and got weekend passes to go into town to the movies, etc...

And like my dad’s acquaintance, a lot of them found reasons to get back here after they were repatriated.

Contrast this with the experiences of the Germans taken by the Soviets, who were literally worked to death in the camps, held until 1955, overwhelmingly chose repatriation to West Germany, not East Germany, and never had a reason to go back.


22 posted on 05/19/2015 1:47:46 PM PDT by henkster (Do I really need a sarcasm tag?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 21 | View Replies]

To: Hebrews 11:6; Homer_J_Simpson
My inlaws were friends with a man in Nebraska who was a former POW. I met him once. Great guy always had beer in the fridge.

He had done farm work in the area during the war and managed to return and eventually get citizenship.

He was from Breslau, Silesia, which as studious members of Homer's class we all know was being handed to Poland to compensate for the land Stalin stole from them in the East. The world he knew was disappearing. He lied about where he was from so they'd ship him to the western zone.

The farmers were short labor during the war but the demand for foodstuffs was high. The POW's had nothing else to do and could make some money on the side. None of them were under any illusion they could find their way on their own back to Germany from the American Midwest. A win-win.

23 posted on 05/19/2015 1:57:30 PM PDT by colorado tanker
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 21 | View Replies]

To: Homer_J_Simpson

Hermann Göring is captured by forces of the American Seventh Army. (Gene Hanson)


Hasn’t he already been a prisoner for several days? There have been interviews with him from captivity in the paper already.


24 posted on 05/19/2015 5:15:04 PM PDT by Tenlein
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: Tenlein

Yes, they got the wrong date on that one.


25 posted on 05/19/2015 5:23:22 PM PDT by Homer_J_Simpson ("Every nation has the government that it deserves." - Joseph de Maistre (1753-1821))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 24 | View Replies]

To: Homer_J_Simpson

I noticed that the front page main headline is getting smaller.


26 posted on 05/19/2015 5:59:54 PM PDT by Steven Scharf
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Steven Scharf

Correct. I don’t think we have see a headline smaller than 4 columns since before D-Day.


27 posted on 05/19/2015 6:06:33 PM PDT by Homer_J_Simpson ("Every nation has the government that it deserves." - Joseph de Maistre (1753-1821))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 26 | View Replies]

To: Homer_J_Simpson

Thank you, sir!


28 posted on 05/19/2015 6:24:02 PM PDT by DickBrannigan (When did logic become reversed, and right became wrong, and wrong became right?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies]

To: henkster
overwhelmingly chose repatriation to West Germany, not East Germany, and never had a reason to go back.

The policy was that they were repatriated to where they were from, unless they had family ties (such as having married a local girl) to another area. If you were from Dresden, you went back to Dresden. If you were from Munich, you went back to Munich. You didn't get to pick.

29 posted on 05/19/2015 6:49:22 PM PDT by PAR35
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 22 | View Replies]

To: henkster; colorado tanker; Homer_J_Simpson; Uncle Miltie
henkster: "American forces slated for Olympic were 14 divisions, with a projected strength of just under 700,000 men..."

My Dad's 33rd Infantry is now scheduled and training to land in the first wave.
His job is evacuating wounded & dead from the battlefield, which means he's not usually right in front lines, but still close enough to sometimes come under fire.
Given Japanese fanaticism, and heavy casualties in US units, I don't see how he's going to make it... which means, I won't be here... how's that going to work?

Uncle Miltie: "Nuke ‘em, I say!"

What's a nukem?

30 posted on 05/20/2015 4:26:49 AM PDT by BroJoeK (a little historical perspective...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: Homer_J_Simpson; henkster; colorado tanker
page 10 headline: "Youth Panel Assays Problems of Peace"

In high school, in the early 1960s I attended a similar "Student United Nations" session, in San Francisco -- remember it as being a long drive from Monterey, for a boring meeting.

Curious to note these began in 1945, and I suppose, continue to this day.
So why are not the world's problems all solved by now?

31 posted on 05/20/2015 4:40:57 AM PDT by BroJoeK (a little historical perspective...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: BroJoeK

My dad was scheduled to be a replacement for your dad after he was killed or wounded. Then someone would have replaced him. And a whole lot of us wouldn’t be here.


32 posted on 05/20/2015 5:13:13 AM PDT by henkster (Do I really need a sarcasm tag?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 30 | View Replies]

To: henkster; BroJoeK
My father's division was also scheduled to land in Olympic. But he had already been evacuated to a stateside hospital.

So I would be here anyhow.

Neener neener.

33 posted on 05/20/2015 5:23:16 AM PDT by Homer_J_Simpson ("Every nation has the government that it deserves." - Joseph de Maistre (1753-1821))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 32 | View Replies]

To: BroJoeK; Homer_J_Simpson; henkster
Oh, it's still around, Joe. High schools have teams that compete in UN simulations.

Great question. So, why aren't all the world's problems solved?

Maybe what they created in San Francisco was flawed from the start?

34 posted on 05/20/2015 10:32:54 AM PDT by colorado tanker
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 31 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-34 last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson