Why WWII started…

@DiegoMaxwell

Congratulations to Mr. Prewitt. It should be noted, however, that France’s highest order of merit is called the Legion of Honour (Légion d’honneur), not the Legion of Armour, and also that France doesn’t actually have knighthoods in the same sense as Britain does. “Chevalier” (knight) is indeed one of the Legion of Honour’s five levels, and the name is a holdover from the days when France still had an aristocracy, but the French nobility system went out the window with the French Revolution. I once saw a series of amusing cartoons depicting what life in France would be like today if the Bourbon monarchy hadn’t fallen, and one of them showed an irate air traveler standing at the ticket counter of “Royal Air France” and telling the ticket agent “But I’m a baron and I have a confirmed reservation!” The agent replies, “I’m sorry, sir, but the Duke of So-and-so has precedence over you, so we gave him your seat.” In fairness, the same sort of thing actually happens in real-life republican France. A few years ago, there was scandal involving one of the major D-Day anniversaries (I think it was the 50th one), when the French government contacted various hotels in Normany and appropriated some of their existing reservations so that various French officials could have rooms for the event. Some of those rooms, however, had been reserved by foreign veterans of the D-Day invasion. When the story broke on the front page of French newspapers (under such headlines as “Our Liberators Insulted!”), public opinion was outraged and the French government beat a hasty retreat. The prevailing editorial opinion over this affair was: Do this to our own citizens if you want, but don’t do this to the heroes who ended the occupation of France.

Hi all,

My Great Uncle Reginald Bethuy fought in the 101st Airborne Division, 401st Infantry Regiment and was KIA in October 1944. He’s buried in the Netherlands American Cemetery and on behalf of my grandmother (his sister - now 89 years old with failing health), I’m flying from Michigan to Margraten for Memorial Day to pay respects to him and those he fought with. Also to the woman who has tended to his grave since 1944. To this day, my grandma laments that “he should have never went.” With her dementia setting in, she still remembers him. It will be a one of a kind experience for all of us.

I am setting up a fundraiser for this trip and to fund a beautiful wooden memorial case for his burial flag (still in the original box mailed to my grandma’s house with a note accompanying it). If you could pass it on, even not willing to give anything, that would mean the world to us. Just to get this story out there - that the wounds of WWII NEVER go away - even 80+ years later.

Thank you!
Stephanie B.

gofundme.com/journey-to-reginalds-grave

He used it in the same manner as Hitler ( incorrectly) used Stalingrad to engage the bulk of German forces that are not bearing down against Moscow.

Germany had essentially two options here. 1) Capture the city quickly, before the defenses could be built up. 2) Capture it via siege.

I don’t think that creating an urban combat situation, in which Germany attempted to capture the city street by street, would have been viable. In typical combat situations German soldiers had a 3:1 or 4:1 advantage in combat effectiveness over their Soviet counterparts. But in urban, street-to-street fighting the ratio was about 1:1. Germany could not afford anything even remotely approaching that 1:1 ratio, which is why something other than street-to-street fighting was necessary.

Von Manstein wrote that during the Barbarossa operation of '41 there had been a perfectly good opportunity to take Leningrad. But that this was wasted, allowing the Soviets to fortify it.

The other option would have been to do a better job of putting it under siege. This would have entailed tightening the cordon around the city, preventing just about anything from making it through. I think there was a case when Germany attempted exactly that. However, at the same time the Soviets were attempting to break the siege, so each side’s offensive encountered the other’s. From a tactical view there may have been more Germany could have done. But I think the real problem was strategic: the Soviet Union had too much military strength. A discussion on how to address that problem is probably outside the scope of this thread.

@CWO:

Italy didn’t hold on to British Somalia for very long.  Britain recaptured it in early 1941, and likewise liberated Ethiopia and conquered Italian Somaliland.  Germany didn’t save Italy’s rear end in that part of Africa, nor did it even intervene as far as I know;

I believe the Suez Canal was closed  :wink:

I’m going to go with a guy not on the list, Col. Aaron Bank. This type of mission sounds right up his alley…

I like them all actually…each theater of war had its own atmosphere…

The Eastern Front:  Genocide on a grand scale…the greatest tank battles of the war (KURSK, KHARKOV)  and Operation Barbarossa…the ultimate attack plan…and of course Stalingrad…the ultimate turning point of the war

The Western Front: From the greatest evacuation in history (Dunkirk) to the greatest invasion in history (Normandy) to the greatest gamble in history (Bulge)…nothing like fighting on the Western Front

The North African Front:  Nothing like watching a Desert Fox claim victory wherever he went…ultimate battles such as Tobruk, Kasserine Pass, and El Alamein…and how British General Montgomery finally showed his brilliance…

The Mediterranean Front:  The drive under Europe’s soft underbelly…Sicilly, Salerno, Anzio…the great Italian Campaign and the word PATTON becomes a household name…

The Battle of the Atlantic:  U-boats, BISMARCK, SCHARNHORST, Convoy PQ-17, Operation Torch…need i say more?

The Pacific Theater:  Pearl Harbor, Midway, the Solomons, Leyte, to name a few basically the greatest naval war in history…

The China-Burma-India Theater:  The Burma road must stay open…the Flying Tigers and China’s plight against the Japanese…the most intense fighting in the Pacific War

I know u only wanted a favorite,but where to choose…

BTW…LETS GIVE OUR THANKS TO THE MEN AND WOMEN WHO FOUGHT AND GAVE THEIR LIVES IN THESE THEATERS OF WAR…FOR WITHOUT THEM…WE WOULDN’T BE ABLE TO CHOOSE OUR FAVORITES

It was built, Panzer Leader.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_battleship_Ise