Subject: WWII-L Digest - 24 Sep 1994 to 25 Sep 1994

From: Automatic digest processor <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 26 Sep 1994 00:01:07 -0400

There are 24 messages totalling 671 lines in this issue.

Topics of the day:

  1. INF: USN Chronology 09-25-94
  2. MEDIA: Radio Memory (3)
  3. Merchant Marines (2)
  4. INF: 50 Years Ago - 26-SEP-1944
  5. the bomb
  6. WAR PLAN ORANGE (2)
  7. aricraft arms
  8. Island Hopping & the
  9. Re[2]: TRIV: Weapons in movie _The Cross of Iron_ (2)
 10. [INF] USAAF 26 SEP 44
 11. Smithsonian/American Legion Press Release (2)
 12. Smithsonian/American Legion Press Releas (3)
 13. Geographical situation and treatment of German POW (3)
 14. Addr: Acts of Nature

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date:    Sun, 25 Sep 1994 02:32:29 PDT
From:    "Keller, Theron P." <[email-masked]>
Subject: INF: USN Chronology 09-25-94

UNITED STATES NAVY CHRONOLOGY
from:
//byrd.mu.wvnet.edu/pub/history/military/wwii/naval_chronology/chr4(4,5).txt

1944
09/25 Mon. Submarine NAUTILUS (SS-168) lands supplies on Cebu,
           P. I.
            United States naval vessel sunk:
             Minelayer MIANTONOMAH (CM-10), by mine, Normandy
              area
              49 d. 27'N., 00 d. 17'E.

Theron P. Keller
Logicon, Inc.
Dahlgren, VA  22448 USA
[email-masked]

------------------------------

Date:    Sun, 25 Sep 1994 10:47:45 +0059
From:    Ira H Krakow <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: MEDIA: Radio Memory

On Sat, 24 Sep 1994, Sidney Allinson wrote:

> This discussion reminds me how bizarre I thought it was during the Gulf War,
> to have people like Peter Arnette reporting "live" from Baghdad -- the
> enemy capital -- during American air-raids.
> It struck me at the time, how strange it would have seemed for, say,
> EDward R. Morrow to have been making radio broadcasts from Berlin in
> WW2 during an air-raid by the USAAF.
>         Strange shift in outlook today.
>
> --
>
Sidney,

   I thought it was a very instructive antidote to the "spin" of the
military briefers that we had totally annihilated Iraq's "command
and control".  How could Peter Arnett (sic) be transmitting to us
at the same time we were led to believe that Saddam couldn't be
transmitting messages to his generals?

   I would have loved to see Murrow (sic) broadcasting from Berlin.
There were some great broadcasts by William L. Shirer from there up
until Pearl Harbor.  My problem with the media is that they tend to
snuggle up to dictators too easily.  Well before the war, had TV been
like it is today, Hitler would have hired a press agent and appeared
on 20/20 with Barbara Walters, surrounded by Eva and the family dog,
while Barbara asked him his favorite color.

------------------------------

Date:    Sun, 25 Sep 1994 08:47:10 -0700
From:    John Davis <[email-masked]>
Subject: Merchant Marines

Are their any sources on the Internet that have ship histories
about specific merchant ships in WWII. My father served on the
S.S. Valoerdie during the war. He passed away a number of years
back; but I would like to learn more about the ship he served on
- like where it went, what happened to it, etc.

John

------------------------------

Date:    Sun, 25 Sep 1994 10:46:10 -0700
From:    John Davis <[email-masked]>
Subject: INF: 50 Years Ago - 26-SEP-1944

On 26-SEP-1944, the following occurred -

World War II - The Battlefronts
-------------------------------
Western Front - The Allied offensive in Belgium and Holland continues. As the
advance of the XXX Corps to the Rhine is consolidated Turnhout and Oss are
taken.

Italian Front - The 8th Army crosses the Rubicon River as their advance
continues.

Peleliu - The Marines reach the point at which the western and eatern roads
meet at the foot of Mount Amiangal in the north of the island. Special units
with flame-throwers and tanks attack the Japanese positions towards the south,
blocking pill-boxes with earth and stones and directing flames through the
slots. By evening Hill 120 is in US hands.

Angaur - The 322nd Infantry succeeds in making a small advance into the
northern part of the Lake Salome basin.

=============================================================================

Sources: "2194 Days of War" by Cesare Salmaggi and Alfredo Pallavisimi, "The
World Almanac Book Of WW II" by Peter Young, "Facts On File Yearbook 1944,
Person's Index Of World Events" edited by R.L. Lapica.

----------
John Davis  [email-masked]
Cary, N.C.
----------

------------------------------

Date:    Sun, 25 Sep 1994 14:28:38 EDT
From:    Cassady Craft <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: MEDIA: Radio Memory

Ira,

Peter Arnett/CNN has/d better satelite capability than Saddam would ever have
dreamed of!  Saddam probably couldn't even take advantage of CNN because of
the nature of his regime, i.e. not letting information in.  I've always
wondered how Saddam played the post-war thing.  I can imagine his selecting
some of the riot scenes from LA or Chicago (after da bulls) and saying that
this was popular protest against the American president who "lost" the
PGW.  Then, he had to have been crowing when Bush lost the next election,
especially to an anti-military type.  Now the "Imperialist" label will
certainly crop up again--if not now then in the future when the "revisionists"
come around!

As far as the discussion on the press goes, I think sooner or later we will
have to either agree to disagree about the utility of the press, or recognize
the conflicts between the press and the military as both a strenght and
weakness, and get on with problems that can be solved.  After all, we are
discussing a delimma, which by definition cannot be solved.

Cassady Craft
Department of Political Science
University of Georgia
e-mail [email-masked]
or
[email-masked]

------------------------------

Date:    Sun, 25 Sep 1994 16:40:44 -0500
From:    Drew Halevy <[email-masked]>
Subject: the bomb

A questions for those old enough to remember-

I was talking to my father, and a question arose-(actually two questions)
Where were you when you heard the bomb was dropped, and what details did
you hear about the bomb?

My father was [86th Div the Blackhawks] on a hospital shop (the George
Washington, a captured German ship) on his way back to the the US. He
heard about the bomb from the shipboard newspaper. Interestingly, he says
that the concept of the bomb to those on the ship in Aug 1945 was simply
a larger conventional weapon. My father said that it would not be later that
people got a better understanding of the concept of atomic weapons. just
wondering-thanks-Drew

Drew Halevy
Department of History
University of Arkansas
[email-masked]
"Incoming rounds have the right of way"

------------------------------

Date:    Sun, 25 Sep 1994 20:37:00 UTC
From:    "Edward S. Miller" <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: WAR PLAN ORANGE

Cassady:
  No need to send the book.  Give me your address and I'll mail you a
suitable inscription on a paste-in label (orange color, of course).
  My next work is tentatively called "The First U.S.-Japan Economic War,
1900-1941."  At my usual breakneck pace, I estimate publication about 1998.
  Ed Miller  [email-masked]

------------------------------

Date:    Sun, 25 Sep 1994 18:34:45 -0400
From:    Ron Babuka <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: aricraft arms

Was that the cannon or the Bell aircraft ;)

>Hello, Ron!
>
>Thanks for the info. Any idea as to its performance and was it
>successfully used in combat?
>
>    Terry
>
>> Both the P-39 Airacobra and P-63 Kingcobra carried as standard armament one
>> American Armament Corporation's 37 MM T-9 cannon.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ron Babuka
Cornell University
CIT - Information Resources
Ithaca, New York 14850
(607) 254-6492

------------------------------

Date:    Sun, 25 Sep 1994 20:35:00 UTC
From:    "Edward S. Miller" <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Island Hopping & the

 On 23 Sep 1994, Jeff wrote:
  > It just seemed to me that you could possibly find a small island
  > without anyone on it to use for an airbase.  Maybe that is a stupid
  > assumption, since that's what everyone would think, thus occupying most
  > all of the islands with some kind of force.

  Excellent observation, Jeff.  In the Marshalls and Carolines there were so
many atolls with big lagoons that they couldn't all be defended by the
Japanese.  Thus the occupations of two of the most splendid US advance fleet
bases were unopposed.  US troops found three Japanese on Majuro and none on
Ulithi; Japan had abandoned bases on both islands.  And the splendid base on
Manus, Admiralty Islands, was easily taken against light opposition by an
American operation intended as a "reconnaissance in force"
  In other locales, there was one and only one island to fill the strategic
need.  Iwo was such a place, the only island halfway between the B-29 bases
in the Marianas and Tokyo that was flat enough for an airfield.  We
ultimately had 4 airstrips there for fighter protection and emergency
landings of the bombers.  Japan knew its value and defended it heavily.
Strategically it was probably worth the cost.  Same can be said of Okinawa.
Unfortunately not true of Peleliu; there were other suitable islands in the
vicinity that were lightly defended and could have been had cheaply.
  So geography generally made the difference but sometimes mistakes wee
made.
  Ed Miller   [email-masked]

------------------------------

Date:    Sun, 25 Sep 1994 18:44:31 CDT
From:    Tim not Timothy Scherrer <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re[2]: TRIV: Weapons in movie _The Cross of Iron_

Someone said something about the helmets in Cross of Iron not being
Russian but Italian--10 years ago a russian helmet was pretty difficult
yo come by--with prices of up to $100 ten years ago--the Italian models
were a dime a dozen.  The Italian helmets were approved for wear by the
WWII HRS in lieu of Russian helmets using the 10 foot rule--if it looks
good at 10 feet, and an original is hard to comeby--then it is OK.  TAS

************************************************************************
*  Tim A. Scherrer          "You'll be fighting WWII for the rest of   *
*  Facilities Supervisor     your life", Ron Scherrer, 1971            *
*  WP:816-785-5253                                                     *
*  HP:816-665-6704                                                     *
*  ID# [email-masked]                             *
************************************************************************

------------------------------

Date:    Sun, 25 Sep 1994 18:51:06 CDT
From:    Tim not Timothy Scherrer <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re[2]: TRIV: Weapons in movie _The Cross of Iron_

The reloading of the drums that I have seen does not take long at
all--just pop the cover off and insert them into the track--easier than
my MP-40.  TAS

************************************************************************
*  Tim A. Scherrer          "You'll be fighting WWII for the rest of   *
*  Facilities Supervisor     your life", Ron Scherrer, 1971            *
*  WP:816-785-5253                                                     *
*  HP:816-665-6704                                                     *
*  ID# [email-masked]                             *
************************************************************************

------------------------------

Date:    Sun, 25 Sep 1994 21:15:00 EDT
From:    mc killop <[email-masked]>
Subject: [INF] USAAF 26 SEP 44

COMBAT CHRONOLOGY OF THE US ARMY AIR FORCES
TUESDAY, 26 SEPTEMBER 1944
FTP SITES
  1. ftp.rutgers.edu in directory pub/wwii/usaf
  2. byrd.mu.wvnet.edu (129.71.32.152) in pub/history/military/airforce/
     wwii_chronology

AIRCRAFT MENTIONED IN THIS REPORT:
  A-20, Douglas Havoc
  B-17, Boeing Flying Fortress
  B-24, Consolidated Liberator
  B-25, North American Mitchell
  B-26, Martin Marauder
  B-29, Boeing Superfortress
  P-38, Lockheed Lightning
  P-40, Curtiss
  P-47, Republic Thunderbolt
  P-51, North American Mustang

NOTE: A number in parenthesis after a target name indicates the number of
bombers attacking.

AMERICAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS

  ALASKA (Eleventh Air Force): A B-24 flies weather reconnaissance; later 4
B-24s radar-bomb Suribachi Airfield in the Kurile Islands.

CHINA-BURMA-INDIA (CBI) THEATER OF OPERATIONS

  BURMA-INDIA (Tenth Air Force): In Burma, 2 P-47 flights hit targets in the
Bhamo-Myothit area, including Sinkin, Momauk, and Nanhlaing; 3 other flights
hit targets in the Pinwe-Mawlu area, including the town of Nyaungbintha; 20+
P-47s in 2 flights hit Tingka and in China, hit fuel storage at Chefang and
repair shops at Wanting. In China, 9 B-25s blast troop concentrations and
stores in Hinlong; and 19 B-24s haul fuel to Liuchow, Yangtong, and Yungning.

  CHINA (Fourteenth Air Force): In China, 12 B-25s bomb Lungfukwan and
Mangshih while several P-40s hit targets of opportunity in same areas; 6
B-25s and 4 P-38s attack and slightly damage the Dara bridge and destroy road
machinery nearby; about 50 P-40s and P-51s continue armed reconnaissance over
the vast inland areas of S China, attacking troops, buildings, and other
targets of opportunity.

  STRATEGIC OPERATIONS (Twentieth Air Force): In China, 83 B-29s, staging
from Chengtu, bomb Anshan most of them striking the Showa Steel Works with
poor results; 15 others bomb Dairen, Sinsiang, and various targets of
opportunity; during the night of 26/27 Sep, Japanese aircraft bomb the
Chengtu area, damaging 5 B-29s; this attack along with the one on 8 Sep set
the pattern for Japanese raids which usually follow B-29 missions and
continue until 19 Dec but are of light nature and annoying rather than
seriously damaging.

EUROPEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS (ETO)

  STRATEGIC OPERATIONS (Eighth Air Force): Mission 648: 1,159 bombers and 432
fighters are dispatched to hit rail targets and armored vehicle factories in
W Germany; 9 bombers and 2 fighters are lost:
  1. 422 B-17s are dispatched to hit the marshalling yard and steel industry
at Osnabruck (383); other targets hit are Rheine Airfield (10), Hesepe
Airfield (3) and others (4): 2 B-17s are lost and 101 damaged; 2 airmen are
KIA, 2 WIA and 18 MIA. Escort is provided by 134 of 144 P-51s; they claim
2-0-3 aircraft on the ground; 1 P-51 is damaged beyond repair.
  2. 274 of 317 hit the marshalling yard at Hamm and 1 hits Liesborn; 3 B-24s
are lost and 53 damaged; 31 airmen are MIA. Escort is provided by 138 of 146
P-51s; 1 P-51 is lost (pilot MIA).
  3. 420 B-17s are dispatched to hit armored vehicle factories at Bremen
(381); other targets hit are Bremerhaven (13) and other (1); 4 B-17s are lost
and 208 damaged; 10 airmen are WIA and 21 MIA. Escort is provided by 133 of
142 P-51s; 1 P-51 is lost (pilot MIA) and 2 damaged beyond repair.
  Mission 649: 3 B-24s and 6 B-17s drop leaflets in France, the Netherlands
and Germany during the night.
  320 P-38s, P-47s and P-51s (P-38s from Ninth Air Force) support the First
Allied Airborne Army in the Netherlands; they claim 32-1-8 aircraft in the
air; 1 P-38 is lost (pilot MIA), 1 P-47 is damaged beyond repair and 5 P-47s
and 4 P-51s are damaged.
  165 B-24s fly a TRUCKIN' mission carrying fuel to France.
  HQ 361st Fighter Group moves from Bottisham to Little Walden, England.

  TACTICAL OPERATIONS (Ninth Air Force): No bomber missions are flown. In
Germany, IX Tactical Air Command supports the US First Army in the Bonn area
and cuts rail lines W of the Rhine River; XIX Tactical Air Command hits
fortifications near Metz. In Belgium, HQ 370th Fighter Group and the 402d and
485th Fighter Squadrons move from Roye/Amy, France to Florennes/Juxaine with
P-38s. In France, the 23d Fighter Squadron, 36th Fighter Group, moves from Le
Mans to Athis with P-47s; the 404th Fighter Squadron, 371st Fighter Group,
moves from Perthes to Dole/Tavaux with P-47s; the 646th Bombardment Squadron
(Light), 410th Bombardment Group (Light), moves from Gosfield, England to
Coulommiers with A-20s.

  US STRATEGIC AIR FORCES IN EUROPE (USSTAF): HQ USSTAF moves from Bushy
Park, England to St-Germain-en-Laye, France.

MEDITERRANEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS (MTO)

  TACTICAL OPERATIONS (Twelfth Air Force): In Italy during the night of 25/26
Sep A-20s bomb targets of opportunity in the Po Valley; throughout the day
B-25s and B-26s pound rail and road bridges in the E and NW parts of the Po
Valley while fighter-bombers and fighters of the XII Fighter Command attack
road nets, rails, motor transport, and supply points at many locations in the
valley.

PACIFIC OCEAN AREA (POA)

  AAFPOA (Seventh Air Force): 2 B-24s from Saipan Island on armed
reconnaissance bomb Marcus Island. During the night of 26/27 Sep another B-24
snooper hits Iwo Jima Island.  B-25s from the Gilbert Islands bomb Nauru
Island. B-24s from the Marshall Islands hit Wake Island during the night of
26/27 Sep.

SOUTHWEST PACIFIC AREA [SWPA, Far East Air Force (FEAF)]: B-25s bomb Maumere
Bay, Flores Island, Lesser Sunda Islands. B-25s and B-24s bomb Liang Airfield
on Ambon Island and Kendari Airfield on Celebes Island. In New Guinea, P-40s
hit Kokas; the 31st Bombardment Squadron (Heavy), 5th Bombardment Group
(Heavy), moves from Wakde Island to Noemfoor Island with B-24s; the 424th
Bombardment Squadron (Heavy), 307th Bombardment Group (Medium), based on
Wakde Island with B-24s, begins operating from Noemfoor Island.

SOURCES:
AIR FORCE COMBAT UNITS OF WORLD WAR II, Office of Air Force History,
  Headquarters USAF, 1961, ISBN 0-912799-02-1
COMBAT SQUADRONS OF THE AIR FORCE, WORLD WAR II, Office of Air Force
  History, Headquarters USAF 1982
THE ARMY AIR FORCES IN WORLD WAR II: COMBAT CHRONOLOGY, 1941-1945 by the
  Office of Air Force History, Headquarters USAF, 1973
THE MIGHTY EIGHTH WAR DIARY by Roger A. Freeman, ISBN 1-85409-071-2

Jack McKillop
USAF (Airways and Air Communications Service)
1955-59

-------------------------------------------------------------------
|  Jack McKillop         |  Those who have long enjoyed such      |
|  Bellcore              |  privileges as we enjoy forget in      |
|  Piscataway, NJ USA    |  time that men have died to win them.  |
|  [email-masked]  |                       FDR              |
-------------------------------------------------------------------

26/0118Z SEP

------------------------------

Date:    Sun, 25 Sep 1994 20:53:22 -0500
From:    GEORGE BAUER <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: MEDIA: Radio Memory

At the risk of being accused of flaming, I will continue the discussion
of the press and Somalia.

I for one DID NOT watch CNN after I saw what I believed to be almost treasonous
behavior.

And I almost wished the men coming on to th beach in Somalia would have
gotten rattled enough to take out of a few of those searchlights.
It is more a compliment to their training than the judgment of the press.

I'll return this to WWII:  then the press (for whatever reason)
refrained from even photogtographing FDR in a wheel chair or showing him
being helped from place to place.  They didn't have to; they just did!
So the press cannot claim to have always been as they are.  They used to
have a little judgment.

George Bauer
U.S.A.:  [email-masked]
         [email-masked]

------------------------------

Date:    Sun, 25 Sep 1994 20:55:49 -0500
From:    GEORGE BAUER <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Smithsonian/American Legion Press Release

I agree wholeheartedly with the American Legion position on the Smithsonial
exhibit.

We must constantly be vigilant to those who would revise history.

Specifically, the disagreement is over ESTIMATES?   Really?

George Bauer
U.S.A.:  [email-masked]
         [email-masked]

------------------------------

Date:    Sun, 25 Sep 1994 21:01:49 -0500
From:    GEORGE BAUER <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Smithsonian/American Legion Press Release

Cassady:

I think you should engrave your quotation and send it to a few people.
YOu might start by including it in your sig for awhile.  Is it original
or did you borrow it?

I'll resist saying more...  Maybe later privately.

George Bauer
U.S.A.:  [email-masked]
         [email-masked]

------------------------------

Date:    Sun, 25 Sep 1994 22:03:58 EDT
From:    Cassady Craft <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: WAR PLAN ORANGE

Ed, my address is:

Cassady Craft
700 4th St. Apt. Q36
Athens, GA 30601

I really appreciate it and look forward to your next work.  Your last was
great!

Cassady Craft
Department of Political Science
University of Georgia
e-mail [email-masked]
or
[email-masked]

------------------------------

Date:    Sun, 25 Sep 1994 19:15:19 PDT
From:    Sidney Allinson <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Merchant Marines

John, if you don't mind me correcting you...
        There is no term, "Merchant MarineS".
There is the Merchant Marine, meaning civilian vessels in the commercial
transport by sea of cargo and passengers.
        "Merchant Marines" is an oft-used malapropism that can be
irritating, so I simply have to comment.
        My regards to you, otherwise.   :-)

--

------------------------------

Date:    Sun, 25 Sep 1994 22:11:52 -0400
From:    "J.M.Ruel" <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Smithsonian/American Legion Press Releas

Smithsonian now has a lady senator on their case and I believe they just might
revise the whole program. The American Legion and others have stirred up the
members of congress and because it is such a short while until Nov. elections
they are happy to have something other than the crime bill and health care to
talk about. They hope to score points with the veterans groups by jumping on
the Smithsonian. Lets hope that with the bright spotlight of public opinion on
them that they can come up with a suitable program. Heavens knows in a few
more years they will be able to put on anything they wish because dead men
don't vote. JMR

------------------------------

Date:    Sun, 25 Sep 1994 22:17:38 EDT
From:    Cassady Craft <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Smithsonian/American Legion Press Releas

JM Ruel wrote "dead men don't vote"!  Your point is well taken, but dead men
vote all the time in America and around the world.  Democracy!  I love it.

Cassady Craft
Department of Political Science
University of Georgia
e-mail [email-masked]
or
[email-masked]

------------------------------

Date:    Sun, 25 Sep 1994 19:28:43 PDT
From:    Sidney Allinson <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Geographical situation and treatment of German POW

The movie, "The Mackenzie Break", was more probably based on the actual
escape of 84 German Prisoners-of-War from camp in Wales, early in 1945.
        They were at large for almost a week before the last was re-
captured. Their getaway sparked the largest man-hunt in Britain, but in
the end all were recaptured without incident; most of them turning themelves
in because of simple discomfort. Sort of, "Well, we got out. *Now* what do
we do?"
The recaptured PWs were routinely returned to their camp, and were not

subjected to any particular 'punishment' for their flight.
(The British tolerance was in sharp contrast to the Germans', by the way.
One year earlier, 904 RAF and Allied airmen escaped by tunnel from Stalag
Luft III, Sagan. All but two were re-captured. The Germans shot 50 of
these escapers, and subjected the rest to punishments ranging from beatings too
starvation.)

--

------------------------------

Date:    Sun, 25 Sep 1994 21:28:20 -0500
From:    GEORGE BAUER <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Smithsonian/American Legion Press Releas

That "lady Senator" is my very own senator from Kansas, Nancy Kassebaum.
She has, as I understand it, introduced a resolution with other Senators,
but I do not know their names.

I intend to call her office here in Kansas City tomorrow and find out
what progress they can report.

George Bauer
U.S.A.:  [email-masked]
         [email-masked]

------------------------------

Date:    Sun, 25 Sep 1994 19:42:04 PDT
From:    Sidney Allinson <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Geographical situation and treatment of German POW

One hears little about the imprisonment -- and shooting -- of U-Boat
Captain WErner Henke, while a prisoner of war in the United States.
        Henke was the only U-Boat commander shot while trying to escape in the
USA. He had sunk 24 Allied ships before he was captured at sea by the USN.
It seems that American Naval Intelligence wanted to squeeze Henke for info
In an attempt to make him collaborate, the USN took him to a sequestered
camp at Fort Hunt, VA, just outside Washington, and told him that if he did
not co-operate, he would be turned over to Britain for trial as a war criminal.
In fact, the British were not particularly "after" Henke, even though he *had*
sunk a civilian passenger ship, CERAMIC, which drowned 264 civilians, many
of them British children.
        However, it seems Kapitan Henke believed the US Intelligence agents'
threat, and feared being possibly hanged.  So much so, that Henke deliberately
made a run for the barbed wire at Fort Hunt (15 June 1945) -- and was shot
dead by an American guard.

--

------------------------------

Date:    Sun, 25 Sep 1994 19:44:41 PDT
From:    Sidney Allinson <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Geographical situation and treatment of German POW

Anyone wishing to know the full story, should read:
        LONE WOLF: The Life & Death Of U-Boat Ace Werner Henke,
        by Timothy P. Mulligan, Praeger, Westport/London, 1994.

Regards -- Sidney.

--

------------------------------

Date:    Sun, 25 Sep 1994 22:08:31 EDT
From:    RICHARD KING <[email-masked]>
Subject: Addr: Acts of Nature

Hello everyone!

Here is a quote from William Manchester's AMERICAN CAESAR: DOUGLAS
MACARTHUR 1880-1964 (Boston, Little, Brown: 1978) concerning
acts of nature and WWII. The quote impressed itself upon me
when I read this fine book, and I just looked at it again.

"...they weren't there as tourists. They were fighting a war, and the
more breathtaking the flora looked, the more dangerous amphibious
landings turned out to be. Some islands were literally
uninhabitable--army engineers sent to survey the Santa Cruz
group for airstrips were virtually wiped out by cerebral
malaria--and battles were fought under fantastic conditions.
Guadalcanal and Leyte were rocked by earthquakes. Volcanic steam
hissed through the rocks of Iwo. On Bouganville, bulldozers vanished
in the spongy bottomless swamps, and at the height of the fighting
on Peleliu the temperature was 115 degrees in the shade. On New Britain
sixteen inches of rain fell in a single day. In November 1944 the
battle for Leyte was halted by a triple typhoon, and a month later
another storm sank three American destroyers. Lurid settings
produced bizarre casaulties. Twenty-five marines were killed at
Cape Gloucester by huge falling trees. Shipwrecked sailors were
eaten by sharks. Nipponese swimming ashore after the Battle of the
Bismarck Sea were carved up by New Guinea headhunters, and others,
on Guadalcanal, were eaten by their comrades. The jungle was cruel
to defeated soldiers, who, as the war progressed, were usually
Japanese. If they were surrounded, only ferns, snakes, crocodiles,
and cannibalism were left to them." (pages 278-279)

Whew! What a writer!

Richard King ([email-masked])

------------------------------

End of WWII-L Digest - 24 Sep 1994 to 25 Sep 1994
*************************************************