Subject: WWII-L Digest - 16 Apr 1995 to 17 Apr 1995

From: Automatic digest processor <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 18 Apr 1995 00:00:35 -0400

There are 35 messages totalling 1250 lines in this issue.

Topics of the day:

  1. WWII-L Digest - 14 Apr 1995 to 15 Apr 1995
  2. Roots of Blitzkrieg
  3. Diplomacy in WW2 (was: Ireland in WW2)
  4. Monty...other Brit. Generals
  5. TRIVIA: DUKW - Vehicle id
  6. MARU
  7. Obersalzberg Pt 4
  8. China/Japan part 8
  9. hitler declaration of war on U.S.
 10. INF: USN Chronology 04-17-95
 11. Immigration to Palestine
 12. INF: 50 Years Ago - 16-APR-1945 (2)
 13. QUERY:  Theresienstadt.
 14. Fishy sub names
 15. Tactics (?) Assurance of Victory
 16. MEDIA: Death of "Odette" SOE Secret Agent
 17. Jobs well done!!
 18. Good books.  Cheap.
 19. WW2 Books (2)
 20. WEAP:Condor TV Bomb (2)
 21. [INF] USAAF 18 APR 45
 22. INF: 50 Years Ago - 18-APR-1945
 23. Latin America
 24. Defense Against Amphibious Invasion
 25. Japanese diplomat
 26. Catholicism and Fascism a
 27. WW2 books
 28. QUERY: Theresienstadt.
 29. Major League Players in the War
 30. QUERY: Neutrality
 31. Battle of Britain Camouflage/Deception
 32. Hitler's wargaming & Wellington

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

Date:    Sun, 16 Apr 1995 23:21:25 -0500
From:    "Larry W. Jewell" <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: WWII-L Digest - 14 Apr 1995 to 15 Apr 1995

The Dictionary of American Fighting Ships lists all US ships and the
origins of their names.  The eight volumes of this set are a _must_ for
naval hysterian like me ;-).

Larry J

[email-masked]; Co-Mod.: BYRD.MU.WVNET.EDU (Historical docs)
"Sunday's horoscope is note worthy because of its strange, sudden and wholly
unpredictable and inexplicable occurrences, affecting all phases of life."
Your Horoscope" L.A. Evening Herald Express, Sat, 12/06/41

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

Date:    Mon, 17 Apr 1995 01:21:26 -0400
From:    Ken Bartel <[email-masked]>
Subject: Roots of Blitzkrieg

Hello,

I have just finished reading The Roots of Blitzkrieg by James Corum, and
a question occurred to me that I wanted the lists opinions on. In the
book Mr. Corum emphasizes the point that the Reichswehr was allowed only
100,000 men and that von Seeckt was adament about the personnel remaining
uninvolved in politics. My question is, if the Versailles treaty had
allowed the Reichswehr to maintain at the minimum the 300,000 that von
Seeckt had determined to be the adequate size of a peacetime professional
army, would that have fundamentally changed the balance of power
concerning Hitlers rise to power? In this book and others it is argued
that one of the reasons that the army did not act against Hitler was due
in part to the fact that the army had only 100,000 men, with inadequate
weapons, against a force of 450,000 SA, the majority of whom had served in
WW I. If the army had been allowed a larger man power limit wouldn't
it have offset the gap between the two forces? Not only by the Reichswehr
having an increased size, but the possibility that a portion of that 200,000
would have come from the people that instead joined the SA. The other
part of my questions is that according to von Seeckts policy of members
of the Rechswehr not being involved in politics, wouldn't the larger
number of personnel in the Reichswehr not contributing to the Nazi cause,
have directly influenced Hitlers rise to power. It seems that the members
of the General Staff after Hitlers rise to power often cited the fact
that the huge increase of manpower made them unable to act against him
because they didn't know if their men would follow them. If the
Reichswehr had been larger wouldn't this have provided a more stable base
from which the General Staff could have resisted Hitler. This is assuming
that at some point, maybe before Austria, that the General Staff really
was afraid of Hitlers aggresive foreign policy and wanted to put a stop
to his actions. Does anyone know if there are any
books or other material that discuss this aspect of the Versailles treaty?

Thanks in advance.

Ken Bartel

Standard disclaimers apply
[email-masked]

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

Date:    Mon, 17 Apr 1995 07:34:42 GMT-6
From:    "Robert T. Moore" <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Diplomacy in WW2 (was: Ireland in WW2)

Hello, Joe!

  Did Germany send any condolences to the US?

    No. In fact, they gloated over it.

    All the best.

    Terry

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

Date:    Mon, 17 Apr 1995 07:40:34 GMT-6
From:    "Robert T. Moore" <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Monty...other Brit. Generals

Hello, Ron!

 The one who immediately come to mind is William Slim, who worked
> wonders in Burma.

    Couldn't agree more. I have always had a high opinion of General
Orde Wingate, unorthodox, to be certain, but a highly effective
battle leader.

    All the best.

    Terry

 > > Ron Charlton
> [email-masked]

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

Date:    Mon, 17 Apr 1995 10:21:36 -0500
From:    "William L. Huber - SAA" <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: TRIVIA: DUKW - Vehicle id

Peter Beal asked:
> And what about the perforated, linking, steel airfield matting?  It made
> instant airfields of any odd piece of semi-level ground and allowed close
> support aircraft to move right behind the advancing ground forces.

Ike didn't mention that in his comment but its funny you should
bring it up.   Not only did it make "instant airfields", it also made
instant iron gates to many Italian villas, homes and businesses
shortly after the war.  In my 3 years living near Brindisi I saw
countless examples of this and in fact the farm I lived on had a gate
made of this wonderful material.

I also bought a "dipper" of some sort (?) that had been made from a
model 1940 German helmet.  They had taken the liner out and welded the
liner holes and vent holes closed and welded a pole haft onto the
front.  Those Italian farmers could do amazing things with junk found
around the farm like that aircraft matting, old helmets and even
former military vehicles.  There is a farmer north of Ferrara that
plows his fields dragging a plow behind an NSU Kettenkrad.  He bought
it days before I arrived at the junk yard he bought it at.   Had I
arrived a week earlier it would be in my garage being treated like a
Rolls Royce but now it will have to strain to its daily labor on the
fertile plains of the Po River basin.   But thats another story.....

(Snif) Ciao, Bill Huber / [email-masked]

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

Date:    Mon, 17 Apr 1995 09:35:55 -0800
From:    John Riegsecker <[email-masked]>
Subject: MARU

The following was forwarded to me from a friend from another list.  It is
not directly related to WWII but given the discussion on US ship
designations, I hope it is interesting to some.

>Date:         Sat, 15 Apr 1995 12:49:04 -0700
>Reply-To:     The Sailing and amateur BoatBuilding List
<[email-masked]>
>Sender:       The Sailing and amateur BoatBuilding List
<[email-masked]>
>From:         Alexander D McLeod <[email-masked]>
>Subject:      Japanese word "MARU"
>To:           Multiple recipients of list YACHT-L
<[email-masked]>
>
>Maru has many meanings in Japan.  It does mean circle or ring when used
>as a noun, round or complete or something perfect when used as an
>adjective, and as a suffix for the name of a boy--and when applied in the
>latter case it also implies an affectionate meaning, as it did when used
>as a suffix to the name given to good sword blades.  During Japan's
>feudal period it was applied to castles and the Emperor's main castle in
>Tokyo is known as gohommaru.  Minor castles are called hon-maru and the
>Japanese flag, a red ball on a white background which represents the sun,
>is called hino maru (The Round of the Sun).
>
>In regards to ships, it is held that because circles are complete so is a
>ship complete in its equipment, its independence, and its
>self-maintenance.  (Ah, that this were always true.)  Maru was at one
>time used only in the names of commercial vessels, never in the names of
>warships.  The suffix Kan took the place of maru.  Things have changed in
>Japan indeed.
>
>This is probably more than anyone wants to know about this topic but get
>a retired Asianist going and you can't shut him up.
>
>Sandy McLeod
>Yacht Tai-Pan

John Riegsecker                                 (206) 756-3566
Dept of Mathematics and Computer Science        [email-masked]
University of Puget Sound

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

Date:    Mon, 17 Apr 1995 13:51:32 GMT-6
From:    "Robert T. Moore" <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Obersalzberg Pt 4

Hello, Peter!

Such monies and art work were eventually returned to or turned over
to the legally-constituted German Government.

Hope this helps.

Terry

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

Date:    Mon, 17 Apr 1995 13:52:48 GMT-6
From:    "Robert T. Moore" <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: China/Japan part 8

Hello, Peter!

That was the Arcadia Conference held in Washington, D.C. in late
December 1941.

Terry

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

Date:    Mon, 17 Apr 1995 13:56:45 GMT-6
From:    "Robert T. Moore" <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: hitler declaration of war on U.S.

Hello, Carlos!

That treaty was kept to a point, when Hitler attacked the Soviet
Union. His acceptance of that treaty was a temporary arrangement and
cannot be compared to honoring the agreement he had with Japan on
going to war with the US if either of the parties were attacked or
found themselves at war with the US. There was no going back on this
agreement.

Thanks for the note, and hope all is well.

Terry

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

Date:    Mon, 17 Apr 1995 11:38:18 PST
From:    "Keller, Theron P." <[email-masked]>
Subject: INF: USN Chronology 04-17-95

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

1945
04/17 Tue. Army forces are landed near Malabang, Parang, and Cotabato
           on Mindanao, P. I., by naval attack group (Rear Adm. A. G
           Noble); landings arc supported by cruiser and destroyer
           gunfire and air attack.
            United States naval vessel damaged:
             Destroyer BENHAM (DD-796), by suicide plane and
              accidentally by United States naval gunfire, Okinawa area,
              24 d. 01'N., 132 d. 32'E.
            Japanese naval vessel sunk:
             Submarine RO-56, by submarine SEA OWL (SS-405), Central
              Pacific area,
              19 d. 17'N., 166 d. 35'E.

Information compiled by U.S. Navy Historians.  For more information,
contact the Naval Historical Center at (202) 433-3940.
Archived by: "Larry W. Jewell" <[email-masked]>
Posted by:
Theron P. Keller
Logicon, Inc.
Dahlgren, VA  22448 USA
[email-masked]

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

Date:    Mon, 17 Apr 1995 14:00:19 -0500
From:    Greg Kelley <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Immigration to Palestine

I've a few titles from my shelf which may be of use--

THE FOUR-FRONT WAR: FROM THE HOLOCAUST TO THE PROMISED LAND.
     William R. Perl.  Crown, 1979.
     chronicles clandestine Jewish emigration from Europe to Palestine
     starting in the 1930's and going into the postwar years.  Includes
     appendix of sixty-two vessels & voyages March 1937 to August 1944.

ODYSSEY.
     John Bierman.  Simon & Schuster, 1984.
     the story of the ancient paddlesteamer "Pentcho" (nee' STENFANO) and
     its voyage from Bratislava (Slovakia) with 500 Jews in May 1940; took
     'em four years to reach Palestine via Italy (they were shipwrecked
     in the Aegean & spent years interned in Italy) but most of them made it

OPEN THE GATES!
     Ehud Avriel.  Atheneum, 1975.
     a personal account of the author's work from 1938 to 1948 in the secret
     Jewish escape lines, he sailed on several ships, of which the "Attrato"
     is best described.

Hope these help!

(of course, we ALL know WHY I've got these books-- most of the escape
routes were along the Danue, which of course passes through the Iron
Gates into-- yep, you guessed it-- ROMANIA!!)

                                          Glad To Be Of Service!

                                          Greg Kelley
                                          St. Paul Public Library
                                          [email-masked]

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

Date:    Mon, 17 Apr 1995 14:07:54 -0500
From:    "William L. Huber - SAA" <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: INF: 50 Years Ago - 16-APR-1945

> On 16-APR-1945, the following occurred -
>
> World War II - The Battlefronts
> -------------------------------
>
> Eastern Front - The final offensive against Berlin begins. The 1st Ukraine
> Front creates a bridgehead over the Neisse in the Triebel area. Heavy
> attacks also occur near Ratibor. The 1st White Russian Front attacks north
> and south of Frankfurt-on-the-Oder, advancing from the Kustrin bridgehead
> over the Oder. On the northern front the 3rd White Russian Front are
> clearing the Japanese from the Samland Peninsula in East Prussia. In
               ^^^^^^^^

Is this one of those obscure volunteer Waffen SS units you never hear
much about???? :-)

Cheers, Bill Huber / [email-masked]

"Was it 'over' when the krauts bombed Pearl Harbor??!!"  -Bluto
(National Lampoon's Animal House)

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

Date:    Mon, 17 Apr 1995 15:15:07 -0400
From:    Lee Windsor u <[email-masked]>
Subject: QUERY:  Theresienstadt.

Hello All:

Can anyone provide a quick run down on the significance of the Theresienstadt
camp.  I know is was used as the model camp to show the Red Cross how
well the Jews were being treated, but I need a wee bit more detail.  I'm
in a bit of a rush so if you could just post a few points off the top of
your heads I would be extremely grateful.

Thanks in advance,

Lee A. Windsor                             [email-masked].
8th Canadian Hussars                                  35 High St.
Wilfrid Laurier U.                                  Waterloo, ONT
Waterloo, Ontario                                         N2L 3X7
                         "Semper Fidelis"

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

Date:    Mon, 17 Apr 1995 21:17:11 +0100
From:    David_Iglesias <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Fishy sub names

sign off

David Iglesias Arnaiz
[email-masked]
Bilbao - Spain

Alias "El Lobo Oscuro" - Club de Rol ALIEN NORTE

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

Date:    Mon, 17 Apr 1995 15:47:01 -0400
From:    John Davis <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: INF: 50 Years Ago - 16-APR-1945

On Mon, 17 Apr 1995, William L. Huber - SAA wrote:

> > On 16-APR-1945, the following occurred -
> >
> > World War II - The Battlefronts
> > -------------------------------
> >
> > Eastern Front - The final offensive against Berlin begins. The 1st Ukraine
> > Front creates a bridgehead over the Neisse in the Triebel area. Heavy
> > attacks also occur near Ratibor. The 1st White Russian Front attacks north
> > and south of Frankfurt-on-the-Oder, advancing from the Kustrin bridgehead
> > over the Oder. On the northern front the 3rd White Russian Front are
> > clearing the Japanese from the Samland Peninsula in East Prussia. In
>                ^^^^^^^^
>
> Is this one of those obscure volunteer Waffen SS units you never hear
> much about???? :-)
>

Nah - just a case of my fingers being quicker than my brain (which is kind
of slow most of the time anyway :) ). When I proofed it before posting I must
have been half asleep also.

On a more serious note. One thing I have really noticed lately is the lack of
coverage of the Eastern Front in my primary source which is the U.S. Army
Chronology. Even though it is an official U.S. Army publication it usually
does a pretty good job of covering actions on all fronts and with all
services. The parts about Iwo and Okinawa have been very good as well as the
P.I. But the Eastern Front coverage has been very weak and I typically have
to fall back on what my "2194 Days" source contains (which in alot of cases
isn't much either since it appears to me that their main source was the Army
Chronology also). I wonder if the reason for this was due to the fact that
the chronology was written in the early 60's while the cold war was in full
force?

John

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

Date:    Mon, 17 Apr 1995 14:55:22 GMT-6
From:    "Robert T. Moore" <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Tactics (?) Assurance of Victory

Hello, Chris!

Would like to add my two cents' to this.

> From my reading(though limited) I would say that Midway and Leningrad
> were the beginning of theend for the axis.

    Certainly the Japanese knew that, but the beginning of the end
for the Germans occurred before Moscow, when Hitler was stalemated
then repulsed. There may be some argument over this.

 When tehy realized it is
> difficult to say.  From what I understand, HItler didn't know it until
> he killed himself at the very end-then again he was not always a great
> military man.

    I don't think so. He was convinced of his "genius" up to the end.
He blamed the German People and the military for the defeat.

I believe taht the JApanese new, but their society, as
> you probaply know refuses to lose "face" and they had to continue to
> fight to save their own respect.  THis is a terrible way to fight a war
> but what can you say, war is war.

    I think the Japanese didn't realize the end was near until
shortly before they surrendered. The Japanese tended to believe what
was fed to them from the government, because that is all they had to
go on.

> I think that you could also argue that the beginning of the end was
> when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor instead of invading, as well as
> not getting the Aircraft Carriers on 7 December, 1941.  Either of those
> occurences could have concievably alterd the Pacific Theatre so much
> that the Japanese could have won.  They had to know at that point that
> things would not go their way.

That is arguable. The Japanese had their minds on the Dutch East
Indies and not so much on the American Pacific Fleet at that time.
Later that changed of course.

    Thanks for allowing my two cents' on this.

    All the best.

    Terry

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

Date:    Mon, 17 Apr 1995 12:58:39 -0700
From:    Sidney Allinson <[email-masked]>
Subject: MEDIA: Death of "Odette" SOE Secret Agent

Guardian Weekly, March 26, 1995.

"ODETTE" - SECRET AGENT THE GESTAPO COULD NOT CRACK.

Odette Halowes, the wartime British secret agent in occupied France who
has died aged 82, was the first woman to be awarded the Geroge Cross,
awarded for her courage under torture in a two-year battle of wits with
the gestapo and SS.
Known to millions simply by her first name, Odette was diminutive and
frail at the best of times, but weighed barely 38 kg. when she came out
of the womens' concentration camp at Ravensbruck, Germany, after two
years of brutal incarceration in which she gave nothing aweay.
Born Odette Brailly, at Ameeines, France, she was the son of a British
bank clerk killed in the last months of World War One. She was a patriot twice over, for Britain as well as France. The man she married was Roy Sansom, an Englishman she met at Boulogne. He joined the army in 1939 [and was killed in
North Africa]. She volunteered at the War Office, and was recruited into
Special Operations Executive [SOE]. She was injured while practicing parachuting
and was sent into France by sea. Odette sailed from Gibraltar aboard a Free
Polish Navy boat and slipped ashore at Antibes, French Riviera, in 1942.

She workd with local SOE agent Captain Peter Churchill, helping expand his
local network of sabotage agents. Immediately after her arival, the germans
occupied southern France. She was approached by a German double agent, in
fact a sergeant in the German army Abwehr counter-intelligence. He arranged
for her capture, and she was interrogated by German and Itlian officers, who
did not harm her. However, she was then sent to the Gestapo in Paris.

Her torturers were led by a German woman, and the Gestapo team beat Odette
repeatedly, before pulling out all her toenails. In a macabre compliment,
they left her fingers alone, because they eventually acepted that nothing
would force her to reveal any information. Instead, she was packed off to
Ravensbruck. There she was starved, kept for months at a time in solitary
confinement, in complete darkness and filthy conditions. She was several
times threatened with summary execution... but her moral superiority over
her tormentors showed them they could not break her.

Liberated in 1945, Odette needed operations on her feet, but could not wear shoes for over a year. She was awarded the MBE [Member of the British Empire]
in 1945, but in 1947 was awarded something more comensurate with her heroism,
but King George VI, one of her many fervent admirers -- the George Cross [GC],
civilian equivalent of the Victoria Cross.

She married Peter Churchill in 1947, but the romantic marriage of two war
heros broke up after eight years, and she maried the wine merchant Geoffrey
Hallowes, himself a veteran of SOE.

Odette was active in charity work and the Victoria & George Cross Association.
With her death, Odette leaves a shining memory of how she inflicted, alone
and unaided, a moral defeat on the Nazis, and example of courage that will
forever be associated with the name "Odette".

RIP

--

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

Date:    Mon, 17 Apr 1995 16:37:51 -0400
From:    Mike Yaklich <[email-masked]>
Subject: Jobs well done!!

        Wow!!  The reading on this list is usually pretty enlightening, but I
must say that with Jack McKillop's synopsis of Irish (Eire) politics and Frank
Scheidt's posts on Pope Pius XII and the Holocaust, its been an exceptionally
good week.  Great job to both of you and thanks for sharing that with the rest
of us.  Informative and well-written, this self-appointed critic without
portfolio gives them both five stars, thumbs up, etc...My only complaint is
that you're pushing the standards up for the other frequent contributors like
myself out here-- those are some tough acts to follow...

        Regards and thanks

        Mike Yaklich

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

Date:    Mon, 17 Apr 1995 16:17:41 -0500
From:    "Louis R. Coatney" <[email-masked]>
Subject: Good books.  Cheap.

Available from   Edward R. Hamilton Bookseller
                 Falls Village CT, 06031-5000
                 (Postage and Handling + $3.00)

DEADLY ILLUSIONS ($5.95/538 pages) about Alexander Orlov.  An
  NKVD masterspy.

STALIN:  TRIUMPH AND TRAGEDY ($9.95/642 pages) by General Dmitiri
  Volkogonov.  The current "glasnost" biography.

HITLER AND STALIN:  PARALLEL LIVES ($6.95/paperbound by Knopf),
  by Alan Bullock.

WALKING WITH THE DAMNED ($4.95/326) by Ted Schwarz, about Swedish
  Count Folke Bernadotte who saved many European Jews and was then
  murdered in 1948 "by Zionists extremists."  [Does anyone know
  about this?]

KARAJAN:  NOTES ON A CAREER ($7.95/371) by Robert C. Bachmann.
  Annotation says Karajan was sympathetic to the Nazis.  (??)

MEMOIRS, by Andrei Sakharov.  ($4.95/773)

THE COMPLETE BOOK OF SENSUAL MASSAGE ($7.95 ... er ... OOPS!  :-)

... and a BIG military history section.  Just ask them to put
  you on their pricelist mailing list.  This is the outfit
  from which I got Shelby Stanton's WWII order of battle for
  $15.00!!

Lou Coatney, [email-masked]

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

Date:    Mon, 17 Apr 1995 18:39:35 -0400
From:    Ron Charlton <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: WW2 Books

Burt,

Not fair! Not fair!  Asking us to only pick 10 WWII books. ;-)

Really it's a great idea, especially if everyone lists 10 from his/her
special areas of interest or expertise. Although I have an interest in all of
WWII as you can see from my selections I am basically a Battle of the Bulge,
panzer/tank and North African desert war kind of a guy.

1.'Hitler's Last Gamble',  Trevor N. Dupuy  (The most recent Battle of the
Bulge History)

2. 'A Time For Trumpets',  Charles D. MacDonald (Battle of the Bulge history
by one who was there)

3. 'The Ardennes: Battle of the Bulge',  Hugh M. Cole (The official U.S. Army
history of the Bulge)

4. 'The Crucible of War',  Barrie Pitt (Western Desert 1941)

5. 'War in the Desert',  James Lucas (The Eighth Army at El Alamein)

6. 'Panzer Commander',  Hans von Luck (The Memoirs of Colonel Hans von Luck)

7. 'Panzer Battles',  F.W. von Mellenthin (Panzer action from Poland to
France to North Africa to the Eastern Front)

8. 'Guderian: Panzer General',  Kenneth Macksey (Biography of Guderian during
WWII)

9. 'Desperate Venture',  Norman Gelb  (Operation Torch, the Allied Invasion
of North Africa)

10. 'The Unknown Battle: Metz, 1944',  Anthony Kemp  (The supposedly outdated
fortress of Metz holds out against Patton and modern firepower for quite some
time)

And a few suggestions for the Pacific War:

'Soldiers of the Sun',  Meirion and Susie Harries  (The rise and fall of the
Imperial Japanese Army)

'Guadalcanal',  Richard B. Frank  (The definitive account of this landmark
battle)

Also looking forward to more lists.

Ron Charlton
[email-masked]

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

Date:    Mon, 17 Apr 1995 18:56:38 -0400
From:    Ron Charlton <[email-masked]>
Subject: WEAP:Condor TV Bomb

Thanks to all who replied to my request for information about the TV
controlled bomb being lauched by the FW Condor.

An update: While searching for something else in an old volume of Military
History Quarterly (Spring, 1989) I came upon an article "The Visionaries of
German Weaponry" by Robert L. O'Connell. A segment of the article reads --

... Other Henschel engineers were working steadily toward true
precision-guided munitions. Beginning with the Hs-293 unguided glide bomb,
they evolved a series of increasingly sophisticated projectiles, culminating
in the television-controlled Hs-293D bomb and the Hs-294 aerial-guided
torpedo.  Even the ground forces were part of the action. Thus before the war
ended, design engineers attached to the Wehrmacht developed and fielded
limited quantities of the Red Ridinghood wire-guided anti-tank missle, the
precursor of all subsequent ATGMs both East and West....

Ron Charlton
[email-masked]

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

Date:    Mon, 17 Apr 1995 16:24:57 -0800
From:    John Riegsecker <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: WEAP:Condor TV Bomb

At 6:56 PM 4/17/95, Ron Charlton wrote:
>Thanks to all who replied to my request for information about the TV
>controlled bomb being lauched by the FW Condor.
>
>An update: While searching for something else in an old volume of Military
>History Quarterly (Spring, 1989) I came upon an article "The Visionaries of
>German Weaponry" by Robert L. O'Connell. A segment of the article reads --
>
>... Other Henschel engineers were working steadily toward true
>precision-guided munitions. Beginning with the Hs-293 unguided glide bomb,
>they evolved a series of increasingly sophisticated projectiles, culminating
>in the television-controlled Hs-293D bomb and the Hs-294 aerial-guided
>torpedo.  Even the ground forces were part of the action. Thus before the war
>ended, design engineers attached to the Wehrmacht developed and fielded
>limited quantities of the Red Ridinghood wire-guided anti-tank missle, the
>precursor of all subsequent ATGMs both East and West....
>
>Ron Charlton
>[email-masked]

I have _Tin Cans_ which is the abridged paperback version of _Destroyer
Operations in WWII_ (or something close to that).  This book has a short
account of the efforts of two DEs who jammed the radio guidance system of
the German glider bombs off Italy and France I believe.  Supposedly this
was very effective in making the bombs go off course.

John Riegsecker                                 (206) 756-3566
Dept of Mathematics and Computer Science        [email-masked]
University of Puget Sound

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

Date:    Mon, 17 Apr 1995 19:52:00 EDT
From:    mc killop <[email-masked]>
Subject: [INF] USAAF 18 APR 45

COMBAT CHRONOLOGY OF THE US ARMY AIR FORCES
WEDNESDAY, 18 APRIL 1945
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
  A-26, Douglas Invader
  B-17, Boeing Flying Fortress
  B-24, Consolidated Liberator
  B-25, North American Mitchell
  B-26, Martin Marauder
  B-29, Boeing Superfortress
  C-47, Douglas Skytrain
  F-5, Lockheed Lightning
  P-38, Lockheed Lightning
  P-40, Curtiss
  P-47, Republic Thunderbolt
  P-51, North American Mustang
  P-61, Northrop Black Widow

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

CHINA-BURMA-INDIA THEATER

  CHINA THEATER (Fourteenth Air Force): In China, 3 B-25s hit trucks and
other targets of opportunity E of Siangtan; 52 P-51s and P-40s attack river
shipping, town areas, rail and road traffic, tanks, and bridges at several S
and E China locations including Sinhwa, Hengyang, Changsha, Luchai, Paoching,
Kweiyang, Yenkou, Sinning, and Siangtan.

  INDIA-BURMA THEATER (Tenth Air Force): In Burma, 21 P-38s attack troop
concentration, tanks, artillery positions, and a bivouac area near Man Li and
Kongsam; 5 P-61s hit a supply area W of Laihka; transports land or drop 806
tons of supplies at forward bases and frontline areas.

EUROPEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS (ETO)

  AIRBORNE OPERATIONS (IX Troop Carrier Command): HQ 349th Troop Carrier
Group and the 23d, 312th, 313th and 314th Troop Carrier Squadrons move from
Barkston, England to Amy Airfield, Roye, France with C-47s.

  STRATEGIC OPERATIONS (Eighth Air Force): 2 missions are flown.
  Mission 959: 767 bombers and 705 fighters are dispatched to hit rail
targets in Czechoslovakia and SE Bavaria; they claim 16-0-14 Luftwaffe
aircraft; 2 B-17s and 2 P-51s are lost:
  1. 174 B-17s hit the secondary target, the marshalling yard at Straubing
without loss. 99 P-51s escort.
  2. 121 B-17s are dispatched to hit the marshalling yard at Kollin (97); 21
others hit the secondary, the marshalling yard at Pilsen; 1 B-17 is damaged
beyond repair and 17 damaged; 10 airmen are MIA. The escort is 157 of 160
P-51s; they claim 3-0-4 aircraft in the air; 1 P-51 is lost (pilot MIA).
  3. 196 B-24s are sent to hit the marshalling yard (166) and rail bridge and
rail industry (28) at Passau without loss. Escorting are 240 P-47s and P-51s;
they claim 12-0-8 aircraft on the ground; 1 P-51 is lost (pilot MIA).
  4. 276 B-17s are sent to hit electrical transformers (9) and marshalling
yard (56) at Traunstein and marshalling yard and electrical transformers at
Rosenheim (148); 61 hit the secondary, the marshalling yard at Freising; no
losses or casualties. 139 of 150 P-51s escort.
  5. 101 of 103 P-51s escort Ninth AF B-26s claiming 1-0-2 aircraft in the
air.
  6. 27 P-51s fly scouting missions.
  7. 15 of 17 P-51s escort 11 of 13 F-5s on photo reconnaissance missions
over Germany.
  Mission 960: During the night of 18/19 Apr, 11 B-24s drop leaflets in
France, the Netherlands and Germany and 17 of 18 B-24s fly CARPETBAGGER
missions to Denmark and Norway.

  TACTICAL OPERATIONS
    First Tactical Air Force (Provisional): HQ 86th Fighter Group and 525th
Fighter Squadron move from Tantonville, France to Braunschardt, Germany with
P-47s.
    Ninth Air Force: In Germany, about 590 B-26s, A-26s, and A-20s attack oil
storage at Neuburg an der Donau, marshalling yards at Juterbog and
Nordlingen, and rail junctions at Falkenburg and Juterbog; fighters escort
the bombers, fly patrols, sweeps, and armed reconnaissance, attack assigned
targets, and support ground forces including the US V Corps assaulting
Leipzig, the VII Corps in the Dessau-Halle areas, the 5th Armored Division
near Steimke, and the 2d Armored Division at Magdeburg and other XIX Corps
elements astride the Elbe River S of Barby; organized German resistance in
the Ruhr pocket ceases. The 492d Fighter Squadron, 48th Fighter Group, moves
from Kelz to Kassel, Germany with P-47s.

MEDITERRANEAN THEATER OF OPERATIONS (MTO)

  STRATEGIC OPERATIONS (Fifteenth Air Force): In Italy, 473 B-24s and B-17s,
with an escort of 89 P-51s, support the US Fifth Army offensive in the
Bologna area, blasting defensive positions and communications in areas around
the city; 78 P-38s dive-bomb railroad a bridge at Malborghetta Valbruna,
while 87 others dive-bomb 2 railroad bridges at and SE of Kolbnitz, Austria.
P-51s sweep the Augsburg, Germany, Plzen, Czechoslovakia, and Linz, Austria
areas, escort reconnaissance missions flown by P-38s, and escort MATAF B-25s
and C-47s on bombing and supply operations.

  TACTICAL OPERATIONS (Twelfth Air Force): In Italy during the night of 17/18
Apr, A-20s and A-26s pound communications in the S Po Valley and towns of
Vignola, Bazzano, and Sassuolo in the US Fifth Army battle area; medium
bombers hit 2 railroad fills and a bridge on the S Brenner line and troop
concentrations on the US Fifth and British Eighth Army fronts, SW of Bologna
and in the Dugnano Paderno area; fighter bombers of the XXII Tactical Air
Command also concentrate on support targets in the Fifth Army battle area.

PACIFIC OCEAN AREA (POA)

  AAFPOA (VII Fighter Command): During the night of 18/19 Apr, 3 Iwo Jima
Island-based P-61s flying individual strikes, bomb and strafe Futamiko and
the radio station on Chichi Jima Island.

  HQ AAF (Twentieth Air Force): Missions 76 to 81: 112 B-29s hit Japanese
airfields at Tachiarai, Izumi, Kokubu, Nittagahara, and 2 at Kanoya, the same
targets attacked yesterday; 13 other B-29s hit targets of opportunity; 2
B-29s are lost.

SOUTHWEST PACIFIC AREA [SWPA, Far East Air Force (FEAF)]: On Formosa B-25s
bomb Karenko Airfield, B-24s bit Tainan, Giran, Toyohara, Hobi, and Soton
Airfields, and P-38s on sweeps hit rail and road transportation. Fighter
bombers and A-20s hit the Balete Pass area and support ground forces on
Luzon, Negros, and Cebu Islands. B-24s bomb Piso Point on Mindanao Island. On
Borneo, B-25s and P-38s hit Tarakan and Sandakan. HQ 58th Fighter Group and
310th Fighter Squadron move from Mangaldan to Porac, Luzon with P-47s.

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
WORLD WAR II IN THE NORTH PACIFIC by Kevin D. Hutchinson, 1994,
  ISBN-0-313-29130-6

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              |
-------------------------------------------------------------------

17/2350Z APR

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

Date:    Mon, 17 Apr 1995 19:52:23 EDT
From:    John Davis <[email-masked]>
Subject: INF: 50 Years Ago - 18-APR-1945

On 18-APR-1945, the following occurred -

World War II - The Battlefronts
-------------------------------
Western Front - In the Canadian 1st Army sector, the I Corps reaches the
Zuider Zee. In the British 2nd Army sector, the 30 Corps prepares to attack
Bremen. The 8 and 12 Corps capture Ulzen and Soltau. In the U.S. 1st Army
sector, the XVIII Airborne Corps eliminates all organized resistance in the
Ruhr pocket. During this operation the Allies have taken 325,000 prisoners.
Elements of the 3rd Division capture Halle. The 2nd and 69th Divisions
begin a co-ordinated offensive against Leipzig. The offensive of the XV
Corps against Nuremberg continues. Elements of the XXI Corps enters Furth.

Eastern Front - The 2nd White Russian Front crosses the Oder on a wide
front. The 1st Ukraine Front and 1st White Russian Front make very good
progress on a wide front also.

Italian Front - In the U.S. 5th Army sector, elements of the IV Corps reach
the Sulmonte-San Chierlo area. In the British sector, the 5 Corps captures
Argenta.

Philippines - In the XIV Corps area, the 11th Airborne Division resumes
attacking Mt. Macolod and makes some progress. In the southern Philippines,
the beachhead on Mindanao is extended.

Okinawa - War correspondent Ernie Pyle is killed by a Japanese sniper on Ie
Shima. The 77th Division continues to make the main effort against Bloody
Ridge from the south and west. Vicious opposition makes progress very slow
however. On Okinawa itself, the marines pursue the Japanese north across
the Itomi-Manna road and subsequently patrol extensively and reduce
bypassed pockets. In the XXIV Corps area, elements of the 27th Division
cross the Machinato Inlet secretly and secures Machinato village to allow
engineers to bridge the inlet.

Burma - The Indian 5th Division completes clearing Shwemyo Bluff and drives
south on Pyinmana.

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

Sources: "United States Army in World War II, Chronology 1941-1945" compiled
by Mary H. Williams, Office of the Chief of Military History, Department of
the Army, "2194 Days of War" by Cesare Salmaggi and Alfredo Pallavisimi,
"Facts On File Yearbook 1945, Person's Index Of World Events" edited by R.L.
Lapica.

Copyright 1995 by John B Davis, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Previous articles are archived at ftp.webcom.com in directory /pub/jbd/www
and can be accessed via the WWW by URL: http://www.webcom.com/~jbd/ww2.html.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
John Davis                           |                      [email-masked]
Cary, North Carolina                 |            http://www.webcom.com/~jbd/
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

Date:    Mon, 17 Apr 1995 19:57:06 EDT
From:    William Lippert <[email-masked]>
Subject: Latin America

Hello fellow scholars,
   I have a paper due in one week - a twenty pager - and I really don't
have a good topic yet.  Does anyone have any ideas?  They do not necessarily
have to be WWII related - but post them to me privately.  But I was thinking
of doing a country by country report of Latin American in WWII (thus its
relevance to the list).  Is there a lot of info out there on it?  Any
sources/ideas?  I imagine that the U-boat war was somewhat releveant to
the region as well as industrial capacity.
   Thanks for your help and respond ASAP if possible - I'll probably do it
this weekend.  Yes...I am a true college procrastinator.
BILL

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

Date:    Mon, 17 Apr 1995 21:02:09 -0400
From:    Ken Bartel <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: WW2 Books

This is a great idea, I am looking forward to other members lists. As you
can probably tell the majority of these are concerned with the Eastern
Front so hearing from those of you interested in other theatres will be
greatly appreciated. One of these days I may even have time to read some
of the suggestions.

1. 'To Hell and Back', Audie Murphy

2. 'Hitler Moves East 1941-43', Paul Carell

3. 'Scorched Earth, The Russian-German War 1943-44', Paul Carell

4. 'Lost Victories', Field Marshal Erich von Manstein

5. 'The Forgotten Soldier', Guy Sajer

6. 'The German Army 1933-45', Matthew Cooper

7. 'German Battle Tactics on the Russian Front 1941-45', Steven H. Newton

8. 'Knights of the Reich', Gunther Fraschka

9. 'Battle Group! German Kampfgruppen Action of World War Two', James Lucas

10. 'The Last Prussian, A biography of Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt
1875-1953', Charles Messenger

Ken Bartel

Standard Disclaimers Apply
[email-masked]

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

Date:    Mon, 17 Apr 1995 20:15:40 -0500
From:    Greg Kelley <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Defense Against Amphibious Invasion

On Thu, 13 Apr 1995, Mike Yaklich wrote:

>         The failed landing in the Black Sea was a small-scale affair at
> Ozereyka Bay in the spring of '43.  Romanian troops defending the beach and
> supporting German artillery turned back the landing, which included tanks,
> costing the Soviets some 1,200 men (hey, Greg, there's a plug for your boys!).

Are you by chance referring to that famous battle in Ozereyka Bay
southwest of Novorossiysk where, on the 4th of February 1943 the 5th
Company of the Romanian 38th Infantry Regiment, commanded by the
illustrious Captain Dabija Nicolai, succeeded in "whipping butt" (as they
say) of some FIFTEEN HUNDRED Soviet troops (and a couple dozen tanks,
too-- not your cheap T-26s, mind you, but new Lend-Lease M-3 Grants &
Stuarts) supported by some of the better units of the Black Sea Fleet
(like, we're talking "Kirov" class cruisers besides the usual older
dreck)?  Ah, such a glorious chapter in the annals of Romanian military
lore.  Remember, Captain Nicolai did all this with basically small arms
plus some machineguns and a few light field howitzers-- with, of course,
the help of a local Romanian engineer company (Captain Radiu's in case
anyone's wondering-- but I forget the unit number just now) that was
instrumental in local counterattacks (Radiu was, alas, KIA in one of 'em).

All right, all right.  There WAS a Romanian mortar battalion supporting
them, but hey, THEY weren't all that helpful (if I knew the name of the
battalion commander I'd be hurling invectives at his hapless head right
now).  And YES, the German 789th Coastal Artillery Battalion MIGHT'VE
been involved too, but we all have our personal favourites.....

                                          Glad To Be Of Service!

                                          Greg Kelley
                                          St. Paul Public Library
                                          [email-masked]

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

Date:    Mon, 17 Apr 1995 20:29:52 -0500
From:    Greg Kelley <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Japanese diplomat

On Tue, 10 Jan 1995, Nechama Cox wrote:

> >       A little while ago I read in the Post about the Japanese diplomat
> >to Germany during the Reich years.  Unlike Schindler, who at first was
> >a self-serving profiteer, the diplomat gave out exit vistas to every single
> >person he could.  He was signing documents for people to the last minute,
> >even as the train rode off.  I've probably fudged this story a good deal;
> >anyone else know the real details?
>
> I believe this was the post --
>
> >   Another interesting case mentioned some time last year in the Reader's
> >Digest of all places was that of a Japanese diplomat attached to the Japanese
> >Embassy in Berlin who issued refugee documents to thousands of Jews before
> >being recalled. I have a copy that I'll be glad to send you if you'd like.
>
> I have read an article about this man.  Apparently he saved a lot of lives
> and was pretty much ex-communicated (for lack of a better word) for doing
> so. I think, but I am not sure, that he passed away recently without being
> thanked.
>
> Anyone know more?
>
> Nechama Cox
>
> [email-masked]
>

Sorry this is getting out so late, but work comes first....

Perhaps you're thinking of Sempo Sugihara, the Japanese Consul in Kovno
Lithuania back in 1940?  As the consulate was being closed down during
the Soviet takeover in the summer of 1940, he issued thousands (I mean
THOUSANDS-- and these were HANDWRITTEN by him in a couple of days!) of
exit visas for local Jews who left Lithuania via Japan (ostensibly bound
for the Dutch West Indies colony of Curacao, but most found their way to
Palestine en route).  The figures vary-- I've seen 2,500 and 4,500
mentioned, even as many as 10,000 -- but he certainly saved many.

A good (if brief) account may be found in THE BOOK OF THE JUST: THE
UNSUNG HEROES WHO RESCUED JEWS FROM HITLER by Eric Silver (Grove Press, 1992)

Following the closing of the Kovno office, Mr Sugihara stayed in the
consular service, ending as Consul-General stationed in (boy, I bet you
saw this one coming) Bucharest :-) ........

                                          Glad To Be Of Service!

                                          Greg Kelley
                                          St. Paul Public Library
                                          [email-masked]

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

Date:    Mon, 17 Apr 1995 21:54:47 -0500
From:    Joseph Feld <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: Catholicism and Fascism a

Frank,

Absolutely incredible!  I must admit that I never realized the moral dilema
that Pius XII must have found himself in.  I do have one question, however.
Do you think that Hitler would have risked polerizing a large portion of
his population against him, not to mention even greater parts of his
occupied territories, by killing the pope?

Joseph Feld
[email-masked]
Ferndale, MI

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

Date:    Mon, 17 Apr 1995 22:11:25 -0400
From:    Jodi Berls <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: WW2 books

OK, if I were stranded on a desert island and could only take 10 of my books
about World War II...

1. Terraine, John. *The U-Boat Wars: 1916-1945*. Always fascinating no matter
how many times I re-read it.

2. Morison, Samuel Eliot. *The Two-Ocean War*. I'd really rather have his
whole big set, but since I'm limited to 10 total...

3. Gannon, Michael. *Operation Drumbeat*. Solid history with the pace of a
good thriller.

4. Stern, Howard. *Type VII U-boats*. The technical details that explain
everything Terraine is talking about.

5. Churchill, Winston S. *The Second World War*. Again I'd rather  have the
whole set, but this abridged volume would do in a pinch.

6. Winterbotham, F.W. *The Ultra Secret*.

7. Hara, Tameichi. *Japanese Destroyer Captain.*

8. Yahil, Leni. *The Holocaust: The Fate of European Jewry*.

9. Hoyt, Edwin P. *The Death of the U-boats*.

10. *Jane's Fighting Ships of World War II*

Man, this is hard!

Jodi Berls
[email-masked]

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

Date:    Mon, 17 Apr 1995 22:11:34 -0400
From:    Jodi Berls <[email-masked]>
Subject: Re: QUERY: Theresienstadt.

Lee Windsor wrote:

> Can anyone provide a quick run down on the significance of the
Theresienstadt camp.

Well, I'm not quite sure what you mean by significance, but here's a precis
of what I do know about Theresienstadt, mostly taken from Leni Yahil's book,
*The Holocaust: The Fate of European Jewry*.

Most of the individuals sent to Theresienstadt came from Bohemia-Moravia (the
Protectorate) or from Germany and Austria, and deportations to the camp began
in early June 1942. By the end of December some 61,000 had been sent from the
Protectorate and some 33,000 from Germany. The largest deportation from any
one place to Theresienstadt was 10,000 from Berlin. The majority of people
sent from Germany proper were older than 60 years of age, hence the
Theresienstadt camp sometimes was referred to as "the Old People's Ghetto."

As a ghetto, Theresienstadt was designed to serve conflicting functions. On
the one hand, it was considered a kind of way station for deportations
farther east--i.e. to labor or extermination camps. On the other hand, it
also was used as a kind of ruse to put a rosy face on deportations from the
home ground in Germany. A fair number of Jews in Germany proper enjoyed
special privileges or had influential German friends, and it certainly would
have been difficult to explain away the deportation of elderly folk to work
camps--what kind of work would a 73-year-old be sent to do? There also was
opposition at home to efforts to subject Jews who were veterans of World War
I to any kind of rough treatment. As Yahil put it, "In order for the transfer
of these privileged people to achieve the effect envisioned for it by
Eichmann's office, it had to be conducted in a civilized manner and with
apparent regard for the special needs of the people involved."

In such cases the deportations were referred to as "change of residence."
Often, to complete the hoax, the elderly people being moved to Theresienstadt
were offered the opportunity to buy a place in a "home for the elderly in the
Protectorate."

Of course, as the war went on, many of these "privileged" individuals either
died of typhus or poor conditions in the Theresienstadt camp, or were
ultimately deported on to Auschwitz for extermination.

Hope that helps.

Jodi Berls
[email-masked]

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

Date:    Mon, 17 Apr 1995 22:29:35 EST
From:    Matt Gernstein <[email-masked]>
Subject: Major League Players in the War

I am looking for any information on the activities of Major League Baseball
Players during the war.  Who served where, when.  Who was decorated,
who "served" by playing baseball.  I am also looking for information on
the role baseball played for troops.  If there are any quotes or anectdotes
about American Soldiers and baseball that would help incredibly.  Thanks.

Matt Gernstein
[email-masked]

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

Date:    Mon, 17 Apr 1995 22:29:27 -0400
From:    "Amy Gutierrez, Eastern Michigan Univ." <[email-masked]>
Subject: QUERY: Neutrality

If anyone on the list could recommend any books on
neutrality in WWII (European, mostly), I'd be very
interested in hearing about them.

Thanks,

Amy Gutierrez
[email-masked]

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

Date:    Mon, 17 Apr 1995 20:13:51 -0700
From:    Gordon Bowen <[email-masked]>
Subject: Battle of Britain Camouflage/Deception

I'm looking for data on British camouflage/deception sites used to protect
British aerodromes during World War II, particularly the period before and
during the Battle of Britain.  The effort was directed by Col John Turner,
and was codenamed Col Turner's Dept.  It consisted of many things, notably
Q sites (night decoys), K sites (day decoys), camouflage, etc.  The sites
deflected more than 100 raids from real airfields prior to Christmas 1940,
but I need more accurate data:  I'm especially looking for someone who was
there or knows where I can find pictures and/or information on what sites
were hit, what aerodromes they were protecting, what dates/times the raids
occurred, and what the Germans thought they had accomplished.  Please
e-mail to the discussion group or direct to me at [email-masked]
Thanks,

Gordon Bowen

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

Date:    Mon, 17 Apr 1995 17:15:26 -0700
From:    "Haque,Sultan" <[email-masked]>
Subject: Hitler's wargaming & Wellington

I cannot recall the exact source but I remember reading
that Hitler was an avid player of board wargames --
and in fact closely directed Nazi involvement in the
Spanish Civil War based on "lessons" learned by
replaying Wellington's campaigns in Spain during the
Peninsular war.  Has anybody come across any similar
references to Hitler's fascination with the "Iron Duke"?

[email-masked]

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

End of WWII-L Digest - 16 Apr 1995 to 17 Apr 1995
*************************************************