#wwII history

[cursedreverie1945]

I'm wondering. I think the top picture of Heydrich came early on in his career with the SS. Whereas the others came later. The effect of doing the hellish shit he pulled in his life. Night of the Long Knives, for example, ended in the murder of Ernst Röhm. Röhm was his first son's, Klaus, godfather.

Perhaps as time moved forward, his personality became darker. Just like his deeds.

He's such a sunshine in this picture! :3

Hear me out! \[>_<]/

He's so..

[komsomolka]

Fritz Schmenkel was the only German national who became a Hero of the Soviet Union for his actions during WWII.

Fritz Schmenkel was born in Stettin (today Szczecin, Poland) in 1916. His father, Paul Krause, a brickyard worker and communist, was murdered by Stormtroopers in 1932. This caused Fritz to join the Young Communist League of Germany to fight his father's Nazi murderers.

In December 1938, he was drafted into the Wehrmacht but refused to serve citing illness and other excuses. He was imprisoned for evading conscription. In July 1941, after the beginning of Nazi Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union, Schmenkel volunteered to fight on the Eastern Front so he was released. His true intention was always deserting which he did in November 1941. But he couldn't hide in Belarusian forests forever so there was a dilemma. How not to get killed on spot by comrades because of his German uniform and communicate without knowing Russian language? The shivering and hungry Shmenkel knocked on the doors of local village residents, using a simple set of words: "Lenin, Stalin, Thälmann" - and the doors opened. In exchange for help in a simple peasant household, Fritz received food, a place to sleep, and moved on.

One day Shmenkel came across a patrol of German military police and was arrested. Fortunately for the deserter, fighters from the partisan detachment "Death to Fascism" descended on Germans some time later. After a short but stubborn battle, the garrison was routed, and the partisans learned from local residents about the strange German. Not having time for serious investigation, the fighters simply took him with them. That's how Shmenkel ended up in the partisan detachment.

Of course, at first Soviets were very wary of Fritz, they feared that he was a Nazi spy. But they still decided not to act rashly and give him a chance. And soon such an opportunity presented itself. In one of the villages, the partisans came across German detachment. A fight ensued. Shmenkel did not take part in it - he had no weapon. Since there were too many Germans, the fate of the partisans seemed to be predetermined. Fritz asked for a rifle. Realizing that they have nothing to lose and an extra fighter was now worth its weight in gold, the unit commander took a risk. And he was right. Shmenkel started successfully shooting at Germans. The partisans won that battle. Fritz was then accepted as a member of the partisans. He quickly gained the respect and affection of his unit, his comrades started nicknaming him Ivan Ivanovich jokingly adding "Why call a good person Fritz?".

Schmenkel led German military units into ambushes arranged by the partisans. This helped the partisans capture entire units of Wehrmacht soldiers, as well as ammunition and food. Schmenkel quickly rose through the ranks of the partisans. In March 1943, he traveled to Moscow at the behest of the Red Army, was awarded the Order of the Red Banner, and received further military training. He was appointed deputy commander of a special operations (sabotage and intelligence) unit that operated in a German-occupied area north of the city of Orsha.

Germans put a reward on Schmenkel's head - 8 hectares of land, a house, a cow, and two thousand German marks. Later, the reward was raised to an astronomical sum for those times - 25 thousand marks.

At the end of 1943, contact with Fritz Schmenkel was lost. Only after the war did it become known that he had been captured and tortured by the Gestapo, but Fritz had not changed his views. He was sentenced to death and executed in occupied Minsk in February 1944.

His last wish was to send a letter to his wife Erna Schäfer. He wrote: "Forgive me for the troubles I have caused you by going my way to the end. I did not renounce my views even in the last hours of my life. I am boldly going to my execution because I am dying for my convictions." He left behind three children in Germany.

By the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of 6 October 1964, Fritz Schmenkel was posthumously awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union "for active participation in the partisan movement, exemplary fulfillment of command assignments during the Great Patriotic War and the heroism and courage displayed in doing so."

The memory of Fritz Schmenkel is immortalized in the names of streets in the cities of Nelidovo and Bely in the Tver region. And in Minsk, a memorial plaque is dedicated to him. One of the streets in East Berlin also bore the name of Shmenkel. However, it was renamed in 1992.

[histcryprincess]

French girls wearing their German boyfriends uniforms during World War 2. The photo on the right was found on a German POW.

[tacticallyaware]

Grumman TBM Avenger getting serviced by Aviation Ordance Men as they service the .50 caliber machine guns + plane turrets

Circa 1944-45

Source: NationalArchives

Color: Colourised PIECE of JAKE

[cid5]

Operation Torch, North Africa, November 1942, American troops on board a landing craft going in to land at Oran during Operation TORCH.

[dronescapesvideos]

P-61A 42-5580 Wabash Cannon-Ball IV of the 425th Night Fighter Squadron. France, 1944.

➤P-61 VIDEO: https://youtu.be/EjfRv9vi0D0

➤WW2 VIDEOS: https://dronescapes.video/WW2

[lonestarflight]

Two workers attaching a Pratt & Whitney R-2800 Double Wasp onto a F4U Corsair at the Chance-Vought factory in Stratford, Connecticut.

Date: March 1943

NARA: 179036630

[traiteursroe]

Eugene Roe in Germany, Eugene and Spina hanging out. I’m not sure when these were taken, so if someone knows that would be cool to know!

[violentlycookingcartoons]

"We killed Poland, We're bastards"

[jhlcolorizing]

83 years ago, Independence Day was celebrated in somewhat different circumstances.

Street fighting on Independence Day in -34 degree frost in Karhumäki, Eastern Karelia, on December 6, 1941.

A high price has been paid for Finland's independence. We must cherish and protect this heritage that has been left to us. Happy Independence Day! •••••••• 83 vuotta sitten itsenäisyyspäivää vietettiin hieman erilaisemmissa tunnelmissa.

Katutaistelua itsenäisyyspäivänä -34 asteen pakkasessa Itä-Karjalan Karhumäessä, 6.12.1941.

Itsenäisyydestä on maksettu kova hinta. Meidän tulee vaalia ja suojella tätä perintöä, joka meille on jätetty. Hyvää itsenäisyyspäivää! •••••••• [ sa-kuva | 66119 | T.Norjavirta ]

[davidcashuk]

World War II Axis helmets (not all of them obviously)

[icecream4starscream]

[ Starscream (The Movie) fic ]

After seeing the "Bumblebee" movie, I'm toying with the idea of writing an Ao3 "Starscream: the Movie" fic where Starscream gets awoken early (and alone) in 1942 WWII Germany and disguises himself as an Messerschmitt Me 262 (one of the first jet engine planes. Used for combat in 1944, but test flights were happening in 1941). He spends nights scrambling for half-decent fuel while trying to maintain a low profile as he tries figuring out where the rest of the Deceptions are.

Luftwaffe dog-fighters start seeing him as an omen of good luck since he always attacks the RAF bombers, some believing the ghost of the Red Baron is flying (the main body of the plane is red), and begin referring to the empty plane as "Geist" [Ghost in German]. In truth Starscream's stripping RAF bombers fuel tanks mid-air under cover of darkness because it's the easiest way to get a ton of fuel while leaving behind little to no trace of what he actually is. He picks a German plane because at the time the [$-Villains of WWII-$] were winning so he just picks the winning side, he doesn't know or care about the details (i mean, it ain't HIS war).

That would be the initial setup anyway...

I mean, just imagine this plane in Starscream colors. TELL ME that wouldn't be a cool concept.

EDIT: I just found this epic recording of the plane in action along with the recording of the guy being stunned. Just thought I'd add it here.

And here's a clip from the movie "Red Tails" (2012) that shows just how their superior speed made these things a nightmare.

Just imagine Starscream pullin' up on a fleet of bombers in this form and doing his thing.

2ND EDIT:

So apparently there exists a Bay-verse Starscream figure that transforms into the Red Baron plane from WWI and I'm just scratching my head wondering how Micheal Bay managed to bungle a premise THIS good.

(Tbf, I can't really see Starscream as a propeller aircraft, he's supposed to be the fastest flyer so he should naturally have jets).

[henryshakesmear]

Hi, this is for those who still think comparing Trump to Hitler is hysterical and overly dramatic.

Project 2025, which Trump claims not to be associated with, but on which many close associates of his worked, details a plan to mobilize several forces like the National Guard and local police and sheriffs to "go around the country arresting illegal immigrants in large-scale raids".

The immigrants would then be taken to "large-scale staging grounds near the border, most likely in Texas" to be held in internment camps (a sort of prison for people who haven't been charged with a crime) before deportation.

(I'm citing this almost directly from the Wikipedia page about Project 2025, in the section "Policies" under "Immigration reforms", second to last paragraph.)

In shorter words: Raids to collect immigrants and place them in prison-like camps without a criminal charge. Let's employ a little pattern recognition and see that this is EXCEEDINGLY SIMILAR to the Reichspogromnacht in the night of the 9th November 1938.

In this night, an assassination attempt on a German diplomat in Paris (Ernst vom Rath) by a young polish Jew (Herschel Grynszpan) two days before was used as an excuse to stage a raid on jewish property by the German SA forces. Synagogues were burnt down, jewish property was destroyed and jewish people were detained, abused, raped and killed.

About 26.000 jewish men and teenagers were taken to concentration camps in Buchenwald, Dachau and Sachsenhausen. Many of them died following abuse in these camps, they were forced to give up their property and most were only set free after agreeing to migrate to other countries.

Afterwards, jewish organizations were forcibly disbanded, jewish press was forbidden, jewish people were no longer allowed to pursue trades and crafts, or own businesses. And obviously the discriminatory laws against jewish people only increased further.

(Information taken from the website of the state headquarters for political education Baden-Württemberg. The site is in German.)

TL; DR In both cases, people are forcibly detained without charges and placed in camps to be forced to migrate/ be deported. Are you seeing what I'm seeing??

As a German, do not repeat our mistakes and do not let yourself be radicalized into committing another Holocaust. Yes, it is exactly as bad as we're making it sound and we're being loud about it to prevent another eleven million people being killed systematically by a faschist government and its ignorant people.

[safedistancefrombeingsmart]

Martin Freeman begins the D-Day 80 service by reading the memories of veteran Joe Mines

Joe Mines, 2nd Battalion Essex Regiment, landed here on Gold Beach 80 years ago today. He joins us and allowed me to share these memories with you: “I've never been back here, for 80 years. I’ve often thought “What do I go back for?” After all the terrible things I’ve seen. Like a picture book, up there, I can visualise everything.  I landed on June the 6th 1944 at a place called Vers Sur Mer. The Germans pulled back, so it allowed us to clear the mines on the beach.That was the 1st job I got, clearing mines. All over the place they were. Joe Mines clearing mines. One of our fellas trod on one and blew his leg off. The whole leg went. War is brutal.  Back when I signed up, I met a fella on the train. I went to Normandy with him. But he got killed within about an hour of landing here. He was only young. I was 19 when I landed, but I was still a boy. I don’t care what people say. I wasn’t a man. I was a boy. And I didn’t have any idea of war and killing. I was lucky. Yeah, I had lots and lots of luck.  So why would I come back? Well, this is the last and only opportunity for me.The last there will ever be. And it’s because of the lads. I want to pay my respects to those who didn’t make it.  May they rest in peace. “

[whencyclopedia]

D-Day was 80 years ago today!

D-Day was the first day of Operation Overlord, the Allied attack on German-occupied Western Europe, which began on the beaches of Normandy, France, on 6 June 1944. Primarily US, British, and Canadian troops, with naval and air support, attacked five beaches, landing some 135,000 men in a day widely considered to have changed history.

Where to Attack?

Operation Overlord, which sought to attack occupied Europe starting with an amphibious landing in northwest France, Belgium, or the Netherlands, had been in the planning since January 1943 when Allied leaders agreed to the build-up of British and US troops in Britain. The Allies were unsure where exactly to land, but the requirements were simple: as short a sea crossing as possible and within range of Allied fighter cover. A third requirement was to have a major port nearby, which could be captured and used to land further troops and equipment. The best fit seemed to be Normandy with its flat beaches and port of Cherbourg.

The Atlantic Wall

The leader of Nazi Germany, Adolf Hitler (1889-1945), called his western line of defences the Atlantic Wall. It had gaps but presented an impressive string of fortifications along the coast from Spain to the Netherlands. Construction of gun batteries, bunker networks, and observation posts began as early as 1942.

Many of the German divisions were not crack troops but inexperienced soldiers, who were spending more time building defences than in vital military training. There was a woeful lack of materials for Hitler's dream of the Atlantic Wall, really something of a Swiss cheese, with some strong areas, but many holes. The German army was not provided with sufficient mines, explosives, concrete, or labourers to better protect the coastline. At least one-third of gun positions still had no casement protection. Many installations were not bomb-proof. Another serious weakness was naval and air support. The navy had a mere 4 destroyers available and 39 E-boats while the Luftwaffe's (German Air Force's) contribution was equally paltry with only 319 planes operating in the skies when the invasion took place (rising to 1,000) in the second week.

Neptune to Normandy

Preparation for Overlord occurred right through April and May of 1940 when the Royal Air Force (RAF) and United States Air Force (USAAF) relentlessly bombed communications and transportation systems in France as well as coastal defences, airfields, industrial targets, and military installations. In total, over 200,000 missions were conducted to weaken as much as possible the Nazi defences ready for the infantry troops about to be involved in the largest troop movement in history. The French Resistance also played their part in preparing the way by blowing up train lines and communication systems that would ensure the defenders could not effectively respond to the invasion.

The Allied fleet of 7,000 vessels of all kinds departed from English south-coast ports such as Falmouth, Plymouth, Poole, Portsmouth, Newhaven, and Harwich. In an operation code-named Neptune, the ships gathered off Portsmouth in a zone called 'Piccadilly Circus' after the busy London road junction, and then made their way to Normandy and the assault areas. At the same time, gliders and planes flew to the Cherbourg peninsula in the west and Ouistreham on the eastern edge of the planned landing. Paratroopers of the 82nd and 101st US Airborne Division attacked in the west to try and cut off Cherbourg. At the eastern extremity of the operation, paratroopers of the 6th British Airborne Division aimed to secure Pegasus Bridge over the Caen Canal. Other tasks of the paratrooper and glider units were to destroy bridges to impede the enemy, hold others necessary for the invasion to progress, destroy gun emplacements, secure the beach exits, and protect the invasion's flanks.

The Beaches

The amphibious attack was set for dawn on 5 June, daylight being a requirement for the necessary air and naval support. Bad weather led to a postponement of 24 hours. Shortly after midnight, the first waves of 23,000 British and American paratroopers landed in France. US paratroopers who dropped near Ste-Mère-Église ensured this was the first French town to be liberated. From 3.00 a.m., air and naval bombardment of the Normandy coast began, letting up just 15 minutes before the first infantry troops landed on the beaches at 6.30 a.m.

The beaches selected for the landings were divided into zones, each given a code name. US troops attacked two, the British army another two, and the Canadian force the fifth. These beaches and the troops assigned to them were (west to east):

Utah Beach - 4th US Infantry Division, 7th US Corps (1st US Army commanded by Lieutenant General Omar N. Bradley)

Omaha Beach - 1st US Infantry Division, 5th US Corps (1st US Army)

Gold Beach - 50th British Infantry Division, 30th British Corps (2nd British Army commanded by Lieutenant-General Miles C. Dempsey)

Juno Beach - 3rd Canadian Infantry Division (2nd British Army)

Sword Beach - 3rd British Infantry Division, 1st British Corps (2nd British Army)

In addition, the 2nd US Rangers were to attack the well-defended Pointe du Hoc between Utah and Omaha (although it turned out the guns had never been installed there), while Royal Marine Commando units attacked targets on Gold, Juno, and Sword.

The RAF and USAAF continued to protect the invasion fleet and ensure any enemy ground-based counterattack faced air attack. As the Allies could put in the air 12,000 aircraft at this stage, the Luftwaffe's aerial fightback was pitifully inadequate. On D-Day alone, the Allied air forces flew 15,000 sorties compared to the Luftwaffe's 100. Not one single Allied aircraft was lost to enemy fire on D-Day.

Packing Normandy

By the end of D-Day, 135,000 men had been landed and relatively few casualties were sustained – some 5,000 men. There were some serious cock-ups, notably the hopeless dispersal of the paratroopers (only 4% of the US 101st Air Division were dropped at the intended target zone), but, if anything, this caused even more confusion amongst the German commanders on the ground as it seemed the Allies were attacking everywhere. The defenders, overcoming the initial handicap that many area commanders were at a strategy conference in Rennes, did eventually organise themselves into a counterattack, deploying their reserves and pulling in troops from other parts of France. This is when French resistance and aerial bombing became crucial, seriously hampering the German army's effort to reinforce the coastal areas of Normandy. The German field commanders wanted to withdraw, regroup and attack in force, but, on 11 June, Hitler ordered there be no retreat.

All of the original invasion beaches were linked as the Allies pushed inland. To aid thousands more troops following up the initial attack, two artificial floating harbours were built. Code-named Mulberries, these were located off Omaha and Gold beaches and were built from 200 prefabricated units. A storm hit on 20 June, destroying the Mulberry Harbour off Omaha, but the one at Gold was still serviceable, allowing some 11,000 tons of material to be landed every 24 hours. The other problem for the Allies was how to supply thousands of vehicles with the fuel they needed. The short-term solution, code-named Tombola, was to have tanker ships pump fuel to storage tanks on shore, using buoyed pipelines. The longer-term solution was code-named Pluto (Pipeline Under the Ocean), a pipeline under the Channel to Cherbourg through which fuel could be pumped. Cherbourg was taken on 27 June and was used to ship in more troops and supplies, although the defenders had sunk ships to block the harbour and these took some six weeks to fully clear.

Operation Neptune officially ended on 30 June. Around 850,000 men, 148,800 vehicles, and 570,000 tons of stores and equipment had been landed since D-Day. The next phase of Overlord was to push the occupiers out of Normandy. The defenders were not only having logistical problems but also command issues as Hitler replaced Rundstedt with Field Marshal Günther von Kluge (1882-1944) and formally warned Rommel not to be defeatist.

Aftermath: The Normandy Campaign

By early July, the Allies, having not got further south than around 20 miles (32 km) from the coast, were behind schedule. Poor weather was limiting the role of aircraft in the advance. The German forces were using the countryside well to slow the Allied advance – countless small fields enclosed with trees and hedgerows which limited visibility and made tanks vulnerable to ambush. Caen was staunchly defended and required Allied bombers to obliterate the city on 7 July. The German troops withdrew but still held one-half of the city. The Allies lost around 500 tanks trying to take Caen, vital to any push further south. The advance to Avranches was equally tortuous, and 40,000 men were lost in two weeks of heavy fighting. By the end of July, the Allies had taken Caen, Avranches, and the vital bridge at Pontaubault. From 1 August, Patton and the US Third Army were punching south at the western side of the offensive, and the Brittany ports of St. Malo, Brest, and Lorient were taken.

German forces counterattacked to try and retake Avranches, but Allied air power was decisive. Through August 1940, the Allies swept southwards to the Loire River from St. Nazaire to Orléans. On 15 August, a major landing took place on the southwest coast of France (French Riviera landings) and Marseille was captured on 28 August. In northern France, the Allies captured enough territory, ports, and airfields for a massive increase in material support. On 25 August, Paris was liberated. By mid-September, the Allied troops in the north and south of France had linked up and the campaign front expanded eastwards pushing on to the borders of Germany. There would be setbacks like Operation Market Garden of September and a brief fightback at the Battle of the Bulge in December 1944, but the direction of the war and ultimate Allied victory was now a question of not if but when.

[cid5]

Gls advance beneath railroad underpass east of Vellerdingen as fighting continues in France, December 5, 1944.