Search found 23 matches

by mconrad
Tue Sep 24, 2013 10:34 am
Forum: World War I
Topic: collapse of the 1918 offensive
Replies: 1
Views: 5506

Re: collapse of the 1918 offensive

This is pretty scary. The Germans have run out of manpower sources, and are prepared to send Germany's 18-year olds into combat. Wouldn't a rational government look for an endgame at this point? It looks like they would rather destroy Germany's future than make peace.
by mconrad
Tue Sep 24, 2013 10:25 am
Forum: The Allies in WWII
Topic: Poles passage to Britain
Replies: 19
Views: 17419

Re:

One of my Polish/Australian friends was born in Tanzania after his parents made their way south from Poland. He has no idea how/why etc. His parents never spoke about anything relevant. Any clues anyone, of how a Pole could find himself in Tanzania in 1940? - Hans Too many of the Poles who made the...
by mconrad
Tue Nov 13, 2012 4:56 pm
Forum: World War I
Topic: The Schlieffen Plan
Replies: 3
Views: 8228

Re: The Schlieffen Plan

"The hostile front is not the aim of the principal attack. It is not against that point that the troops should be massed and the reserves disposed; the essential thing is to crush the flanks. The wings ought not to be sought at the advanced flank points of the front, but along the entire depth ...
by mconrad
Fri May 18, 2012 11:51 am
Forum: General WWII German Military Discussion
Topic: Percentage of Berlin that was destroyed?...
Replies: 5
Views: 12513

Re: Percentage of Berlin that was destroyed?...

Looks like that at around 60-70% destroyed there is no more return on bombs dropped. As they say, at that point you are just rearranging the rubble.
by mconrad
Fri May 18, 2012 11:48 am
Forum: Books and Reviews
Topic: Books by Franz Kurowski
Replies: 31
Views: 19894

Re: Books by Franz Kurowski

The AMPS tank modeling site reviews his book on the Afrika Korps (FK is said to have served in North Africa and other Mediterranean areas) as "like an extended high school report."
by mconrad
Fri May 18, 2012 11:47 am
Forum: Books and Reviews
Topic: Books by Franz Kurowski
Replies: 31
Views: 19894

Re: Books by Franz Kurowski

The German Wikipedia entry on FK is mostly about factual errors (?) in his polemical books on the Dresden raids. He is identified as a revisionist in the disapproving sense of the word.
by mconrad
Mon Dec 05, 2011 7:28 am
Forum: General WWII German Military Discussion
Topic: Total of german prisioneers
Replies: 5
Views: 4494

Re: Total of german prisioneers

The Wikipedia article "German prisoners of war in the Soviet Union" seems pretty good.
by mconrad
Mon Dec 05, 2011 7:11 am
Forum: The Allies in WWII
Topic: Mission 101
Replies: 2
Views: 4916

Wingate? Re: Mission 101

Wasn't the Ethiopian guerilla movement run by Orde Wingate? That phase of his activities is much less written about than the Burma Chindits, unfortunately.
by mconrad
Thu Oct 13, 2011 10:49 am
Forum: The Allies in WWII
Topic: Partisans, Guerillas, and Resistance
Replies: 13
Views: 11986

Re: Partisans, Guerillas, and Resistance

Suprisingly, or perhaps not, the Russian experience with terminology is not without interest. Firstly, they took the western European term "partisan" and used it as far back as 1812 to describe cavalry units conducting deep penetration raids and harrassments of the retreating French, which...
by mconrad
Thu Oct 13, 2011 10:14 am
Forum: The Allies in WWII
Topic: Jewish SOE Naval Unit Led By Brits...
Replies: 11
Views: 10192

Re: Jewish SOE Naval Unit Led By Brits...

Not exactly a rare skill in SOE or in assorted military units in the theatre. No,but coupled with language skills and a willingness to please it might have been.It was a very rough neighborhood as evidenced by their fate...a body believed to be that of Palmer was washed ashore showing evidence of m...
by mconrad
Thu Oct 13, 2011 10:02 am
Forum: The Allies in WWII
Topic: British private armies
Replies: 2
Views: 5041

Re: British private armies - Chindits

A real good case study of Private Armies might be the Chindits in Burma. The size was substantial compared to the amount of forces in theater - a brigade in 1943 and a division in 1944, plus the air support. There was something behind the term "Private" for the Chindits, as the commander, ...
by mconrad
Tue Sep 13, 2011 12:39 pm
Forum: Books and Reviews
Topic: Explosive New Book about Kursk Coming out in May
Replies: 48
Views: 31165

Re: Explosive New Book about Kursk Coming out in May

http://www.uni.edu/~licari/citadel.htm

From over five years ago, runs through several "Kursk myths" and says what was actually going on. Interestingly, also rebuts Nipes' claim that XIV Panzer Corps could have won a victory for the Germans had not Hitler's will (supposedly) failed.
by mconrad
Tue Sep 13, 2011 9:13 am
Forum: General WWII German Military Discussion
Topic: What were Hitler's plans for after the war?
Replies: 50
Views: 27325

back to the original question Re: What were Hitler's plans

From HITLER AND STALIN, I recall that Hitler's personal expectation for after the war was to lay down and die. He felt his family had a history of early deaths, and it suited his sense of historical drama that he would lead the struggle to create the super-Germany and then--while the glory was still...
by mconrad
Sat May 21, 2011 3:30 pm
Forum: Unit Histories, Feldpost Numbers & Orders of Battle
Topic: I & II / 361 Afrika Regiment
Replies: 8
Views: 6531

Re: I & II / 361 Afrika Regiment - Swiss?

On what legal basis could the German government draft a Swiss national into the Wehrmacht?
by mconrad
Thu May 05, 2011 6:45 pm
Forum: Commanders, Personalities & Award Holders
Topic: Werner Poetschke at Stoumont December 19, 1944
Replies: 16
Views: 14504

Re: Werner Poetschke at Stoumont December 19, 1944

Thank you for the information regarding Darago's and Seaman's well-deserved DSCs.

But it begs the question, what was the 90mm battery doing at this time? With firepower like that, why were they sending out artillerymen as bazooka teams on near-suicidal missions?