When Germans and Americans fought side by side in WW2 What is significant, however, he notes, is that the German High Command did not identify Patton as the commander of this fake U.S. 1st Army Group until well after they had fallen for the Calais ploy. He believes the German SS officer who wrote this account was among the group of prisoners he guarded for one night, although he was not involved in his capture. Yeide quotes Helmuth von Moltke, chief of the Prussian General Staff and the man responsible for Germanys victory in the 187071Franco Prussian war, who, when compared with Napoleon and Frederick the Great by a flatterer, declined the honor, for I have never conducted a retreat, the trickiest of all military maneuvers. For the American Army in northwest Europe, from beginning to end, the critical difficulties centered upon the performance of the combat infantry, the men at the very tip of the spear. So Pattons presence in Kent was not the decisive factor in the German miscalculation. Why German Soldiers Don't Have to Obey Orders | HISTORY and stretch my legs under a table full of Mother's cooking . But none has yet faulted Dupuy's conclusion that on almost every battlefield of the war the German showed best: "On a man for man basis, German ground soldiers consistently inflicted casualties at about a 50 percent higher rate than they incurred from the opposing British and American troops under all circumstances (emphasis in original). The Allies were storming towards Berlin from the west whilst Soviet forces were looming down on Germany's capital from the east. As both Blumenson and Carlo DEste see it, Patton would not have waffled over the Falaise Gap, and his plan, an ambitious long envelopment rather than Bradleys short hook, might have trapped and killed the German Normandy army west of the Seine. Martha Strodter is engaged to an A-----. Minor American front. By the spring of 1944, the War Department perceived that a great mistake had been made in according such low manpower priority to infantry. Henrik Bering on Fighting Patton: George S. Patton Jr. Never-Before-Seen Document Reveals Nazi Soldier's Struggle They are the wildest when they are after the girls. What did the Wehrmacht and SS think of American soldiers in ww2 Nebraska State Historical. Before I get to . A spirit of military narcissism, nourished by such films as "The Longest Day," "A Bridge Too Far" and "The Battle of the Bulge," has perpetuated mythical images of the Allied and German armies. Fresh beyond bounds., 33. Many of our young girls have gone wrong since the A----- are [unclear] is almost hard to believe of some of them. All the way towards the frontier, the Americans faced delaying tactics, courtesy of General Kurt von der Chevallerie, a veteran of the fighting around Kiev. Through Ultra, the greatest cipher- breaking operation of all time, the Allies possessed extraordinary knowledge of the German order of battle, deployments and often -- though not in the Battle of the Bulge -- German intentions. How the censors will rave when they read this letter, but I am only writing the truth. But from the standpoint of military discipline it is a mob, pure and simple. Pattons adversaries, on the other hand, had plenty of experience in this art form from Russia, where the Wehrmachts early victories had turned into a nightmare struggle against the cold and against a Russian enemy that seemed to have an inexhaustible supply of manpower and replacement tanks. The Sherman, which dominated the Allied campaign, was a superbly reliable piece of machinery. Germany's titanic struggle with the Soviet Union from 1941 to 1944, which killed more than 2 million German soldiers -- arguably, the best 2 million -- provided the western Allies with an extraordinary luxury for nations at war: time to train, to prepare, to plan to meet the enemy on the battlefield under conditions of their choosing, at a moment carefully selected by the warlords of America and Britain. Their Wehrmacht Was Better Than Our Army - The Washington Post Not every German soldier was a superman, not every formation of equal high quality. There. "Everyone was in a good mood and eager to see action again happy that the preinvasion spell of uncertainty and waiting had snapped at last," the German SS officer wrote. The officer told Frankemolle to keep the papers to himself and give it back to him after reading it but that was the last time the two ever saw each other. Black Americans Who Served in WWII Faced Segregation Abroad - HISTORY Coinciding with the Battle of Kursk was the Allied invasion of Sicily. Interviewing war veterans, in marked contrast to Europeans who generally acknowledge respect for their officers, American private soldiers lavish regard upon good NCOs, but seldom reveal much for their unit commanders. From the battle of Normandy to the very end in Germany, the British army's performance was profoundly influenced by inability to withstand heavy casualties. There, he rounded up stragglers and deserters from other units and forced them to join the ranks of the beleaguered SS division as replacements for all those lost. To Patton, war meant destroying the enemys main force, not clinging to territory. In 1950, the great British military writer Capt. Hoover scholars offer analysis of current policy challenges and provide solutions on how America can advance freedom, peace, and prosperity. The historical and global perspective that was absent for so many years is at last being attained. [21] American G.I. And what can one do? The research team started with some 1,900 soldiers from the Ninth Division stationed at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Military disobedience is actually baked into the German Bundeswehr, or armed forces. In all America's wars, her allies have agreed that the able West Pointer has no superior. . Yet for the Americans, manpower was not a problem. but all I want to do is beat these Nazi sons-of- bitches so we can get at those little Jap bastards.". On Pattons performance in France, his campaign in Lorraine was certainly no beauty but might have been avoided altogether, if he and not the plodding Omar Bradley, his former subordinate, had been in overall charge of the American forces. The first group of roughly 50 men ordered to report to the camp theater that . Isnt she crazy?. Persecution of black people in Nazi Germany - Wikipedia This confidence was a fatal delusion. I have found your American Army the most honorable of all our enemies. Another girl was unceremoniously spanked in broad daylight, and she is 23 years old too. The first words passed. American soldiers are very honorable considering the many wars and enemies theyve battled over the years. They were bad prisoners since they wont talk or work. About 45 percent of the Wehrmacht was committed to combat divisions, against 21 percent for the U.S. Army. They refused to work and talked back to the officers, much to the annoyance of the officers and the concealed delight of the men. Support with a donation>>. They were ex-grocery boys, ex-highway laborers, ex-bank clerks, ex-schoolboys, boys with a clean record, not killers. The advantage of this way of operating is that it makes for speed, initiative, and flexibility, allowing the officer on the spot to adjust to the rapidly changing situation of the battlefield and to exploit sudden opportunities. How Methamphetamine Became a Key Part of Nazi Military Strategy - TIME Heinz Rein lived through the final fighting when Hitler, from his bunker, decreed that any German officer ordering a retreat was to be killed on the spot by his own men. Now the men started looking at each other. Such people would surely have found it easier to blame their defeat on an enemy relying on raw industrial might than to acknowledge his fighting skills. The opinions expressed on this website are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Hoover Institution or Stanford University. Again and again in northwest Europe, much inferior German forces equipped with a handful of Tigers, Panthers or 88mm guns were able to halt a major setpiece Allied attack in its tracks. On der Chevalleries achievement, Yeide quotes Pattons assistant intelligence officer Colonel Robert Allen: The enemys continued tactical control, despite the tremendous difficulties under which he operated, was a remarkable military feat. The notorious American infantry replacement system, by which men were arbitrarily posted to a numbered, non-territorial unit, and had no chance to build the loyalty possible in a British regiment, created deep unhappiness among many men, and contributed to the U.S. Army's alarming total of almost a million battle-fatigue cases in World War II. Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, left, gives the order of the day to paratroopers in England . How Ordinary Germans Did It | Christopher R. Browning In 1919, the United States compiled a report on German attitudes towards American troops and their behavior during the war and subsequent occupation. Get the inside scoop on todays biggest stories in business, from Wall Street to Silicon Valley delivered daily. Of these, Yeide singles out General Hermann Balck, who performed the kind of flexible defense he had practiced in Russia on the Chir river. "The Germans were willing to act -- always," said the British Major- General Brian Wyldbore-Smith. Through the Eyes of his Enemies, David and Joan Traitel Building & Rental Information, National Security, Technology & Law Working Group, Middle East and the Islamic World Working Group, Military History/Contemporary Conflict Working Group, Technology, Economics, and Governance Working Group, Answering Challenges to Advanced Economies, Understanding the Effects of Technology on Economics and Governance, Support the Mission of the Hoover Institution. Children under 12 years certainly never had any claim to a bed. The same applies to Pattons role as commander of the fictional U.S. 1st Army Group in Kent, designed to create the impression that the invasion would occur at Calais rather than Normandy. Many Western professional soldiers believed in 1944-45, and still believe today, that until the United States can come to terms with the problem of producing massed forces of effective combat infantry, the continued commitment of technology and cash will not suffice to make her defense effective. Those lazy people. December 24, 2014 2:00 PM EST. Anton Bursch, shopkeeper in Echternach, 38. You Americans are not real the heart and soul in the war, are you? It was found that 1944 infantrymen were an inch shorter than the army's average, a fair measure of general physique. "Something happened that left us in a daze," the officer wrote. The problem, in World War II, was that there were nowhere near enough of these to lead an army of 8 million men. Issue. . From the standpoint of a tank specialist, I must congratulate him on his victory since he acted as I would have done had I been in his place., But according to Yeides figures, while the U.S. possessed only one armored commander above division level and only a handful of first class armor generals at division level, the Germans produced them by the bushel: Out of 266 officers with armor experience, he says, 55stayed with the panzers throughout the war, most achieving the rank of General der Panzertruppe. (Moreover, The Waffen SS and the Luftwaffe had their own panzer generals.) With its eminent scholars and world-renowned library and archives, the Hoover Institution seeks to improve the human condition by advancing ideas that promote economic opportunity and prosperity while securing and safeguarding peace for America and all mankind. Rape during the occupation of Germany - Wikipedia Rape during the occupation of Germany Territorial changes and occupational zones of Nazi Germany after its defeat. Yet amid all this, in northwest Europe the Allied leaders invited their ground troops to fight the Wehrmacht with equipment inferior in every category save artillery and transport. This he did by sending out his staff officers to the front line units. In Normandy, the Germans were again defending. List price: $24.99. From the movie Patton and from the biography on which it is partly based, Ladislas Faragos Patton: Ordeal and Triumph, one is left with the impression that the German High Command spent most of its waking hours fretting about Patton and his whereabouts. They are wonderfully mild mannered men and a great contrast to the domineering attitude of our own soldiers. As the chapter heading Sicily: Empty Glory, indicates, Yeide, like others before him, is highly critical of Pattons race to beat Montgomery to Messina, especially the risky and bloody amphibious operation at Brolo which proved unnecessary and can only be ascribed to Pattons thirst for personal glory. This is not to deny that some Ivy Leaguers fought with distinction at the sharp end in northwest Europe. For the . An American ground advance near Coutances, France, forced the unit to pull back. Many of the girls have fallen deeply in love with them. Frankemolle himself landed on Omaha Beach shortly after the initial invasion waves to deliver ammunition to the advancing troops. This had been our first experience with the 'Jabos' (Fighter bombers).". You have also been the bravest of our enemies and in fact the only ones who have attacked us seriously in this years battles. It was probably fortunate for the future of Western civilization, but greatly increased Eisenhower's difficulties, that few Allied soldier saw themselves for a moment as other than civilians temporarily in uniform, while their German counterparts possessed an uncanny ability to transform themselves from butchers and bank clerks into natural tacticians. 63. Thus on the Moselle and in the siege of Metz, the Germans forced Patton, short on gas and ammunition, into practicing the type of piecemeal attack that he deplored in others, and leading Balck to speak of the poor and timid leadership of the Americans., Waffen ss GruppenfuhrerMax Simon likewise saw the American tactics as cautious and systematic:: The tactics of the Americans were based on the idea of breaking down a wall by taking out one brick at a time, he said, adding, Had you made such attacks . Add skilled public relations and a press hungry for heroes, and you had the circumstance so propitious that even Montgomery and Patton could seem like great commanders. Military history of the United States during World War II Critically, Neitzel's research underscored that for most German soldiers the Second World War was in the main a continuation of the First World War: bigger, probably more brutal, but in the end the same war for the same reason, which was defence of the Homeland against foreign aggression. . By May 4, 1945, Hitler had been dead for five days and the war in Europe was winding down. This led to a major defeat for the Germans, with 400,000 soldiers trapped in the Falaise pocket, and the capture of Paris on 25 August. It may be argued that, after 1945, in seeking to learn the lessons of the World War II, the American Army made the mistake of reversing the order of these factors. 1. I fought in campaigns against the Russian Army, the Serbian Army, the Roumanian Army, the British Army, the French Army, and the American Army. His intelligence section was reporting enemy activity in the Ardennes, and Patton seems to have grasped its significance sooner than others. . . In the report, this is under the headline: BAITING THE CENSOR, 35. Katchen Schroder was thrown into jail from Monday to Tuesday because she told a soldier to ---------. "And that is the history of the 17 SS Pz Gren Div GOETZ VON BERLIGHINGEN up to my capture (1 Nov 44)," concludes the unnamed German officer's account. American troops advance on a German machine gun position in the Ardennes region of Belgium. I have seldom met any European veteran of whom this would be true. Carlo DEstes excellent Patton biography A Genius for Warquotes Rommel noting that after the initial American setback in Kasserine Pass, things had rapidly improved for them, although we had to wait until the Patton Army in France to see the most astonishing achievement in mobile warfare.. Through the Eyes of His Enemies, Fighting Patton: George S. Patton Jr. Otto Schranzkmuller, former Prussian Municipal Official, 12. [American] troops lack the snap and precision of the German soldiers butthe cordial relations between the officers and men more than make up for the lack of iron discipline., 13. The attitude of the American officer towards enlisted men is very different than in our army in which officers have always treated their men as cattle., 14. We were informed that your men were inclined to be rough, and the impression was left with us that we had a very serious time before usbut today, after living 24 hours with them, we have no longer andy apprehension. The men appear slouchy, the officers to not stand out from the men in appearance and they do in any European army., Dr. Russell Weigley's magnificent and monumental study of the American army in northwest Europe confronts quite frankly the failure of Eisenhower's forces to generate the combat power to smash through numerically much inferior German forces until these had been worn down by 11 months of attrition on the western front, compounding the huge drain on the Germans of four years of warfare on the eastern front fighting the Soviets. Max Hastings; Max Hastings has written 10 books. The American officer relationship with their subordinate soldiers was different from what they were accustomed to. ", Yet in war, the army that proves most successful in making its raw recruits into killers possesses an immeasurable advantage. Kyiv has made "steady gains" around the Russian-held city of Bakhmut as Moscow's soldiers struggle with "poor morale . During World War II, the Allies committed legally proven war crimes and violations of the laws of war against either civilians or military personnel of the Axis powers.At the end of World War II, many trials of Axis war criminals took place, most famously the Nuremberg Trials and Tokyo Trials.In Europe, these tribunals were set up under the authority of the London Charter, which only . America's brightest and best gravitated instinctively towards the specialist arms, managerial military functions or staff jobs. St. Martin's Press. Your troops, not even one, have spoken a single disagreeable word to anyone, and when we offered them wood for cooking and heating purposes they accepted with what seemed to be a certain shyness., Statement of the Mayor of Kaschenbaum, which was occuped by American troops, Children have constantly talked of the Americans arrival, and pictured them as a band of wild Indians, however, when they troops arrived, we were astonished at their behavior and pleasant attitude toward our people., "The American troops show much more consideration for the private rights of the inhabitants of the village than did the German troops. But it is reasonable to suggest that in World War II, American infantry units suffered from a severe shortage of educated officer leadership. At this stage of the war, Hitler was busy promoting committed Nazi officers in the belief that they would put up a more stubborn defense. They would hold a position to the last, then disengage masterfully. The World War II service records of German soldiers can be of great genealogical value. Through the Eyes of His Enemies. The decisive blow came on July 26, when 2,000 heavy bombers annihilated several German sectors and the 17th SS Panzer Grenadier Division ceased to exist in anything more than name. The march was called off, and all vehicles that were left were hidden in the dense bushes or in barns. Specialist branches and lines-of- communication units had been permitted to skim off an absurdly high proportion of the fittest and best- educated men. Since the Americans have arrived the German people have learned to like them., 20. The citizens of Eich who were fined for having a dirty yard and premises claim that their trial was unfair, and that the fines were too heavy. 1. Instead, says Yeide, the Germans viewed Patton in the narrow context of armored commanders, as a skillful tactical commander, i.e., an executer of the plans of others. Finding German Army WW2 Service Records FamilySearch They did not want that valley or any part of its jungle. In October 1918, 600 men of the 77th Division attacked a heavily defended German position, charging forward until they were completely surrounded by enemy forces. Zenith Press. By David Livingstone Smith. Ukraine war latest: US to send Kyiv controversial weapon banned by more "On the whole, the Americans were willing to go at it more toughly than we were," declares Field-Marshal Lord Carver, in 1944-45 an armored brigade commander under Montgomery. Allied senior leadership was, on the whole, not inferior to that of the Germans, hampered by the dead hand of Hitler. Now try to use it.. . For that reason we are glad that the country is being occupied by Americans instead of French or English. Fighting Patton: George S. Patton Jr. O n a crisp, clear morning 100 years ago, thousands of British, Belgian and French soldiers put down their rifles, stepped out of their trenches and spent Christmas . No, this did not look like a feint attack upon our continent. In reality, the German soldier almost invariably showed far greater flexibility on the battlefield than his Allied counterpart. The accuracy of Americans war weapons needed improvement. Montgomery wrote ruefully from the desert to Sir Alan Brooke in London, in identical vein with Hersey: "The trouble with our British boys is that they are not killers by nature.". Battle of the Bulge: How American Grit Halted Hitler's Last-Ditch The officer had this to say: It dawned on us that this opponent that had come to the beach of Normandy was of somewhat different form. In May 1945, the Allies attained victory first through the huge efforts of the Russians who had inflicted three-quarters of the German army's casualties; and second through the deployment of overwhelming resources. They slam the doors so hard that the whole building shakes., 25. Since day before yesterday there has been crisis here too, among our workers; they all want to strike. . as well as other partner offers and accept our, The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration. '", Translation of a letter from Hote Koetter, Neuwied. We all know the cliches of World War II - that the German military was ruthless and brutal, for example, and Italian soldiers gave up without a fight. Thus when Patton was under a cloud for having slapped two shell-shocked soldiers in Sicily, the army sent him on the a well-publicized tour around the Mediterranean to Corsica, Malta, and Cairo: The idea was to mask the fact that the Seventh Army was being transferred from Sicily to England, but there are no indications that German intelligence attached any great significance to these visits. If generals knew less tactics, they would interfereless.. This view was most starkly presented by John Ellis in Brute Force, a comprehensive assessment of the Allied effort in World War II against Germany and Japan, which, in passing, reduces Patton to some sort of a glorified traffic cop. They are a compilation of intercepted letters, and soldier comments during an interview, among others. Yet an inevitable consequence of this transformation was a chronic shortage of high-quality, trained career leaders. The sluggish performance of his British formations in Normandy and after was principally attributable to war-weariness and reluctance to accept further heavy loss when final victory was within sight. A new song has already been composed, as follows: Wo steht denn das geschriben.
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