The World War II Thread

[L.M.]

After my grandfathers death my grandmother eventually married another man, who served in the navy on a submarine

His family were originally from Syria and had came to America a couple generations before

He would get liquored up occasionally and one time he started telling me how it was on those subs, he said at first you lived in fear specially when the Japanese were dropping depth charges, but he said you grew numb to it, as if whether you lived or died didn’t matter

But he stated at certain times after battles they would be allowed to go to land under some sort of force???

But he said what sickened him was American soldiers knocking and cutting out the gold teeth of dead Japanese soldiers, sometimes they weren’t dead, but he said some would cut parts off as souvenirs

He said that was something that stuck with him

That activity was described by Eugene Sledge in his personal account of the war published as With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa (1981) and graphically depicted in the HBO series The Pacific. I just rewatched the whole thing and fast-forwarded through those disgusting scenes.

[jazzbodog]

Yes, sir. Thank goodness Hitler completely squandered the opportunity to conscript disenfranchised Ukrainians into the German armed forces. That alone could have tilted the war in favor of Germany in the run up to Moscow in 1941.

The story of Richard Sorge and his espionage work for the Soviets and spy network in Japan is a fascinating story (just like practically everything else in WWII). When Stalin realized that the Japanese would not launch a preemptive invasion, it freed up some 18 divisions of Siberian reserves...perfectly trained and suited to defend Moscow in winter conditions.

It's interesting...had the Japanese at least "feigned" the possibility of an invasion, that perhaps too, could have doomed Russia. So much on the turn of one card.

Thank goodness Hitler made numerous mistakes. As I'm sure you are well aware, that's what happens when someone believes there's nobody smarter then they are (narcissistic ego) AND are very high on heavy duty drugs as were many German military personnel. Clear thinking never enters the brain and being in a world war while extremely high and can only have horrible and deadly consequences.

[samparnell]

Hitler suspected that Stalin's massive purge of most of the experienced military leadership (thousands of officers) would have adverse effects and the inept attack on Finland seemed to prove it. What Hitler didn't know was that the Soviets, led by Georgi Zhukov, beat the living crap out of the Japanese in Mongolia in 1939 at the Battle of Khalkin Ghol (Nomonhan to the Japanese). The Japanese kept that shameful defeat secret from everyone. The Soviets still had some competent leaders and troops --not a wholly "rotten structure".

Zhukov would become Stalin's top general after hurling the Wehrmacht back from Moscow with fresh Siberian troops! And of course Hitler didn't know anything about their lousy dirt road network which turned into a muddy quagmire every Fall from continuous rainstorms (the Raspu****a) nor how brutal their Winters are even though Napoleon fell prey to the same friggin' thing! Hitler had even meditated at Napoleon's tomb after the Nazis took Paris in 1940! Whoops!

There is a WWII story about Zhukov. A Russian soldier was wounded and treated at an aid station, but needed to be sent back from the front lines to a field hospital for more medical attention. He was ambulatory, but there was no transport available. They told him to stand by the road and flag down a ride. He stood out there for a long time, but no vehicle would stop to pick him up.

Finally a staff car pulled over and Zhukov got out and came over. He asked what the soldier was doing. When he answered, Zhukov asked how long he had been there, and he said several hours. Zhukov told him to wait there and got back into his car which drove off down the road.

Eventually a truck pulled over and picked him up. About a mile down the road there was a roadblock. It was Zhukov and he was stopping each vehicle looking for the wounded soldier. All of the vehicles which had passed the wounded soldier were pulled off to the side of the road. When he found the wounded soldier, he told the driver to take him directly to the nearest field hospital. Zhukov busted all the officers, who had passed by the wounded soldier, down to enlisted rank and told them to grab a rifle and get back to the front lines.

That is a classic example of what George S. Patton, Jr. said about loyalty: "There is a great deal of talk about loyalty from the bottom to the top. Loyalty from the top down is even more necessary and much less prevalent." ~ from War As I Knew It

Zhukov and Patton were both cavalrymen. I ran across a brief description of the U.S. Army's cavalry training regimen, in The Perfect Horse, which was going on at Fort Riley, Kansas up until the became motorized/mechanized. Horse soldiers.

[L.M.]

There is a WWII story about Zhukov. A Russian soldier was wounded and treated at an aid station, but needed to be sent back from the front lines to a field hospital for more medical attention. He was ambulatory, but there was no transport available. They told him to stand by the road and flag down a ride. He stood out there for a long time, but no vehicle would stop to pick him up.

Finally a staff car pulled over and Zhukov got out and came over. He asked what the soldier was doing. When he answered, Zhukov asked how long he had been there, and he said several hours. Zhukov told him to wait there and got back into his car which drove off down the road.

Eventually a truck pulled over and picked him up. About a mile down the road there was a roadblock. It was Zhukov and he was stopping each vehicle looking for the wounded soldier. All of the vehicles which had passed the wounded soldier were pulled off to the side of the road. When he found the wounded soldier, he told the driver to take him directly to the nearest field hospital. Zhukov busted all the officers, who had passed by the wounded soldier, down to enlisted rank and told them to grab a rifle and get back to the front lines.

That is a classic example of what George S. Patton, Jr. said about loyalty: "There is a great deal of talk about loyalty from the bottom to the top. Loyalty from the top down is even more necessary and much less prevalent." ~ from War As I Knew It

Zhukov and Patton were both cavalrymen. I ran across a brief description of the U.S. Army's cavalry training regimen, in The Perfect Horse, which was going on at Fort Riley, Kansas up until the became motorized/mechanized. Horse soldiers.

Interesting story, Sam, it would appear Zhukov and Patton were formed from the same mold.

Patton pushed his men very hard, sometimes too much as he got in trouble for slapping one of them who was suffering from shellshock.

[L.M.]

U.S.S. Yorktown (CV-5)

[samparnell]

Still in one piece after having been torpedoed. Doubt if the IJN carriers look as good. RIP Yorktown.