Is there a chance we can get a German WWII vet on the Forum?

[Half Pint John]

Originally Posted by Hetzer 15

I wonder what the certain thought of the use of the 20mm flak gun in use as a ground attack role?

Why not a 20mm. The quad .50 was also used in the ground attack role long after WWII.

[101combatvet]

Originally Posted by Half Pint John

I've met many German vets over the years. From SS to just the plain solider. Many, most of them ex pow's and their memories run the gambit. One complained that all they were fed was beans, one fell in love with peanut butter, a couple even said it was the best time of their lives. One was a pow on the Rhine plains at the very end of the war. One that was held??? in LA was farmer out to a local plumber. He loved his time as pow. After earning the trust of his overseer he even drove around in a company car making payments, picking up supply's and paying for them without escort. At wars end he was offered a job by his employer who offered to help him resettle his family from Berlin. The wife, always the wife had the last word and he ever returned to the US except on vacation. A lot of people all with their own story.

Interesting!

[Hetzer 15]

Originally Posted by Half Pint John

Why not a 20mm. The quad .50 was also used in the ground attack role long after WWII.

They called it the meat chopper! And I'm aware of it...it was usure in Korea to good effect as well!

I repeat what I said, the Waffen SS, soldiers take on it. Was it a normal occurrence to manhandle a wheeled 20mm gun mount around a city for use in the ground attack role? I have seen in on the Russian front and against the Warsaw ghettos, but not in a close range blast feat like that! It seemed like overkill?

[Lance Williams]

Originally Posted by Desiree Clary

I was just a little girl when my father took me to Fredericksburg Nimitz Museum of the Pacific War to hear Saburo Sakai speak. It was most well-attended, and in the Q&A afterwards. one guy stood up and said, "Mr. Sakai, you have always been one of my heroes." My father and others rather muttered at that, but I have never forgotten it.

My wife's late godfather was a TBF tailgunner on the San Jacinto (in the same squadron as President Bush) and later the second Hornet who lived in Japan for seven years in the '60's. He became fluent in Japanese, met Sakai and became friends with him. He told me that he was a kind, gentle man who just like him was simply serving his country and held no individual animosity towards his foe.

[Hetzer 15]

Originally Posted by Lance Williams

My wife's late godfather was a TBF tailgunner on the San Jacinto (in the same squadron as President Bush) and later the second Hornet who lived in Japan for seven years in the '60's. He became fluent in Japanese, met Sakai and became friends with him. He told me that he was a kind, gentle man who just like him was simply serving his country and held no individual animosity towards his foe.

Sakai, when you read about him, was quite the pilot, and you have to wonder sometimes with his exploits. He once shot down a P-39 Airacobra with a 20mm cannon shell only. Another time his disobeyed orders and let a planeload of refugees flee the combat area. His tactics and stories were really something to read about.

[Nickuru]

I had the privilege to meet Don Alfredo Fuchs who was an officer in the Spanish Division Azul in WWII. These guys were battle tested war veterans from the Spanish Civil War. They were if not the, among the toughest division the Soviets had to fight. Their discipline was extraordinary, and their handing of the Russian winters was excellent. They were adaptable and knew how to use armour correctly.

[mpitsch]

I wish my grandfathers would still live or I was born a few years earlier.

My dad's father served on the Eastern Front and died when I was six. I've seen pictures and heard only a few stories but since my grandmother passed away I dunno where those pictures went.
My other grandfather got drafted when he was 16. He was supposed to serve in a submarine but got send on the Wilhelm Gustloff which he left just a few weeks or days before it got sunk. Got lucky twice. He died when I was 12.

Always wanted to talk about the war with him but once you see one of idols crying while watching a war movie (Stalingrad, 1993) you'll get that thought out of your head. Well, my other grandmother is still alive and occasionally when I report from my little history tours she tells me a bit from the war. She was a little girl though and witnessed how (according to her description of the planes) American P-47's attacked them while they were picking potatoes of a field and how a bomb hit the local church.

[Hetzer 15]

Originally Posted by Nickuru

I had the privilege to meet Don Alfredo Fuchs who was an officer in the Spanish Division Azul in WWII. These guys were battle tested war veterans from the Spanish Civil War. They were if not the, among the toughest division the Soviets had to fight. Their discipline was extraordinary, and their handing of the Russian winters was excellent. They were adaptable and knew how to use armour correctly.

I have read about that Division, and they were a hardy lot that is for certain...IIRC, some of them were even around for the battle of Berlin. They had a hate of communism and Russia IIRC, and fought bravely to bring it to an end...

[ShAA]

Originally Posted by Hetzer 15

I have read about that Division, and they were a hardy lot that is for certain...IIRC, some of them were even around for the battle of Berlin. They had a hate of communism and Russia IIRC, and fought bravely to bring it to an end...

By that time the division had already been disbanded and the few remaining Nazis among its personnel were organised into Legion Azul or joined other, mainly Waffen-SS formations.

As for "fighting bravely", holding the perimeter of the Siege of Leningrad was one of the worst places to fight againt Communism, unless you consider putting civilians to horrible deaths part of this noble ideological struggle. Basically, it was like being a death camp guard for a city of 2,5 million, who makes sure nobody gets in or out and everyone inside dies of hunger and bombs.

[Hetzer 15]

The whole front was a kind of sideshow, from the rest, and relagated to a kind of "hold the line only" kind of action. Sure, there were attacks and counterattacks, but for the most part, that front saw very little movement until 1944.

The Germans got few reinforcements and the like, as mostr units were stripped for other sectors or offensives...

[ShAA]

Originally Posted by Hetzer 15

The whole front was a kind of sideshow, from the rest, and relagated to a kind of "hold the line only" kind of action. Sure, there were attacks and counterattacks, but for the most part, that front saw very little movement until 1944.

Firstly, there was quite a lot of action in 1942 and especially 1943. The movement of a front line does not mean "action" in itself, otherwise a lot of WWI battles would not qualify for being "action" because of that. And secondly, you didn't get my point. Ok, whatever.

[clackers]

The Soviets never stopped counterattacking in the north. The wisdom of this can be questioned.

Because many of the efforts failed, they have been overlooked, perhaps deliberately, but operations like Polar Star (Feb-Apr 1943) and Timoshenko's more-or-less simultaneous attack with Operations Mars and Uranus (November 1942- January 1943) were examples of big offensives with not much to show for except piles of corpses.

[ShAA]

Originally Posted by clackers

The Soviets never stopped counterattacking in the north. The wisdom of this can be questioned.

Maybe the fate of the city and its population had something to do with it?

Because many of the efforts failed, they have been overlooked, perhaps deliberately, but operations like Polar Star (Feb-Apr 1943)
and Timoshenko's more-or-less simultaneous attack with Operations Mars and Uranus (November 1942- January 1943) were examples of big offensives with not much to show for except piles of corpses.

Polar Star lasted effectively less than a week, and compared to many other similar operations its butcher's bill was relatively low. I don't know where As it often happened, the Soviet leadership became too optimistic in its evaluation of German battle fatigue and their combat ability. And Zhukov, who pressed on with it, overlooked the fact the terrain was extremely unfavourable for the tank breakthrough he hoped for. What worked well in the steppes didn't work in bogs and forests.

[clackers]

Originally Posted by ShAA

Maybe the fate of the city and its population had something to do with it?.

No doubt, ShAA. But the flipside is that if you dilute efforts everywhere, you may fail everywhere.

The 1st Shock Army in the north, for instance, began its attack in the Demyansk sector in 1942 with between two to four days of combat rations and only 0.9 combat loads of rifle ammunition, because of the need to supply almost the entire Red Army for concurrent offensive operations.

Originally Posted by ShAA

Polar Star lasted effectively less than a week.

No, Stavka ordered the fruitless offensive terminated on 27th February, but Zhukov's influence caused it to be resumed. Leningrad, Vokhov and North-Western Fronts fought again between 4th March and 2nd April, 1943.

The North-Western Front alone suffered 130,000 casualties amongst its 400,000 personnel in these campaigns, if we believe Krivosheev.

Originally Posted by ShAA

And Zhukov, who pressed on with it, overlooked the fact the terrain was extremely unfavourable for the tank breakthrough he hoped for. What worked well in the steppes didn't work in bogs and forests.

Well, it would be nice to have enough tanks in the first place. 1st Tank Army had to be detached and sent south to deal with the aftermath of Manstein's successful counterstroke at Third Kharkov.

During the relief of Leningrad in 1944 the tanks and infantry of the Second Shock Army punched through the III SS Panzer Corps, so handling of armoured formations had also improved a great deal.

[ShAA]

Originally Posted by clackers

No doubt, ShAA. But the flipside is that if you dilute efforts everywhere, you may fail everywhere.

It's good enough to speak with hindsight by your side, but politically it was unthinkable to sit with your hands down when everyone demanded that the city had to be relieved. Look at the Allies - they had no immediate pressing need of their own to start the Dieppe operation, and yet they made this attempt, mainly to show they were sort of ready to open the Second Front in Europe. Now what if it it had been Manchester or Newcastle which had been in such situation? How many Dieppes would they have lauched to relieve it?

The 1st Shock Army in the north, for instance, began its attack in the Demyansk sector in 1942 with between two to four days of combat rations and only 0.9 combat loads of rifle ammunition, because of the need to supply almost the entire Red Army for concurrent offensive operations.

Nobody denies that the leadership, command and control were below average, to say the least, but one also has to take into account the direness of the situation. Some countries could've easily given up and cracked under similar circumstances, and you know the example. That the mechanism of the Red Army still functioned, creaking and faltering, is a small miracle in itself.

No, Stavka ordered the fruitless offensive terminated on 27th February, but Zhukov's influence caused it to be resumed. Leningrad, Vokhov and North-Western Fronts fought again between 4th March and 2nd April, 1943.

I suppose we're speaking of a series of smaller scale offensives on the Leningrad front. I normally call the battles around Krasny Bor and south of Sinyavino in February 1943 as part of the "Polar Star". This is when the Leningrad and Volkhov fronts had a better chance of battering the 18th Army, already worn out in in the past month of fighting, and after that they were able to regroup and pull up their reserves, so without a truly massive and thorough preparation like in case of Operation Spark these offensives were doomed from the start. But I see that you are right - officially the operation indeed lasted until April.

During the relief of Leningrad in 1944 the tanks and infantry of the Second Shock Army punched through the III SS Panzer Corps, so handling of armoured formations had also improved a great deal.

This also had a lot to do with the success of deception measures taken in the preparation of that offensive. The Germans didn't expect a strong attack from that direction, but I can't really say they punched through the III SS, as they neither managed to destroy it nor complete the planned encirclement.