This is coolbert:
Commissar?
Continuing with extracts and comments from the book: "Life of a Nazi Soldier".
That Nazi [German] military man during the Second World War [WW2] for the most part speaking quite freely and open among themselves? Fealty, loyalty and allegiance to the fascist cause and Adolph Hitler not totally unconditional and without reservation or qualification?
"In the hospital we hear about the attempt to assassinate the Fuhrer. Although there are SS-officers here as well, we all discuss things quite openly. They are front line soldiers the same as us, not the Black SS . . . Even the SS men reckon that if we manage to win the war the party will to be dealt with afterwards. Most of them don't agree with the assassination attempt, but the prevailing opinions is that the Generals are at fault for relinquishing their famed leadership to qualities to the so-called 'Greatest Military Leader of all Time.'"
There did not exist during WW2 within the Nazi [German] military machine an individual or apparatus analogous to the Red Commissar or the political officer hierarchy as found in the Soviet Red Army?
Of such I am unfamiliar with. Devoted readers to the blog know better?
The Red Commissar a 100 % sincere and convinced communist "embedded" with [that term "embedded" would not have been used at the time] the troops and whose mission was an advocate of the communist cause, deviation from the party [communist] line impermissible.
That Red Commissar issuing forth a continuous stream of exhortations and admonitions ALSO maintaining on behalf of the party [communist] the loyalty and political reliability of the Red Army soldiers, an ever vigilant contingent of spies, informers and "stool pigeons" within the ranks ever on alert for even the slightest and most innocuous deviation from the norms as were stated party doctrine!
For some reason the Nazi [German] military did not require a fascist commissar?
Again, someone knows better?
coolbert.
Sunday, March 30, 2014
Tuesday, March 25, 2014
Soldaten V.
This is coolbert:
Rommel!!
Continuing with extracts and comments from the book: "Life of a Nazi Soldier".
"The Rommel Phenomenon"
1. The mystique of Irwin Rommel and the man himself almost a living legend during that particular period of the Second World War [WW2].
"There exists a real danger that . . . Rommel is becoming a kind of magician or bogeyman to our troops, who are talking far too much about him. He is by no means a superman, although he is undoubtedly very energetic and able. Even if he were a superman, it would be highly undesirable that our men should credit him with supernatural powers. . . . The important thing now is to see that we do not always talk of Rommel when we mean the enemy in Libya."- - Auchinleck.
Auchinleck, commander of British Empire troops in north Africa and in opposition to the Axis forces led by Rommel.
That success of Rommel in measure due to American cryptographic insecurity, those TOP SECRET messages of the U.S. military attache' in Cairo [Bonner Fellers] intercepted and read in real time by the Axis. NOTHING SUPERNATURAL ABOUT IT!
"Fellers' radiograms provided detailed information about troop movements and equipment to the Axis. The information was extensive and timely to the Axis powers . . . Beginning in January 1942 information about the numbers and condition of British forces was provided to General Rommel the famed German commander in Africa. He could thus plan his operations with reliable knowledge of what the opposing forces were."
2. From that prior blog entry the question as asked:
"I suppose that those Italians bolstered by the presence of the Afrika Korps? Of this I am unsure."
And here we have the answer:
"the Africa Korps suffered 2,500 casualties in the Battle of Tobruk. They captured 2,000 vehicles - - including 30 British tanks - - 400 guns, 2,000 tons of fuel, 5,000 tons of provisions, and many tons of ammunition. According to historian Kenneth MacKsey, it was 'the greatest victory Rommel would ever win.'"
The garrison of Tobruk surrendering [1942] to Italians BUT evidently a very significant German presence and all Axis forces apparently under the command of Rommel.
Rommel also seen as a CLEAN FIGHTER, CHIVALROUS ALMOST, A WORTHY OPPONENT DESERVING OF RESPECT!
coolbert.
Rommel!!
Continuing with extracts and comments from the book: "Life of a Nazi Soldier".
"The Rommel Phenomenon"
1. The mystique of Irwin Rommel and the man himself almost a living legend during that particular period of the Second World War [WW2].
"There exists a real danger that . . . Rommel is becoming a kind of magician or bogeyman to our troops, who are talking far too much about him. He is by no means a superman, although he is undoubtedly very energetic and able. Even if he were a superman, it would be highly undesirable that our men should credit him with supernatural powers. . . . The important thing now is to see that we do not always talk of Rommel when we mean the enemy in Libya."- - Auchinleck.
Auchinleck, commander of British Empire troops in north Africa and in opposition to the Axis forces led by Rommel.
That success of Rommel in measure due to American cryptographic insecurity, those TOP SECRET messages of the U.S. military attache' in Cairo [Bonner Fellers] intercepted and read in real time by the Axis. NOTHING SUPERNATURAL ABOUT IT!
"Fellers' radiograms provided detailed information about troop movements and equipment to the Axis. The information was extensive and timely to the Axis powers . . . Beginning in January 1942 information about the numbers and condition of British forces was provided to General Rommel the famed German commander in Africa. He could thus plan his operations with reliable knowledge of what the opposing forces were."
2. From that prior blog entry the question as asked:
"I suppose that those Italians bolstered by the presence of the Afrika Korps? Of this I am unsure."
And here we have the answer:
"the Africa Korps suffered 2,500 casualties in the Battle of Tobruk. They captured 2,000 vehicles - - including 30 British tanks - - 400 guns, 2,000 tons of fuel, 5,000 tons of provisions, and many tons of ammunition. According to historian Kenneth MacKsey, it was 'the greatest victory Rommel would ever win.'"
The garrison of Tobruk surrendering [1942] to Italians BUT evidently a very significant German presence and all Axis forces apparently under the command of Rommel.
Rommel also seen as a CLEAN FIGHTER, CHIVALROUS ALMOST, A WORTHY OPPONENT DESERVING OF RESPECT!
coolbert.
Monday, March 24, 2014
Soldaten IV.
This is coolbert:
Continuing with extracts and comment from the book: "Life of a Nazi Soldier":
France, 1940.
Dolce vita! The sweet life!
"Army of Occupation: Training and Waiting"
The German during that initial conquest and occupation of France ordered to behave proper and doing so!
"Board and Room"
"The French people in Caude' were living quite well, considerably better than the German population in big cities. We lived better in Caude' than I had at home on convalescent leave. In Germany, everything was rationed - - food, clothing, gasoline, etc. But in Caude', we could go to restaurants and get anything we wanted without ration cards. We could buy any food we wanted from local farmers."
"Contact with Civilians"
"The German soldiers were under orders to be polite, and so they were . . . The Germans kept themselves on a short leash in Brittany. Two months earlier in Poland they had behaved quite differently. In Port-Blanc [France] they did everything they could to curry favor. They avoided going into homes, so when they had to, did it deferentially. They have candy to the children. In shops or farms they paid a bit more than the going rate for whatever they bought. This was easy for them because the authorities had decreed the mark to be worth twenty franc, so that 'Fritz' was rich and could send his family in Germany things now inaccessible to the French. The message the Germans wanted to get across was on poster they'd put up all over town showing a Nazi soldier carrying a toddler. The caption read: 'Put your trust in German soldiers.'" - - Claire Chevrillon
During those four years of occupation about four hundred French women subjected to rape by German soldiers. In those initial months following the Allied invasion of Normandy [1944] about FOUR THOUSAND FRENCH WOMEN RAPED BY AMERICAN AND BRITISH SOLDIERS!
That contrast in behavior undeniable and most shameful!
coolbert.
Continuing with extracts and comment from the book: "Life of a Nazi Soldier":
France, 1940.
Dolce vita! The sweet life!
"Army of Occupation: Training and Waiting"
The German during that initial conquest and occupation of France ordered to behave proper and doing so!
"Board and Room"
"The French people in Caude' were living quite well, considerably better than the German population in big cities. We lived better in Caude' than I had at home on convalescent leave. In Germany, everything was rationed - - food, clothing, gasoline, etc. But in Caude', we could go to restaurants and get anything we wanted without ration cards. We could buy any food we wanted from local farmers."
"Contact with Civilians"
"The German soldiers were under orders to be polite, and so they were . . . The Germans kept themselves on a short leash in Brittany. Two months earlier in Poland they had behaved quite differently. In Port-Blanc [France] they did everything they could to curry favor. They avoided going into homes, so when they had to, did it deferentially. They have candy to the children. In shops or farms they paid a bit more than the going rate for whatever they bought. This was easy for them because the authorities had decreed the mark to be worth twenty franc, so that 'Fritz' was rich and could send his family in Germany things now inaccessible to the French. The message the Germans wanted to get across was on poster they'd put up all over town showing a Nazi soldier carrying a toddler. The caption read: 'Put your trust in German soldiers.'" - - Claire Chevrillon
During those four years of occupation about four hundred French women subjected to rape by German soldiers. In those initial months following the Allied invasion of Normandy [1944] about FOUR THOUSAND FRENCH WOMEN RAPED BY AMERICAN AND BRITISH SOLDIERS!
That contrast in behavior undeniable and most shameful!
coolbert.
Soldaten III.
This is coolbert:
Continuing with extracts and comment from the book: "Life of a Nazi Soldier":
Tanks!
1. From Len Deighton in his book "Blitzkrieg":
"While the [Panzer] I and II were too flimsy and primitive, the Panzer III and IV designs overcompensated for these failing. They were complex machines that gave too many problems to the engineering department and often had to go back to the factory for repairs . . . The scarcity of the [Panzer} III and IV's make it now seem very doubtful whether any attack against France in 1940 would have been contemplated without the resources the Germans gained [when they invaded] Czechoslovakia . . . Discounting lightweight German training tanks, no less than one-third of the German armor used against France originated in Czech factories."
This was an unknown to me and most surprising.
We have to be absolutely sure we understand this clearly. A minimum of one-third [1/3] of those tanks used by the German during the Battle of France [1940] NOT GERMAN VEHICLES. Of Czech manufacture and captured intact during the German seizure and occupation of Czechoslovakia [1938].
ONLY THE PRESENCE OF THOSE CZECH TANKS IN LARGE NUMBERS MANNED BY GERMAN TROOPS ALLOWING THE BLITZKRIEG ON FRANCE TO PROCEED AS PLANNED!!
2. Surprise and Speed.
"And important element of blitzkrieg was surprise. Often even German soldiers themselves were unsure of their mission until the last moment."
"Officially we were to take part in 'grand maneuvers under combat conditions.' Although live ammunition was being carried we were issued only blanks . . ." - - Hans Luck, tank commander.
During the most tense period of the Cold War Soviet divisions of Group Soviet Forces Germany in the habit of rolling out of camp and making a pell-mell dash for the border dividing West and East Germany. Those Soviet armor units fully equipped and armed with a thirty day supply of gas and ammo. LOADED and COCKED as they say.
Neither NATO or Warsaw Pact forces knowing until the last possible second if such a deployment was for real for merely for show!
coolbert.
Continuing with extracts and comment from the book: "Life of a Nazi Soldier":
Tanks!
1. From Len Deighton in his book "Blitzkrieg":
"While the [Panzer] I and II were too flimsy and primitive, the Panzer III and IV designs overcompensated for these failing. They were complex machines that gave too many problems to the engineering department and often had to go back to the factory for repairs . . . The scarcity of the [Panzer} III and IV's make it now seem very doubtful whether any attack against France in 1940 would have been contemplated without the resources the Germans gained [when they invaded] Czechoslovakia . . . Discounting lightweight German training tanks, no less than one-third of the German armor used against France originated in Czech factories."
Czech tanks of the period. As manufactured at the famous Skoda works perhaps. Czech weapons designs always highly regarded and well-built, robust.
This was an unknown to me and most surprising.
We have to be absolutely sure we understand this clearly. A minimum of one-third [1/3] of those tanks used by the German during the Battle of France [1940] NOT GERMAN VEHICLES. Of Czech manufacture and captured intact during the German seizure and occupation of Czechoslovakia [1938].
ONLY THE PRESENCE OF THOSE CZECH TANKS IN LARGE NUMBERS MANNED BY GERMAN TROOPS ALLOWING THE BLITZKRIEG ON FRANCE TO PROCEED AS PLANNED!!
2. Surprise and Speed.
"And important element of blitzkrieg was surprise. Often even German soldiers themselves were unsure of their mission until the last moment."
"Officially we were to take part in 'grand maneuvers under combat conditions.' Although live ammunition was being carried we were issued only blanks . . ." - - Hans Luck, tank commander.
During the most tense period of the Cold War Soviet divisions of Group Soviet Forces Germany in the habit of rolling out of camp and making a pell-mell dash for the border dividing West and East Germany. Those Soviet armor units fully equipped and armed with a thirty day supply of gas and ammo. LOADED and COCKED as they say.
Neither NATO or Warsaw Pact forces knowing until the last possible second if such a deployment was for real for merely for show!
coolbert.
Soldaten II.
This is coolbert:
Continuing with extracts and comments from the book: "Life of a Nazi Soldier":
Yellow! Gilt! GOLD!
1. "The Treaty of Versailles"
"In the Road to War by Richard Overy and Andrew Wheatcroft"
"The reality faced by the German delegation in France exceeded even the most pessimistic expectations. The envoys were placed in an isolated hotel surrounded by barbed wire
. . . .
"the German government should undertake to pay in reparation . . . 132 billion gold marks, the schedule of payments drawn up in 1921 would have burdened the German economy until 1988."
That peace treat not really a negotiated settlement as the word negotiated normally, ordinarily and commonly understood.
German diplomats treated shabbily, in violation of common, ordinary, and normal diplomatic protocols!
War reparations, the indemnity as the German was required to pay enormous. In contrast, the French made to pay and indemnity of three billion gold Francs in the aftermath of the Franco-Prussian War of 1870. Understandably, that war of 1870 not global and not lasting for over four years!
Those victorious allied powers of course insisting that the German pay with GOLD marks and not Weimar Republic funny printed money!
2. The Nazi movement.
In the 1930's, few outside of Germany understood the source of Nazi power and the danger it posed, and so the rest of Europe and the United States were unprepared for war. But as Robert Boothby, and adviser to British prime minister Winston Churchill wrote in March 1940, the Nazis were not merely a political party but a 'movement - - young, virile, dynamic, and violent - - which is advancing irresistibly to overthrow a decaying old world . . . . [I]t is a the source of the Nazi strength and power.'"
YES, the fascists not seen as necessary reactionary but as a movement almost revolutionary. And properly understood as such. Reactionaries want to return to the old ways which the Nazi regime certainly did not!
Fascism seen as an alternative in the aftermath of the Great War to the decaying, decadent capitalist, democratic and Christian old Europe.
3. The fanatic!
"Simply maintaining a decent level of morale and knowing how to handle a weapon will no longer be enough. You will also require a very great deal of courage, of perseverance and endurance and of resistance in any situation . . . We need men, and not pitiful specimens like you. I must warn you that everything here is hard, nothing is forgiven, and that everyone in consequence must have quick reflexes . . . " - - Captain Fink lecturing recruits of the Grossdeutschland Division.
The Panzer-Grenadier-Division Grossdeutschland . . . was an elite combat unit of the Heer that fought on the Eastern Front in World War II. The Großdeutschland was considered to be the premier unit of the German Army and as such it was one of the best-equipped units of the Heer, receiving equipment before almost all other units.
Heer not only demanding a soldier that was adequate in all task, marching, wearing the uniform correctly, firing the rifle with a degree of accuracy, but a troop that was superior to the allied counter-part. NOT necessarily a FANATIC but a troop able to perform his mission faster, better, and more ably than any adversary.
Of Grossdeutschland I know little. Was Heer [army] but an elite so the expectations as demanded of the recruit were not indicative of other army units as a whole?
GOOD was no longer GOOD enough!!
coolbert.
Continuing with extracts and comments from the book: "Life of a Nazi Soldier":
Yellow! Gilt! GOLD!
1. "The Treaty of Versailles"
"In the Road to War by Richard Overy and Andrew Wheatcroft"
"The reality faced by the German delegation in France exceeded even the most pessimistic expectations. The envoys were placed in an isolated hotel surrounded by barbed wire
. . . .
"the German government should undertake to pay in reparation . . . 132 billion gold marks, the schedule of payments drawn up in 1921 would have burdened the German economy until 1988."
That peace treat not really a negotiated settlement as the word negotiated normally, ordinarily and commonly understood.
German diplomats treated shabbily, in violation of common, ordinary, and normal diplomatic protocols!
War reparations, the indemnity as the German was required to pay enormous. In contrast, the French made to pay and indemnity of three billion gold Francs in the aftermath of the Franco-Prussian War of 1870. Understandably, that war of 1870 not global and not lasting for over four years!
Those victorious allied powers of course insisting that the German pay with GOLD marks and not Weimar Republic funny printed money!
2. The Nazi movement.
In the 1930's, few outside of Germany understood the source of Nazi power and the danger it posed, and so the rest of Europe and the United States were unprepared for war. But as Robert Boothby, and adviser to British prime minister Winston Churchill wrote in March 1940, the Nazis were not merely a political party but a 'movement - - young, virile, dynamic, and violent - - which is advancing irresistibly to overthrow a decaying old world . . . . [I]t is a the source of the Nazi strength and power.'"
YES, the fascists not seen as necessary reactionary but as a movement almost revolutionary. And properly understood as such. Reactionaries want to return to the old ways which the Nazi regime certainly did not!
Fascism seen as an alternative in the aftermath of the Great War to the decaying, decadent capitalist, democratic and Christian old Europe.
3. The fanatic!
"Simply maintaining a decent level of morale and knowing how to handle a weapon will no longer be enough. You will also require a very great deal of courage, of perseverance and endurance and of resistance in any situation . . . We need men, and not pitiful specimens like you. I must warn you that everything here is hard, nothing is forgiven, and that everyone in consequence must have quick reflexes . . . " - - Captain Fink lecturing recruits of the Grossdeutschland Division.
Here one of those pitiful specimens as described by Captain Fink. Looks about as I did in 1966!
The Panzer-Grenadier-Division Grossdeutschland . . . was an elite combat unit of the Heer that fought on the Eastern Front in World War II. The Großdeutschland was considered to be the premier unit of the German Army and as such it was one of the best-equipped units of the Heer, receiving equipment before almost all other units.
Heer not only demanding a soldier that was adequate in all task, marching, wearing the uniform correctly, firing the rifle with a degree of accuracy, but a troop that was superior to the allied counter-part. NOT necessarily a FANATIC but a troop able to perform his mission faster, better, and more ably than any adversary.
Of Grossdeutschland I know little. Was Heer [army] but an elite so the expectations as demanded of the recruit were not indicative of other army units as a whole?
GOOD was no longer GOOD enough!!
coolbert.
Sunday, March 23, 2014
Soldaten I.
This is coolbert:
Here begins a series of blog entries, extracts and comments from the book: "Life of a Nazi Soldier". Described as a book for young adults but I think much more. Some interesting facts, anecdotal accounts and quotations from German participants of the Second World War [WW2].
That title and use of the term NAZI soldier, soldier as that term understood NOT confined to hard-core adherents of the German fascist regime.
Any and all participants armed and belonging to military style organizations deemed as a "Nazi" soldier for the purpose of "Life as a Nazi Soldier".
Nazi soldiers belonging to:
* The Wehrmacht.
> Army. Heer.
> Navy. Kriegsmarine.
> Airforce. Luftwaffe.
* The SS Schutzstaffeln.
> General SS.
> Waffen SS.
> Death's Head.
* Ordnungpolizei. Order Police.
Also those German institutions also having a paramilitary or quasi-military nature during the fascist period:
* Universal Service.
> Hitler Youth.
> Labor Service.
> League of German Girls.
1. Death's Head those SS units devoted to the concentration and death camps.
2. Wehrmacht the traditional military fighting services.
3. Labor Service analogous to the American Civilian Conservation Corps during that same period. Young men providing useful labor of national interest. Normal hard pick and shovel out-of-doors and under-the-sun labor, erosion control, unskilled type of manual work, the body of personnel organized along military lines, communal living, OFTEN ESTABLISHED, SUPERVISED AND RUN BY ACTIVE DUTY SERVING OFFICERS.
4. Ordnungpolizei I am only very vaguely familiar with. German civilian police organized along paramilitary and quasi-military lines and responsible for enforcing edicts and promulgations of the German authorities in occupied territories. Head-knockers!
And so much more too!
coolbert.
Here begins a series of blog entries, extracts and comments from the book: "Life of a Nazi Soldier". Described as a book for young adults but I think much more. Some interesting facts, anecdotal accounts and quotations from German participants of the Second World War [WW2].
That title and use of the term NAZI soldier, soldier as that term understood NOT confined to hard-core adherents of the German fascist regime.
Any and all participants armed and belonging to military style organizations deemed as a "Nazi" soldier for the purpose of "Life as a Nazi Soldier".
Nazi soldiers belonging to:
* The Wehrmacht.
> Army. Heer.
> Navy. Kriegsmarine.
> Airforce. Luftwaffe.
* The SS Schutzstaffeln.
> General SS.
> Waffen SS.
> Death's Head.
* Ordnungpolizei. Order Police.
Also those German institutions also having a paramilitary or quasi-military nature during the fascist period:
* Universal Service.
> Hitler Youth.
> Labor Service.
> League of German Girls.
1. Death's Head those SS units devoted to the concentration and death camps.
2. Wehrmacht the traditional military fighting services.
3. Labor Service analogous to the American Civilian Conservation Corps during that same period. Young men providing useful labor of national interest. Normal hard pick and shovel out-of-doors and under-the-sun labor, erosion control, unskilled type of manual work, the body of personnel organized along military lines, communal living, OFTEN ESTABLISHED, SUPERVISED AND RUN BY ACTIVE DUTY SERVING OFFICERS.
4. Ordnungpolizei I am only very vaguely familiar with. German civilian police organized along paramilitary and quasi-military lines and responsible for enforcing edicts and promulgations of the German authorities in occupied territories. Head-knockers!
"I have a reactionary army, a National Socialist Air Force, and a Christian Navy" - - A. Hitler.
And so much more too!
coolbert.
Friday, March 21, 2014
Baltics.
This is coolbert:
The American Chairman of the Joint Chiefs has reaffirmed the U.S. commitment to NATO obligations and done most decidedly so [?] with regard to the Baltic states!
This speech of the Chairman before the Atlantic Council in response to the Ukraine crisis from two weeks ago now I was not aware of.
"Dempsey: US Military Will Fulfill Treaty Obligations to NATO Allies"
Those treaty obligations Article Five of the NATO charter. An attack on any constituent member of NATO is an attack on all members of NATO.
"The U.S. military is prepared to back up NATO if the unrest in Ukraine escalates, Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey said Friday."
. . . .
"'But remember,' he added, 'we do have treaty obligations with our NATO allies. And I have assured them that if that treaty obligation is triggered, we would respond. . . .'"
"Dempsey cautioned, 'If Russia is allowed to do this, which is to say move into a sovereign country under the guise of protecting ethnic Russians in Ukraine, it exposes Eastern Europe to some significant risk, because there are ethnic enclaves all over Eastern Europe and the Balkans.'"
That most extreme case the Russian speaking minority of Latvia. Of the two and one-half million residents of Latvia, about one-third Russian speakers and a very restive and disgruntled minority at that. Latvia a member of NATO!
As has been noted by Colonel Austin Bay:
"The U.S. withdrew its last tanks from Germany in 2013."
As Mao would have said some time ago: "You paper tiger!"
coolbert.
The American Chairman of the Joint Chiefs has reaffirmed the U.S. commitment to NATO obligations and done most decidedly so [?] with regard to the Baltic states!
This speech of the Chairman before the Atlantic Council in response to the Ukraine crisis from two weeks ago now I was not aware of.
"Dempsey: US Military Will Fulfill Treaty Obligations to NATO Allies"
Those treaty obligations Article Five of the NATO charter. An attack on any constituent member of NATO is an attack on all members of NATO.
"The U.S. military is prepared to back up NATO if the unrest in Ukraine escalates, Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey said Friday."
. . . .
"'But remember,' he added, 'we do have treaty obligations with our NATO allies. And I have assured them that if that treaty obligation is triggered, we would respond. . . .'"
"Dempsey cautioned, 'If Russia is allowed to do this, which is to say move into a sovereign country under the guise of protecting ethnic Russians in Ukraine, it exposes Eastern Europe to some significant risk, because there are ethnic enclaves all over Eastern Europe and the Balkans.'"
That most extreme case the Russian speaking minority of Latvia. Of the two and one-half million residents of Latvia, about one-third Russian speakers and a very restive and disgruntled minority at that. Latvia a member of NATO!
As has been noted by Colonel Austin Bay:
"The U.S. withdrew its last tanks from Germany in 2013."
As Mao would have said some time ago: "You paper tiger!"
coolbert.
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