WW II Books

For whatever reason ATT hired a disproportionate number of WW II army airborne vets in the 1950s 5 of whom I knew worked their way up to the central switching stations and electronics divisions, eventually worked with my father. I went to school with their children. There was no treatment for PTSD, it wasn’t even a term then. The worst vets were termed shell shocked, the rest were left to their own devices and seemed to be doing well.The five we knew were all good guys that were fun to be around. But four of the five commited suicide before they were 45 years old, the fifth succumbed to alcohol by the age of 55. It wasn’t until the third suicide that people began to think there was something going on besides marital problems or drinking too much as to the cause of the suicides.

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Another powerful read that I forgot to include; “Goodbye, Darkness” by William Manchester. My dad had a copy shortly after it was published in '80. Reading it as a junior high school kid, the stark descriptions of combat and lingering mental anguish of a veteran remain with me today. There is nothing glamorous about war.

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Nothing at all is glamorous about war. I have been lucky to have not participated. My parents and grandparents, not so much. The greatest generation had our backs before we were born… Honour them by reading their stories. The real ones, not a novel. Most of us do not have a chance to pat those guys on the back, but if you do, relish every minute. Time is short for those fellows.

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Not just fellows:

Army nurse, Omaha Beach, D+2, setting up a field hospital. She will be busy.

Earl

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True Earl . They did a lot. Also built some nice ships and aircraft for the fellows to operate. Perhaps I wasn’t politically correct. Not intentional.

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And flew them from factories to fields as well.

Yes they did.

Savo: The Incredible Naval Debacle Off Guadalcanal, by Richard Newcomb. This book was in my dad’s library [he enlisted in 1938 & retired from the Naval Reserve in 1980]. As a teen I was struck by the intensity of the battle. When I was a radarman in the Navy, I was again reminded of the poor USN tactics.

My Dad never talked about it, but after he passed, I saw his service record. He was a first-hand witness to the battle, from the signal bridge of the USS Neville, a transport in the sound unloading supplies for the Marines. The ship got underway the morning following the battle.

One other item about the WWII vets, my english teacher was a tail-gunner in the B-17’s in Europe. I remember him as being a little squirrely and twitchy when he was teaching. It was much later, well after high-school and my naval service, that I fully appreciated why.

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I had the pleasure to sail with a few pilots back in the day that survived WW11 sailing for Merchant Marine on the runs to Europe and an AB that was torpedoed more than once that was on the Murmansk run. I was all ears with those folks. The AB spent quite a few days in a lifeboat as a teenager in subzero temperatures. I had that guys back until he retired early in my career. A great shipmate from Bay Minette,Alabama. The pilots were good teachers and had awesome stories. I wish I could hear that all over again.

There are some really good books on the Korean War, Vietnam, Iraq, etc too. Granted the US didn’t win most of those wars in a conventional sense but they still produced lots of vets. Of course had it not been for Russia it is doubtful the US and Allies would have won the European war in WW II. One of the best regarding the lead up to 9-11 is The Looming Tower. I heard they made a movie about it but I haven’t seen it.

“The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors” by James D. Hornfischer is a brutal account of the Battle off Samar. The main U.S. fleet was decoyed away from the landings at Leyte, leaving only an escort carrier group standing between the Japanese Center Force and the troop transports.

U.S. fleet: 6 escort carriers, 3 destroyers, and 4 destroyer escorts
Japanese fleet: 4 battleships, 6 heavy cruisers, 2 light cruisers, and 11 destroyers

Only time that the Yamato fired its main guns in combat. American guns were too small to penetrate the Japanese battleships’ armor, and the Japanese guns were so large that their shells often passed clean through without exploding

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The devastation suffered by USS JOHNSTON, USS SAMUEL B. ROBERTS, & USS HOEL was total & absolute! [my loyalties to destroyers & destroyer-men shows]

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That was a bad one for US Navy. Real Bad. Not sure but think I read that or someting like it a while back.

Since I was a kid I’ve read all manner of books about WW2 with most of them regarding the techno weapons, the leaders, and the more obscure “secret” back stories of those times. Germany was always a central fascination and I had come to believe that they were a war-like people perhaps owing to their genes…or maybe something in the
air, water, soil, or even perhaps the ambient magnetic fields there. It always seemed to be Germany even though Italy was a reluctant partner at first with Spain and Japan joining in later. But, “what led to the beginnings of Germany appearing so central to two World Wars?” is a question that has always lurked in the back of my mind.

I found answers in a book about one of Hitler’s “Most Wanted”. He was not a soldier, spy, or politician, but a Lutheran Pastor named Dietrich Bonhoeffer. In the book, “The Life & Death of Dietrich Bonhoeffer” by Mary Bosanquet some early German history is laid out like a weather map to show how this perfect storm brewed for years in it’s creation. Bonhoeffer was captured and executed just before the end of WW2 at the age of 39.

German history is like a jigsaw puzzle. Bonhoeffer’s family can be traced back to 1403. They were quiet government servants who lived in a town known as a “free city” in the state of Wurtemberg (south Germany). In this time Germany had many free cities of various sizes which were like small kingdoms. Those known as the “Burghers” (town leaders) came into being and began to built the culture and civic mindedness in each of these free city.

These free cities were fortified with walls around them and they shied away from politics and European affairs. They were not war-like and much of the area had been in existence since 800 AD when the “Holy Roman Empire” was formed. The larger population was protestant (Luthern), then catholic, and a small percent of Jews. In the time

of 1806 the Holy Roman Empire was defeated by Napoleon who swept away the ecclesiastical states in Germany (states where Bishops would preside as Governors) merged the smaller principalities with the larger ones, abolished the autonomy of the free cities, and reduced the 300 some small German states into 39 larger ones. Napoleon forced “liberal” institutions upon the Germans. (progressive ideals the French Revolution had fought for…liberty, fraternity, and equality)

Only two “strong states” emerged from this reorganization with the strength to speak as the voice of Germany and they were Austria and Prussia. (only Prussia would resist Napoleon and eventually form a standing professional

military and then begin to wage wars) Remember Hitler came from Austria. In time Napoleon would fall at Waterloo. Austria was a state of Germany but wanted to be their own autonomous region outside of this consolidation.

By 1871 Prussia would have it’s first King. William 1 of Germany. William’s grandson (Kaiser Bill) would become Emperor of Germany 12 years later. Leading up to this after the fall of Napoleon, was a smaller number of the Germans wanting Prussia to unify their country.(the way they wanted it unified) Prussia brought forth Otto von Bismark, who would unify them with the exclusion of Austria. Austria wasn’t interested in being
consolidated as they wanted to unify their own section to be the Austro-Hungarian Empire. This Empire ended in 1914 with the assassination of the Crown Prince & his wife which would trigger the beginning of WW1. At this time the Austrian’s requested help from Germany which unified Austria with Germany and kept is safe from Russia.

Before WW1 Prussia in size was 3/5 of German landmass with 3/5 of it’s population. During this period of consolidation, Prussia was involved in a number of wars which would form the new Germany. (or Second Reich) This story is told thru Bonhoeffer’s life and times where he witnessed the transformation of a quiet restrained Germany
part of which was under the influence of the Holy Roman Empire. A lot of changes happened quickly and were imposed on the German people by outside forces after centuries of quiet, peaceful, and stable existence.

By WW2 Benito Mussolini had been promoting Fascism in Europe. As a boy in boarding school he had stabbed a couple of school mates and been expelled from school. By WW1 he served as a corporal in the Italian army (as Hitler did in Germany) but was released due to injury. As a revolutionary socialist Mussolini became prime
minister of Italy (il Duce) He would meet Hitler and mentor him in the politics of Fascism. To Germans, Rome had become the big city of fascination so the meeting of Hitler with Mussolini would already have them on a common ground.

In a letter to Bonhoeffer by a rural area German pastor in 1929, this was written:

" Because my heart is so passionately concerned with the titanic struggle of national self assertion and will to the future, which has so powerfully been gaining ground especially in the country. I find myself sorely put to not betray the Gospel for the benefit the Holy possession of the nation, especially as thus the way of the cross which the church must tread today. The more recently loud and able agitation of the national socialist have had an effect on the younger country population. With words like war of liberation, renewal of Prussian nationalism, purity of the race, struggle against the Jews, death to Marxism, the third Reich of freedom & justice- these are the ideas that move the rural population of today. And in the midst of all of this to preach the word of the cross! I see a great tragedy for our church and nation in this; this powerful popular movement of a glowing nationalism combined with a new heathenism, which is difficult to condemn because it parades in a christian dress. The basis of this Neo-Pagan religion is the unity of religion and race…especially the Aryan race. Acceptance of the Church depends on her services to race and national culture. "

This letter was to be an early warning to Bonhoeffer about what would be to come of Germany. At this time Bonhoeffer was visiting the United States at Union Theological Seminary at New York City. On Bonhoeffer’s return to Germany, he noticed that the church he knew was torn…the national socialist inside the protestant

denominations were beginning to distort the faith to accommodate their semi-religious mystique of national socialism. There became a sect calling themselves “The German Christians” believing that they should create their own Christian faith rooted in the soil of the country and the blood of the people. God intended the Germans to unite under a powerful leader and to keep their race free of any kind of tainted blood.

If we look closely, we may see many clues of this happening in the USA today. Plenty of flag waving, impressive fly over salutes, tributes to national hero’s, race baiting, singers singing the national anthem on TV every hour or two, and on and on.

Bonhoeffer may not be as impressive as things that go bang and boom on the battle field,
but he was one of the better things to come out of WW2 Germany.

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I joined Honeywell in 1966 and worked in several of their locations in the Boston area. In 1967 my supervisor was Maria von Wedemeyer, or Maria Weller as she was known then, Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s fiancee. She was team lead on a group the produced and maintained the code which enabled IBM 1401 programs to run on the Honeywell 200 machines, and I was responsible for system integration. She was a very intelligent, soft-spoken individual with more than a passing resemblance to Ingrid Bergman. That assignment lasted about 6 months and then I moved on and never worked with her again, but would see her occasionally in the Waltham cafeteria.

She never spoke of her time in Germany (of which we were all aware) and as far as I know nobody ever asked. After her death I was interviewed by someone who was working on a biography of her but I don’t believe it ever appeared.

Earl

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Yes, there’s a photos of her in the book (around age 21) and she did look like Bergman.
She was 18 years younger than Bonhoeffer.

I didn’t go into it much but I’ve began to realize that Hitler wouldn’t have been Hitler without Mussolini. Il Duce was quite the enabler for Hitler. But where Hitler could rise and bring Germany to the forefront of the Axis, il Duce did not have the same assets to work with as did Hitler. But aligning with Hitler could help protect Italy from Russia.

Italians didn’t have the quality of mechanized warfare including the well developed logistics to support wars abroad. Their tanks were inadequate and logistical supply made the weakness of their efforts in north Africa apparent. Their aircraft were little better although their aviators were capable.Their Navy ships were fair but their sailors weren’t so capable. Where I have always heard that the Italian’s hearts weren’t in it, I think that they weren’t as uncomfortable and willing to change as the circumstances of the people in Germany led the to become…

Italy was well developed and mature long before Germany and the infrastructure was adequate for their way of life in those times. Mussolini was able to galvanize Italy to follow with Germany but not really to fight the way Germany & Japan would. Bonhoeffer was in Barcelona Spain but less is said of Spain than of Italy.but it was before Franco. The Spanish were likely tolerant and somewhat supportive of the “Rome-Berlin” Axis. (allowing
German Navy access to their ports) The Japanese were lured into WW2 by German victory in the first part of the war. There was much for the Japanese to gain in the Pacific
by aligning with the Axis, thus their motivation was similar to Germany’s. It should be noted that Democracy was a foreign concept to these countries as they had always lived under autocracies.

A bit of a parallel, without going too long in this.

William Tecumseh Sherman had traveled in America prior to the Civil War. He knew what resources the South had and similar with the North. His conclusion was that the South would lose a war with the North if war was to come. Bonhoeffer had traveled far and wide in Europe and was well connected with young people to understand their position.
Not so much to learn of industry, like Sherman, but their motivation to fight in a war.
( think of it as a cost benefit analysis the Italians and Spanish would examine before going to war) But Italy, owing to the grandeur of Roman times, could be the catalyst in swaying others to join the Axis powers. Mussolini’s “Fascism” was probably Italy’s greatest contribution.

. .

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Really cool to see this post about “With The Old Breed.” E.B. Sledge was my father.

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May he rest in peace, and I sure hope his war was easier on you and the rest of your family than it was on him.

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Wow! Pleasure to have you here, Mr. Sledge. I too have read your father’s book. Much respect to you and your family.

An interesting post…
…is this off your own brain, or did you take some obscure websites for real?

Hitler went into politics 1919, after his experience in WW1.
His manifest ‘Mein Kampf’ dates from 1925.
He was responsible, as chancellor of Germany, in 1933.
His ideas were the expansion of the overpopulated Germany into Eastern Europe. Only tactics dictated the southern expansion (only the northern part of France was occupied at first) to protect Germany’s border with France.

After being ‘victorious’ in WW1, Japan was at war in East Asia (Manchuria, China) and then the ‘French’ Indochina since 1930. Japan was highly industrial.
Against the will of western states, they tried to catch the neighboring East- and Southeast Asia to earn their raw material (energy and food), and to earn space for their overpopulated home country.

Italy was then a mixed country: The North (Lombardy, Veneto, Piedmont and Emilia regions) were on top of the worldwide industry and science; all other regions were a, now called, ‘shit hole’.
Mussolini begun in 1919 to propagate a renewal of Italy, with finding territories to find own resources and to give jobs to southern Italians. The southern neighbor Libya was indeed the first destination, the somewhat strange adventure in Ethiopia… I do not understand.

There was never a common strategic interest between the three countries.

Hitler needed Italy to protect his own borders against aerial attacks from the South.
Hitler needed Japan’s expansion to the western Indian Ocean, to cut the Allies from their lifelines to Suez, however, that did never work.
Japan hoped, Hitler would have been able to occupy the Suez Canal… when he could not, they forgot all about cooperation…

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