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American World War II Fighters - Pictures and basic information - :: 2010-03-05 :: Aircrafts of WWII
At the start of World War Two the United States had a variety of fighters, many of which were inferior to their German and Japanese opposition. As the war progressed, the American aviation industry designed and produced numerous new fighters which gained air superiority over Europe and the Pacific. Planes include: Curtiss P-40E Warhawk, Bell P-39 Airacobra, Lockheed P-38 Lightning, Republic P-47 Thunderbolt, North American P-51 Mustang, Northrop P-61 Black Widow, Brewster F2A Buffalo, Grumman F4F Wildcat, Grumman F6F Hellcat, Chance Vought F4U Corsair.
American WWII veterans travel back to Iwo Jima to tour the island and mark 65th anniversary of battle thestar.com :: 2010-03-04 :: Battle of Iwo Jima : Facts
"It's a paradise. I see no resemblance at all. Even the beach seems different," Marine commander Richard Rothwell explained as he sat in a wheelchair overlooking Invasion Beach. He was among a dozen WWII veterans able to make the 65th anniversary trip to the island thanks to the U.S. Marines, who flew the group here after their charter flight was needed elsewhere. Rothwell, who toured the island with Marine escorts, was commander of a 4th Marines Division battalion when the invasion began. The U.S. flag was raised above Mount Suribachi on Feb. 23, 1945, but fighting continued for more than a month.
World War II flight nurses exhibit at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force nationalmuseum.af.mi :: 2010-03-04 :: Nurses in World War II
"The Winged Angels: U.S. Army Air Forces Flight Nurses in World War II" -exhibit, at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force, tells the story of the 500 Army nurses who served in 31 medical air evacuation transport squadrons. On display are a flight nurse blue uniform and all 4 versions of the flight nurse wings. Highlights include the uniform of 1st Lt. Suella Bernard, the only nurse known to have taken part in a WWII glider combat mission, and a flight jacket of 1st Lt. Mary L. Hawkins, who was granted the Distinguishing Flying Cross for her efforts with 24 patients after surviving a C47 crash-landing.
Der Krieg: New footage allows Germans to watch World War II in colour dailymail.co.uk :: 2010-03-03 :: WW2 Footage
WWII series Der Krieg (The War) uses previously unseen film footage and photos, colourised using the latest technology. The series was originally a film shown in France under the title of Apocalypse. It has now been split into three 45-min parts: Hitler's Attack In Europe, The World In Flames, and Victory and Defeat. Material from 100 archives was used to piece together World War II as it was seen by the front-line soldier and the civilians in the Nazi occupied area. Colour photos include British Home Guard units training, ships being sunk by U-Boats, Russian cities aflame and Adolf Hitler in Berghof.
British World War II Veteran discovers arthritis was German bullet telegraph.co.uk :: 2010-03-03 :: World War II Veterans
A WWII veteran who believed he had arthritis only to discover his discomfort had been caused by a German bullet lodged in his hip. Fred Gough had been been carrying the memento since his time battling on the front line in World War II. He had been sent to hospital for an x-ray after having an ache in his leg. He was amazed to learn it was the result of a bullet that had been embedded since the last months of World War II when he served with the Kings Shropshire Light Infantry. But rather than have it removed, he has still got the bullet inside him as long as it causes him no more ache.
Hitler's 1931 letter hoping for `cordial relationship` with Britain for sale telegraph.co.uk :: 2010-03-02 :: Nazi Relics: Personal items of leaders
A letter written by Adolf Hitler in 1931 hoping for a "truly cordial relationship" between Britain and Germany is for sale. Hitler penned the letter, in German, to British journalist Sefton Delmer 16 months before he became Chancellor and got hold of power in 1933. "I hope... that out of this crisis a new readiness will grow up in Britain... I should be happy, if... the unhappy war-psychosis could be overcome on such a scale as to permit the realisation of the truly cordial relationship..." In 1933, Delmer had his greatest scoop when he walked through the burn Reichstag building at Hitler's side.
Ministry of Food: Thrifty wartime ways to feed your family today (book review) suite101.com :: 2010-03-02 :: World War II Rationing
"The Ministry of Food" is a book about World War 2 food shortages. It reveals how the British people accepted the call to "Dig for Victory" - and learnt new skills to cope with wartime food shortages. The aim was to cut down imports and increase home production of essential food stuffs. The book includes instructions from the Ministry of Food offering practical advice on growing vegetables, rotating crops, recipes for home baking, and instructions for fruit preserving. All this information came from the government in the form of pamphlets, posters, and over 200 short films. [Buy from Amazon: US, UK, CA, DE]
B17 turret gunner Milton Lange: Fixing problems on an 8-inch catwalk 24,500 feet above the ground taylordailypress.net :: 2010-03-01 :: Bomber Pilots of WWII: B-17, B-24
Milton Lange knows the term "taking flak" - as a B17 turret gunner in the 305th Bombardment Group he saw his share of flying metal. Flak was the bane of the bomber's existence. Crews had flak jackets, much like bullet-proof vests, and they proved useful: One of the officers took a piece of flak to his chest and fell silent. Crew members rushed to help him, only to learn that shrapnel had cut the line of his radio set. In 1944 and 1945 bombing gear was not automated, but manual - problems had to be fixed with tools while the bomb bay doors were open, tens of thousands of feet above the ground.
Jeanie Kate Sagebiel: One of the first 500 women to wear the WAC uniform (Women's Auxiliary Corps) /lubbockonline.com :: 2010-03-01 :: Women in World War 2
World War Two had been going on for only a few months, and everybody was signing up to become a soldier. Jeanie Sagebiel was talking with an Army recruiter friend one day. "I was aggravating him... and he threw this application at me: 'Why don't you join the Army, they are taking women now.' I jokingly filled it out... later, a letter came... I was to report to Columbus, Ohio." The basic military training for WACs included marching, discipline - and to speak only when spoken to. She had a choice of 3 places where she could be shipped: Washington, Oregon and overseas. She chose overseas, and was sent to Texas.
Being raped by the Red Army soldiers: The first German woman to write a WW2 book on the subject under her own name spiegel.de :: 2010-02-28 :: War, Women and Horror
On Jan. 26, 1945, Gabriele Kopp got on a train to flee from the Soviet Red Army. Unfortunately the locomotive was hit, and the Germans run to a village. Soon Russian soldiers emerged, searching for girls: That day 15-year-old Gabriele was raped twice by a Red Army soldier. The next morning she was "taken" by two men. That afternoon, she hid under a table in a room full of refugees. When the Russian soldiers entered, the older women pulled her out and into the arms of a "greedy officer." It went on like this for 2 weeks - as she retells in "Warum war ich bloss ein Madchen?" ("Why Did I Have to Be a Girl?").
British land girls angry as a new book depicts them as nymphomaniacs telegraph.co.uk :: 2010-02-28 :: World War II Land Girls
British land girls, who fed Britain during World War II, are outraged as a new book depicts their "exploits". "Once a Land Girl" is the sequel to Angela Huth's best-selling novel Land Girls. After hard work - with low pay and no recognition for 60 years - the 27,000 surviving members of the Women's Land Army (WLA) are furious to be portrayed as nymphomaniacs. "The novel and film are ridiculous," states Jean Procter, who set up the British Women Land Army Association in 1960 to educate people. "This stupid story... about us getting off with the farmer's son. There were no farmers' sons, we'd replaced them." [Buy from Amazon: US, UK, CA, DE]
Two previously unseen Adolf Hitler nude sketches for sale telegraph.co.uk :: 2010-02-27 :: Art & Paintings by Artist Adolf Hitler
Two sketches by Adolf Hitler of a young nude woman and the face of an elderly lady thought to be his mother are for sale. The two previously unseen pictures are expected to fetch £20,000. Hitler drew them in the early 1900s when he was in Vienna and was practised different styles so that he might gain a place at art college. The picture - drawn in 1908 - of the elderly woman's face is similar to photographs of his mother Klara Hitler and shows a lined and world-weary face. The contrasting nude - which doesn't have a face drawn in - was drawn in 1907 is a young and attractive figure.
Exhausted by Stalin's regime Russians were ready simply to surrender to the Nazis telegraph.co.uk :: 2010-02-27 :: Red Army
There are two views about World War II. The first: Stalin's regime was tyrannical, but the war was fought for freedom. The second: WWII was in fact two wars: the one on the Western Front a battle for freedom; the other on the Eastern Front between dictators enslaving nations. People in the Soviet Union had little idea of democracy or Nazism, and were just fighting for the Motherland. And even then they thought long and hard before fighting: Stalin's regime had "exhausted" them, and many were ready to give up. This explains why millions and millions of Red Army soldiers surrendered in the early stages of the war.
British WWII POW recalls the River Kwai: Escaped man had his head cut off with samurai sword dailymail.co.uk :: 2010-02-27 :: POW Camps - Prisoners of War
For 60 years Alistair Urquhart, a WWII POW, has been silent about the horrors he endured at the hands of the Japanese army. This extract from his autobiography - The Forgotten Highlander - covers the Death Railway. --- "No man was more sadistic than the Japanese camp commandant Lieutenant Usuki - the Black Prince. ... I was unaware that anyone had escaped until... a sorry-looking chap was dragged before us. The interpreter told us: 'This man very bad. He try to escape. No gooda.' Two guards... made him kneel. The Black Prince strode forward and unsheathed his samurai sword. Then he raised his sword..." [Buy from Amazon: US, UK, CA, DE]
Historian: Dutch Waffen SS members participated in committing genocide rnw.nl :: 2010-02-27 :: Foreign Waffen-SS
Dutch members of the Waffen SS took part in genocide during World War II, historian Evertjan van Roekel said in Dutch history magazine Historisch Nieuwsblad. The Dutchmen in Waffen SS have claimed that they were regular soldiers and didn't know about the genocide. Roekel has examined the diaries of Dutch SS soldiers in the 5th Panzer Division (Wiking) and found descriptions of how they killed Jews. "Hanging the Chief Rabbi from the tower of the Synagogue in Tarnopol was great" and "The greatest booty fell in to our hands... 13000 living Jewish souls... we didn't leave them that way, obviously."
DNA test traces Hitler's cousin in Austrian Waldviertel region, where 39 other relatives may live dailymail.co.uk :: 2010-02-26 :: Hitler family & Last living relatives
A DNA test on a man in Austria has revealed that he is one of the last living relatives of Adolf Hitler. The 46yo farmer, believed to be a cousin of the Nazi dictator, was horrified to learn Hitler's blood runs in his veins. Journalist Jean-Paul Mulders says the man is not alone: there are 39 others living in the remote Waldviertel region of Austria - the home to Hitler's grandmother Anna Schicklgruber, father Alois and mother Klara. The journalist had collected Hitler DNA secretly by taking a serviette dropped by Alexander Stuart-Houston - one of 3 Hitler descendants living in the United States.
German sailor Heinz Stahlschmidt refused to obey Nazi orders to blow up Bordeaux dailymail.co.uk :: 2010-02-26 :: Kriegsmarine & Graf Zeppelin
A World War II German sailor who refused to obey a command to blow up the French port of Bordeaux has passed away at 91 - in France. Heinz Stahlschmidt - a weapons and demolitions expert - was that rare thing in the Third Reich: a man who followed his morals instead of his orders. He saved thousands of lives, and a key component of the post-war recovery of France, because Bordeaux was the country's most important harbour city. Celebrated as a hero by France - and granted the country's highest civilian decoration of the Legion d'Honneur - he was treated as a traitor in a post-war Germany.
The Woman Who Shot Mussolini by Frances Stonor Saunders (book review) telegraph.co.uk :: 2010-02-26 :: Benito Mussolini
At 10.58am on April 7 1926, Benito Mussolini saluted a crowd in the Piazza del Campidoglio in Rome. At that moment, a woman shot him at point-blank range. The first bullet touched lightly Il Duce's nose, releasing a torrent of blood; the second jammed in the pistol chamber. Violet Gibson - an Anglo-Irish aristocrat - had just come closer than anyone else to assassinating Mussolini. She had shaped history, but not in the way she planned: Sympathy for Mussolini increased. Gibson escaped from the mob's fury: unlike Anteo Zamboni, who he was lynched, strangled, knifed and shot after firing his revolver at Mussolini. [Buy from Amazon: US, UK, CA, DE]
Kermit Tyler: Officer who replied to the radar warning of Pearl Harbor raid: "Don`t worry about it" signonsandiego.com :: 2010-02-25 :: Attack on Pearl Harbor - 7 Dec 1941
Kermit A. Tyler - a fighter pilot at Wheeler Field in Hawaii in 1941 - was the officer on duty at the aircraft tracking center on Oahu when the Japanese attacked. He wasn't supposed to be on duty that day, and he had been at the center only once before. His assignment was vague: he just knew he was supposed to report for duty. The radar system was in the early stages. When two privates at the island's north end saw a large blip on their scope, the call came to him. Tyler knew the equipment was new, and he thought a group of American B-17s was coming in. He told the two privates: "Don't worry about it."
Photos of the noteworthy Third Reich women: Eva Braun, Gretl Braun, Magda Goebbels, Leni Riefenstahl life.com :: 2010-02-24 :: Nazi Women of Third Reich
Photographs of the noteworth women in the Third Reich, including: Eva Braun, Eva Braun's Sister Gretl Braun, Magda Goebbels, Lida Baarova, Emmy Goering, Margarete Himmler, Gertrud Forster, Inge Ley, Winifred Wagner, Leni Riefenstahl, Zarah Leander, Ilse Koch (The Beast of Buchenwald) and Hitler's Secretary Traudl Junge.
Strange (and worst) WWII weapons: Pigeon-Guided Missiles, Flying Jeep, Ice Ships uniqueupdates :: 2010-02-24 :: Strange Weapons
(1) American B.F. Skinner thought up the idea for "Project Orcon" - the pigeon-guided missile. The control system had a lens attached to the missile which projected an image of the target to a screen, which was pecked by trained pigeons, determining where the missile hit. (2) In 1940 the Airborne Forces Experimental Establishment in UK began on attaching rotor blades to a jeep (Rotabuggy). The project became outdated with the Horsa II and Hamilcar gliders. (5) In 1942, the allies were suffering heavy losses of merchant ships to U-boats. Lord Louis Mountbatten suggested building ice ships.
Demjanjuk case: Nazi guard Alex Nagorny testifies: "I was asked if I wanted to work and I was hungry" washingtonpost.com :: 2010-02-24 :: John Demjanjuk
A Soviet Red Army soldier taken POW by the Germans during World War 2 testified in John Demjanjuk case that he didn't know he would be used as a camp guard when he agreed to co-operate with the Nazis. Alex Nagorny stated that when he was recruited from a POW camp, he agreed to serve to stave off hunger. "I was simply asked if I wanted to work and I was hungry. That was all." Nagorny explained he received only basic military training in the Trawniki SS camp. "They said go left, go right, there was nothing more. We were shown how to use a weapon, but we did not shoot."
Panzer Divisions, Afrika Korps, Waffen SS, Blitzkrieg: Why Americans idolize the German war machine huffingtonpost.com :: 2010-02-23 :: Military Scale Model: Aircrafts, Vehicles
I've always been interested in the German military, especially the Wehrmacht. As a boy I built scale models, not just German Panther and Tiger tanks, but also Luftwaffe planes. I also built American tanks and planes (Shermans, Thunderbolts and Mustangs) but the German models seemed cooler. The German military seemed tough and aggressive: hanging on against long odds - against the hordes of communists that we Americans were facing down after the World War II. As I taught military history to cadets at the Air Force Academy I noticed how the "Cult of Clausewitz" reduced American military thinking.
Bob Doe: The 3rd most successful ace in the Battle of Britain with 14 kills telegraph.co.uk :: 2010-02-23 :: Flying Aces & Fighter Pilots of WW2
Wing Commander Bob Doe was the joint-third most best fighter pilot in the Battle of Britain, with 14 kills and 2 shared. Yet he had struggled to become a WW2 pilot, hardly passing the exams to get his wings. He was poor at aerobatics and disliked flying upside down. On August 15 1940 – Adler Tag (Eagle Day) when Hermann Goering stated Luftwaffe would wipe out the British Fighter Command – Doe was on standby with his Spitfire as part of No 234 Squadron. "I knew I was going to be killed. I was the worst pilot on the squadron." Within 2 days he had downed two Bf 110s, two Bf 109s and damaged a bomber.