'Aussie Rick'’s Comments (group member since Jun 12, 2009)

'Aussie Rick'’s comments from the THE WORLD WAR TWO GROUP group.

I came across this book by Fritz von Loßberg. If I can find a cheap enough copy, I may grab it.

Lossberg's War: The World War I Memoirs of a German Chief of Staff by Fritz von Lossberg

"On the Knife Edge: How Germany Lost the First World War" - The German offensives of 1918 - Kaiserschlacht, or the 'Kaiser's Battle' have failed:

"After the failure of the final offensive, those in the know realised that the priority must now be to pull troops back to a line that could be successfully defended. Ludendorff was anxious and completely overworked, and he continued to direct angry and unjust reproaches at those around him, including his most important collaborator, Obersleutnant Wetzell. On 20 July 1918 he also had a discussion with the General Staff's specialist for defensive battles, Fritz von Loßberg, the co-called 'Abwehrbulle' of 'defence bull'. Von Loßberg demanded that Ludendorff immediately pull back the German armies that were under attack, bringing the front back to the Hindenburg Line. He therefore wanted Ludendorff to surrender all of the territory gained in the five offensives. He reported Ludendorff's answer:

I consider your suggestions appropriate, but I cannot put them into practice - for political reasons. When asked, he defined these political reasons as 'consideration for the impression made on the enemy, on our army and on those at home'. I answered sharply that 'when the correct military response in such a situation is recognised but left unimplemented for political reasons, that way lies disaster'."

The Kaiser's Battle"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_...

Fritz von Loßberg:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fritz_v...

Under those circumstances how could not suffer from some mental trauma!

Another very interesting post MR9 - thanks for posting those details. It would be amazing to watch two battleships slug it out at close range, but not if you were on one of them though :)

Great post MR9 - USS South Dakota sounds like a mighty tough battleship!

Hi James, I think you will quite enjoy "Rogue Heroes". I thought it was a pretty good account. Keep us all posted on how you go.

Rogue Heroes: The History of the SAS, Britain's Secret Special Forces Unit That Sabotaged the Nazis and Changed the Nature of War by Ben Macintyre

No problem MR9, I can't recall if I have read about this incident previously myself.

"On the Knife Edge: How Germany Lost the First World War" - During the German U-boat campaign the author mentioned an incident involving a British Q-Ship, HMS Baralong:

" ... There had already been other incidents, such as the sinking of the U-27 in August 1915 by the Baralong, a British U-boat trap sailing under the American flag, and the subsequent murder of the shipwrecked crew. Altogether some 5,100 German submariners - over 50 per cent - died during the war."

The Baralong Incidents:
https://www.westernfrontassociation.c...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baralon...

"On the Knife Edge: How Germany Lost the First World War" - During 1916 the Germans are desperate for manpower and decided to force workers from occupied areas into Germany to work; "On 13 September, Ludendorff took up this idea and ordered the governors-general in Brussels and Warsaw to send the available local workers to Germany."

The end result was not as expected even though some in the Germany government warned against this idea:

"Incomprehensibly, however, the Chancellor did not support Bissing's attempt to stop the deportations. They began at the end of October 1916 in Bruges, were easy to portray as a slave hunt, and made a catastrophic impression abroad. Germany was criticised by all the neutral states, including Spain, Switzerland, the Netherlands, the Vatican and of course the USA, while in comparison with the enormous damage caused, the gain for Germany was minimal. In December 1916, 40,000 Belgians were deported, but the programme was so badly and hastily organised that there were not enough jobs available and only a fifth of them were given work. By the time the deportations were halted in February 1917, only 61,000-62,000 of the planned 600,000 forced labourers had been sent to Germany, of whom 17,433 had to be sent back immediately as they were unsuitable for work, and 816 actually died. The whole programme was a catastrophe from both a humanitarian and a strategic perspective, and not even Ludendorff objected to its cancellation."

WW1 Forced Labour:
https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online...

Forgotten Forced Labour in First World War Germany:
https://www.historyhit.com/forgotten-...

"On the Knife Edge: How Germany Lost the First World War" - I liked this story about the fall of the Fort Douaumont during the German attack at Verdun:

"Oberleutnant Cordt von Brandis, who had made the telephone call to inform High Command, was mistakenly taken to be the conqueror of the fortress and immediately received the Pour le Mérite. (For years after the war, right up to the founding of the Federal Republic, he came in for cutting criticism in veteran circles for having received the honour for making a telephone call rather than for the conquest itself.) Reserve Lieutenant Radtke spent his life trying to prove that it was actually he who had taken the Douaumont fortress; while in the 1930s a policeman, former Pionierfeldwebel Kunze, also claimed the credit in the hope of being retrospectively awarded the Iron Cross 1st Class."

Fort Douaumont:
https://thehistorianshut.com/2017/04/...

http://www.ww1battlefields.co.uk/page...

happy wrote: "I'm reading a couple



This is about Mussolini's attempt to make Italy a Great Power in the run up to WWII an..."

Two books on my to-read list Happy, I hope you enjoy them both!

You are definitely right there MR9!

"On the Knife Edge: How Germany Lost the First World War" - Some issues on the home front in Germany:

"The farming of sugar beet, despite its excellent energy content, was slowed down in the interests of cereals, which also created shortages. The shortages affected animal feed supplies immediately: experts warned in late 1914 that 26 million pigs were competing with the German population for the same foodstuff, like potatoes and cereal crops. Their advice that a mass slaughter of pigs would stabilise German wartime food supplies led to a flurry of bureaucratic activity. In the spring of 1915, thanks partly to an underestimate of potato supplies, the authorities ordered what their critics termed a 'St Bartholomew's Day for pigs', and about 8 million animals were slaughtered. This was soon revealed to have been an enormous blunder, first because pigs were also consumers of feed that was useless for humans, and also because their manure was now in short supply and Germany's already limited supplies of fertiliser were stretched even further."

The 1915 German pig slaughter - the Schweinmord:
http://roadstothegreatwar-ww1.blogspo...

https://mises.org/wire/hunger-and-war...

https://www.theguardian.com/world/the...

"On the Knife Edge: How Germany Lost the First World War" - Some interesting statistics of Germany during the Great War:

"Its impact was felt on the lives of every single German living at the time: some 13.2 million men were called up to serve in the armed forces, representing around 20 per cent of the population; and of those some 2 million died, about 4.8 million were wounded and about 14.6 million fell ill. Statistically speaking, during the course of the war one in five Germans was drafted, one in six soldiers died, one in three was wounded and every soldier fell ill at least once."

"On the Knife Edge: How Germany Lost the First World War" - I also found this bit of information quite interesting:

"An early indication of Germany's unrealistic negotiating strategy came in the spring of 1915, when German-American discussions briefly indicated that the British might cease their blockade of foodstuffs in return for the termination of the U-boat campaign. In Germany, where hunger and food shortages had not yet made a significant impact on the population, this suggestion was regarded as an inadequate concession: the Germans demanded that the import of raw materials also be allowed. This made it easy for the British government, already loath to agree to the original proposal, to reject it outright. Perhaps another turning point had been missed that might have changed the course of the First World War. At the very least, had the Central Powers been allowed to import foodstuffs, hundreds of thousands of people would not have lost their lives."

On the Knife Edge: How Germany Lost the First World War by Holger Afflerbach

"On the Knife Edge: How Germany Lost the First World War" - The author provided this account of when the Royal Navy lost three armoured cruisers to the German U-boat, U-9, commanded by Otto Weddigen, on 22 September 1914. The British lost 1,467 men when all three British ships went under:

"The First Sea Lord, Admiral 'Jacky' Fisher, complained that he had lost more sailors to the U-9 'than Lord Nelson in all of his battles put together'."

The loss of HMS Aboukir, Cressy and Hogue:
http://www.dreadnoughtproject.org/tfs...

https://dawlishchronicles.com/hms-abo...

Sounds like a very interesting account André. Glad to hear you are enjoying the book.

Manray9 wrote: "From Paul Stillwell's bio of Admiral Willis Lee, Battleship Commander: The Life of Vice Admiral Willis A. Lee Jr..

Admiral Lee, who grew up in a small town in Kentucky, was a crack..."

He wasn't cheating with some in-built telescopic lenses in his glasses was he MR9????

Let us know what you think once you get a chance. I have my fingers crossed that it will be a good movie.

This new release arrived in the morning mail today: "Mosquito Men: The Elite Pathfinders of 627 Squadron" by David Price.

Mosquito Men: The Elite Pathfinders of 627 Squadron by David Price