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

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

"Empire of Destruction: A History of Nazi Mass Killing" - Chapter 6: Extermination of Captive Red Army Soldiers:

"By the beginning of February 1942, that is, over the space of little more than seven months, 2 million Soviet prisoners of war had died or been murdered in German custody. This was almost 60 per cent of the 3.35 million Red Army soldiers captured during this period, most of them by the end of October 1941. On Reich territory, at least 265,000 Soviet POWs died during these months; this constituted a death rate of around 53 per cent. (By contrast, death rates among Polish and Soviet civilian forced labourers inside Germany were well below 10 per cent.) The fact that this rate of mortality was scarcely lower that the death rate in the POW camps east of the Reich's borders not only sheds an unmistakably clear light on living conditions for captive Soviet soldiers in Germany. It also throws into stark relief the common fate of Soviet POWs in German captivity regardless of their whereabouts, and give the lie to the claim that long transportation routes and the associated problems were to blame for the mass mortality. Over an extended period between October 1941 and February 1942, as many people died in a single large POW camp in the occupied Soviet territories as could be murdered during the same time span by an entire Einsatzgruppe. Indeed, as of winter 1941-42, captured Soviet troops constituted the largest single victim group of Nazi mass-killing policies."

Nazi Treatment of Soviet POW's:
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/conten...

https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/conten....

I think I'll stick to books; they are easy to hide when bringing new one's home :)

"The Road to Dien Bien Phu: A History of the First War for Vietnam" - How to build and train an army in the Democratic Republic of Vietnam after WW2:

"The General Staff recruited Vietnamese soldiers from the defunct colonial army. As long as these men in it passed a background check and pledged loyalty to Ho's Vietnam, the Ministry of Defense welcomed them into its ranks and the best of them into its classrooms to help teach a flood of new recruits. The same was true of dozens of Japanese soldiers and a handful of their officers who crossed over to the DRV at the close of the Pacific War. The government granted them citizenship, making them 'New Vietnamese', in exchange for their help in developing and running officer-training camps. A handful of European soldiers in the French colonial army also crossed over to Ho's Vietnam (most had volunteered in the late 1930s, thinking they would be fighting the Nazis, maybe the Japanese, but not the Vietnamese). All these instructors installed discipline, taught the basics of handling arms, and drilled cadets on how to organize and carry out combat missions. A select few also advised Vo Nguyen Giap and other top-level commanders on the finer points of command, intelligence, and communications."

The Road to Dien Bien Phu: A History of the First War for Vietnam by Christopher E. Goscha

Theresa wrote: "I'm working with our deputy police chief at work on buying a BearCat for the city I work for, so starting to learn a little bit about armored vehicles."

That should be an interesting project Theresa!

All good points Dj but unlikely to sway my wife who controls the purse strings.

Marc wrote: "For those of you who haven't spent all their money on books, the Australian Armour and Artillery Museum is selling their Tiger 1 replica (featured in the movie Fury). I'm guessing AR might want to ..."

I'm not too sure I have enough room in my garage, but I will ask my wife and see what she says :)

carl wrote: "Have had this on the shelf for a few yrs. Though really interested, I suspect the 1200 pages of small print deterred me a bit. After reading the compelling introduction, I'm diving in for the durat..."

Let us know how you go Carl :)

I've enjoyed the first two of his that I've read (Dolittle Raid and Manila).

Nice recommendation Jonny!

Nice review Marc, thanks for sharing!

Marc wrote: "Starting this one today:

[book:Black Snow: Curtis LeMay, the Firebombing of Tokyo, and the ..."

I hope it's good Marc as I have a copy ready to go when the time is right :)

"The Road to Dien Bien Phu: A History of the First War for Vietnam" - In the Introduction the author provides this famous quote from Ho Chi Minh in regard to a war with the French in Indochina:

“It would be a war between an elephant and a tiger. If the tiger ever stands still, the elephant will crush him with his mighty tusks. But the tiger does not stand still. He lurks in the jungle by day and emerges by night. He will leap upon the back of the elephant, tearing huge chunks from his hide, and then he will leap back into the dark jungle. And slowly the elephant will bleed to death. That will be the war of Indochina.”

Perato wrote: "Finished Parker's Monte Cassino. A great book to my liking, more complete description of the battle than just an isolated combat chronology.


Longer review here:
h..."

Nice review Perato, glad to hear you enjoyed the book!

I've decided to start reading this new book over my morning coffee. I have a few books on the Vietnam War waiting to be read so I figured I'd go to the beginning and get a good background on the events leading up to America's involvement.

The Road to Dien Bien Phu: A History of the First War for Vietnam by Christopher E. Goscha

"Empire of Destruction: A History of Nazi Mass Killing" - Chapter 2: Decapitation of Polish Society:

"By the end of summer 1940, some 3,500 Poles regarded as politically dangerous - teachers, priests, political and social activists - had been shot as part of Operation AB. It had also cost the lives of about 3,000 common criminals. Ten thousand more were interned in concentration camps, including Sachsenhausen and Auschwitz, which had been specially built for this purpose. Taken together, Operation Tannenberg, the Intelligentsia Operation and Operation AB claimed the lives of up to 100,000 Polish civilians in the space of a year. On 2 October 1940, during a discussion with Governor General Hans Frank, Gauleiter of Vienna Baldur von Schirach, Gauleiter of East Prussia Erich Koch and the chief of staff of the Party Chancellery, Martin Bormann, Hitler justified the murder of the Polish intellectual elites as follows: 'The can only be one master for the Poles, and that is the German; [...] therefore, all representatives of the Polish intelligentsia are to be killed. This sounds harsh, but it is simply the law of life'. During a speech in the town of Srem (Schrimm) on 15 November, Arthur Greiser even invoked the Almighty to justify Germany's treatment of the Poles: 'When God introduced justice into the world, he also created hatred. And that is how we have learned to hate the Poles.' In June 1941, when Germany invaded the Soviet Union, the killings of Polish elites were extended to the eastern part of Poland, which had been annexed by the USSR in September 1939."

Operation AB and other German Operations:
https://www.polishnews.com/intelligen...

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

No, I'm glad you did, the time difference means I am usually safely tucked away in bed while most of the group are chatting away :)

That's a hard question Perato. Maybe check a few reviews on this original classic; "Tobruk 1941" by Chester Wilmot.

Tobruk 1941 by Chester Wilmot

Another book that was popular in Australia, but I am slightly reluctant to recommend as its very parochial and at times a bit over the top is this book; "Tobruk" by Peter FitzSimons.

Tobruk by Peter FitzSimons

Thanks for the notification, Mike.

Dj wrote: "Watching Seapower on Netflix. I am halfway through the first episode and I have to say it is pretty good so far. It has four episodes total and the first one starts before WWI, the start of the sub..."

Cool, I will have to check it out :)

Dj wrote: "The Campaign in Norway

This book suffers from one major defect: NO MAPS.

The detail which is used to present the battles that took plac..."

That is hard to fathom, not a single map for a campaign study!