Colin’s Comments (group member since Dec 16, 2012)

Colin’s comments from the THE WORLD WAR TWO GROUP group.

During Yom Kippur in 1973, my family was living in Nicosia, Cyprus. My grandmother was coming for a visit (I was 11 years old then), and the was airport shut down. Two fighters had briefly appeared over the airport, one Israeli, another was a MiG unidentified then (later ID'd as Syrian). Then they disappeared, the Israeli chasing the Syrian. After the short dogfight that had drifted west to us from the mainland the airport reopened. That was what then sparked my interest in air combat, hence the end result of my post military career as a historian.

Jerome wrote: "An August release:

by Lawrence Paterson
Description:
Hitler's daring and pioneering Brandenbur..."

I knew and interviewed a soldier who served in the Brandenburgers, under the command of Adrian von Foelkersam in the Caucasus, and later with Skorzeny. Great stories.

Silvia wrote: "Hi everyone, I'm new on Goodreads. I'm Silvia from Italy, hoping to get recommendations for history books, which are hard for me to come by.
Happy reading to you all"

I know that Amazon.it (Italy) offers all of the books I am aware of (even all of the books I wrote) on line. I am not aware of books in Italian on WW II, since I do not read Italian, but the e-books should be available.

Sir John Keegan, very nice guy. He once told me, "The best thing a historian can do is to imagine yourself there as a witness as you write. The worst thing a historian can do is write as if you were there as a participant. Keep your distance, let the reader absorb the data, not your perceptions."

Spam is awesome, just ask any hungry grunt on day 12 of a mission w/o a food supply, and has not had a meal in over a week, and then BAM! Heaven in a can.

Crabbing here on the Carolina Coast is a way of life, and good fresh seafood.

I knew Cunningham, he was a great guy, and he was also awarded the US Silver Star, rare to foreigners. He and Bob Braham were the best Allied night fighter pilots for sure.

I was with Lee in LA in 2007, I was taping a History Channel "Dogfights" show and he was doing his Mail Call show, same studio. We both had the same flight from LA to ATL, I he was in first class I was in baggage. He told the stewardess to call me up, and it was a great chat. I still have his Gunny Glock Challenge Coin that he gave me.

4triplezed wrote: "Colin wrote: "Churchill was wide enough to understand that only geography prevented a direct German invasion. ."

Thank goodness for the English Channel!

Colin I am not trying to be a smart alec h..."
Churchill knew three things; 1-The Channel was a barrier that bought him time until the USA entered the war, which was inevitable, and he knew it.
2-There was a strong anti-war (rather anti-Churchill) coalition following on the Chamberlain appeasement mindset.
3-Churchill knew that Britain was the only hope for Europe and word at large, if not as a great arsenal for the Allies, then as a moral support mechanism giving those trapped in Europe something resembling hope. I could not imagine being in that position as a national leader, standing virtually alone.

Travelin wrote: "Colin wrote: "Hitler, Stalin, Hirohito, Degaulle, and even FDR"

OK, I'll bite. What's the parallel there?

Churchill's own war memoirs make him sound as whiney as his natural voice. Basically, Ch..."

Churchill is widely respected simply for the fact that he did not cave into German threats, and he managed to hold the British together during a tough time, when all of Western Europe collapsed under the weight of German steel. Churchill was wide enough to understand that only geography prevented a direct German invasion. What he had to worry about was a panic that could weaken the national resolve to resist capitulation, withdrawing from the war. Hitler would have made that deal also, tempting for any national leader facing what Britain was looking at. I do not have to like a person to admire certain qualities, and Churchill, flaws and all was the right man at the right time for Britain, if not the world.

I believe that Churchill will be remembered (and I am not a great fan by any means) always as the one national leader who would not cave into Axis domination and threats. We can look back in hindsight at colonial mismanagement, just as we can on the institution of slavery. Using our current ethics and mores as a measure for how things were in the past is not a very fruitful endeavor. The evolution of a nation, much like an individual comes from the learning curve, and I do believe that Churchill learned a lot. I think that when you stack him up against Hitler, Stalin, Hirohito, Degaulle, and even FDR he rises above the controversy.

As a former military man with a lot of experience, I never looked for perfection in my leaders, just competence and dedication. Churchill had all of it.

Eric Hammel is a good guy, and great historian. We used to have the same literary agent.

Dj wrote: ""In summary, it is clearly evident that the German economy was incapable of providing the vehicles and fuel requisite to the creation of a modern, fully motorized force. This was further exacerbate..."

regarding the acquisition of steel for the navy, Erich Raeder and Karl Doenitz were at complete odds, and fighting each other for the most access to steel, and the coal to make it. Raeder wanted more surface ships/raiders, Doenitz of course wanted more Uboats.

The Soviets also had their ironies. I interviewed a tank commander, Gregor Koronov, who spoke about when he was a young T-34 driver, and he carried a hammer to change gears, due to the lousy mechanical operation of the transmission. He also complained about the KV- series. Great armor, but you had to depress the gun to load the round, losing precious time, time enough to get outflanked and killed.

Otto Carius told me about his encounters with various enemy types, and how they quickly learned the weaknesses in Soviet designs, although they still respected the T-34 for its ground speed and speed of reload.

I went through all of those SOE and OSS documents in my research, as well as the available Abwehr files, and managed a few interviews with participants. Read Mark Mazower, "Inside Hitler's Greece" also.

happy wrote: "I finished Glantz' Stalingrad.

It was actually a pretty good read. As always with a Glantz book it is extremely well researched and I learned some tidbits.

One is that in Glantz' ..."
Jeschonnek made the idiotic claim based upon two beliefs; 1-There would be enough fighters to cover the transports, 2-There would be enough transport aircraft to do the job pulling von Richthofen's Fliegerkorps into it full strength, 3-The ground forces maintining control of the airfields, despite their being shelled all the time.

Goering bought into it, and neither man had been to city to see for themselves what the hell the situation was. The only clear eyed man of the hour was von Richthofen himself. See the Galland interview in my book The German Aces Speak (Vol 1), which has this data.

The key to German success was later adopted by the USMC (MAGTF), and later others. Command and control of ground and air assets were all under one commander. There was no relay of comms, permissions, etc.

The senior field commander on the ground had his FO who called in the coordinates, pilots took their cue from the ground, not an air controller. This saved a lot of time, and FO's being at the front relayed back for artillery, mortar and aircraft strikes with precision and eyeball on target efficiency.

Also tankers and pilots used throat microphones, not mouth to mic, which gave a more clear transmissions and removed background sound distortions. Communication was the essential method of the German victories.

Required reading for my dissertation research in grad school, Browning is spot on.

Goodreads, where a balanced checkbook goes to die.