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

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

Manray9 wrote: "From Dwight Messimer's In the Hands of Fate: The Story of Patrol Wing Ten, 8 December 1941-11 May 1942.

Prior to the Japanese attacks on the Philippines on December 8, 1941, The U.S..."

I met a PBY pilot from the war, and he was an anti-sub operator, off the coasts of N. America and West Africa.

Marc wrote: "'Aussie Rick' wrote: "The author of "Target Rabaul" discussed the issue of aerial victory claims during this campaign, and offered this example of overclaiming:

" ... It was too good to be true. O..."

I have great familiarity with all of the major air forces during the war, having interviewed over 100 from Japan, UK, Italy, Germany, Romania, etc. I found out through extensive research that ironically, the two nations with the most accurate claiming system were the Germans and Soviets.

4triplezed wrote: "I've found that in my trips to the UK that those that are history buffs tend to understand the contribution of others. I know that all are not that aware of historical analysis as some of us are bu..."

Most of Ambrose's books are good, a couple great in my opinion, although with some flaws, but all works have them. My issue with Ambrose is that he stole a lot of research and material from others and never gave them credit, plagiarizing is a nice way to frame it. he was also not above using ruthless tactics, using his lawyers and the Univ. of New Orleans to pressure authors or even publishers to delay or drop book projects that would have been in competition with him, I men they PAID them off. I have this directly from two historians. he was not above sabotage and theft to remove competition at a major book signing and speaking event for multiple authors. I know, I was a victim.

I interviewed Djilas, fascinating man.

I managed a brief interview with Mochitsura Hashimoto in 1988, the CO of I-58, and met two of the Indy sailors who survivied. Quite interesting.

I was referring to the random historical literature up to the 1980s. British historians tended to downplay ANZACS, but I do not think ti was intentional. I think they tended to lump all empire/commonwealth nations together for the most part.

I am referring to the public at large who seem fairly ignorant of history. Most decent historians do not have that oversight. As a former history professor, I had a front row seat.

He starred in Roadhouse with Pat Swayze and my friend Marshall Teague, who was the black haired mullet wearing marshal artist villain.

As a historian I was always amazed at how the British either ignored or downplayed the roles of ANZACS in both world wars. Some amazing men.

My late friend Robert Woodrow Wilson was a B-25 pilot specializing in anti-shipping. He was one of my dozens of interviews published in magazines such as World War II, Aviation History, Military History, etc. One of the best stories was they were flying 30 feet off the deck to avoid radar, wave hopping. Suddenly a massive manta ray broke surface and Bob fired the 50's and 20mm guns, blowing it apart. The chief engineer and others came forward and asked "What happened?" Bob said "A devil fish, it surprised me." The engineer said, "Damn those Japs are clever, what kind of ship is that?"

I agree, I was at a Duxford show once, I met Bruce Dickinson, who is also a qualified pilot.

Jonny wrote: "And some interesting words on Commanders from General Kenney;
"His diary reveals some insight about his relationship with MacArthur— and the latter’s true opinion of Halsey.
'Saw General MacArthur..."

I knew Gen Matthew Ridgeway, his personal opinion of Mac was enlightening, knowing him as he did.

731 members got the same pass as many German scientists who did horrific experiments, as it served the CIA's requirements.

I have flown on almost all the vintage aircraft, B-17 included, and the annual operational and maintenance expenses are horrific.

You may like what is considered by Mattis and other senior military leaders to be my benchmark book on the subject, Occupation and Insurgency.

The Miniseries with Sam ? was excellent indeed.

Cesarani is a solid historian, met him.

The saving grace was that many of the uniformed men who were captured survivied the war, the rest were far less fortunate.

I interviewed SS Col. Johannes-Rudolf Muhlenkamp who was handed command of 5th SS Division, and lucky for many, he convinced Zalewski to send the uniformed prisoners to POW camps, in direct violation of Himmler's wishes. TV journalist and author Rita Cosby's father was on of them. She wrote about him in her book Quiet Hero.

Jonny wrote: "Colin wrote: "Jonny wrote: "I'd thought the route in was planned to avoid most of the Kammhuber Line defences? If they were intercepted on the way in I'd have thought it couldn't have been by more ..."

Also after this Falck came up with the concept of the Dark night Train, which actually proved somewhat effective