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

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

Tall all you meet that you support FC Barcelona!

I met both Sir Fitzroy and Lady Veronica, good interviews, amazing people.

Anytime

'Aussie Rick' wrote: "I'm not too sure how accurate this information is but it makes for interesting reading (see link below). I understand that Braeuer was executed for a number of reprisal actions taken against the ci..."

Rick, the article is mostly accurate. The problem was that even after Schulze and others completed their investigation and interrogations, some German soldiers exceeded their orders. There were some people executed within the region who had not been proven guilty of killing the Germans. Student was not found guilty on the remaining charges of murder as a result that he was in Greece when Ramcke was running operations, and had no direct impact on the decisions on the ground. The transcripts of the Cretan civilian eyewitnesses who admitted to seeing their fellow islanders commit the actions was what saved Student from the hangman along with others, with exception to Brauer.

Walter Zapatoczny was one of my best honors students when I was his Holocaust Studies professor at AMU.

Dj wrote: "So at this nice little Used Book Store in Independence Oregon, I picked up:

Abandon Ship! : The Saga of the U.S.S. Indianapolis, the Navy's Greatest Sea Disaster
[bookcover:Abandon..."

I spoke with two of the Indy survivors years ago, as well as with Hashimoto. That Japanese officer became a Shinto priest after the war, swearing never again to harm any life, he was so riddled with guilt.

Marc wrote: "Jonny wrote: "Today's arrivals;
The Other Battle
The First World War
and, inspired by last..."
Hinchliffe is good. I was very good friends with Schnauffer's and Lent's CO, Wolfgang Falck.

I interviewed many resistance fighters and German vets of the Yugoslav campaign, both Chetniks and "Partisans"such as Milo Stavic, Milovan Djilas, Milorad Krstovic (published in W II magazine). My dissertation argument was that given the technical, legal and logical definitions, the Comminists under Tito were never, and could never have been "partisans" by any stretch of the imagination. That distinction must be held in historical reserve for Mihailovic's forces.

Nishant wrote: "Unfortunately, because of their brave defense, the Germans later massacred many of the Cretan civilians after they took the island."

One of the untold realities of Crete (my cousing was a German paratrooper, Baron Friedrich Ausgurt von der Heydte, Knight's Cross, Oak Leaves), was that Col. Bruno Braeuer ordered a field tribunal (legal under Geneva 1929, and still legal today), to place the villagers on trial. They had killed many of the Germans trapped in the trees of the Olive Grove and in the Tavronitis River bed with farm tools. They never had the chance to get to their weapons cannisters. Stolen German weapons, personal gear and documents were found throughout the village homes. Oberleutnant Karl Lothar Schultz (Knight's Cross at Narvik) conducted the investigation and interviews. Brauer later radioed the situation to Gen Kurt Student at Athens HQ, and after consultation held firing squads upon conviction of the irregular fighters. This was legal under the laws of warfare, although Brauer was still tried and executed for the event after the war. His conviction was later overturned years later, but too late.

Under the existing laws of the sea, any ship bearing the flag of a belligerent is fair game. The surfacing of U-Boats to check cargoes was forbidden by the Imperial navy after disguised Q ships lured a few to the surface, and opened fire, sinking them. A similar event would occur in WW II, experienced by a few German U-Boat commanders who would allow crews to abandon ship before sinking with the deck gun. Reinhard Herdegan and Fritz-Julius Lemp both learned the hard way that this was not a good humanitarian move, when they actually radioed the position of these crews in lifeboats. So, rather than come the their rescue under a flag of truce the British Sunderland flying boats and others instead decided to aerial attack the U-boats. Hitler put a stop to that fast.

'Aussie Rick' wrote: "It covers unrestricted submarine warfare and the sinking of the Lusitania, the first use of gas and Zeppelins:

" Between April 22 and May 31, 1915, Western civilization was shocked. World War I wa..."

Ironically, one reality overlooked, was that the Lusitania was a legitimate target of war, a flagged combatant of Greet Britain, and the Imperial Gov't through its embassy issued a clear warning to all Americans that traveling on belligerent ships was a danger. The NYT posted the warning clearly, and Woodrow Wilson's administration ignored it for political reasons. No crime committed. The gas on the other hand was a clear violation of The Hague Conventions of 1899 and revised 1907.

See The Star of Africa
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsUYL...

Go to my website at www.heatonlewisbooks.com and the youtube link is there along with Noble warrior video, and all of our books and projects.

Members may like my book The Star of Africa. See promo video at
https://vimeo.com/207656188

Sweetwilliam wrote: "Dj wrote: "Brooke wrote: "Per the article quoted by Dj "[t]his idea proved abortive," there are other reasons the French made a separate peace with the Germans rather than carrying on the fight fro..."

DeGaulle fledin fear with his mistress, leaving his wife to be picked upby SOE later. No one in UK or US intel had any respect for Charles De Fraud, and for good reason.

Jonny wrote: "Nishant wrote: "Could I have a recommendation for books on the Allied bombing campaign against Germany and its allies?"

Pretty much any of Martin Middlebrooks books are good snapshots;

[bookcove..."
I interviewed German pilots who were involved in all the air battles these books represent, and the late Robert Dorr was a good historian, we helped each other a lot.

Jonny wrote: "Nishant wrote: "Could I have a recommendation for books on the Allied bombing campaign against Germany and its allies?"

Pretty much any of Martin Middlebrooks books are good snapshots;

[bookcove..."

Jonny wrote: "Nishant wrote: "Could I have a recommendation for books on the Allied bombing campaign against Germany and its allies?"

Pretty much any of Martin Middlebrooks books are good snapshots;

[bookcove..."

Charles wrote: "Just finished Lothar-Gunther Bucheim's "Das Boot." As good as the film was the book is even better. A gritty depiction of a WW2 German u-boat.....Charlie."

My old U-Boat commander and crew friends agreed.

I was lucky, they gave me a post military career in writing history!

'Aussie Rick' wrote: "One more new title to consider for those who enjoy accounts of WW2 snipers or the Eastern Front:

[book:Eastern Front Snipe..."

As a graduate of the German Army Sniper School in 1984, and a person who interviewed many veterans, I met Matthias and got his story, among many others. He was a very quiet man but very friendly. His neighbor was my friend Wolfgang Falck, father of the Night Fighters.

Marc wrote: "Got a diverse double feature in the mail today:

[book:Luftwaffe KG 200: The German Air Force's Most S..."

I knew and interviewed the wartime commander of German bomber forces (KG-200 fell under his command structure under Werner Baumbach), Maj Gen Dietrich Peltz