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

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

I have interviewed over 70 people who knew and worked for Hitler, many on the General Staff and Hitler's personal staff. There were concerns, and they manifested right after Feb 2, 1943.

Donald wrote: "Thee is also The Blond Knight of Germany, Holt Hartmann vom Himmel in Germany, by Toliver and Constable about the all time top fighter ace of all wars, Erich Hartmann."

Ray Toliver died years ago, and his wonderful wife Jan, and they were good friends, but Trevor is still living in San Pedro, CA. It was Ray and Trevor who opened doors for me many years ago, resulting in my many books on aviation and interviews with the pilots.

nice post indeed.

Sweetwilliam wrote: "Bou - Also consider reading No Greater Ally about the Poles during WWII. The Warsaw uprising and the Soviet attack around Warsaw was supposed to be a co-ordinated attack between the Poles and the S..."

I interviewed the SS officer who brokered that deal

I knew Heinz Knoke quite well, he was a really good guy, funny as hell also.

I knew and interviewed an Indian soldier and VC recipient, Umrau Singh who fought the Japs in Burma and other places. These guys from that CBI Theater had remarkable stories. If you have not seen the film, I would suggest getting "Farwell to the King" with Nick Nolte and Nigel Havers, et al.

The first American pilot to lead a shuttle mission to Russia was my late friend Col. Donald L. Blakeslee, CO of the 4th Fighter Group (formerly American Eagle Squadron RAF). Roosevelt managed to get Stalin (thru Molotov and Churchill) to allow these refueling and rearmament missions. In trade the US increased the lend lease in weapons and aircraft.

Victor wrote: "Colin wrote: "Victor wrote: "I finished Soldat: Reflections of a German Soldier.

Soldat: Reflections of a German Soldier, 1936-1949

In many respects Knappe's war experience is a typi..."

See my new book, The German Aces Speak II.

A friend of mine was a USAF F-4, A-10 and F-16 pilot, and flew Warthogs during the Gulf War. He said what they did to Iraqi armor was amazing.

Victor wrote: "I finished Soldat: Reflections of a German Soldier.

Soldat: Reflections of a German Soldier, 1936-1949

In many respects Knappe's war experience is a typical journey of a career Wehrm..."

I knew Knappe, good man

The deputy commander of the Warsaw Uprising (General Uprising) of 1944 under Erich von dem Bach-Zekewski was Johannes-Rudolf Muellenkamp, who I interviewed, as he had just been given command of 5th SS Panzer Division "Wiking", interesting perspective.

Same condition, Admiral Ernest J. King court-martialed Capt. McVeigh after the USS Indianapolis was sunk, just to make a personal point despite that McVeigh did nothing wrong.

Steve wrote: "Just finished this excellent book..
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/03...
Cracking book ful..."

Well, the accurate history is (and I am not a fan of FDR), was that Britain and other nations wanted their gold stored in the US as a precaution, just in case of invasion. Also, having their gold secured was also advance payment for lend lease weapons. FDR wanted to get into the war against the Germans badly, in fact, we lost two destroyers and several merchant ships due to FDR violating The Hague and Geneva Conventions on neutrality by escorting British convoys and carrying war supplies. The Germans knew it. The only thing keeping FDR from asking Congress for a declaration of war against Germany was he had no grounds; hence sending our ships and men into harm's way, hoping for another Lusitania style incident for propaganda purposes. The Japs screwed that up when they attacked, and even if Hitler had not declared war on the USA, Roosevelt would have been justified as both nations were part of the Axis powers. Facts, not fiction, need to read another book. FYI, your Neville Chamberlain screwed the pooch with the Munich Deal, not us.

I interviewed a German grunt who described the 152mm HE rounds fired at them from Soviet KVs and Su-152s. I can imagine the psychological impact, much akin to artillery.

Some of my late German night fighter friends were involved in this night raid, among many others. Interesting stories.

I was always dismayed when the WW I people fail to recognize that Africa was also a hotly contested region, where the colonial powers fought a very unheralded direct and proxy war all over the continent. I really became more aware as I wrote the book Four War Boer on just how large that overall campaign was, and in a very dangerous environment.

I published the abridged interview with Leon Degrelle in one of the magazines years ago. Other parts of many of the interviews are found in 2 of my books, German Anti-Partisan Warfare, and Occupation and Insurgency. I will do a couple of books with them in the future at some point.

Manray9 wrote: "Kate wrote: "Bevan wrote: "Yes that does look good. It is so complex as are individual motivations.

Reading chapter 6 it is remarkable how few personal viewpoints of the killing operations agains..."

not to nit pick, but Judaism only became a race after the creation of the Nuremberg Laws, otherwise it is just a religion, not an ethnic group. Are Catholics a race? Staling killed more Jews during his reign than anyone in history, only over a much longer period in history, along with 25 million Ukrainians and another 35 million others throughout the gulag system and outright executions. The Germans simply perfected industrialized murder and were more efficient.

I interviewed many of the surviving Germans and even SS officers, including those involved in shootings. Interesting perspectives, and vary interesting regarding how many lawyers commanded the various Einsatzgruppen under Erich von dem Bach Zelewski.

One of the best books is Sir John Keegan's old book The Asphalt Soldiers, and pure combat history of the Waffen SS. I have interviewed over 30 Waffen and Allgemeine SS members (there is a difference) from privates to almost a dozen generals, three of whom were convicted of war crimes. I have no reason to doubt what they told me, as I research subjects before the formal interviews. Some were involved, some were aware, some were not, and some actually tried to save Jews and others, depends upon the person.