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

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

Perato wrote: "I'm waiting for Herbert Werner's Iron coffins to arrive in mail, so might as well join this one when it arrives, for once I'd have a book that fits =P
[bookcover:Iron Coffins: A U-Boat Commander's ..."

Good book, Herbert was one of my interviews.

Excellent post. If I go through my records, I may be able to ID the German crews.

BA wrote: "Hello - I've just joined this group and am interested in participating in your reading challenges; are there any for March or April?

WWII personal accounts and memoirs, especially regarding the a..."

Ironically, I am currently finishing my next manuscript for Dutton/Penuin-Random House. This follows the series of interviews I did with pilots from WW II over the years. The last book I released was Above the Reich. This next one is currently titled Above the Pacific, complete interviews with three MOH recipient fighter pilots: Boyington, Foss and McCampbell. The latter scored his 34 kills in the F6F, so you may like it.

Well, althought Heydrich was in charge of the SD under Himmler, he was not a spy chief. Those duties fell to Heinrich Mueller who actually ran the Gestapo as of Sept. 5, 1939, appointed by Himmler personally while at a luncheon in Berlin. The Venlo operation was dictated by Heydrich, delegated to Mueller, so he was not personally instrumental in that, according to Karl Wolff, The Abwehr under Canaris was the initial group involved once they learned of the mission, but Himmler and Heydrich wanted complete control over ALL intelligence matters, which caused a great deal of friction b/w the SS, Navy, Luftwaffe and the Army. Wolff said that Gehlen had stated (referencing all the branches of the military) , that "it seems Hitler placed four large rats in a bag and shook it up, waiting to see which would still be alive when they were dumped out."

In every book I write related to WW II Germany I stress the words "Hitler" and "Nazi" not be used in the titles, and so far I have been successful.

Hello all:

I have been asked, and agreed, so I will be doing a live Zoom show broadcast today, Sat. March 12 at 1400 (2 pm) EST, which is 2000 (8 pm) Central European and South African time, and 11:00 am Pacific. We will discuss Marseille, the book and pending limited TV series. I do not know if this link works for listeners. I will also place the link on the Facebook and Linkedin locations.

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/84467246902...

Sweetwilliam wrote: "Thanks Rick. BTW - I was surprised that the families of the KIA were given the option of having the remains of their loved ones shipped home. I thought that this wasn't an option. I believe that th..."

My grandfather killed in Oct 1944 was brought back home in 1951 for reburial from France.

We will post updates as they come in.

Liam wrote: "Thanx, Rick, I'm glad that is the case!

À propos my mention of RUSI above- the author of one of the articles I read on their website earlier, Justin Bronk, was interviewed on the state of Russian..."

We are keeping up on all info with a cautious eye to facts
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWQl3...

Makes sense. My brother was in the US Navy, and I have a niece living in Sydney, LOL

We are going to keep a running commentary as he get more information on the Ghost of Kiev

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWQl3...

I knew and interviewed many of the AVG pilots, some became friends, all great guys.Not a single one liked Boyington, who is one interview in my next book currently in progress.

There is a good old book titled "Battling the Elements" covering weather and warfare in a fair and determined analysis of military operations spanning the ages. I used it as a textbook in one of my courses.

happy wrote: "Nooilforpacifists wrote: "On Vietnam, I always recommend https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1... The Crouching Beast , by Frank Boccia.

I have no idea whether my antiquated HTML 1 will work h..."

I was in both 2 and 3/502, right next door

Christine wrote: "Colin wrote: "I interviewed Artur Axmann twice, in 1984 and 1985, and he had a lot to say. He was corroborated by other interviews I did with other bunker survivors, such as Hans Baur, Whilhelm Moh..."

You can get my book on Amazon: "The Star of Africa: The Story of Hans Marseille", but there are other bios on him. Mine just has a lot of interview material from those who knew him. We are currently preparing that story for a TV/streaming miniseries.

I interviewed Artur Axmann twice, in 1984 and 1985, and he had a lot to say. He was corroborated by other interviews I did with other bunker survivors, such as Hans Baur, Whilhelm Mohnke, Traudl Junge, Gerda Christian and Otto Gunsche, etc. He was a very interesting person, and his comments on Hans-Joachim Marseille are in my book (The Star of Africa; The Story of Hans Marseille) were entertaining.

Jerome wrote: "A September release:

by James M. Scott
Description:
Seven minutes past midn..."
That mission is also in my book, Above the Reich, which has LeMay's complete first person interview that I conducted.

In my book, "Above the Reich" LeMay spoke about this as he was in charge.

Matthew Ridgeway said that "MacArthur was the greatest general, at least in his own mind. He was unwilling to recognize subordinate officers for great work, but had no problem taking all the credit."

Jonny wrote: "Today's the 80th anniversary of the start of the 'Channel Dash' - there's a decent overview of the event in the link below: Airfix aren't really trying to sell you model planes, honest....

https:/..."
My interviews with Adolf Galland and Gerhard Shoepfel (his wingman) regarding the Channel Dash was an interesting and informative time.