Crappy pic but I caught the B-29 FiFi flying out of Albany a bit ago.
The WWII Thread
- Thread starter HudsonFalcon
- Start date
I wonder if that b-29 had anything to do with the fifi of the WASP.
Disney created fifinella for the WASP during wwII. Only time Disney did something like this.
My mother-in-law was in the WASP. Quite a cool story how they were formed.
Disney created fifinella for the WASP during wwII. Only time Disney did something like this.
My mother-in-law was in the WASP. Quite a cool story how they were formed.
Bravery
At the Arizona memorial. Disappointed at the lack of reverence.
USS Bowfin torpedo room
The mighty "Mo".
I am a WW2 History guy. My uncle fought at the Bulge.
I have ~50 books of the battles, and my favorite author is James Hornfischer (d, age 56 in 2021). He wrote about the Navy in the Pacific. His history was well researched, and he added the human element.
I have ~50 books of the battles, and my favorite author is James Hornfischer (d, age 56 in 2021). He wrote about the Navy in the Pacific. His history was well researched, and he added the human element.
Those look like good reads.
The one thing that I can never get through my head is why the Germans didn't sue for peace when they knew it was over. After the Bulge they knew it was over but refused to go against Hitler and stop it. I wonder if the memories of WW1 and the post war era had a lot to do with not wanting to surrender. Or Hitler's magic still held them in thrall and the top men knew their necks would get stretched when this was all done.
The same could be said of Japan, but I think they thought that they could kill enough Americans in an invasion of the home islands that we would allow them a conditional surrender.
The same could be said of Japan, but I think they thought that they could kill enough Americans in an invasion of the home islands that we would allow them a conditional surrender.
The Japanese leadership knew that if they didn't take care of business in the first year, they were in for a world of hurt. They didn't have the resources for an extended engagement.
This, and the Germans placed their faith in superior technology. Instead of wasting valuable resources on things like Bismark class battleships, they should have built more tanks and u-boats. Those may have actually made a difference. They also underestimated Russia, and should have invaded England before trying to push east. Ultimately, Germany never stood a chance against American industry as long as it could make it to Europe.
Japan should have destroyed the Panama Canal after Pearl Harbor, and invaded Panama and Southern Argentina/Chile. That may have bought them more time to shore up more territory in the Pacific.
There is the famous secret recording by the Finnish secret service* (equivalent) of Hitler trying to talk Mannerheim on his personal train outside Helsinki into joining the Axis and so trying to take over Murmansk and Archangle and so cutting of the Lend Lease shipments. And during it Hitler said if he knew the Soviets had built almost 30,000 tanks during the inter war years 1928 to 40, he would of never had invaded them as it would of taken Germany almost 20 years at 1939 production levels to equal it!!!!
I listened to that a few months back. It def an interesting recording.
Coming soon to a TV near you. Hate that it moved to Apple TV+, but I'll renew my subscription to see it.
Awesome. Just bought the book.
Just to give you an insight to my Bolt Action VEHICLE motor pool but from top left clockwise US then USSR, Germany, and finally Japanese. But each one is either a stand alone variant or a seperate turret swap to another like the KV-1 to a 2 or short 75mm barrel Sherman to a 105mm howitzer type.
Waiting on my M-19 MGMC basically a modified M-24 tank chassis with a rear open top turret with twin 40mm Bofors auto cannons, which almost 200 was in France in late fall 1944 to June 1945 but never got the chance to fire a shot in anger due to. 1 High Command having no idea how to utilize them since the Luftwaffe was pretty much no more and 2 Lack of ammo as it used the new 40mm and so the US Navy had top priority for their ships in countering the Kamikaze threat in the Pacific. It would take until late 1950 when the M-19 seen combat in Korea as mostly a human wave buster with it's proximity head HE ammo against Chinese soldiers, ahhh I mean volunteers.
Waiting on my M-19 MGMC basically a modified M-24 tank chassis with a rear open top turret with twin 40mm Bofors auto cannons, which almost 200 was in France in late fall 1944 to June 1945 but never got the chance to fire a shot in anger due to. 1 High Command having no idea how to utilize them since the Luftwaffe was pretty much no more and 2 Lack of ammo as it used the new 40mm and so the US Navy had top priority for their ships in countering the Kamikaze threat in the Pacific. It would take until late 1950 when the M-19 seen combat in Korea as mostly a human wave buster with it's proximity head HE ammo against Chinese soldiers, ahhh I mean volunteers.
Attachments
Uncle Walt, according to some reports was early on a NAZI sympathizer. Early, a lot of Americans were, because they figured Hitler would stand as the wall to keep Marxism from spreading. When he got it figured out, he had some catching up to do, and went all-in for the Allies.I wonder if that b-29 had anything to do with the fifi of the WASP.
Disney created fifinella for the WASP during wwII. Only time Disney did something like this.
My mother-in-law was in the WASP. Quite a cool story how they were formed.
I've never been able to verify this. But I do know, from my own great grandfather's mouth, because he was one of them, many Americans thought the Nazis would solve the Communism problem for us. Remember that it wasn't until near the end of the war that the Holocaust was discovered by the rest of the world, so the American citizens of the time can be forgiven for that. And that same concept, that the Nazi's were going to end communism, was shared by a lot of British citizens, too, all the way up to the top of the royal family!
But what wasn't widely realized, even today, is that NAZI is an anagram. It means National Socialism. They got in power by promising, among other things, that German workers would be taken care of by the state from the womb to the tomb, in return for their service to the country, either being a plumber or an infantryman. So in the reality it was two different forms of fascism fighting for which would be dominant in the region, if not the world.
Any of you WWII buffs familiar with "The Karen's of Burma"?
Burmese people from the Karen Hills area who fought valiantly during WWII.
"In the main, World War II was fought along racial lines. For the Burman majority, it was nothing less than an uprising for national liberation. For much of the war, however, ethnic Burmans appeared to be fighting on a different side than the ethnic minorities. It was to Imperial Japan that the independence hero, Aung San, and the "Thirty Comrades" traveled for military training, and more than 3,500 volunteers were armed by the Japanese in the Burma Independence Army (BIA), which entered the Karen hills from Thailand at the end of 1941 in the footsteps of the invading Japanese 15th Army.
The Ethnic Minorities
Seen from the perspective of Burma's minorities, the war appears in a very different light. Most were to fight on the Allied side. For example, some 12,000 Karen and Karenni in the southeast joined the British-trained Karen Levies, or underground Force 136; these units were to be perhaps the most effective of all the Allied forces in Burma, inflicting more than 12,000 fatalities on the retreating Japanese armies during 1945. For their loyalty to the British, however, they were to suffer grievously. It was the Indian community, some 500,000 of whom fled the country, who suffered the heaviest loss of life at the hands of Burman nationalists. But in communal attacks on Karen villages in the Delta, the Official Report for Myaungmya District alone put the Karen death toll at 1,800 villagers. In the eastern hills hundreds more were killed-again, many eyewitnesses still recall, at the instigation of BIA.
Eventually in the Delta community leaders on both sides tried to stop the killings, and two battalions of Karen troops, led by San Po Thin and Hanson Kyadoe, joined BNA-but the damage had already been done. Many Karen leaders say they had already decided the future safety of their people was now dependent on an independent Karen state, something they claim British officers repeatedly guaranteed throughout the war. During the hasty British withdrawal from Burma, however, such promises were quickly forgotten. But for one former Karen leader, Saw Marshall Shwin, who was tortured by the Japanese after being turned in by BIA, the years have not lessened the pain. His heartfelt testimony is still enshrined in the Frontier Areas Committee of Enquiry of 1947. In 1987 he told this writer, "The British probably forgot us a long time ago, but what they did to us at Burma's independence has proven a very bitter, a very tragic experience for the Karen people. I told the enquiry what we wanted was real autonomy and I told them of so many atrocities committed by Burman soldiers against Karen villagers during the Second World War, but they didn't listen. I still don't know why."
Source:
www.culturalsurvival.org
Burmese people from the Karen Hills area who fought valiantly during WWII.
"In the main, World War II was fought along racial lines. For the Burman majority, it was nothing less than an uprising for national liberation. For much of the war, however, ethnic Burmans appeared to be fighting on a different side than the ethnic minorities. It was to Imperial Japan that the independence hero, Aung San, and the "Thirty Comrades" traveled for military training, and more than 3,500 volunteers were armed by the Japanese in the Burma Independence Army (BIA), which entered the Karen hills from Thailand at the end of 1941 in the footsteps of the invading Japanese 15th Army.
The Ethnic Minorities
Seen from the perspective of Burma's minorities, the war appears in a very different light. Most were to fight on the Allied side. For example, some 12,000 Karen and Karenni in the southeast joined the British-trained Karen Levies, or underground Force 136; these units were to be perhaps the most effective of all the Allied forces in Burma, inflicting more than 12,000 fatalities on the retreating Japanese armies during 1945. For their loyalty to the British, however, they were to suffer grievously. It was the Indian community, some 500,000 of whom fled the country, who suffered the heaviest loss of life at the hands of Burman nationalists. But in communal attacks on Karen villages in the Delta, the Official Report for Myaungmya District alone put the Karen death toll at 1,800 villagers. In the eastern hills hundreds more were killed-again, many eyewitnesses still recall, at the instigation of BIA.
Eventually in the Delta community leaders on both sides tried to stop the killings, and two battalions of Karen troops, led by San Po Thin and Hanson Kyadoe, joined BNA-but the damage had already been done. Many Karen leaders say they had already decided the future safety of their people was now dependent on an independent Karen state, something they claim British officers repeatedly guaranteed throughout the war. During the hasty British withdrawal from Burma, however, such promises were quickly forgotten. But for one former Karen leader, Saw Marshall Shwin, who was tortured by the Japanese after being turned in by BIA, the years have not lessened the pain. His heartfelt testimony is still enshrined in the Frontier Areas Committee of Enquiry of 1947. In 1987 he told this writer, "The British probably forgot us a long time ago, but what they did to us at Burma's independence has proven a very bitter, a very tragic experience for the Karen people. I told the enquiry what we wanted was real autonomy and I told them of so many atrocities committed by Burman soldiers against Karen villagers during the Second World War, but they didn't listen. I still don't know why."
Source:
Burma and World War II
For the rare outside visitor today it is perhaps hard to imagine that Burma, one of the most secretive and isolated countries in the world, was also one of the most violent theaters of conflict in the entire history of World War II. The country was to witness scenes of the most appalling death...
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