17th April 1942:German government reduced the amount of provisions given to Soviet prisoners of war.

17th April 1942:German government reduced the amount of provisions given to Soviet prisoners of war.

As German leaders prepared for the invasion of the Soviet Union in spring 1941, they agreed a quick summer victory would be followed by the starvation of some 30 million people.

A Hunger Plan foresaw the "extinction of industry as well as a great part of the population". Soviet cities would be destroyed, Soviet industry destroyed, and eastern lands reduced to depopulated prairie ripe for German agrarian colonisation.

But the Red Army resisted and Stalin remained in the Kremlin. It proved difficult to starve large numbers of civilians without total control of territory.

Stalin had managed to starve millions of his own citizens in these same lands a few years before, but he had at his disposal, then, an apparatus of terror and a loyal party organisation that the invading Germans could not match.

Though the Hunger Plan proved impossible, it provided the moral premises for the Wehrmacht's treatment of civilians and prisoners of war after the invasion of June 1941.

Starvation proceeded where German soldiers had total control of land and people. Kharkiv, Kiev and, above all, besieged Leningrad were starved, killing more than 1 million Soviet civilians.

The main victims of the starvation policy were Soviet soldiers taken captive. Huge numbers of Red Army men (and women) were taken prisoner in that summer of 1941, largely because Stalin opposed retreats.

In one engagement near Smolensk, 348,000 prisoners were taken; after the Battle of Kiev, the figure was 665,000.

The wounded and sick were shot where they were found. Most of the prisoners who reached German camps would be dead by 1942.

In the German POW camps in occupied Soviet Belarus, Soviet Ukraine and Poland, prisoners were not even registered by name.

As the German quartermaster general of the German army indicated, prisoners who could not work "were to be starved". At a single camp near Minsk, some 109,500 prisoners died.

At another at Molodechno, prisoners submitted written petitions asking to be shot rather than dying slowly of hunger in the cold.Many prisoners were indeed shot.

The German Einsatzgruppen made selections of those whom they believed to be Jews and political officers, and killed them on the spot.Some 3.1 million Soviet prisoners perished in German captivity: about 500,000 were shot; the remaining 2.6 million died of starvation and hunger-related disease.
More Soviet prisoners died in German camps on a given day in autumn 1941 than American and British prisoners did during the entire war.

As of the end of 1941, by which time the Germans, with local help, had already murdered about 1 million Jews, the starvation of Soviet prisoners was still the greatest German crime.

Even in occupied Poland – in 1942 to become the major site of the Holocaust – the mass murder of POWs brought from the east was, in 1941, still the central horror.
As of December 1941, more Soviet POWS had died in occupied Poland than had either Jews or Poles.

This crime has been forgotten, in part because Stalin presented the prisoners as deserters, and in part because the victims, of dozens of nationalities, have no coherent group to remember them.

The German mass murder of Soviet POWs has been overshadowed by the Holocaust; yet, the two policies are best understood together.

The concentration camps in Germany became killing facilities when they received Soviet prisoners, who were murdered in shooting campaigns at Dachau, Buchenwald, Sachsenhausen, Mauthausen and Auschwitz.
Soviet prisoners were gassed experimentally, using both carbon monoxide (at Sachsenhausen) and hydrogen cyanide (at Auschwitz) – the two agents then used to asphyxiate millions of Jews.

When the Germans began to release Soviet prisoners of war, one of their tasks was to guard the new German death facilities at Bełżec, Sobibór and Treblinka, where the Jews of Poland were gassed in 1942.

Thus some survivors of the first major German killing policy became collaborators in the Second late 1941, as the Soviet Union fought on, Nazi ideology and German policy shifted to accommodate a longer war in the east.

As millions of Slavs, some of them surviving Soviet prisoners of war, came to Germany to replace the workers sent to the eastern front, the image of the enemy who must be exterminated changed.

No longer was it both the Slavs and the Jews, the former supposedly led by the latter, but chiefly the Jews as such.Slavs were treated horribly in Germany after 1942, but never as murderously as in the starvation camps of 1941.

Jews, on other hand, were targeted in 1942 for a policy of complete annihilation, even when their work was valuable for the Reich.
The Jewish people were the ultimate enemy of the Reich, and their fate was the worst of all.

But to appreciate just what that superlative "worst" means, we must grasp the fate of the Soviet prisoners of war.

On the 16th March 1945, Heinrich Himmler, having abandoned his command with Army Group Vistula three days prior, checked himself into a sanatorium at Hohenlychen, Germany so that doctors there could treat his influenza.

On the 16th March 1945, Heinrich Himmler, having abandoned his command with Army Group Vistula three days prior, checked himself into a sanatorium at Hohenlychen, Germany so that doctors there could treat his influenza.

When Heinz Guderian came to visit him, he would request Guderian to carry his letter of resignation as commanding officer of Army Group Vistula to Adolf Hitler.

On January 25th, 1945 Hitler made him the commander of the forces directly responsible for stopping the Russians from reaching Berlin. As can be expected, he was terrible at it, and that helped shorten the war considerably.

In December 1944 Himmler was appointed the commander of the Army Group Upper Rhine. Army Group Upper Rhine was responsible for defending the Rhine in the Alsace-Lorraine area.

Hitler appointed Himmler to command the army group in December 1944. The army group launched Operation North Wind in January 1945, the last major German offensive in Western Europe.

It was intended to take the pressure off the retreating divisions from the Battle of the Bulge, but it failed, even though it had limited aims. Himmler had nothing to do with the planning the offensive and almost nothing to do with its execution.

In spite of this failure, Hitler thought Himmler was now ready for the real deal, so in late January 1945, he was appointed the command of Army Group Vistula.

This army group was put together from elements of Army Group A (shattered in the Soviet Vistula-Oder Offensive), Army Group Centre (similarly mostly destroyed in the East Prussian Offensive), and a variety of new or ad hoc formations. It was formed to protect Berlin from the Soviet armies advancing from the Vistula River.

It is estimated that over 500,000 soldiers were part of Army Group Vistula. This was no backwater; this was the decisive front where the future of the Reich would be determined.

Himmler established his command on a special train, “the Steiermark,” which he rarely left. The train was parked at Deutsche-Krone and from here he ran his vast personal empire, and when he had time, the Army group entrusted to him.

The train had only one telephone line, no signal detachment or radios, and inadequate maps. As a result, orders from his command rarely made their way to the front. He was never seen at the front.

He appointed his personal masseuse, Felix Kersten, to his staff and insisted on daily massages followed by long naps.

He only worked four hours a day and did not work very hard during those four hours. Himmler was unable to devise any viable plans for completion of his military objectives.

In February of 1945, General Heinz Guderian had devised a counteroffensive called “Operation Solstice.” The aim of the operation was to use Army Group Vistula to drive back the Soviets with a massive counterattack.

General Guderian, knowing that a full-fledged assault led by Himmler would be a bloody disaster, demanded that someone else lead the operation. After a very heated argument, Hitler agreed to give command of the counter attack to General Walter Wenck.

Despite this change in leadership, the counterattack failed horribly, mostly because the units that made up Army Group Vistula were shattered skeletons of their former selves.

They stood no chance against the might of the Red Army. Under pressure from Hitler over the worsening military situation, Himmler became anxious and unable to give him coherent reports.

These were the last months of the war, in which Hitler brooded in his bunker moving imaginary units on a map and planning the last great battle that would lead Germany to ultimate victory.

When the counter-attack failed to stop the Soviet advance, Hitler held Himmler personally liable and accused him of not following orders.

On 20 March 1945, Adolf Hitler replaced Heinrich Himmler with Gotthard Heinrici as Commander-in-Chief of Army Group Vistula on the Eastern Front. Indicating that he was ill, Himmler abandoned his post on March 13 and retired to a sanatorium at Hohenlychen.

At this time, Army Group Vistula’s front was less than 50 miles from Berlin. From that sanatorium, Himmler then tried to negotiate a separate peace with the Western Allies and save his skin.

Having failed at that too, he was captured shortly after the Nazi surrender and, in a final act of cowardice; he committed suicide on May 23rd, 1945, escaping the gallows.

96 days passed from the day Himmler was appointed the commander of Army Group Vistula to the day of Hitler’s suicide. Eight days later Nazi Germany officially surrendered.

On this day, 83 years ago on April 18th 1941, the German 3rd Regiment and 2nd Panzer Division crossed the Pinios River in Greece while the German 6th Mountain.

 Ladies and Gentlemen, fellow comrades.

Greek Tragedy

On this day, 83 years ago on April 18th 1941, the German 3rd Regiment and 2nd Panzer Division crossed the Pinios River in Greece while the German 6th Mountain Division reached Mount Olympus, putting the Australian and New Zealand troops at the Pinios Gorge in danger.

As German soldiers continued to advance south in Greece, Prime Minister Alexandros Koryzis committed suicide that evening; in response to this suicide, Athens was placed under martial law by the government to maintain stability.

The Greek campaign, codenamed: Marita by the Germans, commenced on April 6th 1941, when the Germans simultaneously attacked the Kingdom of Greece through the Kingdoms of Bulgaria and Yugoslavia in a pincer movement designed to encircle the Greek troops fighting the Italians on the Albanian front, as a result of the Kingdom of Italy’s declaration of war on Greece on October 28, 1940.

The Allies sent a token force of British, Australian, New Zealand, Cypriot and Palestinian troops to aid Greece, in what is often referred to as ‘The Second Gallipoli.

They began arriving in March 1941 under the codename - Lustre or ‘W Force’, named after its Commander, British Major General Henry Maitland Wilson.

Of the 65,532 Allied soldiers sent to Greece, the largest number of fighting troops came from Australia and New Zealand, the others were support troops, apart from one British Armoured Brigade.

In this campaign, the Allied forces were greatly outnumbered and outgunned by the Germans who had allocated 10 divisions for the invasion of Greece and had over 1,000 planes at their disposal.

What resulted was a fierce month-long campaign where the Allied troops fought valiantly but were under-equipped and had to evacuate Greece.

18th April 1945 During World War 2, journalist Ernie Pyle, America’s most popular war correspondent, is killed by Japanese machine-gun fire on the island of Ie Shima in the Pacific.

18th April 1945 During World War 2, journalist Ernie Pyle, America’s most popular war correspondent, is killed by Japanese machine-gun fire on the island of Ie Shima in the Pacific.

Pyle, born August 3, 1900, in Dana, Indiana, first began writing a column for the Scripps-Howard newspaper chain in 1935.

Eventually syndicated to some 200 U.S. newspapers, Pyle’s column, which related the lives and hopes of typical citizens, captured America’s affection.
In 1942, after the United States entered World War II, Pyle went overseas as a war correspondent.
He covered the North Africa campaign, the invasions of Sicily and Italy, and on June 7, 1944, went ashore at Normandy the day after Allied forces landed.

Pyle, who always wrote about the experiences of enlisted men rather than the battles they participated in, described the D-Day scene: “It was a lovely day for strolling along the seashore.

Men were sleeping on the sand, some of them sleeping forever. Men were floating in the water, but they didn’t know they were in the water, for they were dead.
The same year, he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished correspondence and in 1945 traveled to the Pacific to cover the war against Japan.

On April 18, 1945, Ernie Pyle was killed by enemy fire on the island of Ie Shima. After his death, President Harry S. Truman spoke of how Pyle “told the story of the American fighting man as the American fighting men wanted it told.”

Pyle is buried at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific on the Hawaiian island of Oahu.

On April 15th, 1945, Field Marshal Model, Commander-in-Chief of German Army Group B, ordered all young soldiers and old soldiers to be discharged from the army. As civilians they were to make their own way home.

On April 15th, 1945, Field Marshal Model, Commander-in-Chief of German Army Group B, ordered all young soldiers and old soldiers to be discharged from the army. As civilians they were to make their own way home.

Born January 24, 1891, Walter Model was the son of a music teacher in Genthin, Saxony. Seeking a military career, he entered an army officer cadet school in Neisse in 1908.

A middling student, Model, graduated in 1910 and was commissioned as a lieutenant in the 52nd Infantry Regiment. Though possessing a blunt personality and often lacking tact, he proved a capable and driven officer.

Having angered Hitler for failing to capture Antwerp, Army Group B was directed to hold every inch of ground. Despite this proclamation, Model's command was steadily pushed back to and across the Rhine.

The Allied crossing of the river was made easier when German forces failed to destroy the key bridge at Remagen.
By April 1, Model and Army Group B were encircled the Ruhr by the US Ninth and Fifteenth Armies. Trapped, he received orders from Hitler to turn the region into a fortress and destroy its industries to prevent their capture.

While Model ignored the latter directive, his attempts at defense failed as Allied forces cut Army Group B in two on April 15. Though asked to surrender by Major General Matthew Ridgway, Model refused.

Unwilling to surrender, but not wishing to throw away the lives of his remaining men, Model ordered Army Group B dissolved.

After discharging his youngest and oldest men, he told the remainder that they could decide for themselves whether to surrender or attempt to break through the Allied lines. This move was denounced by Berlin on April 20, with Model and his men being branded as traitors.
Already contemplating suicide, Model learned that the Soviets intended to prosecute him for alleged war crimes pertaining to concentration camps in Latvia.
Departing his headquarters on April 21, Model attempted to seek death at the front with no success.

Later in the day, he shot himself in a wooded area between Duisburg and Lintorf. Initially buried there, his body was moved to a military cemetery in Vossenack in 1955.

His mother was 40 years old when Jesse was born. Jesse grew up in a very rough home in Morgantown, West Virginia.

I had to get this out there again...

I Never Knew This!!!

His mother was 40 years old when Jesse was born. Jesse grew up in a very rough home in Morgantown, West Virginia.

Jesse’s father, who was mentally ill, was a violent man and was abusive to Jesse.

At 13, his father died leaving his mother to take care of him and his brothers. At the time, things weren’t easy for Jesse and he didn’t think life held much hope for him. While Jesse had his struggles, he had dreams too.

He wanted to be a ventriloquist and he found books on ventriloquism. He practiced with sock puppets and saved his money until he could get a real ventriloquist dummy. When he was old enough, he joined the military.

The military recognized his talents and placed him in the entertainment corp. He toured the western Pacific Islands as a comedian as part of a G.I. variety show called "Stars and Gripes.” It was there he was able to share his talents with fellow soldiers. In 1946, he discharged with rank of Technician Grade 5, which was the equivalent then of a Corporal.

During his military service, Jesse was awarded the World War II Victory Medal, Philippine Liberation Medal, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal (with 4 bronze service stars), Army Good Conduct Medal, Marksman Badge (with an M1 Carbine) and Honorable Service lapel pin.

Through his military service, Jesse gained confidence and found that he had a talent for making people laugh.

In spite of his early struggles, Jesse became one of the best-loved characters of all time. For it was Jesse,...Jesse Don Knotts who brought us Barney Fife! 

On this day in 1918, a hero is born. David Kingsley is known for his service in the United States Army Air Corps during World War II.

On this day in 1918, a hero is born. David Kingsley is known for his service in the United States Army Air Corps during World War II—but the Portland firefighter was living a life of service even before that.

 

Kingsley was used to hard times. His father, a policeman, was killed in a car crash when Kingsley was just 10 years old. 

His mother was diagnosed with cancer not too long after that, and she passed away in 1939. David was one of nine children, and he spent many of these years standing in the gap and helping his siblings.

David’s sister would remember that their mother “taught us to love each other, take care of each other, and take care of anyone in need.

How unsurprising, then, that this young man leapt to serve when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in December 1941.

By early 1944, Kingsley was a second lieutenant serving with the 341st Bomb Squadron, 97th Bombardment Group as a B-17 Flying Fortress bombardier.

On June 23, he and his crew were facing their toughest mission to date: an attack on oil fields and refineries around Ploiesti, Romania.

Ploiesti was a vital source of fuel for Nazi Germany and was heavily defended.

Kingsley’s crew was to attack the Dacia Oil Refinery, but as the B-17 neared its target, it was hit by enemy fire. The plane lost altitude and was forced out of formation, but pilot Edwin Anderson had no intention of abandoning his target.

He skillfully kept the damaged B-17 going while Kingsley “successfully dropped his bombs,” as his Medal citation describes, “causing severe damage to vital installations.

Anderson could finally turn back, but by then the B-17 was severely damaged. Making matters worse, enemy fighters were soon on their tail.

Several crew members were wounded, and Kingsley hurried to help his friends as Anderson fought to keep the plane in the air. When the third engine died, Anderson knew that the crew would need to bail out.

Tail gunner Mike Sullivan was too badly wounded to help himself. “Everyone on the plane was bailing out,” Sullivan’s wife described many years later, “but his parachute had been damaged in the attack. He was lying on his back with head wounds and too weak to pull himself up.”

Kingsley knew what he had to do. Seemingly without hesitation, he strapped his own parachute onto Sullivan.

“David then took me in his arms and struggled to the bomb bay,” Sullivan would remember, “where he told me to keep my hand on the rip cord and said to pull it when I was clear of the ship . . . . I jumped.

 I looked at Dave the look he had on his face was firm and solemn. He must have known what was coming because there was no fear in his eyes at all.

Kingsley went down with the mortally wounded B-17, and his body would later be found in the wreckage. Meanwhile, Sullivan survived. 

He was captured on the ground and spent time as a POW, but he eventually went home. Once there, he wrote Kingsley’s brother, Tommy.

“Tommy, I am more than grateful that my life was spared by your brother Dave giving up his life so that I could live,” Sullivan wrote. 

“I am not ashamed to admit when I think of Dave I also have tears come into my eyes, if it weren’t for me getting wounded Dave’s life would have been saved.

But surely Kingsley would have been more focused on what his sacrifice gained: Sullivan returned home to a full life—and future generations benefited. When Sullivan passed away at age 84, he had two daughters and six grandkids.

And it was all because one man selflessly sacrificed himself over the skies of Europe.