An article touching on the war-weary appearance of Kyoto, Japan. Although the writer had been informed by the locals that Kyoto was very special to the Japanese, the dullard was really unable to see beyond the filth, rampant prostitution and general disrepair of the city in order to understand this.
Into the records of the Pearl Harbor investigating committee last week went a little-noticed document that added new mystery to the disaster of December 7, 1941:
Four months before the enemy struck, the Army and Navy air command at Pearl Harbor drew up a joint defense plan which correctly forecast the hour, the direction, the size of the force and the strategy by which the Japs actually attacked.
This article follows the efforts of the Tank Destroyers (TD) in the Ardennes during the Battle of the Bulge:
This TD work is among the most dangerous of the war. One of the chief reasons is that TDs are constantly up against superior enemy weapons. For example, none of our TDs (except possibly the M-36) can penetrate the 8-inch frontal armor of the King Tiger, whereas the German 88-millimeter anti-tank gun has been able to penetrate any American tank. And to kill the tiger, TDs must shoot for the tracks, then assault the disabled monster with high explosive, setting it afire.
Click here to read about the equipment and training of American tank destroyers during the Second World War.
Another look at the M-2 Half Track and the training of their five-man crews at Fort Hood, Texas. We got a kick learning that these men were not simply trained to fire their 37 and 75 mm. mounted guns, but also instructed in all other manner of tank fighting methods:
Another little trick they master is the construction of a sticky grenade; a white sock filled with TNT, soaked in heavy axle grease to triple it’s detonating power. This sticks like glue; and if it explodes near the tank’s ventilators — that’s all, brother.
Click here to read about the TD units that fought at the Battle of the Bulge.
There is much that can be said about those unfortunate men whom life does not treat properly and to whom only death gives the glory they had so wanted to know…One finds them on thrones, in society, among artists, among bourgeoisie, and in the lower classes. Modigliani has his place on this list of grief. His name follows hard upon those tragic ones, Van Gogh and Gauguin.
A convergence of unhappy circumstances compelled Modigliani to live poorly and to die miserably.
An art review of the American painter, Grant Wood (1891 – 1942), and his efforts to illustrate a 1935 children’s book titled Farm on the Hill
Wood, a reigning member of the Regionalism School in American art, had come into the public eye some six years earlier with the creation of his painting, American Gothic, is quoted in this article concerning his creative process and the importance his vision of Iowa plays while painting:
…Mr Wood seceded from the neo-meditationists of Paris because when he began to meditate he realized that ‘all the really good ideas I’d ever had came to me while I was milking a cow.’
Click here to read a 1942 article by Rockwell Kent on the proper roll of American artists during wartime.
Playing monday morning quarterback in his holding cell, military genius Hermann Göring took some time out from doing absolutely nothing in order to explain how Germany (Hitler in particular) screwed the pooch.
Here is a small article that appeared during the middle of the war saying that there were German parishioners within both Protestant and Catholic churches who offered food and shelter to the various assorted minorities (primarily Jews) who were persecuted by the Nazis.
Here are two short notices from the Forties about Rudolf Hess (1894 – 1987) and the motivation behind his mad dash to Scotland. The paragraphs ascribe two very different purposes to the flight.
Uncle’ Hermann to the masses, ‘Our’ Hermann to the army and big business, Col. Gen. Hermann Wilhelm Goering (1893 – 1946) last week became economic dictator and virtual Vice-Chancellor of the Third Reich.
Adolf Hitler dropped into his brawny, outstretched arms full power to carry out the gigantic plan which aims at making the Nazi State economically self-sufficient [in four years].
Franz von Papen (1879 – 1969) was born into the German nobility; he worked as a diplomat, a politician and during both World Wars he served as an intelligence officer in his nation’s army. During the Third Reich von Papen was appointed Vice Chancellor under Adolf Hitler. This article concerns the period in von Papen’s life when, after having been acquitted earlier by the international tribunal, he found himself once more on the docket for another misdeed.
Franz von Papen had an IQ that measured 134 – click here to read about the strangely high IQs of the other lunatics in Nazi leadership…
A Phony War magazine article by Major General George Ared White (1880 – 1941) in which he muses wistfully (as Oregon men are wont to do) as to all the various, dreadful choices that were spread before Herr Hitler in the early months of 1940.
As varied as Hitler’s military options were, the General believed that France’s Maginot Line was impregnable and he did not think that Hitler would commit to such an undertaking. General White believed Hitler had six options before him which are all illustrated on the attached cartoon map.
This article pieces together the last few days of Hitler’s bunker experiences – who was there, how did he pass his time and the subjects he addressed. All the matters discussed herein was gleaned from the intelligence agencies of the three victorious armies that marched into Berlin during the Spring of 1945. The author goes into some detail as to whether he and his entourage could have escaped on foot plane or tank and rules each one out categorically. He further examines the possibility as to how this same group could have escaped to Argentina by submarine or air – and rules these possibilities out as well (the author, however, omits the possibility that they could have escaped through the elaborate tunnel system below the streets of Berlin).
Attached are a few interesting factoids about the American lassies who served in the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps throughout the Second World War.
This article makes a passing reference to a Soviet defector who jumped ship in 1937 in order to escape Stalin’s seemingly random purges, his name was General Alexander Barmine (1899 – 1987). In his READER’S DIGEST piece from October, 1944 (the article can be read here) Barmine declared that Soviet spies were rapidly filling up positions within the U.S. Government. His more alarming proclamation was when he wrote that FDR’s administration was protecting them – this implied that Red agents were already perched in the highest positions. When W.W. II ended (along with the Soviet alliance) both political parties in Washington agreed to weed out these moles – but they couldn’t agree as to how deep the infiltration was. The Democrats believed that by 1953 most of the Communists had been found, the Republicans felt otherwise.
Henry Wallace (1888 – 1965) was FDR’s second Vice President (1941 – 1945) and as a seasoned Washington politician he must have known that his political career was coming to an end when the attached editorial hit the newsstands in early October of 1948. Written by William L. Chenery, publisher of COLLIER’S MAGAZINE, one of the most staid, middle class news and fiction organs around – it was not the sort of organization that looked upon libel lightly; Chenery meant what he wrote when he slandered the former vice president as the spokesman of Russia.
Wallace, who at the time was taking a licking as the Progressive Party nominee for president in the 1948 race, left politics shortly afterward. In 1952 he wrote a book in which he admitted how wrong he was to have ever trusted Joseph Stalin.
This article is essentially a collection of lyrics from an assortment of songs sung by the Black Doughboys who were charged with the task of loading and unloading trucks far behind the front line trenches. It was written in 1927 to serve as a review for Singing Soldiers
All dese soldiers an’ me Goin’ to help de Whites make de Kaiser dance All dese soldiers an’ me…
All dese colored soldiers comin’ over to France
Recognizing that responsible commanders must always assume the blame for the failings within their respective domains, former U.S. General George C. Marshall and General Leonard T. Gerow stood up and claimed responsibility for leaving Pearl Harbor vulnerable to Japanese attack. Marshall had been FDR’s Army Chief-of-Staff since the Autumn of 1939 and Gerow had been serving as executive officer of the War Plans Division at the time of the sneak attack – however, To read this article is to understand that these men were responsible for Pearl Harbor’s lack of preparedness…
