From US National Archives - When Members Of A 9Th Af Republic P-47 Thunderbolt Fighter-Bomber Group Took Over A Former Luftwaffe Base Near Gottingen, Germany, They Found This Republic P-47 Equipped With German Markings, And Olive Drab Paint Job.
Picture of the day
- Thread starter jwhc
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According to my father (who was ‘there’ - NW Europe) Hitler Youth soldiers believed to have been sniping at Canadians ‘sometimes’ didnt survive capture.
The story of Hans (above) is interesting … there was a reservist officer in Toronto (iirc G. Drube) who as a youth, commanded a Flak 88 gun position that was manned by Russian POW’s. It was pretty common apparently.
The story of Hans (above) is interesting … there was a reservist officer in Toronto (iirc G. Drube) who as a youth, commanded a Flak 88 gun position that was manned by Russian POW’s. It was pretty common apparently.
Over a million Russians/Soviets defected and fought alongside the Germans. Not out of any love for Germany, Hitler, or Nazism, but out of a deep and abiding hatred of Stalin.
https://warfarehistorynetwork.com/article/the-fate-of-nazi-germanys-cossacks/
When Hitler is the lesser of two evils, you really have to wonder.
Members of the "Russian Liberation Army" captured in Normandy. None of them would be smiling if they knew of their eventual fates.
General Anton Vlasov, commander of the Russian Liberation Army, reviewing some of his troops:
Poor sods. Thrown to the meat grinder by Stalin, and abandoned to their fates once captured - Stalin viewed all captured soldiers as traitors, and famously told the Red Cross that "There are no Soviet prisoners of war." This had dire consequences for their treatment in captivity, as it meant that legally, the Geneva Convention did not apply to them.
Vlasov and a million Soviets threw their lot in with the Germans. What choice did they really have?
As the situation on the Eastern Front became more critical, Hitler's distrust of the RLA soldiers (who were actually some of the most effective soldiers the Germans had on the Eastern Front at the time), led to them being transferred to the Atlantic Wall.
Captured by the Western Allies, for a brief few months they received the best treatment they had experienced in their entire lives. They were treated like human beings.
As the war ended, unfortunately, they were betrayed again. Pawns in the politics of the time, they were turned over to the Soviets. The Western Leaders were fully aware of their likely fate, but were war weary and didn't want to risk an all out war with Stalin. The majority were summarily executed upon repatriation, the rest worked to death in the Gulags.
Dark Alley Dan
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Sometimes a guy just can't win. Damned few options available to a person when they live under an authoritarian government.
There used to be an old Polish gentleman who lived in the old folk's lodge in my home town. He was in a bunker at the beach on D-Day. It was that or be shot, so he chose self preservation. He was nearly killed four times that day, and still lived long enough to die of old age in Alberta.
Best landlord I ever had was a sweetheart of an old German who'd been a baker for the army in der ost. He was captured in 1945, shippedtoSiberia, and was one of the last guys released in 1955.
Dark Alley Dan
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
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- Darkest Edmonton
The lightning bolt is a neat touch.
Dark Alley Dan
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
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Thoughtful of the designers to include entrenching kit so they can bury the operator and the tankette together.
Can't imagine how loud it'd be in there to light off that wee cannon.
Dark Alley Dan
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Lee Enfield
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When it's Airwolf!
Worked with an old Polish mechanic, had been in the polish underground, helped put up the "work will make you free" signs at auschwitz. When he was being transferred to another work camp he lept from the back of the moving truck, breaking both his arms, and ran off. Hid in a farmers haystack for three days. The farmer spread manure around the stack to throw off the dogs. He was a great guy, and lived to die of old age in Edmonton. Got my first 22 from a Dutch member of the underground (always have a gun, he said. Dont let the government disarm you), who was one of our boarders (how my mother paid the mortgage) when I was growing up. He wore work boot liners without the boots everywhere he went. The nazis had captured him and took his toes off with bolt cutters. Another great guy. Growing up around and listening to all the ww2 and Korean vets taught me a lot. - dan
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Sage advice ... even today.
We grew up around the same men .
"I don't see those two explanations as mutually exclusive."
A lot of people cry in battle and under very stressful conditions, and somehow, they seem to function, and no one around them notices or says anything about it later.
Good insight.
Your Father was correct. Most SS and Paratroopers didn't survive surrender either so said my Dad who was in the Royal Regiment. He was wounded by mulriple machine gun bullets in the leg near the Hochwald Forest in Holland on Mar 8, 1945. For those that did surrender they were checked for the SS blood group tatoo on their shoulder area as some would switch uniforms to deceive. John
