World War I & II topic

Never heard of this, and seeing the numbers, twas a proper fight and not a skirmish.
 
As an aside, I think sometimes we in the USA and Canada need to step back and look at how very lucky we are. Unless we live in very specific areas of these two countries, we haven't had proper battles here in a long time. I was at a War of 1812 battleground not long ago and thinking...you know, here, for over 200 years, we have had peace. In the USA, it has been over 100 years since the last battles with native tribes. So unless you live on Attu or in Honolulu, you're pretty much in a place that has been safe from armed strife for a very long time.

Vacationing in Sweden made me think, because even though Sweden was neutral in WW2, there is still lots of evidence as to the war there, things like pillboxes on the beach in case someone came across who shouldn't have. You can see it in London, where old construction suddenly gives way to 1950s architecture.

When I think on it more, I have realized that I live in the western nation that has seen the least amount of war directly, save only Switzerland (multiple times were surrounded by it if not directly touched), in the last 200 years. Canada hasn't had a hostile foreigner here since we kicked the Yanks off the Niagara escarpment in September of 1814. I don't know that anyone could ask for a more precious gift from their forebears than peace and stability.
 
You should go to Berlin. I can show you how deep the scars of war really go.
 
LooseCannon said:
It's on the list, as you are aware. I would enjoy that tour.
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Been there twice, very cool. Did a few of the underground tours (one escape tunnels under the wall and one at the Flak Tower ... tons of other stuff, but those were really interesting, especially the Flak Tower)
 
I've visited some WW2 historic sites in Norway over the years. But the most telling sign in this country is how every town in the high North (i.e. northeast of Tromsø) plus Narvik, all are built in the exact same style, bearing witness to how they were completely ruined during the war. Narvik due to the battles of 1940 and every town in Finnmark during the German retreat in 1944 when they burned down everything.

Also, there are some roads and railway sections that, despite being used as completely normal roads and railways, serve as living memorials for the cruel treatment the Nazis gave to POWs from Eastern Europe. Thousands of POWs from the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia perished while working there. One such road has actually been given the name "Blood Road"

The same goes for the two heavily armed fortifications built in Nordland to prevent Allied ships from sailing into Narvik (I have visited both). In the one in the town of Harstad, the cannons have been preserved. Both fortresses built with the blood and sweat of prisoners of war.
 
Donitz was actually quite arrogant in his post war interviews when confronted with the POW/slave workforce facts. His stance was that as a high ranking naval officer he don't give a fuck about the composition of the workforce - he requested hands from the government and the government delivered.
 
@LooseCannon (and anyone else), we got caught up in discerning some details about a campaign in WWII, and I got frustrated both by the lack of accuracy of my campaign maps and the way Wiki gets lost in detail too quickly before you can get an overview of campaign histories. So, I was thinking, what is the best, most handy and comprehensive to use reference work for the war, preferably with good maps, that would help you as a research starting point? Most books on the war I know are narratives, and that's not what I'm looking for.
 
Perun said:
@LooseCannon (and anyone else), we got caught up in discerning some details about a campaign in WWII, and I got frustrated both by the lack of accuracy of my campaign maps and the way Wiki gets lost in detail too quickly before you can get an overview of campaign histories. So, I was thinking, what is the best, most handy and comprehensive to use reference work for the war, preferably with good maps, that would help you as a research starting point? Most books on the war I know are narratives, and that's not what I'm looking for.
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I'm trying to find the book I used as a young man, but I haven't read an overview text in some time (decades). I have most of the larger details committed to memory.
 
Hmm... what I'm looking for is basically this: If I want to know what happened in eastern Romania in 1943 or when US troops conquered a specific island in the Pacific, I want a book I can open, find the corresponding chapter in the table of contents and have the information I'm looking for without any required knowledge of whatever army groups or battalions were involved beforehand. I want it balanced, without bias for any nation, theatre or political or moral agenda. I'm not sure such a book exists, though.
 
Perun said:
Hmm... what I'm looking for is basically this: If I want to know what happened in eastern Romania in 1943 or when US troops conquered a specific island in the Pacific, I want a book I can open, find the corresponding chapter in the table of contents and have the information I'm looking for without any required knowledge of whatever army groups or battalions were involved beforehand. I want it balanced, without bias for any nation, theatre or political or moral agenda. I'm not sure such a book exists, though.
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So you're looking for an encyclopedia of WW2.
 
I know... maybe for the moment, I'd just be happy with a set of detailed and reliable maps.
 
I have a huge book called "WW2 Chronology". It's on our language. I'll take a few pictures of it and post it, maybe it's a translation of a foreign book. It is huge, it's significantly thicker than the Bible and it's larger than A4. I can't find it on google. It is what you're asking for Perun, day by day.
 
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