War II in Europe...by Frank H. Armstrong

[Retributar]

http://www.bullrunofvermont.com/what.htm

Bull Run of Vermont, inc

9/7/02

What Young Americans Should Know About World War II in Europe

by Frank H. Armstrong

(Note: Documentation for most of the following is included in my book, Payoff Artillery - WWII.

Access our Artillery - WWII page).

It was a devastating war involving the entire globe from Anchorage to Capetown

and from Singapore to Murmansk. More than half the World's population were

residents of one of 56 nations which were officially at war. German people fully

supported the war. They lived very well on plunder from conquered nations from

1939 through 1944. World War II cannot be solely blamed on Hitler nor the Nazi

Party. It was Germany's war.

Who were the enemy?

The Japanese population of 95 million was greater than Germany-Austria's 92 million.

Austria was a willing full partner with Germany. Both Hitler and the Nazi party came

from Austria. The primary objective of their war was "Lebensraum" or land. After

World War I, Germany had lost their colonies in Africa and in 1939 they were out to

regain new colonies. The Holocaust was very real. I and my battalion were with the

45th Infantry Division when they liberated Dachau. However, the German objective

was primarily to gain land. United States' population was 140 million. German

military forces had personnel resources from much of Europe. At war's end more

than half of the SS were non-German.

RIGA, Latvia, March 18, 2000 (AP) veterans of the Latvian Waffen SS

marched through Riga to honor their 50,000 fallen comrades. (New York

Times, Sunday 19 March 2000, p.5)

The Wehrmacht (German Army) also had their share of turncoats. They were

from Holland, France, Belgium, Poland, Austria, Hungary, and other nations.

These turncoats were assured of all the benefits that Germans in their armed forces

were entitled. Today, those who have survived are drawing their pensions

regardless of where they reside. We were really up against a European Army.

Some non-Germans were mixed in with German troops. There also were foreign

regiments and divisions in the German Army. They had all sold their souls to the

Devil. There was no way out except death. They owed their full allegiance to Hitler.

Nine million Hitler youth (1939), also swore an annual oath of allegiance to Hitler.

When you swear allegiance to an individual and the individual becomes ever more

evil you cannot renege. German armed forces were partially dependent on 16

and 17-year olds. Children manning anti-aircraft guns were often younger than

sixteen and of both sexes. My battalion met with some of them at Nurenberg

in one of the very few direct-fire artillery duels of the entire war.

Some folk say German forces were good fighters. I respond, they had no alternative.

Thousands of German soldiers were reassigned to punishment battalions for having

shown reluctance to fight. Punishment battalions were assigned to the most

hazardous undertakings such as breaching a minefield.

Anti-aircraft troops and parachute troops were under Goering's Luftwafffe.

Germany had about eight and a half million men under arms in 1943. There were

300 divisions in their army each with about 17,000 men and officers. Their

casualties were continually being replaced by non-Germans. At war's end there

remained about five million disarmed German troops in the American zones of

Germany and Austria.. They still outnumbered us.

Focusing on native Germans in their armed forces, they had been severely

disciplined in their youth. A Dutch lady told me that Germans had been so

strictly disciplined that they just expected the citizenry of the occupied countries

to submit to them as they had submitted to their parents and teachers.

Germans had been through a 1930-era economic depression, but it was shorter

and less severe than in other nations. The Nazii regime, using devious methods,

had ended their economic stagnation with a gross domestic product inrease of

6.3 percent in real terms in their first year in power. Many German youth had six

years of training for war in the Hitler Youth. Catholic and Protestant Church

youth groups were outlawed.

Why did so many teenagers from the conquered nations volunteer to join the

German Army? They did! The few who survived are receiving pensions

in 2001 from Germany, no matter were they live. Once they had volunteered

and sworn an oath of allegiance to Hitler there was no way out except death.

Yes, many teenagers from the conquered nations resisted and did not join the

German Army. Most of these had to serve in labor battalions in Germany for

at least one year. What would you have done? The teenagers from Holland,

France, Beguim, and Luxembourg who joined the German Army were shipped

to the Russian front. The ones from Poland and the USSR were shipped to the

Atlantic Ocean defenses. We met some of them in Normandy.

The American Forces

In 1939, eighteen other countries had larger armies than the United States.

I enlisted in Headquarters Troop of the 103rd Cavalry (horse) in June 1939.

The U.S. had 167,000 regular army soldiers led by 65 officers of general grade.

Many of these regular army soldiers were sacrificed in the Phillipines, Guam,

and Pearl Harbor. Our Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) of the 1930's

(520,000 young men enrolled at the peak) never allowed military training.

Americans had experienced ten years of severe economic depression. Our

youth were generally undernourished, skinny, and had never been to a dentist.

Half of our young men could not meet the minimum military medical standards.

It seemed like the best of the lot gravitated into the U.S. Navy or the Army Air

Corps. Many of these World War II seamen and airmen would have ended

up as officers or high ranking non-commissioned officers had they joined the

Army.

Our early-war heavy losses amongst our regular army troops, made us

dependent on National Guard troops. Our National Guards were not called

to active duty, but were integrated into the Army. There is a real difference.

In 1942, National Guard generals, and other officers, who could not meet

standards were simply released and sent home. Often, they were replaced by

regular army officers.

In sharp contrast to what was going on in Germany, our Selective Service Act

of 1940 was for men between ages 21 and 35. No teenagers were drafted

until early 1943 when the draft age was lowered to 18. There were no

exemptions for the wealthy, athletes, or the politically connected. Religious

objectors became front-line medics.

Our replacement training centers could not produce the required numbers of

trained soldiers. Many divisions undertook the task of providing basic training

to men who were assigned directly from reception centers. In 1943, four

artillery battalions at Camp Rucker received their men direct from reception

centers and then merged basic training with small-unit training. These battalions

retained the same men for the entire war. It was one grand success story.

The United States did have some superb young men who not only volunteered

for our Infantry, but did so well in combat that they received battlefield

commissions as officers. After 1943, we also had numbers of superb young

men who volunteered for Airborne. Our Airborne troops did very well in the

War, but frankly they were not engaged in battle to the extent of our Infantry

divisions. They were often in reserve. Many of these young men ended up

the war without ever having attained officer or non-commisioned officer status.

Had they been in the Infantry, their true value would have been recognized.

In the 1930 era, many kids grew up on farms where they learned to be self-reliant.

Their transition into an Army of boisterous youth was challenging. Some were

destined to remain as "loners" and fortunately found there was a meaningful role

for them in the Army. They might never have made it on an aircraft carrier or a

heavy bomber, but the Army really needed some "loners." Perhaps a classic

in this theme is Fred Salter's book, Recon Scout (see Mediterranean Theatre

section of our World War II page.)

One program that stands above all others in reasons for our victory was when

General Leslie McNAir (who was killed in Normandy by our Army Air Corps)

took action to remedy the dearth of above average-intelligence men in our

Infantry. Eighty thousand men who had been assigned to universities under the

Army Specialized Training Program, along with 15,000 college students in the

Enlisted Reserve Corps, and 20,000 surplus aviation cadets were assigned

to Infantry Divisions and given swift Infantry training. This meant upwards

of 500 of our most intelligent men were assigned to many infantry regiments.

Many were killed, particularly in the 19 Infantry divisions in the European

Theatre that suffered more battle deaths than any Armored, Airborne, or

Mountain division. I believe our G.I. generation lost its best in the war. On

the other hand, those who were killed made our victory possible. I know!

I was a young lieutenant and an artillery forward observer who walked from

Normandy to Berchtesgaden with our front-line troops. . You might access

our World War II page and view the nine memoirs from survivors of this

program, This is probably the only time that any nation sent its most intelligent

young men to the front line.

There was no hazing nor initiation among American troops. After all, hazing

intends to humiliate the victim and that was the last thing we wanted. We were

striving to build up troop self-confidence. The word "homosexual" was not in

use. Seldom was an individual identified as lacking in masculinity or simply a

late bloomer (yes, some kids don't develop sexually until they are in their

twenties). Those who might have been in this category were still a part of our

team and fully able to contribute to our victory. We knew who our enemy was!

Now my own specialty happens to be the military, and I think it's significant

that there was little, if any, hazing in the armed forces in World War II. It seems

like a post-Vietnam-era phenomenum, as the military got separated from the

mainstream of society. Insecurity drives hazing. And there are sort of

homosexual undertones to much of this male hazing; therefore, you have this

sort of irony of going through a kind of homoerotic experience to prove you're

not homosexual. (Charles Meskes, author of The Postmodern military)

New York Times Magzine, Sunday 19 March 2000,

The CCC had been the first great mixing of American ethnic groups. World

War II validated the results of the CCC. Catholics, Protestants, and Jews

became life-long friends. Men of Italian and Polish descent were fully

acceptable. Chaplains ministered to men of all faiths. Men of Spanish

descent were not minorities in any sense. During the 1930's, some folk

changed the prefix of their names from "Di" to "De" (such as DiFelice and

DeFelice) to lessen any prejudice that might have been directed towards Italians.

COMPLETE VICTORY:

At the end of the war, there was no German government. The conquering

powers became the government in their mutually agreed upon zones. The

European population upheaval defied belief. In the American zones there

were more than twenty million homeless persons along with five million

disarmed German troops. Yes, German troops outnumbered American,

British, and French even at War's end. The Wehrmacht (German Army)

infra-structure no longer existed. Their railroad system was in shambles.

Hospitals were overflowing with badly wounded patients. There were millions

of maimed persons no longer able to engage in economic activity. Streets of

cities and towns were piled high with rubble. Bridges and viaducts had been

destroyed. The stench from burned-out buildings, and rotting human and

animal bodies was everywhere. Cities were paralyzed. Survivors had taken

up residence in and under the ruined buildings. The mark (Deutschmark)

was valued at ten cents. The 425,000 German/Italian prisoners of war in

America were slated to be shipped back to Europe as soon as possible.

The surviving Germans recognized the reality of the situation. They had lost

the war. Any plans for continued underground warfare were shelved.

Displaced persons, from nations occupied by the USSR after the war, were

generally allowed to remain in Germany. They were accepted into the

German community. About one-fifth of the 1946 population of Germany

had been slave laborers during the war. Today, their descendants are

Germans. The anticipated disease epidemics never materialized thanks to

DDT -- the American miracle response to human lice. Germans opted to

cooperate with their conquerors.

G.I.'s, having seen humanity at its worst, returned home determined to

continue doing things that are really worthwhile. We wondered just

what those millions of disarmed enemy would do to regain a meaningful

role in the economy after more than a decade of only learning how to kill.

About half of the G.I.s descended on colleges and universities seeking to

further their education. Few had any interest in fraternities and most certainly

they would not undergo hazing. They avidly took to their studies. Professors

had to revise examinations to make them more challenging. Professors on the

verge of retiring felt they had an obligation to the G.I. generation so they

deferred retirement. The U.S. Government provided incentive in the form of

education payments to the G.I.'s who had been paid as little as $21 per month

for their military service. After previous wars there had been land grants and

cash bonuses for veterans. The veteran's education program had an enormous

influence on university education for Americans. Prior to the war, only the

wealthy attended college.

Economists predicted a post-war recession but one never came about. There

was meaningful employment for those who did not go to college. They raised

good-sized families of what became known as the baby boomer's generation..

Veterans seldom talked about the war, although many stashed away various

records and even manuscripts. Reunions were deferred for about fifty years.

The vast majority were model citizens.

Our victory was the foundation for America's ever improving life style.

America's improved life style has favorably influenced much of the world.

Thanks be to God who created the G.I. Generation.

XYZ

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[JerseyJohn]

Retributor

Great post -- thanks for sharing this man's very excellent observations with us.

"Focusing on native Germans in their armed forces, they had been severely disciplined in their youth. A Dutch lady told me that Germans had been so strictly disciplined that they just expected the citizenry of the occupied countries

to submit to them as they had submitted to their parents and teachers.

"Germans had been through a 1930-era economic depression, but it was shorter and less severe than in other nations. The Nazii regime, using devious methods, had ended their economic stagnation with a gross domestic product inrease of 6.3 percent in real terms in their first year in power. Many German youth had six years of training for war in the Hitler Youth. Catholic and Protestant Church youth groups were outlawed."

The only version of disobedience the nazis sanctioned was against non-nazi parents! There's a propaganda film from the early days of nazi control in Germany that shows a very handsome German boy of about twelve years old --the perfect Aryan, actually -- being slapped around by his dotish, slovenly, brutish looking father because the boy won't sing French lyric communist anthem, The International along with him. The mother stands by helplessly watching and in the end, as I remember it, she shields him and is slapped herself.

That film is typical of the extremely effective use the nazis made of movies to demonize and make vile any group they perceived as enemies -- communists, Jews, Gypsies, Slavs ... and so on.

[Shaka of Carthage]

Hmmmm... I want to say what I have to say very carefully.

There are a few inaccurate and biased statements in the posting.

I would hope that someone who knew nothing about WWII would read more than the above.

[JerseyJohn]

Shaka,

There are always inaccurate and biased statements -- it seems impossible to me that anyone who'd been there at that time could speak about it from a purely objective point of view.

Part of what I think is good about it is the fact it is biased with some of the events biased through the eyes of the observer.

When I was a kid, during the fifties, I heard nothing but distorted statements about both the Germans and the Japanese from those who had fought in the war. I still remember a lot of them: Germans are robots; individual Germans can't think for themselves they can only do what they're told to do; Japanese don't feel pain like normal human beings; the one thing every Japanese wants to do more than anything else is give his life for his emperror so he can go to paradise etc & etc ...

Some of these things are based in fact and some aren't but I think it's good to know what people at the time of the events were thinking.

Also, I assume anyone reading it will be able to sort out what things are accurate and what things are overly influenced by the oberserver's recounting of them.

[Shaka of Carthage]

JerseyJohn

I agree with you. You need to be objective when writing about historical events, something you cannot be if you lived thru it. First hand accounts are great, as they give you the feel and flavor of what was happening, but you have to remember, like you said, that its a biased view.

[JerseyJohn]

Shaka

Well put.

[Liam]

I found this set of facts to be very interesting! I definitely think a conquored people will serve their new Leaders, no matter what. Also that 1930s and 1940s average Man or Woman were not as highly educated as we are today. More illiterate, less Press, less overall awareness. I'm not trying ot use this as some sort of excuse. Although I highly doubt many of you could truly describe the difference between Socialist, Communist and Democratic Governments. Today!!! Let alone 60-70 years ago.

These people were offered what in place of Hitler? You didn't get very far in Germany or Austria without swearing an Oath. If you protested I know what happened to you. So who of us would protest? We're Americans, we have a strong will, but I'm guessing that a majority of us wouldn't protest to strongly something that didn't seem all that bad at the time. Look at the persecutions and exceptions made for progress in our own Government. Often we question the morality and such of what happens here or there. What is the Average American truly aware of? How much inconvienence will he take in place of Freedom and individual rights. We settled a Utopia with some of the wisest minds in the World. Not to say that is all it takes to be a SuperPower.

We are now in the process of proving ourselves. Not just to the world but to ourselves, in helping making the world a better place. Though we too, could destroy the world. As could some other nations. Wrong or Right, we in the end could be in the History books. And if we pressed the button we'd be seen as the craftsmen for an evil Design.

I Think the basic figures, regardless of what is said about Americans.. Along with the USSR meant we had a Larger Army to deliver if we had the time to mobilize it. Noone could match us without stressing their manpower to make it appear that way on paper. Then it was missing elsewhere