[Homer_J_Simpson]

Free Republic University, Department of History presents World War II Plus 70 Years: Seminar and Discussion Forum
First session: September 1, 2009. Last date to add: September 2, 2015.
Reading assignment: New York Times articles and the occasional radio broadcast delivered daily to students on the 70th anniversary of original publication date. (Previously posted articles can be found by searching on keyword “realtime” Or view Homer’s posting history .)
To add this class to or drop it from your schedule notify Admissions and Records (Attn: Homer_J_Simpson) by freepmail. Those on the Realtime +/- 70 Years ping list are automatically enrolled. Also visit our general discussion thread.

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Selections from West Point Atlas for the Second World War
Southern Okinawa: Naha-Shuri-Yonabaru, 1945 – XXIV Corps Operations, 9 April-6 May 1945
Okinawa, Ryukyus Islands, 1945: Japanese Thirty Second Army Defensive Dispositions, 1 April 1945
Luzon, P.I., 1941: Final Operations on Luzon, 3 February-20 July 1945
Southeast Asia, 1941: Final Allied Offensives in the Southwest Pacific Area 19 February-1 July 1945
Central Europe, 1944: The End of the War – Final Operations, 19 April-7 May 1945
China, 1941: Operation Ichigo, 1945 and Final Operations in the War
Southern Asia, 1941: Third Burma Campaign-Allied Victory, April-May 1945

[ex-snook]

42 Div 232 Inf April 23-25 cont’d

At 1030, 23 April, the regiment again continued the attack to the south in a column of Battalions, with the First Battalion leading, followed by the Second and Third in order. Resistance was increasing as the regiment near the Danube river, and the First Battalion had many fights during the day of April 23. The heaviest battle of the day was in the vicinity of Dockingen where the First Battalion battled its way through heavy artillery, casualty rate was high. The fighting ended after dark, and found the First Battalion located on the high ground south of Dockingen, The Third Battalion located in the town of Dockingen, and the Second Battalion and the Regimental CP in Degersheim the night of 23-24 April.

Early on the morning of 24 April the regiment began its approach to the Danube. The attack was resumed with the Second Battalion and Third Battalion passing through the First Battalion and attacking abreast, Second Battalion on the right.The attack progressed steadily throughout the day, meeting only local action from small delaying forces. All Battalions reached their objectives by dark with the Second Battalion closing into Itzing, where the advance regimental elements established the CP, the Third Battalion into Ried, and the First which had followed the Third Battalion into Kruit.

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I look back, now so long ago, to this period and I’m glad I was 19. It was move, move, move anyway, riding trucks, tanks, whatever, no sleep, K-rations, bypassing any minor resistance. The ‘beautiful blue Danube’ is coming up. If it is like all the other rivers, it won’t be beautiful or blue. Reminds me of an article I read about a bridge in Pennsylvania some years back. The time estimate to complete the bridge was some 2 years. A WW II Engineer wrote in that he could not understand this time. “We build a bridge to support tanks overnight while being shot at.” Indeed the engineers were good, very good.

[Tax-chick]

Cute story on page 9 about the German-American girl and the British POW. I hope they lived happily ever after!

[Billthedrill]

I shouldn’t have had to but I did have to look it up. That “Oswiecim” that was reported to be worse than Buchenwald was, of course, Auschwitz. The liberators were men who, much better than we, knew what the Nazis were, and they couldn’t believe it.

[rdl6989]

Thanks, this is a fascinating window on that time. Each morning I check the to see how the advance of the Russians on Berlin was reported.

Have you ever seen the movie “Untergang”? It’s about the fall of Nazi Germany.