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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.

Selections from West Point Atlas for the Second World War
Southern Okinawa: Naha-Shuri-Yonabaru, 1945 – Tenth Army Operations, 10 May-30 June 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
China, 1941: Operation Ichigo, 1945 and Final Operations in the War
Southern Asia, 1941: Third Burma Campaign-Allied Victory, April-May 1945

BTTT

Caution: disturbing photos below:

May 19, 1945:

May 11: Josef Terboven, the Reich commissioner for Norway who deported many Norwegian Jews to Germany, commits suicide with dynamite.
May 19: "Philip Bouhler, Hitler's assistant and supervisor (1939-1941) of 'mercy killings' of the hopelessly ill and insane, commits suicide with his wife as American troops attempt to arrest him."

"It was impossible to have a normal childhood in a concentration camp, but parents and other adults often sought to provide some sense of normality for the children imprisoned in the camps.
This little girl, photographed in Prague, Czechoslovakia, wears her camp uniform while holding a stuffed animal and a ball, toys she undoubtedly held dear."

"The Nazis, as part of their effort to give their crimes an aura of legality, were fanatics about paperwork.
These deportation notices, discovered in Prague, sent thousands of Czechs to their deaths.
These papers also helped convince victims that they were indeed going to be resettled in the East rather than shipped to extermination camps."

Aliya Bet

"Aliya Bet refers to the illegal migration of Jews to Palestine before the creation of the state of Israel in 1948.
Approximately 25 percent of the 530,000 Jewish immigrants who entered Palestine before 1948 did so by way of Aliya Bet.

"While some Jews who illegally entered Palestine took the trip on their own initiative, many journeys were arranged by Zionist organizations.
The majority of immigrants traveled by boat, although some took an overland route from Eastern Europe.
Some Jews simply remained in Palestine after entering as tourists. Regardless of the method employed, illegal Jewish immigration was challenged by the British (who governed Palestine) at every juncture.
More than 50,000 people were caught (above) and deported to detention camps in Cyprus.

"After the war, Zionists worked feverishly to relocate survivors of the Holocaust from Europe's displaced-persons camps to Palestine.
The high visibility of Aliya Bet and the international pressure it brought to bear were instrumental in the creation of a Jewish state."

"Nazi doctors took unconscionable advantage of the human guinea pigs at their disposal.
This woman, a concentration-camp survivor, was the victim of horrific 'experimental' operations upon her breasts.
Possibly, the doctors were testing a new treatment for cancer or were interested in various aspects of the woman's reproductive system."

"The chief rabbi of Rome, Dr. David Prato (left), discusses the problems of displaced European Jews in Italy with the chief rabbi of Jerusalem, Isaac Herman Herzog, and a representative of the European headquarters of the American Joint Distribution Committee, Arthur Greenleigh.
Although only 40 percent of the displaced persons who migrated to the U.S. after the war were Jews, Americans assumed that Jews comprised the vast majority and, in general, opposed this immigration.
But once it became clear that most Jewish displaced persons wanted to go to Israel, American opinion began to favor Jewish emigration from Europe.
A blunt analysis of this situation was made by postwar British Foreign Minister Ernest Bevin:
The Americans were enthusiastic about opening Palestine to the Jews because they didn't want to have many of them in New York."

By May 1945 my Dad's 33rd Infantry Division achieved its objective, capturing Baguio on Luzon, the Philippines:

"As soon as the Division line advanced past Baguio, Golden Cross civil affairs personnel assumed the task of restoring a city of 30,000 persons to normal operation. Critical problems had to be resolved in a minimum of time.
Multitudes were homeless.
Commercial establishments had been bombed out and mass unemployment was rife.
Utilities could not function and the threat of epidemic hung over the summer capital.
Food was scarce; hundreds who could not afford fantastic black-market prices were slowly starving to death.
No medical facilities were available to Baguio's civilian bombing casualties.
"Major Eli J. Paris, a successful Philadelphia business executive before the war, was selected by General Clarkson to serve as Baguio's civil Affairs administrator.
Noting the need for prompt corrective measures, Major Paris took immediate steps to curb the chaotic conditions prevalent within the city.
His first act was to provide shelter for the large numbers of homeless.
Huge tent camps were erected where civilians were given emergency medical treatment and Army field rations.
During the day hundreds of them left the camp areas to work on reconstruction of their bombed-out residences.
"PCAU 7, commanded by Lt. Col. E. E. Hobson, entered Baguio shortly after its liberation.
Working in conjunction with Major Paris's office, PCAU opened stores all over the town where Army rations and captured Japanese foodstuffs were sold across the counter at token prices.
In addition to succoring Baguio's hungry population, this procedure did much to stifle black-market operations.
Employment offices were established where Filipinos could apply for work with the Golden Cross as road and camp builders or as carriers of materiel for forward infantrymen.
Pay rates ran between two and three pesos per day for this labor.
Large strides toward recovery were made once civil affairs units untangled the skeins of disorder and restored a semblance of organization to Baguio.
Much sickness and insanitation were curbed when Division engineers repaired water purification plants.
Reconditioned electric power installations permitted the residents of the summer capital to labor beyond daylight hours and employ electrically operated tools in rebuilding homes and businesses.
Another major Golden Cross contribution to the welfare of the Filipinos was a 500-bed municipal hospital, equipped with Army medical supplies.
"When civil affairs' corrective measures began to bear fruit, Major Paris made the recommendation that all phases of city government be turned back to the Filipinos.
Division was to remain on the scene in an advisory capacity.
Accordingly, Baguio's last mayor prior to Japanese occupation, Vicsio Valderassa, was reappointed to office.
Valderassa had stubbornly opposed the enemy throughout the war and commanded the respect of the entire population.
For administrative assistants he selected men who also refused to swear allegiance to Nippon.
By the end of the Division's stay in Baguio, local residents had become selfreliant to a large extent.
"Little training was done by infantry elements in Baguio.
Replacements came in from depots at Manila and these men went through a full work day.
For the veterans, however, the military itinerary was confined to housekeeping, calisthenics, occasional close-order drill and parades for the purpose of awarding decorations.
A few officers and noncoms were detailed to help train young, green Filipinos who had come to Baguio to enlist in the Philippine Army.
For the most part though, everyone, save the troops still tactically employed, relaxed and enjoyed life.
Decorations ceremonies in the summer capital vastly differed from the ones staged during the Battle for Baguio.
Here, a man's entire battalion was turned out to witness the affair and pass in review before him as he stood beside the Division Commander.
During the fighting the method of presentation was far more informal, and according to recipients, far more satisfying. General Clarkson habitually called in at G-1 prior to his daily tour of the infantry battalions to procure the names of the doughboys approved for combat awards.
With his pockets stuffed with Silver and Bronze Stars, the General visited the various battalion CPs where he requested to see the men.
"Upon their arrival at the CP these bearded, exhausted figures were surprised to see General Clarkson saunter forward, introduce himself and strike up an easy conversation.
In the course of these discussions, the Division CG would reach into his pocket, extract a Silver or Bronze Star and pin it on a muddy fatigue jacket.
Haggard and tired as most of them were, their eyes could still light up in appreciation of their commander's considerate gesture.
"It was the same with field commissions.
No coldly worded Sixth Army order notified a 33d Division man that he had been raised from the ranks.
He discovered it when General Clarkson came up to his forward position and pinned the gold bar on his collar.
Acts like these made Golden Cross infantrymen think of their commander not only as a leader but as a comrade.
In one case, when S/Sgt. Lee A. Singer, Company C, 123d Infantry, was tendered a battlefield appointment, General Clarkson found him standing in a mess line with the rest of his unit at a Pugo rest camp.
This unglamorous setting did not deter the Division Commander.
Crashing the line, he made an impromptu presentation to Sergeant Singer who stood with a messgear dangling from his hand, canteen cup hooked over his belt and a wide grin across his bearded face.
This human touch of the General's did not go unrecognized.
Both Singer and his commander received a roar of approval that echoed throughout the camp.

"Coincident with the relief of the Division from combat came an order from Corps directing the 127th RCT of the 32d Division to relieve the Golden Cross in the Baguio area.

The 33d was told to move to the beaches in the Caba-Aringay-Bauang area, set up camps, and commence amphibious training for the projected fall assault on Japan.

Nuke ‘em, I say!

I noticed that the front page main headline is getting smaller.