Download May 1993 - Dr. Harold C. Deutsch WWII History Roundtable

April 1994
Vol. 2 Number 7
Published by the WW II
Roundtable
Edited by Joe Grant and Jim
Gerber
It looks as though spring may finally
be here. Welcome to the April
meeting of the WW II Roundtable.
Our program tonight is about the role
of women in WW II. We look forward
to hearing what our speakers have to
tell us this evening.
One of our members has been
reading one of Dr. Deutsch’s books,
“Hitler and His Generals”, and
describes one of Hitler’s methods of
obtaining power. “Early in 1938 the
new Reichschancellor sought to
buttress his power by gaining control
of the Wehrmacht. No small task. To
achieve it, he would have to remove
its main bulwarks, two respected
military leaders: the Reichs War
Minister Marshal von Blomberg and
the Army Commander-in-Chief,
General von Fritsch.
He would plan a virtual coup d’etat,
one he might achieve without firing a
shot. First, he dug into the past of
Frau von Blomberg. Young Eva
Gruhn had been a fashion model
and a masseuse in the salon
operated by her mother. Hitler
publicly called her a whore. Next he
scoured the dregs of Berlin’s male
prostitute demi-monde, and found
one who was willing to sell his
testimony that he had been
frequented by General von Fritsch.
Hitler now falsely proclaimed, in
speeches and in the press, that the
General was a pervert.
Slick propagandists manipulated
clandestine blackmailers, perjurers
and public opinion.
Admirers of von Fritsch protested his
innocence but to no avail.
Once his two obstacles had been
accused and forced to resign, Hitler
appointed, as his new commanderin-chief, a man who was under
personal obligation to him, General
von Brauchitsch.”
Did Eva Braun Escape?
The November 1981 issue of the
British Medical Association’s News
Review published the findings of a
ten-year study on the WW II records
of Adolf Hitler and his Mistress Eva
Braun, including the dental evidence
by a California research team that
cast doubt on her death. According
to the report, Hitler’s dental records
matched those of one of the thirteen
bodies found near the bunker in
Berlin on twenty-six points, including
a unique window crown. The report
said that the dental data for the
female body presumed to be Eva
Braun’s did not agree with her
personal dental records. The report
stated further that if Eva Braun died
in the bunker she may have been
buried elsewhere. It also pointed to
the possibility that she may have
escaped. A German U-boat, U-977,
was the last German ship to
surrender on August 17, 1945 - more
than three months after the war had
ended. It surrendered in Argentina. It
immediately became suspect of
having transported Hitler and other
ranking Nazis out of Germany. The
controversy as to why this U-boat
remained at large for so long after
the war ended has never been
settled, according to doubters and
those who believe it carried Eva
Braun and others to freedom.
Wise Words For Our Times
Posterity! You will never know how
much it cost the present generation
to preserve your freedom. I hope you
will make good use of it.
U.S. President John Adams 1797
Secret Code
To confuse the Japanese who were
listening to U.S. Marine Corps
transmission in the Pacific during the
war, the Corps employed more than
300 Navajo-speaking American
Indians as radio code talkers.
Nasos or Nazis
The term Nasos, not Nazis, was the
original abbreviation for the National
Socialist German Workers Party.
However, German writer Konrad
Heiden, who had little use for them,
bastardized Nasos into Nazis as a
means of poking fun at them. Nazi is
derived from a Bavarian word that
means “simple-minded.”
U-Boats
Germany’s second-highest-scoring
U-boat captain, Wolfgang Luth, was
accidentally killed by a sentry for
failing to properly identify himself
near the headquarters of Admiral
Karl Doenitz. Luth commanded four
different U-boats in the war, made
fourteen patrols and sank forty-four
enemy ships, just one short of tying
Otto Kretschmer’s record.
War Criminals
Less than 10 percent of the people
considered war criminals for their
part in the Nazi extermination camps
have ever been brought to justice.
According to the West German
government, it took approximately
25,000 people to operate the camps.
A small portion of them reached
freedom through ODESSA, the
secret escape organization for
former SS members. However, the
vast majority of war criminals passed
themselves off as refugees at
displaced persons camps when the
war ended, thereby gaining freedom.
April 1944
Europe, Air Operations The U.S.
heavy bomber force drops 43,500
tons of bombs especially on aircraft
factories throughout Europe. The
RAF heavy bombers main efforts are
switched from German targets to
transport centers in France and
Belgium. This respite from all-out
attacks on Germany is welcome
news to the crews because of the
growing efficiency of the German
night fighters. During the month
33,000 tons are dropped. USAAF
Marauders add 8800 tons in attacks
on French and Belgian rail targets.
Aircraft from the Mediterranean Air
Forces attack oil and communication
targets in southeast Europe including
Ploesti, Sofia and Belgrade.
April 1, 1944 Carolines - The
carriers of TF 58 attack Woleai. In
the three days of attacks 130,000
tons of Japanese shipping have
been sunk as well as seven small
warships. The Americans have lost
26 planes but have shot down 150.
April 3, 1944 Arctic - The Tirpitz is
attacked and damaged by Barracuda
bombers from the carriers of the
British Home Fleet. Four aircraft are
lost but the Tirpitz is put out of action
for a further three months.
April 10, 1944 Eastern Front - The
Russians take Odessa after a vicious
battle. The Germans have managed
to evacuate by sea 24,000 men,
many wounded, as well as 55,000
tons of supplies. In the Crimea the
initial German defense lines are
being worn down. The Rumanian
troops holding the right of the line
are in severe trouble. In Rumania
itself Second Ukraine Front crosses
the Siret. Rumania’s position begins
to look increasingly vulnerable.
April 18, 1944 Operation Overlord
The British government bans all
coded radio and telegraph from
London and elsewhere in the British
Isles. Diplomatic bags are to be
censored and diplomats are to be
forbidden to leave the country. The
only exemptions are for the USA and
USSR and, a tribute to their excellent
security, the London Poles. The
telephone service to Southern
Ireland and the distribution of
newspapers to there and to Gibraltar
have already been stopped on April
5. These measures are designed to
help with the security of the
preparations for D-Day.
April 23, 1944 New Guinea - The
US forces take Hollandia without a
fight. The advance inland continues
meeting its first check near the
village of Sabron. The only other
problem is with the beach
organization as there is some
congestion. The subsidiary landing
at Aitape is also going well. Tadji
airfield is taken.
April 28, 1944 US Politics - The
Secretary to the US Navy, Frank
Knox, dies. He has played a large
part in the revival of the navy since
Pearl Harbor.
SEE YOU NEXT MONTH FOR THE
LAST PROGRAM OF OUR
SEASON.