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

November 1993
Vol. 2 Number 2
Published by the World War Two
Roundtable
Edited by Joe Grant and Jim
Gerber
Welcome to the November World
War Two Roundtable meeting and
the November issue of the Round
Tablette. This month Dr. Deutsch will
be speaking on the conspiracies to
kill Adolph Hitler. This topic is one of
special interest to Dr. Deutsch,
especially some of the early plots.
Saturday, November 20th is the
World War Two Roundtable
Symposium. Mr. Ron Reimann will
be speaking on submarine tactics in
the Pacific. This topic will lead into a
discussion of whether or not we
should have dropped the atomic
bomb. There is bound to be very
strong feelings on both sides of the
issue. The doors will open at 12
noon for you to view the displays and
the lectures will begin at 1:00 P.M.
One of the questions that I have
been asked is why have a WW II
Roundtable? They wonder if we just
tell war stories here. I think that it
goes much further than just telling
“war stories”. World War II shaped
our lives today like no other event in
modern history. Whole nations and
peoples practically disappeared from
the face of the earth. Cities were
gutted by fire and steel. Terrible new
weapons were introduced that
continue to threaten the very
existence of the human race. The
reason for the World War Two
Roundtable is to preserve the
memories and the history so our
young people know that this is not
ancient history but something that
was real and that it could happen
again. Preserving this history may
help to keep us from making the
same mistakes again. If you question
whether or not history can repeat
itself consider:
Again?
Nation after nation was defeated by
Hitler’s Germany. Most fought
gamely. But when France’s turn
came, she surrendered quickly. That
was in June of 1940. Within five days
she signed an “occupation
agreement”. The Arc de Triumphe
was left intact.
Many Frenchmen and women
resisted but some collaborated. To
curry favor with their conquerors, the
collaborators fingered their own
Jewish friends and neighbors. These
people were herded into the cattlecars and shipped east to the death
camps.
One of these stations, at Drancy,
was destroyed by Allied bombers.
The Nazis moved the operation to
the Bobigny railroad station from
which 22,400 people embarked.
Last month, a thousand Bobigny
townsfolk turned out to dedicate its
train station to honor the memory of
those who fought and died.
Within days, a dispatch was received
form Paris: the station’s walls had,
apparently in haste and in the dead
of the night, been smeared with
dripping swastikas.
Fake Cities?
In an effort to thwart Allied bombing
raids on
Germany, reproductions of Berlin,
Hamburg and other areas were built
near enough to actual sites to
confuse aircraft. However, they were
built far enough away to provide
safety for the inhabitants. There
were no less than five copies of
Berlin alone sprinkled across the
German landscape in giant scale.
Fireworks
One of the most unusual devices for
identification used by any nation was
the employing of fireworks by the
U.S. Regimental Combat Team
during the North African invasion. In
an effort to convince the Vichy
French at Oran that the invasion
force was U.S., not British, the
Americans shot fireworks bombs that
exploded into 100-foot-wide U.S.
flags overhead. (The French were
hostile to the British, who had
recently attacked their fleet in the
harbor.) The U.S. troops also used
loudspeakers which identified the
American troops as not being British.
Air Raid Japan
The most destructive single bombing
mission of the war took place March
9-19, 1945, when 334 B-29’s raided
Tokyo and left 1.25 million people
homeless. This raid caused more
damage than the atomic bombs
dropped on Hiroshima and
Nagasaki. Six Japanese cities were
destroyed by a single 855 plane B29 raid on August 2,1945, that
dropped several tons of jellied
gasoline and magnesium bombs.
This was four days before the first
atomic bomb was dropped.
Devices of Death
A new book published in France by
the National Center For Scientific
Research describes how a dozen
private German companies
competed for lucrative contracts to
build and outfit gas chambers and
crematoriums in WW II. The
Crematoria of Auschwitz: The
Machinery of Mass Murder tells how
engineers, contractors, technicians
and bricklayers constantly sought to
increase the destructive capacities of
these facilities. The first oven could
burn two corpses per hour and by
the end of the war a single
crematorium could burn more than
1000 corpses per day. Papers
documenting these activities were
taken to Russia by triumphant Soviet
troops and put into the archives of
the KGB. Holocaust experts say that
the 100-page analysis of these
papers will provide irrefutable proof
to combat those who claim that the
Holocaust didn’t happen. The Nazi
SS began using ovens to burn
bodies on a large scale after
epidemics of typhus in the late
1930’s.
November 1943
European Air Operations - RAF
Bomber Command dropped 14,500
tons of bombs in various raids. Berlin
is raided three nights in a row and is
hit by more than 4000 tons of
bombs. The “Battle of Berlin” begins
on November 18th. American heavy
bombers dropped 6300 tons of
bombs on a range of targets in
Norway and Germany.
Pacific - Japanese shipping loses
reach a new high this month with the
sinking of 265,000 tons, mostly by
U.S. submarines. Japan began the
war with a merchant fleet of almost
6,000,000 tons capacity( not
counting very small vessels). This
has now been reduced, despite new
construction, to less than 5,000,000
tons.
November 1, 1943
President Roosevelt orders Ickes
and his Solid Fuels Administration to
take over the running of the country’s
coal mines. There are 530,000 men
out on strike. There have been a
number of disputes throughout
October but from 28 October the
strike gains momentum. The
problem is resolved, for the moment,
on 3 November. Roosevelt also
urged Congress to continue food
subsidies to encourage production
and as a measure against inflation.
miles long and is nowhere more than
half a mile wide. The highest ground
is only nine feet above sea level but
the Japanese have added a
formidable complex of bunkers and
gun emplacements. The supporting
warships bombard the island with
more than 3000 shells. However, the
sandy ground absorbs much of the
blast and many of the Japanese
bunkers are left intact. The reef
around the island is also shallower in
places than had been expected and
many of the landing craft run
aground, leaving the marines to run
through a vicious crossfire to the
beach. Many of the landing force do
not reach the beaches and those
who do are pinned down at the
water’s edge. Of the 5000 who
attempt to land, 1500 become
casualties. Because of the tide and
confusion in the chain of command,
reserves are not sent at first and
later cannot be sent.
November 21,1943
November 13, 1943
Flying fortresses bomb Tarawa Atoll
in the first attack in preparation for
the coming landings. These attacks
are repeated daily for the next week.
November 20,1943
The American landing operations in
the Gilbert Islands begins. The
Americans, with 18,600 men from
the 2nd Marine Division, land on
Tarawa Atoll. The Japanese garrison
comprises 4800 men, 50 artillery
weapons and 7 light tanks.
The landings are made on Betio
island which is little more than two
The Americans send in new waves
of marines to land on Betio Island,
Tarawa Atoll. The first group takes
heavy casualties but at noon there is
a significant change in the battle and
the marines begin to flow ashore.
November 22,1943
There is now no question of the
outcome of the battle on Tarawa
although the Japanese are fighting
fiercely for every inch of ground.
During the night there are fanatical
counterattacks by the Japanese at
the east end of the island but they
achieve nothing.
November 23, 1943
By noon the battle on Tarawa is
over. The Americans have lost 1000
killed and 2000 wounded. The
Japanese garrison has been
annihilated. The only prisoners are
17 wounded soldiers and 129
Korean laborers. There have been
important lessons learned for the
organization of future attacks,
particularly of the need for precise
bombardment.
German Planning - The prototype of
the ME 262 jet airplane is
demonstrated before Hitler. He hails
it as the ideal light bomber - a
decision which is believed to have
hindered its development and
production for its true role as a
fighter. The aircraft first flew in July
of 1942 and became operational in
June 1944.
November 28,1943
Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin and
their staffs meet for the first time at
Teheran. The decision to invade
western Europe in May 1944 is
confirmed and a now more definite
plan for the invasion of southern
France (Anvil) is agreed upon. This
has been an American plan up till
now but Stalin’s support gives it
increased weight. Perhaps the most
important decision to emerge from
the conference is Stalin’s promise to
join the war against Japan when
Germany has been defeated.
There were problems with security at
the conference and there is reason
to believe that the American’s
accommodation was bugged. The
Americans were careful throughout
the proceedings not to appear to be
with Britain and against the Soviet
Union and in doing so perhaps gave
too much ground.
Tapes Available
If any of you have missed a
Roundtable program, tapes are
available and may be rented for
$3.00 by calling Don Patton at 8357600.
Roundtable Symposium
Don’t forget the Roundtable
Symposium on November 20, 1993.
It begins at 12 noon at the Fort
Snelling lecture hall. There will be
exhibits and presentations
concerning the dropping of the
atomic bomb. There is not cost to
attend but donations are requested.
See you there!