Question of the Hour

[stukirkpatrick]

An SS leader named Alfred Naujocks planned an attack on a German radio station, making it appear to be Polish insurgents... which with other incidents was used as justification by the Germans to start the second world war.  They even went so far as to leave a lethal-injected polish sympathizer at the scene as "proof" of the attack.

 

[redleafjumper]

Kirkpatrick is pretty close.  The Gleiwitz (now Gliwice) incident was organized by Reinhard Heydrich.  On August 31, 1939 a German radio station at Gleiwitz in Silesia was attacked by a dozen men in Polish uniform, none of whom survived the attack. The dead were actually German concentration camp prisoners acting under duress from the SS.  The incident used as justification for the attack on Poland the next day.

 

[stukirkpatrick]

aha...  there were a bunch of incidents that occurred that were similar, I just picked the wrong one  :blotto:

 

[larry Strong]

aha...   there were a bunch of incidents that occurred that were similar, I just picked the wrong one   :blotto:

What were  the other's?

 

[redleafjumper]

The incidents referred to are, it appears to me, the same.  I believe that Kirkpatrick is referring to the SS commander responsible for carrying out Heydrich's order.

 

[JackD]

By the way - that radio mast still exists.. surprisingly it survived the war and all this time - considering it is made of wood..

 

[Spr.Earl]

Took a long time for the Merchant Marine to be entitled to the same benefits as the Servicemen they carried over....
Then again, these guys were paid the big bucks and had somewhat better conditions than on the warships.

Geo I wish my Grand Father and Uncles were alive today to argue with you over your above point.
The U.S. Merchant Navy was paid very well but not the Canadian or the British Merchant Navy.

My Grand Father was a Chief Engineer on the Atlantic and Murmansk convoy's,my uncle Bill Ball was torpedoed 3 times and ended up on the Qn Mary as fireman for the rest of the War.
When a Merchant Seamans ship was sunk his pay STOPPED,not so with the Navy ergo the Merch. Seaman's family was left high and dry!

Here's a neat story for you.
My auntie Margret and Uncle Bill came over one day to visit,after about 15 mins. auntie Marg goes "Were's Bill?"He was next door,as they walked up the walk our mext door neighbour Tommy Thompson was sitting out side getting some rare english sun,well they recognised each other and it turned out out both sailed on two ship's together on the N.Atlantic,this was in about 1960,61.

I know all about what our Merchant Seaman were given after the War,the got prick nada!
Per capita for all arms the Merchant Navy lost the most men.
I'm the last of my family at sea now even though it's the Ferries butI spent 5 years deep sea on Norwegian,Danish,English and Canadain ship's and I still say a prayer for all the men at sea wheather they be Gray Funnel or Merch. because not of these men we would not have the toy's we enjoy.

 

[enfield]

Per capita for all arms the Merchant Navy lost the most men.

Really? I expected that unhappy title to belong to the Infantry, or Bomber crews. (or the poor bastards in the U-Boats....)

I agree that the MN got a raw deal after the war.

 

[wongskc]

I expected that unhappy title to belong to the Infantry, or Bomber crews

Bomber command suffered the second highest rate of casualties.  The Merchant Marine recieved something like 1 in 10 killed.

 

[larry Strong]

Those must be Allied stats, as the U-boatwaffe lost 3 out of every 4.

 

[Michael Dorosh]

I know you asked for a number but I'd guess Viscount Bennett was one of them.

That's the only one I have been able to come up with - correct.

 

[geo]

Spe Earl
while I do not contest that the MN did get the raw end of the stick after the war, comparatively, a large part of the argument offered for not including them in prior pension settlements had to do with the fact that the MN were paid more than the uniformed soldiers and, supposedly, their living conditions were allegedly better... but how a Murmansk run could be tremed "better" is beyond me.

I take my hat off to them and say

CHIMO!

 

[larry Strong]

Who was the last Non Commissioned soldier (NCO/NCM) to receive the Knight's Cross in Berlin in WW2. What day was he awarded it? What was different about him? And what did he accomplish to receive it?

edited to clarify the question.

 

[redleafjumper]

This is one of the last awards of the Iron Cross in WW2.  It isn't the Knight's Cross but it is notable none the less:

From:  www.wehrmacht-awards.com/iron_cross

Alfred Zeck

In the last desperate days of the Third Reich, there were many decorations and promotions. The youngest recipient of the Iron Cross, Alfred was just twelve when he assisted wounded soldiers in his home town of Goldenau in March, 1945. The soldiers, who were pinned down by enemy fire, received first aid which Alfred had learned to administer in the Hitler Youth. For his actions Hitler personally decorated him later the same month. It was the Fuhrer's last public appearance.

 

[larry Strong]

That's the HJ kid you see in the photo, when they are all out in thegarden. The answer I am looking for took place not far from there! Actually there were 2 presentations that took place about the same time, and not that far from each other, but the other one was an Officer

 

[redleafjumper]

I will keep looking for the answer to this one...

 

[NavComm]

Is the answer Karl Jäckel, August 5, 1945? I don't know what he received it for, but if I'm on the right track, I'll keep searching.

Karl Jäckel joined the Navy in April 1937 at the age of 23. Since April 1940 he rode on U-29 under the command of Kptlt. Schuhart. When the first watch officer Georg Lassen left the U-29 and commissioned U-160 he requested that Karl Jäckel would follow him which he did. He was then for 4 patrols on board and luckily left the U-boat along with Georg Lassen, before U-160 was sunk a month later. Georg Lassen called him his "number one man".

In 1944 he became the Obersteuermann on the type VIIC U-boat U-907. After the surrender Karl Jäckel was one of the crew members that had to bring the U-boat to Loch Ryan, Scotland for Operation Deadlight from http://www.uboat.net/men/jaeckel.htm

 

[larry Strong]

No this one was awarded in Berlin pre-08.06.45, And i have seen a person listed for the RK as late as 09.45, though their is some doubts on some of the post war awards.

 

[RiflemanPhil]

Well this is post number 1000 of this topic! Pretty impressive I must say. So heres the question: In the days of Imperial Rome, What were the unit divisions (ie legions, centuries, maniples,  etc)- from the very smallest to the grandest? Name the different types of Roman military units (equites, triarii,etc)

 

[redleafjumper]

That's a good question Rifleman Phil, but perhaps it would be better manners to answer the question on the floor first before posting a new one.  Larry's put out a very challenging question.  I, for one, have been looking through old books and trying to get information from knowledgeable people to find an answer.

If we just throw question after question on here without dealing with the one on the floor, then this thread would get messy very quickly.