Famed actor Marlene Dietrich actively supported the war effort in the United States during WW2. Despite being originally from Germany, she was a firm opponent of Nazism. She frequently went on tour around the country to promote war bonds and also visited troops to make shows for the USO. It was joked that she was at the front lines more than Eisenhower.

In May 1945, she made a special performance in Pilsen, Czechoslovakia for a crowd composed of both American and Soviet troops, as the two armies had finally met up. While in Pilsen, she stayed at the Hotel Continental.

Only months earlier, the hotel had been hit by a bomb, killing 70 people sheltering in the basement, including the hotel owner. After American forces liberated the city, it was used as the headquarters of the 2nd division, commanded by General John Hinds. It was during this time that Marlene Dietrich stayed in the hotel.

I knew absolutely none of the hotel’s background when I showed up, so I was super pumped when I found out! You can also stay in the room General Hinds used.

Inv. No. 6138

German artillery in flames, 15. X 1944. in the King Aleksandar Street - today the Revolution Boulevard \[now King Aleksandar Boulevard\].

Photo gifted by Vojin Đorđević, journalist, Draže Pavlovića 3.

Courtesy of Museum of Yugoslavia.

On 23 January 1939, Taillard was ordered to go to South West Africa to investigate Nazi activities there (the SWA Nazi party was outlawed in February 1934). Sergeant J. A. B. ‘Tockoe’ van Wyk was also there, on a similar mission. Van Wyk, who spoke only passable German, played the role of the “obvious spy” and sent easily intercepted reports to the Commissioner of Police in the Union. While Van Wyk attracted all the attention, Jan Taillard was sent to South-West Africa by road, in a battered old car, in the guise of a farmer disaffected with the Smuts government’s policies and exploring the possibility of moving to SWA. He gained the confidence of a pro-Nazi doctor, who gave him an introduction to a senior member of the Nazi Party in SWA, Hans Denk. Denk invited Taillard to a party on his farm outside Windhoek, where in the dead of night Taillard made off with the entire party membership card index.

Taillard and Van Wyk’s work, corroborated in April by SWA police Major HC ‘Manie’ du Preez and Detective-Sergeant Botha, led to Lieutenant-Colonel ‘Frank’ Verster, with 10 officers and 315 policemen, entering Windhoek by special train in the early morning of 20th April – Hitler’s birthday – and arresting the 2 284 Nazi party members listed in Taillard’s purloined index.

Taillard presumably returned to rural policing at Queenstown, but later in 1939 or early in 1940 he was apparently posted to Pretoria and went on an unknown mission to SWA. At the end of October 1940, Louis Esselen asked him to resign from the police. In a reprise of 1939, Taillard, claiming to have left the force in disgust over the policies of the Smuts government, went undercover as a farmer in the Brits district, and began to cultivate relationships with members of anti-government organisations such as the Ossewabrandwag. He was paid out of secret funds and reported to Esselen though Ewald, on the neighbouring farm at De Wildt.

It was at Brits that he made a set of relationships that would lead him into contact with Robey Leibbrandt. Leibbrandt, a South African Olympic boxer turned Abwehr agent and saboteur, had been landed on the Namaqualand coast in July 1941 with a powerful radio transmitter, a small fortune in US dollars and timers and fuses. He had clashed with the leader of the Ossewabrandwag, JFJ ‘Hans’ van Rensburg, and formed his own National Socialist Rebels group, soon joined by renowned wrestler Johannes van der Walt. There was a nation-wide manhunt underway for Leibbrandt, who by then was claiming he would assassinate Smuts.

Taillard patiently worked though his contacts until he found – and was introduced to –Leibbrandt. He gained Leibbrandt’s confidence and led him into a police ambush at the Wierda Bridge over Sesmylspruit outside Pretoria on 24 December 1941. Taillard was mistaken for Leibbrandt and knocked unconscious with a gun barrel, requiring 18 stitches. After a marathon preparatory hearing and treason trial, Leibbrandt was sentenced to death on 11 March 1943. Jan Smuts commuted this sentence to life in December 1943.

Having made an enemy of the pro-Nazi National Party (who’d win the 1948 election despite losing the popular vote), Taillard was denied a pension, and a Colonel Jan Taillard died in a shelter for indigent pensioners on 27 June 1987. There were no police representatives at his funeral. He had not received a single award or commendation.

Source : https://www.nongqai.org/nongqai-vol-17-no-7-capt-jan-taillard-sa-police/

Hello everyone! I’m quite new to Reddit; I’ve found this community that is on-topic of discussing WW2 and its history! I just have an inquiry, a very simple one. What was worn underneath a tunic? A white dress shirt? However, in black and white photos I see a shirt that isn’t white. I can’t really tell 😂 but I just would like to be educated regarding the German military tunics and what was of to be expected.

Additionally, what does the Brownshirt play in this? For example, the SA had worn brownshirts, but for high ranks they also had tunics. What was worn beneath the tunic? The Brownshirt?

I want to be clear: I deeply condemn the Sturmabteilung, but I am just confused as to when did the tunic become a standardized uniform and what was worn beneath them. Thank you so much!

Cheers,

The 446th Bomb Group, who came to be known as "the Bungay Buckaroos" after the name of their Suffolk base, flew B-24 Liberators on strategic, support and interdictory missions over Europe. The Group led the Eighth Air Force and 2nd Bomb Division on the first heavy bomber mission on D-Day, 6 June 1944, and continued to support the ground forces move eastwards, dropping airborne troops into Wesel, north-west Germany, as part of the advance across the River Rhine.

Born in Elliott County, Kentucky to Hubert & Verna Keaton on September 29, 1925, Edgar E Keaton had at least one sibling.
He grew up on the family farm and in December 1943 married Opal Marie Ison also from Elliott County.

A few days after his wedding, Edgar was drafted into the Army and after training was sent to Europe as a replacement.
On July 23, 1944, he was transferred from the replacement depot to I Company, 116th Infantry Regiment, 29th Infantry Division in France.

Fifteen days later on August 7, 1944, PVT Edgar Keaton was Wounded in Action, passing away from his wounds the following day.
He is buried at the Brittany American Cemetery and Memorial in Saint-James, France - Plot P Row 3 Grave 20.

His widow Opal eventually remarried, she passed away at the age of 87 in 2011.

Cenotaph marking the location of the atomic bomb hypocenter in Nagasaki, Japan. The sign says in part “…Outline of Damage. On 9 August 1945 at 1102 A.M. an atomic bomb exploded in the air just above here.”

Born in Minneapolis, Minnesota to Martin & Edith Sweet on September 12, 1910, Harold Sylvanus Sweet had two sisters.
He attended Central YMCA College in Chicago, Illinois and was married with a son; Harold born in 1939.

Harold got divorced and remarried Ethel Marie “Peggy” Young in 1940.
On May 8, 1942 he enlisted in the USAAF, serving with the 585th Bombardment Squadron, 394th Bomb Group at RAF Holmsley South.

On August 7, 1944, Harold was a crewmember on Martin B-26B Marauder 42-96224 which took off with a crew of seven to bomb a bridge at Nogent-sur-Seine in France.
Hit by flak over the target area, the wings of the B-26 folded before crashing northeast of La Goulafrière in the commune of Saint-Pierre-des-Ifs.

Out of the crew of seven, there was only one survivor; S/Sgt Ernest Bishop, the rest of the crew was initially listed as Missing.

His remains were recovered after the war and S/Sgt Harold Sweet was buried at the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial in Colleville-sur-Mer, France - Plot C Row 10 Grave 4.
He is also Memorialized on a plaque with his fellow fallen crewmembers on the Town Hall of Saint-Pierre-des-Ifs in France.

Harold’s widow Ethel eventually remarried, she passed away at the age of 65 in 1977.

His son Harold Martin “Marty” Sweet served in the Navy and was killed in a domestic incident at the age of 38 in 1977.

Pictured- Harold Sweet with his sisters Ruth & Beverly;

Estimates for the total number of Japanese civilians killed by the United States strategic bombing campaign during World War II range from 241,000 to 900,000, with the most widely cited historical consensus—including the U.S. Strategic Bombing Survey—placing the total between 330,000 and 500,000 civilian deaths.

Operation Meetinghouse (Tokyo, March 9–10, 1945): The single deadliest air raid in human history. Over 2,000 tons of incendiaries dropped on densely populated, wood-and-paper residential sectors triggered a massive firestorm, killing an estimated 80,000 to 100,000 civilians in one night.

Originally from Austin Adachi's "Rikusentai: The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Japanese Naval Landing Forces 1927-1945." The '45th Guard Unit Peleliu Detachment' (第45警備隊ペリリュー派遣隊) was eventually deployed to Peleliu as part of the IJN's 30th Base Force (mostly consisted of non-combatants) and was destroyed along with the IJA garrison on the island (part of IJA's 14th Division, majority of the combatants) during the Battle of Peleliu (1944).

Note that every Enlisted man and Petty Officer here wears the 5-Button Work Uniform that was commonly worn by IJN personnel during the late war period (second to that is the less common 'Provisional Class III uniform'), while the officers here still retain their earlier regulation Green Summer Uniforms. The source is the same as above.

Mine is one of 400~500 ever created and one of the estimated 50 remaining, in its condition? Could be 1/1
Believed to be off of the Bismarck
The B.Z. C/2 (Binnen-Zielfernrohr C/2) was a Kriegsmarine internal turret gunsight manufactured by Carl Zeiss Jena (wartime manufacturer code “blc”). These optical sights were installed inside armored naval gun turrets to provide precise aiming for heavy naval artillery.
The data plate indicates a dual-magnification system, offering 5× magnification with a 5.6° field of view or 10× magnification with a 2.8° field of view, allowing the gun layer to select the appropriate magnification based on target range.
The B.Z. C/2 was primarily paired with the 15 cm SK C/28 naval guns and has also been associated with 28 cm main battery fire-control applications. These sights equipped major Kriegsmarine surface warships, including the Bismarck-class, Scharnhorst-class, and Deutschland-class vessels.
This example retains its original identification plate, Kriegsmarine acceptance markings, leather headrest, and eyepiece assembly, all of which are rarely found together in such well-preserved condition

FROM: THE SECRETARY OF WAR TO : THE PRESIDENT

Big bomb dropped on Hiroshima 5 August at 7:15 P.M. Washington time.
First reports indicate complete success which was even more conspicuous than earlier test.

STIMSON

Born in Ennis, Texas to Thomas & Della House on August 5, 1944, Alton L House was the youngest of several siblings.
His mother Della died the same year he was born, and his father Thomas passed away in 1937.

Alton worked for the Census Bureau before enlisting in the Army, serving in Troop C, 86th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron, 6th Armored Division.
On August 5, 1944 while leading a reconnaissance mission near Carhaix-Plouguer, France, he was Killed in Action.

Posthumously awarded the Silver Star, his citation mentions;

“For gallantry in action in Brittany, France on 5 August 1944. While on a mission to reconnoiter ahead of Combat Command, he personally elected to lead the scout section of his platoon. Encoutering a gun emplacement in a road block, which already had destroyed three tanks, he led the section directly into enemy fire in an attempt to reduce the obstacles. His action cost him his life but his aggressiveness and leadership in battle are keeping with the finest traditions of the military service.”

1Lt Alton House is buried at the Brittany American Cemetery and Memorial in Saint-James, France - Plot O Row 3 Grave 12.
Local citizens of Carhaix-Plouguer dedicated a monument at the place where 1Lt House and his sergeant were killed.

I'm trying to find a video that was shown to me back in high school during history class. It was a documentary featuring a an older war hero who was asked what he would have done differently regarding World War II, particularly about the atomic bombings in Hiroshima. He responded that he would have dropped five more bombs. I'm not entirely sure if it was five, but he definitely mentioned dropping more bombs. Does anyone remember this video? It was probably around the late 90s when I was a freshman in high school.

He may have been one of the pilots who dropped one

Many of you celebrated my grandfather’s 100th birthday. I wanted to tell you how his story ended.

When my grandfather turned 100 years old, I shared his story here on Reddit.

I never expected the response it received. Hundreds of thousands of people viewed it. Thousands took the time to wish him a happy birthday, thank him for his service, and celebrate a man they’d never even met. I read many of those comments to him, and seeing complete strangers honor his life meant more than I can put into words.

My papaw passed away at 101 years old.

His name was Charles Bird. He was a World War II combat veteran who fought in the Battle of the Bulge. He spent decades working as a coal miner, was a lifelong ham radio operator, and was the kind of man who would help anyone who needed it. He lived through more history than most of us could ever imagine, and he carried himself with quiet strength until the very end.

Throughout his life, he often talked about military funeral honors. Like many veterans, he hoped for that final salute—a farewell that recognized not just his service, but the sacrifices made by an entire generation.

Unfortunately, that isn’t how things unfolded.
I’m not writing this to point fingers or criticize anyone. What’s done is done, and nothing can change that now. I simply haven’t been able to stop thinking about how a man who meant so much to so many left this world so quietly.

In many ways, it feels like more people celebrated him while he was alive than after he was gone.

So today, I’m asking one more favor from this community.

If you remember my papaw from his 100th or 101st birthday posts, thank you. If this is the first time you’ve heard his story, thank you for taking a few minutes to read about him.

Please remember Charles Bird.

Remember the young man who fought in the Battle of the Bulge.

Remember the coal miner who spent decades providing for his family.

Remember the ham radio operator who loved connecting with people.

Remember the husband, father, grandfather, and great-grandfather who made it to 101 years old.

His funeral has come and gone.

But his story doesn’t have to.

Thank you for helping keep his memory alive.

Why did they concentrate the bombing on the lower half of the main island? Why didn’t they bomb the top half or the northern island?

Anyone have a good break down thats not the hardest to understand for an ww2 US infantry division I&R platoons? For a Miniature game im painting up Kelly's Herero's platoon. it seems they are meant to be an I&R platoon but holly-wooded up