WWII - Why the Eternal Interest?

In My Humble Opinion
61

Well lads may wish to brush up on their tank trivia if they want to win the hearts of these girls… http://static.zerochan.net/GIRLS.und.PANZER.full.1307688.jpg :smiley:

But more seriously World War II is interesting because its the largest-scale conflict we’ve had and also the most recent war involving most of the world’s major powers. In addition World War II has everything that can possibly arouse someone’s interest: all sorts of new equipment, dashing uniforms, massive armies numbering in the millions, huge, bloody battles, brilliant generals, and bizarre leaders.

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A Fiat? A freakin’ FIAT? As in Feeble Italian Attempt at Technology? Fix It Again, Tony? I read a book about the Long Range Desert Group that told the charming story of Italian realism in the face of a couple Chevy trucks full of crazed Kiwis. The Italian commander insisted the British officers join him for lunch before he surrendered his fort, a very civilized form of warfare, but it was the only interesting part of a book about a group of men who would look at the Jeeps of TV’s Rat Patrol and say, “What, only one machine gun each? Ours have ten. Or more; we’ve lost count.” But yeah, the M13/40 was comparable to the competition and its gun was better.

As for the British tanks, you may have noticed that I, like the Axis tank armor, ignored the 2 pounder and went straight to the 6 pounder. The Brits should have, too.

Finally, the less said about any German tanks of WWII the better, since it’s all been said before. Except for the remarkable number of French and Czech tanks and tank chassis the Germans used, all with 37mm guns when in tank form and none in North Africa, though there was a Vichy contingent that fought the Allies before they sensibly switched sides.

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I think Qin just said my thoughts: technology, huge battles, great uniforms, bizarre leaders… Especially the uniforms!

When I see current US military personnel walking in the public while in uniform, I think how boring their camo uniforms are. (Plus the flag will always be backwards to me.) WWII uniforms were pretty snappy, on both sides.

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What is the name of the book and who is the author?

My father survived the Bataan Death March as well as a lot worse during the war. He contributed his experiences to or was interviewed for several books.

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Well, the Soviets did invade Poland with the Nazis..and took 1/3 of their territory never to return it; they invaded Finland and never returned the territory; invaded the Baltic States…they were also an aggressor nation and they committed the exact 4 war crimes the Nazi leaders were charged with at Nuremberg.

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Another advantage WWII has for buffs and the entertainment industry is that it’s so easy to slice it up into its myriad components. One can focus on any one of a million battles, locations, people, technologies or other elements with only the slightest knowledge or explanation of the whole.

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I won’t put myself up as particularly knowledgeable, but my understanding was that if Hitler had properly seized Russia’s petroleum supplies then the country might well have fallen. If Russia goes, does England hold out indefinitely?

Add in the US losing its carriers at Midway (instead of Japan losing its carriers) and things could look very different in 1945.

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The Germans couldnt have won the war even if they made it to the Urals. The brutality in which they occupied the eastern territories insured that resistance would have never ended. And the fact that they intended to enslave and kill the Slavic inhabitants…Now if the Nazis had treated Ukraine the same way the Kaiser had in WWI the locals all across the USSR might have welcomed them.

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Granted that the Kaiser was no Hitler, the Germans started rounding up and shooting Belgian civilians in the first few weeks of the war, in reprisal for scattered sniping by a few cut off soldiers and resistance fighters.

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Qin basically hit the nail on the head; World War II is the big one. It’s the most gigantic, widespread, and fascinating war ever fought.

There is no kind of war you can think of WWII doesn’t have. Tank battles? Infantry battles? Aerial combat of every coneceivable type? Got em. How about amphibious invasions, mountain battles, guerrilla warfare? Got those. Would you like some naval battles? Aircraft carriers hunting each other in the dark recesses of the Pacific? Battleships pounding the snot out of each others? Submarines hunting and being the hunted? Blockade running? Got those too. You want great generals? Awful generals? Insane generals? Cowardly generals? Got lots of those. Hopeless last stands? Brilliant encirclements? Appalling fuckups? Atrocious attacks on civilians? Acts of incomprehensible bravery and nobility? Losers becoming winners, winners becoming losers, countries switching sides, political intrigue, espionage, codebreaking, breakneck technological advancement, allies at each other’s throats? We’ve got it all. They had NUCLEAR WARFARE. Had it all.

There’s nothing World War II doesn’t give the history buff. It was the ultimate war.

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I did a project a few years ago where I spent hours / DAYS at NARA researching WWII stuff. I came across old log books from ships and bases (primarily in the Aleutians where the “engineers’ war” was fought). One of the most interesting was one where some radio operators were the only Americans on one of those remote Aleutian Islands (one near or on Kiska IIRC), the island was invaded by Japanese and the men hid important radio information and then tried to escape (not successful, they were on an island). But one of the guys managed to avoid them for something like 3 weeks, on an island, in the middle of the cold harsh Aleutians. He finally had to turn himself in to them, but they managed to all foil the Japanese attempts to get information, they’d either hidden, or burned what would be of use to them.

Another one was a diary found on an island with former Japanese presence from a Japanese military man. It was about him leaving his family behind and so on. Another was a place called (again, IIRC), the “Bee House” which was a place staffed by WACS who were in Alaska to help with the war effort. It was a dormitory of sorts with all sorts of female military (or supporting) staff.

The one that just made me sit among those dusty tomes, with tears in my eyes, was the accounting of the men in a plane that had tried to make it to Shemya (forgive my memory here, it’s been a while since I did this project, so some small parts may be skewed by lack of memory). The weather there was (still is) horribly unpredictable, a lot of times landing would be made impossible by storms. At any rate, there was a plane that was trying to land, and couldn’t get in through the storm. They kept circling, hoping they’d find a break in the storm. Unfortunately there weren’t any places to refuel that far out either. So they were basically past the safety point, they had to land, or crash.

Finally, the pilot told them he was going to make a run for it storm or no, but that they would probably crash, so he gave them the option of parachuting out and trying to make it that way. Most of them died, and the plane did crash, but a few of the men who’d parachuted out did make it.

I mean, I was only reading the technical reports of this, but it was like being in one of those movies where I felt like I was watching a flashback or something.

Just amazing stuff. Sorry, I can’t quite say just what it is… I think the old gentleman (one of the old soldiers I interviewed as part of the project) was what really caught my heart about the whole thing. After telling me so many stories about his service ( I was fascinated but wondering if I was ever going to get the guy off of the phone), he suddenly said “I have to go, my nurse is here with my lunch”! :smiley:

It was just so charmingly honest. The juxtaposition of what he went through back then, with his fun interesting thing of the day now being “lunch” was just…I don’t have the right words. Sir, you earned your lunch.

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That was a good post.

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Agreed..lots of great posts here.

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We were just discussing this in the thread in GQ, and it can be categorically stated that Japan could not have won the Pacific war, even if Midway went the other way. It would have added another year, perhaps, but the US held such a lopsided economic advantage that the win was inevitable.

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In addition to these excellent points, you’ve also got the tantalising “What If?” stuff as well. Pick any battle in WWII and ask yourself what might have happened in the other side won. Ditto technology - what if the Luftwaffe actually managed to get that ultra-long range bomber going? What if Singapore hadn’t fallen? What if Churchill had been a bit slow getting to an air-raid shelter one night? You get the idea.

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Nonsense! Hitler loved blind orphans.
He loved them so much, he’d blind them himself.

link doesn’t work.

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I really enjoy this guy’s WWII story:

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Excuse me, I have something in my eye.

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As long as current wars fail to produce an amphibious landing as big as Normandy, or an airborne attack as big as Arnhem, or an encirclement as big as Kiev, or a duel of guns like that of the Bismark.

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Nice find.