My friends Grandpa was an officer in charg of an AA unit in th eLuftwaffe Field division. he let me look at some photos and then I saw something.
His grandpa went to a dinner party before the war and hitler was present (before he was in power) So he has an original picture of Hitler with his grandpa in the backround. I thought that as pretty interesting. Very very, wierd to think about.
just thoguht I would share.
(dont worry I dont support hitler or any nazi stuff, just though it was an interesting artifact.
my mom is french and grew up in paris during the nazi occupation with her mom and her 2 brothers. my grandfather and great-uncle were partisans. I’ve heard a lot of neat stories and seen some cool pictures from them as well…
it’s the parts of history with a personal twist to it that make it most interesting.
That is part of PC thing that I hate. Just because you are interested in German military history or military history, everyone labels you a Nazi. Just silly. Anyway didn’t mean to go O.T., but that is an interesting story. Does your friends grandfather have any stories he can share? That would be cool for all the forum.
My grandfather was an aerial photographer in WWII. I’ve spent hours combing through pictures. I’ve found pictures of teh eiffel tower, arc de triumphe, FDR, Patton, and more. There are pictures of different aircraft from the air, and bombsites after an attack. Even a roll of very, very grisly crash photos. I could see about posting them somewhere, if anyone is interested. Just e-mail me. neo_hacker21@yahoo.com
He said his grandpa didnt like to talk about it, but he has told me 3 stories (maybe the only 3[:(])
This one takes place in winter in Russia 41 -43? not sure when. He was in command of I think it was 3 88’s. The unit was moving by rail and they reached their destination and the cars were unbuckled. The train left for some reason, I think to go and get the other units. so there were 3 88’s under his command (in what sounded like the middle of nowhere from my friend) and all the sudden 100’s of Russian villigers are coming toward them.
Now I dont know if this was true but, he said the Russians loved the German Soldiers because they hated Stalin. So the villigers were coming at them, so no panic. But after a closer look, he saw the Russian Army behind the villigers. They were using them as a shield. [V]
My friend said that his grandpa said it was the worst feeling he ad ever felt, but he had to give the order to fire.
His other story takes place in Germany, 1945. He was fighting agaist the Americans this time. His unit commander came up to him one day and gave him his pistol (P-38 or Luger) and said, “I am going Home, your in charge now.” Well, he waited a minute and then through his gun into a stream and walked toward the American Lines. He was going to surrender to them.
the last story is my favorite. Follow me on this, My friends dads Uncle was a B-17 Pilot.
One day he was on a bombing run over Germany. Guess who was in charge of the AA guns in the flight path?! His grandpa. His dads uncles b-17 was shot down in the exact location that his Grandpa was in charge of for AA. And these 2 were brothers in Law. My friends Grandpa lived in America!!! they had thanksgiving with eachother etc.
In the End, his dads uncle, plane on fire was about to jump ou of his plane. )he was the pilot so he was the last on off) when He realized he had forgot his hat. Supposedly the pilots hat is sacred. he got halfway back to the cockpit, said forget it and then jumped out. seconds later the plane whent into a plunge and he wouldnt have otten out if He went for the hat. He waited out the war in a camp were he was liberated by the Russians. He ended up trading a Russian2 packs of smokes for a german Pistol which hi still has. P-38.
unfortunetly thats all of the stories I have.
I already plan to do Dios of the first 2. Not sure which one to do first.
My wife’s grandfather was in WW2, he manned a M2 on a half-track. I have seen some of his pics but he keeps alot closed up in a safe. He has told me a few stories as well and I love going to visit just to hope he tells me more it is a wonderful thing to get history first hand there is nothing quite like first hand accounts. 1st) he told me his group of HT pushed deep in to german territory and penetrated alot further then they though when 3 P-51s spotted the avfs they mistook them for german and launched an attack taking out the lead half track, as they circled around to go again my wifes grandfather said @#$% it, those stupid flyboys can’t tell american from german then i cant tell BF 109 from P-51as they came around he took out the lead plane, the pilot parachuted out and survived. When they picked him up he said look what you did to my plane my wifes grandpa pointed out the half track what you call that. Pilot continued to cry and belly ache about the incident when my wifes grandpa said either shut up and hop on or start hiking back and hope the germans dont see you. needless to say he took the ride. Another thing he told me was when he first got in he was a belly gunner on a B-17 i think, he started to notice that the belly gunners didn’t fair to well and he said screw this and transferred to armour division. He said he felt a lot better having some armour around him then in a little glass ball.
john i wouldnt worry too much about pleasing everyone. i have relatives on both sides of the ww2 conflict. both sides fought for what THEY belived was right. when you study history you have to take modern ideas out of it. the germans fought for their homes, their country, the japanese fought for their home and their emporer. i believe your friend was right in that some russians did accept the germans as liberators remember that stalin had gone on a horrible purge through his people. at one point he even made his home town and all who knew him there disappear. history is just that. it is a story told by the victors of what happened in the past. someday historians will talk of this time and they too will discuss it based upon what the victors wrote.