Pack Animals - the 🇩🇪 German Mountain Infantry Brigade

Tuesday, May 8, 1945. Victory In Europe.

A second surrender signing insisted upon by Stalin took place in Berlin with a slightly revised instrument of surrender.  The original would have sufficed, but Stalin insisted.  

This one was signed, for the Germans, by Field Marshal Keitel.

And the war in Europe came to an end.

Celebrations broke out all across Western Europe and North America, which in some instances had begun the day prior.  Winston Churchill announced new of the 11:00 p.m. singing at 3:00 p.m.  Truman at 9:00 a.m., warning that the war was only half won.   All times local.

Karl Dönitz announced the in a speech broadcast from Flensburg at 12:30 p.m., mentioning that the Nazi Party no longer had any role in government.

Hermann Göring surrendered near Radstadt, Austria. Eisenhower would be upset when he learned of the celebrity status his American captors had given him.

German submarines were ordered to surface and report to the Allies.

The Massacre in Trhová Kamenice occurred when German troops in Trhová Kamenice, Czechoslovakia shot supposed partisans.  In spite of the surrender, some German forces did not lay down their arms on the 8th.

The Sétif and Guelma massacre began when French police fired on local Algerian demonstrators at a protest in the Algerian market town of Sétif.  The beginning of decolonization had begun.

Gen. Ernst-Günther Baade, age 47, died of gangrene; Paul Giesler, age 49, German Nazi official committed suicide; Werner von Gilsa, age 56, German military officer committed suicide after being captured by the Russians; Wilhelm Rediess, age 44, German commander of SS troops in Norway  committed suicide; Bernhard Rust, age 61, German Nazi Minister of Science, Education and National Culture committed suicide; Josef Terboven, age 46, German Reichskommissar for Norway during the Nazi occupation committed suicide by detonating dynamite in a bunker.

The US 145th Infantry division took the the ridge near Guagua, southeast of Mount Pacawagan on Luzon and blocked a track along the Mariquina river. 

Last edition:

Monday, May 7, 1945. Germany unconditionally surrenders.

Labels: 1940s, 1945, Allied Powers, Allies, Battle of Kuryłówka, boats and ships, Nazi Germany, NKVD, Okinawa, Polish Home Army, Spain, The Cold War, U.S. Navy, Victory in Europe Day, World War Two

2025 Elections In Other Countries.

February 24, 2025.

The Christian Democratic Union and the Bavarian Christian Social Union won the German election with about 29% of the vote.  The AfD came in second, but underperformed.   The overall breakdown of seats is as follows:

CDU/CSU 14,158,432 28.52 208

AfD                 10,327,148 20.80 152

SPD                     8,148,284 16.41 120

Greens             5,761,476 11.61 85

Die Linke     4,355,382 8.77 64

Others            2,273,817 4.58 1

BSW             2,468,670 4.97 0

FDP                     2,148,878 4.33 0

The Social Democratic Party had been in power.

The government will be a coalition government with Friedrich Merz as the Chancellor.  Like me, Merz is Catholic, a lawyer, and had served as an artilleryman.

March 10, 2025

Not really a popular election, but an internal party one in a parliamentary system, the Liberal Party of Canada has chosen Mark Carney to be head of its party and hence the new Prime Minster, replacing Justin Trudeau.

Trudeau had become deeply unpopular, but rallied the country nonetheless when Canada became the subject of economic attack due to the closeted autarkic policies of demented infant, Donny Trump.  Trump, who has the brain of a two year old, took to insulting Trudeau repeatedly and now Canadians hate the United States.  Carney is an economist who is well suited for the role of dealing with "but I learned this in the Classic Comics cartoon about William B. McKinley" approach to taxation being exhibited by Mango Mussolini.

Carney also holds British and Irish citizenship, and in 2015 was declared the most influential Catholic in Britain. Both outgoing Trudeau and incoming Carney made it once again clear that Canada will not be entering the United States.

April 29, 2025.

Canada

The Liberal Party narrowly won a fourth term.  It's unclear at the present time if they won a plurality or majority of the votes, but a plurality that's a near majority seems likely, which means they'll need the cooperation of minor parties, which they've gained in the past.

The result is a stunning reversal in fortune. The party's fortunes just several months ago made it appear that it was doomed to defeat, but Donald Trump's assisinne ramblings about annexing Canada as s state revived its fortunes as it's last premier, Justin Trudeau, resisted such calls and insults, and the current one, Mark Carney, stepped out aggressively against them and American tariffs.

May 3, 2025

Australia

Australia's center-left government dramatically increased its majority after the conservative Liberal-National coalition suffered a major defeat.

Conservatives noted that Donald Trump's spastic bizarre example of the far right in the US helped boost the fortunes of the left, making this the second election in an English speaking country where that has occurred.

Last edition:

2024 Elections In Other Countries.

Tuesday, May 1, 1945. German radio reports Hitler dead.

General situation map, May 1, 1945.

Reichssender Hamburg's Flensburg radio station announced that Adolf Hitler had died in Berlin while "fighting for Germany". 

Hmmm. . . 

 

Dönitz gave a broadcast that night declaring that it was his task to save the German people "from destruction by Bolshevists."

New Chancellor of German Joseph Goebbels sent a letter to the Soviet commander in Berlin advising of Hitler's death and requesting a ceasefire. 

The Soviets refused.

He and his wife Magda then murdered their six children and committed suicide.  Dönitz then appointed Lutz Graf Schwerin von Krosigk as the new de facto Chancellor of Germany, in the Flensburg Government.

Mass suicides occurred in Demmin following the Red Army taking and destroying the town. Between 700 and 2,500 people killed themselves.  As was common, the Red Army engaged in rapes and murders upon entering the town.

The Battle of Halbe ended in a Soviet victory.

The Australian Army landed on Tarakan off of Borneo.

Last edition:

Monday, April 30, 1945. Adolf Hitler commits suicide.

Labels: 1940s, 1945, Adolf Hitler, boats and ships, Eva Braun, Italian partisans, Joseph Goebbels, Karl Dönitz, Nazi Germany, Weapons, World War Two

Blog Mirror: Fanta and Nazi Germany

 

Fanta and Nazi Germany

Friday, April 13, 1945. Bitter end.

"Bitter end. Downcast German prisoners rounded up in the clean-up of bitterly-resisting Heilbronn, are marched to the rear. Key to Southern Germany, Heilbronn was stubbornly defended by these and other Nazis but finally fell before Seventh Army onslaught after nine days of severe fighting. 13 April, 1945. 100th Infantry Division, VI Corps. Photographer: T/4 Irving Leibowitz, 163rd Signal Photo Co."

The Red Army took Vienna and began the Samland Offensive.

Members of the SS and Luftwaffe German SS and Luftwaffe burned 1,016 slave laborers alive in a large barn at Gardelegen.

New Zealander troops captured Massa Lombarda, southwest of Lake Comacchio, Italy.

American forces land on Fort Drum,"the Concrete Battleship", in Manila Bay. They poured 5,000 gallons of oil fuel into the fortifications and set it on fire, whereupon it burned for five days.

Last edition:

Thursday, April 12, 1945. The death of Franklin Roosevelt

Labels: 1940s, 1945, Adolf Hitler, Army, Franklin Roosevelt, French Army, Harry S. Truman, Hitler Youth, Manhattan Project, Nazi Germany, Okinawa, Red Army, Royal Navy, World War Two

I'm not a "prepper", and frankly I tend to find preppers a bit amusing.  But when European governments that are a lot more sane than the gerontocracy running the United States right now start issuing war warnings and commence telling their populations how to prepare for war, well, it's at least taking some noted of.

Both Germany and the UK, both of which are not afflicted by wackadoodle administrations like ours currently is, have done so:

Britain, Germany Issue Emergency Guidance

By the way, in the fever dream of Republican Washington D.C. right now, while Trump dreams of tariffs in his sleep solving all the nations ills, while the GOP also is about to pass a renewal of the Trump tax reductions, thereby guaranteeing, in the real world, a massively increased deficit, there's a plan to pass a $1Trillion defense budget.

$1Trillion.

Trump pitches $1 trillion defense budget

Trump preached peace in his campaign like a flower child in 1968.

But he's proposing a defense budget like it's 1964.

What gives?

It's hard to know what Trump really things about anything.  What is clear is that we've been headed towards war with China for at least half a decade and the Trump administration is pushing us much closer.  Somebody in the Administration is preparing for that war.

20th Kansaas at Caloocan, 1899. They're carrying obsolete trapdoor Springfield rifles and wearing obsolescent blue wool shirts.

By the way, when McKinley, Trump's hero, who ended up regretting his tariff policy, was President the size of the U.S. Army was 25,000 men, many of whom were poor immigrants, and a lot of whom were poorly equipped.  In spite of McKinley being forced into the Spanish American War against his instincts and desires, the US didn't really expect to be fighting any wars in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries and so it relied upon a tiny Army, a more substantial and much more well equipped Navy, and state militias, which had not quite become the modern National Guard.  The thought was that if any big emergency came up, the states could always fill the manpower gaps, which is exactly what occurred during the Spanish American War.  It's also what occured in the Philippine Insurrection which is in part what made the effort in the Philippines extreme unpopular with the public as it drug on.  Think Vietnam. . . but if Vietnam had been fought with a lot of National Guardsmen instead of just a few.

Itt was those wars, in fact, which ended the era in which the US could get buy with a tiny budget, and one that ran a surplus.  The Spanish American War changed the US from a regional power into a global one, and there's really no going back.  We shouldn't even want to go back. When Kipling wrote his horribly racist The White Man's Burden, in a certain way, that's what he meant existentially, if you strip the racism, which is difficult.  Still, the concluding lines are worth reading:

Have done with childish days— 

The lightly proffered laurel, 

    The easy, ungrudged praise. 

Comes now, to search your manhood 

    Through all the thankless years, 

Cold-edged with dear-bought wisdom, 

    The judgement of your peers. 

Trump, in real terms, seeks to take us back to the childhood of the nation, which he didn't experience, as he golfs on in his dotage.

We're all suffering as a result, and it'll get worse.  Much worse.

Last edition:

Cliffnotes of the Zeitgeist. 81st Edition. Protests and Golfing.

Labels: 2026 Election, Civil Unrest, Donald Trump, Elon Musk, Predictions, The Law of Unintended Consequences, The Second Trump Administration, Wyoming, Zeitgeist

Thursday, March 29, 1945. The first Public Passover Sedar in Germany since 1938.

Captain Robert S. Marcus leads a Passover Seder for men of the 365th Fighter Group on a fighter-bomber base in Germany on March 29, 1945.  This was the first public Passover Seder in Germany since 1938.  This base, it should be noted, was extremely far forward.  The Allies had only crossed the Rhine on March 7, with the seizure of the Ludendorff Bridge at Remagen.  On the same day, 60 Jewish forces laborer's were murdered in the Deutsch Schützen massacre

 The Battle of the Heiligenbell Pocket ended in a victory for the Red Army.

The 7th Army took Mannheim and Heidelberg.

The last V1 to hit London did so.

US forces landed near Bacolod in the Philippines.

Last edition:

Wednesday, March 28, 1945. Guderian gets his release.

Labels: 1940s, 1945, Army, Australian Army, Bougainville, Dwight Eisenhower, German Army, Germany, Imperial Japanese Navy, Joseph Stalin, Personalities, Red Army, U.S. Navy, World War Two

Wednesday, March 28, 1945. Guderian gets his release.

Hitler fired Guderian as Chief of the OKH following an argument. His replacement was Hans Krebs.

Guderian, as we've noted before, would survive the war.  He was released from being held as a POW in 1948, never prosecuted for war crimes, and died in 1954 at age 65.

Krebs killed himself on May 2, 1945.

Eisenhower telegrammed Stalin with his plans for advancing in Germany.  The British, who were not consulted, protested.

The Red Army captured Balga.

The U.S. 80th Infantry Division captured Wiesbaden.

The 3d Corps took Marburg.

The USS Trigger was sunk by the Imperial Japanese Navy in the East China Sea.

The Battle of Slater's Knoll began between Australian and Japanese forces on Bougainville.

Last edition:

Tuesday, March 27, 1945. The last rockets.

Labels: 1940s, 1945, Argentina, Artillery, Battle for Cebu City, German Kriegsmarine, Nazi Germany, Philippines, Royal Navy, Weapons

Sunday, March 25, 1945. Crossing the Rhine.

The Battle of Remagen ended in a US victory.

The Red Army began the Bratislava–Brno Offensive.

Winston Churchill, accompanied by Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery, crossed the Rhine near Wesel in an Allied landing craft.

The trip was legitimately dangerous.

Allied forces began to cross or advance from the Rine nearly everywhere.

" Left to right: Pvt. Ray Pennington, Princetown, W.Va., Pfc. Emory Neill, Griffith, Ga., and Pfc. Howard J. Stringer, Columbia, Miss., set up their machine gun to watch and harass the Nazi movements on the other side of the Rhine near Oberwesel, Germany. All men are with 76th Infantry Division, 3rd U.S. Army. 25 March, 1945. 76th Infantry Division. Photographer: Tec 5 A.H. Herz, 166th Signal Photo Co."

"3rd U.S. Army infantrymen load onto tank destroyer in Konigstadien, Germany, as they drive deeper into Germany. 25 March, 1945. Company I, 3rd Battalion, 10th Infantry Regiment, 5th Infantry Division. Photographer: T/5 Schneider, 166th Signal Photo Co."

Today in World War II History—March 25, 1940 & 1945: 80 Years Ago—Mar. 25, 1945: US Seventh Army crosses the Rhine at Worms. US Fifteenth Air Force based in Italy flies its last strategic bombing mission of WWII.

Aachen's post Nazi mayor Franz Oppenhoff, age 42, was assassinated by the SS.

Task Force 58 conducted air raids on Okinawa.

Marine Corps Maj. Gen. William H. Rupertus, age 55, died of a heart attack.  He was the author of the Rifleman's Creed;

Rifleman's Creed

This is my rifle. There are many like it, but this one is mine.

My rifle is my best friend. It is my life. I must master it as I must master my life.

Without me, my rifle is useless. Without my rifle, I am useless. I must fire my rifle true. I must shoot straighter than my enemy who is trying to kill me. I must shoot him before he shoots me. I will ...

My rifle and I know that what counts in war is not the rounds we fire, the noise of our burst, nor the smoke we make. We know that it is the hits that count. We will hit ...

My rifle is human, even as I [am human], because it is my life. Thus, I will learn it as a brother. I will learn its weaknesses, its strength, its parts, its accessories, its sights and its barrel. I will keep my rifle clean and ready, even as I am clean and ready. We will become part of each other. We will ...

Before God, I swear this creed. My rifle and I are the defenders of my country. We are the masters of our enemy. We are the saviors of my life.

So be it, until victory is America's and there is no enemy, but peace!

Last edition:

Saturday, March 24, 1945. Operation Varsity.

Labels: 1940s, 1945, Army, Bernard Law Montgomery, British Army, Burma, Canadian Army, Hungary, Nationalist Chinese Army, Okinawa, Operation Plunder, Operation Varsity, Red Army, U.S. Navy, World War Two

Friday, March 23, 1945. Rhine flood.

Hitler approved withdrawing German forces across the Rhine, but the order came too late to avoid 50% of those troops already being lost on the opposite bank.

 "Infantrymen of the 1st Allied Airborne Army are briefed at the marshalling area prior to taking off for the Rhine crossing and Wesel landing. Mourmelon, France. 23 March, 1945. 17th Airborne Division. Photographer: Forney."

U.S. and Filipino troops captured San Fernando on Luzon.

The Indian 20th Infantry Division took Wundwin, Burma.

Last edition:

Thursday, March 22, 1945. Operation Plunder.

Labels: 1940s, 1945, Arab League, Bernard Law Montgomery, Germany, Monarchy, Operation Plunder, Spain, World War Two

Thursday, March 22, 1945. Operation Plunder.

Operation Plunder commanded by Field Marshall Montgomery was launched which saw the 21st Army Group cross the Rhine.The Rhine was crossed was at Rees, Wesel, and south of the river Lippe by the British Second Army under Lieutenant General Miles Dempsey, and the United States Ninth Army under Lieutenant General William H. Simpson.

89th Infantry Division crossing the Rhine in Operation Plunder.  Note the soldier equipped with a Thompson submachine gun on the deck of the landing craft.

The U.S. 5th Infantry Division of the 3d Army crossed the Rhine near Nierstein.

Don Juan, pretender to the Spanish Crown, demanded Franco's resignation.

Kamikazes make significant strikes on Task Force 58, including with the new Yokosuka MXYZ Ohka suicide rocket plane.

The Arab League was established.

Last edition:

Wednesday, March 21, 1945. Ohka.

Labels: 1940s, 1945, Aircraft, Denmark, Gestapo, Imperial Japanese Army, Imperial Japanese Army Air Service, Nationalist Chinese Army, Okinawa, U.S. Navy, World War Two

Friday, March 16, 1945. Luzon Language Edition.

Yank had a feature on the Battle of the Bulge.

Ingrid Bergman was the centerfold.

Franklin Roosevelt stated in a press conference that Americans would need to sacrifice so that food could be shipped to countries devastated by war.

"Men of the 5th Inf. Div., U.S. Third Army, file through Nazi roadblock into the newly captured town of Corweiler, Germany. 16 March, 1945. 5th Infantry Division. Photographer: T/5 Robert J. Schneider."

The 41st Infantry Division landed on Basilan, Philippines

The U-367 hit a mine and sank northeast of Danzig.

Last edition:

Thursday, March 15, 1945.

Labels: 1940s, 1945, Army, Operation Springi Awakening, Upper Silesian Offensive

Saturday, March 14, 1925. Spring.

France's Senate Finance Committee voted to keep its embassy at the Vatican, over the wishes of Prime Minister Édouard Herriot.

The Council of the League of Nations expressed its hopes that Germany would join the body.

Last edition:

Friday, March 13, 1925. Tennessee prevents evolution in schools.

Labels: 1920s, 1925, Calvin Coolidge, Cuba, Diplomacy, Education, Evolutionary Biology, law, Protestant, religion, Tennessee, The Press, United States