7th  Panzer Division  led by the famous Erwin “Desert Fox” Rommel got the nickname “Ghost Division” in 1940 in the France campaign. They were given the nickname because they advanced so fast that they appeared were they weren’t expected, and even German high command didn’t always knew where they were. The beginning:   Generalmajor Rommel, commander… Read more »

A sixteen years old boy living in Linz in 1905 Adolf one day saw a nice girl in the street, Stefanie, walking with her mother and Adolf felt head over heels in love with the elegant eighteen years old girl. Too shy, he never spook too her but he observed her daily as a real obsession and… Read more »

In marked contrast to Volkssturmjunge Alfred Czech’s  heroic story, the second vignette is about Hans-Georg Henke , a 16 year old soldier in an anti-aircraft detachment of the Luftwaffe. His father died in 1938 but when his mother died in 1944 leaving the family destitute, Hans-Georg had to find work in order to support the family…. Read more »

Karl Hermann Frank was born in Karlsbad (Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic), on the 24th January 1898. As a Sudeten German, a growing hatred of Czechoslovakians magnified, and eventually overtook Frank, as the events leading up to, and during the war, added to the festering resentment bubbling inside him. Indeed, his animosity towards the Czech people… Read more »

The Night of the Long Knives, in June 1934, saw the wiping out of the SA’s leadership and others who had angered Hitler in the recent past in Nazi Germany. After this date, the SS lead by Heinrich Himmler was to become far more powerful in Nazi Germany. For all the power the Enabling Act gave Hitler, he still felt threatened… Read more »

The Dutch famine of 1944, known as the Hongerwinter (“Hunger winter”) in Dutch, was a famine that took place in the German-occupied part of the Netherlands, especially in the densely populated western provinces above the great rivers, during the winter of 1944–1945, near the end of World War II. A German blockade cut off food and fuel shipments from… Read more »

Female guards were generally low class to middle class and had no work experience; their professional background varied: one source mentions former matrons, hairdressers, street car ticket takers, opera singers, or retired teachers. Volunteers were recruited by ads in German newspapers asking for women to show their love for the Reich and join the SS-Gefolge… Read more »

Max Heiliger was a fictional name created during the Nazi era under authority of Reichsbank president Walter Funk in a secret arrangement with leader of the Schutzstaffel Heinrich Himmler. It was a false identity used to establish bank accounts to launder valuables stolen from those killed in the Nazi system of concentration camps and extermination camps,  Stolen banknotes and jewelry along… Read more »

There were 37 confirmed pairs or trios of brothers assigned to USS Arizona on December 7, 1941. Of these 77 men, 62 were killed, and 23 sets of brothers died. Only one full set of brothers, Kenneth and Russell Warriner,   survived the attack; Kenneth was away at flight school in San Diego on that… Read more »

Until the very last minute, the place of invasion – Normandy- was the most heavily guarded secret on the planet Even the units conducting the initial assaults did not know the locations of their landings. Surprise was crucial since Germany had 55 divisions in France – the Allies could transport no more than 8 divisions on D-Day… Read more »