Schwarz was born 27 November 1875  in Gunzburg, the seventh of eight children born to a master baker and his wife.  He was educated to a high school level at the Günzburger vocational training school. Schwarz married Bertha Breher on 26 August 1899. From 1900 to 1924, except for the war years of 1914 to 1918,… Read more »

Operation Reinhard  became the code name for the German plan to murder the approximately two million Jews residing in the so-called Generalgouvernement . The Generalgouvernement  was the part of German-occupied Poland not directly annexed to Germany, attached to German East Prussia, or incorporated into the German-occupied Soviet Union. Though initiated in the autumn of 1941,… Read more »

From the Beginning… Canada entered the 1939-1945 War on 10th September 1939. Within two months the first contingents of Canadian troops arrived in the United Kingdom to supplement the British Expeditionary Forces (BEF). Forestalled by the evacuation of the British Army from Dunkirk and the Channel ports, Canada’s role became one of defence of the… Read more »

In the last German offensive of World War II, three German Armies conducted a surprise attack along a 50 miles front in the Ardennes beginning on December 15th 1944, and quickly overtook thin U.S.lines On the second day of the ‘Battle of the Bulge,’ a truck convoy of Battery B of the 285th Field Artillery… Read more »

Boats ordered by the 82nd Airborne  under commander James “Slim Jim” Gavin, in Nijmegen the day before failed to arrive until afternoon and a hasty daylight assault crossing was ordered. At about 15:00, the 3rd Battalion, 504th PIR , commanded by Major Julian Aaron Cook , began their assault across the Waal. The American paratroopers were… Read more »

Joseph Bürckel was born in Lingenfeld, in the Bavarian Palatinate, as the son of a tradesman. From 1909 to 1914 he studied to become a teacher in Speyer. He  took part in the First World War as a volunteer. After the war, he continued his training as a teacher and graduated in 1920. From 1921 on… Read more »

The Royal Dutch Brigade ‘Princess Irene’ (PIB) was a Dutch army component that originated from Dutch troops who could escape their mainland in May 1940 and consisted of individual  civilians and student escapees, (see Erik Hazelhoff Roelfzema), to England and Dutchmen from abroad who fulfilled their duty of service at the brigade or volunteered at… Read more »

On August 15 a second invasion, Operation Dragoon, succeeded in southern France. Everywhere within that country, German infantry and armored units were in retreat. The Allies’ greatest obstacle was logistics: keeping their mechanized and motorized divisions supplied with fuel, food, ammunition and other necessities. The Red Ball Express   , made up of nearly 6,000… Read more »

German submarine U-864 was a Type IX U-boat of Nazi Germany’s Kriegsmarine  in World War II. She throughout her entire career under command by Korvettenkapitän Ralf-Reimar Wolfram departed from Kiel on 5 December 1944 on her last mission, to transport to Japan a large quantity of mercury and parts and engineering drawings for German jet fighters. While returning to Bergen, Norway to repair… Read more »

The Second World War began with the German invasion of Poland in 1939. The tactic used by Hitler is called the Blitzkrieg; The lightning war. In this very short time he managed to conquer large parts of Europe.  Von Schlieffenplan. The lightning war was based on the plan made by General Alfred von Schlieffen (1833-1913)… Read more »