Germany

Germany’s Military Readiness is Abysmal Despite NATO Obligation

As Germany prepares to assume the mantle as the head of NATO’s crisis response force in 2019, its military forces are in a horrible state of readiness that has left the military virtually non-deployable.

Despite their economic strength, security experts claim that the Germans will be unable to meet their obligations and that they are among the weakest armed forces in NATO.

“The readiness of the German military is abysmal,” said Jorge Benitez, a NATO expert with the Atlantic Council in Washington. “For years, German leaders have known that major elements of their armed forces, such as tanks, submarines and fighter jets, are not fully operational and can’t be used for actual military missions.”
The military dysfunction is likely to re-emerge as a flashpoint between Berlin and Washington when President Donald Trump attends a NATO summit in July.
Berlin’s persistent shortcomings and resistance to meeting NATO spending targets is likely to further strain relations with Washington and risks a standoff that could eventually test the unity of the alliance and the American commitment to it.
Trump, long ambivalent about the value of NATO, remains fixated on Germany as a security free-rider: The alliance “helps them a hell of a lot more than it helps us,” Trump said in December.
Among the failures: none of Germany’s submarines is operational, only four of its 128 Eurofighter jets are combat-ready and the army is short dozens of tanks and armored vehicles needed for NATO missions.
In addition, troops are short on the basics: body armor, night vision gear and cold-weather clothing.
The situation is so dire that 19 helicopter pilots from Germany’s Bundeswehr were forced to turn in their flight licenses because of a lack of training time.
“Germany has the largest economy in Europe but has been dragging its feet on fixing its scandalous defense problems,” Benitez said. “Part of the problem is political and reflects the willingness of German leaders to consistently inhibit defense spending for the sake of other priorities.”

Many are attempting to blame the problems that Germany has to President Trump. That he is so unpopular that any show of upping its defense spending would be a sign of kowtowing to him. That is simplistic and ridiculous. What about their commitment to their NATO allies?

To read the entire article from Stars and Stripes, click here:

Photo courtesy US Army

European Spy Chiefs Warn of Russian Hybrid Threats

The Russian meddling in the United States, as well as other elections, is now going to be the norm, in addition to cyber warfare, disinformation campaigns and more traditional espionage the European heads of intelligence warned on Monday.

The Sergei Skripal assassination attempt in the UK is a prime example. After the attack, it was quickly followed by Russian denials and then nearly 30 alternate theories being spread by Russian propaganda using social media among other means.

“Our respect for Russia’s people … cannot and must not stop us from calling out and pushing back on the Kremlin’s flagrant breaches of international rules,” the head of Britain’s MI5 spy agency, Andrew Parker, told an intelligence gathering in Berlin.
“Whatever nonsense they conjure up, the case is clear,” said Parker.
He later told reporters that since allied governments were first briefed on Russia’s involvement in the attack by the British government, “the case, if anything, has got stronger since then.”
Germany’s domestic intelligence chief, Hans-Georg Maassen, said his agency, known as BfV, blames Russian authorities for orchestrating a persistent cyberattack aimed at stealing sensitive data so it can be used in future intelligence campaigns, such as what happened with the Democratic National Committee emails leaked during the 2016 U.S. presidential election campaign.
Sir Julian King, the EU’s security commissioner, warned that social media had “turbocharged” state actors’ ability to spread disinformation, citing the recent revelations about Cambridge Analytica’s gathering of personal data from Facebook users to help manipulate elections.
King warned of future threats posed by sophisticated fake videos that are undiscernible from real footage, calling it an example of a “deadly weapon of mass disinformation” that societies need to find ways of becoming resilient to.
He also said the European Commission is working with social media companies such as Facebook and Twitter to better inform users about why they are seeing certain posts and who is paying for them, to help protect against disinformation campaigns by groups or governments outside the country.

The European spy agencies have vowed to work together and cooperate against this new and insidious form of warfare. One worrisome subject for all the agencies is the possible funding of extremist groups aiming to divide European societies, and they are preaching for greater awareness of hybrid attacks to counter any threats.

To read the entire article from Associated Press, click here:

Photo courtesy Wikipedia

Germany Planned to Stockpile Vast Cold War Chemical Munitions

The West German military during the Cold War planned to stockpile vast amounts of chemical weapons to stave off a Soviet Union invasion into the west. They also planned on using them, despite long-time denials by the government.

War, Auschwitz, chemical weapons: never again. This was what the newly formed Federal Republic of Germany swore after the horrors of two World Wars. The German Empire had, after all, been responsible for the first ever use of poison gas during World War I, and the majority of chemical weapons were developed by German chemists — including Zyklon B, which the Nazi regime used until 1945 to commit mass murder during the Holocaust.
Yet less than 20 years later, the West German government planned to break this taboo. In 1961, West Germany initiated a debate in top-secret meetings with NATO. It called for the United States not to be the only country with the deterrent and retaliatory capability of chemical agents.
“We cannot do without such a means,” Friedrich Foertsch, the inspector general of Germany’s military, the Bundeswehr, said at the time. In the event of a Soviet attack, NATO anticipated a swift chemical weapons strike via the Warsaw Pact countries.
The documents that have now been disclosed and made available to a team of journalists from German regional public broadcasters NDR and WDR, and daily Süddeutsche Zeitung, attest that in 1963 West Germany Defense Minister Kai-Uwe von Hasse secretly asked the US to supply his government with chemical weapons.
The US Department of State, however, expressed serious reservations. “That was very serious business. The political problem would be immense,” remembers Matthew Meselson, a chemical weapons expert who was an adviser to the US government at the time.
“This was a really hot potato, and only the president could decide that.”
Washington considered the proposal in detail but in 1966 ultimately decided against a transfer. The US did, however, leave open the possibility of making chemical weapons available to its allies in the event of a war.
Concurrently, from 1962 until at least 1968, a small group of high-ranking Bundeswehr officers were making detailed plans for a possible chemical weapons attack — on the instructions of the inspector general, and in consultation with defense ministers and deputy ministers. The documents show the military suggested procuring 14,000 tons of chemical weapons for the Bundeswehr from the US and, if war broke out, using artillery and the air force to deploy them against Warsaw Pact troops.

West Germany was forbidden to possess chemical weapons at the time and the recent document that has brought into the light the desire to not only possess but use these highlights the fears of a Soviet invasion back then.

Officially the German government owns no chemical weapons.

To read the entire article from Deutsche Welles, click here:

Photo courtesy Wikipedia

Germany’s Merkel Bows Out of Military Intervention in Syria

Germany Chancellor Angela Merkel said Thursday that while she supports sending a message that the use of chemical weapons is unacceptable, Germany will not participate in any possible military action in Syria.

Merkel stressed the importance of a united position in response to an alleged attack in Douma that the West is blaming on Syrian President Bashar Assad’s forces.

“Germany will not take part in possible military action — I want to make clear again that there are no decisions — but we see, and support this, that everything is being done to send a signal that this use of chemical weapons is not acceptable,” Merkel told reporters in Berlin after meeting Denmark’s prime minister.
The German leader said she spoke Thursday with French President Emmanuel Macron, who has been talking regularly this week with U.S. President Donald Trump about the most effective response to the alleged chlorine gas attack.
Post-World War II Germany typically has been reluctant to engage in military action, and parliamentary approval is required for any military missions abroad. The country often has restricted itself to supporting roles, such as the participation of a German refueling plane and Jordan-based reconnaissance jets in the current international campaign against the Islamic State group.
“I think it is important to have a common line, without Germany participating militarily,” Merkel said. “If the permanent representatives in the (U.N.) Security Council were to initiate steps … going beyond the diplomatic dimension, then we will be supportive.”

When pressed by reporters, Merkel declined to answer how Germany will be supportive or if she is worried that this will escalate tensions between the United States and Russia. She did, however, say that the violations against the use of chemical weapons was a serious issue and that “the reactions will be appropriate.”

To read the entire article from the Washington Post, click here:

Photo courtesy Wikipedia

Operation Chariot: Royal Marine Commandos Raid on St. Nazaire

Operation Chariot (also known as the St. Nazaire Raid) was a very successful if highly costly Commando raid on the port of St Nazaire in German-occupied France on March 28, 1942. The Royal Navy and Royal Marine Commandos targeted the German naval base there because it housed not only a fully equipped submarine base but the only dry dock outside of German waters large enough to house and maintain the battleship Tirpitz.

The British packed the obsolete destroyer HMS Campbeltown with tons of explosives and rammed her into the dry dock gates The damage was so great that the dry dock was rendered unusable for the remainder of the war.

But the successful raid was a very costly one. Of the 611 British Commandos that launched on the raid, only 228 would return to Britain. The Germans killed 169 and took another 215 prisoners. The Campbeltown and two other destroyers HMS Tynedale (L96) and Atherstone (L05), along with 16 motor launches (MLs) that would ferry the troops took part in the battle. Only two of the MLs would make it back to Britain.

Background: The U-boat campaign was in full swing in 1942. St. Nazaire had nine complete submarine pens and five more under construction. The Germans needed the dry dock for Tirpitz so that the sister ship of the Bismarck could become an Atlantic raider and prey upon Allied shipping.

The German defenses around the port were forbidding. An anti-aircraft brigade armed with dual purpose cannons for either use at ground targets or aircraft lined the approaches and the dock area. There were 13 of the 40-mm AA guns along the coastal area. Interspersed with those were 28, 20mm anti-aircraft guns. Most of these were mounted atop of concrete bunkers.

The British initially tasked their Special Operations Executive to conduct the mission. But they had to decline, the number of explosives needed to destroy the dry dock would necessitate the use of too many agents.

Finally, the British decided that a commando raid was the best option for success. An unusually high spring tide was due in March 1942 which would allow a ship that was light enough to pass over the sandbars in the estuary and approach the drydocks. The British believed if they lightened a destroyer enough it could have a draft shallow enough to enable it to get through.

The Raid Plan is Simple: The British plan outwardly was simple. The Commandos were to destroy three objectives: the Normandie dock, the old gates into the Bassin de St Nazaire along with the water pumping machinery and other installations, and any U-boats or other shipping in the area.

The Campbeltown, once the USS Buchanan (a WWI Lend-Lease destroyer) would be packed with high explosives in the bow with troops and crew in protected areas, would ram the outer lock gate at speed and become firmly stuck there. They would then disembark and take cover behind a nearby air-raid shelter. The ship would then blow up destroying the gate.

But to get her in close enough the ship would have to be lightened. Two of her funnels were removed, the other two given a rakish look to give the outward appearance of a German destroyer. Her original armament was replaced by a 12-pounder on the foredeck and eight Oerlikon cannons. The bridge and wheelhouse were heavily armor plated. Her decks were cleared except for armored screens behind which the Commandos would lie behind until it was time to attack.

The ship was to be scuttled after ramming the docks making it impossible to drag her out to sea before the explosive charges blew.

The Commandos would blow up as many targets as they could and then withdraw on the smaller boats from where they came.

The Raid: At about 2330 hrs on the 27th of March, bombers from the RAF begin to bomb the dock area as a diversion but because of the heavy restrictions placed on the mission,(only one bomb dropped per bomb run) and forced to fly above 6000 feet, all it did was put the Germans on alert that something was brewing.

As the Commandos and the Royal Navy were approaching the coast, they switched to a German Naval Ensign to confuse any German lookouts they may encounter.

At 0120 hrs, German searchlights illuminated the Campbeltown and 20mm guns fired a warning shot overhead. The British were prepared and signaled that they were preceding to the harbor in accordance with orders. The Germans were doubtful but hesitated briefly. The British increased their speed and then fired a flare which their intelligence had told them was a correct signal. However, the Germans immediately recognized that the flare was the wrong shade of red.

At 0128 hrs the Germans opened up with every gun that could be mustered. The British replied…the raid was on. Campbeltown, the largest target, naturally received the most attention from German gunners. The 12-pounder and the mortars on deck were knocked out. Heavy fire raked the Commandos on deck. Commander S. H. Beattie, the Campbeltown’s commander increased speed to 20 knots. Blinded by searchlights he aimed his ship at the middle of the dock gates.

Half of his men were already dead or wounded, the fuses which would blow the ship had been lit already and he plowed thru an anti-submarine and crashed into the outer gate. Thirty-five feet of bow crumpled like an aluminum beer can. The bow projected beyond the gate. Beattie turned to Captain Montgomery in charge of the Commandos’ Demolition team on board and with typical British understatement said, “Well, here we are….Four minutes late.”

There were five Demolition, two Assault and a Weapons (mortar) Commando teams on the Campbeltown, they were tasked destroying the dock pumping station and other targets within the dry dock. They took heavy casualties but succeeded in their mission. Most of the other Commandos coming ashore in the MLs were decimated before they hit the shore.

Lt.Col. Newman, in charge of the Commandos, took command on shore and tried to direct fire to neutralize the German machine guns that were taking a heavy toll on the demo teams. Once he got the reports on the demolitions being complete, he need only look in the harbor to know they weren’t leaving by ship.

The harbor was ablaze with launches on fire. Newman tried to get his men to evade thru the town, to the countryside. Most were caught and made POWs once their ammunition ran out. Only 5 men out of the 100 Commandos left made it to Spain and eventual safety back in England.

The Campbeltown was supposed to explode by 0430, but there was an issue with the long time fuse. Beattie, who was captured by the Germans was being interrogated by a German intelligence officer. The time was just after 1000 hrs. “Your people obviously didn’t know what a hefty thing that lock gate is. It was really useless to try to smash it with a flimsy destroyer,” the German said.

It was at that moment that the explosives finally cooked off, shattering the windows of the office where the interrogation was taking place. The lock gate disintegrated and a tidal wave of water rushed in carrying the shattered destroyer halfway along the dock.

“That, I hope,” Beattie said, “is proof that we did not underestimate the strength of the gate.”

The explosion killed over 350 Germans including 40 senior officers and civilians who were touring the deck of the Campbeltown.

Despite the cost, the Commandos and the Royal Navy accomplished what they set out to do, the dry dock was inoperable for the rest of the war. The British recognized the valor and sacrifice made by the men and 89 decorations were awarded for the raid. There were five Victoria Crosses awarded to Lieutenant Commander Beattie, Lieutenant Colonel Newman and Commander Ryder, and posthumous awards to Sergeant Durrant and Able Seaman Savage. Four Distinguished Service Orders were awarded to Major William Copland, Captain Donald Roy, Lieutenant T Boyd and Lieutenant T D L Platt. Other decorations awarded were four Conspicuous Gallantry Medals, five Distinguished Conduct Medals, 17 Distinguished Service Crosses, 11 Military Crosses, 24 Distinguished Service Medals and 15 Military Medals. Four men were awarded the Croix de Guerre by France, and another 51 were mentioned in despatches.

The Tirpitz never made it out of Norwegian waters, the sacrifice of the Commandos and the Royal Navy saved the lives of an untold amount of merchant seamen. Tirpitz was eventually sunk in 1944 in a Norwegian fjord.

Photos: Wikipedia

German Defense Minister Blasts Russian Nerve Gas Attack in Britain

Ursula von der Leyen, Germany’s defense minister in the most strongly worded statement yet on the Sergei Skripal nerve agent poisoning, said that the Russians were most certainly behind the attack and tied this into the use of chemical weapons in Syria.

Von der Leyen appeared Thursday on Morgen Magazin, a joint breakfast show by public broadcasters ARD and ZDF and stated that the Russians must cooperate in the investigation and vowed “consequences”.

The nerve agent attack was a “serious violation of international agreements on chemical weapons,” she said.

Britain has said it was “highly likely” Moscow was behind the attack, or that it had “lost control” of the military-grade nerve agent used against ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia nearly two weeks ago. The two remain in critical condition.
“It’s the very first time since World War II that a horrible chemical weapon has been used on European soil,” von der Leyen said, demanding Russia contribute to providing clarity on the incident.
Russia has denied any involvement in the nerve-agent attack, which prompted a UN Security Council meeting on Wednesday.
Tom Tugendhat, a British MP and chairman of the foreign affairs committee in the House of Commons, told DW that Russia’s actions were “war-like.”
“Had [this chemical] been opened on the London Underground, for example, it would have killed hundreds of people. And to use it next to a children’s playground, where, had the children been there, it would have killed 30 or 40 children. This is a completely unacceptable, war-like act by a violent, deranged regime that is weakening and lashing out. This is a corrupt dictatorship that has to stop,” he said.
Von der Leyen also tied the UK nerve-agent attack to events in Syria, where Russia is allied with President Bashar al-Assad. The Syrian regime has been accused of using banned chemical agentsagainst civilians and rebels.
“We see the Assad-allied forces using poison gas. Russia is the one the allies of Assad. That’s why it’s crucial for Russia to clarify what happened there,” von der Leyen said.

The outrage of the brazen attack on Skripal in the UK is opening up the investigations of more than just his attack. And the European NATO countries are going to be watching the events closely. But if history is any indication, the Russians won’t stop what they’ve always done and Putin’s administration will only grow stronger.

To read the entire article from Deutsche Welle, click here:

Photo courtesy Wikipedia

Germany’s Lack of Military Readiness “Dramatic” Bundeswehr

The German military’s combat readiness was criticized by a scathing report by their parliament’s military commissioner as debates rage over the country’s increasing involvement in overseas military missions.

Germany’s military has deteriorated in recent years amid budget cuts and poor management, according to a report published on Tuesday by Parliamentary Armed Forces Commissioner Hans-Peter Bartels.

The call on politicians to double-down on reforms and increase funding came in the same week a Defense Ministry paper revealed German soldiers did not have enough protective vests, winter clothing or tents to adequately take part in a major NATO mission.
What’s wrong with the Bundeswehr?

Bartels pointed to “big gaps” in personnel and equipment. At the end of 2017, no submarines and none of the air force’s 14 large transport planes were available for deployment due to repairs.
Other equipment, including fighter jets, tanks and ships, was outdated and in some cases not fully operational because of bad planning or a lack of spare parts. Some air force pilots were unable to train because too many aircraft were being repaired.
Soldiers have experienced increasing levels of stress and there was a lack adequate leadership due to some 21,000 vacant officer posts.
The report said the government needed to pursue reforms “with greater urgency” and increase defense spending.
A lack of funding and inefficient management structures and planning were behind the problems. Germany has cut defense spending since the end of the Cold War. In 2017, it spent about 1.2 percent of its economic production in 2017 on the armed forces, which is below the 2 percent target recommended by the NATO alliance.

Germany has come under increasing criticism by some, including U.S. President Donald Trump for not spending 2 percent of their GNP on defense which Trump and others say, degrades the unity of NATO.

Meanwhile, the debate in the German government continues as some feel they should meet the NATO goal of 2 percent defense spending while others say the number is only a “target range” of spending.

To read the entire article from Deutsche Welle, click here:

Photo courtesy Wikipedia

Wannsee Conference Outlines Nazi Plans for the “Jewish Question”

In January 1942, the leaders of the Nazi Third Reich gathered in Wannsee, Germany, a suburb of Berlin to implement their plans and policies for what they termed the “Jewish Question.” The meeting was called and chaired by Reich Main Security Office SS-Obergruppenführer Reinhard Heydrich.

The Nazi’s plan, the “Final Solution” to the Jewish question was for the SS (Schutzstaffel) to oversee the obliteration of all of the Jews in Europe. Heydrich’s plan, where he laid out a proposal to force all of the Jews in Europe to Nazi-occupied Poland where they would be exterminated.

Discrimination Begins WIth Nazi Rise to Power:
As soon as Hitler and the Nazis came to power, the discrimination of the Jews began to take place. The Jews were gradually stripped of their rights as German citizens, their shops were vandalized and looted and they were encouraged to emigrate out of the country while leaving nearly all of their money and property of course.

Laws were passed to keep Jews from civil service careers. Then additional laws were enacted that would keep the Jews from practicing in any of the skilled professions such as doctors and lawyers, etc.

The in 1935, the Nazis passed the Nuremberg Laws which forbade Jews from marrying anyone of Germanic extraction. The Reich Citizenship Law stripped Jews of their German citizenship. Even those hardy souls who had lived through many of the pogroms that plagued Europe, this one is too much. As a result by 1939, more than half of Germany’s 500,000 Jews had emigrated to the United States, Britain, or Palestine.

With the invasion of Poland in 1939, the Nazis were putting their plans into action. Einsatzgruppen (Special Task Forces) began the hunting and killing of Jewish civilians. SS and regular Wehrmacht troops murdered civilians as well.

One the Germans invaded the Soviet Union, they quickly began rounding up and exterminating Jews as the Final Solution had been in effect for some time.

The Meeting By the Lake in Wannsee:
The conference was attended by fifteen of the Nazi’s top leaders or the deputies of those leaders. The attendees besides Heydrich were:
Gauleiter Dr. Alfred Mayer (Reich Ministry for the Occupied Eastern Territories)
Reichsamtleiter Dr. Georg Leibbrandt (ditto)
Dr. Wilhelm Stuckart (Reich Ministry for the Interior)
Dr. Erich Neumann (Head of the Four Years Plan Office)
Dr. Roland Freisler (Reich Ministry of Justice)
Dr. Josef Bühler (Director General of the Generalgouvernement)
Dr. Martin Luther (Foreign Office)
SS-Oberführer Gerhard Klopfer (NSDAP Chancellery)
Ministerialdirektor Friedrich Wilhelm Kritzinger (Reich Chancellery)
SS-Gruppenführer Otto Hofmann (Race and Settlement Main Office)
SS-Gruppenführer Heinrich Müller (Reich Main Security Office/Gestapo)
SS-Obersturmbannf Adolf Eichmann (Reich Main Security Office)
SS-Oberführer Dr.Karl Eberhard Schöngarth (Commander SD / SIPO Krakow)
SS-Sturmbannführer Dr. Rudolf Lange (Commander SD Latvia)

The purpose of the meeting Heydrich said was to discuss the plan of the Final Solution to the Jewish Question and would entail rounding up all of the Jews of Europe. It was decided that the SS under Heinrich Himmler were to be in charge of the operation to exterminate the Jews of Europe. The Jews would be transported eastward to Poland and organized into large labor gangs. Work and living conditions would be extremely brutal, with little food, so that they could kill large numbers by natural reduction. Any survivors would be treated accordingly. Treated accordingly was the alternative term for extermination.

As would be later noted during the Nuremberg War Crime Trials, not one of the 15 men there would object to the planned extermination of an entire race of people. A bigger bone of contention among the Nazis attending the conference was, how to define what exactly makes one Jewish? Himmler, always a believer in quack-science, foolishly hoped that a simple blood test could be developed that could differentiate between Jews and non-Jews. When that proved useless, the Nazis decided to go back two generations. If there was a Jewish grandparent in the last two generations, then that person was a Jew. But in their ardor to destroy the race, it ended up simply being if a Nazi party member thought you were a Jew, you were.

The minutes of the meeting never mentioned extermination but just a few months later, gas chambers were being introduced into the six Nazi death camps in Poland, Belzec, Birkenau, Chelmno, Majdanek, Sobibor, and Treblinka. This did not bother the attendees at all, once again because in their minds, Jews were Untermensch or subhuman.

A copy of the minutes survived the War and was furnished at the Nuremberg trials. In one of the paragraphs it broke down how the approximate 5 million Jews of the USSR were employed:

The breakdown of Jews residing in the European part of the USSR according to trades was approximate as follows:

    Agriculture                                       9.1 %
    Urban workers                                    14.8 %
    In trade                                         20.0 %
    Employed by the state                            23.4 %
    In private occupations such as
    medical profession, press, theater, etc.         32. 7%
Under proper guidance, in the course of the final solution the Jews are to be allocated for appropriate labor in the East. Able-bodied Jews, separated according to sex, will be taken in large work columns to these areas for work on roads, in the course of which action doubtless a large portion will be eliminated by natural causes.

The possible final remnant will, since it will undoubtedly consist of the most resistant portion, have to be treated accordingly, because it is the product of natural selection and would, if released, act as a the seed of a new Jewish revival (see the experience of history.)

In the course of the practical execution of the final solution, Europe will be combed through from west to east. Germany proper, including the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, will have to be handled first due to the housing problem and additional social and political necessities.

The evacuated Jews will first be sent, group by group, to so-called transit ghettos, from which they will be transported to the East.

The entire meeting lasted only 90 minutes. Heydrich instructed Eichmann to sanitize the minutes, (protocols in German) to sanitize them as nothing too explicit was to be put in there. All of the attendees were given a copy of the minutes after they were carefully scrutinized by Heydrich. At the end of the war, most of the copies were burned as the Nazis tried to cover their tracks in the last days of the Reich.

Heydrich was quite pleased with the meeting. No one opposed his absolute rule over the Jewish question and in fact, rather than oppose him, many at the conference pledged their support to him on the matter.

But for the Jews of Germany and the rest of Europe, the nightmare of the Holocaust was only going to get worse.

Photos: Wikipedia

The Luftwaffe Starts the “Second Great Fire of London, 1940

On this night, December 29-30, 1940, the Luftwaffe unleashed one of the more deadly raids on the city of London during “The Blitz”, firebombing the capital and destroying a large segment of the city.

The Blitz was the name Londoners gave to the German bombing of England that took place between 7 September 1940 – 10 May 1941 and was short for the German word “Blitzkrieg” or Lightning War which the Nazis under Hitler had termed.

During the Blitz and the bombing of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, nearly 40,000 civilians were killed. London was bombed every night for 57 straight nighttime raids. Over a million homes were destroyed in London and much of the historic part of the city was burned to the ground.

On this particular night, the Nazis would drop over 10,000 incendiary bombs and create a firestorm that locals would call the “Second Great Fire of London.”

Background: The Germans began World War II by invading Poland in September 1939 but it wasn’t until the spring of 1940, that their army, the Wehrmacht would show how effective this Blitzkrieg was. In May and June, the Germans invaded Belgium, Holland, France, and Norway and quickly took all of them. Their army quickly dispatched the French and English troops who were woefully unprepared for war.

The British and French were bottled up on the coast and only a daring rescue of the troops at Dunkirk saved them from annihilation. Britain was preparing for the inevitable invasion by the Germans. Hitler’s plan, “Operation Sea-Lion” was dependent upon the German Air Force, the Luftwaffe to gain air superiority.

The Luftwaffe began by attacking the British airfields and anti-aircraft defenses. But instead of sweeping aside the heavily outnumbered RAF, the losses the Luftwaffe took were appalling. Just when the British were in danger of losing control of the air battle, Hitler blinked first. He switched the air attacks from the airfields to the cities and the Germans first bombed London on September 7. This allowed the British to recover, regroup and rearm. Operation Sea-Lion was canceled but the bombing of the British cities, especially London continued.

By October, the Germans decided to try to bomb the British into surrendering by attacking the cities and large population areas. This just steeled British resolve. The Germans were also hampered by poor intelligence. They knew little of the British industry and during the Blitz, British production increased rather than decreased. The German High Command couldn’t make up its mind to attack certain targeted industries, such as aircraft production, their supply chain or by targeting the civilian populace in terror bombing. This condemned the Luftwaffe to failure.

The Bombing of 29 December: On the attack on London, the Germans were using Kampfgruppe 100 (Bomber Group), at 1817 hrs, they sent 10 He-111s “Pathfinders” using incendiary bombs to light the way for the main force raid. The raid force consisted of nearly 150 bombers, mainly the He-111.

The raid lasted three hours and the Germans hit central London with over 24,000 high explosive bombs and 100,000 incendiary bombs. The firestorm created by the bombing burned more territory than the “Great Fire of London” in 1666, almost 275 years previously.

The devastation stretched from the south in Islington to the St. Paul’s Cathedral Churchyard. The Germans planned the attack around a particularly low tide on the river Thames so it would be harder for the British to fight the more than 1500 fires that were raging around the city.

More than 160 civilians died during the raid, although many more would die of their injuries later in the days that followed. Still, civilian casualties could have been much higher. A total of 14 firemen died fighting the fires and 250 were injured. Buildings completely destroyed in the firestorm included 19 churches, 31 guild halls and all of Paternoster Row. Paternoster Row was the center of the London publishing trade and an estimated 5 million books were lost in the fire.

Amazingly, St.Paul’s Cathedral was saved, due to the bravery of the British firefighters and the volunteers of the St. Paul’s Watch, over 200 civilians who volunteered to save the Cathedral. Winston Churchill urged the firemen to save the Cathedral at all costs.

The iconic photos of St. Pauls standing resolutely while London burns around it became a rallying point for British resistance against the Blitz.

Two footnotes should be mentioned, above it said the blitz lasted until 10 May 1941, that is when most of the front line German troops were pulled off the Western Front and sent east for “Operation Barbarossa” which was the Nazis invasion of the Soviet Union.

And the British would have a long memory. In February 1945, the British and Americans decided that the firebombing of Dresden may prove detrimental to the German morale.

In four raids over two days in February 1945, 722 heavy bombers of the RAF and 527 heavy bombers of the USAAF (United States Army Air Force) hit Dresden with a combined 3900 tons of high explosives and incendiary devices.

The resultant firestorm devastated Dresden and upwards of 25,000 civilians died of flames or by the scorching heat.

Many Germans considered what Britain and the US did in Dresden was a war crime.

Photos:Wikipedia

Massacre of American Soldiers at Malmedy December 17,1944

During the opening days of the Germans’ Ardennes Offensive late in 1944, elements of the 1st SS Panzer Division [Leibstandarte] committed a series of grisly atrocities against American prisoners of war [POWs] around the Belgian town of Malmedy. These actions by Kampfgruppe Peiper, led by SS Sturmbannführer Joachim Peiper led to a war crimes trial in Dachau in 1946.

Background: Nazi Germany was on the verge of collapse in late 1944, the Russian Army in the east was steadily pushing them back toward Germany and bleeding an incredible amount of casualties every day. In the west, the Allies had successfully come ashore at Normandy and once they had achieved a breakthrough in the hedgerow country, raced across France. They had penetrated the frontiers of the German border in a few places while their bombers were devastating German war industry and their cities.

Hitler developed a grandiose plan where he was going to withdraw a large part of his Panzer Army from the Russian Front and try to take advantage of the bad winter weather, which would ground Allied aircraft and punch a hole in the thinly defended American lines in the Ardennes forest. He wanted to split the Allies in two and drive to Antwerp. His generals had no delusions about making it to Antwerp. But they thought it could push the Allies back to the Meuse River it would buy them time while delaying the war.
Peiper’s attack was to be the vanguard of the left wing of the Sixth SS Panzer Army. His orders relayed to him by General Sepp Dietrich and from Hitler, himself stated that the Russian Front rules of engagement would be in effect. No quarter to be given, no prisoners taken and the Belgian citizens were to be shown no quarter either. Hitler wanted to shock and frighten the American army. It would have the opposite effect. Once the infantry poked a hole in the American lines, Peiper’s Kampfgruppe spearhead was to race his column of armored and motorized infantry thru the crossroads at Stavelot and Trois Pointes and seize the important bridge over the Meuse at Huy. The timetable for this was 48 hours maximum. This would prove to be too ambitious and the Germans would be behind their schedule almost immediately.

The Germans Attack: At 0530 on December 16, the Germans began their attack along the front. Artillery pounded US positions from between 20-90 minutes. The German Volksgrenadiers who were to punch a hole in the green American 99th Infantry Division were delayed in breaking thru. The untested and heavily outnumbered Americans delayed the German advance for four hours. The result was a huge traffic jam behind the lines for Peiper’s armored force. He didn’t break thru until after dark, far behind his timetable, but drove his men all thru the night, not stopping. He initially lost five of his tanks when they rolled over an old German minefield

Shooting of prisoners at Honsfeld and Büllingen: Peiper’s column raced as quickly as they could all night on the roads in the American rear. At dawn on the 17th, his troops surprised and took the town of Honsfeld, capturing many vehicles and anti-tank guns. They then shot down 17 unarmed Americans, the first of the atrocities committed by these hardened German troops who were accustomed to the bitter no-quarter-given battles on the Eastern Front.

Peiper’s column was already in need of fuel. He learned of an American fuel depot at Büllingen which wasn’t in his sector but the Hitler Youth [Jugend] Division’s sector. Peiper swung two miles off course and quickly captured the fuel depot and capturing 50 Americans. His men forced the Americans to fuel his vehicles and then shot them down in cold-blood, murdering them and leaving them before swinging back on his route and pushing west.

As Peiper’s men pushed west, they just missed running headlong into a column of Combat Command [Brigade] of the 7th Armored Division heading for St. Vith. Had they met a massive tank battle would have taken place, instead, the Americans passed by unaware of the armored column in their rear. Following the American tanks was a column of 125 men attached to the 285th Field Artillery Observation Battalion.

Malmedy Massacre: The meeting between the two columns was strictly by chance, the Americans were in unarmored trucks and the Germans disabled the first and last vehicles forcing the men to surrender. They were herded into a small field surrounded by crossroads with other POWs from earlier in the day.

Later reports had about 120 prisoners in the field. As follow-on German columns were approaching on all sides in armored vehicles, the Germans opened fire on the American prisoners. They machine-gunned them in the field. There was no escape, no one was able to run. Unlike in some films that showed Americans running into the woods, that didn’t happen.

After the troops were machine-gunned, SS troops walked thru the field and were shooting any soldier that showed signs of life and mocked Americans who cried out for their mother or God as they applied a coup de grace. 43 men survived by feigning death under the bodies of other soldiers. That was their only chance.

After the Germans moved off, the survivors in ones and twos began making their way back to the American lines. By late that afternoon, the American high command was learning of the Germans executing prisoners of war and the word quickly filtered down to the troops in the line. There would be no more surrendering. In fact, one unit posted orders that no German paratrooper or SS men were to be taken prisoner.

Reaction and Aftermath: The American army interviewed all of the survivors and their stories all matched, they knew that the Germans were conducting atrocities and were looking to gather evidence for a war crimes trial. For the average foot soldier, the feeling was payback. And that is just what they did.

On January 1, 1945, the Americans machine gunned about 30 German POWs outside of the small town of Chenogne, Belgium. It was quickly covered up and no soldier or officer was ever called to answer for their crimes.

Unfortunately, the bodies at Malmedy weren’t recovered until January 14, 1945, when the Americans finally took back the Baugnez crossroads where the massacre took place. An inspection of the dead showed many died from a pistol to wound to the head with powder burns showing execution by the SS.

Peiper’s men were accused of killing other prisoners in several other Belgian towns and the killing of 100 civilians in Stavelot.

An interesting side note to the events was the capture of an American officer, a Major Harold D. McCown of the 119th Infantry Regiment. He was captured in the fighting around Gleize. He was brought before Peiper and knowing about Malmedy, he asked about the safety of his men and himself. Peiper, according to McCown that neither he nor his men were at any risk and that he [Peiper] was not accustomed to killing his prisoners. McCown also testified that neither he nor his men were threatened in any way. McCown would later testify at Peiper’s war crime trial in 1946.

During the trial at Dachau in 1946, Peiper, his commander Sepp Dietrich and 70 subordinates were tried and sentenced for crimes against humanity. There were 43 death sentences, 22 life sentences, and several smaller sentences. No one was ever executed. All of the sentences were commuted and the last to leave prison was Peiper himself in 1956.

After the war, he moved to France where he lived quietly before being murdered by French communists in 1976. Ironically, he had just begun work on a book about Malmedy.

An excellent account of the Malmedy Massacre is the book “Fatal Crossroads” by Danny S. Parker. It can be ordered here:

Photos: US Archives