The Second World War resulted in the deaths of around 85 million people. Additionally, tens of millions more people were displaced. However, amid all the carnage people demonstrated remarkable courage, fortitude, compassion, mercy and sacrifice. We would like to honour and celebrate all of those people. In the War Years Blog, we examine the extraordinary experiences of individual service personnel. We also review military history books, events, and museums. And we look at the history of unique World War Two artefacts, medals, and anything else of interest.
The Miracle of Dunkirk Retold
In this blog post, we take a look at Christopher Nolan’s new war movie, Dunkirk.
The historical, technical and military inaccuracies aside, Christopher Nolan’s new war movie Dunkirk is worth the price of the ticket. It’s a big movie, beautifully shot on location, that tells the story of the evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) from three different perspectives: land, sea and air. However, the epic scale of the film, and Chris Nolan’s preference to use real men, ships and planes over CGI wherever possible, often left the screen strangely underpopulated. Operation Dynamo might have been something of a military and logistical miracle, having rescued around 340,000 men between May 26th and June 4th, 1940, instead of the original estimate of just 35,000. Nevertheless, Dunkirk was a major defeat, and no amount of propaganda about the armada of little ships could hide the fact.
Spitfires
Dunkirk features a great cast including Harry Styles, Tom Hardy, Cillian Murphy, Mark Rylance, Fionn Whitehead and Kenneth Branagh. I think Nolan has to be applauded for his all-Brit and Irish cast. I’m sure the studio’s money, marketing and PR people would have been screaming for a Hollywood A-lister to give the film more box-office appeal across the Atlantic. I think Fionn Whitehead did a very credible job as the central character, and possibly the unluckiest Tommy to put on a uniform. Of course, the real stars of the movie were the three Supermarine Spitfires (two Mk.Ia’s and an Mk.Vb according to Warbird News) and the Hispano Buchon doing a credible job of playing a Messerschmitt Bf 109E. I think I’ve seen all of these planes at shows like Flying Legends in recent years. Duxford’s Bristol Blenheim (the only one still flying) also put in a brief appearance. The movie’s Heinkel He 111 is a large, radio-controlled model.
CGI
To my mind, Chris Nolan missed a trick, not embracing and integrating CGI with live-action and genuine kit for Dunkirk. I think Director Joe Wright did a much better, in fact, an extraordinary job with his continuous, five-minute tracking shot of the Dunkirk beach in Atonement (2007). In this one scene, Wright successfully conveys a much more believable account of the chaos, absurdity and tragedy of the retreat and evacuation. We see masses of dishevelled men, wrecked and burning vehicles, a French officer shooting horses, soldiers singing and playing football while others drink, and above it all, the sky is black with thick, oily smoke. Of course, all the CGI in the world won’t save a badly written, acted and directed piece of nonsense such as Mel Gibson’s Hacksaw Ridge (2016). Like just about everything else in the film, the CGI is used with no skill or finesse, so looks fake and totally unbelievable.
Miracle of Dunkirk
Films like Hacksaw Ridge take amazing true stories of courage and sacrifice and turn them into shameful pantomimes. In contrast, Christopher Nolan uses the historical events of May/June 1940 as the stage for a story of courage, hope and redemption. Dunkirk might not be technically or historically quite on the money, and I’m sure Tom Hardy knows you’d be lucky to walk away alive if you really tried to land a Spitfire like that, but then it isn’t a documentary. To me, Chris Nolan’s film is both a question and a reminder. What would we do with our backs against the wall and defeat starring us in the face? Once upon a time, our parents and grandparents faced an implacable enemy, refused to surrender, and turned defeat into victory – maybe then and now that is the miracle of Dunkirk.
The Abbeville Boys, Focke Wulf Fw-190A1
In this blog, we take a look at the unique history of a piece of the engine cowling from Fw-190A-1 Wn.10036. The Fw-190 was part of Jagdgeschwader (JG) 26 "Schlageter" known to the Allies as "The Abbeville Boys". Piloted by Oberfeldwebel Helmut Ufer, the Fw-190 was shot down by an RAF Spitfire in July 1942.
Visiting Flying Legends 2017 WW2 warbirds airshow at IWM Duxford, I happened upon a piece of Focke-Wulf Fw-190 engine cowling. Designed by Kurt Tank in the late 1930s and widely used by the German Luftwaffe during World War II, the Fw-190 Würger (Shrike in English) quickly established itself as a fearsome multi-role aircraft. Until the introduction of the improved Spitfire Mk. IX towards the end of 1942, the RAF didn’t have a comparable interceptor at low and medium altitudes. Named after the Shrike, a small carnivorous bird of prey known for impaling its prey on spikes, the Fw-190 was nicknamed the “butcher bird”.
My particular piece of butcher bird came from Fw-190A-1 Wn.10036. The Fw-190A-1 was in production from June 1941. It was powered by the BMW 801 C-1 engine, rated at 1,560 PS (1,539 hp, 1,147 kW) for take-off. Armament included two fuselage-mounted 7.92 mm (.312 in) MG 17s and two wings root-mounted 7.92 mm (.312 in) MG 17s (in all four MG 17s synchronized to fire through the propeller arc) and two outboard wing-mounted 20 mm cannons.
On the afternoon of Sunday, 13 July 1942 Oberfeldwebel Helmut Ufer was flying at 16,000 feet near the JG26 airfield of Abbeville in France. Ufer, a long-time member of 4/JG26, was flying Fw-190A-1 Wn.10036, designated White 5, only the thirty-sixth production model.
Helmut Ufer had been a tank driver in the Reichwehr. He was released from service in 1935. He volunteered for the Luftwaffe at the start of the war and began his flight training in March 1940. Ufer had won a number of aerial victories. On 13 March 1942, Ufer shot down a Spitfire V over Wirre Effroy northeast of Boulogne. The Spitfire belonged to 124 (Baroda) Squadron, RAF, based at Debden. The pilot was Michael Gordon Meston Reid, 116060, who subsequently died of his wounds at a German Naval Hospital on 7th August 1942. Pilot Officer Reid’s grave is one of four commonwealth war graves and one Polish to be found in Hardinghen cemetery, northeast of where he was originally shot down. On 4 April 1942, Ufer shot down one of 11 Spitfires claimed by JG26 over St. Omer. He downed another Spitfire from 222 Squadron at St. Valery-sur-Somme on 30 April 1942.
Jagdgeschwader (JG) 26 "Schlageter" was known to the Allies as "The Abbeville Boys". The unit crest of a black gothic 'S' on a white shield was created to reflect its involvement in the re-occupation of the Rhineland on March 7, 1936. 4./JG26 belonged to the second Gruppe within the Jagdgeschwader 26 (II./JG26). Karl Ebbighausen then selected a caricature of a tiger's head to represent the unit and it was painted onto each 4.Staffel aeroplane with pride.
On that Sunday afternoon, a group of Spitfires from 616 Squadron led by Australian Flight Lieutenant F.A.O. Tony Gaze were on a 'Circus' to Abbeville. Tony flew with the 616 Squadron until 29 August 1942, by which time he had destroyed 4 enemy planes and one probable.
Tony Gaze finished the war a double-Ace with 11 destroys and 3 shared, including a Me262 and Arado 234, 4 probables and one V1. He was the first Australian to destroy an enemy jet in combat and the first Australian to fly a jet in combat. He has the rare distinction of being awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross three times (DFC with 2 bars) which only 48 people have received in its history. He later went on to have a career in motor racing.
Gaze later reported:
“After a right-hand orbit around Abbeville at 21,000 feet, I saw a single Fw-190 climbing up at about 16,000 feet between us and the coast. I made sure nothing was above us and led Red Section down to attack. I fired a one-second burst from around 300 yards from astern above seeing cannon strikes on the port main plane near the cockpit. As I started to fire again the '190 flicked to the left emitting a puff of black and white smoke and spun down.”
Several other pilots reported seeing the Fw-190 carry on spinning down, apparently out of control, until they lost sight of it. It must be assumed that Oberfeldwebel Helmut Ufer was killed by Gaze's fire after being caught unawares from behind.
On the ground, the villagers of Nibas, to the southwest of Abbeville, were on their way to mass in the village church. Alerted by the howl of an aircraft engine, some caught sight of it diving, almost vertically, towards them. With a huge explosion, the aircraft crashed into a field about 300 yards away from the church. There was little to be found of the aircraft. A smoking crater and a few fragments of metal were all that was left of Ufer's Fw-190.
The Luftwaffe later recovered Ufer’s body and noted the crash site.
Simon Parry of Aviation Archaeology explains, “The owner of the field, grandson of the war-time owner, was kind enough to point out the location of the Fw-190 crash and allowed a team to excavate what was left of the plane. At length, the BMW801 engine, tail wheel, parts of the armament and other items were recovered from a depth of up to 15 feet.”
Sources: Wikipedia on Fw-190, JG26
Two Books on the Tank War for Northwest Europe
In this double book review, we look at two very different titles that both look at the tank war in Northwest Europe from very different perspectives. Ken Tout's book A Fine Night for Tanks takes an almost forensic look at Operation Totalize. Tank Action by David Render is a very personal portrait of the Allied advance from the Normandy beaches to Germany from the viewpoint of a junior tank commander.
The last year of the war in Northwest Europe was a bloody and protracted affair, especially if you were in an M4 Sherman tank at the cutting edge of the Allied advance. A Fine Night for Tanks, The Road to Falaise, by Ken Tout (originally published in 1998) takes an almost forensic look at Operation Totalize. In stark contrast, Tank Action by David Render with Stuart Tootal, An Armoured Troop Commander’s War 1944-45, recalls the very personal war experiences of a junior British tank officer.
A Fine Night for Tanks, The Road to Falaise
Ken Tout’s book is a detailed study of the various elements of the joint British and Canadian operation to break the German line south of Caen and ultimately help close the Falaise Gap. After a successful night attack using tanks and troops mounted in hastily converted M7 Priest self-propelled gun carriages, nicknamed Kangaroos, the operation stalled. Historically, Operational Totalize has generally been regarded as just another hammer blow against the 1st SS Panzer Corps. Preceding operations such as Epsom, Windsor and Charnwood were bloody battles of attrition costing thousands of men and hundreds of tanks on both sides. However, the difference was the Germans could ill-afford such grievous losses while the Allies had a seemingly endless supply of replacements.
The Death of Wittmann
An interesting footnote to Operation Totalize was the death of German panzer ace, Michael Wittmann. An SS-Hauptsturmführer with the 101st SS Heavy Panzer Battalion, Wittmann is credited with around 135 tank kills. Although completely unknown to Allied troops during the war, Wittmann has become legendary, especially for his encounter with the British 7th Armoured Division at the Norman town of Villers-Bocage. The circumstances of Wittmann’s death during Operation Totalize have been much debated. Ken Tout tells how Trooper Joe Ekins, 1st Northamptonshire Yeomanry, the gunner in a Sherman Firefly, caught Wittmann’s Tiger in the open and fired the fatal shot. I had the pleasure to meet Joe Ekins briefly at Tankfest a few years ago.
While being informative and easy to read, Ken Tout’s book does have a number of factual errors and typos, such as repeatedly referring to a Panther’s 88mm gun when it was armed with a 75mm.
Tank Action
Tank Action by David Render tells his very personal story of fighting across Northwest Europe from the D-Day beaches and infamous bocage countryside to Holland and finally into Germany. Render paints a vivid picture of life as a Troop Commander of an M4 Sherman tank with all its discomforts and many dangers. Render explains the many shortcomings of the standard M4 from its thin armour and high profile to its 75mm gun. The Sherman lacked the penetrating firepower of German 88mm anti-tank guns, Panzerfaust handheld anti-tank weapons and most types of panzer. However, probably the single most worrying feature of the Sherman was its terrifying propensity to burst into flames the moment it was hit. The Germans called the Sherman the “Tommy Cooker” while British tank crews renamed it the “Ronson” after a popular brand of cigarette lighter famed for its ability to light first time.
Two Weeks Life Expectancy
As well as the many deficiencies of British Army equipment, Render also describes the amazing comradeship, courage and ingenuity of officers and men fighting against a determined, well-armed enemy. As a junior officer, Render’s life expectancy was just two weeks once he went into the line. Over a year of almost constant action, Render would find that his mental and physical reserves quickly eroded. He freely admits that fear threatened to overwhelm him every time he was ordered to climb back into his Sherman and continue the advance.
War without End
The Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry had seen extensive action in North Africa (1940-1943) prior to David Render joining them. Once in Normandy, he noticed that prolonged exposure to combat had made many of the desert veterans excessively cautious and unreliable. On the job training was the order of the day. He would have to learn his craft from bitter, hard won experience as he and his crew fought across Normandy, Belgium, Holland and into Germany. By war’s end, the Sherwood Rangers would have earned 30 battle honours, 78 gallantry awards at the cost of 827 casualties killed, wounded and missing. However, for many of the veterans the war would never be over. At aged 90, and with a successful business career behind him, David Render remains haunted by the loss of many comrades, and one in particular. His great friend, Harry Heenan, killed in a freak accident just after saving David’s life during an engagement with a concealed 88mm anti-tank gun.
David Render’s book is a very personal, first-hand account of the tank war in Northwest Europe. In Render’s world, soldiers seldom knew what was happening in the next field or hedgerow. They knew nothing of the strategic decisions being made by Allied high commanders like Eisenhower, Montgomery or General Brian Horrocks. Instead, they focused on keeping their tanks ready for the next day’s action. They worried about being caught in a burning tank as it “brewed up”. They foraged for extra food to supplement their meagre rations. They struggled against fatigue, fear, and the terrible odds against any of them making it through alive. Sadly, David Render recently died aged 92.
Tiger Tank artefact: Falaise Pocket August 1944
In this blog post, we take a look at a battlefield-recovered piece of Tiger tank history from the Falaise Pocket, in August 1944.
366 miles and 73 years is quite a journey for an inanimate lump of metal and glass, but then this item was once a vision block sitting in the command’s cupola of a German mid-production Panzerkampfwagen Tiger Ausf. E. The German Tiger tank established a fearsome battlefield reputation on both the Eastern and Western fronts during World War Two. Today, only seven Tiger Is remain in various states of repair and preservation of the 1,347 manufactured. The star of the Hollywood movie, Fury, the Tank Museum’s Tiger 131 is the only example still running. Therefore, I was very excited to find a genuine Tiger tank artefact at the 2017 Overlord Show. However, I believe the same vision blocks were also used in the much more numerous German Panzer IV.
Tiger 1E model illustrates the commander's cupola and vision blocks
Vision block, mid-production Tiger tank destroyed, Falaise Pocket, Normandy 1944
I have mixed feelings about the trade in battlefield-recovered historic items, and think it must be strictly controlled. However, the opportunity to own just a small piece of the Tiger legend got the better of me. The extremely corroded condition of my vision block suggests if it had remained buried, it would have eventually disintegrated. Instead, I will do my best to preserve it and the history. So, how did my Tiger meet its end?
The final act of a savage campaign that started on the D-Day beaches of Normandy, the Battle of the Falaise Pocket was played out from the 12 to 21 August 1944. Having fought a tremendous but costly defensive battle across the Norman countryside, German Army Group B, the 7th Army and Fifth Panzer Army found themselves squeezed into a shrinking pocket around Falaise. Although the Germans were able to keep a corridor open for retreating forces, most of Army Group B on the western side of the river Seine was destroyed, opening the road to Paris.
The Vimoutiers Tiger, Normandy
Better suited to the open steppe of Russia than the claustrophobic sunken lanes and hedgerows of Normandy, the Tiger tank adapted well to defensive fighting. On 13 June 13 1944, the British 7th Armoured Division’s attack towards Villers-Bocage was blunted by a handful of SS Tigers tanks. Repeatedly, the Germans skilfully deployed their limited resources of equipment and men with devastating effects. Nevertheless, Allied numbers, air superiority, the weight of firepower and logistical support eventually won the day. Gradually, British and Canadian operations such as Epsom, Charnwood, Goodwood and Bluecoat denuded German forces of their best, irreplaceable units. This freed the American Third Army under General George Patton to strike toward Brittany.
Rather than be allowed to organise a strategic withdrawal, Field Marshal Günther von Kluge, commander of Army Group B, was forced to launch a costly counterattack attack at Mortain. In reality, this weak German offensive actually placed them in greater peril than the American forces it was supposed to stop. On 8 August, General Bernard Montgomery ordered Allied forces to converge on the Falaise–Chambois region. As the trap closed, the Germans started to withdraw, often having to fight their way through Allied lines, abandoning vehicles and heavy weapons. By 21 August, around 50,000 German troops found themselves inside the Falaise Pocket. Just two days later, the Allies were in Paris.
Charlie and Tiger 131, the World's only operational Tiger I
The Battle of Normandy was exceptionally costly. British, Canadian and Polish ground forces suffered 83,045 casualties. The Americans lost 125,847. German casualties are harder to establish, but roughly 200,000 killed and wounded. Sadly, although far better than British tanks, the American mainstay was the M4 Sherman. This was no match for the Tiger. The US 3rd Armoured Division, for example, suffered a loss rate of 580 percent during its time fighting in Europe.
According to Stephen Napier’s book, The Armoured Campaign in Normandy, June – August 1944, the Germans lost 1,223 tanks and self-propelled guns in the Falaise Pocket, half the armour they committed to the Normandy campaign. 75% of those vehicles found in the pocket were either destroyed by their crews or simply abandoned. In comparison, the Allies lost 2,700 tanks destroyed in Normandy. This would suggest the Allies lost two to three tanks for every German panzer. At the same time, certain German units seem to have exaggerated their claims of Allied tank kills. Although relatively few in numbers, the Tiger tanks that fought in Normandy had a terrific psychological effect on the Allies. It is also true that occasionally, lone or small groups of Tigers savaged their opponents, but overall numbers were decisive in the Allied victory.
If you've enjoyed this blog post then please share and join The War Years on Facebook
The German War: Crimes and Persecution Complex
The German War by Nicholas Stargardt and The Bitter Taste of Victory by Lara Feigel are two WW2 history books that neatly dovetail one another. The German War examines the many, varied aspects of the German war experience from 1939 to 1945 at home and on the frontlines. The Bitter Taste of Victory begins in 1944 as Allied forces, East and West, advance into the shrinking Reich and extends to 1949.
The German War by Nicholas Stargardt and The Bitter Taste of Victory by Lara Feigel are two history books that neatly dovetail with one another. The German War examines the many, varied aspects of the German war experience from 1939 to 1945 at home and on the frontlines. The Bitter Taste of Victory begins in 1944 as Allied forces, East and West, advance into the shrinking Reich and extends to 1949. Both books focus heavily on the question of German guilt for the many crimes committed under the Nazi regime, remorse and reconstruction. Chillingly, each book comes to the same conclusion: the only thing the surviving Germans truly felt guilty about was losing the war. The only pity most Germans felt was self-pity. Her cities, centres of industry and infrastructure lay in ruins. Millions were displaced and homeless. Hunger, disease, and lack of winter fuel all contributed to the misery after the nation’s collapse. However, for the victims of the camps, the millions of slave labourers, and all those countries ravaged by the German war machine there was no thought, no compassion and no sense of national guilt or shame. On the contrary, population surveys taken 5 and 10 years after the war revealed German sentiment towards the Jews and many Nazi policies had barely changed for many.
The German War examines the many motivating factors that kept the German people fighting right until the bitter end, even when defeat was assured. It reveals how most Germans initially believed they were fighting a war of national defence against Poland, France and Great Britain. Later, the Allied air offensive convinced many Germans of their victimhood, although some saw it as a punishment for their crimes against the Jews. The book also exposes the lie that most Germans were ignorant of the many atrocities committed by the regime. In fact, right from the start of the conflict German soldiers were documenting their crimes in writing, photography and film. But perhaps one of the darkest aspects of the book is just how quickly ordinary men and women could be transformed from law-abiding citizens to brutal murderers and rapists. The transformation often took less than two months. In Russia, senior field commanders began to worry about their troop’s propensity to loot property, burn villages and slaughter the inhabitants without orders. When defeat and occupation finally came to the German nation it did nothing to change outlooks and attitudes. Even years after the war’s end, the majority of Germans believed that Nazism had essentially been a good idea, poorly executed.
Lara Feigel’s book The Bitter Taste of Victory begins in the closing months of the war, as reporters, writers, filmmakers and entertainers followed the advancing Allied armies into the heart of Nazi Germany. The book illustrates the utter destruction wrought on German cities by the Allied bombing campaign and contrasts it with the horrors of death and concentration camps such as Bergen-Belsen. Martha Gellhorn, Marlene Dietrich, Billy Wilder and George Orwell are just some of the famous names we encounter amidst the rubble and misery of Germany’s defeat. With incredible naivety, the occupying powers set about a process of denazification. Writers, artists, musicians and filmmakers were recruited to cleanse German culture of its Faustian excesses. However, German re-education, the Nuremberg Trials and occupation seem to have done nothing to change the population’s psyche. Instead, the realpolitik of the Cold War allowed former Nazis and war criminals to reinvent themselves without actually changing. Rather than accept any collective guilt, the Germans of the war period were satisfied to largely remain silent or seek refuge in empty platitudes and point the finger of blame anywhere but at themselves. There is some small irony that far-left-wing groups such as the Baader-Meinhof Gang would later regard the West German state as the continuation of fascism and imperialism by other means.
In reality, these two books arrive at the same stark conclusion, although starting from very different places. The Germans of the war years remained fixed in their beliefs that they were victims, not perpetrators. They largely believed Nazism was correct in its outlook, but poorly executed by the regime. That brutality, murder, and even genocide were justifiable in pursuit of national goals. These two books also illustrate just how quickly the most civilised and educated of people can be transformed into remorseless killers, happy to abdicate all responsibility for their crimes.
The BBC's Forgotten Wireless War
In this review, we take a look at David Boyle's book V for Victory: the Wireless Campaign that Defeated the Nazi published by The Real Press. The book briefly tells the tale of an almost forgotten piece of World War Two history. Enthusiastically adopted by foreign governments in exile and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, the V for Victory campaign called for small acts of disobedience and sabotage by the people of Nazi-occupied Europe.
V for Victory: the Wireless Campaign that Defeated the Nazis by David Boyle briefly tells the tale of an almost forgotten piece of World War Two history. In the dark days of 1941 journalists, Noel Newsome and Douglas Ritchie took up “the weapons of responsible journalism and the instruments of the clever advertiser” to promote British ideals and explain the nation’s war aims to the peoples of occupied Europe. Together they forged the BBC’s European Service that proved such an effective foil to Joseph Goebbels’ black propaganda.
The Stay-at-Home Hour, New Year’s Day 1941, helped test the idea of a sustained campaign of honest or “white” propaganda and gauge how many people were listening to the BBC’s Foreign Service broadcasts. Nazi black propaganda in the sinister voice of William Joyce or Lord Haw Haw had certainly captured the imagination of British radio listeners during the early months of the war. On 6 June 1941 Douglas Ritchie in the mysterious guise of Colonel Britton launched the V Campaign on the ears of Europe. The audience included 15 million German citizens who risked imprisonment and even death if caught listening to the BBC.
The BBC European Service and V for Victory campaign upset just about everybody from the established political parties and security services to the Civil Service because it cut through bureaucracy. The European Service was enthusiastically adopted by political and military leaders of foreign governments in exile. British Prime Minister Winston Churchill was quick to see the many possibilities of the V for Victory campaign, making the V-sign a popular gesture of defiance.
The V Campaign called for small acts of disobedience and sabotage by the people of Nazi-occupied Europe. As distinctive as any brand logo, the V-sign was daubed on walls and buildings across the continent. Ritchie made the opening notes of Beethoven’s 5th Symphony the sound of European resistance and the theme tune of his broadcasts. In one of the worst periods of all human history, the V for Victory campaign became a symbol of hope and solidarity.
Although David Boyle has produced a well-researched exposé of the V for Victory campaign, the book is very short and leaves the reader with more questions than answers. After all, the V-sign has its origins in the Hundred Year’s War and has continued in popular culture from the Vietnam War and Arab Spring to movies, graphic novels and popular TV mini-series. The book could have looked at the various resistance movements that emerged during World War Two, the work of the clandestine SOE (Special Operations Executive), the various aspects of psychological warfare or even Douglas Ritchie’s personal battle to recover from a stroke aged just 50. For me, V for Victory: the Wireless Campaign that Defeated the Nazis is a book that only tells half the story, maybe less, and leaves you wanting to know a lot more.
V for Victory by David Boyle is published by The Real Press.