The Wars We Waged

Dedicated to the remembrance and celebration of the fallen. support: paypal.me/wagedwars

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The German Solothurn S-18/100 20mm anti tank rifle.

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The astonishing tale of the Korean man turned Japanese Soldier, Turned Russian Soldier and turned German Soldier.

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                                The Korean Soldier that fought on D-Day

After allied forces successfully reoccupied the beaches of Normandy in 1944, many of the Axis defenders were taken prisoners. One of these prisoners was reported as being of Asian descent, this puzzled the Americans. The mans name was found to be Yang Kyoungjong and he had an amazing story to tell about his journey from Korea to the western front.

  When Yang was 18 he was conscripted into the Japanese military to fight Soviet Russia. After fighting the Russians for a year, he was captured by soviet troops at the Battles of Khalkhin Gol. Yang was sent to a Russian labor camp. Later, Yang was pressed into fighting for the Red Army, because of their shortage of fighting men.After fighting with the Russians for another year he was taken prisoner by German troops in eastern Ukraine.

  Yang was again pushed into a foreign army and fought for the Germans. After being transferred to the western front, he was assigned to hold an area near Utah Beach.  When the allies attacked on D-Day he surrendered and was taken to a prison camp in England, then he was moved to a camp in the United States. 

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My thoughts on the German anti war film “Stalingrad: Dogs, do you want to live forever.”

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A German mortar team firing on Stalingrad. (1942)

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                                                Battle of the Bulge

After the initial landings on D-Day, and other allied landings throughout France the advancing liberators pushed quickly through German defenders occupying France. The speed of the reoccupation effort was so swift that many of the supply lines for american and other allied troops were thin. Many of the allied soldiers had barely any time to rest as they were ordered to push and push further into the German controlled territory, this left many allied troops exhausted and fatigued after the long weeks of constant fighting. Hitler knew this fact quite well and used it to his advantage.

   The Fuhrer's plan was to re-use his early war strategies, and push through the Ardennes forest just like he had invaded France in 1940. He hoped to push Axis forces through the thick Ardennes forest and capture the city of Antwerp, a very important city in the American and British supply chains. This move would cut the allied front in two pieces, making it significantly easier to deal with the two divided fronts. Hitlers commanders understood that the chances of success with this plan were slim. 

  On December 16 1944 the plan was enacted, beginning with a two hour long artillery bombardment to soften up allied troops for the assault of infantry and tanks. The Germans achieved great success in the starting days of the battle. Achieving complete surprise on the battle weary allied forces. The foggy and cloudy weather provided Axis forces the perfect conditions to catch the Americans off guard, and take many prisoners. 

  By December 18th the 101st Airborne division was completely surrounded by German troops. They sheltered in the small town of Bastogne, holding off the German attackers for an astonishing 7 days. They were freezing with hardly adequate clothing, low on ammo and food. By December 25th the German offensive suffering from low fuel, small food rations and lack of ammunition started to slow and stopped.

  On January 3rd the Allied forces had begun the offensive against the Axis to retake the land they had lost since December 16th. The lack of fuel caused many German tank crewmen to leave their armor behind as they retreated. By the end of January all territory lost to Hitler’s offensive was regained by Allied troops. The Americans lost a large total of 20,000 men during the offensive. The Germans lost an even larger 60,000 men.

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My personal thoughts on the 1959 German anti-war film Die Brucke

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Born in 1916, in the small Ukrainian town of Bila Tservska, Lyudmila Pavlichenko is known as the most successful female sniper of all time. While she was studying history at the university of Kiev the Germans began to invade her homeland, she hurried to enlist in the soviet military but her being a woman she was doubted. She eventually was allowed into the 25th rifles division as a sniper. After a very fast training process she was rushed into fighting at the Battle of Odessa. At first she was hesitant and remorseful with her kills but slowly after seeing the atrocities committed against her comrades by the Germans she became ruthless against the invaders.

  By her second battle at the Battle of Sevastopol she had mastered the art of the kill. She used mannequins as decoys, she would hunt in the rain to conceal her position. During this battle she climbed a tree to view her surroundings, this decision revealed her to an enemy sniper. The German sharpshooter took his shot and missed, when Lyudmila heard the shot, she let go of the tree and fell 12 feet down to ground. She lay still for hours, pretending to be dead. When night came she crawled away back to safety. 

  When an artillery barrage wounded her and killed all of her senior soldiers she took charge of the remaining men. She soon became infamous to the German troops. As her skill as a sniper improved so did the cruelty of her kills. She was known to often shoot an enemy in the legs so their cries of pain would draw other soldiers into her line of fire. One the last days of the invasion of Sevastopol a mortar landed near Lyudmila’s position she took heavy damage and was sent to a military hospital.

  Due to her injuries it was decided that instead of fighting again she would be sent to the USA to spread her stories. In the summer of 1942 she toured 43 US cities. In the USA she had earned the friendship of first lady Eleanor Roosevelt. The two maintained a friendship until Lyudmila returned to Russia as the iron curtain fell. 

  In the end Lyudmila killed a recorded 309 Germans, though this number is highly debated.

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In 1942 a polish unit stationed in northern Africa were presented a bear cub by one of the local children. The cub, which the polish troops later named Wojtek (pronounced voy-tek.) was orphaned after its mother was killed by hunters. The soldiers accepted the bear cub and it became the unofficial mascot of the 2nd transport company. The men fed Wojtek milk, honey and fruit and in some cases beer. Another odd habit was the bears liking to cigarettes which he ate and smoked regularly along with the men. The bear was commonly seen wrestling with the men and was trained to salute on command. When the 2nd transport company was relocating to southern Italy Wojtek was not allowed to accompany the men because of his status as an animal, to get around this issue the soldiers officially drafted the bear into the polish army.

 During the battle of Monte Cassino, Wojtek observed the soldiers carrying artillery ammunition to the artillery guns. Wojtek copied the men and started to carry the heavy ammunition crates to the cannons. After the battle, the 2nd transport company changed their unit badge to depict a bear carrying an artillery shell. At the end of the 2nd world war in 1945 Wojtek was sent to Scottland along with the men of the 2nd transport company. He was later transported to the Edinburgh zoo. Wojtek continued to be visited by the men he had served with until the bears death in 1963.