History Forum / War History / World War II / September 2007

I'd like to know of the noun Fuhrer" existed in German language before
Hitler?
Thanks,
- Olumide

I just finished reading "The Last Flight of Bomber 31" by Ralph
Wetterhahn. It's about the Aleutian and Arctic Air Campaigns. I
enjoyed it, despite atrocious editing, mainly because I've never read
much about the Aleutians beyond the basics.

I am reading the excellent and well researched  "Rise and fall of
British Empire" by Lawrence James which notes the effect of Second
World War on the British empire. The effect of the 2nd  world war and
Britains crippling defeats at some point of the war (later rescued by

Would it have been more practical to have made a sudden assault and invasion
of Iwo Jima, Okinawa instead of the Phillipines?
In other words, bypass the Phillipines and just go straight for Iwo? The
reasoning was that the Japanese were expecting the Phillipines to have been

Did Hitler kill anyone (be it friend or foe) by actually pulling the
trigger himself?
I've never of any cases so far.
Regards,

I recall videos of incoming "Scuds" launched against isreal in the
"Gulf War."  Sort of a fast moving contrail- at night, I think.
I seem to recall that the range/velocity of a Scud is not too
different from a V-2.

Where could I find out what the impact on education of the war?  I am
interested in how schools ran their terms during these years.  Did
they match the holidays schools have today or were they very
different?

In the last year of the war, Hitler always dreamed of a split in the
Allied ranks, with Britain and USA acting against the Russians from
taking over central Europe. But Hitler had not thought that even
assuming such a scenario were feasible, Britain and US would still

There are abundant accounts of Germans in American uniforms during the
Bulge. But I do not recall seeing any prior accounts of such events.
I am editing the transcription of the November 1944 Battle Report of Battery
B 434th Armored Field Artillery Battalion, 7th Armored Division, ...

I was watching a series of WW2 Canadian military films last night at a
local cinema with an American friend.  During an interval he turned
and asked me "How long after Pearl Harbour did Canada enter the war".
I gave him a quick education in the events of 1939.

I once again had occasion to look at the National Personnel Records Center's
web page on Morning Reports (
http://www.archives.gov/st-louis/military-personnel/morning-reports-and-unit-ros
ters.html )
.. And once again I read this statement there: "NOTE:  Neither morning

I was reading this article on Hitler:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolf_Hitler
It says:
After a physical exam (during which his height was measured

In an article on "stalags," Israeli pocketbook pornography with Nazi
themes, today's NYT states that the infamous Block 24 brothel at
Auschwitz is almost certainly a myth.
PBS' website on Auschwitz still believes otherwise, however.  But

Here is something that I have wondered about for a long time, and it is one
of those things that my other research is never going to really allow room
to pursue ...

Why did German WWII planes have a big Iron Cross and a small swastika
on the tail?
Perhaps it was for consistency with WWI planes?