History Forum / War History / World War II / September 2009

One of the group members is posting his father's letters home from the
U.S. Army in Europe. The rules on censorship make the letters
frustratingly bereft of anything historic. About all the solder can
talk about is the lack of mail, training hard, and going to the PX. He

I'm led to believe that the main reason
that Germany didn't use chemical weapons
during WW2 was the fear of retaliation.
But late in the war, after Hitler

I am part way though a book "Absolute war by Chris Bellamy" on p323 he
makes the following comment which I found interesting
***********************************************
However from at least 1940, the Russians were among the world leaders in

Was there any serious consideration of declaring war on the Soviet Union
after it had attacked Poland or Finland in 1939?

Since it's almost to the day 60 years ago Germany attacked Poland I'm
curious
about the current research/opinions about when exactly Hitler hade
made up his mind to go forward with the attack.

I've been interested in a real answer to that question for years.  I'm
certainly no pro or expert on WW2,  but I've read my share of books,
watched hundreds of hours of documentaries (but am still a rank
amateur) on the subject.  Were the Germans or Japanese just ignorant

Some questions on the anti tank guns installed in the fortress of
Eben Emael.
1. These were 60mm l50 guns, from what i know these were the heaviest
dedicated anti tank guns at the beginning of the war, but maybe there

Is it true that the US (esp army) made minimal use of diversionary
tactics such as feint attacks or retreats? I get the impression that
at least on the large scale, they figured they had sufficient pipeline
of midwestern farmboys to use as cannon fodder and mainly focused on

Sometimes, you don't have great choices, and you might have to pick between
bad and worse. BBC has an article on the British decision to aid Tito's
partisans over the royalist Chetniks, and how it played out over the war.
Full article at

I always wondered why the Röchling shell was not developed for anti
tank weapons.
Perhaps it would have permitted to build anti tank guns of larger
diametre but shorter barrels as it was fired from eg the 21 cm mortar

Interesting article on BBC's website today, regarding Stalin's rationale
for signing the non aggression pact with Germany. Among other things
Should the USSR sign a treaty with Germany, Stalin suggested, Berlin
would "undoubtedly attack Poland, leading to a war with the inevitable

In this Youtube clip (part of a TV documentary) an M-26 Pershing goes
after a Panther in Cologne.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LqH_WEqNK5Y&feature=rec-HM-r2
I notice that a jeep follows the Pershing into the fight. Does anyone

Does anybody know if any statistics were kept on the frequency of
languages that combatants could speak?
eg...
What percentage of Japanese soldiers could speak English?

Hello...
Churchill's visited Moscow in August 1942, meeting Stalin.
How did he travel to Moscow?
Tks