History stuff

[stressederic]

I thought I might just start a thread here for various rambles that we (usually me) go on.

 

Today is the 100th anniversary of American entry into the First World War. I'd be really interested to know if any of the Americans on here noticed any events etc in their towns.

[Bootser]

I'd guess not Eric The Stressed, whereas here in Norn Iron we love a good old Centenary.

[New York Red]

None whatsoever.

 

The World War memorials here still look weird to me.

 

1917-1918

1941-1945

[stressederic]

I'd guess not Eric The Stressed, whereas here in Norn Iron we love a good old Centenary.

Yeah I'd heard you were keen on that sort of thing.

None whatsoever.

 

The World War memorials here still look weird to me.

 

1917-1918

1941-1945

Unsurprisingy but a bit disappointing nonetheless. Looks like a lot of the stuff was happening in Kansas City.

 

Ah well, I can spin disinterest into the book's conclusion just as easily.

[New York Red]

How is the book going? When will it be out?

 

When you said you were writing that, I thought about that awesome scene in A Soldiers Story when Adolph Caesar breaks down and pours out his anger about how the white American soldiers treated a black soldier in France in WWI. Ever seen it?

[stressederic]

How is the book going? When will it be out?

 

When you said you were writing that, I thought about that awesome scene in A Soldiers Story when Adolph Caesar breaks down and pours out his anger about how the white American soldiers treated a black soldier in France in WWI. Ever seen it?

It's coming along. I'm in Carlisle PA at the moment doing some more research. I turn in the manuscript January 2018, so it should be out around Oct-Nov the same year.

 

And I've not seen that film, I'll check it out!

[Tosh]

None whatsoever.

 

The World War memorials here still look weird to me.

 

1917-1918

1941-1945

Yup

That'd be weird. 14-18 and 39-45 are in our psyche

 

What do the Germans say though?

[Kvarme Ate My Food]

Yeah I'd heard you were keen on that sort of thing.

 

Unsurprisingy but a bit disappointing nonetheless. Looks like a lot of the stuff was happening in Kansas City.

 

Ah well, I can spin disinterest into the book's conclusion just as easily.

Tut tut, poor use of "disinterest".

[Duncan Disorderly]

This year is the centenary of the Russian revolution.

 

Time for another one.

[JRC]

2 in a year, surely?

[Falconhoof]

In what year were the Pimbley peoples expelled from Cham, and who did give them succour ?

[charlie clown]

Yeah I'd heard you were keen on that sort of thing.

 

Unsurprisingy but a bit disappointing nonetheless. Looks like a lot of the stuff was happening in Kansas City.

 

Ah well, I can spin disinterest into the book's conclusion just as easily.

 

Remember that the word isn't disinterest and then it will be in better English.

[mofus77]

Slight cross over from the podcast thread maybe but Hardcore History is a great listen for history buffs. Blueprint for Armageddon covers the WWI, I think it's free at the minute too. 

[charlie clown]

This year is the centenary of the Russian revolution.

 

Time for another one.

 

I've been dipping into a couple of the 'track the revolution in real time' things that have popped up on t'internet. They're pretty good but things aren't really hotting up yet so the news is all a bit dull at the moment.

[Tommok]

When you said you were writing that, I thought about that awesome scene in A Soldiers Story when Adolph Caesar breaks down and pours out his anger about how the white American soldiers treated a black soldier in France in WWI. Ever seen it?

That puts me in mind of a story told to me by a Great Uncle, who as a very young man was conscripted and fought for Germany in WW2 primarily on the Eastern front. He was captured and was shipped half way around the world and ended up in the USA in a prisoner of war camp in, or near Alabama. They had to work in the cotton fields for part of the day but the black American “workers” there were made to work in the worst heat of the day and were treated far less humanely than the German PoW’s - given far fewer rations, worse sleeping arrangements etc. My Great Uncle and his mates used to give part of their rations/water and even money (the PoW’s were paid a wage) to them whenever they could, although they were largely kept separated.

 

It goes without saying that there were horrific atrocities and extreme prejudices at the time back home in Germany but my Great Uncle had been largely unaware of that, having grown up in a rural area of Germany for all of his young life. He was really quite taken aback by seeing first hand how Americans were treating their own countrymen with far less respect and greater contempt than they treated their “enemies” in war.

 

My Great Uncle was eventually shipped to England where he later met and married my Great Aunt (my Mother’s Aunt) and lived out the rest of his life in Oxfordshire.

Edited April 7, 2017 by TommoK

[Redwire]

I thought I might just start a thread here for various rambles that we (usually me) go on.

 

Today is the 100th anniversary of American entry into the First World War. I'd be really interested to know if any of the Americans on here noticed any events etc in their towns.

 

There was an article in the Guardian yesterday about how little attention is being paid in the US.

 

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/apr/06/world-war-1-centennial-us-history-modern-america

[Tosh]

Those who forget the past...

[Falconhoof]

Those who forget the past...

 

no woman, no cry

[stressederic]

Remember that the word isn't disinterest and then it will be in better English.

I'm a white middle class man with an academic title. Rules are for other people.

[stressederic]

There was an article in the Guardian yesterday about how little attention is being paid in the US.

 

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/apr/06/world-war-1-centennial-us-history-modern-america

Yeah I read that yesterday. It's understandable in a way. WW1 has never been a big deal in America after the event.

 

Glad to see Trump marked it with a missile volley though.

 

If anyone is vaguely interested in some of the interesting/odd stuff I'm pulling from the archive at the moment, I'm putting some of it up on my twitter as I go along: @chriskempshall

 

I've taken over 3k photos just this week so this is very much a small selection.

[New York Red]

That puts me in mind of a story told to me by a Great Uncle, who as a very young man was conscripted and fought for Germany in WW2 primarily on the Eastern front. He was captured and was shipped half way around the world and ended up in the USA in a prisoner of war camp in, or near Alabama. They had to work in the cotton fields for part of the day but the black American “workers” there were made to work in the worst heat of the day and were treated far less humanely than the German PoW’s - given far fewer rations, worse sleeping arrangements etc. My Great Uncle and his mates used to give part of their rations/water and even money (the PoW’s were paid a wage) to them whenever they could, although they were largely kept separated.

 

It goes without saying that there were horrific atrocities and extreme prejudices at the time back home in Germany but my Great Uncle had been largely unaware of that, having grown up in a rural area of Germany for all of his young life. He was really quite taken aback by seeing first hand how Americans were treating their own countrymen with far less respect and greater contempt than they treated their “enemies” in war.

 

My Great Uncle was eventually shipped to England where he later met and married my Great Aunt (my Mother’s Aunt) and lived out the rest of his life in Oxfordshire.

 

 

That's a really fascinating story and sad as hell. Blacks in America were treated shockingly for centuries, including the period where they fought like fiends for a country that hated them.

 

I have one for you. My old neighbor, Walter, was a junior accountant in Ludwigshafen. His identical twin brother was a butcher. When he go conscripted, Walter got sent east and his brother got sent to the Atlantic Wall.

 

Walter got captured at Stalingrad. Survived the hell of that, a small minority of survivors of the huge numbers that got trapped there. Then marched barefoot hundreds of miles, abused, and worked in a coal mine in Russia until 1950. His twin brother got captured after D-Day and shipped to Scotland. He loved it there. He did;t want to go to Germany but got forced to.

 

Walter moved to New York and opened a delicatessen. His brother was in Germany and resumed his career as a butcher but hated being there. Walter was physically shot and ended up having a heart transplant in the late 80's because he was in such terrible shape. His twin brother thrived and is still alive.

 

Walter was a top guy. I took him to the Italy-Ireland match at the 1994 World Cup. He was delighted that day. His daughter married a Jewish guy and he was incredibly proud at how he felt his family had redeemed itself.

[charlie clown]

That's a really fascinating story and sad as hell. Blacks in America were treated shockingly for centuries, including the period where they fought like fiends for a country that hated them.

 

I have one for you. My old neighbor, Walter, was a junior accountant in Ludwigshafen. His identical twin brother was a butcher. When he go conscripted, Walter got sent east and his brother got sent to the Atlantic Wall.

 

Walter got captured at Stalingrad. Survived the hell of that, a small minority of survivors of the huge numbers that got trapped there. Then marched barefoot hundreds of miles, abused, and worked in a coal mine in Russia until 1950. His twin brother got captured after D-Day and shipped to Scotland. He loved it there. He did;t want to go to Germany but got forced to.

 

Walter moved to New York and opened a delicatessen. His brother was in Germany and resumed his career as a butcher but hated being there. Walter was physically shot and ended up having a heart transplant in the late 80's because he was in such terrible shape. His twin brother thrived and is still alive.

 

Walter was a top guy. I took him to the Italy-Ireland match at the 1994 World Cup. He was delighted that day. His daughter married a Jewish guy and he was incredibly proud at how he felt his family had redeemed itself.

 

It's amazing how many of the POWs in the UK fell in love with the places they were detained in. I don't know if that's typical and it may have happened in other countries too. But over and over again I hear the same kind of stories about the Italian & German POWs over here.   

 

On a related note, my FIL was telling me a few weeks back that in WWII there were some Italian POWs working on the farms around where I live and he remembers them having permission to build their own little hut in one of the wooded copses that was on part of the farmland. They used it for socials when they weren't working. The wooded land is still there, now on the edge of a golf course. I've been meaning to go for a walk round there and have a bit of an exploration to see if there is any sign of the hut still there. Might try and grab a couple of hours over the Easter weekend...  

Edited April 10, 2017 by charlie clown

[Redwire]

It's amazing how many of the POWs in the UK fell in love with the places they were detained in. I don't know if that's typical and it may have happened in other countries too. But over and over again I hear the same kind of stories about the Italian & German POWs over here.   

 

On a related note, my FIL was telling me a few weeks back that in WWII there were some Italian POWs working on the farms around where I live and he remembers them having permission to build their own little hut in one of the wooded copses that was on part of the farmland. They used it for socials when they weren't working. The wooded land is still there, now on the edge of a golf course. I've been meaning to go for a walk round there and have a bit of an exploration to see if there is any sign of the hut still there. Might try and grab a couple of hours over the Easter weekend...  

 

Where is that CC?

[Falconhoof]

It's amazing how many of the POWs in the UK fell in love with the places they were detained in. I don't know if that's typical and it may have happened in other countries too. But over and over again I hear the same kind of stories about the Italian & German POWs over here.   

 

On a related note, my FIL was telling me a few weeks back that in WWII there were some Italian POWs working on the farms around where I live and he remembers them having permission to build their own little hut in one of the wooded copses that was on part of the farmland. They used it for socials when they weren't working. The wooded land is still there, now on the edge of a golf course. I've been meaning to go for a walk round there and have a bit of an exploration to see if there is any sign of the hut still there. Might try and grab a couple of hours over the Easter weekend...  

 

 

I think you will find more than you bargain for...

 

[muleskinner]

They used to let Rudolf Hess walk up the Skirrid when he was captive in Monmouthshire.