Rotte 8th ID

I love this! You all keeping publishing great quality stuff. It's something I look forward to looking at each month. Thank you for all the hard work you put into these newsletters.

About 6 months ago I baked a dozen cookies for anyone who wanted a batch and was willing to tell me what type of cookie they wanted and give me their address. I'm opening up the offer again. If you send me message (Discord, steam, forums, whatever) with your preferred cookie type and your address, I'll mail you a batch of a dozen cookies. Send me the message no later than the 25th of July and I'll bake and mail them the first week of August. You can ask Lanier and Andrade, among others, and they will vouch for my abilities.

June:

11 June
Last month, we covered the events of Battle of Tarawa and the beginning of the United States’ campaign in the Pacific Theater. Previously, we talked about the events of Operation Avalanche which took us to the fall of Rome and the removal of Italy from the Axis forces. The Allied forces were now poised to conduct operations into mainland Europe and begin their march to Germany.

Battle Covered:
In May 1944, the Western Allies were finally prepared to deliver their greatest blow of the war, the long-delayed, cross-channel invasion of northern France, code-named Overlord. General Dwight D. Eisenhower was supreme commander of the operation that ultimately involved the coordinated efforts of 12 nations. After much deliberation, it was decided that the landings would take place on the long, sloping beaches of Normandy. There, the Allies would have the element of surprise. The German high command expected the attack to come in the Pas de Calais region, north of the river Seine where the English Channel is narrowest. It was here that Adolf Hitler had put the bulk of his panzer divisions after being tipped off by Allied undercover agents posing as German sympathizers that the invasion would take place in the Pas de Calais. Surprise was an essential element of the Allied invasion plan. If the Germans had known where and when the Allies were coming they would have hurled them back into the sea with the 55 divisions they had in France. The invaders would have been on the offensive with a 10-to-1 manpower ratio against them. The English Channel was notorious for its rough seas and unpredictable weather, and the enemy had spent months constructing the Atlantic Wall, a 2,400-mile line of obstacles. This defensive wall comprised 6.5 million mines, thousands of concrete bunkers and pillboxes containing heavy and fast-firing artillery, tens of thousands of tank ditches, and other formidable beach obstacles. And the German army would be dug in on the cliffs overlooking the American landing beaches. Allied leaders set June 5, 1944, as the invasion’s D-Day. But on the morning of June 4, foul weather over the English Channel forced Eisenhower to postpone the attack for 24 hours. The delay was unnerving for soldiers, sailors, and airmen, but when meteorologists forecast a brief window of clearer weather over the channel on June 6, Eisenhower made the decision to go. Just after midnight on June 6, Allied airborne troops began dropping behind enemy lines. Their job was to blow up bridges, sabotage railroad lines, and take other measures to prevent the enemy from rushing reinforcements to the invasion beaches. Hours later, the largest amphibious landing force ever assembled began moving through the storm-tossed waters toward the beaches. Planners had divided the landing zone into five separate beaches. The British and Canadians landed at Juno, Gold, and Sword beaches. The Americans landed at Omaha and Utah beaches. The fiercest fighting was on Omaha Beach where the enemy was positioned on steep cliffs that commanded the long, flat shoreline. Troops leapt from their landing boats and were pinned down for hours by murderous machine-gun fire that turned the beach into a vast killing field. By midday, the Americans had surmounted the cliffs and taken Omaha Beach at a heavy cost: over 4,700 killed, wounded, or missing out of the total of approximately 35,000 who came ashore that day, a loss rate of more than 13 percent. By nightfall, about 175,000 Allied troops and 50,000 vehicles were ashore with nearly a million more men on the way that summer. The Allied forces included the US 1^st and 4^th Infantry Divisions, 101^st and 82^nd Airborne Divisions, British 6^th Airborne Division, and Canadian 3^rd Infantry Division with 156,000 Soldiers and 196,000 Sailors. The Germans had 4 Divisions and 51,000 Soldiers plus artillery and anti-aircraft guns.

Units Covered:
The U.S. Army Rangers trace their lineage back to the Colonial period in the 17^th and 18^th centuries. During the wars between the colonies and Native Americans, the English regulars were unaccustomed to frontier warfare and so Ranger companies were formed. Rangers were full-time soldiers employed by colonial governments to patrol between fixed frontier fortifications in reconnaissance providing early warning of raids. In offensive operations, they were scouts and guides, locating villages and other targets for taskforces drawn from the militia or other colonial troops. Rogers' Rangers was established in 1751 by Major Robert Rogers, who organized nine Ranger companies in the American colonies. These early American light infantry units, organized during the French and Indian War, bore the name "Rangers" and were the forerunners of the modern Army Rangers. Major Rogers drafted the first currently-known set of standard orders for rangers. These rules are still listed on the first page of the Ranger Handbook and referenced by all Rangers, past and present. In January 1812 the United States authorized six companies of United States Rangers who were mounted infantry with the function of protecting the Western frontier. Five of these companies were raised in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Kentucky. A sixth was in Middle Tennessee. The next year, 10 new companies were raised. By December 1813 the Army Register listed officers of 12 companies of Rangers. The Ranger companies were discharged in June 1815. Several units that were named and functioned similarly to Rangers fought in the American Civil War between 1861 and 1865, such as the Loudoun Rangers that consisted of Quaker and German farmers from northern Loudoun County. Aside from conducting similar irregular warfare on Confederate forces in Richmond, Mississippi and Tennessee, its members were also descendants of the first ranger groups, organized by Robert Rogers in the French and Indian War. In 1942, a proposal was submitted to General George Marshall that an American unit be set up "along the lines of the British Commandos". Five Ranger Battalions would be organized in the European Theater including the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th; the 6th would be organized in the Pacific Theatre. On June 19, 1942 the 1st Ranger Battalion was sanctioned, recruited, and began training in Carrickfergus, Northern Ireland. A select fifty or so of the first U.S. Rangers were dispersed through the British Commandos for the Dieppe Raid in August 1942; these were the first American soldiers to see ground combat in the European theater. Together with the ensuing 3rd and 4th Ranger Battalions they fought in North Africa and Italy until the Battle of Cisterna when most of the Rangers of the 1st and 3rd Battalions were captured. Of the 767 men in the battalions 761 were killed or captured. Before the 5th Ranger Battalion landing on Dog White sector on Omaha Beach, during the Invasion of Normandy, the 2nd Ranger Battalion scaled the 90-foot cliffs of Pointe du Hoc, a few miles to the west, to destroy a five-gun battery of captured French Canon de 155 mm GPF guns. The gun positions were empty on the day and the weapons had been removed some time before to allow the construction of casements in their place. Under constant fire during their climb, they encountered only a small company of Germans on the cliffs and subsequently discovered a group of field artillery weapons in trees some 1,000 yards to the rear. The guns were disabled and destroyed and the Rangers then cut and held the main road for two days before being relieved. Two separate Ranger units fought the war in the Pacific Theater. The 98th Field Artillery Battalion was formed on 16 December 1940 and activated at Fort Lewis in January 1941. On 26 September 1944, they were converted from field artillery to light infantry and became 6th Ranger Battalion. 6th Ranger Battalion led the invasion of the Philippines and executed the raid on the Cabanatuan POW camp. (Great Raid/James Franco) They continued fighting in the Philippines until they were deactivated on 30 December 1945, in Japan. At the outbreak of the Korean War, a unique Ranger unit was formed. Led by Second Lieutenant Ralph Puckett, the Eighth Army Ranger Company was created in August 1950. It served as the role model for the rest of the soon to be formed Ranger units. Instead of being organized into self-contained battalions, the Ranger units of the Korean and Vietnam eras were organized into companies and then attached to larger units, to serve as organic special operations units. Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol (LRRP) and Long Range Patrol companies were formed by the U.S. Army in the early 1960s in West Germany to provide small, heavily armed reconnaissance teams to patrol deep in enemy-held territory in case of war with the Soviet Union and its Warsaw Pact allies. In Vietnam LRRP platoons and companies were attached to every brigade and division where they perfected the art of long-range patrolling.[26] Since satellite communications were a thing of the future, one of the most daring long-range penetration operations of the Vietnam War was launched on April 19, 1968, by members of the 1st Air Cavalry Division's, Company E, 52nd Infantry (LRP), (redesignated Co. H, Ranger), against the NVA when they seized "Signal Hill" the name attributed to the peak of Dong Re Lao Mountain, a densely forested 4,879-foot (1,487 m) mountain, midway in A Shau Valley, so the 1st and 3rd Brigades, slugging it out hidden deep behind the towering wall of mountains, could communicate with Camp Evans near the coast or with approaching aircraft. On 1 January 1969, under the new U.S. Army Combat Arms Regimental System (CARS), these units were redesignated "Ranger" in South Vietnam within the 75th Infantry Regiment (Ranger) and all replacement personnel were mandatory airborne qualified. Fifteen companies of Rangers were raised from "Lurp" units—which had been performing missions in Europe since the early 1960s and in Vietnam since 1966. The genealogy of this new Regiment was linked to Merrill's Marauders. The Rangers were organized as independent companies: A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, K, L, M, N, O and P. In 2003, when the United States invaded Iraq, the Rangers were among those sent in. During the beginning of the war, they faced some of Iraq's elite Republican Guard units. Rangers were also involved in the rescue of American prisoner of war POW Private First Class Jessica Lynch. The 75th Ranger Regiment has been one of the few units to have members continuously deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan. The 6^th Ranger Battalion still exists today and serves as the training Battalion for the last phase of the U.S. Army’s Ranger School, located at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida. Notable Rangers you may know are Pat Tillman, David Goggins, Alejandro Villanueva, Randy Shughart, Gary Gordon, Colin Powell, David Petraeus, and Stanley McChrystal.

On 6 June 1944, during the assault landing on Dog White sector of Omaha Beach as part of the invasion of Normandy, then-Brigadier General  Cota approached Major Schneider, CO of the 5th Ranger Battalion and asked "What outfit is this?", Schneider answered "5th Rangers, Sir!" To this, Cota replied "Well, goddamnit, if you're Rangers, lead the way!" From this, the Ranger motto—"Rangers lead the way!"—was born.

Never saw this original post!

What do I do:
I'm an Infantry Officer in the U.S. Army

What do I LIKE doing:
Playing this game with you all, movies/TV with my wife, playing with my two kids (3 and 6), SPORTS 24/7 (watching, playing, reading about, talking about, etc.), building and painting models, reading books, and golfing.

My sports teams are the Reds (MLB), Bengals (NFL), and Stars (NHL). I like various college teams for different sports.

manche
Omaha_b2
rouen

For WWII/D-Day this month!

May:

26 May
Last month, we covered the events of Operation Avalanche which took us to the fall of Rome and the removal of Italy from the Axis forces. The Allied forces were now poised to conduct operations into mainland Europe and begin their march to Germany.

Units Covered:
The Marine Raiders were originally formed as provisional rubber boat companies within the 7^th Marines in 1941. This was to fill a deficiency identified within the Marine Corps for a fast attack transport unit. Once World War II began, President Roosevelt became interested in forming a unit similar to the British Commandos and saw the Marines as the place to build that. Eventually, two battalions of Marine Raiders were created and specialized in raid operations. The Raiders saw immediate action in the Central Pacific and the Solomons. They fought at Tulagi, the Battle of Edson’s Ridge, Makin Island, Savo Island, Bougainville and Guadalcanal. The Raiders expanded to 4 battalions at their height. However, in 1944 with the Marine Corps expanding to fill needs for the War, the Raiders were deactivated and their Marines sent to the main forces. In 2014, the Raiders were reactivated in the form of Marine Special Operations Command (MARSOC), keeping much of the lineage and heraldry of the former units as they forged a new path in the special operations community of today. In the few years that the Raiders existed in World War II they saw combat continuously and earned numerous awards for heroism, including 8 Medals of Honor.

First and only pick up line I ever used and it was on my wife on our first date (it worked obviously :P)

"If I told you you had a nice body, would you hold it against me?"

New time for May event: 26 May. Look forward to seeing everyone there!

From: Fairbanks, Alaska

Live Currently: West Point, NY

April:

21 April
Last month, we covered all the events leading up to the invasion of Italy during Operation Tunisia as well as the history of the U.S. Army 1st Armored Division. This concluded with Allied forces in control of northern Africa and prepared to launch their assault into Italy. We had previously covered the Allied victory in Sicily and their being poised to push further into Europe after the Axis retreat from Italy and into Europe.

Battle Covered
With the Italians out of the war, the British landings at Reggio on the 3rd September and the seizure of Taranto on the 9th, were not contested. However, the situation was different in the Gulf of Salerno, south of Naples, where the US Fifth Army landed on the 9th. A landing further north was considered too risky because of enemy fighter cover. Furtherore, an American plan to land an airborne division at Rome was abandoned. Five German divisions were concentrated against the Salerno beachhead and after a few days of fighting, it seemed possible that the Allied forces would be pushed back to the landing beaches and compelled to re-embark. The Luftwaffe scored hits with glider bombs on the British battleship Warspite and two American cruisers. But the Allies had massive air support and by the 15th, the Germans began to yield. On the 16th, the advance guard of the Eighth Army, which had covered some 200 miles in the 13 days since their landing at Reggio, made contact with the Fifth Army about forty miles south-east of Salerno. The Eighth Army now shifted the axis of its advance to the east coast. Using Brindisi and Taranto as bases, they pushed up the coast to Bari, which fell on the 22nd. Foggia, with its complex of airfields, fell on the 27th. Not until Montgomery reached the river Biferno did he encounter serious opposition. A commando landing seized Termoli, which was subsequently held by 78 Division against the 16th Panzers' counter-attack. The campaign now became a fight for the river lines. the Germans fell back to Trigno and then Sangro under this irresistible advance. They fought relentlessly but eventually their resistance broke. On the west coast the pattern was similar. Naples fell on 1st November, causing Kesselring to withdraw to Volturno and then, under continued Americans pressure, to the River Garigliano. On the 24th of December, preparations for Operation Overlord (the Normandy landings) made significant changes to the high command of Allied forces in the Mediterranean. Generals Eisenhower, Montgomery and Bradley, together with Air Chief Marshal Tedder, returned to England to take up new appointments. General Sir Henry Maitland-Wilson succeeded Eisenhower as theatre commander and Lieutenant-General Sir Oliver Leese took over the Eighth Army. The Battle of Garigliano began on the night of the 17/18 January but the Allies made very little progress. On the 2nd of February General Mark Clark, with 50,000 British and American troops (VI Corps, Lucas commanding), landed at Anzio. Instead of pushing inland and cutting the Germans supply lines to Garigliano, Clark dug-in to consolidate his beachhead, while the German forces set about his containment. This cautious conduct of the landing seriously impeded the Allied advance. It was a lost opportunity to inflict serious damage to the German rear but it was a lesson brought home to the planners of Overlord. A similar situation would not be allowed to develop on the beaches of Normandy. Along the River Garigliano, the Germans stood fast with their hold on the great fortress of Cassino unshaken. On 29th January, the Allies launched another attack on this little town but, by the 4th of February, it ended in failure. The Abbey of St Benedict, high above the area of conflict, was well placed to observe the whole battlefield. The Allies decided to remove the threat and on the 14th February they dropped leaflets on the abbey warning that it would be obliterated the following day. On the 15th, 254 bombers dropped 576 tons of bombs and turned the Abbey into a heap of rubble. However, the Germans had constructed bunkers and strong-points in the abbey, which survived the bombardment and were actually strengthened by the rubble. After another day's bombing, the Allies launched a fresh attack on the 18th February following a five hour bombardment. On the 15th of March another attempt was made, this time in excellent weather. The preliminary bombing of 1,400 tons lacked accuracy. Allied positions were bombed up to twelve miles out from the target. There followed a two hour attack by 900 guns, then tanks and infantry went in. Water-filled craters fouled up the tanks which should have supported the Infantry. After nightfall, this offensive was also halted. Another offensive was launched on the 11th May. This time, Cassino was outflanked and despite heavy losses, the Polish Corps fought its way through to the north of the town and fell on it from the rear. Cassino fell on the 17th. The Poles took Monastery Hill on the 18th. Simultaneously, the Allies broke out of the Anzio beachhead but failed to cut the German lines of communication. General Mark Clark, obsessed with getting to Rome first, allowed the main body of the enemy to escape and took only 27,000 prisoners. Rome fell on the 4th of June about which President Roosevelt commented; 'The first Axis capital is in our hands. One down and two to go!'

Currently:

Anime:

Mob Psycho 100

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arIkbf46XII

Netflix:

Umbrella Academy (S2)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Me0eoCwLj-A

Hello!

 

My favorite read of all time is "The Anasazi Mystery Series" by W. Michael Gear & Kathleen O'Neal Gear.

 

This series is comprised of 3 books: The Visitant, The Summoning God, and Bonewalker. Very good read if you like mystery, suspense, and vividly described worlds.

 

Synopsis:

 

W. Michael Gear and Kathleen O'Neal Gear, award-winning archaeologists and international bestselling authors, breathe new life into the vanished world of the Anasazi, bringing out the spirit, the loves, and a mysterious world where mystery and horror lurk in every shadow, behind every door, sometimes right before you. Dive 800 years into the past—a world of danger, murder and a power that transcends time.

 

The Visitant The Summoning God Bonewalker

These sound really good! The danger of this thread is that my "to read" list will never stop growing haha

Gary Paulsen is one of my favorite authors with two of my favorite series. The first of which starts with the book Hatchet and the second starts with a book titled Mr. Tucket. Hatchet is set in the Canadian bush and Mr. Tucket is set in the wild west. Basic premise for both is a teenage boy trying to survive in harsh conditions.

 

 

 

Another series that I have read for a long time is...The Hardy Boys. The Hardy Boys are basically teenage detectives that go on crazy adventures to solve mysteries. However, this series is roughly 190 books long and ran from 1927-2005. There are spin offs and such that have continued but the "Original" series has ended. I have not read all 190 books but I am pushing over 60 read.

Dude! Hatchet was a cornerstone book for me! It is one of my earliest remembered books and one I can still remember so much about! Love it!

Update to schedule: April's will now be on 21 April at 8 pm CST! See you for some fun on Salerno!

cherbourg and salerno are the WWII maps for the month

March

March 10:
Last month, we covered all the events leading up to the invasion of Italy during Operation Husky as well as the history of the U.S. Army 1st Infantry Division. This concluded with Allied forces in control of most of Italy but a large portion of the Axis force having successfully escape back into Europe. Mussolini had been overthrown and Italy had come under Allied occupation.

Battle Covered
The Tunisian Campaign was fought from November 8th 1942 until May 13th 1943 and was the final stage of the North African campaign. It saw a combined British, American and French army slowly eliminate the Axis bridgehead in Tunisia. For two years the North African campaign had swept back and forth across eastern Libya and western Egypt. After the Second Battle of El Alamein, Rommel's Panzerarmy Africa was forced into one final retreat across Libya.
Axis reinforcements began to arrive in Tunisia as early as November 9th 1942 and were reinforced in the following two weeks until they numbered about 20,000 combat troops which were heavily reinforced by air. When the British started its offensive on November 25th, the defense was unexpectedly strong. By December 5th the 1st Army’s advance was checked a dozen miles from Tunis and from Bizerte. Further reinforcements enabled Colonel General Arnim, who assumed the command in chief of the Axis defense in Tunisia on December 9th, to expand his two bridgeheads in Tunisia until they were merged into one. Germany and Italy had won the race for Tunis but were doomed to succumb to the lure of retaining their prize regardless of the greater need of conserving their strength for the defense of Europe.
The Eighth Army captured Tripoli on January 23rd 1943, the objective of every British offensive since 1940. Rommel and his army retreated across the Tunisian border, heading for the Mareth Line. On February 14th the Axis forces delivered a major attack against U.S. forces between the Fāʾiḍ Pass in the north and Gafsa in the south. The 21st Panzer Division destroyed 100 U.S. tanks and drove the Americans back 50 miles. In the Kasserine Pass, however, the Allies put up some stiffer opposition. Having overcome the stubborn U.S. resistance in the Kasserine Pass on February 20, the Germans entered Thala the next day, only to be expelled a few hours later by the reserve troops they found. His chance having been forfeited, Rommel began a gradual withdrawal on February 22. On Feb. 26, 1943, the Allies at the Mareth Line quadrupled their strength in the following week, massing 400 tanks and 500 antitank guns. Rommel’s attack, on March 6, was brought to an early halt and he relinquished his command. The Allied 1st Army resumed the offensive on March 17, with attacks by the U.S. II Corps, under General Patton, on the roads through the mountains, with the aim of cutting the Afrika Korps’ line of retreat up the coast to Tunis. The British 8th Army launched a frontal assault on the Mareth Line, combined with an outflanking movement by the New Zealand Corps toward el-Hamma in the Germans’ rear; and a few days later, seeing the frontal assault failing, they switched the main attack to the flank. Threatened with encirclement, the Germans decided to abandon the Mareth Line, which the 8th Army occupied on March 28th. The German high command had an opportunity to withdraw its forces from Tunisia to Sicily, but it chose instead to defend the indefensible area. The defenders withstood the converging assaults that the 8th and 1st armies from April 20 to April 23; but on May 6 a concentrated attack by Allied artillery, aircraft, infantry, and tanks was launched on the two-mile front of the Medjerda Valley leading to Tunis; and on May 7 the city fell to the leading British armoured forces, while the Americans and the French almost simultaneously captured Bizerte. At the same time, the Germans’ line of retreat into the Cap Bon Peninsula was severed by an armoured division’s swift turn southeastward from Tunis. A general collapse of the German resistance followed, the Allies taking more than 250,000 prisoners, including 125,000 German troops and Arnim himself. North Africa had been cleared of Axis forces and was now completely in Allied hands. At the end of the campaign, the Axis had over 350 thousands troops fighting and over 300 thousand killed or captured. The Allies had over 500 thousand fighting and only about 76 thousand killed or captured.

Unit Covered
Tonight, we will talk shortly about the history of the U.S. Army First Armored Division, known as “Old Ironsides,” who fought in the Tunisian Campaign. The 1st Armored Division was constituted on 15 July 1940 at Fort Knox, Kentucky. They remained at Fort Knox for 2 years to pioneer tank training techniques. On April 11 1942 they were moved to Fort Dix, New Jersey to await deployment overseas. They were part of the initial landing in Africa in October 1942. They fought through Africa, into Italy and remained in Italy fighting German resistance until the end of the war in Europe. The division fought through Europe until VE-Day and earned 2 medals of honor, 722 silver stars and over 5700 purple hearts. Old Ironsides was deactivated from 1946 until 1951, when it was reactivated in build up for the Korean War. The division was tested in preparation for the Cuba Missile Crisis, as a response force. The Division did not deploy as an entire division to Vietnam but sent Infantry, Aviation and Cavalry units to fight. It also sent troops to assist with rioting in Chicago following Dr Martin Luther King’s assassination. The division saw heavy fighting during the Gulf War in 1990, destroying 440 tanks, 485 personnel carriers, and over 320 artillery pieces and aided in the stabilization efforts in the Balkans in the mid-90s. Old Ironsides sent units to be part of the initial invasion into Iraq in 2003 and has had multiple rotations to Iraq and Afghanistan since. They are currently located at Fort Bliss, Texas and are made up of three Armored Brigade Combat Teams, an aviation brigade, sustainment brigade and artillery headquarters.

March 28:
Our last internal, we covered the history of the Pacific Campaign and went in depth to the Battle of Peliliu. This month we will pick up after the Battle of France. France had surrendered to the Nazis on the 25 June 1940. The Axis powers had captured France, Belgium and the Netherlands. From July 10 to October 31, 1940 the Battle of Britain ensued with German bombers and fighters attacking deep into Great Britain, hoping to drive them to surrendering. On September 22, 1940, the Tripartite Pact was signed between Germany, Italy and Japan formalizing their alliance. In December of 1940 the British faced the Italian Armies in North Africa and gained the first victories of the war for the Allies. Italy and Germany invaded Yugoslavia in early 1941 and Hitler betrayed Russia on June 22, 1941 with Operation Barbarossa. On December 7, 1941 the Japanese launched a surprise attack on the United States at Pearl Harbor and the next day the U.S. declared war on Japan. This brought the U.S. officially into World War II.

Battle Covered
Concerned after the loss of Bismarck, Adolf Hitler ordered the Kriegsmarine to move the ships to Germany for overhauls in preparation for their deployment to Norway. There they were to serve as a fleet in being, and as the premier naval defence for German-occupied Norway. After lengthy discussions the Oberkommando der Marine opted for the shorter, but arguably more dangerous route, through the English Channel. Hitler met with the commanders of this mission himself and stated that this was a no fail mission. The Luftwaffe was ordered to cover this movement and committed over 300 planes to supporting it. The Luftwaffe flew diversion missions, created radio jamming and had a heavily detailed plan to ensure this mission succeeded because its commander saw failure as bearing down on the Luftwaffe over the Navy. The British RAF committed three squadrons to cover the anticipated German route. They believe that German Navy would move mostly at night during the most dangerous parts of their route. During the evening of the 10 February 1942 the German fleet prepared to undertake their operation. As they slipped anchor RAF bombers appeared overhead. The German ships conducted a U-turn and sped back to the dock. The RAF bombers released their bombs but did little damage. Fortunately for the German ships they did not notice anything unusual. The next evening, the German fighters intercepted RAF surveillance aircraft during their night routes, allowing the fleet to begin their movement undetected. They were able to move for 11 hours unhindered. Eventually they were discovered and the RAF was dispatched. Most of the fighting that ensued was between the air squadrons and the ships saw very little action. The RAF bombers who did make attack runs did very little damage due to a lack of training on hitting naval targets, poor visibility and a low cloud ceiling. The two German capital ships took some damage but only believed to be due to mines and not air attacks. Operation Donnerkeil had been an outstanding success for the Luftwaffe.[3] The measure of success lay not in the ratio of losses, which amounted to 2:1 in the German favour, but the failure of the RAF, FAA and Royal Navy to intercept or at least inflict severe damage to the German warships. The meagre forces committed by the Navy had been repulsed easily by the German warships and their escorts. Heavy AAA fire had offered a helpful defence against air attack, but the German air defence had succeeded, along with poor weather, in breaking up RAF assaults on the ships. In total the German Luftwaffe lost 22 aircraft while the British RAF lost 41 total.

Unit Covered
n/a

February

February 10
Last month, we covered all the events leading up to the beginning of World War II and the Battle of France. This concluded with Germany and the Axis powers in control of most of Europe anda major blow being dealt to the Allied Forces. It was a massive, lopsided victory for Germany that could have been a swift, decisive victory had the Allies not persisted. After the Battle of France, the Battle of Britain began as Germany attempted to crush British morale through a steady bombing campaign in Britain, including London. In December of 1941, the Japanese conducted a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor and brought the United States into World War II. Britain began pushing back with the bombing of Cologne in May of 1942. Germany and Italy conducted a thrust into Russia in June of 1942, fighting what had originally been an ally of the Axis powers. In October of 1942, the Allies began their fight in Africa to win lands back and secure a foothold to launch from. In May of 1943, the Axis troops in Tunisia surrendered, ending the African campaign and creating the opportunity for Allied troops to begin their attack into Italy and start taking back Europe.

Battle Covered
Tonight, we have two Campaign maps and they are dod_adanti & dod_catania_rc2 which are both associated with the Allied invasion of Italy, known as Operation Husky. dod_catania_rc2 is named after the port of Catania in Italy which is located in Sicily. Dod_adanti is named after a fictional village in Italy, taken from the game Medal of Honor: Airborne.
After a hard fought victory in Tunisia and the African campaign, the next major initiative against the enemy would come in a Mediterranean crossing that would seek the first defeat of one of the three Axis powers—fascist Italy. The invasion of Sicily, the first part of the plan, was a massive undertaking—in Europe, second only to D-Day—involving 2,600 Allied ships and sustained air support. The original Allied plan envisaged two widely separate landings in the northwest and south east of the island. General Montgomery objected, because this approach lost the advantages of a combined, closely coordinated force. In the final plan, the British 8th Army would land on the south east of the island and the US 7th Army in the south west.
The invading force was made up of two armies—the U.S. Seventh Army and the British Eighth Army—and once ashore the Allies pressed forward in an attempt to destroy and capture the Axis units on the island. High winds caused problems in the air with dire consequences for British and American troops being flown from Tunisia to Sicily in 137 gliders and 400 transport aircraft respectively. Due to poor flying and navigational conditions, combined with inadequately trained pilots, the planes and gliders were badly scattered. Only a fraction of the elite troops reached their targets but in sufficient numbers to complete their assigned tasks. Of the gliders in the British sector, about a dozen were released early and were lost in the sea, with many casualties. To compound the self-inflicted air losses on or around D+3, a number of Allied supply aircraft were shot down by friendly fire, as they strayed over the battleground. The aircraft were certainly off their approved course but the primary cause was a failure in aircraft recognition by the spotters and gunners on the ground. The few German troops on Sicily were quickly reinforced to a total of four elite divisions, along with a substantial Italian force. The Germans skillfully used the island’s mountainous terrain to carry out an effective delaying operation. The Allies, especially the British, advanced cautiously against the Germans. On July 24, Mussolini was deposed and arrested, striking a heavy blow to the Axis fight in Italy. Although Hitler insisted that Sicily must be held at all costs, the German commanders soon realized that they must abandon the island if his German formations and their valuable weapons and equipment were not to be lost to the Allies. On the night of 11-12 August, the Germans began a well-executed withdrawal that saw 40,000 German and 60,000 Italian troops cross over to the mainland with minimal hindrance from the Allies. This operation took place from 9 July to 17 August 1943 with elements of the British, American, Canadian, French and Australian forces fighting alongside each other. The Allies brought a total of 467 thousand troops against the Axis’ approximately 315 thousand troops. By the end of the battle, the Allies had about 10 thousand killed, wounded or missing and the Axis had almost 180 thousand killed, wounded, or captured.

Unit Covered
Tonight, we will talk shortly about the history of the First Infantry Division, the oldest active Infantry Division in the United States Army, who fought in Operation Husky. The Division, known as the Big Red One, was constituted on 24 May 1917 in New York and then sent to the Mexico-American border for initial service. In 1917 the Division sailed for England and then France to take part in World War I. They fought though out the war and returned home in September 1919. They remained active between the wars and were reorganized immediately for service in World War II in 1940. They were part of the initial landing in Africa in October 1942. They fought through Africa, into Italy and were part of the first waves at Omaha Beach. The division fought through Europe until VE-Day and earned 16 medals of honor. The Big Red One was on occupation duty in Germany during the Nuremberg Trials and missed the Korean War. The Division was one of the first two into Vietnam and had a constant presence there for all five years of the War. 12,000 troops from the division spearheaded assaults during the Gulf War in 1990 and aided in the stabilization efforts in the Balkans in the mid-90s. The First were part of the initial invasion into Iraq in 2003 and have had 11 rotations to Iraq and Afghanistan since. They are currently located at Fort Riley, Kansas and are made up of two Armored Brigade Combat Teams, an aviation brigade, sustainment brigade and artillery headquarters.

January:

5 January
As this is this first night of the campaign, I will cover some of the events that led to the beginning of World War II. To start off, at 11:11 am on November 11th,1918 a cease fire went into effect to end the “war to end all wars” or World War I. In June 1919, the Treaty of Versailles was signed and in January 1920 the League of Nations was created, which the U.S. never joined for various reasons. Shortly after this however, events that would lead to World War II would begin. June 1923 saw the destruction of the Deutschmark in Germany due to astronomical inflation. The Fascist Party in Italy was created under Mussolini and Stalin took control after Lenin died in Russia. 1925 saw Hitler publish “Mein Kampf,” 1926 had the removal of all Allied forces from Germany and Hirohito became the Emperor of Japan. October 1929 saw the Wall Street Crash which led to the great depression in the U.S. September 1931 saw the Mukden Incident, a staged bombing of Japanese railroads that led to a Japanese invasion of Manchuria. This is seen as the start of World War II by many scholars because of the domino effect created by it. Hitler became the Chancellor of Germany in 1933 and then its dictator two months later. Germany created laws forcing the boycott of Jewish businesses, created the Gestapo, SS, and Luftwaffe, outlawed trade unions, left the League of Nations, banned non-Nazi parties and created its concentration camps. The stage was set. The SS and Gestapo killed political enemies in the Night of the Long Knives, Italy invaded Ethiopia, Germany seized the Rheinland, Russia purged all of its political opponents, Italy left the League of Nations and Germany annexed Austria. Appeasement was attempted with the Munich Agreement which gave Czechoslovakia to Germany. This failed though as Germany then annexed Bohemia and Moravia-Silesia, signed pacts with Italy and Russia and then in 1939 invaded Poland. At this point appeasement was no longer an option and the War began in full.

Battle Covered
Tonight, our Campaign map is dod_abancourt_final and we will cover the Battle of France. The map is named after the town of Abancourt which is in northern France and saw fighting during the Battle of France.
Following the end of World War I, France decided to create a large scale fortification along its western border to deter aggression by Germany. This was the maginot line and it was built in the 1930s. The line’s purpose was to divert a German attack into Belgium, where France’s best units would focus combat power to defeat the aggressors. The biggest assumption by the French was the German forces could not move through the Ardennes forest rapidly or in large numbers. This would end up costing them dearly. The Battle of France would take place from May 10th through June 25th 1940 and would encompass 141 German Divisions, 22 Italian Divisions, and 140 Allied Divisions. In total, 3.6 million Axis and 3.4 million Allied troops would fight in this battle. The Germans split their attack into three fronts, A, B and C. Group B were tasked with invading and defeating The Netherlands as quickly as possible, and then engaging the Allies in combat in central Belgium. Group C were tasked with invading the Maginot Line of defenses, engaging the French troops defending this line and distracting them from Group A. Group A were the main focus of the German offensive. They were tasked with going through the middle of Group B and Group C, through the dense Ardennes Forest in south-east Belgium and Northern Luxembourg. From here, they advanced straight to the coast, which they reached on the 20th of May. Here, they captured key ports while also encircling a huge number of French and British troops in Northern France and Belgium, who had been fighting Group B of the German attack. The Allied troops were divided. Over 300,000 of the Allies’ strongest troops encircled in Northern France and Belgium retreated to England in Operation Dynamo between the 26th of May and the 4th of June. On the 29 May, Belgium surrendered. The German Army pushed on towards Paris, capturing the city on the 14 June 1940. After just six short weeks, France surrendered to the Nazis on the 25 June 1940. When the battle was over the Allies had over 375,000 troops dead or missing and 2.75 million captured while the Axis lost only 33 thousand troops. Less than a year after invading Poland, Germany had occupied, or become allied with, a large part of Europe.

27 January
I’m going to talk through the Pacific Campaign of World War II in short order and then talk the specific events of the Battle of Peliliu, which is our battle for tonight. On December 7th 1941, Japan launched a surprise attack on the United States at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. This attack resulted in the sinking of 4 battleships, 13 more ships damaged, almost 200 aircraft destroyed and almost 175 damaged, over 2,300 service members killed and over 1,100 injured. This was the final event that brought the U.S. into the war. The next day, the U.S. declared war on the Axis and entered World War 2 as a member of the Allies. The U.S.’s fleets in the Pacific immediately began movements and taking members of the Armed Forces to battle against the Japanese. The major battles of the Pacific, in chronological order, were the Battle of Wake Island in December of 1941, the Philippines Campaign from December 1941 to May 1942, the Battle of Midway in June of 1942, Guadalcanal from August 1942 to February 1943, the Marshall Islands from August 1942 to February 1944, the Palau Islands Campaign throughout 1944, the Battle of Iwo Jima on February 19th 1945 and the Battle of Okinawa on April 1st 1945. The Battle of Iwo Jima is best known for the picture of the marines raising the U.S. flag that is memorialized in Washington D.C. The Pacific Theater also included the Aleutian Islands, in Alaska, from 1942 to 1943.

Battle Covered
Tonight, our Campaign map is dod_peliliu and we will cover the Battle of Peliliu. The map is named after the island of Peliliu which is part of Palau islands in the Pacific Ocean.
Peleliu was held by more than 10,000 Japanese troops. The island’s airfield would allow Japanese planes to threaten any Allied operation in the Philippines, and General Douglas MacArthur pushed for an amphibious attack in order to neutralize this threat. On the morning of September 15, the 1st Marine Division landed on the southwest corner of Peleliu. Massive naval bombardment of land-based targets preceded troop landings, which were supported by strafing and bombing runs by carrier-based aircraft. The troops arrived on shore in waves, gathering on an island’s beaches until they had sufficient numbers to push inland. These methods had worked in earlier landings and were expected to work again on Peleliu. The Japanese had learned from past attacks, however, and they took a new strategy, aimed at bogging the enemy invaders down for days and inflicting massive casualties in hopes of pushing the Allies into a negotiated peace. Peleliu’s many caves, connected by networks of tunnels, allowed the Japanese to hunker down and emerge mostly unscathed from the Allied bombardment. They held out for four days before U.S. forces were even able to secure the southwest area of Peleliu, including a key airstrip. When the Marines turned north to begin their advance, they were targeted along the way by heavy artillery fire and a fusillade of small arms from Japanese forces installed in caves dug into the rocky surface of Umurbrogol Mountain, which the Marines dubbed “Bloody Nose Ridge.” Over the next eight days, U.S. troops sustained about 50 percent casualties in some of the most vicious and costly fighting of the Pacific campaign. Members of the Army’s 321st Regiment (and later the 323rd) were sent to aid the 1st Marine Division, arriving in time to make a renewed attack on Bloody Nose Ridge from the west on September 24. While the combined Army and Marine forces were able to envelop Japanese positions on the mountain, the Japanese still held out, and would only be dislodged after much bloodshed throughout October. More U.S. reinforcements arrived, and the ridge was finally neutralized on November 25. Characteristically, the Japanese defenders refused to surrender, and virtually all of them were killed. At the end of the battle, the U.S. had lost 7,900 troops and the Japanese lost almost 14,000.

To share with the community what I've been putting together the last few months, I will post the interesting parts of what I've been sharing each month here so others can read it if they were not able to be in attendance.

The misheard lyrics video is hilarious [mention]Fox 8th ID[/mention]

Ooooo MORE GUUUUUUUNDAM!?!?! [mention]Fielding 1st MRB[/mention]

:unicorn:

My favorite!

My favorite author is Stephen R. Lawhead. He writes historical fiction/fantasy. For me, his writing is perfect for me as he's incredibly visual. I'm currently reading his Eirlandia series of books. This series dives into the Celtic world, set in Bronze Age Ireland, where Faeries still roam the islands, and warring tribes and clans vie for power. The story begins as the largest warhost the island has ever seen is about to make landfall. The stories are Inspired by Lawhead's study of the ancient Irish text, The Book of Invasions.

 

Part action, part mystery, and a huge helping of history go into the first book of the series, Region of the Summer Stars. Lawhead put in tons of research, and he layers on the details while building incredible depth. You can see his words, and that's why he's such a favorite of mine.

Whoa! I've never even heard of this author or this series but it sounds like something I'd really enjoy! I'm gonna add it to my goodreads queue and pick it up the first book once I get through my current reads. You've got me excited.

https://youtu.be/IY_bhVSGKEg

I'll start it off!

My favorite read of all time is Watchmen by Alan Moore.

This book/graphic novel/comic is one that I've read 9 times since I first received it from a friend in 2010. I have done an almost annual re-read since then. Last year was the first year that I did not.

It's the only graphic novel to make Time Magazine's All-Time best 100 English language Novels from 1923 to 2005. It ranked at #18.

The comic is based on an alternate timeline of the world where superheroes came into existence in the 1930s and had major social influence through major events such as the Vietnam War and Nixon Administration. Due to protests by civilians and police against them, they become outlawed and the story takes place in the 1980s during the Cold War as nuclear armageddon becomes more and more of a reality and the heroes of the disbanded group "the Watchmen," attempt to discover who is trying to kill them off and potentially cause world disaster.

It's a great take on realistic heroes and the problems they face as people. It has its moments where it feels like a normal comic book, but then uses that against you as the reader to throw plot twists into the story. The writing and illustration are superb and I recommend it to most anyone, even non-comic readers.

Welcome to the Book Club. First rule of book club is... always talk about books!

Post books you've read and have meant a lot to you.

Post books you've wanted to read and want to hear what others thought of them.

Post books you've read and want others to read along with a review.

Or just post pictures of awesome books.

Whatever works for you!