intresting snippets from the tide of time

Japanese-Germans??????In Wehermacht uniforms!!!

                                                         

                                                             A Sikh Soldier of the Azad Hind Fauj (India )at a function in            

                                                                                                              Berlin - 1944 

US soldier shares a cigar with 3 GR Gurkha in Italy 1944    

      

    Soldiers of the 7th Gurkha Rifles in Italy 

  German Surrender --Signal Corps  Photo                                                                                                          Did you know????The last German unit to surrender was a weather observation group called 'Hauedegen' stationed on Spitzbergen  after they send a request to their former contact station in Norway to get them out in July 1945, they were informed on August 21 1945 that a Norwegian seal-hunter would arrive in early September to rescue them. It arrived on September 4 and had to sign their own surrender treaty to the captain of the seal-hunter. 




This is from India 

      RIP                                                                    

                                                                                                 Armstrong makes his "one small  step''                    

                                                                                                    

                                                              Astronaut Neil Armstrong, who took a giant leap for mankind when he became the first person to walk on the moon, has died at the age of 82, I remember as a kid of about 9 years, listening to VOA on the radio with my Dad when at midnight (IST) it was announced ''The Eagle has landed''. There was quite a commotion in the School the next day !!   Bye Neil--be seeing you sometime.  

And how did USA win the race to the Moon????

  “Years of direct exposure to the Hitler regime, and its excesses, taught me a few unforgettable lessons and made me solidly opposed to any form of government which would deprive man of  human dignity.”  VON BRAUN

Werhner Von Braun-------                            

     

He had worked for the United States for twenty-eight years, placed a man on the moon and was the Director of Marshall Space Flight Center with a budget of 1.5 billion dollars and 8,000 employees, but to the FBI he was still a Nazi.In 1977 President Ford awarded von Braun the National Medal of Science. He was in the hospital, his body wracked with cancer, and unable to attend the White House ceremony.Later a friend visited the hospital and gave him the medal.Werhner von Braun supported his native country in a time of war, and for that he bore the stigma of Nazism for the rest of his life. When all the accusations are finally put to rest, perhaps historians will look at the man and discover who he really was ... a loyal German citizen, who became a great American hero.He had worked for the United States for twenty-eight years, placed a man on the moon and was the Director of Marshall Space Flight Center with a budget of 1.5 billion dollars and 8,000 employees.In 1977 President Ford awarded von Braun the National Medal of Science. He was in the hospital, his body wracked with cancer, and unable to attend the White House ceremony.Later a friend visited the hospital and gave him the medal.Werhner von Braun supported his native country in a time of war, and for that he bore the stigma of Nazism for the rest of his life. When all the accusations are finally put to rest, perhaps historians will look at the man and discover who he really was ... a loyal German citizen, who became a great American hero. Which proves that you may not like your leaders but you still love your Country--true everywhere ????

                  With Kennedy  

 Operation Paperclip Wernher von Braun was the leader of what has been called the "rocket team," which had developed the German V-2 ballistic missile in World War II. Attended institutes of technology in Berlin and Zurich and received doctorate in physics at the University of Berlin in 1934. Joined the rocket experimental center in Peenemunde in 1937 and was director of research until 1945; his work and that of his colleagues led to development of the V-1 and V-2 guided missiles used against the Allies during World War II. Surrendered to U.S. Army in 1945. Von Braun and some of his chief assistants--as part of a military operation called Project Paperclip--came to America and were installed at Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas, to work on rocket development and use the V-2 for high altitude research. They used launch facilities at the nearby White Sands Proving Ground in New Mexico.After being moved to NASA, von Braun led his rocket team in the development - within only six years - of the monster Saturn I and Saturn V boosters, that took America to the moon.

  

                                                                                                                                                       

                                  

STALAG LUFT-III

                                  General Kumaramangalam , Indan Army, took over as General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Eastern Command in May 1963. In Nov 1964 he was appointed Deputy Chief of the Army Staff and on 15 January 1965 he became Vice Chief of the Army Staff. General Kumaramangalam took over as the Chief of the Army Staff on 8 June 1966, the first Indian gunner officer and a paratrooper to reach this coveted appointment.He had his early education at Eton College and graduated from the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich in England.

Paramasiva Prabhakar Kumaramangalam was commissioned into the Regiment of Artillery in 1933. He was the second Indian Officer to be commissioned into the Regiment of Artillery, and was promoted to Lieutenant in 1935.

 During World War II, he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) as a Major for action in Libya on 27 May 1942. He was taken Prisoner of War (PoW) in Italy in 1942. He escaped; however he was captured again and imprisoned, this time in Germany, where he was 

transferred to Stalag Luft III a high security camp for PoWs.

 General P P Kumaramangalam , Indian Army

“Two hundred and fifty?  You’re crazy.   You should be locked up.   You, too.   Two hundred and fifty guys, just walking down the street?”
Hilts (Steve McQueen) berates Roger Bartlett (Richard Attenborough) and MacDonald (Gordon Jackson).

Friedrich Wilhelm von Lindeiner genannt von Wildau as Kommandant of Stalag Luft III

It is on record that the German Luftwaffe, who were responsible for Air Force prisoners of war, maintained a degree of professional respect for fellow flyers, and the general attitude of the camp security officers and guards should not be confused with the SS or Gestapo.  The Luftwaffe treated the PoWs well, despite an erratic and inconsistent supply of food. Prisoners were handled quite fairly within the Geneva Convention, and the Kommandant, Oberst (Colonel) Friedrich-Wilhelm von Lindeiner-Wildau(left), was a professional and honourable soldier who won the respect of the senior prisoners.  The Outcome Of The Great                      Escape Of the 76 men who escaped, 3 made it home to the UK. 23 were recaptured and sent back to Sagan. Hitler personally ordered the execution of the other 50 men.  The commandant of Stalag Luft III, Lindeiner, was court-martialed by the Gestapo for not preventing the escape. Morale among the prisoners was low when the executions became common knowledge and few were keen to attempt further escape attempts.  Although only 3 men managed to reach safety and 50 men were murdered, the escape caused havoc among the Germans. Thousands of police, Hitler Youth members and soldiers were diverted from wartime duties to search for the escapees. Urns containing the ashes of the 50 who were executed were brought to the camp. British airmen constructed the memorial (below) to commemorate their deaths.

Little Jimmy Brown

Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, 1943

Shot in 1943, this is one of the best-known pictures of World War Two, as it depicts the terror inspired by the Nazis. The image shows the destruction of the Warsaw Ghetto, which was home to thousands of Jewish citizens escaping the Nazi regime. Though the most poignant part of picture is the frightened little boy in the foreground with his hands up as he is forcibly removed from his hiding place.

In this June 8, 1972 file photo, crying children, including 9-year-old Kim Phuc, center, run down Route 1 near Trang Bang, Vietnam after an aerial napalm attack on suspected Viet Cong hiding places as South Vietnamese forces from the 25th Division walk behind them. A South Vietnamese plane accidentally dropped its flaming napalm on South Vietnamese troops and civilians. From left, the children are Phan Thanh Tam, younger brother of Kim Phuc, who lost an eye, Phan Thanh Phouc, youngest brother of Kim Phuc, Kim Phuc, and Kim's cousins Ho Van Bon, and Ho Thi Ting. Kim Phuc and her family were residents of the village of Trang Bang, South Vietnam. On June 8, 1972,South Vietnamese planes dropped a napalm bomb on Trang Bang, which had been attacked and occupied by North Vietnamese forces. Kim Phuc joined a group of civilians and South Vietnamese soldiers who were fleeing from the Caodai Temple to the safety of South Vietnamese–held positions. A South Vietnamese Air Force pilot mistook the group for enemy soldiers and diverted to attack. The bombing killed two of Kim Phuc's cousins and two other villagers. Kim Phuc was badly burned and tore off her burning clothes. Associated Press photographer Nick Ut's photograph of Kim Phuc running naked amid other fleeing villagers, South Vietnamese soldiers and press photographers became one of the most haunting images of the Vietnam War. In an interview many years later, she recalled she was yelling, Nóng quá, nóng quá ("too hot, too hot") in the picture. A cropped version of the photo with the press photographers to the right removed was featured on the front page of the New York Times the next day. It later earned a Pulitzer Prize and was chosen as the World Press Photo of the Year for 1972.

'Napalm girl' photo from Vietnam War is now 40

What a wonderful world - Bring joy and peace now