WEBVTT 00:00:05.160 --> 00:00:09.000 All across America and around the world, this 00:00:09.000 --> 00:00:15.859 is Veterans Radio. This is Veterans Radio. And 00:00:15.859 --> 00:00:19.839 now, your host for today's program, Bob Gould. 00:00:28.320 --> 00:00:31.440 And here we are for another, pardon me, another 00:00:31.440 --> 00:00:34.859 edition. of veterans radio live, coming to you 00:00:34.859 --> 00:00:39.899 from WAAM Talk 1600. That's right, AAM. People 00:00:39.899 --> 00:00:42.479 go, hey man, what are you on the AAM for? Well, 00:00:42.880 --> 00:00:48.479 that is the medium that is bringing so much of 00:00:48.479 --> 00:00:52.000 community and local broadcasting and now with 00:00:52.000 --> 00:00:54.859 internet. And by the way, if you are or haven't, 00:00:54.920 --> 00:00:59.310 you can go to www .veteransradio .net. And you 00:00:59.310 --> 00:01:01.390 can go there anyway. We've got a whole lot of 00:01:01.390 --> 00:01:05.969 good stuff on there, archives and all. And everything 00:01:05.969 --> 00:01:10.129 that we've been a part of goes on our website. 00:01:10.329 --> 00:01:12.030 You can also listen to it. If you have a little 00:01:12.030 --> 00:01:14.510 problem, sometimes they say, I only got it in 00:01:14.510 --> 00:01:18.250 my car, man. Well, then you can go to our internet 00:01:18.250 --> 00:01:20.750 set and click on listen to, right? You can get 00:01:20.750 --> 00:01:24.310 that and hear that nice and clear. We've got 00:01:24.310 --> 00:01:27.310 a great program today. We're going to be talking 00:01:27.310 --> 00:01:30.879 about World War two. Oh, man. There's World War 00:01:30.879 --> 00:01:34.700 two that well, you know, it's the 70th anniversary 00:01:34.700 --> 00:01:39.799 70 70 years since the end of World War two I 00:01:39.799 --> 00:01:43.719 have to to They've been guests before on veterans 00:01:43.719 --> 00:01:48.200 radio two authors who are Going to give us all 00:01:48.200 --> 00:01:50.519 that background that we're gonna these guys and 00:01:50.519 --> 00:01:52.319 these guys are terrific. I've seen them on the 00:01:52.319 --> 00:01:54.260 military channel I've seen them on the history 00:01:54.260 --> 00:01:58.450 channel I've seen them And and heard them there. 00:01:58.450 --> 00:02:01.250 Oh boy. I just can't this one of my favorite 00:02:01.250 --> 00:02:04.109 favorite subjects is World War two I can't wait 00:02:04.109 --> 00:02:07.730 to get into it. I want to say also to my partners 00:02:07.730 --> 00:02:12.909 Dale and Jim who are Other assignments elsewhere 00:02:12.909 --> 00:02:16.550 in this and this in this universe, so they'll 00:02:16.550 --> 00:02:21.129 be back next week. It's just me me and My board 00:02:21.129 --> 00:02:26.710 up, I'm going to call him Redline. Redline Redzone. 00:02:26.969 --> 00:02:30.969 Derek, how you doing? I'm doing great, Bob. Okay. 00:02:31.250 --> 00:02:35.650 Redline, folks. Redline. All right. We got a 00:02:35.650 --> 00:02:38.930 couple of little things to do here. Reese Across 00:02:38.930 --> 00:02:42.150 America, a lot of folks wanted to know how can 00:02:42.150 --> 00:02:44.490 we get in touch with Reese. Then that's something 00:02:44.490 --> 00:02:46.530 when you're listening to Veterans Radio, you 00:02:46.530 --> 00:02:49.759 always want to have a writing stick. and a piece 00:02:49.759 --> 00:02:51.879 of paper, because we give a lot of information 00:02:51.879 --> 00:02:54.180 out. And what's really cool about Rees Across 00:02:54.180 --> 00:02:58.080 America, if you have an area, a cemetery, that 00:02:58.080 --> 00:03:01.680 you want to have Rees placed on, how do you do 00:03:01.680 --> 00:03:04.620 all this? Well, here's how you do it. You go 00:03:04.620 --> 00:03:14.300 to reesacrossamerica .org. Rees Across America. 00:03:14.479 --> 00:03:18.719 Dot org go there and all the information is available. 00:03:18.719 --> 00:03:20.699 They'll help you get something started. It's 00:03:20.699 --> 00:03:24.520 really cool way cool and Great organization. 00:03:24.520 --> 00:03:26.300 I think they've been around about eight or nine 00:03:26.300 --> 00:03:29.080 years. What else do we have here? Oh, yes legacy 00:03:29.080 --> 00:03:32.719 PTSD legacy There's going to be an agent orange 00:03:32.719 --> 00:03:35.259 town hall meeting every week. We're talking about 00:03:35.259 --> 00:03:37.979 this because it's very important on Saturday, 00:03:38.000 --> 00:03:42.240 May 9th Northville High School, and it's going 00:03:42.240 --> 00:03:46.960 to be A number of speakers and folks that are 00:03:46.960 --> 00:03:49.699 going to be talking about PTSD and I don't want 00:03:49.699 --> 00:03:52.879 to get into a whole lot of this. Some of the 00:03:52.879 --> 00:03:57.680 speakers is U .S. Congressman Dave Trott, Pat 00:03:57.680 --> 00:04:03.659 Colbeck. He's a Michigan State Senator and from 00:04:03.659 --> 00:04:06.900 the Vietnam Veterans of America. Agent Orange 00:04:06.900 --> 00:04:08.740 right there, but anyway as they're going to be 00:04:08.740 --> 00:04:11.080 talking about it's only about four hours It's 00:04:11.080 --> 00:04:13.379 really cool, and there's gonna be refreshments 00:04:13.379 --> 00:04:15.560 and all that But they're gonna be talking about 00:04:15.560 --> 00:04:18.660 the legacy not just about Agent Orange with the 00:04:18.660 --> 00:04:22.360 legacy of Agent Orange Generations to come generations 00:04:22.360 --> 00:04:25.319 now and generations to come so you're and we're 00:04:25.319 --> 00:04:28.300 gonna be covering that that's right at Veterans 00:04:28.300 --> 00:04:32.060 radio net that's right veterans radio network 00:04:32.060 --> 00:04:34.620 So we're gonna be covering that from gavel to 00:04:34.620 --> 00:04:38.740 gavel And the future of our offspring depend 00:04:38.740 --> 00:04:41.959 on it. Absolutely. Legacy. What else do we have 00:04:41.959 --> 00:04:44.699 here? We have another one. A book coming out. 00:04:45.199 --> 00:04:51.500 And tomorrow, the 20th, over at the Plymouth 00:04:51.500 --> 00:04:54.839 Library. Make sure I get Plymouth District Library. 00:04:55.379 --> 00:04:57.379 Hey, man, what is he telling us about? Well, 00:04:57.519 --> 00:05:01.870 you know, if you're listening to Wham! Talk 1600 00:05:01.870 --> 00:05:05.009 and you can hear this on the AM. That means you're 00:05:05.009 --> 00:05:08.209 close to Plymouth Plymouth Michigan. That's right. 00:05:08.269 --> 00:05:11.029 So tomorrow at 1 30 April 20th, they're going 00:05:11.029 --> 00:05:15.269 to be talking about a book here and I want to 00:05:15.269 --> 00:05:19.529 get it right Snow Bloods Journal an American 00:05:19.529 --> 00:05:24.370 novel about men and dogs in Vietnam And you know 00:05:24.370 --> 00:05:26.670 a number of the dogs never came back. I know 00:05:26.670 --> 00:05:31.459 they have There were 3 ,747 dogs used in Vietnam. 00:05:32.420 --> 00:05:39.480 Only 204 exited the country. So we had somebody 00:05:39.480 --> 00:05:43.220 on that not too long ago. And there were reasons 00:05:43.220 --> 00:05:46.699 for that. Obviously, some were killed in combat 00:05:46.699 --> 00:05:49.899 situations, but they also become very attached 00:05:49.899 --> 00:05:56.509 to their owners. And anyway, so that's going 00:05:56.509 --> 00:05:58.790 to be tomorrow to Plymouth Library, District 00:05:58.790 --> 00:06:01.970 Library at 1 .30. Once again, Snowblood's Journal, 00:06:02.050 --> 00:06:07.370 an American novel about men and dogs in Vietnam. 00:06:08.509 --> 00:06:10.689 And I'm reading some of the reviews. Early reviews 00:06:10.689 --> 00:06:14.230 call this book, quote, a wild ride on foot and 00:06:14.230 --> 00:06:18.009 by chopper through a war. Tense, tight, lyrical, 00:06:18.569 --> 00:06:21.949 wonderfully told. Meet the author in person tomorrow 00:06:21.949 --> 00:06:26.620 at the Plymouth. district library at 130 okay 00:06:26.620 --> 00:06:30.079 time to get with our authors right after this 00:06:30.079 --> 00:06:36.139 very important message red line take it yeah 00:06:36.139 --> 00:06:38.180 yeah yeah yeah there'll be a hot time in the 00:06:38.180 --> 00:06:40.959 town of berlin when the yanks go marching in 00:06:40.959 --> 00:06:45.180 and we certainly did but but uh many years many 00:06:45.180 --> 00:06:47.620 years ago 70 years were coming up to the anniversary 00:06:47.620 --> 00:06:51.129 of the end of the war in europe was in May of 00:06:51.129 --> 00:06:57.810 1945. By the way, that was by Bing Crosby and 00:06:57.810 --> 00:07:02.329 the Andrews sisters. They were very, very, both 00:07:02.329 --> 00:07:05.110 of those as well as other entertainers, were 00:07:05.110 --> 00:07:12.370 very instrumental. Oh, sorry for the pause. Excuse 00:07:12.370 --> 00:07:15.509 me on that one, folks. They were very, very, 00:07:15.509 --> 00:07:19.069 very much all the entertainers apart. movie stars 00:07:19.069 --> 00:07:26.629 Clark Gable and went into I think he was a I 00:07:26.629 --> 00:07:28.769 think he was in the Air Force of the Army Air 00:07:28.769 --> 00:07:31.449 Corps and And and and they all they entertained 00:07:31.449 --> 00:07:34.269 the troops. So thanks to Bing Crosby Andrews 00:07:34.269 --> 00:07:37.730 sisters. Okay. Now let's take on World War two 00:07:37.730 --> 00:07:40.810 One of our guest authors today is professor John 00:07:40.810 --> 00:07:43.970 C. McManus He's a professor of military history 00:07:43.970 --> 00:07:47.230 at Missouri University of Science and Technology 00:07:48.430 --> 00:07:50.670 Professor McManus has written numerous books 00:07:50.670 --> 00:07:52.889 on World War II, and he's also served as a member 00:07:52.889 --> 00:07:58.910 of the editorial board of World War II magazine. 00:08:00.149 --> 00:08:02.629 Professor McManus, welcome to Veterans Radio. 00:08:03.829 --> 00:08:06.029 Hi, Bob. How are you today? Oh, we're doing great. 00:08:06.269 --> 00:08:09.230 Thank goodness for the sunshine. Oh, Lord. And 00:08:09.230 --> 00:08:12.670 you're in where? Washington? I'm in St. Louis, 00:08:12.750 --> 00:08:14.649 where it's currently raining, unfortunately. 00:08:15.069 --> 00:08:18.509 Oh, okay. Well... Better weather's coming. Anyway, 00:08:19.069 --> 00:08:21.910 my second guest, and by the way, Professor McManus 00:08:21.910 --> 00:08:24.230 has been on our program many times in the past, 00:08:24.230 --> 00:08:26.829 and we're gonna just have a great time today 00:08:26.829 --> 00:08:29.470 talking all about all these little facts of World 00:08:29.470 --> 00:08:33.289 War II. Our second guest today is Kevin Hemel. 00:08:33.830 --> 00:08:36.909 Kevin Hemel is a historian for the U .S. Army 00:08:36.909 --> 00:08:40.789 Combat Studies Institute. He writes military 00:08:40.789 --> 00:08:43.190 history narratives on the war in Afghanistan. 00:08:43.350 --> 00:08:46.960 He's also the author of Patton's photographs 00:08:46.960 --> 00:08:52.740 and Patton, legendary World War II commander. 00:08:53.100 --> 00:08:56.419 He's also appeared on the History Channel, on 00:08:56.419 --> 00:08:59.120 Military Channel, Fox News Channel, Book TV, 00:08:59.440 --> 00:09:02.279 speaking about Patton and including World War 00:09:02.279 --> 00:09:05.139 II and World War II history, Army and Military 00:09:05.139 --> 00:09:08.340 heritage. He's presently working on a book focusing 00:09:08.340 --> 00:09:11.059 exclusively on General Patton's experiences. 00:09:12.289 --> 00:09:14.730 During World War two entitled Patton's war. Oh, 00:09:14.730 --> 00:09:18.009 I got a lot of stuff. I asked thought they asked 00:09:18.009 --> 00:09:20.509 Kevin today He holds a master's degree in American 00:09:20.509 --> 00:09:23.649 history from Villanova University Welcome to 00:09:23.649 --> 00:09:26.389 veterans radio Kevin. Hey great to be here Bob. 00:09:26.429 --> 00:09:28.809 How you doing? I'm doing great and we're ready 00:09:28.809 --> 00:09:31.649 to get this thing started. Okay Wow, what you 00:09:31.649 --> 00:09:35.889 know, I was just talking to my my board up Where 00:09:35.889 --> 00:09:38.470 do you start on World War two? Where do you start? 00:09:38.490 --> 00:09:42.539 So I'm gonna I'm going to go back to 1914 and 00:09:42.539 --> 00:09:44.860 start right there because that's when I think 00:09:44.860 --> 00:09:47.879 all of this, all of this, all the characters 00:09:47.879 --> 00:09:53.419 and it was all being shaped. In 1914 when Germany 00:09:53.419 --> 00:09:57.360 invaded France and we had this terrible World 00:09:57.360 --> 00:10:03.399 War I and all the casualties and there was one 00:10:03.399 --> 00:10:09.000 casualty, a corporal who was an artist. painter, 00:10:09.299 --> 00:10:13.519 an artist, and he was gassed and he came out 00:10:13.519 --> 00:10:17.240 of it a disillusioned and very, very, very, very 00:10:17.240 --> 00:10:20.159 angry person. There also was someone, oh by the 00:10:20.159 --> 00:10:24.299 way that was Adolf, and then there was also an 00:10:24.299 --> 00:10:30.360 air ace and he went on to start the SS under 00:10:30.360 --> 00:10:34.639 Adolf Hitler and he started the SS and many other 00:10:34.639 --> 00:10:39.039 things and he was also in charge of the Nazi 00:10:39.039 --> 00:10:43.159 Air Force, Herman Gehring, and they all came 00:10:43.159 --> 00:10:48.179 out. They all came out of World War I, and right 00:10:48.179 --> 00:10:51.299 after the war, being so disillusioned, Hitler, 00:10:51.620 --> 00:10:54.679 Hitler was angry, he was mad, and he was trying 00:10:54.679 --> 00:10:58.080 to get the people fired up, this is wrong, communism's 00:10:58.080 --> 00:11:01.500 wrong, it's all wrong, and we're not, but there 00:11:01.500 --> 00:11:04.080 was prosperity. Right after World War I, there 00:11:04.080 --> 00:11:08.659 was huge prosperity. Yes, because we were loaning 00:11:08.659 --> 00:11:12.440 them a ton of money, ton of money. We really 00:11:12.440 --> 00:11:17.480 built Germany with our money. And this could 00:11:17.480 --> 00:11:20.700 have been something, and I'm going to want Professor 00:11:20.700 --> 00:11:24.279 McManus to comment on that, that this could be, 00:11:24.779 --> 00:11:27.799 this could be where Hitler started to look at 00:11:27.799 --> 00:11:31.120 all the Jewish bankers and the big international 00:11:31.120 --> 00:11:34.000 bankers because what changed, and by the way, 00:11:34.000 --> 00:11:37.169 Hitler tried all sorts of to get people rallied, 00:11:37.389 --> 00:11:40.289 he had his Nazi party, National Socialist Party, 00:11:40.509 --> 00:11:43.070 and they won like a half a percent of the vote, 00:11:43.090 --> 00:11:44.970 and they were going nowhere, nobody was listening 00:11:44.970 --> 00:11:49.570 to him. Then, then came the American Depression, 00:11:50.190 --> 00:11:54.049 1929, and the bankers, here's our bankers again, 00:11:54.549 --> 00:11:58.990 called in all their notes, and Germany collapsed. 00:11:59.370 --> 00:12:02.789 Perfect. Now, for Hitler, who did a little... 00:12:02.399 --> 00:12:04.659 just did a little time in prison wrote his book 00:12:04.659 --> 00:12:08.720 mine cough now he can be at the top tell us about 00:12:08.720 --> 00:12:11.720 that professor mcmanus well there's actually 00:12:11.720 --> 00:12:14.179 a couple of economic collapses in germany after 00:12:14.179 --> 00:12:16.639 world war one the the initial years after the 00:12:16.639 --> 00:12:20.759 war were very very uh... chaotic and desperate 00:12:20.759 --> 00:12:23.039 in germany because you know really really germany 00:12:23.039 --> 00:12:25.919 loses world war one part because it collapses 00:12:25.919 --> 00:12:28.799 internally politically government falls from 00:12:28.799 --> 00:12:31.429 power people are hungry People are desperate. 00:12:31.950 --> 00:12:33.769 Of course, they've suffered terrible casualties. 00:12:34.029 --> 00:12:36.830 The infrastructure has been taxed to its limits 00:12:36.830 --> 00:12:40.570 and the currency as well. And so, really for 00:12:40.570 --> 00:12:43.370 about the first three to four years, if not even 00:12:43.370 --> 00:12:46.870 five years after the war, these are hungry, desperate 00:12:46.870 --> 00:12:50.169 economic times, which partially leads to paramilitary 00:12:50.169 --> 00:12:52.870 groups fighting in the streets and whatnot. And 00:12:52.870 --> 00:12:55.129 also, and maybe this is the most famous aspect 00:12:55.129 --> 00:12:57.769 of it, the complete collapse of the German currency, 00:12:57.789 --> 00:13:00.309 which leads to, as you mentioned, uh... american 00:13:00.309 --> 00:13:04.549 bankers all the dogs putting together an effort 00:13:04.549 --> 00:13:06.710 to kind of stabilize the germany economy and 00:13:06.710 --> 00:13:09.129 then this creates better economic times for about 00:13:09.129 --> 00:13:11.470 the next three to four years and that's not very 00:13:11.470 --> 00:13:13.929 fertile ground for the nazis or the communist 00:13:13.929 --> 00:13:16.889 take power but of course once the great depression 00:13:16.889 --> 00:13:19.610 happened uh... in nineteen twenty nine and thereafter 00:13:19.610 --> 00:13:22.210 the second economic collapse which is much worse 00:13:22.210 --> 00:13:25.100 in the first Obviously it does create the kind 00:13:25.100 --> 00:13:27.779 of conditions that make it possible for either 00:13:27.779 --> 00:13:29.679 the Nazis or the communists to take power because 00:13:29.679 --> 00:13:32.860 really you had these two extremist parties trying 00:13:32.860 --> 00:13:34.879 to come to power and really fighting in the streets 00:13:34.879 --> 00:13:39.340 by the early 1930s and the Nazis prevail. And 00:13:39.340 --> 00:13:43.120 a loaf of bread was 30 ,000 marks. And more. 00:13:43.259 --> 00:13:48.120 And more. People were wheel -bearing their paychecks 00:13:48.120 --> 00:13:51.480 home. That's unbelievable. They were using bricks 00:13:51.480 --> 00:13:54.220 of marks. uh... to to keep themselves in the 00:13:54.220 --> 00:13:56.500 winter and it was it was a little course a terrible 00:13:56.500 --> 00:14:01.240 situation that had to be stabilized but it was 00:14:01.240 --> 00:14:03.679 a little all you know if you could mention dating 00:14:03.679 --> 00:14:05.759 back to nineteen fourteen of course all of the 00:14:05.759 --> 00:14:08.899 product of world war one the world war two obviously 00:14:08.899 --> 00:14:11.039 the ultimate sequel of world war one it's not 00:14:11.039 --> 00:14:13.159 going to happen at night for the event one of 00:14:13.159 --> 00:14:15.080 certainly hitler the nazis are going on never 00:14:15.080 --> 00:14:17.539 going to rise to power if you don't have World 00:14:17.539 --> 00:14:22.000 War One and all the crises that it unravels or 00:14:22.000 --> 00:14:27.399 it puts an emotion and also it collapses the 00:14:27.399 --> 00:14:30.080 old order, the old aristocratic order in Europe 00:14:30.080 --> 00:14:32.600 and that creates new conditions that the Nazis 00:14:32.600 --> 00:14:38.860 can prevail. Now, Kevin, during this, where was 00:14:38.860 --> 00:14:41.820 Patton all this time? Patton is back in the United 00:14:41.820 --> 00:14:45.460 States. originally training with tanks but the 00:14:45.460 --> 00:14:47.899 united states army just does not have the money 00:14:47.899 --> 00:14:51.460 for a tank corps so they dissolve it as he goes 00:14:51.460 --> 00:14:54.720 back to the calvary and the uh... the head of 00:14:54.720 --> 00:14:56.679 the calvary the general in charge of the calvary 00:14:56.679 --> 00:14:59.679 hated the idea of tanks so much that you weren't 00:14:59.679 --> 00:15:01.860 even allowed to use the word tanks you had to 00:15:01.860 --> 00:15:05.960 say armored cars so patent uh... wanting to get 00:15:05.960 --> 00:15:08.539 promoted and wanting to stay loyal to his uh... 00:15:08.539 --> 00:15:11.879 superiors stop talking about take stop theorizing 00:15:11.879 --> 00:15:15.019 about them and enjoyed himself in the horse cavalry. 00:15:15.299 --> 00:15:18.340 He was stationed twice in Hawaii, but spent most 00:15:18.340 --> 00:15:21.519 of his time in either Fort Riley in Kansas or 00:15:21.519 --> 00:15:24.539 at Fort Meyer in Washington, D .C. I was at Fort 00:15:24.539 --> 00:15:27.679 Riley. Okay. Yes, I was. They have a nice museum 00:15:27.679 --> 00:15:29.620 there to the cavalry. Yes, they do. Absolutely 00:15:29.620 --> 00:15:33.320 do. Now, where was Eisenhower, Professor McManus? 00:15:33.899 --> 00:15:36.139 Eisenhower was going through much the same kind 00:15:36.139 --> 00:15:38.539 of career path, except he was an infantry officer. 00:15:38.899 --> 00:15:41.809 And he was, of course, friends with patent and 00:15:41.809 --> 00:15:43.789 they had a lot of arguments over you know what 00:15:43.789 --> 00:15:45.409 would be the doctrine of the future what would 00:15:45.409 --> 00:15:48.149 be the primary weapons of the future and how 00:15:48.149 --> 00:15:50.409 to advance it but uh... they were both relentless 00:15:50.409 --> 00:15:52.470 professionals in the sense that you know that 00:15:52.470 --> 00:15:54.669 in order to stay in the army in that period of 00:15:54.669 --> 00:15:57.210 the twenties and thirties when motions for you 00:15:57.210 --> 00:15:59.750 and far between you really did have to be a dedicated 00:15:59.750 --> 00:16:03.049 officer so i've been our will kind of rotate 00:16:03.049 --> 00:16:05.470 among a number of rather anonymous assignments 00:16:05.470 --> 00:16:07.789 i think the most interesting of which happens 00:16:07.789 --> 00:16:10.679 immediately after world war one uh... when he's 00:16:10.679 --> 00:16:14.179 part of the uh... a group that studying road 00:16:14.179 --> 00:16:16.240 and road building in america and they don't they 00:16:16.240 --> 00:16:18.940 went on a coast -to -coast trip i think it was 00:16:18.940 --> 00:16:20.679 either the summer nineteen nineteen or nineteen 00:16:20.679 --> 00:16:23.500 it's just a kind of past how long it would take 00:16:23.500 --> 00:16:26.059 to go coast -to -coast in this country uh... 00:16:26.059 --> 00:16:27.980 and i think it took them the better part of three 00:16:27.980 --> 00:16:30.500 four five weeks of the road map was bad of course 00:16:30.500 --> 00:16:33.000 this made a deep impression on eisenhower and 00:16:33.000 --> 00:16:35.879 that in tandem with the German road system under 00:16:35.879 --> 00:16:38.440 the Nazis in the 1930s and 40s and what he saw 00:16:38.440 --> 00:16:41.059 with that in World War II is one of the major 00:16:41.059 --> 00:16:42.980 reasons why he's going to spearhead the Interstate 00:16:42.980 --> 00:16:45.519 Highway Act in the 1950s when he's president. 00:16:45.980 --> 00:16:48.120 Now, I had heard that one of the reasons that 00:16:48.120 --> 00:16:51.840 he did the Interstate Highway Act was also to 00:16:51.840 --> 00:16:54.919 have a way to move troops from one area to another. 00:16:54.980 --> 00:16:57.120 Is that true? Well, there's no question. Right. 00:16:57.200 --> 00:16:58.580 And of course, you know, all this is happening 00:16:58.580 --> 00:17:00.940 in the context of the Cold War and then some 00:17:00.940 --> 00:17:02.779 would argue perhaps the height of the Cold War. 00:17:02.990 --> 00:17:04.890 uh... you know in the mid the latter nineteen 00:17:04.890 --> 00:17:08.150 fifties tensions were high i don't understand 00:17:08.150 --> 00:17:10.549 that you have to have a good infrastructure that 00:17:10.549 --> 00:17:14.130 wrote that the troops vehicles and missiles and 00:17:14.130 --> 00:17:16.309 tanks and whatever else of course there you'll 00:17:16.309 --> 00:17:19.230 often hear you know with enough within within 00:17:19.230 --> 00:17:21.390 a frequency to to believe that there's some truth 00:17:21.390 --> 00:17:24.829 to it that you know you have a lot of straightaways 00:17:24.829 --> 00:17:28.309 any typical interstate highway stretch of road 00:17:28.309 --> 00:17:31.069 one of the reasons for that is so that uh... 00:17:31.069 --> 00:17:33.819 aircraft could land on especially rotary -winged 00:17:33.819 --> 00:17:36.319 aircraft which are in play by that point i had 00:17:36.319 --> 00:17:40.019 heard that and that's true is that right so i 00:17:40.019 --> 00:17:41.960 understand that there is truth to that and it 00:17:41.960 --> 00:17:43.539 certainly makes sense i mean but i don't know 00:17:43.539 --> 00:17:45.140 that they're you they're able to put the builders 00:17:45.140 --> 00:17:47.700 are able to always do that with with a kind of 00:17:47.700 --> 00:17:49.960 uh... you know regimented circumstance every 00:17:49.960 --> 00:17:52.420 road different but wherever they could they are 00:17:52.420 --> 00:17:54.359 putting straight away but not just for that but 00:17:54.359 --> 00:17:56.980 because it's easier to drive to a paper well 00:17:56.980 --> 00:17:58.980 just don't do that and i said that the private 00:17:58.980 --> 00:18:05.859 five o 'clock no okay so Adolf Hitler gets elected 00:18:05.859 --> 00:18:08.779 he after serving some time he was sprung I think 00:18:08.779 --> 00:18:10.980 he got five years ten years on but he was sprung 00:18:10.980 --> 00:18:14.359 after only a few months because why professor 00:18:14.359 --> 00:18:18.059 well I will one thing I'll point out is he's 00:18:18.059 --> 00:18:20.700 never really quite elected into power they had 00:18:20.700 --> 00:18:23.700 a multi -party coalition parliamentary system 00:18:23.700 --> 00:18:26.559 in Germany called the Weimar Republic And the 00:18:26.559 --> 00:18:29.079 Nazis had gotten a plurality of the vote by the 00:18:29.079 --> 00:18:31.359 early 1930s, and this would be, you know, maybe 00:18:31.359 --> 00:18:34.180 in the realm of about 30 percent. And so he's 00:18:34.180 --> 00:18:38.200 chosen by the present government, Paul von Hindenburg's 00:18:38.200 --> 00:18:41.380 government, to head up a kind of coalition government 00:18:41.380 --> 00:18:43.240 in the number one position as chancellor. So 00:18:43.240 --> 00:18:44.960 it's a bit different than our system where we 00:18:44.960 --> 00:18:48.359 directly elect a president. He emerges as... 00:18:48.170 --> 00:18:50.690 this kind of uh... multi -party leader and then 00:18:50.690 --> 00:18:53.410 of course quickly take steps to amass all power 00:18:53.410 --> 00:18:57.190 at hand thirty -three onward but uh... why is 00:18:57.190 --> 00:19:00.069 he sprung from prison so early well he had been 00:19:00.069 --> 00:19:03.009 uh... you've been convicted of treason or attempting 00:19:03.009 --> 00:19:04.809 to overthrow the government what's called a beer 00:19:04.809 --> 00:19:07.529 hall putsch in november nineteen twenty -three 00:19:07.529 --> 00:19:09.890 and how this would fail to been put down by the 00:19:09.890 --> 00:19:14.349 bavarian authorities uh... in munich nonetheless 00:19:14.349 --> 00:19:17.329 uh... many in in the bavarian government uh... 00:19:17.329 --> 00:19:19.849 had a great deal of sympathy with hitler's nationalistic 00:19:19.849 --> 00:19:22.190 ideas certainly the anti -semitism in the idea 00:19:22.190 --> 00:19:25.069 that the treaty of bursar that it you know ended 00:19:25.069 --> 00:19:27.630 hostilities in world war one have been grossly 00:19:27.630 --> 00:19:30.349 unfair to germany so uh... he's allowed to use 00:19:30.349 --> 00:19:32.029 the trial of what we would think it was almost 00:19:32.029 --> 00:19:35.009 a political infomercial now and when he goes 00:19:35.009 --> 00:19:37.430 to prison he gets a very nice you know executive 00:19:37.430 --> 00:19:39.730 prison kind of set up in landsberg right his 00:19:39.730 --> 00:19:43.549 famous memoirs my comp and then his sentence 00:19:43.549 --> 00:19:45.670 is eventually commuted because he has so many 00:19:46.029 --> 00:19:47.950 uh... friends in high places in the department 00:19:47.950 --> 00:19:53.410 of justice well he he'd he gets elected and the 00:19:53.410 --> 00:19:57.250 uh... uh... hindenburg uh... he dies all of a 00:19:57.250 --> 00:20:01.349 sudden hitler becomes the the they had because 00:20:01.349 --> 00:20:04.869 of the party his party was in power now he's 00:20:04.869 --> 00:20:08.250 the guy in charge and he really doesn't you know 00:20:08.250 --> 00:20:10.089 there were little things going on when i'm going 00:20:10.089 --> 00:20:12.490 to get into it at this point for for when i get 00:20:12.490 --> 00:20:15.690 to the meat of world war two but he then he then 00:20:15.690 --> 00:20:20.210 starts to do his well you know i wonder his world 00:20:20.210 --> 00:20:24.490 plan and he starts with annexing those who date 00:20:24.490 --> 00:20:27.069 in the land and what else did he do professor 00:20:27.069 --> 00:20:29.210 well the first the first major thing he does 00:20:29.210 --> 00:20:31.789 in the he directly goes against the treaty of 00:20:31.789 --> 00:20:34.390 versailles which is said that uh... germany needed 00:20:34.390 --> 00:20:37.589 to have a small army no real air force or navy 00:20:37.589 --> 00:20:40.509 to speak of uh... it was not to have its own 00:20:40.509 --> 00:20:42.569 military forces on what called the ryan land 00:20:42.569 --> 00:20:44.970 which is basically the area uh... from which 00:20:44.970 --> 00:20:46.930 he would invade france so you can understand 00:20:46.930 --> 00:20:51.910 why that would be the treaty so he's already 00:20:51.910 --> 00:20:53.769 decided he's going to go against that and begin 00:20:53.769 --> 00:20:57.289 rearming germany to kind of try and alleviate 00:20:57.289 --> 00:20:59.829 the treaty of versailles and so first major thing 00:20:59.829 --> 00:21:02.109 that he does is to remilitarize the ryan land 00:21:02.109 --> 00:21:04.789 of march nineteen thirty six which is of course 00:21:04.789 --> 00:21:06.769 a major issue for france because they're the 00:21:06.769 --> 00:21:08.609 ones most likely to be affected by it and also 00:21:08.609 --> 00:21:11.990 belgium no one wants war at that point frances 00:21:12.680 --> 00:21:16.259 in the throes of the depression it has internal 00:21:16.259 --> 00:21:19.579 political disputes it has a popular front socialist 00:21:19.579 --> 00:21:21.680 government which does not want to rearm and go 00:21:21.680 --> 00:21:24.759 to war and so hitler kind of gets away with this 00:21:24.759 --> 00:21:27.359 when he was weaker probably militarily than france 00:21:27.359 --> 00:21:30.700 and britain and this raises his political standing 00:21:30.700 --> 00:21:33.599 in germany at every turn so eventually of course 00:21:33.599 --> 00:21:35.819 this leads to the annexation of austria nineteen 00:21:35.819 --> 00:21:38.460 thirty eight as you mentioned uh... the sedate 00:21:38.460 --> 00:21:42.660 land in czechoslovakia thirty eight so now he's 00:21:42.660 --> 00:21:46.640 popular and the German people are now the roads 00:21:46.640 --> 00:21:49.619 are being built and he made the trains run on 00:21:49.619 --> 00:21:53.000 time and unemployment he he did all these public 00:21:53.000 --> 00:21:56.500 works programs and started building all his monuments 00:21:56.500 --> 00:21:58.960 and all that other business that he was so and 00:21:58.960 --> 00:22:00.559 he was putting people back to work there was 00:22:00.559 --> 00:22:03.140 no I mean the unemployment was built and if things 00:22:03.140 --> 00:22:06.339 are coming up and there and and then all of a 00:22:06.339 --> 00:22:11.039 sudden all of a sudden he decides to go after 00:22:11.039 --> 00:22:14.680 Poland. Kevin, tell us about that. Why did he 00:22:14.680 --> 00:22:19.099 invade Poland? Why did Adolf Hitler invade Poland? 00:22:19.359 --> 00:22:23.279 I think simply he wanted what he called Liebensraum, 00:22:23.420 --> 00:22:26.500 his elbow room, and he was aiming for places 00:22:26.500 --> 00:22:31.480 that were weak and he had already gone into Czechoslovakia 00:22:31.480 --> 00:22:34.240 and Austria, which had been the Austro -Hungarian 00:22:34.240 --> 00:22:38.259 Empire. And he figured, you know, with invading 00:22:38.259 --> 00:22:41.099 Poland, he could obtain more land. I don't think 00:22:41.099 --> 00:22:44.400 he thought he was strong enough yet to invade 00:22:44.400 --> 00:22:47.480 France. And, of course, he makes the famous pact 00:22:47.480 --> 00:22:50.799 with Stalin, agreeing to divide Poland between 00:22:50.799 --> 00:22:53.279 the two of them if he goes in. And that just 00:22:53.279 --> 00:22:55.500 kind of gives him a free hand to do as he wants. 00:22:56.059 --> 00:22:58.279 And this kind of turned to be the sort of test 00:22:58.279 --> 00:23:02.180 case for Blitzkrieg warfare. And I think no one 00:23:02.180 --> 00:23:05.619 really, Adolf Hitler included, appreciate what 00:23:05.619 --> 00:23:08.880 it takes could do on the battlefield and the 00:23:08.880 --> 00:23:11.220 fact that they just brought so much mobility 00:23:11.220 --> 00:23:15.039 to warfare and ended major campaign so quickly 00:23:15.039 --> 00:23:18.039 where everyone was so used to trench warfare 00:23:18.039 --> 00:23:21.599 and protracted warfare uh... poland kind of let 00:23:21.599 --> 00:23:24.279 that left everyone uh... you know most days in 00:23:24.279 --> 00:23:27.079 confused how quickly uh... german forces were 00:23:27.079 --> 00:23:29.940 able to overrun their territory it was for the 00:23:29.940 --> 00:23:32.519 russian one and then capture surround warsaw 00:23:32.799 --> 00:23:36.599 uh... it was just this sort of iron -fisted blast 00:23:36.599 --> 00:23:39.339 that nobody was expecting and i think it made 00:23:39.339 --> 00:23:41.559 the western allies almost quake in their boots 00:23:41.559 --> 00:23:44.400 what germany was able to do so quickly you know 00:23:44.400 --> 00:23:46.440 in the east that he would soon be turning his 00:23:46.440 --> 00:23:49.460 armies west and doing the same so what is that 00:23:49.460 --> 00:23:53.559 and say i told you so no but he was definitely 00:23:53.559 --> 00:23:56.299 making notes uh... because like i had mentioned 00:23:56.299 --> 00:23:58.920 he had sort of turned away from armored warfare 00:23:58.920 --> 00:24:02.599 and went back into the cavalry And when he saw 00:24:02.599 --> 00:24:06.180 what tanks were doing in Europe, he started sitting 00:24:06.180 --> 00:24:08.279 up and taking notice, which is something he was 00:24:08.279 --> 00:24:11.220 going to do for the rest of the war. Anytime 00:24:11.220 --> 00:24:13.059 he saw a new German tank on the battlefield, 00:24:13.200 --> 00:24:15.980 he would take pictures, analyze them, realize 00:24:15.980 --> 00:24:18.220 what improvements had been made, and would send 00:24:18.220 --> 00:24:20.799 them back to Aberdeen, where scientists were 00:24:20.799 --> 00:24:24.759 constantly upgrading tanks. But it really was 00:24:24.759 --> 00:24:27.759 the war games that George C. Marshall begins 00:24:27.759 --> 00:24:30.759 in the United States. uh... where patent was 00:24:30.759 --> 00:24:33.319 actually a referee and he saw what an armored 00:24:33.319 --> 00:24:36.740 unit could do that he then extricated himself 00:24:36.740 --> 00:24:40.519 from cavalry uh... was made a group uh... brigade 00:24:40.519 --> 00:24:43.960 commander in an armored division and you know 00:24:43.960 --> 00:24:46.039 kind of took all that accumulated knowledge he 00:24:46.039 --> 00:24:48.599 had from world war one and started applying it 00:24:48.599 --> 00:24:52.039 to the sort of uh... awakening american army 00:24:52.039 --> 00:24:55.660 prior to pearl harbor Well, and I heard we're 00:24:55.660 --> 00:24:58.160 setting the stage folks here It's all the players 00:24:58.160 --> 00:25:01.559 are coming in the line and we've got about what 00:25:01.559 --> 00:25:05.119 30 seconds big cap All right, Derek. It says 00:25:05.119 --> 00:25:07.339 we got 30 seconds So we'll be right back right 00:25:07.339 --> 00:25:10.740 after the news and a couple of other important 00:25:10.740 --> 00:25:15.099 messages and with Kevin hemo and professor John 00:25:15.099 --> 00:25:17.519 McManus World War two it got now we're gonna 00:25:17.519 --> 00:25:19.480 get to the meat of everything. That's what's 00:25:19.480 --> 00:25:21.400 really cool Yeah, I'm gonna get the channel. 00:25:21.400 --> 00:25:23.059 We're gonna talk some more about this leave us 00:25:23.059 --> 00:25:27.160 around Okay, you'll be in the know if you stay 00:25:27.160 --> 00:25:34.619 right here on top 1600 w a a m don't go away 00:25:34.619 --> 00:25:39.140 ah Yeah, raman coca -cola the Andrews sisters 00:25:39.140 --> 00:25:40.900 once again a little something from World War 00:25:40.900 --> 00:25:46.099 two now Getting back to my guest Kevin hemo and 00:25:46.099 --> 00:25:48.920 professor John McManus now we can get into the 00:25:48.920 --> 00:25:53.900 whole meat of everything Okay, Warsaw Poland 00:25:53.900 --> 00:26:00.400 has been conquered and Adolf is at the top of 00:26:00.400 --> 00:26:04.819 his game. He promised that he would not be in 00:26:04.819 --> 00:26:08.940 war. I don't know how he got away with the Poland 00:26:08.940 --> 00:26:10.880 thing, but he promised that there would be no 00:26:10.880 --> 00:26:15.599 more. The people loved him. Everything was really 00:26:15.599 --> 00:26:20.059 cool for Adolf. The economy was working. He had 00:26:20.059 --> 00:26:23.789 the beginning of Liebensraum. And then, what 00:26:23.789 --> 00:26:29.329 happens? This is my list of events in World War 00:26:29.329 --> 00:26:33.569 II, I think, in my opinion. When he turns around, 00:26:33.789 --> 00:26:41.289 1941, June, he invades Russia. Yes, all Russia, 00:26:41.589 --> 00:26:45.789 big Russia. I mean, this guy had to be insane. 00:26:46.230 --> 00:26:48.849 Look at the board. Oh, good. Tell me about, tell 00:26:48.849 --> 00:26:51.680 us all about that, Professor McManus. well the 00:26:51.680 --> 00:26:53.900 soviet union in nazi germany were implacable 00:26:53.900 --> 00:26:56.200 enemies in spite of the the nazi soviet pack 00:26:56.200 --> 00:26:58.579 which was just a on a kind of arrangement of 00:26:58.579 --> 00:27:01.099 convenience at the moment uh... nineteen thirty 00:27:01.099 --> 00:27:04.259 nine when they when they find that pack it gives 00:27:04.259 --> 00:27:07.279 hitler the opportunity to fight in world war 00:27:07.279 --> 00:27:10.539 two on one front at least temporarily because 00:27:10.539 --> 00:27:12.980 he knew invading poland would probably be britain 00:27:12.980 --> 00:27:14.759 and france to declare war on them and certainly 00:27:14.759 --> 00:27:18.880 it did so ever want to shore up uh... you know 00:27:18.880 --> 00:27:21.579 uh... eastern flank without having to fight and 00:27:21.579 --> 00:27:23.359 uh... fallen into the soviet union with nowhere 00:27:23.359 --> 00:27:25.720 near prepared for war so we want to buy time 00:27:25.720 --> 00:27:28.500 but both were really plotting uh... to betray 00:27:28.500 --> 00:27:31.160 each other almost as soon as the ink was dry 00:27:31.160 --> 00:27:35.039 on that thing so you know hitler's entire blueprint 00:27:35.039 --> 00:27:37.299 from the beginning was that you said we've been 00:27:37.299 --> 00:27:39.059 shot living space and that was going to come 00:27:39.059 --> 00:27:40.859 in the east for the german people envisioned 00:27:40.859 --> 00:27:44.500 a vast empire really a slave empire uh... of 00:27:44.500 --> 00:27:46.980 german colonization stretching as far really 00:27:46.980 --> 00:27:50.660 as the url mountains far east of moscow and uh... 00:27:50.660 --> 00:27:53.960 so it all made sense in that respect but uh... 00:27:53.960 --> 00:27:56.819 obviously was not a white you can argue the key 00:27:56.819 --> 00:27:59.220 moment will work too and then of course subsequently 00:27:59.220 --> 00:28:02.259 after pearl harbor later that year forty -four 00:28:02.259 --> 00:28:04.700 forty -one he elects to uh... declare war on 00:28:04.700 --> 00:28:06.519 the united states which of course changes the 00:28:06.519 --> 00:28:09.000 dynamic of the war and in the peak and in the 00:28:09.000 --> 00:28:12.299 beginning folks the Russian prisoners they were 00:28:12.299 --> 00:28:16.160 they they were surrendering hundreds of thousands 00:28:16.160 --> 00:28:20.880 at a time the lines hundreds of thousands but 00:28:20.880 --> 00:28:24.799 the Russian soldiers at that point a lot of them 00:28:24.799 --> 00:28:27.799 I think were just throwaways they were Mongols 00:28:27.799 --> 00:28:31.859 etc and and and I do believe and we'll get to 00:28:31.859 --> 00:28:34.839 this in just a little bit that Stalin saw all 00:28:34.839 --> 00:28:37.299 this and he was scared he said what's going on 00:28:37.299 --> 00:28:41.119 here but that had to be in That really had to 00:28:41.119 --> 00:28:44.619 be insane for Adolf Hitler to think that he could 00:28:44.619 --> 00:28:51.039 control a country the size of Russia and overextend 00:28:51.039 --> 00:28:53.880 his army. But he moved on, pushed on, pushed 00:28:53.880 --> 00:28:58.079 on to Leningrad, Stalingrad. He had his tanks. 00:28:58.119 --> 00:29:01.160 He was rolling. He was going to the caucuses. 00:29:01.160 --> 00:29:04.799 He was going to the oil. He was pushing across 00:29:04.799 --> 00:29:09.460 Russia, expending. troops expending all his energy 00:29:09.460 --> 00:29:13.099 moving moving and the russians are being defeated 00:29:13.099 --> 00:29:16.359 are falling back falling back now kevin what 00:29:16.359 --> 00:29:19.519 did patent think about all those well this is 00:29:19.519 --> 00:29:22.539 what patent idea of war was a sort of total war 00:29:22.539 --> 00:29:26.140 with armor in the front uh... with the infantry 00:29:26.140 --> 00:29:28.819 you know behind and the armor which sort of what 00:29:28.819 --> 00:29:32.559 they called it uh... all -ass and bypass and 00:29:32.559 --> 00:29:35.160 basically you would pat you would drive your 00:29:35.160 --> 00:29:37.900 tanks through the head of the heavy enemy resistance 00:29:37.900 --> 00:29:40.720 uh... cut them off from their supply line their 00:29:40.720 --> 00:29:43.700 communications and then have the infantry come 00:29:43.700 --> 00:29:47.039 up surround and destroy them um... and that the 00:29:47.039 --> 00:29:49.019 belief was that and then did you know it was 00:29:49.019 --> 00:29:52.099 fact that as you would isolate these units with 00:29:52.099 --> 00:29:54.500 armor that their morale would drop could they 00:29:54.500 --> 00:29:56.339 realize they were surrounded into you would have 00:29:56.339 --> 00:29:58.700 an as psychological advantage over your enemy 00:29:58.700 --> 00:30:01.920 and so patent paid close attention to this and 00:30:01.920 --> 00:30:05.200 studied it Ironically, the Germans took such 00:30:05.200 --> 00:30:08.539 heavy losses by the end of their first year in 00:30:08.539 --> 00:30:11.539 the Soviet Union with so many losses in tanks 00:30:11.539 --> 00:30:15.500 that they reorganized the Panzer or armor divisions 00:30:15.500 --> 00:30:18.460 in the German army and the American army copied 00:30:18.460 --> 00:30:20.500 this thinking this was the most efficient way 00:30:20.500 --> 00:30:22.819 to deploy armor when really the Germans were 00:30:22.819 --> 00:30:25.900 just reacting to the loss of so many tanks. We 00:30:25.900 --> 00:30:28.279 kind of misinterpreted what was going on there. 00:30:28.619 --> 00:30:31.480 In December of 1941, that's when Stalingrad. 00:30:31.559 --> 00:30:35.660 That's when it all started, folks, and the original 00:30:35.660 --> 00:30:40.799 siege of Stalingrad, which was concluded in 1942 00:30:40.799 --> 00:30:43.599 in the winter. So here's the German Army now, 00:30:44.380 --> 00:30:49.359 and ooh, and what comes along. It's better than 00:30:49.359 --> 00:30:53.950 a weapon. It was called the Russian winter. whether 00:30:53.950 --> 00:30:57.869 here is the german army now pushing into russia 00:30:57.869 --> 00:31:00.950 in here it's nineteen forty one in the winter 00:31:00.950 --> 00:31:03.890 time forty one forty two tells about that professor 00:31:03.890 --> 00:31:08.369 mcmahon's idea of the russian winter was absolutely 00:31:08.369 --> 00:31:10.630 brutal that first year for the for the german 00:31:10.630 --> 00:31:14.289 armed forces forty one forty two uh... the germans 00:31:14.289 --> 00:31:16.549 suffered about nine hundred thousand casualty 00:31:16.549 --> 00:31:19.549 that first year which many of which of course 00:31:19.549 --> 00:31:24.839 could not be replaced armed forces by about october 00:31:24.839 --> 00:31:27.240 november in a situation where they've gone deep 00:31:27.240 --> 00:31:30.220 into russia and logisticians are having to choose 00:31:30.220 --> 00:31:33.880 uh... among basically two out of three vital 00:31:33.880 --> 00:31:37.359 things food ammo or went or uh... warm clothing 00:31:37.359 --> 00:31:39.859 for the approaching winter uh... because the 00:31:39.859 --> 00:31:42.240 russian road network so bad german armies are 00:31:42.240 --> 00:31:44.980 so deep into russia so on and so forth and obviously 00:31:44.980 --> 00:31:48.160 they choose food and ammo so the germans are 00:31:48.160 --> 00:31:50.140 very well prepared for the winter at that point 00:31:50.359 --> 00:31:52.900 and pay the price for it in front of moscow now 00:31:52.900 --> 00:31:56.299 the next year don dot happens which is from about 00:31:56.299 --> 00:31:59.019 number forty two through february forty three 00:31:59.019 --> 00:32:01.220 or better prepared for the winter and they certainly 00:32:01.220 --> 00:32:03.140 understood a lot about winter warfare but it 00:32:03.140 --> 00:32:05.799 didn't make it all that much easier so this is 00:32:05.799 --> 00:32:07.500 something they deal with over the course of the 00:32:07.500 --> 00:32:09.619 entire war forty three and forty four and then 00:32:09.619 --> 00:32:13.059 forty four forty five but i think it's also possible 00:32:13.059 --> 00:32:15.099 to argue that the german experience with winter 00:32:15.099 --> 00:32:20.009 warfare prepares them better for adverse weather 00:32:20.009 --> 00:32:22.109 in the battle we call the Battle of the Bulge, 00:32:22.210 --> 00:32:24.910 which is the biggest American battle of the European 00:32:24.910 --> 00:32:28.069 theater, and much of which is fought in very 00:32:28.069 --> 00:32:31.269 difficult winter weather. So the Germans were 00:32:31.269 --> 00:32:33.029 probably better prepared for the U .S. Army at 00:32:33.029 --> 00:32:34.750 that point, too, because of the experiences they 00:32:34.750 --> 00:32:38.549 had in Russia. Okay. Now, and I know I'm jumping, 00:32:38.750 --> 00:32:41.630 taking big blocks of time. We've got the Germans 00:32:41.630 --> 00:32:44.170 are pushing in the Russia. They're going closer 00:32:44.170 --> 00:32:47.240 and closer to Moscow. Some of the scout troops 00:32:47.240 --> 00:32:49.480 were talking about seeing the golden domes of 00:32:49.480 --> 00:32:51.940 the Kremlin through their binoculars. I mean, 00:32:51.940 --> 00:32:54.960 they were close, folks. They're coming in. And 00:32:54.960 --> 00:33:00.740 what happens? Pearl Harbor. Pearl Harbor. The 00:33:00.740 --> 00:33:04.559 Japanese and the Americans. The Japanese attack 00:33:04.559 --> 00:33:08.019 America, of course, Pearl Harbor. And what does 00:33:08.019 --> 00:33:12.940 Hitler do? He declares war on the U .S. Tell 00:33:12.940 --> 00:33:17.170 us about that, Kevin. consider one of hitler's 00:33:17.170 --> 00:33:19.710 greatest mistakes because the america united 00:33:19.710 --> 00:33:23.130 states with attacked by japan and uh... so we 00:33:23.130 --> 00:33:26.250 were contemplating a war with japan but uh... 00:33:26.250 --> 00:33:28.529 you know how to get out of declare war on germany 00:33:28.529 --> 00:33:30.890 will eat off hitler solved that problem by declaring 00:33:30.890 --> 00:33:34.450 war on our which he did because of his alliance 00:33:34.450 --> 00:33:37.630 with japan but that was a little bit of a conundrum 00:33:37.630 --> 00:33:40.130 for roosevelt at first but it off it was all 00:33:40.130 --> 00:33:43.420 that form uh... of course what that was done 00:33:43.420 --> 00:33:45.539 the decision made in the war department and i 00:33:45.539 --> 00:33:48.720 think it was a very tough decision was to follow 00:33:48.720 --> 00:33:53.140 a uh... european first strategy because although 00:33:53.140 --> 00:33:55.880 we've actually got fighting going on in the philippines 00:33:55.880 --> 00:33:58.640 americans uh... taking heavy casualties and eventually 00:33:58.640 --> 00:34:00.940 are going to be surrounded and have to surrender 00:34:00.940 --> 00:34:03.700 in the philippines uh... decision is this is 00:34:03.700 --> 00:34:06.240 the greater foe this is the greater threat united 00:34:06.240 --> 00:34:09.510 states germany because it is so much more technologically 00:34:09.510 --> 00:34:13.250 advanced from Japan. And in addition, it's the 00:34:13.250 --> 00:34:15.869 one that's hammering England, our great ally. 00:34:16.449 --> 00:34:19.510 And so the decision is made to put Germany as 00:34:19.510 --> 00:34:22.289 the priority, with Japan as the second priority. 00:34:22.570 --> 00:34:24.989 And that's the way the war is going to go. That's 00:34:24.989 --> 00:34:27.289 going to be the main thrust of the United States 00:34:27.289 --> 00:34:30.630 through North Africa, Sicily, Italy. And then, 00:34:30.630 --> 00:34:32.269 of course, you're going to have D -Day in June 00:34:32.269 --> 00:34:35.889 6, 1944, which is really going to start the breaking 00:34:35.889 --> 00:34:39.599 of the back of the Nazi war machine. Well, I 00:34:39.599 --> 00:34:42.199 still every time I I think of this and I and 00:34:42.199 --> 00:34:45.539 I and I look at it I think that was insane along 00:34:45.539 --> 00:34:48.699 with the invasion of Russia the fact that he 00:34:48.699 --> 00:34:52.519 Professor McManus what what and what what do 00:34:52.519 --> 00:34:54.659 you feel would have happened had he had not declared 00:34:54.659 --> 00:34:57.920 war on Germany? Certainly would have been a better 00:34:57.920 --> 00:35:01.079 go for Germany and the reasoning behind it. I 00:35:01.079 --> 00:35:03.659 mean it's possible to come to grips with it and 00:35:03.659 --> 00:35:06.860 understand it Obviously, he's deep into his campaign 00:35:06.860 --> 00:35:09.300 in Russia, and though he's met with adversity 00:35:09.300 --> 00:35:12.079 that winter, 41 -42, it's important to understand 00:35:12.079 --> 00:35:16.440 Germany is still in charge in the war. They control 00:35:16.440 --> 00:35:18.380 most of the continent. They've had the better 00:35:18.380 --> 00:35:20.599 of the fighting in North Africa against British 00:35:20.599 --> 00:35:24.559 Commonwealth. German U -boats have been savaging 00:35:24.559 --> 00:35:26.760 Allied shipping on the North Atlantic and elsewhere, 00:35:26.900 --> 00:35:29.800 and so the way Hitler interpreted Pearl Harbor... 00:35:29.690 --> 00:35:32.369 he overestimated it he felt that america's greatest 00:35:32.369 --> 00:35:35.309 asset navy had been basically taken off the board 00:35:35.309 --> 00:35:38.269 so now we could do you've been fighting an undeclared 00:35:38.269 --> 00:35:40.329 war with the u .s. anyway in the fall of forty 00:35:40.329 --> 00:35:43.869 one in the atlantic because of our uh... navy 00:35:43.869 --> 00:35:46.869 helping who supplies to great britain and when 00:35:46.869 --> 00:35:49.750 we right yeah when we exactly so we were anything 00:35:49.750 --> 00:35:52.489 but a neutral really info he felt now i can take 00:35:52.489 --> 00:35:55.300 the gloves off and now i can really marginalize 00:35:55.300 --> 00:35:57.340 the united states and strangle great britain 00:35:57.340 --> 00:35:59.599 at the same time and i'll probably be done with 00:35:59.599 --> 00:36:01.940 the war in russia next year which of course over 00:36:01.940 --> 00:36:04.420 optimistic and i'll be the master europe and 00:36:04.420 --> 00:36:07.099 the western allies can't do much uh... so that 00:36:07.099 --> 00:36:09.840 any really underestimated the american uh... 00:36:09.840 --> 00:36:12.019 out uh... effect on the outcome of world war 00:36:12.019 --> 00:36:14.780 one of course too so uh... he underestimated 00:36:14.780 --> 00:36:17.380 the united state this was a major mistake this 00:36:17.380 --> 00:36:20.119 is what he was thinking at the time so i don't 00:36:20.119 --> 00:36:22.900 know if i call it insane just a miscalculation 00:36:23.639 --> 00:36:27.559 Well, a lot of insane people miscalculate, but 00:36:27.559 --> 00:36:33.099 let's get back to... Okay, so now he's at war 00:36:33.099 --> 00:36:37.519 with the United States, and he's at war with 00:36:37.519 --> 00:36:40.099 Britain, he's at war with France, he's at war 00:36:40.099 --> 00:36:43.699 with Russia, and he's extending himself. By the 00:36:43.699 --> 00:36:47.719 way, folks, Germany was really deficient when 00:36:47.719 --> 00:36:50.159 it came to transportation. They were still using 00:36:50.159 --> 00:36:55.150 horses. and to move their equipment around and 00:36:55.150 --> 00:36:59.710 eventually that's going to come back and catch 00:36:59.710 --> 00:37:03.829 them because they weren't able to supply all 00:37:03.829 --> 00:37:06.409 these folks, all these troops that were going 00:37:06.409 --> 00:37:10.150 into Russia. Okay, so now we've got that. And 00:37:10.150 --> 00:37:13.110 Liebensraum, one more time. Kevin, a little bit 00:37:13.110 --> 00:37:16.869 more on that. I think that basically was where... 00:37:16.840 --> 00:37:19.739 uh... hitler and they got that from i don't remember 00:37:19.739 --> 00:37:23.639 the person's name the german who uh... uh... 00:37:23.639 --> 00:37:25.260 philosopher who originally came up with that 00:37:25.260 --> 00:37:28.019 they had the idea there was there was a lot of 00:37:28.019 --> 00:37:31.599 eighty million german people uh... in germany 00:37:31.599 --> 00:37:34.460 with a small country they needed room to expand 00:37:34.460 --> 00:37:37.480 but why would you think that you you know you've 00:37:37.480 --> 00:37:40.460 been talking about a thousand year right and 00:37:40.460 --> 00:37:42.099 you're trying to solve everything in the first 00:37:42.099 --> 00:37:45.000 eighteen months tell us about that kevin well 00:37:45.000 --> 00:37:48.159 that was uh... sort of a reason for expansion 00:37:48.159 --> 00:37:51.019 that it sort of with the justification for invading 00:37:51.019 --> 00:37:53.980 other countries where it almost could be reduced 00:37:53.980 --> 00:37:57.000 almost tribal anger and hatred that the long 00:37:57.000 --> 00:38:00.280 -standing uh... hatred of the french who they 00:38:00.280 --> 00:38:03.159 had bested in the war of eighteen seventy and 00:38:03.159 --> 00:38:05.260 had been fought to a standstill in world war 00:38:05.260 --> 00:38:07.920 one uh... they felt they were robbed of a victory 00:38:07.920 --> 00:38:10.639 there in the west and then of course there was 00:38:10.639 --> 00:38:13.980 that belief that uh... that russians were were 00:38:13.980 --> 00:38:16.820 uh... genetically inferior to germans and in 00:38:16.820 --> 00:38:19.079 the fact that they became a communist society 00:38:19.079 --> 00:38:22.559 uh... almost just in bitter hitler all the more 00:38:22.559 --> 00:38:25.920 and so the sort of twisted logic is if we can 00:38:25.920 --> 00:38:28.460 get rid of these inferior beings it's going to 00:38:28.460 --> 00:38:31.280 free up the land for our superior uh... arian 00:38:31.280 --> 00:38:33.880 uh... he'd already started that within the borders 00:38:33.880 --> 00:38:36.519 of germany mostly with jewish people in any other 00:38:36.519 --> 00:38:39.500 minority that was not of the body i guess you 00:38:39.500 --> 00:38:42.559 could call it And so the rationalization is, 00:38:42.559 --> 00:38:45.639 you know, we are the superior beings. We are 00:38:45.639 --> 00:38:48.659 destined to rule the world. These other inferiors 00:38:48.659 --> 00:38:51.000 are in our way. So all we have to do is clear 00:38:51.000 --> 00:38:53.000 them out. We'll take over the land. We'll create 00:38:53.000 --> 00:38:55.400 the breadbasket for ourselves to become a great 00:38:55.400 --> 00:38:59.219 country. And it was just this sort of twisted 00:38:59.219 --> 00:39:02.579 logic of the superiority of the Aryan brand. 00:39:03.480 --> 00:39:07.199 Well, I remember my parents talking of they were 00:39:07.199 --> 00:39:10.380 not. interventionist at all, period. In fact, 00:39:10.440 --> 00:39:12.699 my mother would talk about that there were 10 00:39:12.699 --> 00:39:16.579 ,000, she remember her using this, 10 ,000 coffins 00:39:16.579 --> 00:39:20.059 stored by the United States because Roosevelt, 00:39:20.179 --> 00:39:22.760 she would not, yeah, she called him Roosevelt, 00:39:23.000 --> 00:39:24.920 which is really the way to say it, said Roosevelt, 00:39:25.599 --> 00:39:29.820 but with disdain. And I think that also Hitler 00:39:29.820 --> 00:39:33.719 saw all that, but that all changed. My folks 00:39:33.719 --> 00:39:38.550 became patriotic once all this started. And Germany 00:39:38.550 --> 00:39:41.969 declared war so I believe that that had a big 00:39:41.969 --> 00:39:45.789 influence now Let's get back to okay. They're 00:39:45.789 --> 00:39:49.650 they're knocking on the door of Moscow and here 00:39:49.650 --> 00:39:53.369 it is folks This is this is the light the lightning 00:39:53.369 --> 00:39:56.989 is coming here. They are there 15 miles from 00:39:56.989 --> 00:40:01.710 Moscow there. They're coming in and The Russians 00:40:01.710 --> 00:40:04.989 find out through their spies that they're not 00:40:04.989 --> 00:40:09.269 going to be attacked by the Japanese. So they 00:40:09.269 --> 00:40:11.409 moved those troops, I don't know, a million or 00:40:11.409 --> 00:40:15.489 something and 4 ,000 tanks, to right Moscow. 00:40:16.429 --> 00:40:20.250 Tell us about that, Professor McManus. Right, 00:40:20.349 --> 00:40:24.050 they redeployed most of their Far Eastern Army 00:40:24.050 --> 00:40:27.639 to the area around Moscow and launched the surprise 00:40:27.639 --> 00:40:29.920 counter -offensive in december nineteen forty 00:40:29.920 --> 00:40:31.960 one right at the time of the german armed forces 00:40:31.960 --> 00:40:34.219 were really and reaching the limit of their entire 00:40:34.219 --> 00:40:36.219 endurance so not only did they push them back 00:40:36.219 --> 00:40:39.519 from moscow they ripped a huge hole the german 00:40:39.519 --> 00:40:42.940 front that the germans that had to really scramble 00:40:42.940 --> 00:40:46.699 to patch it together and hitler famously did 00:40:46.699 --> 00:40:49.599 not authorize retreat open the whole the line 00:40:49.599 --> 00:40:51.800 and all the rest of it both things are stabilized 00:40:51.800 --> 00:40:54.780 by the red dot But obviously it means the war 00:40:54.780 --> 00:40:56.739 will continue and it changes the dynamic of the 00:40:56.739 --> 00:40:58.980 war and only adds to the casualty numbers and 00:40:58.980 --> 00:41:01.659 of course at that time Japan moves on the US 00:41:01.659 --> 00:41:05.360 as well. Well here come the Russians and they're 00:41:05.360 --> 00:41:08.760 prepared and their troops are prepared and they're 00:41:08.760 --> 00:41:11.079 clothed and they're fed. We're not talking about 00:41:11.079 --> 00:41:14.400 the rabble that was used prior to that, the years 00:41:14.400 --> 00:41:17.039 before that were just thrown out there for sacrifice. 00:41:17.400 --> 00:41:19.340 So here come the Russians and they're pushing 00:41:19.340 --> 00:41:22.460 the Germans back. pushing them back, oh man, 00:41:22.619 --> 00:41:27.900 there was this big tank battle at Kursk, and 00:41:27.900 --> 00:41:30.179 that went against the Germans, and now they're 00:41:30.179 --> 00:41:32.519 being pushed even further back, further back, 00:41:32.539 --> 00:41:35.760 further back, and they got, where are they going? 00:41:36.199 --> 00:41:38.320 And we got the Americans coming up from the other 00:41:38.320 --> 00:41:41.380 directions. They're caught. Now, what happened 00:41:41.380 --> 00:41:48.460 then, Kevin? So many hundreds of miles between 00:41:48.460 --> 00:41:50.579 the Western Command and the Eastern Command are 00:41:50.579 --> 00:41:54.460 basically starting to fight back to back. The 00:41:54.460 --> 00:41:57.460 invasion of June 6th is a huge success for the 00:41:57.460 --> 00:42:00.940 American Army. Once Patton's Third Army becomes 00:42:00.940 --> 00:42:04.860 activated on August 1st, he just drives helter 00:42:04.860 --> 00:42:08.480 -skelter across parts of France, liberating cities 00:42:08.480 --> 00:42:11.320 and towns, terrifying the Germans. They're stuck 00:42:11.320 --> 00:42:13.800 in a pocket around a town called Fillet that 00:42:13.800 --> 00:42:18.179 is basically squeezed shut. Some German soldiers 00:42:18.179 --> 00:42:21.840 do escape the pocket, and we really almost butt 00:42:21.840 --> 00:42:24.380 up against the border of Germany by the end of 00:42:24.380 --> 00:42:28.219 September, but German forces kind of rally and 00:42:28.219 --> 00:42:30.820 they kind of fight us to a standstill. The American 00:42:30.820 --> 00:42:33.579 and British armies do run low on fuel and ammunition, 00:42:34.079 --> 00:42:37.099 so there's sort of a stalemate between October 00:42:37.099 --> 00:42:39.239 and November, and then of course Hitler's going 00:42:39.239 --> 00:42:42.280 to launch a huge counterattack. This is really 00:42:42.280 --> 00:42:45.559 Hitler and Germany's last gasp. for any kind 00:42:45.559 --> 00:42:49.719 of success in the West. That is basically crunched 00:42:49.719 --> 00:42:53.159 up like a piece of paper in a fist, with a great 00:42:53.159 --> 00:42:56.000 deal of help from Patton driving up from the 00:42:56.000 --> 00:42:58.920 south to the north, first liberating Bastogne, 00:42:58.920 --> 00:43:02.960 which is surrounded with 101st and 10th armored 00:43:02.960 --> 00:43:06.659 soldiers involved, and then closing off the entire 00:43:06.659 --> 00:43:10.400 bulge. Once that is accomplished, the entire 00:43:10.400 --> 00:43:13.300 American and British armies turn east and begin 00:43:13.300 --> 00:43:16.760 the race into Germany. And the last real barrier 00:43:16.760 --> 00:43:20.840 is the Rhine River. Now, Eisenhower has slated 00:43:20.840 --> 00:43:22.820 Montgomery, Field Marshal Montgomery, in the 00:43:22.820 --> 00:43:25.539 north to lead the attack across the Rhine River. 00:43:25.559 --> 00:43:27.860 His belief is that's where all the German industry 00:43:27.860 --> 00:43:31.780 is, and that's the most valuable target. And 00:43:31.780 --> 00:43:34.480 of course, Patton is kind of very bitter about 00:43:34.480 --> 00:43:37.300 this, that Montgomery's going to lead the great 00:43:37.300 --> 00:43:39.780 attack. Well, it turns out to be the first army 00:43:39.780 --> 00:43:42.949 under Courtney Hodges It surprisingly captures 00:43:42.949 --> 00:43:46.750 a bridge, the Ludendorff Bridge at Remagen, and 00:43:46.750 --> 00:43:49.250 they push an entire armored division across and 00:43:49.250 --> 00:43:51.869 then other units before the bridge actually collapses. 00:43:52.750 --> 00:43:55.170 But the Americans are the first one to make the 00:43:55.170 --> 00:43:59.349 cross. And then Patton rushes his 5th Infantry 00:43:59.349 --> 00:44:01.309 Division to the Rhine River. They arrived at 00:44:01.309 --> 00:44:03.389 night. And I've actually talked to some of the 00:44:03.389 --> 00:44:05.349 soldiers in the unit. and they could usually 00:44:05.349 --> 00:44:07.190 when you get to a river you you know the trucks 00:44:07.190 --> 00:44:09.030 pull up or you run up to the river and you wait 00:44:09.030 --> 00:44:10.929 about twenty four hours will they bring boats 00:44:10.929 --> 00:44:13.610 up this was some of the soldiers from the fifth 00:44:13.610 --> 00:44:15.489 inventory that when they arrived at the ryan 00:44:15.489 --> 00:44:18.230 river there were already boats waiting for them 00:44:18.230 --> 00:44:21.150 pat really planned ahead for this and instead 00:44:21.150 --> 00:44:23.349 of launching artillery barrage across the other 00:44:23.349 --> 00:44:25.349 side of the river to test the push the germans 00:44:25.349 --> 00:44:28.710 away he just felt the soldiers across and he 00:44:28.710 --> 00:44:31.150 puts an engineering each of these wooden boats 00:44:31.150 --> 00:44:34.829 and their job is to cross with the soldiers and 00:44:34.829 --> 00:44:36.670 then turn around and push the boats back into 00:44:36.670 --> 00:44:38.570 the river so there'll be nothing blocking the 00:44:38.570 --> 00:44:40.989 follow -up troops and then they're to all jump 00:44:40.989 --> 00:44:43.329 into one boat and paddle across the back and 00:44:43.329 --> 00:44:46.449 do the same thing again and so within twenty 00:44:46.449 --> 00:44:49.469 four hours Patton has got almost you know two 00:44:49.469 --> 00:44:52.369 regiments across the ryan river he contacts Omar 00:44:52.369 --> 00:44:55.389 Bradley tells him I've beaten Montgomery across 00:44:55.389 --> 00:44:58.409 the ryan river he did it twenty four hours before 00:44:58.409 --> 00:45:01.190 Montgomery's big attack And it takes a little 00:45:01.190 --> 00:45:03.630 air out of the big offensive in the north and 00:45:03.630 --> 00:45:06.750 really adds to the Patton legend that, you know, 00:45:06.750 --> 00:45:08.809 without any assistance where Montgomery was getting 00:45:08.809 --> 00:45:11.610 everything, Patton crosses the Ryan River first. 00:45:12.110 --> 00:45:15.849 Well, okay, now the Germans, now they lost the 00:45:15.849 --> 00:45:20.230 battle of the Bulge and they're getting squeezed 00:45:20.230 --> 00:45:24.829 into their own country. And here they are now. 00:45:24.969 --> 00:45:27.329 The Russians are coming in from the east. The 00:45:27.329 --> 00:45:29.900 Americans are coming on from the west. The prize 00:45:29.900 --> 00:45:32.920 is Berlin, they're about equidistant away. Here 00:45:32.920 --> 00:45:35.219 come the Russians, they're gonna go in there 00:45:35.219 --> 00:45:40.099 and they expect a million casualties. Here's 00:45:40.099 --> 00:45:43.559 what I thought, and Professor McManus, you can 00:45:43.559 --> 00:45:47.000 comment on that, that the American Army decided 00:45:47.000 --> 00:45:50.320 not to do that because the American public, I 00:45:50.320 --> 00:45:52.500 go back to what I said earlier about my parents 00:45:52.500 --> 00:45:55.880 and how they all felt, that they could not, the 00:45:55.880 --> 00:46:00.710 American people would not, continents. that lost 00:46:00.710 --> 00:46:03.750 the casualty lost tell us about that professor 00:46:03.750 --> 00:46:08.590 mcmahon's certainly any uh... any push for berlin 00:46:08.590 --> 00:46:10.849 fighting block -to -block in berlin is going 00:46:10.849 --> 00:46:14.769 to be extremely casualty and the soviet ultimately 00:46:14.769 --> 00:46:17.610 are going to overrun berlin and theater the ultimate 00:46:17.610 --> 00:46:20.510 prestige objective war which is might be very 00:46:20.510 --> 00:46:22.889 very questionable so if i have an hour makes 00:46:22.889 --> 00:46:26.110 the decision uh... in effect let the soviets 00:46:26.110 --> 00:46:28.389 go in and take the land and and one of things 00:46:28.389 --> 00:46:32.710 that factors into his decision that he knew uh... 00:46:32.710 --> 00:46:34.869 at previous high -level conferences most notably 00:46:34.869 --> 00:46:37.190 alter in february nineteen forty -five the alliance 00:46:37.190 --> 00:46:40.190 of arty agreed to zones of occupation in berlin 00:46:40.190 --> 00:46:43.769 and then of course which will end up being the 00:46:43.769 --> 00:46:46.750 soviet sector so any ground you gain you would 00:46:46.750 --> 00:46:50.269 simply have to give back soviet anyway uh... 00:46:50.269 --> 00:46:53.579 so the the berlin decision was very controversial 00:46:53.579 --> 00:46:55.340 during the early phase of the Cold War, I'd say 00:46:55.340 --> 00:46:58.000 the first 25 years or so after World War II, 00:46:58.440 --> 00:47:01.559 and often seen by some as a mistake. Well, Eisenhower 00:47:01.559 --> 00:47:03.400 will stand by this decision his entire life, 00:47:03.440 --> 00:47:05.960 and when he ran for president in the 1950s, he 00:47:05.960 --> 00:47:07.739 will give some of those casualty estimates. They 00:47:07.739 --> 00:47:09.980 were not quite as high as what you'd mentioned. 00:47:10.099 --> 00:47:11.940 It would be, you know, into six figures, though. 00:47:12.190 --> 00:47:14.670 uh... and he would ask anyone in the audience 00:47:14.670 --> 00:47:17.929 if they wanted to volunteer a family member to 00:47:17.929 --> 00:47:20.570 die or be wounded become a casualty in what would 00:47:20.570 --> 00:47:22.670 amount to just a prestige objective that would 00:47:22.670 --> 00:47:25.269 have to be given back and this was a very very 00:47:25.269 --> 00:47:27.789 powerful argument of course that in light of 00:47:27.789 --> 00:47:29.849 happened in the cold war in the collapse of the 00:47:29.849 --> 00:47:33.409 limbo all of communism in eastern europe uh... 00:47:33.409 --> 00:47:35.429 i'd believe eisenhower was validated in every 00:47:35.429 --> 00:47:39.750 respect you know how there would be some i suppose 00:47:39.750 --> 00:47:43.610 that even today Okay, that comes to Bob Gould. 00:47:43.809 --> 00:47:48.030 Second big event in World War II would be, instead 00:47:48.030 --> 00:47:53.469 of six -figure casualties in Berlin, somebody 00:47:53.469 --> 00:47:56.289 gave the order, somebody gave the order to go 00:47:56.289 --> 00:48:02.150 north and to go to Pimundi. How huge was that 00:48:02.150 --> 00:48:07.829 to get Werner von Braun, a Nazi, an SS, he was 00:48:07.829 --> 00:48:11.449 a member of the SS, I mean the guy was... Well, 00:48:11.730 --> 00:48:14.309 wherever you want to label them, but to go there 00:48:14.309 --> 00:48:16.929 and to capture the scientists, to get the rockets, 00:48:17.349 --> 00:48:23.730 how huge was that? I mean, when you look at our 00:48:23.730 --> 00:48:27.230 military today, and you've got to go back to 00:48:27.230 --> 00:48:30.909 Goddard and you've got to go back to Werner von 00:48:30.909 --> 00:48:35.489 Braun. Kevin, comment on that. Sure. That was 00:48:35.489 --> 00:48:38.050 a highly sought after prize by both the Soviets 00:48:38.050 --> 00:48:40.969 and the United States. uh... to look to capture 00:48:40.969 --> 00:48:43.809 german rocket technology because it was so far 00:48:43.809 --> 00:48:46.349 advanced uh... from anything either of the country 00:48:46.349 --> 00:48:49.090 had uh... we were fortunate enough to get the 00:48:49.090 --> 00:48:51.210 scientists the russians got their hands on from 00:48:51.210 --> 00:48:54.710 rocket we bought but i've heard of on brahman 00:48:54.710 --> 00:48:57.809 his uh... crew of scientists united state and 00:48:57.809 --> 00:49:00.469 they started working uh... for the u .s. army 00:49:00.469 --> 00:49:04.230 developing rocket and when the soviet uh... launch 00:49:04.230 --> 00:49:07.800 sputnik into space to begin this big uh... basically 00:49:07.800 --> 00:49:10.219 or not i would go to arms race in space but state 00:49:10.219 --> 00:49:14.099 that the state races board and um... for some 00:49:14.099 --> 00:49:17.599 reason the president decide to go with navy rocket 00:49:17.599 --> 00:49:20.380 uh... and they keep blowing up on the padded 00:49:20.380 --> 00:49:23.659 to great humiliation united states uh... and 00:49:23.659 --> 00:49:25.559 then the decision is made to go away from the 00:49:25.559 --> 00:49:28.659 navy and to go with vertebrate on brown uh... 00:49:28.659 --> 00:49:32.280 method of uh... development of missiles going 00:49:32.280 --> 00:49:35.639 into space and that is successful And von Brahm 00:49:35.639 --> 00:49:37.739 is then going to be put in charge, not in charge 00:49:37.739 --> 00:49:39.440 of NASA, but he's going to have a very prominent 00:49:39.440 --> 00:49:41.960 role in designing the rockets. They're going 00:49:41.960 --> 00:49:45.420 to get American astronauts to the moon. That 00:49:45.420 --> 00:49:48.440 is an incredible legacy. He had dreamt about 00:49:48.440 --> 00:49:51.340 traveling to the planet as a child. This was 00:49:51.340 --> 00:49:54.940 always a dream of his. He wasn't a saint. He 00:49:54.940 --> 00:49:58.820 had Jewish slave laborers working in the rocket 00:49:58.820 --> 00:50:02.900 camps. Thousands a day died, thousands. Yeah, 00:50:02.940 --> 00:50:05.639 yeah, like I said, he was no saint. He was part 00:50:05.639 --> 00:50:09.039 of that Nazi system that employed slave laborers. 00:50:09.920 --> 00:50:13.280 The British and the Americans bombed their launch 00:50:13.280 --> 00:50:16.719 areas, but he really understood rocketry and 00:50:16.719 --> 00:50:19.340 what it would take to get out of the Earth's 00:50:19.340 --> 00:50:23.739 orbit to the moon. And so from this Nazi world 00:50:23.739 --> 00:50:27.260 that he was employed in and dropping rockets 00:50:27.260 --> 00:50:31.739 on Great Britain and in Antwerp, he becomes They're 00:50:31.739 --> 00:50:34.880 pretty much key scientists to NASA and ideal 00:50:34.880 --> 00:50:36.960 in getting the United States to the moon. We've 00:50:36.960 --> 00:50:39.239 got less than two minutes. I mean, I still got 00:50:39.239 --> 00:50:40.820 a ton to cover. We're not going to be able to 00:50:40.820 --> 00:50:44.719 cover that today. You know what, folks? Raise 00:50:44.719 --> 00:50:46.440 your hand. Why don't you say we bring these guys 00:50:46.440 --> 00:50:51.900 back again? Yay! Yay! There's Derek. And because 00:50:51.900 --> 00:50:55.239 we've got to talk about all the rats that they 00:50:55.239 --> 00:50:58.659 all committed suicide except Borman. And oh, 00:50:58.659 --> 00:51:02.150 that's such an interesting story. about Guring 00:51:02.150 --> 00:51:05.590 and, and, and, oh, what a, blah, blah. Anyway, 00:51:06.010 --> 00:51:08.489 so I'm going to give you boys a couple of chances 00:51:08.489 --> 00:51:12.210 to promote your books. Kevin, very quickly, like 00:51:12.210 --> 00:51:13.769 I said, we've got about a minute and a half. 00:51:13.969 --> 00:51:16.989 Tell us about your books, the photographs with 00:51:16.989 --> 00:51:20.610 Patton. Sure. Patton's photographs is a book 00:51:20.610 --> 00:51:23.289 of the photographs that General George S. Patton 00:51:23.289 --> 00:51:26.230 took himself personally throughout World War 00:51:26.230 --> 00:51:29.000 II. i discovered them in the library of congress 00:51:29.000 --> 00:51:32.099 uh... back in nineteen ninety six uh... to make 00:51:32.099 --> 00:51:34.719 number of years to get the whole collection together 00:51:34.719 --> 00:51:37.139 i selected the best ones i could find with the 00:51:37.139 --> 00:51:39.840 patent diaries and letters found any references 00:51:39.840 --> 00:51:42.519 you need to taking pictures but this wonderful 00:51:42.519 --> 00:51:44.960 book together with a labor of love and anybody 00:51:44.960 --> 00:51:47.760 who read that would make me happy now we've got 00:51:47.760 --> 00:51:50.639 something very quickly the dead and those are 00:51:50.639 --> 00:51:53.139 about to die kevin mcmahon says coming out in 00:51:53.139 --> 00:51:55.280 paperback very quickly that the last word you 00:51:55.280 --> 00:51:57.750 got thirty seconds Right, The Dead and Those 00:51:57.750 --> 00:51:59.869 About to Die, D -Day, The Big Roundup, One at 00:51:59.869 --> 00:52:05.309 Omaha Beach is coming up. Paperback on May 5th. 00:52:06.110 --> 00:52:08.710 If you'd like me to sign it or whatever else, 00:52:08.869 --> 00:52:11.230 just get in touch with me. Okay, this is Bob 00:52:11.230 --> 00:52:13.610 Gould, Veterans Radio. Until next week, you are 00:52:13.610 --> 00:52:14.150 dismissed.