German 88 Flak Guns Used By Nazis In WWII, Color Action Scenes

[appalachiablue]

Last edited Mon Dec 14, 2020, 07:55 PM - Edit history (1)

- Nazi Germany WWII propaganda film of 88 guns fired in Europe, Russia and North Africa during World War II. The sound track is added and the audio of the firings is repeated. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/8.8_cm_Flak_18/36/37/41
--------------

The 2nd and 3rd generations of Nazi despisers in the family are holding.

My dad's 7th Army unit was attacked by 88s in late winter 1945 en route from France to Germany in the Rhineland Campaign.

When his CO went down, dad, age 24 and an artillery lieutenant took over. He survived to receive the bronze star and his group continued to cross the Rhine into Germany at Worms in early March. They fought on and assisted the liberation of Dachau near Munich.

My father stayed on in the Army of Occupation and received care for battle fatigue.

He returned home safe thank God or I wouldn't be writing this note.

Fascism's resurgence and clear threat to democracy in the months and years ahead will require mass effort and resistance.

Time to get to work.

[DemoTex]

1. My dad was a 7th Army artillery officer, too.

N. Africa, Sicily, Italy (WIA - recovered), France and Germany. Here is a photo of LT GEN George Patton that my dad, then a 1st LT, took somewhere in Italy. Lots of stars in that staff jeep!

[appalachiablue]

4. Great record and that's a fine photo. Where did your dad train

in the states? When did he ship over and back?

My dad went to OCS training with mom in the Wilmington, NC area and El Paso, Texas.

He departed NY in Dec. 1944, trained in Bournemouth, England and then shipped over to Omaha Beach in Normandy, Dec. 1945.

So glad he made it thru, although there were some damages. When he returned mom was surprised to see him with long hair almost to his shoulders and wearing a shortened Eisenhower- syle coat.

[DemoTex]

11. He was Auburn ROTC ..

Then Ft. Sill. Landed in North Africa in 1942. Wounded in Italy, and patched up by the battalion surgeon.


My dad (L) has a brew in Rome with the battalion surgeon (R) that saved his life in southern Italy.

[appalachiablue]

16. Another great photo, a well deserved good time in Rome. In college

I stopped by Auburn once to see friends on a drive during spring break from WVU to So Fla.

Nice campus; I was looking for Mell Hall, and people kept telling me to find Male/Mail Hall. Eventually I got it. Lol.

[getagrip_already]

2. yeah, the 88's were universally feared.....

My uncle was on a tank crew in patton's division, and he said that was what they never wanted to hear the sound of,

He somehow managed to get busted in rank multiple times and ended up in convoy duty after his tank was scrapped for some reason. Never did get the real story, but I was just a young lad, I'm sure it was more than he let on.

[appalachiablue]

7. I can't blame them after researching these monster guns a bit.

My dad had battle fatigue, did some recovery time in Marseille, the Alps.

He stayed over in the Army of Occupation and didn't return home until 1946. Mom was patiently waiting and understandably concerned.

Like your uncle, there's probably much more to the stories of many of the troops, my father included. It was Hell.

[getagrip_already]

9. as a rule, returning vets who saw action never spoke much about it....

They just didn't feel the need, and it likely brought back memories they would rather not visit ever again.

I may have heard a few unguarded thoughts because I was a young child and asked innocent questions with simple answers.

But he never got over his trauma, whatever it was. He was still my favorite uncle.

[appalachiablue]

13. That's the consensus I know, not talk about it and sadly

I never asked, not even in college when I returned from Europe one time and Dad gave me some of his insignia, pins and ribbons. Most of what I know is recounted from an older sibling and derived my own research.

[SCantiGOP]

3. So your Dads, like mine

Were members of antifa.

[appalachiablue]

6. Absolutely. And Gen. Eisenhower was The Antifa!

[ThoughtCriminal]

5. Willy and Joe didn't like 'em

[appalachiablue]

8. Good cartoon, thanks.

[marked50]

10. My dad talked about the 88's he encountered in the war too.

He was in the 69th Division that arrived in European theater in Jan of '45. This was the division that eventually met up with the Russian's on The Elbe river. He was with an Armour group of 105mm howitzers.

One of the things he remembered and commented on was that one of the biggest concerns about moving along the roads to Germany was when that things seemed to go pretty unopposed until the convoy rounded some turn. The 88's were set up, just a few, to lay waste to whatever was in their sites. They were manned by the SS and they were suicidaly committed. He said it usually didn't last long as they were ultimately outgunned and out-manned. He also stayed on with the Occupation Force in 45.

It was the only thing he expressed concern about the entire race to Germany endeavor.

He always said though, he never thought he was a hero.

[appalachiablue]

14. That was a seriously dangerous winter esp. Market Garden and

the Bulge. Yes, I've read how the Germans brought out 88s to station around to hit the advancing Allies.

SS and fanatics, say no more. My dad never talked about the war, he gave me some insignia and ribbons when I came back from summer college study in England. I didn't ask him about it but wish I had; he too would have never regarded himself as a 'war hero.'

[Sneederbunk]

12. My dad was 5th Armored. Wounded in Hurtgen Forest where they used 88s.

[appalachiablue]

15. Hurtgen Forest was horrible, what a winter. Glad your dad

recovered and made it home.