Originally Posted by MontyB

It is amazing the things people can survive, I have looked back over my father's families military history since they arrived in NZ and all I can say is that they are damned lucky.

Two served in WW1 at both Gallipoli and on the Western front as riflemen and neither suffered so much as a scratch although one was hospitalized with pneumonia.
Seven of them served in the 2nd Division during WW2 (6 from the beginning, my father arrived in late 1943) not one of them received a single wound.

The only recorded injury in the entire family was my father getting stabbed in the leg by an angry farmer in Austria after the war before he went to Japan.

My Granddad was wounded three times, gassed and frostbitten, he was lucky to survive.

My uncle Charlie was in North Africa with the 8th Army, he recounted that during the Battle of El Alamein mates falling beside him, a bullet hit his entrenching tool, bounced off and killed his mate beside him. He too went into Italy and finally finished in Austria, he never got a scratch throughout the war.

Originally Posted by BritinAfrica

My Granddad was wounded three times, gassed and frostbitten, he was lucky to survive.

My uncle Charlie was in North Africa with the 8th Army, he recounted that during the Battle of El Alamein mates falling beside him, a bullet hit his entrenching tool, bounced off and killed his mate beside him. He too went into Italy and finally finished in Austria, he never got a scratch throughout the war.

I have often wondered how many Germans that went into Poland in 1939 came home at the end.

Originally Posted by MontyB

I have often wondered how many Germans that went into Poland in 1939 came home at the end.

Only a handful came home after being captured in Stalingrad as you know

Out of the nearly 91,000 German prisoners captured in Stalingrad, only about 5,000 returned. Weakened by disease, starvation and lack of medical care during the encirclement, they were sent on foot marches to prisoner camps and later to labour camps all over the Soviet Union. Some 35,000 were eventually sent on transports, of which 17,000 did not survive. Most died of wounds, disease (particularly typhus), cold, overwork, mistreatment and malnutrition. Some were kept in the city to help rebuild it.

A handful of senior officers were taken to Moscow and used for propaganda purposes, and some of them joined the National Committee for a Free Germany. Some, including Paulus, signed anti-Hitler statements that were broadcast to German troops. Paulus testified for the prosecution during the Nuremberg Trials and assured families in Germany that those soldiers taken prisoner at Stalingrad were safe.[39]:401 He remained in the Soviet Union until 1952, then moved to Dresden in East Germany, where he spent the remainder of his days defending his actions at Stalingrad and was quoted as saying that Communism was the best hope for postwar Europe. General Walther von Seydlitz-Kurzbach offered to raise an anti-Hitler army from the Stalingrad survivors, but the Soviets did not accept. It was not until 1955 that the last of the 5,000–6,000 survivors were repatriated (to West Germany) after a plea to the Politburo by Konrad Adenauer.

Originally Posted by I3BrigPvSk

, I know they used runners to send messages between different units or between commanders.

I missed the beginning of it where they got their instructions. They were in the trenches heading for no mans land when I came in. During an offensive that's making good progress I could see having to send messengers long distance, but the attack hadn't started yet. Was the Army really out of contact with their units? Doesn't seem reasonable.

Originally Posted by George

I missed the beginning of it where they got their instructions. They were in the trenches heading for no mans land when I came in. During an offensive that's making good progress I could see having to send messengers long distance, but the attack hadn't started yet. Was the Army really out of contact with their units? Doesn't seem reasonable.

During 1917 military units were not issued with radio.,At the onset of World War I, radio was still in its infancy. Army equipment was primitive, had a very short range, and often negotiated atmospheric interference. ... Military radio equipment also used vacuum tubes, which were heavy and bulky.

The main means of communication was carrier pigeon, telephone and runners.

Originally Posted by BritinAfrica

During 1917 military units were not issued with radio.,At the onset of World War I, radio was still in its infancy. Army equipment was primitive, had a very short range, and often negotiated atmospheric interference. ... Military radio equipment also used vacuum tubes, which were heavy and bulky.

The main means of communication was carrier pigeon, telephone and runners.

correct. But there had to have been established normal lines of communications between a General and his units prior to an attack, from HQ to each unit. Not having people who are front line troops go on marathon journeys.

Originally Posted by George

correct. But there had to have been established normal lines of communications between a General and his units prior to an attack, from HQ to each unit. Not having people who are front line troops go on marathon journeys.

Communications were usually by telephone, telephone wires run from HQ to the various units. All I can say is, the situation may have been too fluid to run telephone wires or if they were, the wires were cut by shelling.

Originally Posted by George

I missed the beginning of it where they got their instructions. They were in the trenches heading for no mans land when I came in. During an offensive that's making good progress I could see having to send messengers long distance, but the attack hadn't started yet. Was the Army really out of contact with their units? Doesn't seem reasonable.

This is part of the problem I have with these movies, they rely heavily on a lot of coincidences to form the plot.

The chances of an attack going ahead without any direct line of communication with it's HQ I find hard to swallow, as far as I can tell it wasn't uncommon for staff officers to position themselves close to the front in order to speed up communications.

There is another war movie coming pretty soon. Shall we be worried when it claims to be "Inspired by True Events"?



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyzxu26-Wqk

Originally Posted by I3BrigPvSk

There is another war movie coming pretty soon. Shall we be worried when it claims to be "Inspired by True Events"?



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyzxu26-Wqk

Hey Jo Jo Rabbit can claim to be "Inspired by true events", WW2 happened and Hitler was real.

Having watched that trailer I expect I have seen as much of the movie as I am ever going to see, it looks like another overly embellished pile of crap.