WWII Quiz
MontyB
All-Blacks Supporter
Dean said:
Nah I have already surrendered on this one, the order of battle for both of those armies during the "happy times (for the Germans)" was extensive enough but by the end of the war they had a mish mash of refugee units from everywhere, the last thing I want to do sit back and play guess the platoon as we would probably break the boards storage before we got it right.
While this is probably a good question I think a little more information would have made it a little more appealing ie by unit do you me division, regiment, squad?
If I had to try and narrow it down further I would guess it was an SS unit as pretty much everyone else was trying to give up by then.
Dean
Active member
Huge edit: I found it. I will now give some clues.
1. The unit is question was a corps
2. Due to the difficulties inherent in commmunicating during a pitched battle with the US Army, the orders to disengage were simply broadcast in the clear, and the bulk of the Corps retreated, turned and attacked in an attempt to force open a corridor the the 9th Army which was surrounded in the Speer Forest.
Dean.
1. The unit is question was a corps
2. Due to the difficulties inherent in commmunicating during a pitched battle with the US Army, the orders to disengage were simply broadcast in the clear, and the bulk of the Corps retreated, turned and attacked in an attempt to force open a corridor the the 9th Army which was surrounded in the Speer Forest.
Dean.
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Dean
Active member
Reiben said:
No, I cannot find any mention of the 27th (penal) Panzer Regiment. If your source is a book by Sven Hassel, then it is probably wrong. My source is Antony Beevor's The Fall of Berlin 1945. If you tell my your source is different, I will check again, or if you can show me to what corps the 27th was attached, then I will give it to you.
Dean.
Sven Hassel is 
fftopic:
http://www.svenhassel.net/
http://www.svenhassel.info/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sven_Hassel
I havent looked at Beevor yet.
fftopic: http://www.svenhassel.net/
http://www.svenhassel.info/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sven_Hassel
I havent looked at Beevor yet.
sven hassell
Active member
Damn it Reiben,have just read this thread and its too late to answer.
Would have got this one for sure,most of Svens writing is fictional(as is my name since i've been asked by PM) but I recomend it as reading but just dont take it as historically correct.
Would have got this one for sure,most of Svens writing is fictional(as is my name since i've been asked by PM) but I recomend it as reading but just dont take it as historically correct.
perseus
Active member
Yes, Sven Hassell. I thought the name was familiar, he also wrote 'Panzer Leader' about an SS unit who broke out of the Stalingrad pocket. This book is immensely enjoyable, demonstating the brutality of war with its anti heros. However courtesy of Wikepedia
"A quick chronological analysis of the activities described in the books appears to show that the regiment depicted in the books fought in several places, hundreds of miles apart, at the same time. Hassel states that the characters are based on real people and events are related to historical events.....books are not taken seriously by historians or military professionals, many of the stories in them are well told, and - like much of fictional writing - some of their background material appears to be derived from authentic accounts.....
Erik Haaest, a self-styled Danish journalist, has spent many years trying to debunk Hassel's claims. Haaest writes that Sven Hassel is actually Børge Villy Redsted Pedersen, a Danish Nazi who never served on the Russian front"
This may explain why there is no trace of "Speer forest" either!
"A quick chronological analysis of the activities described in the books appears to show that the regiment depicted in the books fought in several places, hundreds of miles apart, at the same time. Hassel states that the characters are based on real people and events are related to historical events.....books are not taken seriously by historians or military professionals, many of the stories in them are well told, and - like much of fictional writing - some of their background material appears to be derived from authentic accounts.....
Erik Haaest, a self-styled Danish journalist, has spent many years trying to debunk Hassel's claims. Haaest writes that Sven Hassel is actually Børge Villy Redsted Pedersen, a Danish Nazi who never served on the Russian front"
This may explain why there is no trace of "Speer forest" either!
Dean
Active member
The question has not yet been answered. For the unit designation, I will accept the Army and Corps designations, or the name of the commanding General.
So for more clues:
Keitel went to their HQ to get them to try to save Hitler on April 23rd, 1945.
They deliberately mis-interpreted Keitel's orders because he had wanted them to attack two fully equipped and combat ready Soviet Tank Armies. So instead, they decided to attack east, but only to open a corridor to allow civilians and troops to get to the Elbe and the Western Allies.
They moved East on the same day.
The order to move was given while the Army in question was in heavy contact with the Americans. The orders were made public (sent in the clear) to ensure that the entire Army (actually, what was left of it) would receive them.
Dean.
So for more clues:
Keitel went to their HQ to get them to try to save Hitler on April 23rd, 1945.
They deliberately mis-interpreted Keitel's orders because he had wanted them to attack two fully equipped and combat ready Soviet Tank Armies. So instead, they decided to attack east, but only to open a corridor to allow civilians and troops to get to the Elbe and the Western Allies.
They moved East on the same day.
The order to move was given while the Army in question was in heavy contact with the Americans. The orders were made public (sent in the clear) to ensure that the entire Army (actually, what was left of it) would receive them.
Dean.
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Dean
Active member
Yes. He did indeed visit XX Corps, although my source says that he spoke with General Wenke, who subsequently gave the order to do an about-face to the Eastern Front. But the XX Corps was in fact the unit of the 12th Army that fought on two fronts on the same day. As far as I can tell, the other units did not actually attack until the next day. Remember that by that time, they were an army in name only.
So Reiben, once again, on to you.
Dean.
So Reiben, once again, on to you.
Dean.
Got a good question for you all:
Whos headquarters (where was it as well) did Churchill fly out to on 11 June 1940?
Who did he meet?
What did the French want and what was Churchills counter offer?
for a bonus point - what type of plane did Churchill fly out in?
Hopefully it will even challenge Dean!
Whos headquarters (where was it as well) did Churchill fly out to on 11 June 1940?
Who did he meet?
What did the French want and what was Churchills counter offer?
for a bonus point - what type of plane did Churchill fly out in?
Hopefully it will even challenge Dean!
bulldogg
Milforum's Bouncer
bulldogg said:
Very close mate, but I am going to be strict about the answer. You got most of it right.
Except the exact location of the meeting, whos headquarters and what was Churchills counter offer.
I was really after the names of the french.
Couldnt read the link though;-)
MontyB
All-Blacks Supporter
Dean said:
Just out of interest my father was serving with New Zealand troops in Italy at the of the war and German communications in that area were still functioniing well enough for the Germans to inform the Allies that the war was over.
Given that I find it hard to believe orders were given in public for those reasons I would suspect it was more in the hopes they would get some support from other units and perhaps some reprieve from the western allies.
Dean
Active member
MontyB said:
Highly possible. However Beevor has another theory that is as interesting. He thought that they wanted to give the people of Berlin the idea that the Americans were supporting the German Army against the Russians. On the surface it looked to be true, as on that very same day, the Eisenhower sent his (in)famous order which stopped the Western Allies on the Elbe. At the same time, the Allied Air Forces reduced their bombing of German formations on the eastern bank of the Elbe, so this theory was believed by many. The reasons that communications were spotty was due to the fact that the sub-units had in many cases ceased to exist, and many sub-unit HQs were missing even the most rudimentary equipment, including codebooks.
Dean.
Oh, and Reiben, I don't have the foggiest.... yet!!!