The war in the east affects us all. Writing about war history in the belief that major wars in Europe are no longer possible no longer feels relevant. Man has learned nothing from history and thus the meaning of history is meaningless.
So from now on the blog will not be updated anymore. Not forever, but when the war rages, we stop writing and publishing. See you again when peace reigns in Europe again!
Take care. We meet again!
We never learn!
It is not easy to write about war when there is a war going on. Man has now fought two world wars and perhaps the third has already begun? Humans never seem to learn and we historians have failed there.
Dear readers
Dear readers. Is there anyone you would like to read about or recommend us to write about?
Well i dont know…
Stepan Bandera
Stepan Bandera
Stepan Andriyovytj Bandera was born on January 1, 1909 in western Ukraine in the part of the country that was located in Austria-Hungary. The father was a priest and the religion was Greek Catholic. Ukraine became independent in 1918 but after a few years as an independent state it became part of the Soviet Union. Stepan’s father and uncle took part in the Polish-Ukrainian war where the uncle was killed by a Polish bullet. Young Bandera studied at university but was mainly interested in politics. UVO, Ukrainska Vijskova Orhanizatsija or in
English the Ukrainian military organization which aimed to unite all Ukrainians in one state.
Ukrainian minorities existed in Poland, Czechoslovakia and Romania while Ukraine proper was part of the Soviet Union. Stepan Bandera joined the UVO in 1927 and became one of its leaders. Mainly UVO fought in Poland. Bandera was imprisoned for a time when he believed to be involved in the murder of the Polish Minister of the Interior. However, he was released in 1939 and was at large when World War II broke out. Bandera came into contact with Germans from military intelligence and he helped set up armed forces made up of Ukrainians. When the war against the Soviet Union broke out, Bandera and other Ukrainians were prepared to support the Germans. Then his father Andriy Bandera had been abducted by Soviet intelligence and killed by them. Bandera proclaimed a free Ukraine, but it quickly became a problem with the cooperation between Germans and Ukrainians, as Bandera made big demands and the Germans considered them unreasonable, then the war was going well for the Axis powers at this time, so the support of Bandera was not considered necessary either, there were others cooperation partner. In the end, Stepan Bandera was taken to a concentration camp but received very mild treatment. He was released in the fall of 1944 and now they agreed to cooperate again. In March 1944, a Ukrainian army and government-in-exile was set up, but Bandera was not a member. After the war he and his family fled, Bandera was since 1940 married to Jaroslava Oparivska with whom he had three children.
Bandera lived after the war in West Germany, he continued to work for his plans to make Ukraine free but was assassinated by Soviet agents on October 15, 1959.
Happy New Year from War2war!
Merry X-MAS 2023!
John Amery
John Amery
The conservative politician Leo Amery married a women from Canada Florence Greenwood and had two sons with her. The oldest was a baptist to John born 14 March 1912. Young John was probably a rather awkward youngster. He aimed for a career in film but this did not succeed. Politically, he was strongly anti-communist. This led him to sympathize with fascism and National Socialism despite his father’s Jewish background.
John mett the actress Una Wing and they married in 1933 in Athens. The Amery family tried to block the wedding. It was the first of three marrige. After failing in the film and going bankrupt, the couple decided to move to France. The marrige end. Here in France,Amery came into contact with the French nationalist leader Jacques Doriot. Together the two man visit Austria, Italy and Germany. It is uncertain whether Amery served in Franco’s army during the Spanish Civil War.
John Amery was living in Paris when the Germans defeated France in 1940. The Germans realized that they could use him and he was allowed to travel to Germany where he began working with propganda. Amery was given permission by Hitler to stay as a guest in Germany. Amery made several appearances on radio directed at his native country.
After the war against the Soviet Union began, the Germans began recruiting foreign legions to fight on the Eastern Front. Amery got the idea that the British should also be recruited. mainly they would try to persuade British soldiers who were prisoners of war. This was approved but but few were interested. In total, about 50 soldiers from the British Empire fought in German uniform if you don’t count the thousands of Indian volunteers who fought in their own legion.
In October 1943 it was announced that he was no longer needed in the attempt to enlist the British to Waffen-SS. Amery continued with propaganda and went to Italy in the fall of 1944 and was active in Italy in Italian social Republic ”the Republic of Salò.” In the spring of 1945, Amery risks being arrested and executed by Italian partisans. He and his French fiancee Michelle Thomas 1915-1997 were arrested but turned over to the Allies.
John Amery was charged with treason after the war. He confessed and the trial didn’t even last eight minutes. His brother tried to convince the court that his brother was mentally ill. But this did not help. Amery was hanged 19 December 1945.
Una Wing and John Amery early 1930. We don´t now the cats name. Please inform us if you know.
John Amery and Michelle Thomas in May 1945.
Pictures coming from Pinterest.
Nine years!
Hurray!
Today we celebrate nine years!
František Moravec
František Moravec
Born in the Czech Republic in 1895, which was then part of Austria-Hungary. His father was a civil servant and he was the eldest of ten siblings. was called up when the First World War broke out. Because he studied, among other things, Latin and French, he was trained as an officer and became the leader of a platoon of infantrymen. Moravec was captured and switched sides. His fought as a volunteer in the Serbian Legion and then the Czechoslovak Legion which fought for a free Czechoslovakia. After the war, he continued his military career and eventually became the leader of the republic’s intelligence service. He married and had two daughters.
When the Germans took over in March 1939 and Czechoslovakia ceased to exist, he fled with some comrades to London. When the war broke out, when a government-in-exile was established in Czechoslovakia, he again became the leader of the intelligence service. He established contact with Czech resistance fighters and was involved in planning the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich.
When the war was over, he returned to his homeland in June 1945 but fled three years later when the Communists took power. František Moravec died in exile in the United States in 1966. His body was sent in 2022 to the Czech Republic where the funeral took place with honors.
Friedrich Olbricht
Friedrich Olbricht
Olbricht was born in Saxony 1888. After completing his studies, he decided to become an officer. He fought on the Western Front during World War I.
When the war broke out he was a lieutenant but two years later was promoted to captain. Olbricht gett married in 1918 and had a son who later died in action 1941 and a daughter. After the war he remained a captain in the small army that was allowed to exist. He disliked National Socialism and expressed disgust at Hitler’s attempt to seize power in November 1923.
The career continued in the military, major 1927, lieutenant colonel 1931 and finally colonel 1934. He became chief of staff and is said to have saved some officers during ”the Night of the Long Knives”who could have been executed. Olbricht became the leader of a division and was sworn to occupy the Czech Republic in 1938 and participated in the war against Poland. By then he had already come into contact with other officers who were critical to Hitler.
He was part of the conspiracy to assassinate Hitler and seize power in Germany. The coup failed and Friedrich Olbricht was executed together with other coup members 21 July 1944. Had the coup succeeded, he would have become the new government’s finance minister.
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