My First Summer in the Sierra

"Happy the showers that fall on so fair a wilderness, scarce a drop can fail to find a beautiful spot — on the tops of the peaks, on the shining glacier pavements, on the great smooth domes, on forests and gardens and brushy moraines, plashing, glinting, parrering, laving."

Tenaya Canyon, from the top of Half Dome

I just finished reading My First Summer in the Sierra by John Muir and there were so many fun passages in the book that reminded me of my trips to the Sierras! As you may or may not know, John Muir was a Scottish-American naturalist, author, environmental philosopher, glaciologist and early advocate for the preservation of wilderness in the United States (Wikipedia). He was born in 1838 and this book took place from June to September of 1869.

The book is in journal form and chronicles the trip that he took with a sheepherder, who had to move his 2,000 plus sheep to higher pastures once the grasses in the valleys were dried out. They move up in elevation from the Central Valley of California, which sits near sea level, towards the high point of Tuolumne meadows in what is now Yosemite (approximately 10,000 ft), arriving in August and then turning back down the hill in September before snow starts flying again.

If you like trees and plants, you will love this book. If you don't, you can skip over his description of the abies magnifica (silver tipped fir) and go right to parts such as this one:

"Early in the morning I tied my notebook and some bread to my belt, and strode away full of eager hope, feeling that I was going to have a glorious revel."

The John Muir Trail, between Lake Tenaya and Cathedral Lakes

I mean, who can say no to a glorious revel? He also talks a lot about the weather, but in a way that makes weather anything but a dull subject.

"Another one of those charming exhilarating days that make the blood dance and excite nerve currents that render one un-weariable and well-nigh immortal." 

“Warm, sunny day, thrilling plant and animals and rocks alike, making sap and blood flow fast, and making every particle of the crystal mountains throb and swirl and dance in glad accord like star-dust.”

Near Tuolumne Meadows -- all these boulders were left behind by the glacier.

Be still my beating heart. Doesn't he make a sunny day sound absolutely fabulous? Then he passes by Lake Tenaya and notes the existence of:

"a knob or knot of burnished granite, perhaps about a thousand feet high, apparently as flawless and strong in structure as a waveworn pebble, and probably owes its existence to the superior resistance it offered to the section of the overflowing ice-flood."

Lake Tenaya (and the knot of burnished granite, perhaps)

I think I found the knot! If not, I better go and look again soon! He gets to Tuolumne meadows, and remarks:

"No Sierra landscape that I have seen holds anything truly dead or dull, or any trace of what in manufactories is called rubbish or waste; everything is perfectly clean and pure and full of divine lessons."

Tuolumne Meadows (with Cathedral peak in the background)

I agree wholeheartedly. Every time I have gone to the Sierras, around every corner is a new wonderment, another photo to snap, or smell in the air, or a new bird sound. It really is quite fabulous and this book really hit home. There were a few interesting things such as when he describes one day that he went from the North Dome to the Valley floor, which must be about a 10 or 12 mile hike down a steep trail nowadays. But then, there was no trail, and he described bushwhacking down a ravine, which must have been difficult (plus I think there is about a 3,000 or 4,000 ft drop in elevation to boot)!

I also love how he just straps a loaf of bread to his belt, as quoted above, or lays down on pine boughs or even a rock one night, so that he could listen to the sound of a waterfall nearby. It's just so poetic and it seems like such a grand adventure. I wonder if it really was as lovely as he makes it sound. He does note that there are large mosquitoes, some about an inch from tip of the stinger to the end of the wings, which sounds like something I would not be as fond of!!

There are many, many more passages that I bookmarked, noted and saved, but I will end my barrage of quotes with this one, which really reminded me of why I like to hike and do trail runs, especially in the Sierras!

Cathedral Peak and one of the Cathedral lakes

"Towards sunset, enjoyed a fine run to camp, down the long south slopes, across ridge and ravines, gardens and avalance gaps, through the firs and chaparral, enjoying wild excitement and excess of strength, and so ends a day that will never end."

Have you ever been to the Sierra Nevadas? If so, where did you go? Did you love them as much as Mr. Muir and I do? 

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The Spice of Life

When I was growing up, my family had a lot of phrases that were used in order to keep us in line or to remember things. They were used frequently, some more than others. I am not sure that sometimes they were even true. However, I have a few examples below. You can tell me what you think.

Waste Not, Want Not: For example, if you were full and you still had food on your plate. Or maybe you were giving an ugly sweater given to you by a distant relative to Goodwill. This is a close cousin to “People are Starving in China”. Although I am not a fan of needlessly throwing things away, I believe this was a ploy put in place by my family to make me eat my Brussel sprouts. No, but really it's good to learn early to use what you have rather than needlessly buying more things!

The Lazy Man Always Works the Hardest:This was a classic and was used frequently. For example, when stacking firewood, if you took one piece at a time and carried it from one pile to another, you were deemed the “lazy man” because you should be taking several sticks as a load, rather than one. I actually agree with this one to a certain degree. I am not sure if the lazy man works the hardest, but he definitely takes the longest! So, it essentially means: sit down and take time to figure out the most efficient way to do a job before running willy-nilly all about the place.

Cheaters Never Prosper: Obviously, this one is pretty common and is self-explanatory. Don’t cheat. It won’t get you anywhere. This is a good lesson to be learned, except that it is not always true. However, true or not, you should hold yourself in a high esteem and follow it, even if other people do not. This goes well with “Two Wrongs Don’t Make a Right”, which was another family favorite.

A Penny Saved is a Penny Earned:Financial responsibility started early in my family. This saying is interesting, because if you turned it around to a Penny earned is a Penny saved, it may or may not be true, depending on who is doing the earning. The way that it is, it may still be debated, such as, isn’t a penny saved just a penny saved? Either way, I started saving my pennies early in life. I guess the point is that it's easier to save one that you already earned than to earn one more from working more.

A Pint’s a Pound, The World Around: I am still not sure if this is true or not, but I do use it anyway to figure out the weight of liquids. For example, a gallon of milk = 8 pints, therefore, a gallon = 8 pounds. It's a good rough estimate.

One Man’s Trash is Another Man’s Treasure:This is true. How many times have you gone through your friend’s old clothes and found a nice new outfit for yourself? However (see Waste Not, Want Not), when you have a slight tendency towards hoarding, you need to be careful or everyone’s trash may be your treasure. My family is not on the scale of Hoarders, by all means, but you still have to watch what you save. Sometimes it really is just trash.

A Job Worth Doing is a Job Worth Doing Well:Amen to this one! I hated it when my Dad would inspect my sweeping and mopping job with a fine toothed comb, but now I know he was just trying to teach me not to do a job half way. I have worked with many an adult that has still never learned this lesson. They just do the bare minimum and it drives me nuts. If you are going to do a job, do it right.

You Learn Something New Every Day: I have talked about this one before in my What I Learned posts, but this was a common saying around the dinner table at my house. I understand now that this was probably just my parents way of getting us to talk about our days, as well as trying to get us to realize that we really do learn something each day, whether it’s book smart or street smart or just a joke told to us by a friend. Don’t sell yourself short.

Variety is the Spice of Life: Oh, the spiciness of variety. This one could give you the wrong message. Maybe it means: don’t get married? Or perhaps: don’t eat chicken EVERY day? I think it means that we should try not to be close-minded and we should try new things, go to new places, see new things and meet new people. It means that we shouldn’t limit ourselves to the small world that we live in.

Of course there were many, many more, but the above were some of the ones that stuck with me!

What sayings were used by your parents to keep you in line? What phrases do you use with your kids? What is your interpretation of the "penny saved" phrase?

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Quotes From WW2

  BEFORE THE WAR

"I speak in the name of the entire German people when I assure the world that we all share the honest wish to eliminate the enmity that brings far more costs than any possible benefits... It would be a wonderful thing for all of humanity if both peoples would renounce force against each other forever. The German people are ready to make such a pledge."
Adolf Hitler - 14th October 1933

"The assertion that it is the intention of the German Reich to coerce the Austrian State is absurd"
Adolf Hitler - 30th January 1934

"Germany neither intends nor wishes to interfere in the internal affairs of Austria, to annex Austria, or to conclude an Anschluss."
Adolf Hitler - 21st May 1935

"Germany has concluded a Non-Aggression Pact with Poland... We shall adhere to it unconditionally... we recognize Poland as the home of a great and nationally conscious people."
Adolf Hitler - 21st May 1935

"National Socialist Germany wants peace because of its fundamental convictions. And it wants peace also owing to the realization of the simple primitive fact that no war would be likely essentially to alter the distress in Europe... The principal effect of every war is to destroy the flower of the nation... Germany needs peace and desires peace!"
Adolf Hitler - 21st May 1935

"Germany has solemnly recognized and guaranteed France her frontiers as determined after the Saar plebiscite... We thereby finally renounced all claims to Alsace-Lorraine, a land for which we have fought two great wars."
Adolf Hitler - 21st May 1935

"Germany neither intends nor wishes to interfere in the internal affairs of Austria, to annex Austria, or to conclude an Anschluss."
Adolf Hitler - 21st May 1935

"The League of Nations is still strong enough by its collective actions to avert or arrest aggression... There is no room for bargaining or compromise."
Foreign Commissar Litvinoff - 21st September 1938

"I have no further interest in the Czecho-Slovakian State, that is guaranteed. We want no Czechs"...
Adolf Hitler - 26th September 1938 

1939

"In the course of my life I have very often been a prophet, and have usually been ridiculed for it. During the time of my struggle for power, it was in the first instance only the Jewish race that received my prophecies with laughter when I said that I would one day take over the leadership of the state and with it that of the whole nation and that I would then among other things settle the Jewish problem...but I think that for some time now they have been laughing on the other side of their face. Today I will once more be a prophet: if the international Jewish financiers in and outside Europe should succeed in plunging the nations once more into a world war, then the result will not be the Bolshevising of the earth and thus the victory of Jewry, but the annihilation of the Jewish race in Europe!".

Adolf Hitler - Speech to the Reichstag - 30th January 1939

"Czechoslovakia has ceased to exist"

Adolf Hitler - 15th March 1939

"In the event of any action which clearly threatened Polish independence and which the Polish Government accordingly considered it vital to resist with their national forces, His Majesty's Government would feel themselves bound at once to lend the Polish Government all support in their power. They have given the Polish Government an assurance to this effect. I may add that the French Government have authorized me to make it plain that they stand in the same position in this matter."

Neville Chamberlain - 31st March 1939

“This morning the British Ambassador in Berlin handed the German Government a final note stating that unless we heard from them by eleven o'clock that they were prepared at once to withdraw their troops from Poland, a state of war would exist between us. I have to tell you that no such understanding has been received and that consequently this country is at war with Germany.”

Neville Chamberlain - 3rd September 1939

"This is a sad day for all of us, and to none is it sadder than to me. Everything that I have worked for, everything that I have believed in during my public life, has crashed into ruins. There is only one thing left for me to do: That is, to devote what strength and powers I have to forwarding the victory of the cause for which we have to sacrifice so much... I trust I may live to see the day when Hitlerism has been destroyed and a liberated Europe has been re-established."

Neville Chamberlain - 3rd September 1939

"In the course of my life I have very often been a prophet, and have usually been ridiculed for it. During the time of my struggle for power, it was in the first instance only the Jewish race that received my prophecies with laughter when I said that I would one day take over the leadership of the state and with it that of the whole nation and that I would then among other things settle the Jewish problem...but I think that for some time now they have been laughing on the other side of their face. Today I will once more be a prophet: if the international Jewish financiers in and outside Europe should succeed in plunging the nations once more into a world war, then the result will not be the Bolshevising of the earth and thus the victory of Jewry, but the annihilation of the Jewish race in Europe!".

Adolf Hitler - Speech to the Reichstag - 30th January 1939

1940

"My strength has now been reduced to the equivalent of 36 squadrons...we should be able to carry on the war single-handed for some time if not indefinitely."
Sir Hugh Dowding - RAF Fighter Command - May 1940

"We must be very careful not to assign to this deliverance the attributes of a victory. War's are not won by evacuations."
Winston Churchill - To Parliament - 4th June 1940

"Dunkirk has fallen... with it has ended the greatest battle of world history. Soldiers! My confidence in you knew no bounds. You have not disappointed me."
Adolf Hitler - Order of the Day - 5th June 1940

"Mussolini is quite humiliated because our troops have not moved a step forward. Even today they have not succeeded in advancing and have halted in front of the first French fortification which put up some resistance."
Count Ciano - Italian Foreign Minister (written in his diary) - 21st June 1940

"My Luftwaffe is invincible...And so now we turn to England. How long will this one last - two, three weeks?"
Hermann Goring - June 1940

"Like so many of our people, we have now had a personal experience of German barbarity which only strengthens the resolution of all of us to fight through to final victory."
King George VI - September 1940

"Never has a military operation been undertaken so much against the will of the commanders."
Count Ciano - Italian Foreign Minister (Commenting on the Italian Advance into Egypt) - September 1940

"Never in the field of human conflict, has so much, been owed by so many, to so few!"
Winston Churchill - September 1940

"Once more a red fire blows steeply upwards...the factory will do no more work for Herr Churchill...tomorrow morning Coventry will lie in smoke and ruins."
Josef Goebbels - Ministry of Propaganda - September 1940

"Fuhrer, we are on the march! Victorious Italian troops crossed the Greco-Albanian frontier at dawn today!"
Benito Mussolini - (to Adolf Hitler) 28th October 1940

"Nothing would please me better than if they would give me three months and then attack here."
General Douglas Macarthur - Supreme Allied Commander of South-West Pacific - (Speaking of the Philippines) 5th December 1940

"Singapore... could only be taken after a siege by an army of at least 50,000 men... its not considered possible that the Japanese...would embark on such a mad enterprise."
Winston Churchill - 1940

1941

"In my opinion the limit of endurance has been reached by the troops under my command...our position here is hopeless"

Major General Freyberg VC - (Shortly before the evacuation of Crete) - May 1941

"We did not intend to fight enemy warships...but we took up the fight. The crew have behaved magnificently. we shall win or die."

Admiral Lütjens - Commander of the Bismarck's Naval Squadron - 25th May 1941

"I should like to pay the highest tribute for the most gallant fight put up against impossible odds"

Admiral Tovey - (After the sinking of the Bismarck) - 27th May 1941

"I've had my fill of Hitler. These conferences called by a ringing of a bell are not to my liking; the bell is rung when people call their servants. And besides, what kind of conferences are these? For five hours I am forced to listen to a monologue which is quite fruitless and boring."

Benito Mussolini - (To his son in law) - 10th June 1941

"This war is not an ordinary war. It is the war of the entire Russian people. Not only to eliminate the danger hanging over our heads, but to aid all people groaning under the yoke of Fascism"

Josef Stalin - 22nd June 1941

"The Red Army and Navy and the whole Soviet people must fight for every inch of Soviet soil, fight to the last drop of blood for our towns and villages...onward, to victory!"

Josef Stalin - July 1941

"We secured peace for our country for one and a half years, as well as an opportunity of preparing our forces for defense if fascist Germany risked attacking our country in defiance of the pact. This was a definite gain to our country and a loss for fascist Germany."

Josef Stalin - 3rd July 1941 - (Speaking of the 1939 non-aggression pact between the USSR and Germany)

"The Russian colossus...has been underestimated by us...whenever a dozen divisions are destroyed the Russians replace them with another dozen."

General Franz Halder - Army Chief of Staff - August 1941

"A gigantic fleet... has massed in Pearl Harbor. This fleet will be utterly crushed with one blow at the very beginning of hostilities...Heaven will bear witness to the righteousness of our struggle."

Rear-Admiral Ito - Chief of Staff of the Combined Fleet - November 1941

"As a result of the cold, the machine-guns were no longer able to fire...the result of all this was a panic...The battle worthiness of our infantry is at an end"

General Heinz Guderian - November 1941

"Oh merciful lord… crown our effort with victory… and give us faith in the inevitable power of light over darkness, of justice over evil and brutal force… Of the cross of Christ over the Fascist swastika… so be it, amen."

Sergei - Archbishop of Moscow - 27th November 1941

"The fate of the Empire rests on this enterprise every man must devote himself totally to the task in hand."

Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto - Commander in Chief of the Japanese Navy - 7th December 1941

"Yesterday, December 7, 1941 - a date which will live in infamy - The United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan...As Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy, I have directed that all measures be taken for our defense...With confidence in our armed forces - with the unbounded determination of our people - we will gain the inevitable triumph - so help us God."

President F.D. Roosevelt - 8th December 1941

"Before we're through with them, the Japanese language will be spoken only in hell.!

Admiral Halsey - December 1941 

1942

"With Malta in enemy hands, the Mediterranean route would be completely closed to us...this tiny island was a vital feature in the defence of our Middle East position."
General Hastings Ismay - 1942

"The assault on Malta will cost us many casualties...but...I consider it absolutely essential for the future development of the war. If we take Malta, Libya will be safe."
Count Ugo Cavallero - Italian Chief of Staff 1940-1943

"You are doomed... you have already cut rations by a half...but your prestige and honour have been upheld"
General Homma - Speaking to General MacArthur- January 1942

"I'll come back as soon as I can with as much as I can. In the meantime, you've got to hold."
General MacArthur - Speaking to General Wainwright - March 1942

"My attack on Singapore was a bluff, a bluff that worked... I was very frightened that all the time the British would discover our numerical weakness and lack of supplies and force me into disastrous street fighting"
General Yamashita - 1942

"On the European Front, the most important development of the past year has been the crushing German offensive against the great armies of Russia"
President Franklin D. Roosevelt - 29th April 1942

"The fruits of victory are tumbling into our mouths too quickly."
Emperor Hirohito (On his Birthday) - 29th April 1942

"Japan...is operating in the Pacific in the hope of extending her hold over New Guinea...from such a position she...could carry out raids on Australia...whilst awaiting our final defeat by Germany"
General Alan Brooke - 5th May 1942

"To every man of us, Tobruk was a symbol of British resistance, and we were now going to finish with it for good."
Field Marshal Erwin Rommel - June 1942

"Am sending mobile troops out tonight. Not possible to hold tomorrow... Will resist to the last man and last round."
Major General Hendrik Klopper - (Commander of the Tobruk Garrison to General Ritchie) - 21st June 1942

"Our citizens can now rejoice that a momentous victory is in the making. Perhaps we will be forgiven if we claim we are about midway to our objective."
Admiral Chester Nimitz - June 1942

"Just as the defending force has gathered valuable experience from...Dieppe, so has the assaulting force...He will not do it like this a second time."
Field Marshal von Rundstedt - August 1942

"The Russian convoys are and always have been an unsound operation of this war"
Rear Admiral L.H.K Hamilton - September 1942

"The battle is going very heavily against us. We're being crushed by the enemy weight...We are facing very difficult days, perhaps the most difficult that a man can undergo."
Field Marshal Erwin Rommel - 3rd November 1942

"Never in history has the navy landed an army at the planned time and place. But if you land us anywhere within 50 miles of Fedela and within 1 week of D-Day. I'll go ahead and win."
Major General George Patton - November 1942 (Commenting of the North Africa Landings)

1943

"Most of the men are stricken with dysentery...Starvation is taking many lives and it is weakening our already extended lines. We are doomed. "
Major-General Kensaku Oda (Referring to the state of Japanese troops on Guadalcanal)- 12th January 1943

"Goddam it, you'll never get the Purple Heart hiding in a foxhole! Follow me!"
Captain Henry P. Jim Crowe - 13th January 1943 - (Guadalcanal)

"The defeat of the enemy in the Battle of El Alamein, the pursuit of his beaten army and the final capture of Tripoli...has all been accomplished in three months. This is probably without parallel in history."
Lieutenant-General Bernard Montgomery - 23rd January 1943

"The troops of the Don Front at 4pm on the 2nd February 1943 completed the rout and destruction of the encircled group of enemy forces in Stalingrad. Twenty two division have been destroyed or taken prisoner."
Lieutenant General Rokossovski - February 1943

"Even without the allied offensive, I should have had to capitulate by the 1st June at the latest as I had no more to eat."
General Oberst von Arnim - May 1943 - (Commenting after the Axis surrender in Tunisia)

"…Our losses…have reached an intolerable level. The enemy air force played a decisive role in inflicting these high losses."
Grand Admiral Carl Donitz - C-in-C of the German Navy - 24th May 1943

"The heavy casualties inflicted on the enemy have greatly affected his morale and will prove to be a turning point in the battle of the Atlantic."
Admiral Sir Max Horton - May 1943 - Commander of the Western Approaches

"The disaster of Stalingrad profoundly shocked the German people and armed forces alike...Never before in Germany's history had so large a body of troops come to so dreadful an end."
General Siegfried von Westphal - 1943

"No amphibious attack in history had approached this one in size. Along miles of coastline there were hundreds of vessels and small boats afloat and ant-like files of advancing troops ashore."
General Dwight Eisenhower - July 1943 (Sicily)

"Soldiers of the Reich! This day you are to take part in an offensive of such importance that the whole future of the war may depend on its outcome."
Adolf Hitler - 5th July 1943

"It would have been easier to fight alone with inadequate forces than to have to accept...responsibility for our ally's lack of fighting qualities and dubious loyalty."
Field Marshal Albert Kesselring - August 1943 (After the German evacuation of Sicily)

"The Germans may claim with some justification to have won if not a victory at least an important success over us."
General Alexander - September 1943

"They (the Americans) are, I think, a bit unwarrantably cock-a-hoop as a result of their limited experience to date. But they are setting about it in a realistic and business-like way...I have a feeling that they will do it..."
Air Vice-Marshal Sir John Slessor - 1943

"The enemy knows that he must wipe out our fighters. Once he has done that, he will be able to play football with the German people."
Field Marshal Erhard Milch - 1943

"The 2nd Marine Division has been especially chosen by the High Command for the assault on Tarawa...what you do there will set a standard for all future operations in the central pacific area."
Major General Julian C. Smith - Commander of the U.S. 2nd Marine Division - November 1943

"Casualties many; Percentage of dead not known; Combat efficiency; we are winning."
Colonel David M. Shoup - (Tarawa) - 21st November 1943

1944

"I say that the bombing of the Abbey...was a mistake...It only made our job more difficult, more costly in terms of men, machines and time"
Lieutenant General Mark Clark - Commander of the U.S. Fifth Army - 1944 (After the bombing of Monte Cassino)

"Had Clark given more heed to Juin's views...the savage battles of Cassino would probably never have been fought and the venerable house of St Benedict would have been unscathed"
Rudolf Böhmler - 1st Fallschirmjäger Division - 1944 (After the bombing of Monte Cassino)
"(Wingate was) and absolute born genius with a mystical fire about him."
Earl Mountbatton of Burma - Speaking after the death of Brigadier Orde Wingate - March 1944

"The enemy must be annihilated before he reaches our main battlefield...We must stop him in the water...destroying all his equipment while it is still afloat"
Field Marshall Erwin Rommel - 22nd April 1944

"At Sevastopol stands the Seventeenth Army, and at Sevastopol, the Soviets will bleed to death." 
"Permit me, in the name of the Front Command, to present you with the keys to the Crimea."
Marshall Biryuzov - Commander of the 4th Ukrainian Front to Marshall Vasilevski - May 1944

"Sure, we want to go home. We want this war over with. The quickest way to get it over with is to go get the bastards who started it. The quicker they are whipped, the quicker we can go home. The shortest way home is through Berlin and Tokyo. And when we get to Berlin, I am personally going to shoot that paper hanging son-of-a-bitch Hitler. Just like I'd shoot a snake!"
General George S. Patton - (addressing to his troops before Operation Overlord) - 5th June 1944

"We want to get the hell over there. The quicker we clean up this Goddamned mess, the quicker we can take a little jaunt against the purple pissing Japs and clean out their nest, too. Before the Goddamned Marines get all of the credit."
General George S. Patton - (addressing to his troops before Operation Overlord) - 5th June 1944

"Your task will not be an easy one. Your enemy is well trained, well equipped and battle hardened. He will fight savagely"
General Dwight Eisenhower - 6th June 1944

"At the present time, it is still too early to say whether this is a large-scale diversionary attack or the main effort"
German C-in-C West - Morning Report for the 6th June 1944

"Hell is on us."
Mamoru Shigemitsu - Japanese Foreign Minister's comments at the capture of Saipan - June 1944

"In spite of intense efforts, the moment has drawn near when this front, already so heavily strained, will break. I consider it my duty to bring these conclusions to your notice,...my fuhrer."
Field Marshal Gunther von Kluge - C-in-C West - July 1944

"For the first time a British force had met, held and decisively defeated a major Japanese attack, and followed this up by driving the enemy out of the strongest possible natural positions."
General Bill Slim - Commander of the British Fourteenth Army (Commenting on the Second Battle of Arakan) - July 1944

"I have always considered Saipan the decisive battle of the Pacific offensive…(it was) the naval and military heart and brain of the Japanese defence strategy."
Lieutenant General Holland M. Smith - Commander of the US Fleet Marine Force in the Pacific - July 1944

"Attended thanksgiving service…for liberation of Paris…hearing the Marseillaise gave me a great thrill. France seemed to wake again after being knocked out for five years."
General Sir Alan Brooke - 28th August 1944

"Defend Paris to the last, destroy all bridges over the Seine and devastate the city."
Adolf Hitler - August 1944

"We shall solve this problem, and afterwards Warsaw as the Capital and the pool of intelligentsia of that nation will be destroyed."
Heinrich Himmler - August 1944

"In all my years as a soldier, I have never seen me fight so hard."
Lieutenant General Wilhelm Bittrich - Commander of II SS Panzer Korps - (Commenting on the British Paratroopers at Arnhem) - September 1944

1945

"The losses were heavy, but all ranks would willingly undertake another operation under similar conditions…We have no regrets."
Major General Robert Urquhart - Commander of 1st British Airborne Division - (Commenting on the British defeat at Arnhem) - January 1945

"The raising of that flag on Suribachi means a Marine Corps for the next 500 years."
James Forrestal - Secretary of the Navy - 23rd February 1945

"Among the men who fought on Iwo Jima, uncommon valor was a common virtue."
Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz - 16th March 1945

"Attacks on cities are strategically justified in so far as they tend to shorten the war and so preserve the lives of allied soldiers."
Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur "Bomber" Harris - 29th March 1945

"It is on this beautiful day that we celebrate the Fuhrers birthday and thank him for he is the only reason why Germany is still alive today"
Josef Goebbels - Ministry of Propaganda - 26th April 1945

AFTER THE WAR

"In the burning and devastated cities, we daily experienced the direct impact of war. It spurred us to do our utmost...the bombing and the hardships that resulted from them (did not) weaken the morale of the populace."
Albert Speer - Chief of the German War Economy (Speaking after the War)

"The battle of Kursk... the forcing of the Dnieper... and the liberation of Kiev, left Hitlerite Germany facing catastrophe."
General Vasili I. Chuikov - Commander of the 8th Guards Army - (Speaking after the war)

"I have returned many times to honour the valiant men who died…every man who set foot on Omaha Beach was a hero."
Lieutenant General Omar Bradley - Commander of the US First Army - (Speaking after the war)

"Hitler's large-scale demands for the Mediterranean meant that...the plans for...an 'Eastern Wall' were overtaken by the increasingly rapid advance of the Red Army"
Lieutenant General Warlimont - (Speaking after the war)

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Funny quotes

"When I die, I want to go peacefully like my Grandfather did, in his sleep -- not screaming, like the passengers in his car"
Unknown.

"I never think of the future - it comes soon enough."
Albert Einstein

"Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe."
Albert Einstein


"A rich man's joke is always funny."
Anonymous

"I can resist everything except temptation."
Oscar Wilde.

"To cease smoking is the easiest thing. I ought to know. I've done it a thousand times."
Mark Twain.

"The direct use of force is such a poor solution to any problem, it is generally employed only by small children and large nations."
David Friedman.

"My formula for success is rise early, work late, and strike oil."
Paul Getty.

"Ninety percent of the politicians give the other ten percent a bad reputation."
Henry Kissinger.

"Advice is what we ask for when we already know the answer but wish we didn't."
Erica Jong.


"Beware of the young doctor and the old barber."
Benjamin Franklin.

"I haven't reported my missing credit card to the police because whoever stole it is spending less than my wife."
Ilie Nastase.

"Swearing was invented as a compromise between running away and fighting."
Finley Peter Dunne.


"Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent."
Issac Asimov.

"Only two things are necessary to keep one's wife happy. One is to let her think she is having her own way, and the other is to let her have it."
Lyndon B. Johnson

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When Nazi Germany lost the last chance to win the war: Battle for Kursk

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Soldiers of the Reich! This day you are to take part in an offensive of such importance that the whole future of the war may depend on its outcome. 
- Adolf Hitler - 5th July 1943

The battle of Kursk... the forcing of the Dnieper... and the liberation of Kiev, left Hitlerite Germany facing catastrophe.
- General Vasili I. Chuikov - Commander of the 8th Guards Army

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What was the Battle for Kursk?

In July 1943, the biggest battle of the WWII started in the vast area between Orel and Kursk. This strategic offensive of the Russian High Command started with a major disinformation campaign. During the battle, the Soviet Command managed to create a felling of the coming victory among the Nazi commanders but instead, ensnared the bigger part of the German army into a trap and gradually eliminated them. The battle of Kursk is also known for its biggest ever clash of armor during the WWII

The Russians without a doubt knew of the impending German offensive with the massive build up of German armor and troops around the salient and through their "Lucy" spy network in Germany and also from ULTRA codes intercepted by the British and passed on to Stalin.

Night tank war at Kursk. July 1943. One could use the word "beautiful" if the whole thing was not so horrible.

QUOTES

"The battle of Kursk... the forcing of the Dnieper... and the liberation of Kiev, left Hitlerite Germany facing catastrophe."
General Vasili I. Chuikov - Commander of the 8th Guards Army - (Speaking after the war)

The Soviet 76.2 mm guns ready to take on the German onslaught.

VIDEO: BATTLE OF KURSK: GERMAN NEWSREEL

BATTLE OF KURSK

Recently appointed Inspector General of Armored Forces, assigned the enormous task of rebuilding the Panzer divisions, Heinz Guderian made his case to Hitler. Looking forward to the inevitable English and American initiatives, he urged withdrawal to a shorter, more defensible line; limited operations during 1943; rebuilding of mobile reserves; with no return to the offensive until 1944. Along similar lines, Manstein recommended strategic withdrawals to create the kind of fluid conditions that had worked so well when he retook Kharkov. By going to the strategic defensive, setting up mobile reserves, he was certain he could ‘strike the Russians on the backhand' and bleed them white. Given the vast buffer spaces Germany still occupied an elastic defense was the rational military policy to adopt.

Unfortunately for the army and the nation, after Stalingrad Hitler was a changed man. Back bent, left hand trembling, eyes protruding, he was more excitable and more apt to lose composure. Prone to ill-considered decisions and angry outbursts when presented with contradictory facts or opinions, he was less inclined to listen to his advisors, yet more indecisive. Such was his state of mind and state of health when he responded to Guderian, among others, that for political reasons, Germany could not sit idle in 1943. Nor would there be any withdrawal. For economic reasons, Germany must hold the Donets Basin. Doubled over his increasingly detailed map tables, Hitler's gaze fixed upon Kursk.
From: militaryhistoryonline

A Russian tank T-34 races past a burning village.

IF ONLY HITLER HAD LISTENED...

General Mainstein had advised the attack on Kursk to take place in March, 1943. Hitler decided to wait for four months. He believed his new Mark 4 tanks with their technical superiority would overwhelm the numbers the Russians had. It was a mistake. The Soviets used the time to make their own formidable T-34 tanks in large numbers.

Most historians say that if only Hitler had listened to his generals... The fact is that though Hitler was no military man, but the Germans got so far in Russia was because of the sheer guts and determination of the man. It needed courage to attack Russia. Only Hitler had that. A Wehrmacht general would not have dared.

VIDEO: KURSK: GERMAN NEWSREEL: PART 1

PART 2/2

The rolling landscape at Kursk was ideal for tank warfare.

With the German defeat at Kursk, the Soviets gained the strategic initiative for good. The subsequent Soviet offensive during the summer of 1943 proved devastating for the Wehrmacht . During the retreat, the SS formations became the "fire brigades" in the East. As motorized divisions, they were routinely rushed to the critical points on the front to seal a breach in the German lines or slow down the Soviet onslaught long enough for other formations to escape. They had in the words of General Wohler, commander of the 8th Army, "stood like a rock in the Army, while the enemy broke through in neighboring sectors."

Battered German tanks. The new tanks had turned out a very disappointing show with most of the Mk V Panthers breaking down on the first day due to problems with the complex electrical cooling systems (from a total of 200 only forty were in running order at the end of the first day). TheElefant tanks although a formidable machine with their 88mm gun had also proved a disappointment with Russian infantry simply attacking the 73 ton monsters with satchel charges and Molotov cocktails when they were separated from the infantry with relative ease due to the absence of a hull machine gun as a secondary defenses.

The brilliant armor strategist Heinz Guderian once asked Hitler "Was it really necessary to attack Kursk and indeed in the East that year at all. Do you think anyone even knows where Kursk is?" to which Hitler agreed with him saying, "I know. The thought of it turns my stomach."

A dead Russian soldier: Aftermath of the Battle for Kursk.


The Russians had mobilised themselves well. Russian soldiers walk past brand new T-34 tanks.

The Battle of Kursk was the first battle in which a blitzkrieg offensive had been defeated before it could break through enemy defences and into its strategic depths.

Artillery, Stalin's 'god of war'. A Soviet 152 mm gun fires.
The Societs achieved a massive concentration of artillery at Kursk, employing an estimated 20 000 guns and heavy mortars.

For months, the Soviets had been receiving detailed information on the planning of the offensive from their Red Orchestra (German: Rote Kapelle, and the "Lucy Group") organization, whose sources included officers in Hermann Goring’s aviation ministry and other parts of the Nazi administration.

Armor and troop concentrations were also built up by both sides with the Russians amassing 1,300,000 men, 3,600 tanks, 20,000 artillery pieces and 2,400 aircraft. The Germans also assembled a formidable fighting force which was slightly smaller with 900,000 men 2,700 tanks 2,000 aircraft. As well as the three premierWaffen SS divisions taking part.

Russian women soldiers march to battle.

The Soviets knew the Germans were coming and built a huge defensive network 150-200 miles (241-321 km) deep. There were five to six defensive ‘belts, ’ each 2-3 miles (3.2-4.8 km) deep. Most of the engineering effort went into the first 20 miles (32 km) —the ‘tactical zone’, with field defences, mines, and anti-tank guns.

The Russians without a doubt knew of the impending German offensive with the massive build up of German armor and troops around the salient and through their "Lucy" spy network in Germany and also from ULTRA codes intercepted by the British and passed on to Stalin. It was obvious anyway that this would be the next German point of attack as the "bulge" presented too tempting a target for the Germans to ignore and the Russians saw this as a catalyst to start their own summer offensive.

This is how the Battle for Kursk went.

Hitler needed a victory that would regain the initiative in the east and declared that Operation Zitadelle (Citadel) as it was known" would shine like a beacon to the world" and would avenge the crushing defeat at Stalingrad earlier in the year, but even he had misgivings about the whole affair.

Soviet Katyusha rockets fire in Kursk. They were popularly known amongst Russian soldiers as "Stalin's organ"

The Germans lost 400 tanks and 10, 000 men. The Soviets lost more, but they could afford them more. In the entire battle, which equated to the armoured actions on both Israeli fronts in the 1973 Arab-Israeli war, the Red Army claimed to have killed or captured 500, 000 Germans and destroyed 1, 500 tanks. The Germans claimed to have destroyed 1, 800 tanks on the south face alone. Through an inferno of blazing armoured vehicles and scorched and shattered bodies surrounded by shell-cases and stale bread, the Soviet counter-attack—the BELGOROD-KHARKOV operation—began. In the air, and on the ground, the fundamental balance of forces had shifted in favour of the USSR. It had been Germany's last chance to win the war.

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