Complains of German POWs in the US

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bf109 emil
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Re: Bitch, Bitch, Bitch: German POW Complaints

#16

Post by bf109 emil » 28 Aug 2010, 17:35

helitech wrote:
Yup , corn is for cattle or methanol bio fuel . Three years ago southern germany had plenty of corn growing . Bio diesel was a choice at the pump .
this makes sense as Germany is only 77% self sufficient in food production and now allows it's agricultural land to make automotive fuel...good choice :wink:

oh and i think corn is made into ethanol and is used in petrol not in diesel engines. Biodiesel fuel is made from vegetable oil, but from rapeseed (canola) and from sunflower oil which is required as biodiesel as only these 2 oils have a freezing point of -10 and -12 degrees celcius.

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Re: Bitch, Bitch, Bitch: German POW Complaints

#17

Post by helitech » 29 Aug 2010, 07:09

Corn oil as well , small diesel cars seem the choice in europe . Their blend takes care of the freezing issue .Even though the yield of corn gallons per acre maybe lower than other veg, oils . The growth rate for corn trumps others in shear volume .
Don't hate the players **** Hate the Game ..


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Baltasar
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Re: Bitch, Bitch, Bitch: German POW Complaints

#18

Post by Baltasar » 29 Aug 2010, 17:17

Jim, it's actually an alcohol made mainly out of corn, hence it's name 'Korn'. It's not a beer, but can be tasted either as a shooter or together with eg. coke. I couldn't find a translation into english for it, though. May be Michate can help out here?

PS.: Personally, I don't like Bitburger, it's too soft. I prefer Flensburger, Dithmarscher or Jever.

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Baltasar
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Re: Bitch, Bitch, Bitch: German POW Complaints

#19

Post by Baltasar » 29 Aug 2010, 17:19

bf109 emil wrote: this makes sense as Germany is only 77% self sufficient in food production and now allows it's agricultural land to make automotive fuel...good choice :wink:
It's still cheaper to import food than fuel :D

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Re: Bitch, Bitch, Bitch: German POW Complaints

#20

Post by JamesL » 29 Aug 2010, 18:31

General der Fallschirmptruppe Hermann-Bernhard Ramcke
was sent to POW Camp Clinton near Jackson, Mississippi. One night he escaped. He hitch-hiked to Jackson and then went to the Hotel Heidelberg :lol: for dinner. No one mentioned his German accented English nor his Luftwaffe uniform jacket. Later he bought some stamps and using the hotel stationery, he wrote a scathing letter to the State Department complaining about the treatment at the camp.

Among his complaints about the camp ……..
Complete deprivation of tobacco and cigarettes from May to June, and the cutting of tobacco rations from then on until December to 2 ozs. a week.
Deprivation of all luxuries and objects of daily use, as well as of refreshments, whose lack was particularly felt in the hot summertime and in a climate to which the prisoners are not used.
Prohibition of all sports and games for a period of 4 weeks.


Afterwards he walked back to camp and ‘broke in’, returning to his bunk.

I suspect he was out of touch with what was happening in Europe and America regarding food supplies and such.

After the war some of his children moved to Florida and Arizona.

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bf109 emil
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Re: Bitch, Bitch, Bitch: German POW Complaints

#21

Post by bf109 emil » 29 Aug 2010, 18:46

Baltasar wrote:
bf109 emil wrote: this makes sense as Germany is only 77% self sufficient in food production and now allows it's agricultural land to make automotive fuel...good choice :wink:
It's still cheaper to import food than fuel :D
yes as in Alberta and Canada it is more prosperous to export Oil and Gas then it is Food...with the USA the biggest consumer gulping down 1.4 million barrels a day from Alberta and a total of 1.9 millions barrels a day from Canada as a total.

In 1941, Camp 30 was the only camp in the world to house the Third Reich's highest-ranking German officers captured by Allied forces "because Britain wanted to get them as far away from the war as possible," he says. In total 880 stayed there.

Run like a five-star hotel with luxuries that included an indoor swimming pool, theatre and concert stage, the camp's true purpose was given away only by the barbed wire around it.

The occupants had one complaint, which they made to the Red Cross, relates Hodgson: the urinals were too low. :lol: :lol: :lol:

A Luftwaffe pilot who spent time there later wrote: "I am convinced that nowhere in the world did prisoners of war have better housing, better food, better recreation facilities, better educational opportunities, and above all, fairer treatment, than in Canada."
http://www.thestar.com/article/597539

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bf109 emil
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Re: Bitch, Bitch, Bitch: German POW Complaints

#22

Post by bf109 emil » 30 Aug 2010, 15:11

UMachine wrote:My grandfather went to war rather late in life,37.He didn't do anything very interesting,RCME.I believe I shall request his rather dull records,around 68 or 69 he told us at the dinner table of being at a huge outdoor POW camp in Germany,hundreds of thousands of men with no shelter."They starved them" he said.Completely disgusted him.
maybe he is pictured or stationed in one of the following 2 German POW camps held by US within Germany during WW2 for captured and surrendering Germans?

Image
WWII: Europe: Germany; "German POWs - captured by American Airborne troops in the Ruhr"
Image
WWII: Europe: France; "German POWs - 10,000 Nazi Prisoners"
pics sourced from the FDR library...

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Re: Bitch, Bitch, Bitch: German POW Complaints

#23

Post by UMachine » 31 Aug 2010, 03:44

My grandfather was Canadian.I believe it would have been later on.He said the soldiers dug holes in the ground for limited shelter.It's time I found out.Those camps in Alberta were paradise.They were sorted out...I have tried to talk here before only to be shouted down....these were not the worst places out in the open,secret African camps were the worst.My Italian father-in-law escaped from two of them to finally make his way back home.There is actually a member here of British nationality who knows quite a lot about this...he has chosen to stay quiet about it...

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Re: Bitch, Bitch, Bitch: German POW Complaints

#24

Post by ChristopherPerrien » 31 Aug 2010, 04:53

As to the original topic question. I can only paraphase many great generals/leaders and Bill Maudlin :milsmile: ; and a great piece of advice that all leaders should always remember.

" Soldiers are not "happy" if they are not complaining/bitching about something." When they stop bitching is when you should get worried.

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Qvist
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Re: Bitch, Bitch, Bitch: German POW Complaints

#25

Post by Qvist » 31 Aug 2010, 09:08

JamesL wrote:General der Fallschirmptruppe Hermann-Bernhard Ramcke
was sent to POW Camp Clinton near Jackson, Mississippi. One night he escaped. He hitch-hiked to Jackson and then went to the Hotel Heidelberg :lol: for dinner. No one mentioned his German accented English nor his Luftwaffe uniform jacket. Later he bought some stamps and using the hotel stationery, he wrote a scathing letter to the State Department complaining about the treatment at the camp.

Among his complaints about the camp ……..
Complete deprivation of tobacco and cigarettes from May to June, and the cutting of tobacco rations from then on until December to 2 ozs. a week.
Deprivation of all luxuries and objects of daily use, as well as of refreshments, whose lack was particularly felt in the hot summertime and in a climate to which the prisoners are not used.
Prohibition of all sports and games for a period of 4 weeks.


Afterwards he walked back to camp and ‘broke in’, returning to his bunk.

I suspect he was out of touch with what was happening in Europe and America regarding food supplies and such.

After the war some of his children moved to Florida and Arizona.

Well, even in occupied Europe those would have been unusual hardships actually.

cheers

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the_historian
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Re: Bitch, Bitch, Bitch: German POW Complaints

#26

Post by the_historian » 14 Sep 2010, 03:00

Because GIs were such avid collectors of prisoner's watches, German PoWs claimed that "US" stood for Uhrensammlers, or watch collectors!
Regards,

Gordon

http://www.spanglefish.com/scotlandsprisoners/

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Re: Bitch, Bitch, Bitch: German POW Complaints

#27

Post by Ome_Joop » 16 Sep 2010, 08:52

Baltasar wrote:Jim, it's actually an alcohol made mainly out of corn, hence it's name 'Korn'. It's not a beer, but can be tasted either as a shooter or together with eg. coke. I couldn't find a translation into english for it, though. May be Michate can help out here?

PS.: Personally, I don't like Bitburger, it's too soft. I prefer Flensburger, Dithmarscher or Jever.
Looking at the label (and the type of bottle) i think it's Jenever .
In Dutch we would call it graan Jenever wich would be made of grain (graan) but the problem with this is that graan in Dutch would also be called koren (and can be translated to Corn)!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jenever

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Re: Bitch, Bitch, Bitch: German POW Complaints

#28

Post by Paul from Stockport » 31 Mar 2011, 14:15

I hope this isn't regarded as of-topic, but talk of German complaints about unacceptible Allied behaviour being taken up by the Protecting Power brings to mind an anecdote by British comedian Michael Bentine, who served as an RAF intelligence officer during WW2.

Bentine served with an Australian bomber squadron, who got into the habit, once their bombs were dropped over the target, of dumping the (deliberately full) tanks from the aircraft's chemical toilet over the drop zone, presumably to add insult to injury.

Incredibly, the Germans complained about this little courtesy detail, alleging the perfidious British were employing chemical warfare over German cities, and Swiss diplomats dutifully visited British bomber bases to seek to identify the cuprits...

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Marcus
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Re: Bitch, Bitch, Bitch: German POW Complaints

#29

Post by Marcus » 09 Apr 2011, 10:46

This is not the section to discuss allegations of war crimes so several posts were moved to the thread "One Million German POWs killed by US/UK?"

/Marcus

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Re: Bitch, Bitch, Bitch: German POW Complaints

#30

Post by Charles78 » 09 Apr 2011, 22:27

Tim Smith wrote:
Qvist wrote:Lock up a few hundred thousand people and give everyone the chance to complain, and you'll get some people complaining about anything. No mystery.

cheers
Exactly! These German POWs were bored out of their minds! They had nothing to do. Men with absolutely nothing to do and no entertainment facilities are going to become serial moaners and even hypochondriacs - they'll go to the doctor with every sniffle, scraped knee and split fingernail, because they've got nothing better to do with their time and standing in a long queue waiting for the camp doctor is actually the most interesting event of their day....
If they did not want to be bored they they had plenty they could do. Read "Nazi POWs in America" by Professor Arnold Kramer which is the standard work on the subject. Almost every POW camp had its own library with books supplied by the Lutheran Church in the US and the YMCA. The enlisted men worked, mainly on farms, and were paid .80 cents a day plus .10 cents as their stipend under the Geneva Convention of 1929. They pooled that money and almost every camp subscribed to a series of newspapers especially the New York Times since it printed the nightly Wehrmacht communique along with the communiques of all other belligerent powers. Each camp had a canteen where the men could buy candy, soap, toothpaste, Coca-Cola, cigarettes, etc. Some canteens sold beer. All camps also had recreation rooms where the men could work on arts and crafts projects. Additionally, per agreement with the International Red Cross, each German POW received a booklet from the Reich Ministry of Education specifying which German universities would accept credits for courses the men took in the camps. The curriculum for each course was put together by the Germans who taught each class based on guidelines in the booklet and other information passed to them through the International Red Cross. The courses were university level and the men had to study hard. When one passed a course, one received a certificate detailing the course and signed by the German instructor and the American camp commandant. German POWs could and did take correspondence courses from American universities. Movies were shown in every camp once or twice a week all of which were supplied by the Provost Marshall of the US Army who had custody of all German POWs in the US. There was a list of 80 or so approved movies and they were shipped all over the country. Larger camps also put on extensive theatrical productions with "opening night" usually attended by the camp commandant and his wife along with many of the other camp officers and their wives along with local officials and their wives. It was a big deal. So there was a lot to do.

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