American volunteers

[Alaric]

hmmm, i dont get why he was let back into the army. i do understand his Soviet beliefs and I'd suspet the oldest of men in this country who worked for our government are red in embarrasement cletus figured it out sooner. Still violating the rules should at lowest get him an dishonourable discharge.. maybe they wanted korea to finish him off though.

Since he was forced out of the army in 1948, I doubt Korea had anything to do with it.

Frankly, what I wonder about is why Harry Hopkins, Harry Dexter White and Alger Hiss weren't executed for treason. They were all Soviet agents, Roosevelt's administration was riddled with them.

[Doktor Krollspell]

Hello Gentlemen!

Here's a photograph (and quote) from the post-war trial of Sergeant Martin J.Monti.

Sergeant Martin J. Monti During His Treason Arraignment
Original caption: New York: Ex-U. S. Flier Seized On Treason Charge. Sgt. Martin J. Monti, who has been stationed at the U. S. Air Force base at Mitchel Field, Long Island is shown resting his chin on his hand as he was arraigned today before U. S. Commissioner Edward Fay in Brooklyn Federal Court on charges of Treason. Monti, who hails from St. Louis, Missouri, and was originally an Air Force Lieutenant is accused of having made radio broadcasts for the Nazi Propaganda Ministry from Berlin which were beamed to U. S. troops during the invasion of Italy and France. The FBI disclosed that Monti deserted from the Army in 1944 while stationed in India, hitchhiked by Army plane to Italy, and then stole and Army P-38 in which he landed behind the German lines.
Image: © Bettmann/CORBIS
Photographer: Anthony Bernato
Date Photographed: January 26, 1948
Location Information: New York, USA

Source for photograph and quote: http://www.corbis.com


Regards,

Krollspell

[Doktor Krollspell]

And another photograph from http://www.corbis.com

Martin J. Monti Leaving Courtroom
Original caption: Pilot-Traitor Given 25 Years. New York, New York: Martin J. Monti, 27, former Air Force pilot and self-confessed traitor, is led from Federal Court in Brooklyn after getting 25 years and a fine of $10,000. He pleaded guilty to 21 overt acts of treason, starting in 1944 when he deserted from India, hitch-hiked his way to Italy, where he stole a P'38 photo reconnaissance plane and went over to the Germans for whom he later did propaganda work. After Germany's surrender, he made his way back to the American Army where he was sentenced for desertion and theft of a plane and given 15 years, later remitted when he enlisted as a private. Four of his brothers served in the Navy during World War II and received honorable discharges.
Image: © Bettmann/CORBIS
Photographer: Jesse Strait
Date Photographed: January 17, 1949
Location Information: Brooklyn, New York, New York, USA

Regards,

Krollspell

[Rand]

Beautiful pics, thanks for adding!

[Gleixner74]

I am looking to research any Americans who fought for the German armed forces in WWII, especially any German-Americans because I want to make a connection between their ethnic backgrounds and the reasoning used for their motivations to fight for Germany.

Thank you very much for the information you have provided so far, anything else would be greatly appreciated. I know that both Delaney and Monti were not American ethnically, but they were both born on American soil making them American citizens.

Christoph, I would love to learn more about anyone who knows of specific people or family members who were Americans in the Waffen-SS or any other part of the German military.

[Penn44]

Thank you very much for the information you have provided so far, anything else would be greatly appreciated. I know that both Delaney and Monti were not American ethnically, but they were both born on American soil making them American citizens.

You may want to check into more of Monti's lineage. You may want to check into more of Monti's lineage. He actually visited Italy once or twice in the 1930s, and if I remember correctly, was part Italian. I don't know if both parents were foreign born. He actually visited Italy once or twice in the 1930s, and if I remember correctly, was part Italian.

Monti's actions were both political and influenced by mental illness. He thought the real enemy was not Nazi Germany, but Soviet Russia. In what records I have reviewed, and I examined two feet of documents, I found is no clear of evidence of anti-Semitism.

Monti went AWOL from the India-Burma theater catching USAAF transport aircraft to visit an buddy, a fellow pilot, in Italy. He said he wanted to join the buddy's squadron, but the commander refused to take him. One of the unit's mechanic had finished repairs on an aircraft (F4 or 5, I don't remember), and needed a pilot to take it up to check it out. Monti volunteered. He never came back. Monti's decision to desert to the enemy sounded like a spur of the moment decision. By all accounts, Monti was a strong anti-communist and possessed delusions of grandeur. According to the Germans, Monti told them he wanted to speak personally to Hitler, and that he wanted to sway Americans to join Nazi Germany in the war against the Soviets.

I once spoke to Monti's sister. She told me he was influenced by the radio "ministry" of Father Coughlin who you may know was intensely anti-communist (and anti-Semitic).

If you look through Monti's Federal court trial records, he mentions being influenced by the Catholic Church's anti-communism. As you may know, some sections of the Catholic Church was fervently anti-communist and out-spoken in the 1930s, increasing even more so during the Spanish Civil War. For his defense Monti tried to enlist Church officials to speak on his behalf, but they kept their distance from him.

There was also mental illness in Monti's family (off the top of my head one of his aunts was committed to a mental institution for some time after a mental breakdown). Monti's mother expressed concerns that he would also have a mental breakdown like his aunt.

Penn44

.

[David Thompson]

Monti, Martin James [U.S. Army Air Corps officer] – deserted at Karachi 1944; made his way to Milan with a stolen aircraft which he surrendered to German authorities; became SS officer and made radio propaganda broadcasts for the Germans; put on trial by an American court summer 1945 for desertion and theft and sentenced to 15 years imprisonment; sentence remitted 1946; rearrested and put on trial for treason Jan 1949 at a Brooklyn federal court; convicted and sentenced to 25 years imprisonment 17 Jan 1949 (LT 18 Jan 1949:4c). See also http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?f=51&t=58686

[Semenov]

Well, very nice! Thanks dear Doctor!

[Doktor Krollspell]

Thanks, fellow members!

I find it a bit strange though, that Martin J. Monti was allowed to wear his service uniform in court in 1948, as the first photograph shows. One should think that in 1948, as the photograph is dated, he would have been dishonorably discharged from the US Airforce or at least not to allowed to wear his Sergeant chevrons? Just my two cents...

And if anybody is interested about some mixed facts, pictures and more relevant links, we had Martin J. Monti as a subject in the Feldgrau Photo Riddle Thread some years ago, for example on his P-38 Lightnig and what happened to that aircraft went Luftwaffe took it in... Follow this link, scroll down a bit and the Monti riddle is about two pages long!

http://www.feldgrau.net/phpBB2/viewtopi ... &start=600


Regards,

Krollspell

[Marcus]

Thanks for sharing those photos Krollspell.

/Marcus

[Penn44]

Thanks, fellow members!

I find it a bit strange though, that Martin J. Monti was allowed to wear his service uniform in court in 1948, as the first photograph shows. One should think that in 1948, as the photograph is dated, he would have been dishonorably discharged from the US Airforce or at least not to allowed to wear his Sergeant chevrons? Just my two cents...
Regards,

Krollspell

According to the caption to the photo, Monti is pictured at his arraignment, not trial. Monti was picked up by two FBI agents as he left the USAF airbase after his discharge from the USAF.

Penn44

.

[Ben Dekho]

Peter Delaney (aka Pierre de la Ney du Vair), a Louisiana born SS-Haupsturmführer in SS-Standarte Kurt Eggers who is believed to have served in Légion des Volontaires Français (LVF). He met Monti and probably arranged for him to enter the Waffen-SS. Delaney was killed in 1945.

Is there any more information available about this man? I'd be very interested to know how he came to German service, and how he met his end, if anyone can help.

Thanks,

Ben Dekho

[Ben Dekho]

I found this website on another thread in this forum, written by Delaney's son: http://www.du-vair.nom.fr/biography.html Unfortunately, it stops at the point Delaney decided to enlist with Vichy forces in the 'struggle against Bolshevism', and terminates with the words, "The rest is in the history books." So there's no detail about the man's LVF service, nor his more interesting service with the Kurt Eggers regiment and his efforts to propagandise American POWs, nor about his death. I wish I knew which history books the author's referring to...

What can be learnt from this website, however, is that Delaney (or Pierre de la Ney du Vair, as he styled himself) was not really from Louisiana in the modern sense of the term. He was born in Holcomb, a small town in Missouri near the Arkansas border, in 1907. Although there were indeed French-speaking lead-mining communities in Missouri still extant last century, these were mostly concentrated in the St.-Genevieve district southwest of St. Louis, around the towns of Old Mines (Vieilles Mines), Richwood and Racola, and don't appear to have extended as far south as Holcomb. [See Louder and Waddell (eds.) French America 1983, pp.143-155 for more information about French-speakers in Missouri.]

Delaney instead appears to have been a francophile who was excited by the Norman French origins of his surname and the fact that Missouri, like much of the American Midwest, had once been owned by France (Louisiane). This seems in particular to have been encouraged by the French wife of a relative who had served with the American Lafayette Escadrille during WWI. His interest in matters French led to his eventual naturalisation by that country, his service in the French army, and eventual enlistment with the LVF. He certainly appears to have been a supporter of the monarchist and proto-fascist Action française, which no doubt led him to pro-Vichy and anti-Communist positions.

If anyone has details about the missing parts of his biography -- especially his SS service and efforts to win over American POWs -- please let me know or post them here. It would be much appreciated.

Ben Dekho

[Malbret17]

Hi Ben Dekho

The real name of Peter Delaney was Peter de la Ney du Vair. He has been called in some historical books De la Noue du Vair.
He has been the director of l'Ecole des Cadres de la Milice française d'Uriage then was member of the Légion des Volontaires Français, then entered in the Corps des Volontaires Français or Corps Franc Français which was situed close to Bordeaux, in domaine Le Chevalier at Léognan. The leader of this organisation was André Besson-Rapp.
He came after to Charlemagne division then in Kurt Eggers division.He was with all his family, wife and children, in France and in Germany. The last of his sons is born in 1944 in Saint-Germain-en-Laye. Pierre de la Ney du Vair has been killed in the airplane bombardment of his train on 11 April 1945 in Germany. He died in his son's arms who was eleven.
There is a lot of others things to tell about this man but are still secrets.
Perhaps is it possible to join his son ?

[Christoph Awender]

Hello

Because asked by email and PM.
Josef Awender born in Philadelphia on 8.August 1913
Father Paul Awender from Romania
1913-1922 in Philadelphia
1922-1932 in Romania
He married on 9th June 1943 in Berlin
Labor service 23.2.1934 - 5.5.1934
Staatsexamen Medicine 1938
Reichsheer - W-SS on 4.9.1939
1.8.1940 UStuf.
20.4.41 OStuf.
9.11.43 HptStuf
San.Insp. d.Waffen-SS
Pionierschule der W-SS Hradischko
10.SS-Pz.Gren.Div.

\Christoph