What if the Red Baron never died?!?!

I read the book about him. Very awesome story. Read the book, then watch the movie.  :-D

@Gargantua:

Are you on DRUGS?

Uhm, I won’t answer any questions without my lawyer present.   :wink:

I regard most television documentaries as highly entertaining, but at least sometimes containing information of dubious reliability.  They are there to entertain and inform, and sometimes propagandize, not simply inform.

It is in stacks of dry dusty books that one finds interesting facts, and hot lonely librarians.   :evil:  The internet also does decently as a search tool, although you often have to have a good idea of what you are looking for.  (For example, you won’t typically find mention of “The Protocols of Zion” in any discussion of the Holocaust, which is, well, really bad.)

My understanding of the history of the StG 44 is that production of the gun itself was generally approved of by Hitler.

The MKb 42, FG 42, and MP43 were the predecessors.  I think the referred to “stoppage of the StG 44 by Hitler” (to paraphrase an earlier post) referred to the real infighting in Germany over the design and production of these various predecessor guns.  To sum up, there were various plans for various assault rifles / machine guns, but there was a lot of bureaucratic infighting.  Rather than allowing them to continue arguing to no positive end, Hitler at various points told them to shut up and shut down.

So naturally there was some delay in StG 44 production, but saying Hitler made a stupid decision, or that he completely lacked vision, is like yelling at your cat after you burn your toast.  It’s not the cat’s fault, even if it was in the room at the time.

I remember having read an article by David Kahn about it. It was in a book called “what if…” edited by Robert Cowley.
Unfortunately I can’t seem to remember anything about the content of this article. I see if I find this book somewhere in my house…

@Dylan:

@Guerrilla:

No He lived! Just before the Soviets took over his bunker he was beamed up by a UFO. The aliens injected him with Abiesium and now he is a super soldier on the planet Yolulu. Read your history people… Geez…

GG

Your making fun of people that he did leave.

People that he left? What do you mean? And no, I’m just being sarcastic towards someone who doesn’t believe he died.

GG

Hitler would have lost all credibility of being an anti-Communist in the NSDAP, and all his followers.

@Frontovik:

@shermantank28:

Read Antony Beevor’s Stalingrad, by far the best work on the subject

that is unbelievebly true
i have Berlin and D-day too
those books are very good and well-detailled

Yes, I have read all of them…all good reads

Thank you Flanshman. FINALLY, someone who speaks out against the Soviets atrocities. 21 million murdered in Russia alone. Their “labor camps” people rarely returned from. When The Soviets began raping and murdering axis refugees after the war, American soldiers happened to be present. At first, when out soldiers tried to stop it, the Russians turned their weapons on us. Finally, the soldiers began opening fire into the air and a Soviet commander had it stopped.

To save face in front of us, that commander had a number of his men hung on the spot.

I do however disagree that the holocaust interfered with the war effort on a significant. My backbone to this opinion being that many camps were bieng used as slave labor for profiteers. Inmates were helping not only the manufacturing of war goods such as clothing, shells and aircraft, they were also used in other companies such as Germanys main porcelain concern.

Suprisingly, Himmler actually suggested that skilled workers be fed and housed better but this was not really followed.

I always like reading stories like that, about guys who “seem” to lead normal lives but have some incredible histories/back stories. It’s also sad to hear about their deaths too, as they are a dying breed.