But, how about children named after a ship?

It’s happened at least once. Here is the story of some children named Ubena.

The Ubena, built 1928, as a 9,500 ton passenger liner. The name “Ubena” is African but the meaning is unknown as far as I know. Prior to the war the Ubena traveled primarily to Africa.

By October, 1944 the Red Army had smashed German Army Group Center in Operation Bagration. The Soviet offensive took the Red Army to the gates of Warsaw.

The shattering of Army Group Center left the southern flank of German Army Group North wide open. As the Red Army continued to outflank and press Army Group North it retreated through the Baltic States (Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania) and into Germany proper itself, then called East Prussia (today a part of Poland).

Army Group North put up a terrific fight but found itself surrounded and isolated from the rest of Germany. It’s supply line was reduced to the Baltic Sea.

The Soviets for their part preached a war of revenge on the German people who lived in the Baltic countries, East Prussia and Pomerania. The Soviet Ministry of Propaganda fired up the Russian soldiers to commit acts of barbarity that rivaled and exceeded (hundreds of thousands of rapes, murders, executions and the massive theft of virtually of anything of any value) the crimes of the SS (and at times the Wehrmacht) when the Germans invaded the Soviet Union.

German refugees packed on a rescue ship. While many would be saved thousands others would perish in the icy Baltic.

When the Red Army reached East Prussia it was not long before the German Ministry of Propaganda began to document and record for public consumption the atrocities on the German civilians caught in the path of the Red Army. The purpose was to encourage the German Army to fight to the last man and not give up an inch of German territory as well as to protect the civilians. It was a war of hatred between the two sides that few of us can grasp looking back over 70 years.

The German civilian population panicked (with good reason) and soon long columns of refugees (about 8.5 million in all) headed west to relative safety.

It should be pointed out that the refugees defied local Nazi authorities in their flight. The Nazi’s issued orders that any civilians that chose to evacuate an area without permission were to be shot because they were obviously “defeatist” and traitors. These orders did not apply to the Nazi officials themselves nor their families. The Wehrmacht ignored the orders  and did their best to protect the refugees from the advancing Red Army.

German Volksstrum, East Prussia. Virtually all remaining German males not in the military were formed into a kind of militia by the Nazis to stop the Red Army. Most were poorly armed and were either very young or very old. The Red Army took few Volkssturm prisoner considering them terrorists.

Many of these refugees became bottled up with the German Army along the Baltic coast. Included in the path of the Red Army was the City of Danzig (Gdansk today in Poland).

Eventually, an evacuation of wounded soldiers and civilians was ordered (Operation Neptune) in January, 1945. What remained of the German Navy (Kriegsmarine) attempted and largely succeeded in what was the largest sea-borne evacuation ever made. Between 800,000 and 900,000 civilians would be rescued along with 350,000 German soldiers from various points along the Baltic coast.

To accomplish the feat the German Navy assembled between 500 and 1000 ships of all shapes and sizes to evacuate civilians and wounded soldiers from the shrinking front.

What is even more remarkable is that the operation  was under taken without air superiority. The Red Air Force dominated the skies thus subjecting the rag-tag fleet to constant air attack. What is more the Red Navy had submarines in the Baltic sinking both the Wilhelm Gustloff and the General von Steuben both packed with refugees of whom few survived the frigid waters of the Baltic.

The Wilhelm Gustloff was a hospital ship sunk by a Russian submarine.

Added to this was the fact the ports of embarkation were under constant Red Army artillery fire and thousands died before they ever made it to the ships.

Just before the City of Danzig fell to the Red Army the German Navy decided to not risk any more of the bigger rescue craft to submarines. Instead they would send smaller ships and military ferries would ferry out the passengers to the smaller ships at night.

One of the ships was the 9,500 ton Ubena, a small liner that had spent much of the war serving as a floating barracks for U-boat crews in training. Arthur Lankau was the Ubena’s captain and he had made more than a few refugee runs during the operation and he was anxious to give it another go.

The civilians in Danzig had given up hope that any more ships would arrive. But Captain Lankau, known as an impatient man grew weary of waiting around for further orders. Lankau was also concerned about the constant Soviet air attacks on the fleet and so decided why not try to get to Danzig one last time.

Upon the Ubena’s arrival thousands of civilians emerged from their hiding places and under Soviet artillery fire boarded the small liner in utter chaos. Lankau took on 4000 refugees but was not done yet.

Traveling down the coast he told authorities he could take on another 1000 wounded German soldiers. Again under artillery fire the Ubena took on 1,500 wounded German soldiers. This time the Ubena received an assist in the undertaking as German warships, the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen and pocket battleship Lutzow fired on the Russian artillery, silencing them,  thus giving the ships time to load their human cargo and get out of artillery range.

Heavy Cruiser Prinz Eugen gave naval gun support as the Ubena took on board wounded soldiers and refugees..

German pocket battleship Lutzow. The remaining German warships did extraordinary work protecting the evacuation fleet.

Eventually the Ubena would dock safely at Copenhagen, Denmark still under German occupation with 5,500 refugees and soldiers on board.

The Ubena made 12 voyages during Operation Neptune.  Between 20-40 children were born on the Ubena during the 12 voyages. At Captain Lankau’s suggestion many of them were christened with the ship’s name that had saved their lives.

In 1985 a merchant vessel was built in Bremen, Germany and named the Ubena in memory of the liner’s heroics.

Two children who had been born on the Ubena were on hand for the launching. They were Karin-Ubena Osterwalder and Sabine-Ubena Gildemeister.

The story of Ubena is recorded in Prit Buttar’s Battleground Prussia-The Assault on Germany’s Eastern Front 1944-45

As for the original Ubena she would survive the war and be taken over by the Royal Navy and would serve as a troop transport under the name Empire Ken. The Ubena\Empire Ken was scrapped in 1957 after taking part in the British landings at the Suez Canal in 1956.

Interesting link dedicated to the refugee ships involved in Operation Neptune

Apparently, there is only one major border road crossing between the two countries. Each day, both sides celebrate the closing of the border in a unique stylized ceremony performed by members of each country’s military.

The strutting movements, shouting and posturing all mean something as each side seeks to out perform and impress the other.

For example, during tense relations between the two countries the kicks tend to be higher and are often accompanied by taunts. During less stressful times the kicks are lower, there are no taunts and performance seems to be more important than insult.

Thousands of people gather on each side to lend their vocal support to their side. Some have compared the event to a Cricket match given the enthusiasm of the crowds.

Thanks to my friend J.P. who sent me the link. Enjoy!

During the sixties when I was about ten he purchased three games put out by Milton Bradley that were called the American Heritage Series.

One of the games dealt with the American Civil War and was titled Battle Cry. Another dealt with the War of 1812 and was titled Broadside. Battle Cry dealt with the Civil War as a whole while Broadside dealt with the naval aspects of the War of 1812.

The Red Baron, every school boy’s hero back in the 60′s!

The third game was called Dogfight and while I enjoyed all three games it was Dogfight that intrigued me (and my father) the most. My dad had grown up building balsa models of WW1 airplanes. He was familiar with the Spad, the Nieuport 17, the Sopwith Camel (perhaps the plane with the oddest name) and of course the Red Baron’s Fokker Triplane. Dad would speak about the planes when he played the game with me.

Milton Bradley’s Dogfight. I have an original copy given to me by a neighbor.

Each game came with an American Heritage booklet about the war covered. In the case of Dogfight the booklet centered on aces, that is pilots who had earned many aerial victories over their opponents. I devoured those little books and believe they created in me a desire for history learning that continues to this very day.

Dogfight, like Battle Cry and Broadside used plastic miniatures. In dogfight you got 6 Fokker D7′s and 6 Spad XIII’s.

The games were simple and today, at best, would fall into the beer and pretzel category of board war games. On the other hand they were designed to introduce boys to American History and the battles that were fought by this country. I have seen nothing similar on the shelves today that would be suitable for an 8 to 10 year old boy. (Axis and Allies and similar games may be the exception but perhaps a bit complicated for an eight-year-old.)

In any event I never lost my interest in WW1 airplanes. When I bought our first Apple computer in the late eighties I purchased a WW1 flying game. By the early nineties though I had switched to PC and I had abandoned the genre of WW1 flying games.

That all changed recently when Sid Meier and 2k Games recently came out with Ace Patrol for iPad. I took a chance and found it to be an ideal WW1 flying game.

The game features missions according to various WW1 campaigns. One can choose to fly as the British, French, Americans or Germans. You are given four pilots for your squadron and as you gain victories and experience you also gain maneuvers and airplane upgrades. A mission does not take more than 15 minutes making it perfect for a little time of relaxation.  The game interface is intuitive with a very short learning curve which I appreciate.

For a tablet game the graphics are just fine and you can modify your plane’s color scheme to some extent to make it distinctive. Like most good games for tablets you can “buy” extra features. In Ace Patrol you can purchase an “Ace” that is based on a historical person. The cost is reasonable. I have thus far resisted buying an “Ace” preferring to try to earn one the hard way!

At present, I’m playing as the British and am “flying” a Sopwith Pup via an alter ego. Each plane has its own attributes just as each pilot has their own skills and bag of tricks. I’m sure there are more detailed WW1 flying games around but Ace Patrol is no simplistic beer and pretzels game when it comes to detail. It may play quickly but that does not mean poorly.

Sopwith Pup

Highly recommended for those interested in WW1 airplanes and have an iPad.

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I broke my left arm shattering the elbow in five places. A surgery was required to fix the arm. To this day I retain one of the metal pins in the arm to hold it together. A specialist was called in to do the surgery. He was Jewish (he told us) and a Lt. Col. in the US Army Reserve.

The day after the surgery he told my dad and I that he thought he might be called up because the Six-Day War between Israel versus Egypt, Syria and Jordan had broken out on June 5th. For the next five days or so we watched on TV the IDF trounce it’s saber-rattling neighbors in a pre-emptive strike. Israel then, as now, took seriously Arab threats of extinction and had vowed “never again” would the Jewish people submit peacefully to extermination.

Rail entry to Auschwitz-Birkenau extermnation camp today. I visited here during a trip to Poland in 2007. To say it was a sobering experience would be an understatement.

I was only fourteen at the time and did not fully grasp the politics or the history of the Jewish state. All I knew as a boy with an interest in military history that Israel was surrounded by hostile neighbors and had been threatened for years by them. Israel said enough was enough and launched a pre-emptive strike catching the Arab Air Forces on the ground and achieving total air superiority within 24 hours.

The ground war was no less impressive and in the Sinai where Israel faced the largest threat of Nasser’s Egyptian Army a total rout of that army ensued.

Israeli Mechanized Infantry in the Sinai, June, 1967. The soldiers are mounted in M3 Haltracks of World War Two vintage.

On the Syrian front Israel was content to seize the Golan Heights and hold the high ground. The Syrians, much like Hezbollah today liked to fire artillery rounds across the border and by Israel taking the Golan it made it harder for them to do so.

The City of Jerusalem was taken from the Jordanians after an extremely hard fight. Pictures of Israeli paratroopers were flashed around the world as they stood before the Wailing Wall.

Famous picture of Israeli paratroops at the wailing wall, June, 1967.

Even at fourteen I understood why Israel launched the pre-emptive strike. My dad was an avid reader and he had a copy of William Shirer’s Rise and Fall of the Third Reich. I read it and discovered the rather weird hatred for the Jewish people which resulted in the Holocaust. I came to understand the hatred of Jews was not limited to Nazi Germany either. Much of Europe (while America was largely indifferent) felt rather the same way.

I read Shirer’s book when I was about ten or eleven years old.

This puzzled me. It puzzled me until I began to read the Bible and become better versed in World History.

The Bible makes it clear that through Israel Messiah would come and he did. Sadly most  Jews still reject Messiah but that does not mean God has abandoned them. I do believe that the hatred we see these days coming from Iran and other Islamic States against Israel is at its roots rage against the nation/people who gave birth to the Promised Messiah.

Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” (Genesis 12:1-3 ESV)

(I believe that the promises have both a spiritual and physical (land) fulfillment. I cannot say that the current Jewish State is that physical fulfillment but do find it unusual that after 2000 years the  Jews returned in numbers to the Promised Land.)

Today is the anniversary of the 6-Day -War where Israel declared to the world that it would not go quietly into the night. I don’t believe they have changed their minds. They will take Iran’s threats seriously and will act. I for one will not blame them.

French Francs sent from Romilly, France, January 22, 1946.

Although I am not certain I believe that Romilly refers to Romilly-sur-Seine, or Romilly on the Seine River. Dad told me that after basic training his unit was sent to France for MP training so I assume Romilly-sur-Seine is where that training took place. The town is not far from Paris but dad never made mention of visiting Paris, although as posted earlier he must have visited Liege, Belgium or been posted there briefly before moving on to occupation duties in Cologne, Germany.

Front of 100 Franc note, dated Dec., 1944

The writing translates, “Series of 1944 one hundred francs.” Paris was liberated in August of 1944 by the 2nd Free French Armored Division and American units. I am uncertain if the currency is pre-liberation or post but evidence provided on the back suggests a post liberation issue.

The back of the 100 franc note features an oval seal with the word “France” in the center. The three words arced above France read from left to right, freedom, equality and fraternity.

French francs dated 1944

The writing  on the front of the two and five franc notes reads, “issued in France.” The back of the notes are the same featuring the French tricolor with the words freedom, equality and fraternity underneath. All totaled dad sent home 109 French francs. According to a letter sent home from a US Captain in 1944 50 francs equaled one US dollar in 1944. If that is true dad sent home just a little over $2.00 in French francs.

German Marks

The second envelope in my mom’s writing states, “German marks sent from Erlanger (Erlangen?), Germany, January, 1944.” Since the francs were sent January 22nd, 1946 I have to assume that the marks were sent sometime after that in the same month. I suppose it’s possible that dad sent both sets from Erlangen, Germany and perhaps that is even likely.

The total of marks sent is 6 marks, fifty pfennig

Front and back 5 German marks, 1944

The writing on the very top of the 5 mark note reads Allierte Militarbehorde which translates according to my translator, “allied militarbehorde.” “Militarbehorde” appears to be a compound word that seems to say “military horde.”  The marks are occupation currency even though they are dated 1944. Absent from the currency is any reference to the Reich or Nazism.

The rest of the writing translates, “Circulation gesetz7 in Germany series 1944 employ five mark.”

My very basic Google research did not turn up how much one mark was worth in US dollars in 1945. I’m thinking not much. I did find that in 1948 after the occupation government ended one mark was worth three US dollars and thirty-three cents.

Front of all the German marks dad sent home

As far as I can tell there is only one Erlangen, Germany and it’s in Bavaria, not far from Nuremberg where the famous war crimes trials were held starting in November, 1945 shortly before dad’s unit was sent to France for MP training.

Dad told me that  he and some friends took a short leave in Bavaria to go hunting in the Black Forest. He said the trip was notable because as he and his friends made their way around the forest they found gun emplacements and small airfields that still had wrecked airplanes and flak guns. This is consistent with what I read regarding the Luftwaffe late in the war.

Link to Luftwaffe “forest factories” in Bavaria.

The Allies had over whelming air superiority so the Luftwaffe sought to disperse its remaining assets to forests where they would be hard to spot. Dad and his friends probably came across at least one of these small airfields during their hunting trip.

He also told me it was in Bavaria where he came into possession of two ceremonial daggers. I do not recall how he came into possession of them. He said he sent them home but they never arrived.

Dad and an unnamed friend outside of a beer hall.

I’ve included this picture of my dad (on the right) and an unnamed friend outside of a beer hall because I’m pretty sure it’s where the occupation troops spent most of their francs and marks! The location of this particular beer hall is unknown but the sign appears to be in English. Because it says “students” rather than military I’m guessing it was located in a training facility of some sort. The fact that dad and his friend are not marked out as MPs suggests they were not trained as of yet as MPs or they were off duty and did not wear their distinctive MP gear while off-duty.

Prost!

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• What did you do in the war dad? part 4 (broeder10.wordpress.com)

Reblogged from Political Musings-At the Sunset of My Life:

Reblogged from Military History Now:

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Had the Second World War continued into 1946, it’s almost certain that the fight for the skies over Europe and the Pacific would have been dominated by a whole new generation of combat aircraft -- jets.

Already by mid-1944, RAF Gloster Meteors were shooting down V-1 rockets over southern England. Germany too had deployed more than a thousand of its own jets like the Me-262.

Read more… 1,412 more words

Reblogged from Church, State, Faith and Culture:

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Through my other blog that is titled, History Stuff that Interests Me, I have made some friends around the world and some of them are from Western Europe that like the US have significant Moslem populations.

Today one fellow blogger, an American who is married to a German and lives there, posted this image on her blog:

The image was in reference to a Moslem riot in Sweden and yesterday's murder of a British soldier in London by two Moslem jihadists.

Read more… 667 more words

Among my dad’s pictures that he sent home are 16 on the same kind of paper. Two are marked, “Liege, Belgium” and the writing on some of the buildings is clearly French. There are two more pictures marked “Belgium” or “Liege” but they are on different kinds of paper. Many of the pictures are of a market square and are redundant.

It was a surprise to me that dad was stationed in Liege with the 707th. I knew that after basic training as infantry one half of his unit was sent to France for MP training in order to replace the combat veterans who were being cycled out. I do not have any pictures from his time in France but do have a number of French francs. They are in an envelope with my mom’s handwriting leading me to believe that she organized some of his things later than 1952 when they were married.

The envelope reads, “French Francs sent from Romilly, France January 22, 1946.”

I am therefore led to believe that dad was trained for MP duty in Romilly and then assigned to the 707th in Belgium and then on to the 504th MP Bn. assigned to Cologne and Giessen, Germany which were in the British Zone of Occupation at the time.

Dad was in Company D of the 707th MP BN while in Liege.

I am uncertain of the significance of the picture and assume it it to be the motor pool for dad’s battalion.

This was taken over the windshield of a jeep. Very narrow European street, buildings appear undamaged. Belgium was liberated by British and Canadian troops.

Interesting picture because of the flags on the bank in the center of the picture. I can make out the US flag, a French flag and I think Belgian. Since it’s a bank my guess it was used to exchange money for whatever country it would be needed. The building on the left says “Le Savary.” A Google search turned up the Savary as a French hotel.

The man on the left is a MP Corporal and he appears as if he’s getting into the jeep. You can clearly see his holstered 1911 .45 pistol. The soldiers identities are unknown but I’m assuming they are members of the 707th, Company D.

Dad took a number of pictures of the market place. This one appears to show building damage. I read that Belgium was targeted by V-1′s so it’s possible this was a point of interest to my dad.

Another market place picture. You can make out the French writing in a number of places.

This one says on the back “guess who???” It’s my 18-year-old father looking rather serious and formal behind the wheel of Willie’s famous jeep. The building in the background reads “Kelvinator.” Kelvinator was a British company that made refrigerators before and after the war.

This picture says “taken at the Belgian Red Cross” although it is one of the pictures on a different type of photo paper. Nice shot of the front of the MP jeep!

I cropped and enlarged the above photo. On the left you can see the image of the passenger side MP. The driver is obscured by the glare. Between the two men though you can make out the figure of a soldier walking in the other direction. He is dressed as British or more likely Belgian since the British equipped Belgian forces during and after the war. I am uncertain if the driver is my father or he is taking the picture.

3rd Army patch. I may have one from my dad’s uniform. The 3rd Army was Patton’s Army during the war. While in the 707th MP BN dad was in the 3rd Army.

Modern US Army MP banner. The crossed pistols is the symbol of the military police. MP BN size units serve anywhere they are needed including the recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

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• What did you do in the war dad? part 1 (broeder10.wordpress.com)
• What did you do in the war dad? part 2 (broeder10.wordpress.com)
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• Addendum #1 to What did you do in the war dad? (broeder10.wordpress.com)

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