The Largest Tank Battle in History

Operation Citadel as a whole. The Battle of Prokharovka
was fought in the bulge seen in the lower third
 of the picture seen in red. Photo obtained through WikiCommons.

It was July 12, 1943. By this point, it was the beginning of the end for Germany's ambitions. The German Army had reached its farthest advance into the Soviet Union and was slowly being pushed back. At one spot, the Soviets had pushed a bulge into the German lines, which is usually bad military tactics. Hitler decided to strike back, hoping to defeat enough of the enemy to turn the tide. In this offensive, code name Operation Citadel, was the largest engagement by tanks the world had ever seen or will see.

It was known as the Battle of Prokhorovka. The Soviets had marshaled around 850 tanks and the Germans had about 450 tanks. Both sides fought at almost point-blank range, and in an amazing feat of armored combat tactics the Germans suffered relatively minor losses while the Soviets lost almost half of their tank forces. In the microcosm it was a major victory.

Unfortunately for Germany, in the grand scheme of things it did little good. Morale was at a rock bottom low, the Soviets could afford such losses and continue to go strong, and the Germans knew that the long slog  back to Germany would cost them many more casualties. Nevertheless, this is a battle for the record books and if you could have been there it would have been a sight to behold. Until next time take care, and thanks for reading.

(Facts and figures sourced from: "World War II" by H.P Willmott, Robin Cross, and Charles Messenger; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Prokhorovka)

Argentina: More Than an Innocent Bystander

In a very real sense, World War II was the first truly global war. If a country wasn't actively fighting they supported one that was. Argentina was no exception. Like Spain, Argentina became a war zone  of espionage on both sides.

Argentina had a sizable German and Italian population at the beginning of the war, and their Nazi Party was particularly active. However, the Argentine maintained neutrality throughout most of the war. This ended when the FBI accused Argentina and Chile of acting as intelligence hot spots for the Axis powers, and provided evidence to support their claims. This led to 38 arrests in Argentina and the end of the espionage wars. When the Axis powers were nearing total collapse, Argentina finally declared war, a month and a half before Germany surrendered.

Nevertheless, because of the heavy German presence in Argentina it became a refuge for many top Nazi leaders after the war, including Adolf Eichmann, head of the Gestapo Department of Jewish Affairs.He was later found by Israeli agents and tried and hanged in 1962. Until next time take care, and thanks for reading.

(Facts and figures courtesy of "The World War II Desk Reference", edited by Michael E. Haskew)

BMW and Rolls-Royce: Enemies Now Allies

While the title of this post may seem confusing, in fact it highlights a point of bitter contention between Britain and Germany that continues to this day. During World War II the British fighters, as well as the P-51 Mustang, were powered by Rolls-Royce engines. The Germans, on the other hand, powered their aircraft by, among others, BMW engines.

Both BMW and Rolls-Royce made cars before the war and during the war their production lines were outfitted to make war materiel. After the war, Rolls-Royce went back to making cars but the BMW plants were almost all leveled over the course of the war. It wasn't until the mid 1950s that BMW even started  to make cars again. However, in Britain after the war up to the present day almost all of the British car companies either went out of business or were bought up by other companies. Among these companies bought, Rolls-Royce is now owned by BMW, whose engines power the new Rolls-Royces, a point of contention between two countries decades after the war's end. Until next time take care, and thanks for reading.

The Start of Ian Fleming: Operation Golden Eye

Ian Fleming is best known for being the writer of the James Bond novels, but before that he was an intelligence officer with the British Naval Intelligence Service. His career was made by two operations during the war, one of which was Operation Golden Eye.

Golden Eye was a plan to conduct sabotage operations against Spain should they forge an alliance with Germany or worse, be taken over by them. Because Spain had become fascist in the Spanish Civil War of 1936, Britain feared that they would sympathize with Germany and possibly cooperate with them to invade Gibraltar, the British port city and the Allies' gateway into the Mediterranean Sea. However, due to the fact that Spain never allowed German units into Spain ( in fact, like Switzerland, Spain kept its neutrality and became a hotbed of spy activity on both sides) the plans were scrapped.

Nevertheless, Operation Golden Eye had a lasting effect on Ian Fleming, the operation planner. He would later name his Jamaican home Goldeneye (later also the name of the 16th Bond movie), and thanks to his wartime career as a spy and peacetime career as a journalist he began to create the most famous novel character in history: James Bond. Until next time take care, and thanks for reading.

The People's Car: VW

Ferdinand Porsche

Many people can easily identify the Volkswagen Beetle, with its semicircular shape and cute-looking headlights. In fact, it passed the Ford Model T as the longest continually produced car in the world, having been made in its original format from 1938 to 2003. However, many people may not know the history behind the development of this icon.

This car was originally conceived by Dr. Ferdinand Porsche (yes, that Porsche) in 1932. In its first incarnation, it looked similar to the Beetle in that it was arranged in the same general layout with a semicircle body with a rear engine. However, these prototypes didn't cut it and were all eventually destroyed in an air raid during the war. In 1933, the year that Adolf Hitler took power in Germany, Hitler commissioned Porsche to make a "People's Car", literally a Volks wagen in German, for the general population. It was ordered to seat two adults and three children and go up to 100 km/hr (about 60 mph). It would be available on a savings plan with regular installments over about a year for the same price as a motorcycle at the time.

Porsche was only able to make a few cars for civilians before the war started. During the war, the Nazi elite could get them but for the most part the Germans used the Beetle as their version of the US Jeep, usually with the same chassis (underbody frame) but with a different body. Thankfully, Dr. Porsche survived the war and after the Allied disassembly of the German production facilites was over with he could proceed in making the car which would become the one we all know and love, as well as some of the most iconic German sports cars in history. Until next time take care, and thanks for reading.

Denmark: How to Capture a Country Before Lunch

It is a matter of months after Germany has successfully invaded Poland. Britain and France have declared war on Germany and the Second World War has begun. However, aside from some minor ( and half-hearted) border skirmishes on the French-German border, nothing has happened on the ground in Europe.

This silence, on April 9, 1940, was about to be broken. The Germans, remembering the First World War, wanted to prevent the British from effectively blockading Germany from its shipments of war-vital iron ore. To do this, the Germans needed to take Norway and in order to do that they needed to secure Denmark.

In the early morning hours of April 9, the Germans deployed a relatively small ground force in conjunction with paratroopers, the first such operation in history. By 9:00 AM, the Germans had secured the major airfields as well as Copenhagen the capital. While there was some sporadic resistance by the Danes, they knew they couldn't win and by noon Denmark had surrendered. However, because the Danes did not roll over and give up without a fight, and because the Germans viewed the Danes as fellow Aryans, they were treated better than most occupied nations during the war. Nevertheless, it is most certainly one of the shortest wars in history. Until next time take care, and thanks for reading.

A New Direction

To my previous readers,

As I have stated in my personal description, I am a journalism student at Colorado State University. As per my education, one of my classes requires me to keep a blog. Therefore, I am adapting the format of my posts to conform with the new reality of modern journalism: my posts will be shorter and more frequent.

Nevertheless, I will continue to offer interesting tidbits on various and little-known aspects of World War II in Europe. This includes personality profiles on famous generals, different facets of famous battles, technological advances, as well as reviews of World War II movies both old and new and Stars and Stripes Review.

To my new readers, mainly those in my class, I hope that you find this material as fascinating as myself. Look at it this way: I'm providing you with unique icebreakers and conversation starters for the weekend! Also, feel free to read my previous articles. They're long but they're packed with information.

Until next time take care, and thanks for reading.

Cody Lizotte