/r/ww2

Photograph via snooOG

For discussion of all things World War II. If you're a Nazi though, fuck off.

Rules and Guidelines

  1. The Golden Rule: This subreddit is intended for civil and informed discussion about the Second World War and related issues. Engaging in bigotry or racism, and resorting to insults or hostility will result in a ban. Holocaust Denial, defending Nazis, Nazi and war crime glorification will all lead to instantaneous bans.

  2. Self-promotion (posting your own YouTube channels, etc.) needs to be authorized by the moderators before posting.

  3. While anyone is welcome to comment in /r/WW2, comments about the history of the war should be offered in good faith and only when you, the commenter, are sure that what you say is true. That being said, opinion is also welcome -- just make sure you present it as such. If you are asked to provide a source then you will have to present one. Failure to do so will result in a removal of the post in question.

  4. The war and its historiography are contentious issues which are still debated to this day. The possibility of someone disagreeing with your take on things certainly exists, but both parties are required to engage the matter in a polite and charitable fashion.

  5. No political soap-boxing. Such posts will be removed, and repeat violations will result in a ban.

  6. This is a subreddit dedicated to the historical Second World War. Submissions related to film, video games, and tv-shows, are better suited for a different subreddit.

  7. Memes, pun threads, reaction .gifs, MFWs and anything of the sort are strictly forbidden. /r/WW2 is a venue for serious discussion of serious matters.

  8. Basically, if you wouldn't do it in /r/AskHistorians, don't do it here.

  9. If submitting a historical photo, the title requires a detailed caption together with an approximate date. For example, British paratroopers gather their parachutes outside of Arnhem, The Netherlands, during Operation Market Garden, 1944 is an acceptable title. Titles such as A German Soldier or American paratroopers and tank will not suffice.

  10. Personal photographs of collections, individual items, etc. should be equally as elaborate as in the previous point. Photographs of collections should include a description of all the items on display as a separate comment.

  11. Video links are limited to primary sources, such as combat footage, and secondary sources of explicitly academic quality, including, but not limited to, academic lectures, interviews with historians, and oral histories. "Music videos" or "edits" are not welcome here. All videos has to include original or no sound.

  12. Questions about the identification of items should be redirected to subreddits that are dedicated specifically for that task, such as /r/MilitariaCollecting.

  13. No submissions related to the looting of Second World War archaeological finds from battlefields, etc. Ethical and responsible archaeology is always welcome, however.

  14. No submissions related to alternative history or 'what if' scenarios.

  15. If you have any questions, concerns or comments about the subreddit, please message the moderators directly.

Credit for the header goes to /u/KilledFox. Thank you!

/r/ww2

147,501 Subscribers

11

A Chance Encounter

My great uncles, one in the Royal Artillery, the other a Royal Marine, who each had no idea of the others whereabouts or even condition, pose for a snap after bumping into one another randomly at a field church for Mass. -1943, Mediterranean

1 Comment
2024/03/13
07:54 UTC

1

Iwo Jima Book Discussion

Hi all l, so recently I watched the movies Flags of Our Fathers and Letters From Iwo Jima for the first time and while both of the movies I thought were incredible it was while watching these movies that I realized that I didn’t know much about the Battle of Iwo Jima.

I’ve been studying WW2 for about a year and a half now and I thought it was time that I finally research the Battle of Iwo Jima because it was such a landmark battle of the Americans in WW2 and I think it’s important that learn more about it.

Yesterday I spent a couple of hours looking for a book about the Battle of Iwo Jima. One of my favorite WW2 books is Richard B Franks book on the Guadalcanal campaign and the reason I his book is one of my favorites is because of how comprehensive and detailed it is and I wanted to find a good comprehensive book that covers the Battle of Iwo Jima similar to Richard B Franks book on Guadalcanal.

Most of the books I came across about Iwo Jima were focused on the actions of specific individuals or units that fought on Iwo Jima instead of a book that really detailed the whole battle. The books I did find that claimed to cover the whole battle were no more than 150 to 250 pages long.

I eventually found a book called Iwo Jima: Legacy of Valor by Bill D. Ross. This book is the most comprehensive book I have found so far that focuses on the whole Battle of Iwo Jima as it’s nearly 450 pages long. The book however did come out in the 80s so it might be dated in some aspects, but I have yet to read it as I just ordered it online yesterday.

Have any of you read this book and if so what were your thoughts and impressions of the book?

0 Comments
2024/03/13
03:54 UTC

21

What US battle had the highest casualty rate?

Casualty rate as in percentage of fighting force killed/wounded. For example Okinawa was roughly 35%

20 Comments
2024/03/13
03:22 UTC

4

Why was Portugal neutral in ww2?

4 Comments
2024/03/13
03:14 UTC

11

Uniform identification to determine time/place

Hey everyone! I found this image on the Yad Vashem archive but some dickhead marked the location as a fake "Los Santos Customs" outside of Lodz. I was hoping that if I can figure out what unit the soldiers in the image are from, I could try to then extrapolate where and when the image took place. Currently I'm thinking it's Warsaw but any suggestions or help would be appreciated.

8 Comments
2024/03/12
21:52 UTC

3

Second Naval Battle of Guadalcanal

If North Carolina hadn’t taken a torpedo hit at Santa Cruz, (with everything else being as historic), Halsey would have had 3 BBs available for the Second Naval Battle of Guadalcanal.

Does he go with Washington & SoDak or put the sisters together, or send all three?

IMO Halsey puts North Carolina & Washington together. I doubt he uses all three because he didn’t have enough DDs; I know Halsey didn’t have enough DDs to escort the two he did send.

1 Comment
2024/03/12
15:53 UTC

1

Weird Photo

We know of the Axis Plan to link up the North African front with the Syrian/Iraqi front but that never happened, So there was never an Axis presence in Palestine according to my humble knowledge.

Can Anybody tell me where did this Picture come from?

https://preview.redd.it/4ss6ts311xnc1.jpg?width=748&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6e75b9a035a5511e5193f072f927a8a21ff35c61

3 Comments
2024/03/12
14:48 UTC

10

Can someone help me identify this Arisaka (probably).

3 Comments
2024/03/12
14:22 UTC

3

Has anyone ever heard of British News?

So, recently, I came across a series of British Newsreels produced during WWII called simply ‘British News’. I can’t find much about it other than 5 different companies and it was originally made for the New York World’s Fair in 1939. Has anyone got any additional information about these newsreels.

0 Comments
2024/03/12
12:37 UTC

58

Turning point ,The bomb and Cold War Netflix

I posted on the Netflix sub maybe I’m just dumb but was excited for this show for weeks but the woman on there acting like the Japanese were innocent and U.S propaganda tricked everyone. Like I said there we weren’t innocent but from my years of research the Japanese were almost as evil as the Germans. The batton death march forcing POWS to sit in direct sunlight until they died or beat them while brutally burnt. The killing of 350,000 civilians and brutal raping and killing. Feeding people to sharks for fun. Directly responsible for 8 million Chinese deaths. Brutal human experiments. I pride myself on being unbiased when it comes to history because no country was innocent but this infuriated me. The Japanese were brutal and great warriors but they were far from innocent. Sorry for the rant

47 Comments
2024/03/12
10:43 UTC

47

What happened in the years immediately following the end of the war?

I feel like this often doesn’t get much attention, considering how traumatic this war was to the civilian population as well as infrastructure and the world in general. Im aware of the rebuilding process and those steps taken but what about the civilians who had to flee, or whose homes were no longer

Anyone have any suggestions on reading or research material that could further enlighten me to the intricacies of the post world war 2 world?

21 Comments
2024/03/12
09:50 UTC

12

Anyone knows what happened on January 8th 1945

I wanted to ask if anyone knows what kind of attack/ battle offensive happened on the 8th January 1945 against the german navy. The location must´ve been the western part of the north sea. My great uncle was a regular sailor on a german ship and died on the 8th, so im kind of curious what happened.

He is buried in Ysselstein if that helps

(sorry for my bad English !!)

6 Comments
2024/03/12
09:47 UTC

40

Updated Result of the Medal set of my Great Grandfather

I somehow managed to get the Original Ribbions of some medals except the 1939-45 star and Burma star Also Updated the Sainya Seva Medal with its other claps Himalya
Also Added the Nametab and Regimental Shoulder and Cap insignia

Can anyone help me to get the 17th Dogra Regiment Shoulder and Cap Insignia Because Independence he has also served in the 17 Dogra Regiment from 1942-1947 and after 1947 Dogra Regiment was reraised as the Dogra Regiment

3 Comments
2024/03/12
06:58 UTC

43

Any ideas what kind of boots these are? Friend said they were WW2 German pilot boots. But I'm having trouble figuring out what they are exactly.

5 Comments
2024/03/12
04:17 UTC

8

Interrogations in Masters of the Air

In Masters of the air, we see that many men only share their name, rank, and serial number with the German interrogators. Were soldiers instructed to only give those pieces of information and nothing more? And if so, could the captured be tortured into giving information?

6 Comments
2024/03/12
03:15 UTC

168

Auschwitz before WW2

5 Comments
2024/03/12
02:45 UTC

6

POW camps

When Germany knew Allied forces were closing in on the POW camps held by Germans, did the Germans surrender, march the POWs out of the camps, or just abandon the camps? Maybe all?

6 Comments
2024/03/12
02:15 UTC

3

Statistics on Survival Rates?

Ive always been curious as to the survival rates of troops from start to finish in the war.

I cant imagine many german troops in service in 1939 were still fighting in 1945 due to being killed, wounded or captured. Same with russia and japan but ive never been able to find any statistics through numerous google searches.

5 Comments
2024/03/12
02:01 UTC

3

S.O.E.

I’m enjoying some WW2 podcasts and am again trying in vain to find a podcast or a book that discusses the Special Operations Executive that organized and supported the resistance in France and other areas of Europe. Anybody got any leads?

5 Comments
2024/03/11
23:47 UTC

17

Hamp Harmon Memories

5 Comments
2024/03/11
22:06 UTC

14

Does anyone have a good book recommendation about women who served in WW2?

For context, I recently finished The Pacific, and BoB, but specifically The Pacific, where we see multiple scenes of combat nurses (I don’t know if that’s the right term) either serving on medical ships in the pacific or on nearby islands, treating the marines. I was really disappointed that the show didn’t give insight into any of these women who were so close to the fighting, and who I imagine were at least impacted by bombing if not actual fighting. I’ve seen a fair number of WW2 movies and I don’t think anyone of them have followed women in the US military which is disappointing since these women were clearly near the frontline, at least in the Pacific Theater.

On that note, I would love to learn more, so if anyone has any good book recommendations about these women and their experiences, that would be much appreciated.

Thanks!

20 Comments
2024/03/11
21:08 UTC

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