News - TracesOfWar.com

Dec2023

Merry Christmas and a prosperous 2024

Sep2023

The German Ostheer became bogged down in a war of attrition it could never win

Dr. Craig W.H. Luther is a retired U.S. Air Force historian (16 years at McClellan AFB, 11 years at Edwards AFB) and former Fullbrigh Scholar (Bonn, West Germany 1979-80). However, his primary passion has always been researching and writing about German military operations during WWII, and primarily on the eastern front. He has published seven books (and a half dozen articles) on this topic. We asked him some questions by e-mail about his research and his latest books.

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Sep2023

The men who were written out of the story of D-Day

Forgotten is the story of an all-black battalion whose crucial contributions on D-Day have gone unrecognized to the present. In this blend of military and social history, Linda Hervieux brings to life the injustices of 1940s Jim Crow America and finally pays tribute to the valor of these brave young men. We asked her some questions by e-mail about her book.

Jul2023

Photo report inauguration of the Tuskegee Airmen monument near Ramitelli, Italy

BY SAMUEL DE KORTE - On 16 July 2023, a monument was unveiled for the Tuskegee Airmen. Accompanying this event, a mural was unveiled, a presentation was given about the many local army air force bases, and a documentary was shown about the Tuskegee Airmen. All these events were to honor and celebrate the Tuskegee Airmen.

Jun2023

WWII Era Submarine Discovered at the Bottom of the Aegean Sea

On Wednesday, HMS Triumph, a British Royal Navy submarine was discovered in the Aegean Sea by a Greek research team led by Kostas Thoktaridis.

Jun2023

Announcement: Partnership STIWOT and LRE Foundation

🤝 We have exciting news: STIWOT and LRE Foundation are joining forces to enhance our shared mission of preserving the memory of the Second World War. Recently, Lennard Bolijn, Chairman of STIWOT and the TracesOfWar project, and Rémi Praud, LRE Foundation Managing Director, signed an agreement solidifying the commitment to working closely together. The primary focus of this collaboration is to exchange the wealth of information both organizations have collected over the years, including captivating stories, rare photographs, compelling videos, and insightful audio recordings. We are delighted about the many possibilities that this cooperation opens up. Stay tuned for updates!

Jun2023

World War 2 Youtube Series - Through The Gates of Hell - D-Day [Part 2]

New on Youtube, from the makers and creators of Youtube channel 'The Great War', the Second World War week by week, 6 years long.

Jun2023

World War 2 Youtube Series - Piercing the Atlantic Wall- D-Day [Part 3]

New on Youtube, from the makers and creators of Youtube channel 'The Great War', the Second World War week by week, 6 years long.

Jun2023

World War 2 Youtube Series - German Counterattack - D-Day [Part 4]

New on Youtube, from the makers and creators of Youtube channel 'The Great War', the Second World War week by week, 6 years long.

Jun2023

World War 2 Youtube Series - Invasion by Air - D-Day [Part 1]

New on Youtube, from the makers and creators of Youtube channel 'The Great War', the Second World War week by week, 6 years long.

Apr2023

Benjamin B. Ferencz, Last Surviving Nuremberg Prosecutor, Dies at 103

Benjamin B. Ferencz, the last surviving prosecutor of the Nuremberg trials, who convicted Nazi war criminals of organizing the murder of a million people and German industrialists of using slave labor from concentration camps to build Hitler’s war machine, died on Friday at an assisted living facility in Boynton Beach, Fla. He was 103.

Mar2023

New book: Hitler's Last Chance: Kolberg

January 30, 1945 Hitler's last propaganda film went into premiere. The title of this film directed by German director Veit Harlan is ‘Kolberg’. The subject is the 1807 siege of the German city of the same name on the Baltic coast by Napoleon's troops. The Prussian army, supported by a civilian militia, had then held out for months against the besiegers. The film story was intended to inspire and encourage Germans in early 1945 to keep up the fight. The Allies had repulsed the German Ardennes offensive and were preparing to cross the Rhine. The Red Army was about to reach the Oder River and only needed to cover about 40 miles as the crow flies before reaching the outskirts of Berlin. The final battle for Nazi Germany had begun. The film and the rise and fall of the German town of Kolberg is the subject of a new book by Kevin Prenger, ‘Hitler's Last Chance Kolberg’. Below an excerpt about the 'making-of' of the film.

Mar2023

South Korea announces plan to resolve wartime labor dispute with Japan

Funds for compensating wartime laborers would be raised by “voluntary” private sector donations to a South Korean foundation, with Japanese firms possibly among those that donate.

Feb2023

‘The unending journey’ is part of a constant fight against the far-right in all its forms

Iris Mavraki (1954) is a singer and political artist from Greece living in England. Her Jewish mother Frida Wenig-Berliner fled in 1938 from Austria to Rhodes where she met her future husband and father of Iris. He was a Greek, involved in the resistance against the Italian Fascists. Together they fled to Africa where Iris was born after the war. In 2021 she published a book about her family history, titled ‘The Unending Journey’. We asked her by e-mail some questions about this publication and the story of her family.

Feb2023

Opinion: Germany's quiet betrayal of victims of the Holocaust | CNN

Editor’s Note: Lev Golinkin writes on refugee and immigrant identity, as well as Ukraine, Russia and the far right. He is the author of the memoir “A Backpack, a Bear, and Eight Crates of Vodka.” The opinions expressed in this commentary are his own.

Jan2023

The Nazis’ most expensive and least watched propaganda film

After previous books about for instance Christmas during World War Two and SS judge Konrad Morgen and his crusade against SS corruption and ‘illegal’ murder, a new book of WW2 researcher Kevin Prenger will be published, entitled ‘Hitler’s Last Chance’. Its subject is the last propaganda movie of the Nazis and the rise and fall of the German city Kolberg, which is also the title of the movie. It premiered on 30 January 1945. Reich Minister of Propaganda Joseph Goebbels was closely involved in the making of this movie which is still prohibited in Germany. Dutch website Historiek.net asked Kevin Prenger some questions about the subject of his book.

Jan2023

World War 2 Youtube Series - Ep 230 - Monte Cassino, the Battle Begins - January 21, 1944

New on Youtube, from the makers and creators of Youtube channel 'The Great War', the Second World War week by week, 6 years long.

Jan2023

Voices of veterans' stories must be passed on

TRANSLATED BY FERNANDO LYNCH – Frank van Lunteren has been working on the history of the 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the U.S. 82nd Airborne Division since 2001. This unit fought, among other things, during Operation Market Garden and the Ardennes Offensive. The historian born and raised in Arnhem has published five books on the regiment. May 1st, 2022, marked the 80th anniversary of the 504th PIR. Reasons enough to ask Frank van Lunteren a couple of questions about his research on this platoon unit.

Jan2023

Marine Corps Honors WWII Veteran During Birthday Celebration

Dec2022

"With trivializing remarks, we will not achieve a better understanding of the Dutch resistance"

TRANSLATED BY FERNANDO LYNCH – The British publisher Osprey Publishing published a book on resistance and collaboration in the Netherlands this spring. The authors are the Dutch friends Michel Wenting and Klaas Castelein. The title is The Dutch Resistance 1940-45, World War II Resistance and Collaboration in the Netherlands. The richly illustrated publication, with drawings by Mark Stacey, is the 245th volume in the publisher's Elite series. We asked the authors some questions about their book via e-mail.

Dec2022

Christmas and New Year’s greeting on behalf of our volunteers

It occurs on more and more locations in the Netherlands: lighting candles on wargraves on Christmas Eve. A tribute to all who fought and died for our freedom. The picture below was taken on the Commonwealth War Cemetery in Oosterbeek (also known as the Airborne Cemetery). Here, 1,680 war graves from the Commonwealth can be found, 245 of them unidentified. In addition there are 73 Polish and 3 Dutch wargraves. Are you also going to light a candle on a wargrave on Christmas Eve in memory of those who died for our freedom?