Some WWII stuff i found

[frostbite]

for the past months i've been doing research for various history projects, including digitalizing and archiving photos and letters by soldiers from a local wehrmacht unit, the 58th infantry division. those letters make for some harrowing reading.

my grandad was drafted into the wehrmacht at the beginning of the war, a few months after he had married my grandma and a few weeks after the birth of their first child, my mother. he served in poland and in russia, then was transferred to italy, where he had just been awarded the iron cross and promoted to officer when a granade blew his leg off. he was very reluctant to talk about the war, but my grandmother told some pretty horrific stories.
wilhelmshaven, where she had to live with her baby daughter, was germany's biggest naval base and completely bombed to smithereens (the famous documentary 'memphis belle' is about a bombing raid on wilhelmshaven). in the last days of the war, my mother's kindergarden class was attacked by a fighter plane that killed some of the kids. in the street where they lived, the dead bodies of deserters and 'traitors' (who tried to surrender to the allied troops) executed by the ss where hanging from the lamp posts.
my hometown was actually liberated by canadian troops, the 2nd canadian infantry division.

[Casey Burns]

love this thread. next time i visit my dad, i'll take photos of the letter my granddad wrote my grandma, all type-stamped on about 20 dogtags on a bead chain.