Wartime Wednesday: German Maps and Secret Missions

Wartime Wednesday:

German Maps and Secret Missions

In these days of GPS which give instantaneous location information, it’s easy to forget that the technology is relatively new, with the first satellite being launched in 1978. During World War II, the lack of what is called geodetic data – the measuring and representing of Earth’s geometric shape, orientation in space, and gravity field – was an issue because shelling was done over great distances, often without seeing the actual target through gun sights. Unfortunately, this created situations during which the shells “went awry,” as one source put it.

When word reached the upper echelon of the U.S. Army of enormous stashed of maps held by the Germans, it was decided to create a top-secret intelligence force that would ferret out and capture the documents. Named HOUGHTEAM after the man in charge, Major Floyd Hough, the unit was composed of nineteen specifically selected individuals:

• Four educated civilians: an engineer, a geographer, a linguist who spoke five languages, and a Kentucky socialite who’d mostly grown up in Europe.
• Ten enlisted men who included a Japanese interpreter on loan from OSS and European immigrants who had fled to the U.S. to escape Nazi persecution.
• Five who’d been stationed at Camp Ritchey where they received training in interrogation and psychological operations. They would be responsible for questioning civilians about troop movement as well as prisoners of war.

The men carried 1,800 pounds of cameras and other equipment for creating microfilm records and

11,000(!) index cards that included such information as the holdings of the Army Map Services, lists of technical universities, government institutions, libraries, and other places that ostensibly had the materials they sought, and lists of German scientists indicating which might be willing to cooperate and those who must not be trusted. (Can you imagine flipping through those to find what you needed?

In the autumn of 1944, the unit followed the army into Germany often arriving at a particular city days or even hours after it had fallen to the Allies. Speed was of the essence. Aachen was the first major successful mission, and most scholars feel the information found there hastened the end of the war because of the massive cache of scientific data and records discovered in the library. The project stalled when the Allies were held back, then the terrible winter that saw the Battle of the Bulge.

By March, 1945, the Allies were again on the move, and Hough followed, first to Cologne, then onto Frankfurt, and Weisbaden, collecting bundles of papers, books, maps, and survey reports that had immediate operational value. The interrogation of a captured officer revealed the name of two small towns in the region of Thuringia. The U.S. Third Army was in the midst of taking the area, so Hough gathered his men and headed east to Friedrichroda and Waltershausen. A short search turned up the entire archive of the German national survey agency. Just as important was the discovery of a man they’d been seeking for weeks. Questioning provided the name of yet another small town: Saalfeld.

Four days after the U.S. 87th Infantry took the town, Hough and five of his men rolled in. After explaining to the mayor what they were looking for, he led them to a warehouse which held a thirty-foot by fifty-food room stacked flour to ceiling. They’d found “nothing less than the central map and geodetic data repository for the Germany Army – the mother lode.” Exciting, yet, but Saalfeld was in a section of Germany that was going to be Soviet-occupied territory, and the Russians were on their way.

With a pace not thought possible, Hough borrowed (commandeered?) trucks, planes, and enlisted me from nearby U.S. Army units to load the trucks. He also mandated help from German civilians. By the time Germany had officially surrendered on May 8, 1945, Hough and his team had shipped thirty-five two-and-a-half-ton-capacity trucks with maps, data, and instruments such as stereoplanigraphs (cutting-edge technology used to create topographic maps from aerial photos and worth about $7M in today’s money).

In September, 1945, Hough returned to his old job as head of the Geodetic Division of the Army Map Service in Washington, DC, then went on to travel extensively to international conferences to meet with other geodesists about connecting the rest of Europe to the geodetic network. The project was completed in 1951.

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Shetland Sunset

Bonded by a cause but an ocean apart, will their love survive a world war?

After months in Norway helping his cousins with their fishing business, American Askel Westgard seems trapped when the Germans invade until he has a chance to get back at the Occupiers as part of the Shetlandsgjengen, or Shetland gang, a group of fishermen who transport weapons and equipment from Shetland to Norway under cover of darkness. Unfortunately, the beautiful Norwegian woman he’s just met refuses to join him in safety. Will he ever see her again?

Distraught when the Germans overrun her beloved Norway, Tonje Bondevik refuses to take the occupation sitting down. She joins the fledgling resistance movement, deriving great satisfaction distributing the underground newspaper and performing acts of sabotage…until the day the Nazis come looking for her, and she must flee for her life. Perhaps she should have listened to the handsome Norwegian American when he offered to take her to Shetland.

Purchase Link: https://books2read.com/u/4AWqJk

Sources:
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15420353.2021.1922569#d1e130
https://www.archives.gov/files/publications/ref-info-papers/79/index.pdf
https://www.neatorama.com/2019/10/23/The-Untold-Story-of-the-Secret-Mission-to-Seize-Nazi-Map-Data/
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/untold-story-secret-mission-seize-nazi-map-data-180973317/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ED50
https://medium.com/@NGA_GEOINT/floyd-w-hough-454ca5ac933f
https://amerisurv.com/2020/03/03/behind-the-lines/
https://community.esri.com/t5/coordinate-reference-systems-blog/the-european-datum-a-history-part-2/ba-p/902120

Photo Credits:
Map: http://www.loc.gov/item/2004629096
Equipment: The National Archives
Floyd Hough Passport Photo: The National Archives

Wartime Wednesday: The Humble White Potato

Wartime Wednesday: 

The Humble White Potato

French fries, mashed, hash browns, home fries, scalloped…just a few of the ways the potato is eaten here in the United States. According to Wikipedia and several other sources, the potato is native to the Americas, and the Spanish are the ones who introduced the fleshy tuber to Europe where it would quickly become a dietary staple.

Part of the nightshade family Solanaceae, potatoes are related to peppers, tomatoes, eggplant, paprika, and chili powder. Intriguingly, white potatoes and sweet potatoes are not related; they come from two different plant families.

During World War II, potatoes were eaten by everyone from civilians to soldiers and European- and American-based POWs. Research indicates that the British people consumed about four-and-a-half pounds per week. Spuds contain high levels of vitamins C and B6, potassium (more than bananas) and magnesium, fiber, and antioxidants, yet are low in fat, sodium, and cholesterol making them a nutritious and healthy food option.

As a root vegetable, they are easily grown and easily stored. They are also quite cheap. In the United

States, potatoes also became an essential part of citizens’ diets, and victory gardens were filled with potato plants, and the potato processing industry expanded as a result. In Britain, the Women’s Land Army cleared thousands of acres to plant (literally) tons of potatoes to feed the masses as well as the military. According to an article on historyhit.com, by the end of the war production had doubled since1939.

The Soviet people and her troops were starving by 1943, so authorities encouraged the population to plant potatoes. The Nazis promoted potatoes in Germany through radio, newspapers, and training courses (of all things!), resulting in an increase of annual consumption from twelve million tons to thirty-two million tons. Sadly, a large percentage of potatoes were exported from the Netherlands to Germany during the winter of 1944-1945 cause severe famine among the Dutch people.

Because of strict rationing, Norway, Belgium and other countries under German occupation added potatoes as a main food source. With an extensive fishing industry Norway was able to increase its dependency of fish such as cod, herring, and salmon. Likewise, neutral Sweden increased potato production to prevent food shortages.

When all was said and done, the humble white potato may have saved millions of lives.

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Love’s Rescue

A prostitute, a spy, and the liberation of Paris.

Sold by her parents to settle a debt, Rolande Bisset is forced into prostitution. Years later, shunned by her family and most of society, it’s the only way she knows how to subsist. When the Germans overrun Paris, she decides she’s had enough of evil men controlling her life and uses her wiles to obtain information for the Allied forces. Branded a collaborator, her life hangs in the balance. Then an American spy stumbles onto her doorstep. Is redemption within her grasp?

Simon Harlow is one of an elite corps of American soldiers. Regularly chosen for dangerous covert missions, he is tasked with infiltrating Paris to ascertain the Axis’s defenses. Nearly caught by German forces moments after arriving, he owes his life to the beautiful prostitute who claims she’s been waiting for the Allies to arrive. Her lifestyle goes against everything he believes in, but will she steal his heart during his quest to liberate her city?

Inspired by the biblical story of Rahab, Love’s Rescue is a tale of faith and hope during one of history’s darkest periods.

Purchase Link: https://books2read.com/u/mKwLAv

Sources:
https://histclo.com/essay/war/ww2/cou/bel/occ/w2bo-food.html
https://www.historyhit.com/how-did-potatoes-become-political-in-wartime/
https://the1940sexperiment.com/2023/02/14/how-many-potatoes-did-people-eat-during-ww2/
https://histclo.com/essay/war/child/ww2/food/cou/eur/w2cfc-swe.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgeBWzocLqU
https://museum.wales/articles/1084/The-ration-years-of-the-Second-World-War/
https://www.mofga.org/stories/stories/potatoes/

Photo Credits:
Poster: U.S. Archives
Potato Pete Cookbook: museum.wales.
Girls with potatoes: courtesy Imperial War Museum

Wartime Wednesday: Resistance During World War II

Wartime Wednesday: 

Resistance During World War II

With the onset of World War II, resistance groups formed all over Europe and throughout Asia as citizens rose up against invaders and occupiers. According to Wikipedia, the most notable organizations were located in Albania, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, the Netherlands, France, Greece, Italy, Norway, and Poland in addition to the Jewish Resistance located in multiple German-occupied countries, and the multitude of groups within Germany. In Asia, the Chinese and Korean resistance organizations were quite effective.

Resistance took many forms from non-cooperation and propaganda to sabotage, assassinations, and outright warfare. Other activities included intelligence gathering, organize uprisings, and leading refugees, escapees, and downed airmen out of their countries. Alone, the organizations would not have been full successful, but fortunately, government organizations such as America’s Office of Strategic Services and Britain’s Special Operations Executive provided personnel, weapons, and equipment as well as training.

United in a cause, resistance members came from all walks of life: political activists, academics, 

civilians, soldiers, and clergy. Stories abound about the very young and the very old doing their part.

In 1944, inhabitants in Warsaw initiated an uprising that lasted an astonishing sixty-three days as combatants tried to liberate their city from the Germans. Interestingly, initial plans for “Operation Tempest” didn’t include Warsaw, however with the anticipated arrival of the Soviet army, the decision was reversed. The organization managed to pull together more than 45,000 fighters to take on 25,000 Germans, which seemed like an easy victory except for the fact that only twenty-five percent of the resistance members had weapons. Unfortunately, the uprising was unsuccessful, and the Germans destroyed over eighty-five percent of the city which led to high civilian casualties.

Most resistance organizations were small with even smaller “cells” within the group. Most scholars agree that the effectiveness of resistance movements were limited; that they are measured “more by their political and moral impact than their decisive military contribution to the Allied victory.” (Wikipedia) Does that make them any less important? I don’t believe so.

_______________________

Coming Spring 2026: The Resistance Chronicles

Book 1: Shetland Sunset: Bonded by a cause but an ocean apart, will their love survive a world war?
https://books2read.com/u/4AWqJk

Book 2: Norwegian Nights: Can their marriage endure a debilitating injury, a devastating loss, and a world war?
https://books2read.com/u/bwl5qv

Book 3: Dutch Dawn: Will they survive the 500-mile journey to freedom?

Photo Credits:

Bellorussia Jewish Resistance Group: By Unknown author - http://www.jewishgen.org/yizkor/belarus/bel427.html, Public Domain.

Civilians at the Warsaw Uprising: Courtesy National WW2 Museum

Italian Partisan: By Tanner (Capt), War Office official photographer: from the collections of the Imperial War Museum, Public Domain.

Wartime Wednesday: January 1946

Wartime Wednesday: January 1946

By January 1946, World War II had officially been over for four months, but “administration” and logistics continued. The War Department announced a slowdown in demobilizing members of the armed forces from 800,000 to 300,000 per month. Unsurprisingly, there were protests by soldiers, sailors, and airmen as well as the public. The decision was quickly reversed as a result of the “Bring ‘em Home” movement.

The Japanese were stunned when Emperor Hirohito announced on radio that the emperor is “not a living god,” and he was not descended from the Shinto sun goddess Amaterasu Omikami. He also stated that citizens should no longer believe “the false conception…that the Japanese people are superior to other races and fated to rule the world.” He was not charged with war crimes, but General MacArthur began a two-plus-year purge of “undesirable people in office” resulting in over 210,000 individuals being removed or barred from serving.

January also saw the US.. Army partially remove a ban against marriage between American soldiers and

enemy nationals. This allowed servicemen to take Austrian brides. The ban was not lifted for German nationals until December.

Nazi Adolf Eichman escaped from an American detention camp where he’d hidden is identity with the alias SS Lt. Otto Eckmann. He fled to Austria, then Italy, and finally Argentina where he changed his name to Ricardo Klement. He was caught in May, 1960 and executed.

Vietnam saw its first democratic elections, and the last Japanese prisoners of war left the U.S. for home. The People’s Republic of Albania was declared, and the Soviet Union ratified a treaty with Poland that had been signed in August 1945. On the January 10, the first meeting of the General Assembly convened with delegates from fifty-one nations. The organizations first president, Belgium’s Paul-Henri Spaak, was elected. A week later, the United Nations Security Council held its first meeting with Australian politician and diplomat Norman Makin presiding.

January 19 saw the creation of the International Military Tribunal for the Far East by General Douglas MacArthur. By 1948, the tribunal would obtain twenty-five convictions, seven of them with death sentences for Japanese war criminals, including former Prime Minister Hideko Tojo. The following day Charles de Gaulle resigned as Chairman of the Provisional Government of the French Republic.

By the end of the month the first multi-party elections in almost fifteen years took place in the American occupied zone of Germany. Similar elections were later held in the French, British, and Soviet zones.

___________________

Spies & Sweethearts

She wants to do her part. He’s just trying to stay out of the stockade. Will two agents deep behind enemy lines find capture… or love?

1942. Emily Strealer is tired of being told what she can’t do. Wanting to prove herself to her older sisters and do her part for the war effort, the high school French teacher joins the OSS and trains to become a covert operative. And when she completes her training, she finds herself parachuting into occupied France with her instructor to send radio signals to the Resistance.

Major Gerard Lucas has always been a rogue. Transferring to the so-called “Office of Dirty Tricks” to escape a court-martial, he poses as a husband to one of his trainees on a dangerous secret mission. But when their cover is blown after only three weeks, he has to flee with the young schoolteacher to avoid Nazi arrest.

Running for their lives, Emily clings to her mentor’s military experience during the harrowing three-hundred-mile trek to neutral Switzerland. And while Gerard can’t bear the thought of his partner falling into German hands, their forged papers might not be enough to get them over the border.

Can the fugitive pair receive God’s grace to elude the SS and discover the future He intended?
Purchase Link: https://books2read.com/u/m0Od9l

Photo credits:

General Douglas MacArthur and Japanese Emperor Hirohito: By Gaetano Faillace - https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-299-152/, Public Domain. 

American Soldier and his girlfriend: Courtesy Imperial War Museum

Japanese Prime Minister Hideko Tojo: By Unknown author - Hideki Tojo Alchetron: Free Social Encyclopedia of the World, Public Domain.

Wartime Wednesday: Holiday Meals During Wartime

Holiday Meals During Wartime

Tires were the first item rationed in the US after the attack at Pearl Harbor when authorities realized rubber was going to be a crucial war materiel. It would be another four months before various foodstuff found its way onto the list, with sugar being first in May 1942. Coffee followed in November that year, then meats, fats, canned fish and canned milk, and cheese.

People integrated meatless meals in their weekly menus as well as learned how to cook “variety meats,” a euphemism for organ meats. My parents had very different experiences during the war. Mom lived on a large farm, as did many of her nearby relatives, so her family already raised most of their food. They were more impacted by gas rationing because of living so far from town. Dad lived in Baltimore City in a row house that had very little yard, so their space was limited for inputting a Victory Garden. They ate lots of canned vegetables and went without.

In the early years of our marriage when money was tight (paying off student loan, car payments, etc.) we tried our hand at gardening. We were marginally successful, but we constantly fought the deer, rabbits, and birds for our produce. And I hated weeding! We probably would have been more like Dad’s family and stuck with canned food.

During my growing up years, we went to my maternal grandparent’s house for Thanksgiving where

aunts, uncles, and cousins joined us for a feast that included turkey, ham, and meatloaf plus three kinds of potatoes, and every vegetable you can think of. For Christmas my paternal grandparents visited us (probably because the thought of loading the car with four kids and their gifts, then schlepping five hours was not my parent’s idea of a good time). Mom spent most of the morning in the kitchen, and we typically had a turkey with stuffing, mashed potatoes, and the iconic green bean casserole. We could count on leftovers.

During the war with meat at a premium, stews, soups, and casseroles were often served for the holidays. Desserts were limited and were often composed of fruit rather than sugar (although corn syrup and maple syrup were popular substitutes).

Here are recipes from the Victory Cookbook for a yummy and cost-effective wartime meal sure to please you and your family:

Chicken Pie with Sweet Potato Crust
3 Cups diced cooked chicken
1 Cup diced cooked carrots
6 cooked small white onions
1 Tablespoon parsley
1 Cup milk
1 Cup Chicken Broth
2 Tablespoons flour
1 Teaspoon salt
1/8 Teaspoon pepper

Crust:
1 Cup sifted flour
1 Teaspoon baking powder
½ Teaspoon salt
1 Cup cold mashed sweet potatoes
½ Cup melted butter
1 egg, well beaten

To make crust: Sift flour, baking powder, and salt. Work in mashed potatoes, melted butter, and egg. Roll ¼ inch thick.

For casserole: Arrange chicken, carrots, onions, and parsley in layers in casserole dish. Combine milk and chicken broth. Add slowly to flour, blending well. Cook until thickened, stirring constantly. Season and pour over chicken and vegetables in casserole. Cover with sweet potato crust. Bake in 350-degree oven for about 40 minutes.

Dessert: Baked Stuffed Apples

6 large, red apples (your choice)
1 Cup chopped bananas
1 Cup chopped cranberries
1 Cup sugar
1 Teaspoon cinnamon
Chopped nuts (your choice)

Cup off stem end of apples, but do not peel them. Remove core and a portion of the pulp, leaving the walls about ¾ inch thick. Mix bananas, cranberries, sugar, and cinnamon. Fill the cavities in the apples with the mixture, cover with chopped nuts, and bake in 350-degreee oven until tender, about 30 minutes.

____________________

The American World War II Home Front in 29 Objects:

Unlike Europe the American mainland escaped physical devastation during World War II as it was not subjected to full-scale invasions. However, that didn’t mean the United States wasn’t impacted by the war. The ramifications of large economic, cultural, and societal changes forced Americans to reconsider entrenched beliefs and traditions.

Artifacts collected from across the nation tell the stories of the American people whose lives were shaped by this second “war to end all wars,” World War II.

Purchase Link: https://books2read.com/u/47pLxR

Photo credit:

Tires: Pixabay/Florian Berger

Turkey dinner: Pixabay/Linda Rosium

Apples: Pixabay/Rita E.

Wartime Wednesday: Norman Rockwell's Four Freedoms

Wartime Wednesday: 

Norman Rockwell’s Four Freedoms

In his annual State of the Union address nearly a year before the attack at Pearl Harbor, President Franklin Roosevelt asked the American citizens to support the war going on in Europe. During the speech, which became known as the “Four Freedoms Speech,” he said, “In the future days which we seek to make secure, we look forward to a world founded upon four essential human freedoms, some traditional and some new ones: freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear.”

At the time of the address, artist/illustrator Norman Rockwell was working on a commissioned project for the Ordnance Department of the US Army, a painting of a machine gunner in need of ammunition. After it was completed, the painting was featured on a poster “Let’s Give Him Enough and On Time” that was distributed to munitions factories. Rockwell couldn’t get FDR’s speech out of his mind and wanting to do more for the war effort was determined to illustrate the president’s Four Freedoms.

Rockwell approached the Ordnance Department, but they were not interested because of budgetary

reasons. He then went to the new Office of War Information where he was told “The last war you illustrators did the posters. This war we’re going to use fine artists men, real artists.” Disappointed, he headed back home to Vermont, but on the way, he stopped in New York to meet with The Saturday Evening Post editor, Been Hibbs. It is uncertain if the visit was planned, but it wasn’t unusual given the regular relationship Rockwell had with the Post. He shared his idea with Hibbs who loved it and immediately agreed to use the illustrations, giving Rockwell permission to interrupt his one-cover-a-month assignment.

Given eight weeks to finish the project, Rockwell took seven months to complete the four paintings. He later stated in an interview with New Yorker, that he got a “bad case of stage fright,” and “The job was too big for me. It should have been tackled by Michelangelo.” One source indicated the artist lost ten pounds over the course of the project. Three of the paintings measure 45.75 by 35.5 inches, and Freedom of Worship measures 46.0 by 35.5 inches. The pieces were published in four consecutive weeks during 1943, February 20, February 27, March 6, and March 13, and were accompanied by essays written by Booth Tarkington (Speech), Will Durant (Worship), Carlos Bulosan (Want), and Stephen Vinent Benét (Fear).

The illustrations were met with rousing success, and The Post received millions of requests for reprints that they sold for $0.25 ($4.54 in 2024 dollars). Suddenly, the Office of War Information was interested. President Roosevelt ordered the posters to be translated into foreign languages to be presented to the leaders at the United Nations. By the end of the war, four million posters had been printed!

A tour during the Second War Bond Drive was arranged with the Department of the Treasury that began

April 26, 2943. The 16-city tour started at Hecht’s in Washington, DC and ended in Denver on May 1. Celebrities such as Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, Will Durant, and Kate Smith were part of the festivities. Rockwell attending some, but not all of the events during which more than one million people viewed the paintings and purchased $132 million worth of war bonds. Those who gave received a set of prints.

The paintings are on permanent display at the Normal Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, Massachusetts which I was fortunate to visit many years ago. Impressive in print, the painting are quite powerful to see in “real life.”

___________________________

The American World War II Home Front in 29 Objects:

Unlike Europe the American mainland escaped physical devastation during World War II as it was not subjected to full-scale invasions. However, that didn’t mean the United States wasn’t impacted by the war. The ramifications of large economic, cultural, and societal changes forced Americans to reconsider entrenched beliefs and traditions.

Artifacts collected from across the nation tell the stories of the American people whose lives were shaped by this second “war to end all wars,” World War II.

Purchase link: https://books2read.com/u/47pLxR

Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Freedoms_(Rockwell)
https://www.mfah.org/blogs/inside-mfah/norman-rockwells-four-freedoms
https://www.nrm.org/2012/10/collections-four-freedoms/
https://rockwellfourfreedoms.org/about-the-exhibit/rockwells-four-freedoms/

Image credits:

By Norman Rockwell - U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, Public Domain.
Freedom of Speech, Norman Rockwell. 1943. ©SEPS: Curtis Publishing, Indianapolis, IN.
Freedom of Worship, Norman Rockwell. 1943. ©SEPS: Curtis Publishing, Indianapolis, IN.
Freedom from Want, Norman Rockwell. 1943. ©SEPS: Curtis Publishing, Indianapolis, IN.
Freedom from Fear, Norman Rockwell. 1943. ©SEPS: Curtis Publishing, Indianapolis, IN.

Wartime Wednesday: Filipina Resistance Member Florence Finch

Wartime Wednesday: Florence Finch, 

Filipina Resistance Member

During World War II, hundreds of thousands of people worked behind the scenes and underground; some while remaining in plain view. Florence Ebersole Smith Finch was one of those people. She was born on October 11, 1915 to an American father and Filipina mother in Santiago. Her childhood was “disruptive,” as one source put it, when her father married her mother, but later made a common-law wife of his stepdaughter. He passed away when Florence was twelve.

As an adult, she obtained a job working as a stenographer at the Intelligence Headquarters in Manila where she met her US Navy husband Charles Smith. They married in 1941, then he was transferred to Correigor where he was killed while manning the deck of a ship. Florence did not receive news of his death until May 1942. By this time the Philippines had fallen to the Japanese.

She managed to convince authorities she was Filipino and went to work at the Japanese-run Philippine

Liquid Fuel Distribution Union. She used her position to transfer ration coupons to resistance workers. This diverted supplies from the Japanese. According to the US Coast Guard website, she also arranged acts of sabotage against the occupying forces. When she found out that her boss, Lt. Col. Englehart had been captured, and he and his fellow prisoners-of-war were being badly treated, she began to smuggle food and medicine to them.

It is unknown how the Japanese discovered her activities, but she was arrested in October 1944. Imprisoned in a tiny cell, only two-by-four foot squared, she was repeatedly tortured. However, this stalwart woman refused to reveal her compatriots. According to the Coast Guard, she was given a “sham trial” and sentenced to three years of hard labor in the Women’s Correctional Institution in Mandaluong outside of Manilla.

The US First Cavalry arrived in Manila on February 3, 1945, and Florence was liberated a week later. After five months of captivity, she was less than eighty pounds. She decided to move to New York to be with her aunt and arrived in May 1945 where she enlisted in the Coast Guard Women’s Reserve because as she said, “to avenge the death of my husband.” She subsequently met and married American army veteran Bob Finch with whom she had two children.

After her Coast Guard superiors found out about her work with the resistance, she was awarded the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Ribbon. In 1947, she received the Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award in the U.S, from President Truman. She passed away December 8, 2016 at the age of 101.

________________

The American World War II Home Front in 29 Objects:

Unlike Europe the American mainland escaped physical devastation during World War II as it was not subjected to full-scale invasions. However, that didn’t mean the United States wasn’t impacted by the war. The ramifications of large economic, cultural, and societal changes forced Americans to reconsider entrenched beliefs and traditions.

Artifacts collected from across the nation tell the stories of the American people whose lives were shaped by this second “war to end all wars,” World War II.

Purchase link: https://books2read.com/u/47pLxR


Photo Credits:
Florence Finch enlistment photo: By U.S. Coast Guard - The Long Blue Line: SN1 Florence Finch, Public Domain.
Florence Finch, courtesy of US Coast Guard
Map of Philippines: Google

Sources:
https://www.washingtonindependentreviewofbooks.com/bookreview/the-indomitable-florence-finch-the-untold-story-of-a-war-widow-turned-resistance-fighter-and-savior-of-american-pows
https://msmagazine.com/2020/09/02/seven-indomitable-women-of-world-war-ii/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florence_Finch
https://www.history.uscg.mil/Browse-by-Topic/Notable-People/All/Article/1854611/florence-ebersole-smith-finch-uscgr/

Wartime Wednesday: Army Slang

Wartime Wednesday: Army Slang

Every generation has its slang, and World War II was no exception. Soldiers had especially creative terms. Here are just a few:

Food: 

• Albatross: Chicken
• Armored Cow: Canned Milk
• Army Strawberries: Prunes
• Battery Acid: Coffee
• Black Strap: Coffee
• Boodle: Candy, cake, ice-cream, etc.
• Duff: Any edible sweet
• Goldfish: Salmon
• North Dakota Rice: Hot Cereal
• Punk: Bread
• Salve: Butter
• Sammy: Syrup

Equipment:

• Ack-Ack: Machine Gun
• Army Banjo: Shovel
• Barker: Heavy Artillery Gun
• Boudier: Squad Tent
• Cans: Headphones
• Cosmolines: Artillery
• Deadlined: Vehicle laid up for repair
• Ether: Radio Telephone
• Flash Gun: Machine Gun used for Training
• Flying Boxcar: A Bomber
• Frog Sticker: Bayonet

People:

• Yellow Legs: Cavalryman
• Yard Bird: New Recruit
• Windjammer: Bugler
• Weather Krock: Meteorologist
• Three Striper: Sergeant
• Third Grader: Staff Sergeant
• Static Bender: Radio Operator
• Shack Man: Married man
• Runner: Messenger
• Red Leg: Artilleryman
• Peep Sight: Expert Gunner

Which of these have you heard before?

___________________

The American World War II Home Front in 29 Objects

Unlike Europe the American mainland escaped physical devastation during World War II as it was not subjected to full-scale invasions. However, that didn’t mean the United States wasn’t impacted by the war. The ramifications of large economic, cultural, and societal changes forced Americans to reconsider entrenched beliefs and traditions.

Artifacts collected from across the nation tell the stories of the American people whose lives were shaped by this second “war to end all wars,” World War II.

Purchase link: https://books2read.com/u/47pLxR

Photo Credits: 

Platter of Chicken: Pixabay/Bernard Post

Jeep: Pixabay/Melk Hagelslag

Radio: Wright Museum Archives

Wartime Wednesday: British Stars Who Served

Wartime Wednesday: 

British Stars Who Served

More than 3.5 million men and women serviced in Britain’s armed forces during World War II. As in America, some of those individuals were film or stage stars and put their careers on hold to enlist. Others were young enough their careers hadn’t yet begun.

Alec Guiness, perhaps most well-known by current generations as the original Obi Wan Kenobi in the Star Wars films, was twenty-seven years old and a successful stage actor when he decided to take a sabbatical and join the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve in 1941. His initial assignment was that as seaman, but he quickly rose in ranks, first as a sub-lieutenant, then as lieutenant. He eventually commanded a landing craft of 200 soldiers during Operation Husky, which was the Allied invasion of Sicily in July 1943. The campaign lasted until August 17, 1943, and drove the Axis powers from the island opening up sea lanes in the Mediterranean for Allied merchant ships.

Guiness also participated in other amphibious operations as well as transported troops and supplies

across the English Channel in the months leading up to D-Day, then later helped deliver arms and agents to partisans fighting in Yugoslavia. At one point during the war, he was granted a leave to appear as the lead role in the Broadway production of Flare Path, a play about RAF Bomber Command and loosely based on playwright Terence Rattigan’s wartime experiences in 1941. A couple of sources claim that a Royal Navy commander told Guiness that, as an actor, he would be unsuited to naval work, and Guiness is said to have replied, “And if you will allow me to point out, Sir, as an actor, that in the West End of London, if the curtain is advertised as going up at 8 PM, it goes up at 8 PM, and not an hour later, something that the Royal Navy might learn from.”

Our second British star who served is Peter Ustinov, actor, director, and writer. Born on April 16, 1921, he was eighteen years old when England declare war on Germany in September 1939. I was unable to determine when Ustinov joined the British Army – he was an age to be immediately drafted.

Intriguingly, his father Jona (or Iona) von Ustinov worked for a press officer at the German embassy in London during the 1930s and was a reporter for a German news agency. In 1935, Jona became a British subject and began to work for MI5. One of his responsibilities was to “handle” spy Wolfgang Gans zu Putlitz. In his autobiography Peter Ustinov comments that his father hosted secret meetings in their home with senior British and German officials.

Peter served as a private during the war spending most of his service in the Army Cinema Unit where he made recruitment films, wrote plays, and appeared in three films as an actor, including the propaganda film One of Our Aircraft is Missing. At one point he was writing the David Niven film The Way Ahead, but the difference in their ranks (Niven was a Lt. Colonel) didn’t allow for “regular military association,” so Ustinov was appointed as Niven’s batman, basically his personal servant. In 1944, under the Entertainments National Service Association, he performed the role of Sir Anthony Absolute in the play The Rivals at the Larkhill Camp, a military garrison in Wiltshire. He later spoke about his service in an interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S60wU7Y19EA

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A Lesson in Love

He thinks he’s too old. She thinks she’s too young. Can these teachers learn that love defies all boundaries?

Born and raised in London, Isobel Turvine knows nothing about farming, but after most of the students in her school evacuate during Operation Pied Piper, she’s left with little to do. Then her friend Margery talks her into joining the Women’s Land Army, and she finds herself working the land at a manor home in Yorkshire that’s been converted to a boys’ school. A teacher at heart, she is drawn to the lads, but the handsome yet stiff-necked headmaster wants her to stick to farming.

Left with an arm that barely works from the last “war to end all wars,” Gavin Emerson agrees to take on the job of headmaster when his school moves from London to Yorkshire, but he’s saddled with the quirky manor owner, bickering among his teachers, and a gaggle of Land Army girls who have turned the grounds into a farm. When the group’s blue-eyed, raven-haired leader nearly runs him down in a car, he admonishes her to stay in the fields, but they are thrown together at every turn. Can he trust her not to break his heart?

Pre-order Link: https://amzn.to/3YHgUb0

Photo credit: 

Alec Guiness: Getty Images

Normandy: By Chief Photographer's Mate (CPHoM) Robert F. Sargent - Public Domain, 

Peter Ustinov: Public Domain

Wartime Wednesday: Factory Conversions

Wartime Wednesday: Factory Conversions

Much is said about the level of production that America achieved during World War II. However, few people realize that industrial manufacturing decreased during the early years of the war. Two prime issues were the cause: 1) plants had to be converted to handle potentially different sized items and new manufacturing processes; and 2) the availability of raw materials was challenging because multiple companies were competing for the same components.

Factories in the 1940s were not automated like today. Most had conveyor belts that moved parts along, with cranes for heavy pieces and stations along the way for manual labor. Seems simple enough to convert. However, every plant had some sort of supply chain, each with a potential for bottlenecks and delays. Material shortages were a common problem, and as manufacturers implemented new processes, efficiencies had to be worked out. Workers, many of whom had never worked in a factory, had to be trained; a time-consuming task for products such as complex aircraft or radar components.

One source indicated that the steel industry was one of the main supply issues. In 1941, production was

projected to fall short unless mills received thirty-two million tons of scrap, but the scrap was not making it was to mills because brokers had hoarded two million tons to force a rice in the price ceiling. Additionally, scrap metal was also being used in other industries. The government stepped in to “iron out a system for managing allocations strategically.” Import of raw materials such as oil, steel, and other metals from other countries also helped ease the burden.

Smaller manufacturers often converted to producing ammunition components. Cosmetic companies whose peacetime products were often small, sealed containers (lipstick, compacts, etc.) could be converted to manufacture similar products for holding ointments or ampules. In addition, their existing expertise in mixing chemicals allowed them to easily produce medical supplies like antiseptic creams and ointments.

Maytag, famous for its clothes washing machines turned to making aircraft parts. Chrysler made fuselages. General Motors made airplane engines, guns, trucks, and tanks. Packard produced Rolls-Royce engines for the British air force. Ford Motor Company manufactured B-24 Liberator long-range bombers. Mattatuck Manufacturing in Waterbury, CT switched from upholstery nails to cartridge clips for Springfield rifles. The American Brass Company produced cartridge cases and mortar shells, billions of small caliber bullets, and toward the end of the war components for the atomic bomb.

One source indicated that Scovill Manufacturing “produced so many different military items, the Waterbury Republican reports that “there wasn’t an American or British fighting man…who wasn’t’ dependent on [the company] for some part of the food, clothing, shelter, and equipment that sustained [him] through the…struggle.””

Despite the time it took to ramp up production; production that didn’t peak until 1943, America out produced the enemy and provided almost two-thirds of the Allied military equipment during the war:

• 297,000 aircraft 
• 193,000 artillery pieces 
• 86,000 tanks 
• 2 million army truck

In four years, American industrial production, already the world’s largest, doubled in size.

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The American WWII Home Front Told in 29 Objects

Unlike Europe the American mainland escaped physical devastation during World War II as it was not subjected to full-scale invasions. However, that didn’t mean the United States wasn’t impacted by the war. The ramifications of large economic, cultural, and societal changes forced Americans to reconsider entrenched beliefs and traditions.

Artifacts collected from across the nation tell the stories of the American people whose lives were shaped by this second “war to end all wars,” World War II.

Pre-Launch page (be sure to click “Notify me on launch”): https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/lindashentonmatchett/the-world-war-ii-home-front-in-29-objects-illustrated-book

Photo Credits:

Steel manufacturing: Pixabay

Assembly Line: Deposit Photos

Scovill Building: Library of Congress

Wartime Wednesday: Storing Britain's Treasures

Wartime Wednesday: 

Storing Britain’s Treasures

As the possibility of war with Germany grew closer, the curators and directors of Britain’s art institutions devised plans for the safe keeping of the country’s treasures. Initially, the National Gallery and the British Museum shuttled many of their items to various locations in Wales including the University of North Wales at Bangor, Caernarvon Castle, Penrhyn Castle, and the National Library of Wales in Aberystwyth. The Tate Gallery moved their items to underground tube stations and private homes such as Eastington Hall, Hellens at Much Marcle in Herefordshire, and Muncaster Castle in Ravenglass.

An idea that surfaced about where to store the treasures was to ship collections to Canada. However, when Prime Minister Winston Churchill was asked for permission, he stated, “hide them in caves and cellars, but not one picture shall leave this island.” Considering the number of ships sunk by U-boats over the course of the war, his decision was probably wise.

After it was determined that Britain’s art would remain in Britain more suitable, long-term, and secure

locations needed to be found. Antiquities experts are well aware that paintings require stable humidity and temperature. An abandoned slate mine near Blaenau Ffestiniog at Manod Mawr, a mountain in north Wales was perfect. Not only was the location difficult to find, but the mines were also covered by hundreds of feet of slate and granite, making them nearly impossible to destroy with bombs.

Manod’s entrance was enlarged with explosives, then “bungalows” with special heating systems were constructed inside the caverns to protect the paintings from changes in temperature and humidity. Check out this video of items being transported: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLQdRX9Xhm0.

By 1942, the National Gallery instituted “picture of the month.” Fewer bombing raids were hitting London, so the directors felt it was safe to bring one painting from Manod each month and put it on display during the day. At night, the piece would be removed to the underground strong room.

A week after Germany’s surrender, the National Gallery returned a portion of the collection to London and held an exhibition in the undamaged rooms in the east wing (the building having been hit by bombs nine times between October 1940 and April 1941).

Photo Credits:

National Gallery: Pixabay/khjgd2

Elgin Marbles: Pixabay/awsloley

Manod Mine: Fred Ramage/Keystone Features

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A Lesson in Love (The Strength of His Heart Limited Edition Anthology)

He thinks he’s too old. She thinks she’s too young. Can these teachers learn that love defies all boundaries?

Born and raised in London, Isobel Turvine knows nothing about farming, but after most of the students in her school evacuate during Operation Pied Piper, she’s left with little to do. Then her friend Margery talks her into joining the Women’s Land Army, and she finds herself working the land at a manor home in Yorkshire that’s been converted to a boys’ school. A teacher at heart, she is drawn to the lads, but the handsome yet stiff-necked headmaster wants her to stick to farming.

Left with an arm that barely works from the last “war to end all wars,” Gavin Emerson agrees to take on the job of headmaster when his school moves from London to Yorkshire, but he’s saddled with the quirky manor owner, bickering among his teachers, and a gaggle of Land Army girls who have turned the grounds into a farm. When the group’s blue-eyed, raven-haired leader nearly runs him down in a car, he admonishes her to stay in the fields, but they are thrown together at every turn. Can he trust her not to break his heart?

Purchase link: https://amzn.to/4f9iLKO

Wartime Wednesday: British Schools During WWII

Wartime Wednesday: 

British Schools During WWII

British children were impacted by World War II in significant ways, one of which was their schooling. Both urban and rural areas were affected, but in different ways.

On the same day that Germany invaded Poland, authorities began Operation Pied Piper, a program that evacuated children, pregnant women, and mothers with infants. As the possibility of war loomed in the late 1930, the Anderson Committee (formed in 1924 and led by Sir John Anderson who would later invent a style of air raid shelter), published a report outlining evacuation of urban areas including London, Manchester, Birmingham, and Glasgow. Eventually, 1.5 million people, of which 800,000 were children, would move from cities to outlying areas.

England was divided into three zones: evacuation (areas expected to be heavily bombed), neutral (areas that would not send or receive evacuees), and reception (rural areas where evacuees would be sent. Rather than building camps, the plan called for housing evacuees in private homes. Individuals deemed suitable hosts faced fines if they refused to take in an evacuee.

As a result of the evacuations thousands of schools were closed in urban areas. According to one

source, approximately one in five was damaged by bombing or requisitioned by the government. Another site commented that around two-thirds were handed over the Civil Defence Services. Teachers were expected to evacuate as well, and a large percentage of male teachers were drafted.

Unfortunately, statistics indicate that only about fifty percent of the children in urban areas evacuated, which translates into about one million students without schools. This created several issues in addition the forfeiture of education:

• “Hooliganism” (as one source put it)
• Poor families lost their free milk and school dinners
• Medical inspections that took place in school ceased

In rural areas, schools remained open but were soon overrun with evacuees. Classroom size burgeoned with fewer teachers available. Some schools created a building-share, with classes held for locals during one half of the day, and classes held for evacuees during the other half of the day. Some areas used churches, village halls, or warehouses for schools. Shortages of books, paper, and equipment made teaching and learning a challenge.

Tragically, all this translated into the fact that a “significant number of children failed to reach the required levels of literacy and numeracy after the war.”

______________________

A Lesson in Love (The Strength of His Heart Limited Edition Anthology)

He thinks he’s too old. She thinks she’s too young. Can these teachers learn that love defies all boundaries?

Born and raised in London, Isobel Turvine knows nothing about farming, but after most of the students in her school evacuate during Operation Pied Piper, she’s left with little to do. Then her friend Margery talks her into joining the Women’s Land Army, and she finds herself working the land at a manor home in Yorkshire that’s been converted to a boys’ school. A teacher at heart, she is drawn to the lads, but the handsome yet stiff-necked headmaster wants her to stick to farming.

Left with an arm that barely works from the last “war to end all wars,” Gavin Emerson agrees to take on the job of headmaster when his school moves from London to Yorkshire, but he’s saddled with the quirky manor owner, bickering among his teachers, and a gaggle of Land Army girls who have turned the grounds into a farm. When the group’s blue-eyed, raven-haired leader nearly runs him down in a car, he admonishes her to stay in the fields, but they are thrown together at every turn. Can he trust her not to break his heart?

Purchase link: https://amzn.to/4f9iLKO