From the news article:

A less festive bunch it’s hard to imagine.

This is Hitler and his henchmen celebrating Christmas in 1941 – not that you’d know it from their glum expressions.

These probably had something to do with the recent dispiriting failure of Nazi attempts to seize Moscow and take control of Russia.

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He spews on: “We can’t judge people as only ‘bad’ or ‘good,’…[Hitler] is the product of a series of actions. It’s cause and effect. People in America don’t know the connection between WWI and WWII.”

Stone proclaimed that the “Jewish domination of the media” is why Hitler gets the historical shaft….

My God, then again this guys loves Hugo Chavez and Castro.

I want to, therefore, share with you General Eisenhower’s message to his soldiers just prior to their mission:

Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen of the Allied Expeditionary Force! You are about to embark upon a great crusade, toward which we have striven these many months. The eyes of the world are upon you. The hopes and prayers of liberty loving people everywhere march with you. In company with our brave Allies and brothers in arms on other fronts, you will bring about the destruction of the German war machine, the elimination of Nazi tyranny over the oppressed peoples of Europe, and security for ourselves in a free world.

Your task will not be an easy one. Your enemy is well trained, well equipped and battle hardened, he will fight savagely.

But this is the year 1944! Much has happened since the Nazi triumphs of 1940-41. The United Nations have inflicted upon the Germans great defeats, in open battle, man to man. Our air offensive has seriously reduced their strength in the air and their capacity to wage war on the ground. Our home fronts have given us an overwhelming superiority in weapons and munitions of war, and placed at our disposal great reserves of trained fighting men. The tide has turned! The free men of the world are marching together to victory!

I have full confidence in your courage, devotion to duty and skill in battle. We will accept nothing less than full victory!

Good Luck! And let us all beseech the blessings of Almighty God upon this great and noble undertaking.

– Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower

From their blog:

The historical imagery feature gives people a unique perspective on the events of the past using today’s latest mapping technology. We hope that this World War II imagery will enable all of us to understand our shared history in a new way and to learn more about the impact of the war on the development of our cities.

You will be able to compare war time reconnaissance images to modern satellite photos to gain a unique perspective of the destruction on such cities as Stuttgart (Germany) — that experienced over 50 air raids. I am not sure if the destruction is due completely to Allied air raids or if there was ground fighting that took place as well. Images from Italy, Poland and France are also available.

Here is a nice presentation on what it looks like before you do ahead and download Google Earth:

“…two historians are helping him [Stone] with [the doc]… to offer a fuller understanding of the 20th century…”

Stone’s message, “Hitler [was] enabled by Western bankers.” This should be interesting to see what connections Stone attempts to make and what sources he uses, but most importantly who are the two historians? I searched, and searched, and could not find them.

What I do know about post-WWI American businesses is that they wanted Great Britain and France to ease the reparations and the United States to forgive war payments in an attempt to protect their investments in Europe and Germany.

Now what Stone will attempt to establish is that it was not monetary interests alone, but more importantly racist, Jew hating capitalists somehow facilitated Hitler’s rise…

So who are Stone’s historians that apparently will provide him with the proper historical data?

Stay tuned.

[the photo is of our guy Stone and one of his heroes, Hugo Chavez. Need we say more?]

From the Associated Press:

Howard Zinn, the leftist academic whose alternative history of the United States became required reading for millions of ordinary people, as well as a following of celebrities, has died. He was 87.

Zinn’s death was confirmed by his website, www.howardzinn.org. The Boston Globe reported that the cause of death was heart attack and that he died Wednesday while traveling in Santa Monica, California.

I have made it clear on this blog I am no fan of Howard Zinn the activist historian. But Howard Zinn has done more for his country than I ever will with his WWII service, though I know later he had very complex issues about that time of his life. I found a photo of Zinn from those days and I want to celebrate his service.

Anyway, Godspeed Mr. Zinn.

According to the Progressive/Marxist director, “Stalin, Hitler, Mao, McCarthy — these people have been vilified pretty thoroughly by history,” – as quoted at the Television Critics Association in Pasadena. Stone is a Cultural Relativist who is not interested in “secret” or “true” stories about history. (Interesting  how he groups McCarthy with those other three. Whatever.)

We could say that Stone just wants to reexamine these controversial figures and figure out what made them tick, and how they came to be!? Not so fast.

Consider the following:

“Stalin has a complete other story,” Stone said. “Not to paint him as a hero, but to tell a more factual representation. He fought the German war machine more than any single person. We can’t judge people as only ‘bad’ or ‘good.’ Hitler is an easy scapegoat throughout history and its been used cheaply. He’s the product of a series of actions. It’s cause and effect … People in America don’t know the connection between WWI and WWII … I’ve been able to walk in Stalin’s shoes and Hitler’s shoes to understand their point of view. We’re going to educate our minds and liberalize them and broaden them. We want to move beyond opinions … Go into the funding of the Nazi party. How many American corporations were involved, from GM through IBM. Hitler is just a man who could have easily been assassinated.”

Let me get this right!? He is going to tell a more “factual representation” of fascists dictators who did not kill millions, but tens of millions. His comment, “Hitler is an easy scapegoat…” is so full of ignorance and intellectual hogwash… only the mind of a Progressive nincompoop could utter such a stupid statement. Who has used and how has Hitler been used as a “scapegoat”? Neo-Nazis? Facists? I can’t wait to see.

How about this comment, “People in America don’t know the connection between WWI and WWII.” This is pure lunacy. Maybe the Hollywood hacks he hangs out with don’t! Every student that leaves 90% of United States history classrooms in this country was exposed to the relationship between those two events. If anyone does not know how WWI lead to WWII they are ignorant – War reparations, war guilt, the loss of key industrial territory, and thus Germany was destined during the Great Depression to be a breeding ground for a radical, eloquent, and charismatic persona such as Hitler. This purely evil person has nothing that needs to be studied, other than the environment (as already mentioned and including: hyper-inflation in Germany. If you are starving and someone tells you they know who is to blame and how you can live better, you will listen as well.) Besides, what led to Hitler was Germany’s neighbors and what they did; it was created in part by the French and their desire to punish Germany. Will this be explained? I hope so. Will the German people be held accountable? Lot’s of questions.

So will the above be covered and highlighted? Keep reading.

“I’ve been able to walk in Stalin’s shoes and Hitler’s shoes to understand their point of view,” says Stone. Good, glad to hear it. Only you would want to walk in their shoes.

Understanding the past is a part of the historiography, indeed. Yet the implication for Stone, it seems from the above quote, is to put America in a cause and effect relationship with Hitler, “Go into the funding of the Nazi party. How many American corporations were involved, from GM through IBM.” It could be interesting to see how American corporations were duped by Hitler, just like so many politicians and political leaders. However, will this simply be a way for Stone to imply we are at fault for Hitler’s rise and his designs on Jews and Europe? (I wonder if Stone will talk much about “Mein Kampf”, Appeasement, Ambassador Kennedy to England who saw nothing wrong with the Nazis and Hitler, ect.?)

Note: If you are a teacher who wants to show a good and historically accurate account of Hitler, show your class Hitler in Colour.

According to reports, the 10-part documentary series from Showtime will also focus on events that “at the time went under-reported, but crucially shaped America’s unique and complex history of the last 60 years.” Such events as: President Truman’s decision to drop the atomic bomb on Japan and the origins of the Cold War with the Soviet Union.

Showtime is behind the curve here, big time. I wonder if they are aware of how much the Left and the New History movement has already written about these two events for what is going on 3-4 decades now?

However, perhaps the point is that this simply is an opportunity to show America as being just as evil for having dropped two nuclear bombs on innocent civilians when it did not have to (according to one point of view that is not widely accepted by historians)? Forget Hitler, might their point be: how many millions have we killed? I guarantee you there will be some kind of comparison that will imply how we are morally no better than them (the Nazis). Just wait.

I hope I am way off base here. I liked Stone’s movie W. It was an interesting look into Bush and I thought it was fair and revealing.

But knowing Stone’s political viewpoints and his actions abroad, I suspect this series will not be a fair or balanced presentation. It will not be History, and therefore it belongs on Showtime.

So I suggest you get a copy of The Good Old Days: The Holocaust as Seen by Its Perpetrators and Bystanders or maybe to a lesser extent, Hitler’s Willing Executioners: Ordinary Germans and the Holocaust, and read them if you want to understand how culture, acute malignant culture, can lead to Hitler. As I doubt Stone will tell that story.

David M. Kennedy is a well known historian. His best work, perhaps, is Freedom from Fear which deals with America from the Great Depression to the end of World War 2. But here I want to mention his equally satisfying book, The American People in World War II: Freedom from Fear, Part Two (The Oxford History of the United States, V. 9) (Pt. 2). Superbly written, it covers American social, political  and military evolution from the “Agony of Neutrality” to the the Arsenal of Democracy, to the Home front.

Rick Atkinson’s The Day of Battle: The War in Sicily and Italy, 1943-1944 (Liberation Trilogy) is Vol. 2 in a trilogy of books covering World War 2. All are excellent, but this one I like as it covers a campaign that is not well known and certainly overshadowed  by the Eastern and Western European fighting. This is an excellent and entertaining read.

Retribution: The Battle for Japan, 1944-45 (Vintage), by Max Hasting is a must read in my opinion.  An exhaustive study of the Allies struggle against Japan in the closing years. From the bloody fighting at Iwo Jima to the decision to drop the atomic bomb. The research is top notch and the writing engaging.

Jon Meacham’s Franklin and Winston: An Intimate Portrait of an Epic Friendship is a light and breezy read, yet contains keen insights and thoughtful reflection of one of the more dynamic political relationships in modern times. These two important leaders ultimately stood up to evil and helped to conquer it.

We as Americans are proud of our contribution to the war effort in Europe, yet we at times take too much credit. The most brutal and easily the most destructive fighting took place on the Eastern Front where Germans and Russians did everythng they could to kill each other. The fighting involved not hundreds of thousands (like the Western Front after D-Day), but millions of men. The Russians did the brunt of fighting in Europe, easily. So I offer you Andrew Nagorski’s The Greatest Battle: Stalin, Hitler, and the Desperate Struggle for Moscow That Changed the Course of World War II.  A great book that exposes the true hatred each side had for the other, and the desperate struggle that indeed took place.

Endgame, 1945: The Missing Final Chapter of World War II, by David Stafford is an exceptional book that reveals the  conditions and issues that the Allies had to deal with during the closing months of World War II in Europe. The aftermath of total war, fighting the pockets of radical Nazi guerrilla fighters, and the broken and shattered condition of Europe. A great read that gets into detail on what it was like in Europe in 1945.

You can’t have a “best” book selection for World War II without mentioning one of B.H. Liddell Hart’s books. Hart is/was perhaps the first and foremost World War II military historian and expert. This renown military historian tackles the strategic side of the German war machine in his book, German Generals Talk.

Finally, I give you War Without Mercy: Race and Power in the Pacific War, by John W. Dower.  Total war did not just exist in Europe. America and Japan fought a desperate and bloody battle in the Pacific where racism and hatred existed, just as it did in Europe. Dower’s book is sobering and insightful.

Well there you have it, happy reading!

PS- please post comments on your favorite World War II books!

Obama was right on not to join Sarkozy earlier in the year, as it seems clear that the French leader was trying to manipulate the situation.

Good job Mr. President!