General Helmut Von Pannwitz - had some guts. (1 Viewer)

[Phantom Warrior]

Astounding figures. Would be interesting to see corresponding Allied figures for General rank casualties. -- lancer

There were about 1,100 U.S. Army generals during World War II, (does not include Marines)

11 were killed in action or died of wounds, 2 were executed by the Japanese while POWs, 4 were killed in plane crashes, 1 was killed by friendly fire, and 5 died of natural causes, including heart attacks. As far as I have read, none were executed by Eisenhower or committed suicide so they did better than the German Generals. Another source says there were 1655 Generals with 66 dying before the end of 1945, which includes a period after the end of the war (Patton is one of them) I suspect the first source counts front line or overseas Generals and the second source includes all Generals including Marine Generals and Generals who never left Washington - but I am not sure.

I've seen a list of British Generals totaling 169, but it doesn't include Generals from Canada, India, NZ, South Africa or Australia. It would probably double that number if it did include them

Terry

 

[Gebhard]

Nothing wrong with the British sending him since he went of his own free will.
Many of the Cossacks were anti communist going back to the 1917 Revolution when they had fought against the Bolsheviks. Many had fled Russian persecution after 1917. As part of the Yalta agreement they were to be returned and the British army had to force them onto trucks and or deceive them to do so.

The plot of the James Bond film GoldenEye (1995) is propelled by the secret resentment of 00 Agent Alec Trevelyan, son of “Lienz Cossacks”, to plot the financial destruction of the UK, because of the British betrayal that caused his Cossack father to kill himself and his wife, rather than be repatriated to the USSR.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Repatriation_of_Cossacks_after_WWII

Now you are getting to the heart of the cossacks saga , "Uncle Joe" and his communist underlings had an old axe to grind and would take great pride in executing all the Cossacks if possible ,war crimes or not . Having war crimes involved would just make it OK to the rest of the World to let them be slaughtered . I think your first point was noteworthy Von Pannwitz surely had a choice as to run or not ,knowing fully what it would mean for him to go the way of his men . Does that give him a free pass ? I don't think so and i don't think you were implying that at all. I don't like to get into it over War crimes as they have always been and always will be ...except to say every Nation has dirty hands at one point in history . Gebhard

 

[theBaron]

There were about 1,100 U.S. Army generals during World War II, (does not include Marines)

...4 were killed in plane crashes,...

Does that include Major General Clarence Tinker, too? He disappeared leading a flight of 4 B-24s to attack Wake Island, taking off from Midway as night fell on the 6th.

Tinker's plan was right up there with Doolittle's for its daring, and he would have succeeded, if it hadn't been for the mechanical failure. I'm building a 1/48 B-24 as his aircraft.

Prost!
Brad

 

[Phantom Warrior]

Does that include Major General Clarence Tinker, too? He disappeared leading a flight of 4 B-24s to attack Wake Island, taking off from Midway as night fell on the 6th.

Tinker's plan was right up there with Doolittle's for its daring, and he would have succeeded, if it hadn't been for the mechanical failure. I'm building a 1/48 B-24 as his aircraft.

Prost!
Brad

That would probably be a combat death - not a crash. But I don't know - I don't have a list of names to match against the stats.

Terry

 

[Gideon]

What a noble butcher he was. I don't care who people like him were - if he went down with his men, fine. It just goes to prove that he firmly believed in the actions he took.

Like I said, what a noble butcher he was.

 

[lancer]

There were about 1,100 U.S. Army generals during World War II, (does not include Marines)

11 were killed in action or died of wounds, 2 were executed by the Japanese while POWs, 4 were killed in plane crashes, 1 was killed by friendly fire, and 5 died of natural causes, including heart attacks. As far as I have read, none were executed by Eisenhower or committed suicide so they did better than the German Generals. Another source says there were 1655 Generals with 66 dying before the end of 1945, which includes a period after the end of the war (Patton is one of them) I suspect the first source counts front line or overseas Generals and the second source includes all Generals including Marine Generals and Generals who never left Washington - but I am not sure.

I've seen a list of British Generals totaling 169, but it doesn't include Generals from Canada, India, NZ, South Africa or Australia. It would probably double that number if it did include them

Terry

Thanks for the research, Terry. Just came back on the thread and saw your figures. Very interesting, and telling. -- Al

 

[Combat]

I think Andy is catching up with our 2006 wish lists: http://www.treefrogtreasures.com/forum/showthread.php?t=851&highlight=Pannwitz