A new book in my library

And one about the origins of WWII:

And something about military errors:


The author / editor is highly competent in this field...

And a "first", as far as I know: a Romanian synthesis book about WW2. Am I wrong?

And finally I got it: Suvorov's contestant, yet pretty much similar effect: In the former red corner, Mr. Mark Solonin!


(in reading... DND)

Very nice book long awaited to enter my library. 160 pages of text + 7 maps + 75 low quality photos from the 1100 photos donated by general Ion Dumitrache to Brașov History Museum.

Memory Lane...




... and here's a scan which puzzled me quite much: what unit is that?
The page is from a chapter written by general Zeitzler (then chief of the OKW)


This post has been edited by MMM on September 26, 2012 07:09 pm

Fresh from the oven :

Djuvara and the (in)famous Stockholm Telegram:

How about this one? The guy seems to be a "fan" of Antonescu, perhaps even a hard-liner as Gh. Buzatu... Will be back with details after reading it!

I know, I know, it is from 2011 - and if Denes wouldn`t have told me about it, I wouldn't have got it! There are two PHD's, one covering 22.06.41/23.08.44 (Pentelescu) and one from 1944 until 12.05.45 (Nicoară). Some gu'ys on the forum are mentioned at the Annexae part!

This post has been edited by MMM on May 14, 2014 08:19 pm

An interesting book, although from a "controversial" author...
Worth mentioned that I read for the first time clearly stated that the German Army had NO INTEREST in actually instructing and / or improving the fighting capacity of the Romanian Army. A little exaggerated, perhaps, but still true! The Germans could have done way more in the months preceding 22.06.41...




This post has been edited by MMM on May 20, 2014 09:01 pm

That's a nonsense. Everyone, only with a casual knowledge on the topic, but with an open mind knows that the Germans did have an interest in equipping and instructing the Rumanians. Not because they were 'friends', of course, but because Hitler had plans for Rumania to take active part in the assault on the Soviet Union, on the would-be front's right flank (just as for the Finns, on the left flank). Rumania was also located geopolitically in the right area, and had lots of wealth the Germans needed badly. Therefore, Rumania was actually Germany's preferred East European ally. Of course, they could have done even more, to prepare the army even better for the upcoming onslaught.
Nothing new or out of ordinary in these statements.

Gen. Dénes

This post has been edited by Dénes on May 15, 2014 05:45 am

Is it???
By studying carefully more aspects, there appears a question when regarding the German Military Mission in Ro.
Why did they train only three Romanian infantry divisions?
I mean: OK, they did not have the trucks and tanks for armoured divisions, but why not train the infantry?
(the answer, from more than one source, would be: ”distrust” towards the Romanian pro-allied leadership and the fear that the Romanian army, once it had the equipment, could take back Transylvania by means of force...)

Larry Watts is a good historian but this idea is a nonsense.