Contents

The Military History Digest is a self-chosen collection of recent military history from around the web.

ANNOUNCEMENT: The next Military History Carnival will be on August 29th. Nominations are needed of the best of the military history web. Go here to submit a blog post.

19th Century

1. Back to the Battlefield: Field Notes From a Cultural Civil War Historian by Kevin Levin

"This guest post is by Adam Arenson, assistant professor of history at the University of Texas at El Paso and author of The Great Heart of the Republic: St. Louis [...]..."

World War II

1. German Battleship Scharnhorst by Charles McCain

"I have written in greater depth about the German battleship Scharnhorst.The German battleship Scharnhorst was the lead ship of her class which included just one other ship, the Gneisenau. She was laid down in June 1935, launched in October 1936, and commissioned in January of 1939. Her January 1939 sea trials identified a design flaw in the bow which caused flooded in the bow and forward gun turret during heavy seas. In response, within a few months of commissioning, Scharnhorst went back to the dockyard for six months of refit including converting the bow into an "Atlantic bow." Collected below..."

2. Berlin Serial Killer Caught! by Charles McCain

"Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3+Paul Ogorzow (1912–1941), also known as the S-Bahn murderer.S-Bahn Murderer Paul Ogorzow was arrested in Berlin on 12 July 1941. Since the Nazis themselves were murderers, we find it difficult to realize that ordinary murder went on in the Third Reich as well. But it did. Murdering Jews, the mentally ill, et al, that was legal. But a good "Aryan" German killing another good "Aryan" German was illegal. And when such a thing happened the Berlin criminal police, the Kripo, were called in.In October of 1940, Gerda Ditter, a housewife..."

3. Berlin Serial Killer Caught! by Charles McCain

"Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3The Berlin Criminal Police (Kriminalpolizei) only know that a man wearing the uniform of the German Railways is attacking women in one area of the city. Some of the women are killed, others aren't. In December two women are attacked and thrown off moving trains and they die. It's now early December of 1940. A few days before Christmas, the killer strikes again and over the next two weeks kills three women. The MO is the same: each woman is hit over the head with a blunt instrument and thrown off a moving train of..."

4. World War II: Pearl Harbor by n/a

"On December 7, 1941, the Imperial Japanese Navy launched a surprise attack on the United States, bombing warships and military targets in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. More than 350 Japanese aircraft attacked the naval base in two waves, strafing targets, dropping armor-piercing bombs, and launching torpedoes toward U.S. battleships and cruisers. The U.S. forces were unprepared, waking to the sounds of explosions and then scrambling to defend themselves. The entire preemptive attack was over within 90 minutes, and in that time, the Japanese sunk four battleships and two destroyers, destroyed 188 aircraft, and damaged even more buildings, ships and airplanes..."

Cold War

1. From the Editor: Macv in-Country Cargo Movement Statistics, 1965. by noreply@blogger.com (J.R. Clark)

"Source: MACV Command History, 1965...."

2. From the Editor: Macv Cargo and Passenger Airlift Statistics, 1965 by noreply@blogger.com (J.R. Clark)

"Source: MACV Command History, 1965...."

3. From the Editor: Railroad Status in South Vietnam, 31 December 1965 by noreply@blogger.com (J.R. Clark)

"Source: MACV Command History, 1965...."

4. From the Editor: "We Are Getting Visited to Death": Official Visitors to Macv Headquarters, 1965 by noreply@blogger.com (J.R. Clark)

"Source: MACV Command History, 1965.Note the sharp increase in high-ranking official visitors in October and November, when the port congestion crisis became critical...."

5. Diary Entry 111: Saigon, Saturday Night, 1 January 1966 by noreply@blogger.com (J.R. Clark)

"Saigon Saturday Night, 1 January 1966Today was the day that I was going to sleep late and then get caught up on my writing. Well, it just didn’t quite work out the way I planned. But that is par for the course in Vietnam.By my usual waking hours, did manage to sleep a little late until 7:30 a.m. The air conditioner [in his quarters] is shut off every morning at 6:15 so by 7:30 I was forced to get up as a result of the heat. Went down to the Hong Kong BOQ for breakfast and took..."

Misc/Thematic

1. Historical Potpourri and Miscellany by thomaslsnyder

"It’s been a slow week in the history of maritime medicine–an opportunity to reflect about other things. Well, maybe there was some history-of-naval-medicine news of note: the release of a new book “Battlefield Angels” by Scott McGaugh (see a review of the book here). It’s a popular history of American medical and not-really-medical people who suffered and sacrificed to give aid to comrades fallen in combat since our War of Independence and up to Afghanistan. That former U S Navy Surgeon General Vice Admiral Harold M Koenig wrote the book’s foreword is significant: there..."

2. Nautilus Navigates North Pole, 3 August 1958 by NHHC

"The first nuclear submarine, USS Nautilus (SSN 571), departed New London, Conn., on 19 August 1957 for her first voyage under the Arctic ice pack. The 1,383-mile journey was of great strategic significance, as the frozen northern oceans had previously been a “no mans’ land” since diesel-electric boats could not travel freely under ice. Her [...] ..."

3. Jimmy Thach and Close Air Support, Korean War by NHHC

"They were “the best orders anybody ever received,” attested Captain Jimmy Thach commanding officer of the USS Sicily (CVE-118): “Render all possible support to ground forces. Direct air support or interdiction at your discretion.” It was the desperately dark summer of 1950, American and South Korean defenders of South Korea were squeezed into the Pusan [...] ..."

4. American Military Historians 2011 Part One: a-F by n/a

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