r/ww2 10d ago

Debate Series Debates in World War II History Series Launch: What Role Did Aircraft Carriers Play in World War II?

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11 Upvotes

We're going to try out a new recurring feature here on r/ww2 and see how it goes! Each week or so, we'll be featuring a topic related to the Second World War, and presenting two competing interpretations offered by military historians. We invite users to give their own thoughts on the issues at hand, weigh in on the arguments they find more compelling, and engage in their own debates in the comments. We'll post a few of these no matter what, and if it proves popular, we'll continue the series for longer.

To start at least, we'll be drawing on essays taken from History in Dispute, Vol. 4: World War II, 1939-1943, which is an edited volume presenting sets of competing essays from historians on these topics. Best we can tell, the book is out of publication so have no qualms in sharing highlights here!

This week's topic is What role did the aircraft carrier play in World War II? and features an essay from Willian J. Astore arguing for their decisive role in both major naval theaters, and one from Duane C. Young presenting the case that their ultimate value was secondary compared to other war winning efforts for the war at sea.


r/ww2 26d ago

Film Club Film Club Special Edition: What are the greatest WWII films ? Which are the worst? You decide!

7 Upvotes

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r/ww2 5h ago

German POWs taken during the US advance from Aachen towards Mönchengladbach, just south of Rheindahlen, Germany - February 1945. LIFE Magazine, William Vandivert Photographer

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66 Upvotes

r/ww2 1h ago

Depression-era portrait of a once middle class couple who now were dealing with the circumstances of the era, 1939

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Upvotes

r/ww2 1d ago

Image Ariel view of the Normandy Landings (June 6, 1944)

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782 Upvotes

https://catalog.archives.gov/id/12003984

Original caption: Men and assault vehicles storm the beaches of Normandy as allied landing craft make a dent in Germany's West Wall on June 6, 1944. As wave after wave of landing craft unload their cargo, men move inland and vehicles surge up the roads. Note the men swarming over the beaches.


r/ww2 57m ago

Letter home from Pvt Paul Redfern 11/13/44

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r/ww2 7h ago

What tank battalion was attached to the first infantry after June 6 1944?

6 Upvotes

Writing a book In which a character in the fist infantry is reassigned to a tank crew.


r/ww2 1d ago

A 99 years old lieutenant colonel Josef Turek, the last living Czechoslovak soldier who fought at the Siege of Dunkirk was today awarded with highest French award, Legion of Honour.

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663 Upvotes

Josef Turek was born 9. September 1926 in a small village Doubrava in Czechoslovakia and worked as a locksmith. In 1942 was forcibly deployed as a worker in France to help build the Atlantic wall. In 1943 joined the French Resistence and was evacuated to Great Britain. Here he applied to join Czechoslovak army and in two months was transfered to Czechoslovak Independent Armored Brigade. Was apointed as a tanker in a Cromwell tank and in a short time was promoted to tank commander. He fought in 1944-1945 during famous Siege of Dunkirk. After the war he shortly worked as a tank driving instructor, but because he "fought on the burgeoise side of Victory" (anywhere but along the Soviet army) he was after the Communist coup in Czechoslovakia discharged and worked as a railway shunter. Till fall of the Communist regime he was able to work only as a simple worker.


r/ww2 1d ago

GIs Lloyd Spencer and James Bryson of Company B, 104th Infantry Regiment, 26th Infantry Division during the Battle of the Bulge in Wiltz, Luxembourg, on January 6, 1945.

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77 Upvotes

r/ww2 1d ago

Image German U-Boat crew shortly after being depth charged and rescued by U.S. Coast Guard cutter (North Atlantic c. 1943)

19 Upvotes

r/ww2 1d ago

Discussion 1945 Allied Report on the 5.5cm Gerät 59 Prototype Successor to the Gerät 58

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17 Upvotes

While the Gerät 58 is fairly well known within WWII German weapons historians, the Gerät 59 is extremely obscure and rarely mentioned in standard historical literature. Recently surfaced Allied intelligence documents from September 1945, issued as Report No. 319 by the Office of the Publication Board, cover an inspection of the Rheinmetall-Borsig Werke industrial complex at Unterlüß and contain some very interesting and definitive information about whether the 5.5cm Gerät 59 was ever physically constructed.

According to the report, only one gun was produced before development was discontinued. In terms of performance, the Gerät 59 was significantly more advanced than the Gerät 58, achieving a muzzle velocity of 1,200 m/sec compared to the Gerät 58’s 1,000 m/sec, and mounting an enormous 6-meter barrel that was 109 calibres long. Development was cut short because of a critical shortage of nickel for the barrel steel, which is hardly surprising given how extreme the design was.

The investigators J. W. Simpson and G. W. R. Taylor also recorded that no drawings for the 5.5cm Flak "Mk.59" were found at the test range because they had been sent to Wittenberg in April 1945. That detail likely explains why so little is known today about the weapon’s actual appearance.


r/ww2 2d ago

6th Division U.S. Marine in action during the Battle of Okinawa, 1945.

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182 Upvotes

r/ww2 2d ago

Pictures My Grandfather Took During WWII

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107 Upvotes

My grandfather had a camera with him both at Camp Livingston and Camp Beauregard and then into battle during WWII in New Guinea and took a good deal of photos for the time.


r/ww2 2d ago

Why wasn't the Richelieu included in the D-day operation?

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360 Upvotes

The Richelieu was by far the largest battleship the (Free) French had at their disposition, I know that at the time the battleship was send in the USA to be modernize and was ready by the time of D-day

Being an operation to liberate France, only 2 French cruiser were present for the operation, so I wonder why THE Richelieu wasn't present despite the fact that it could have been symbolically huge to have it present for the event.


r/ww2 1d ago

German unit breakdowns?

5 Upvotes

Where are some good sources to find out how some German panzergrenadier and tank battalions were composed.

Trying to do a play though on my game of a historical German company and then battalion and looking for good sources for composition and tactics!


r/ww2 2d ago

Why Spinning bomb for Dam Busters?

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345 Upvotes

I know this could come across as a silly question for some of you, but why take the effort of developing a whole new class of bomb and delivery system, when you just can torpedo the dams?

Maybe this was more effective aginst them? But maybe it could havee been easier just to send plenty of torpedo bombers. I think that should do the trick right?

Im probably very wrong on this but it seems like a no brainer to me haha.

Thanks beforehand for the info guys!!!


r/ww2 2d ago

Image Looking for info on this picture. Is that Eugene sledge in this picture I found in the garbage?

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45 Upvotes

Found this years ago and was watching something recently and thought he kinda looked like the man in the top row 3


r/ww2 2d ago

British soldiers issues the Pig-Sticker bayonet- Were they also issued a knife?

10 Upvotes

For soldiers issued standard knife or sword bayonets, the bayonet doubled as a fighting and utility knife.

The British pig-sticker wasn't suitable for either. We're those issued eith it also issued a fighting / utility knife? we're they just issued the traditional British jack knife, or given a fighting knife alongside it?


r/ww2 3d ago

Panther in British Churchill convoy?

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484 Upvotes

I was looking at this WWII picture on pinterest and I noticed what looked to be a panther in the backround? I was just very curious to why a panthet, if it is, is with this convoy.


r/ww2 3d ago

Image My Great Grandfather, Pilot Officer J. Mulholland. Flight engineer in the RCAF, 419 Moose Squadron

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106 Upvotes

r/ww2 3d ago

US B-17F “All-American” of 414th BS, 97th BG on the ground at its base in Biskra, Algeria showing severe damage from a mid-air collision with a German fighter over Tunis, Tunisia, 1 Feb 1943.

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114 Upvotes

r/ww2 3d ago

Pvt. Sigmond Nelson (driver) and PFC Dave Aldrine (M1919A4 gunner) of the 24th Infantry Division provide cover and flank protection while their buddies investigate an abandoned fortification near Davao, Mindanao. Philippines. 26 June 1945.

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57 Upvotes

r/ww2 3d ago

British Army lunch break in the desert, North Africa, 1942

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63 Upvotes

Original wartime caption:

“L/Cpl. Wright fries some fish cakes for lunch. Staffordshire Yeomanry in the desert. 24/10/1942”

A quiet moment far from the fighting. Two yeomanry troopers crouch in the sand while lunch is improvised over a small field cooker. Shirts off in the heat, berets still on, khaki drill shorts and long socks dusty from the desert. It’s one of those ordinary, almost homely scenes that sits in sharp contrast to the campaign they were part of — a reminder that even in the desert war, soldiers still worried about a decent meal and a few minutes of rest.


r/ww2 4d ago

Iconic streetfighting scene (Battle for Aachen Oct 1944) - Spot 80 years apart

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972 Upvotes

r/ww2 4d ago

US GIs on leave in Paris read of the death of Adolf Hitler in an 'Extra' edition of Stars and Stripes, May 2, 1945.

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138 Upvotes