World War II Aftermath: The Ubiquitous Presence of Hunger

"One of the few things that united Europe during the war was the ubiquitous presence of hunger...The struggle to stave off famine was every bit as important as the military struggle and was taken just as seriously." (Savage Continent:  Europe in the Aftermath of World War II)

When the war ended, while the sailor in Times Square grabbed the woman and gave her a big smooch on the lips and everyone celebrated with a ticker tape parade, the suffering escalated in Europe.  Cities were in ruins, diseases ran rampant, rapes proliferated, revenge killings were common and people were starving.

East Prussia, known for its precision and order, had turned into a land of chaos and disorder once the German Army started to lose the war.  While some East Prussians were killed by bombs, mowed down by Soviet tanks, died at the hands of Red Army massacres (Nemmersdorf, Metgethen) or sunk on German ships torpedoed by Russian submarines, tens of thousands of others were victims of famine.

Rob's Ur Opa and Ur Oma, their farm pillaged by the Russians, starved to death as well as his great aunt, Tante Lisbeth.  The only reason that Rob's Oma survived was that she, along with her children, was constantly on the move , searching for food.  Rob's Onkel Manfred had memories of picking fish bones out of garbage cans.  What saved Rob's great aunt, Tante Doris, was a plant called stinging nettle.  One day, Rob's Oma discovered it growing in patches on her parents' farm, pillaged by the Red Army in January of 1945.  She decided to boil it and make soup for her sister, a decision which restored her sister's strength and saved her life.

Note:  For more information, read Savage Continent:  Europe in the Aftermath of World War II by Keith Lowe at http://www.npr.org/2013/07/24/204538728/after-wwii-europe-was-a-savage-continent-of-devastation.

The U-boat: That Dastardly Villain

Here are ten facts you may not know about the U-boat.

1.  Germany turned out over 1000 U-boats during the Second World War.  Most of these were built between 1941 and 1945.

2.  Hamburg turned out a third of Germany's U-boats.  The city was heavily targetted by Allied bombers.

3.  Seventy percent of German U-boats were lost, missing in action or scuttled at sea.  The Allies' organized convoys and improved submarine tactical countermeasures caused this high percentage.

4.  The first ship to be sunk by a U-boat during World War II was the HMS Indomitable.

5.  U-boat stands for the German word Unterseeboot.  Winston Churchill declared:  "Enemy submarines are to be called U-boats.  The term submarine is to be reserved for Allied underwater vessels.  U-boats are those dastardly villains who sink our ships while submarines are those gallant and noble craft which sink theirs."

6.  Karl Donitz, "The Father of the U-boat Weapon", was instrumental in organizing Operation Hannibal, evacuating hundreds of thousands of East Prussians across the Baltic Sea fleeing the Red Army.

7.  Most U-boats were sunk not by ships but by aircraft.

8.  British Commandos hijacked a German U-boat which had an enigma ciphering machine on board.  This gave them vital information about the Nazis which helped them invade the Normandy beaches  on June 6, 1944.  Without this information, D-Day likely wouldn't have taken place until 1945.

9.  U-boats were under the jurisdiction of the Kriegmarine, the German Navy.

10.  Boom nets, mines and waves were just some of the obstacles faced by U-boats.

Source:  funtrivia.com

German U-boat later sunk in Churchill River, Labrador courtesy http://padiprosnorthamericacaribbean.com/2012/10/12/sunken-wwii-nazi-u-boats-found-in-canada/.