Why We Fight ~ 1944

Dr. Christopher Rein joins me again, this time to talk about Command Relationships in 1943, although we got a little sidetracked and ended up expanding the discussion to Multinational Partnerships and even the present-day NATO Alliance. Since it was all interesting, we decided to keep it all in the finished episode.

Book recommendations from Dr. Rein's episodes:

Air University Press (https://www.airuniversity.af.edu/AUPress/)

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Dr. Stephanie Hinnershitz, senior historian with the Institute for the Study of War and Democracy at the National World War II Museum, joins me in this episode to talk about Japanese-Americans in the United States during World War II, including a little more on the Japanese-American Army units and the War Department's "loyalty questionnaire", and the role of the US Army in the Japanese-American incarceration. Dr. Hinnershitz also talks about the importance of using the correct words when talking about history, common myths and misconceptions that have continued to this day, and she offers some great advice for current and aspiring historians and researchers.

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In this episode I am joined by Jessica Waszak, Assistant Curator at the First Division Museum at Cantigny Park. Jessica has researched Army Medical Units and Nurses, the 48/128th Hospital in particular, and shares part of their incredible story and some of the challenges facing 1st Infantry Division soldiers and medical personnel during their time in North Africa (1942-1943).

The staff at the First Division Museum are extremely generous with their time and have agreed to provide several episodes this year, and will likely contribute to future series as well. The museum also put me in touch with COL (Ret.) Greg Fontenot who will be sharing a 3-part episode on 1ID and Army history this year, and future stories as well. In addition to 1ID history, the 45th Infantry Division Museum and Oklahoma National Guard are contributing stories and episodes, there will be 3ID history, and Airborne history, among many other topics coming up :) Several other future topics come up in the last half of this episode with Jessica.

First Division Museum at Cantigny Park (https://www.fdmuseum.org/)

US Army Center of Military History Resources:

For more info about this series, including links to all other content, check out www.motheroftanks.com

In this quick episode, I am joined by Andrew Woods, research historian at the First Division Museum at Cantigny Park. Andrew shares an article he wrote 20 years ago for the 60th anniversary of the Battle of El Guettar, and he and others associated with the First Division Museums will be contributing several episodes to this series sharing 1st Infantry Division history as it relates to the Why We Fight ~ 1943 series timeline.

Dr. Luke Truxal joins me to talk about American Airpower in 1943 and the impact of the Casablanca Conference (January 1943) on the Allies' Air Forces, which we will see develop more throughout the year. This is a long episode and there wasn't really a place for me to break it in half that made sense so it's all in one. We also have a couple of cameos from Dr. Truxal's toddler and Pixel may have made it into the final cut as well :) I think these add a cute touch to the episodes when they happen.

Dr. Truxal has a book coming out called United Against the Reich: The American Air War in Europe, which can be found through Kentucky University Press (https://www.kentuckypress.com/9780813198286/uniting-against-the-reich/). You can also get it through Amazon with this Amazon Associates link (https://amzn.to/3MXRdxR) - info regarding affiliate links.

These series began with a focus on the US Army ground forces in 1939-1941, but have evolved to include the Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, and also multinational partners like the British Army, RAF, Canadian forces, and more. For those who enjoy the Air Power topics, there are quite a few on the lineup for the year.

In this episode Dr. Truxal mentions Dr. Christopher Rein, who is also contributing to this series. There are two episodes with Dr. Rein coming up soon on the Air Campaign in North Africa and Command Relationships. Dr. Sarah Myers is also mentioned, she recorded an episode back in March on the WASP (Women Airforce Service Pilots). Another episode on women in the Air Force is coming up with Col. (R) Eileen Bjorkman, with a couple of Royal Air Force (RAF) episodes also in the works and more later this year, including Operation Tidal Wave and Operation Starky.

TW: Holocaust episode

In this episode, Dr. Benjamin Schneider shares the story of the Holocaust, which is something I have not been able to cover well to this point in these series. The first series was mostly focused on the US Army in 1939-1941, and the second series included a few threads on roundups and the news of the mass killings, but these are topics I haven't had the bandwidth to cover well by myself. Dr. Schneider does a great job explaining this important part of the history and I cannot thank him enough for this.

Trigger Warning: This episode discusses the Nazis and, although not graphic, we do talk about some of the violence and crimes the Nazis committed during the war. You will notice that the episode music is different from the typical episodes to this point.

In the first episode Dr. Philip Blood talks about where the Germans were in 1943. Dr. Blood is an independent historian and author of "Hitler's Bandit Hunters: The SS and the Nazi Occupation of Europe" and "Birds of Prey: Hitler's Luftwaffe, Ordinary Soldiers and the Holocaust in Poland" -- I will include links below. 

Links 

Books: