Is this quotation authentic (88mm versus Sherman)?
score:9
The quote is not really implausible.
The Deadly 88 — Was the German Flak 18/37 the best gun of World War II? it is said that the Achtachter (Eighteight) was the deadliest weapon of the war, second only to the atomic bomb.
Note also that the gun itself is not entirely stationary, but was also mounted on mobile vehicles or right into tanks.
If the quote is not only plausible but authentic, it alludes to the battle aroung Salerno in Italy. One of the guns in action there had the following killing marks:
Source: Flak 88 bei Salerno
But very accurate that quote from above apparently seems also not:
Well, it's like this. I was on a hill as a battery commander with six 88 mm anti-tank guns, and the Americans kept sending tanks down this road. We kept knocking them out. Every time they sent a tank we knocked it out. Finally, we ran out of ammunition and the Americans didn't run out of tanks.
(From John Norris, Mike Fuller: "88mm Flak. 18/36/37/41 & PaK 43 1936–45", New Vanguard 46, Osprey: Oxford, 2002, p 34–35.)
This quote is amply found on the net then. In Douglas A. Macgregor: "Transformation Under Fire: Revolutionizing how America Fights" it even has a footnote attached to the quote, indicating that this sometimes qualified as "legendary quote from a German officer captured in Salerno" might be indeed real, but that page is inaccessible for me now.
Apparently the source for this quote is the personal memoir of David H. Hackworth stationed in Italy after the war as part of the occupation forces. It is found in David H. Hackworth & Julie Sherman: "About Face: The Odyssey of an American Warrior" , Touchstone: New York, 1990, p 274.
So it seems that the quote in question got a bit mangled. As it appears the source version of this quote has a number typo for the year when it was supposed have happened in Macgregor. Salerno battle was over in 43, and while a prisoner of war may be kept there in 44, the one person that claims to have directly spoken to 'the German lieutenant' seems to be Hackworth, stationed in Italy only after the war at age 15. As this is painted as a private exchange between two individuals it is either an authentic recollection or at least portrayal by Hackworth, or he made it all up by himself. It may be possible that Hackworth wrote this anecdote down earlier, only recycling it in his 1990 book. That the 88 was an efficient tank killer of legendary fame might have been inspiring in devising this story quote, but as far as the details go, Hackworth is very likely the source for it.
That he apparently did recycle this now famous story is apparent in that it also apears in his later book "Brave Men" (p163) and that his, Hackworth's story, is also quoted in Stewart H. Loory: "Defeated. Inside America's Military Machine", Random House: New York, 1973, p39 as well as in James M. Fallows: "National Defense, Vol 306", Vintage Books, 1982, p27.
It seems quite authentic over all. When it was first brought down onto paper currently eludes me.
More post
- 📝 What was the Soviet reasoning for developing their Airborne Forces (VDV) into a powerful military branch?
- 📝 Are there archaeological sites of Drusus‘ campaign 9 BC?
- 📝 Earliest examples of "pop culture" in history
- 📝 Marbury vs Madison, what about other midnight judges?
- 📝 How was armour rusting in the rain handled throughout history?
- 📝 When did inadequate or inaccurate maps produce important historical consequences?
- 📝 What's the date of this army uniform?
- 📝 When and where did praying with eyes closed originate?
- 📝 If WW2 trench warfare really was a poor use of outdated tactics then what what would have been more appropriate tactics to employ?
- 📝 What was the value of a thousand talents in Roman Palestine about AD 33?
- 📝 Was the Nazi ideology invented by Hitler?
- 📝 Is there evidence that German soldiers tried to prevent the Jedwabne Pogrom?
- 📝 How well were the African soldiers equipped in the civil war?
- 📝 Please outline how Philip II gained Normandy from the Third Crusade
- 📝 Was World War I a war of liberals against authoritarians?
- 📝 What calendar did the Mauryan Empire use?
- 📝 How were the borders of the Holy Roman Empire established?
- 📝 What do citizens of countries that partition do about new anthems?
- 📝 Why was Queretaro chosen as a fail-safe capital of Mexico?
- 📝 What transit restrictions were in place in Occupied Germany limiting military and civilian movement between the four occupation zones?
- 📝 How much was cost for a regular (standard class) passenger to come on passenger ship from Liverpool England to Canada between 1906-1908
- 📝 Examples of Romans repeating early stages of the cursus honorum
- 📝 Looking for Cato quotes/anecdotes
- 📝 What exactly did the 1868 Szepes Petition do?
- 📝 What happend to the other Kaabas?
- 📝 Christian and Etruscan end of times
- 📝 Challenges Margaret Thatcher faced as a woman?
- 📝 How did the Trojan allies get to Troy?
- 📝 Historical examples of an elected absolute monarch:
- 📝 Did a mob of men dressed in skirts threaten the life of Anne Boleyn?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 Is this quotation authentic (88mm versus Sherman)?
- 📝 Why exactly did telegraphs have to use "STOP" instead of a period and "QUOTE" instead of a quotation mark? (Or special codes.)
- 📝 Identify the era or any other clues from this soldier's picture?
- 📝 Did Albert Einstein really receive this rejection letter from the University of Bern?
- 📝 Is this artwork (used in a video game) real?
- 📝 What mysterious Flemish peasant activity is depicted in this painting?
- 📝 What is the logic for the map maker classifying the map this way, specifically in Canada?
- 📝 What do the numbers on this 1960s anti-integration sign mean?
- 📝 What is the oldest authentic example of people complaining about modern times and the young?
- 📝 Why does this London Underground poster from 1924 have a Star of David atop a Christmas tree?
- 📝 Did active frontiersmen really eat 20,000 calories a day? How does this compare to other highly-active people in recorded history?
- 📝 Did Rothschild say this famous quote? If yes, what did he mean by it?
- 📝 Who is this young 'Prince'?
- 📝 What is this symbol in a financial record from Wisconsin, USA, in 1860?
- 📝 Why is this Latin text black but the Latin numerals are red?
- 📝 Did this "sledge rigged like a sloop" vehicle ever exist, or was it an invention of Jules Verne?
- 📝 What is the date and original source of this medieval picture?
- 📝 Is this medieval picture of hanging 5 royals showing an historical event?
- 📝 What coin is this and where is it from? Thai script, Thai arms. Rev: left facing portrait
- 📝 Why do the horses on this vase have too many legs?
- 📝 When was this photo of Mission Dolores *actually* taken?
- 📝 What are the text and subtext of this 1949 Soviet cartoon?
- 📝 What is the object moving across the ceiling in this stock footage?
- 📝 Is this depiction of command hierarchy, with the chain of command standing next to each other, historically accurate?
- 📝 What is this household object from early 1900s rural Russia?
- 📝 Anyone know what this stone building is?
- 📝 In this cartoon from Puck, what indicates the identities of France and Britain?
- 📝 Was Kaliningrad offered to the Lithuanian SSR; was this offer rejected; and if so, why?
- 📝 Identify the circa 1920 uniform in this photo
- 📝 When did horseback riding start? Are Doosheh cave petroglyphs authentic and correctly dated?