General Wedemeyer 魏德邁將軍

choi

Jonathan W Jordan, The Man With a Plan; A warrior who helped lead the Allies to victory not through smoke and fire but with charts, graphs and a meticulous attention to detail. Wall Street Journal, Sept 10, 2012
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB ... 17173821008772.html
(book review on John J McLaughlin, General Albert C Wedemeyer; America’s unsung strategist in World War II. Casemate, 2012)

Note:
(a)
(i) The German surname Wedemeyer is derived "from Middle Low German wede ‘wood’, ‘forest’ + meier ‘steward’, ‘tenant farmer’ (see Meyer), hence either an occupational name for a woodland bailiff or a distinguishing name for a tenant farmer living by a wood or forest."
Dictionary of American Family Names, Oxford University Press
(ii) Albert Coady Wedemeyer
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Coady_Wedemeyer
("As a U.S. officer, he was appointed to the German war college Kriegsakademie in Berlin, 1936-38. Wedemeyer was included in 1938 German maneuvers, which gave him unique insight into German tactical operations. When he returned to Washington, in 1938, Wedemeyer analyzed Germany's grand strategy and dissected German thinking. Wedemeyer thus became the US military's foremost authority on German tactical operations, whose 'most ardent student' was George C Marshall. Wedemeyer was greatly influenced, and his career aided, by his father-in-law, Lieutenant General Stanley Dunbar Embick, who was at that time Deputy Chief of Staff and Director of the War Plans Division")

So he had no battlefield experience--and was promoted a general!

(b) Paragraph 1 mentions "the three Axis empires."
(i) Germany of course was not an empire in real sense (German Empire, 1871–1918, ended with the abdication of Emperor, Wilhelm II).
(ii) Kingdom of Italy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_Italy
(1861-1946; Umberto II, the last King of Italy)  

(c) For Kriegsakademie, see Prussian Military Academy
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prussian_Military_Academy  
(Berlin; 1810-1945)
(i) krieg (noun, masculine): "war, warfare"
(ii) Compare
The "blitz" in "blitzkrieg" (German: "lightning war") is a masculine noun that means "lightning."

(d) For brown shirt, see Sturmabteilung
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sturmabteilung
(acronym: SA; known in English as Storm Detachment or Assault Division, or Brownshirts; SA men were often called "brownshirts" for the colour of their uniforms (similar to Benito Mussolini's blackshirts))
(i) sturm (noun masculine): "storm, gale, tempest; attack, assault"
(ii) abteilung (noun feminine): "division, section; department; district; area, domain"
(iii) Note the color of the uniform, in
SA Sturmabteilung. Association de Sauvegarde du Patrimoine Historique Militaire (ASPHM; a French company), undated.
http://www.asphm.com/uniformes/a ... sturmabteilung.html

(e) The review states, "He [Wedemeyer] was in Vienna during the Anschluss, and he saw the Czechoslovakian crisis unfold from the German perspective."
(i) Anschluss
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anschluss
(German for "link-up;" was the occupation and annexation of Austria into Nazi Germany in 1938)
(ii) anschluss (noun masculine): "connection"
(iii) For Czechoslovakian crisis, see Munich Agreement
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Munich_Agreement
(section 1.2 Sudeten Crisis)

(f) The review says President Franklin "Roosevelt * * * ordered an invasion of North Africa for late 1942."
(i) North African Campaign
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_African_Campaign
(June 10, 1940 to May 13, 1943; "Fighting in North Africa started with the Italian declaration of war [on both UK and France, as well as invasion of France] on June 10, 1940. On June 14, the British Army* * * crossed the border into Libya and captured the Italian Fort Capuzzo;"  section 2 Operation Torch: Nov 8-11, 1942 when US and UK landed in Vichy-held French North Africa)

(g)
(i) China Burma India Theater
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China_Burma_India_Theater
(section 3 Allied Command structure: "Initially US land units were split between those who came under the operational command of the India Command under General Sir Archibald Wavell, as the Commander-in-Chief in India, and those in China, which (technically at least) were commanded by Generalissimo Chiang Kai Shek, as the Supreme Allied Commander in China. However, Stilwell often broke the chain of command and communicated directly with the US Joint Chiefs of Staff on operational matters. This continued after the formation of the South East Asia Command (SEAC) and the appointment of Admiral Lord Mountbatten as Supreme Allied Commander [1943-1946]")
(ii) Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Mountbatten,_1st_Earl_Mountbatten_of_Burma
(1900-1979; a British statesman and naval officer, an uncle of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh and second cousin once removed to Elizabeth II)
(iii) South East Asia Command
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_East_Asia_Command
(1943-1946; Garrison/HQ  Kandy, Ceylon; In August 1943, with the agreement of the Combined Chiefs of Staff, Winston Churchill appointed Admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten as Supreme Allied Commander South East Asia, a post he held until 1946)

(h)
(i) John Keegan
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Keegan
(1934-2012; a British military historian)
(ii) Jim Lacey, Keep From All Thoughtful Men: How US economists won World War II. Naval Institute Press, 2011.


``````````````````````Separately
Diantha Parker, A Day for Canada’s Fallen in a Lesser-Known Battle; Dieppe Journal. New York Times, Aug 20, 2012.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/2 ... er-known-battle.htm

Note: Dieppe, Seine-Maritime
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dieppe,_Seine-Maritime
("The Dieppe Raid in the Second World War was a costly battle for the Allies. On August 19, 1942, Allied soldiers, mainly drawn from the 2nd Canadian Infantry Division, landed at Dieppe in the hope of occupying the town for a short time, gaining intelligence and drawing the Luftwaffe [German air force] into open battle. The Allies suffered more than 1,400 deaths; 1,946 Canadian soldiers were captured * * * But no major objectives on the ground were achieved")