65th anniversary of the end of the war in Europe

Felix A. Cizewski's copy of the 45th Division News Extra edition, May 13, 1945, announcing the end of the war in Europe.

The full edition and larger images are on my family history web site: 45th Division News

(The original has been donated to the  

Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center
which hold the copyright on reproductions of this copy.)

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65 years ago, my father, Felix A. Cizewski, got the news that Germany surrendered. The Germans had been defeated in the 45th Infantry Division's area of operations and the 45th had halted in and around Munich and Dachau a few days earlier. 

As positive as this was, Felix did not yet know his fate. At this point, nothing indicated that he was going home. Was he to remain in Germany on occupation duty or be transferred to the Pacific for the war with Japan.

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For the first time, foreign troops were in the annual Moscow victory parade The U.S. unit was  C Company, 2nd Battalion, 18th Infantry Regiment, 170th Infantry Brigade Combat Team. This unit's history includes landing on Omaha Beach in Normandy on D-Day, June 6, 1944.

Allied Troops to Join 10,500 Russian Soldiers in Victory Parade by Alexander Bratersky,The Moscow Times, May 7, 2010.

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Best history of the 45th Infantry Division.	Best history of the end of the war in Europe.

Why Cinco de Mayo is also a U.S. holiday

General Sheridan (Image from the Library of Congress/No known restrictions on publication.)

Cinco de Mayo is more than Mexican cultural and historical event. It celebrates the post Mexican War friendship between our countries and American support for the Mexican struggle to regain independence from France.

In 1861, during the U.S. Civil War, France sent troops to Mexico and made Mexico into a French colony.

The U.S. was still committed to its foreign policy of opposing by force attempts to recolonize any American nation that had won their independence (the Monroe Doctrine). The Civil War prevented the U.S. from enforcing that policy. As Lincoln said regarding another dispute, only one war at a time.

However, Mexico resisted.  

On May 5, 1862, at Pueblo outside of Mexico City, Mexican irregulars, guerrillas, and militia defeated the invading French forces. 

While the French lost that battle, they still were able to capture Mexico City and impose colonial rule.

Despite losing their capitol and government, Mexico continued to resist.

Abraham Lincoln and the Union supported the Mexicans while the Confederacy hoped to trade support for the French colonization of Mexico for recognition of Confederate independence.

At Lincoln's order in late 1863 Union forces landed from the Gulf of Mexico and seized Brownsville, Texas as a show of force and a warning to France.

After the surrender of the Confederacy, 50,000 Federal troops under General Philip Sheridan were deployed to the Mexican border with Texas.

France withdrew and the Mexicans overthrew the colonial government, completing their struggle which began with their victory on the first Cinco de Mayo.

The success of the Mexican resistance restored Mexican independence and saved the U.S. from engaging in another war immediately after the Civil War.

That's something both nations can celebrate together.

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I wrote this in reaction to white supremacists advocating making Cinco de Mayo "Turn in an Illegal Day".

65th anniversary of the liberation of Dachau

Entrance to the SS training camp and garrison 
west of the Dachau prison compound.

Felix A. Cizewski penciled on the back : "Dachau Germany Prison Camp."

The original has been donated to the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center
(Copyright: Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center)

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65 years ago today, "Task Force Sparks" of the 45th Infantry Division was fighting its way into Dachau. My father, PFC Felix A. Cizewski, was in the 45th Signal Company which was moving from Schrobenhausen, Germany, about 39 miles (63 kilometers) by road north of Dachau to Haimhausen, about 8 miles (13 kilometers) by road northeast of Dachau.

The Signal Company provided support for other units of the 45th such as "Task Force Sparks".

Felix and the Signal Company arrived at Dachau a few days later. Details of his experience and a copy of the 45th Division News with the story of the liberation of Dachau are at my family history web site:

Dachau 1945

The liberation of Dachau may have been one of the most powerful and traumatic experiences of my father's life.

A Disabled Veteran?

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The Rock of Anzio includes a well researched and detailed account of the 45th's liberation of Dachau.

Chicago's Polish-American community in mourning

Polish flag with mourning ribbon on the front of Polish-American grocery store Shop & Save at 5829 South Archer Avenue, Chicago.(Photo by Leonard H. Cizewski.)

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Garfield Ridge, a southwest Chicago neighborhood just  west of Midway Airport, is home to recent immigrants from Poland and descendants of previous ones. I lived there in the 1960s and 70s and relatives still do.

I visited this week and saw homes, businesses, and cars displayed the flag of Poland with mourning ribbons for the deaths in the tragic plane crash near Smolensk, Belarus. Poles, including one from Chicago, were traveling to a 70th anniversary memorial service at Katyn where Soviets massacred captured Poles in the early days of World War II.

Confederate History Month: Celebrate This, Virginia

145 years ago today, my great-great-grandfather-in-law, Anson Croman, was serving under General Grant when Grant dealt the final death blow to the Confederacy by accepting Lee's surrender,

Southeast of Appomattox Anson's unit, the 20th Michigan Infantry Regiment, was protecting Grant's flank and rebuilding the railroad to keep Grant supplied

Not only did today's events permanently answer the questions of secession and slavery, they were the beginning of the the civil rights movement that culminated in the election of President Obama.

To find Anson's approximate location, click on the at the image and link below to the West Point Atlas map of today's events. In the lower right corner find "IX Parke" That's Anson's and the 20th's corps and commander. A note on the map states they were stretched along the railroad from Petersburg to Farmville.

The Defeat of Lee, 3-9 April 1865
(Public Domain Image/U.S. Military Academy)

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West Point Atlas of the American Civil War.

Best one volume history of the American Civil War.

Costs of space tourism

On the forum of the BBC monthly science magazine Focus I posted a comment on their December, 2009 cover story Destination Space.

In the February, 2010 issue an edited version of my post was published:

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Wiesel: If Ahmadinejad were assassinated, I wouldn't shed a tear

While I understand the fear, anger, and rage that would move someone like Eli Wiesel to say this, I wish he hadn't.

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Elie Wiesel (orange box) in the Buchenwald, Germany concentration camp, April, 1945, after liberation by the U.S. Army. (Public Domain photo by U.S. Army Signal Corps photographer.)

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Not only would assassinating Ahmadinejad not solve the Iranian problem, it risks unleashing a wave of retaliatory assassinations of other heads of state.

The world informally agrees that states do not target other heads of state for assassination.

After WWII, states reexamined that position, wondering if they had assassinated Hitler the horrors of the Holocaust could have been prevented.

During the Cold War in the 1950s and 1960s, heads of states were targeted for assassination. One of the unintended tragic consequences may have been the assassination of President Kennedy.

Some scholars speculate that among Lee Harvey Oswald's motivation was retaliation for the attempts the CIA was making against Fidel Castro and other Cuban leaders. Oswald was an unaffiliated communist who strongly supported and sympathized with the Cuban revolution.

Many options such as more sanctions especially cutting off refined oil products, a blockade, or a declaration of war, are available to stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons and supporting the Iranians' demands for freedom. 

Assassinating their leaders is not one of them.

Related note:

Assassinating Hitler would not have ended the war. That would have not changed the demand by the Allies and the Soviets that Germany unconditionally surrender, be occupied and disarmed.

The Allies and the Soviets would have preferred to capture Hitler alive then try him war crimes.

The German anti-Nazi resistance was divided on assassinating Hitler. Some felt that assassination was necessary for a successful coup and to end the war. Others, perhaps Rommel, preferred arresting Hitler then holding a public trial to break the Nazi hold on the German psyche and to began to restore Germany's standing in the world by taking responsibility for their crimes.

For more information:

Wiesel: If Ahmadinejad were assassinated, I wouldn't shed a tear from Haaretz Feb. 9, 2010. 

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Eli Wiesel's account of his Holocaust experiences and his post war recovery.

Sarah Palin's Israeli flag pin

Did wearing an Israeli flag pin at the tea bag convention expose Sarah Palin's affiliation with or belief in religious extremism? She wore an Israeli flag alongside an American one. Some Christians on the fringes of mainstream Christian theology see Israel and the Jews as part of their end times apocalyptic prophecies. Israeli and American flags fly as Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates arrives in Tel Aviv, April 18, 2007. (Credit: Department of Defense/Public Domain.) They believe these prophecies require Israel to retain sovereignty over all the land from the Jordan to the Mediterranean. Therefore they have aligned themselves with the Israeli extremists opposed to the two state solution. The majority of Israelis and their supporters around the world see permanent peace as in Israel's short and long term interests. A two state solution is recognized as essential part of any final agreement. Another part of their "prophecy" requires the Jews to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem.  After doing their part to create the conditions so Jesus can return, Jews will be offered one last chance to convert to Christianity or suffer the wrath of god.  So much for these Christians' "special love" of Israel and Jews. The end of times conversion offer can be seen as a denial of the validity of Judaism as a religion. For more information: Sarah Palin watch: She looks trim, fit -- and brimming with energy and plans by Ann Gerhart, 44 The Obama Presidency, The Washington Post, Feb. 7, 2009

President Obama needs more like General Buford

President Obama is angry that our intelligence agencies instead of sharing and analyzing the intelligence about Christmas underwear bomber Umar Faruk Abdulmutallab seemed to have barely done the minimum required.

General Buford  (Matthew Brady/Library of Congress/Public Domain)

In 1863 Union cavalry General Buford had intelligence gathering responsibilities to find the Confederate army that had invaded the North. He found them outside of Gettysburg.

At that point, General Buford could have done the minimum required by simply reporting to his superior the Confederate's location then withdrawing.

As a professional who took his responsibilities seriously, he quickly analyzed what he just learned. He recognized that the terrain around Gettysburg may be the best place to repel the invasion. He included that in his report and added that he was digging in to hold that ground.

For several hours on the first day of the battle, General Buford and his cavalry delayed the advance of the Confederates until enough of the Union army arrived to secure most of the positions he identified.

President Obama is asking the intelligence community to drop their "what is the least I can do and still keep my job" attitude and start acting more like professionals in the tradition of General Buford.

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General Buford died five months after the Battle of Gettysburg from an illness probably caused by contaminated water, a common cause of sickness and death among Civil War soldiers.

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General Buford's Gettysburg story is dramatized in Michael Shaara's novel, The Killer Angels and General Buford is portrayed by Sam Elliott in Gettysburg, the movie based on the novel.