As I recall, when the Norwegains protested to the British that Britain had violated Norwegian neutrality by entering Norwegian waters and boarding the Altmark, the British retorted that the Altmark had violated Norwegian neutrality by anchoring in Norwegian waters while retaining a cargo hold full of prisoners of war. The British also apparently implied that the Norwegians had been either openly complicit in this action or, at the very least, negligent in not discovering the German ruse. My understanding of international law is that belligerent ships entering neutral waters are required to release any prisoners of war they are carrying – a good example being, ironically enough, the British prisonners who were released in neutral Uruguay by Captain Langsdorff when the Graf Spee (the ship supplied by the Altmark) anchored in Montevideo harbour. At any rate, the British position vis a vis Norway was basically, “You drop your protest and we’ll drop ours.” Which they did.
WW2 Generals’ November birthdays
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I knew it was Ronmel’s birthday around now, so I looked it up. As it happens, I was two days out. He was born on the 15th (1891).
What surprised me was that his nemesis, Monty, was also born in November. He was born on the 17th (1887).
Manstein was the 24th (1887 like Monty) . Patton was the 11th Anderson the oldest of them (born in 1885).
My Italian grandfather was November 11th too. But he only made Corporal! -
Gargantua was the 26th
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Along similar lines: General Joseph E. Johnston, who had surrendered his forces to General William Tecumseh Sherman in the last days of the Civil War, died just a few weeks after Sherman. He had attended Sherman’s funeral and had kept his hat off during the proceedings (despite the cold and rainy weather) as a sign of respect to his former adversary; he caught a cold as a result, and it developed into pneumonia.
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@CWO-Marc said in WW2 Generals’ November birthdays:
Along similar lines: General Joseph E. Johnston, who had surrendered his forces to General William Tecumseh Sherman in the last days of the Civil War, died just a few weeks after Sherman. He had attended Sherman’s funeral and had kept his hat off during the proceedings (despite the cold and rainy weather) as a sign of respect to his former adversary; he caught a cold as a result, and it developed into pneumonia.
True Marc. I also remembered that they, too, were born in the same month. Was February, actually, but 13 years apart. Funny.
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