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Salon Kitty

From time to time, I’m asked how I come up with my blog topics. Well, I do read a lot of books as well as periodicals and they provide a majority of my “inspirations.” However, we are fortunate that many of our readers (domestic and international) of the bi-weekly blogs correspond with us and occasionally, they introduce me to previously unknown people, topics, or events (at least unknown to me). Today’s blog topic is courtesy of Pat P. and the brief subject of his e-mail. Pat is doing some research and had a question about whether a particular British bombing mission over Berlin in July 1942 ever took place. The bombs from this unconfirmed bombing mission supposedly destroyed a building at Giesebrechtstraße 11, Berlin. However the “facts” may unfold, the activities within the walls of that building are legendary and undisputed.


Did You Know?

Did you know that I wrote a blog several years ago called “Rendezvous with the Gestapo?” (click here to read the blog.) It is the story of a B-17 that went down over northern France on 29 May 1943 with nine of its ten crew successfully bailing out of the aircraft. Two of the men (waist gunner George Smith and top turret gunner Hilton Hilliard) were betrayed to the Gestapo and taken to Paris where they were interrogated and likely tortured. After four months in solitary confinement, Smith and Hilliard were transferred to a POW camp where they waited out the remainder of the war. Three of the crew’s offspring contacted me after the blog was published. Hilliard’s daughter wanted me to find the prison and cell her father was kept in. He had carved a message in the cell wall, and she wanted to see it. Spoiler alert: After six months of research, I located his cell and the inscription. Smith’s son, Greg, sent me an e-mail and we have stayed in contact ever since. Greg has quite a collection of war memorabilia pertaining to his father including an original sketch of his father by a fellow POW. Greg found a German website where a photo of his father’s B-17 is posted. The plane had just arrived in England from the U.S. and only the tail number is painted on the aircraft. According to the research department at the Mighty Eighth Museum (click here to visit the museum web-site, it loads slowly), the photo was likely taken by a local citizen working for the Germans as a spy (refer to my blog, Agent Jack, “M” and the Fifth Column, click here to read the blog). Read More Salon Kitty

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OB West

I thought perhaps you might like to read about a site I’ve decided to include in the first volume of our new book series, Where Did They Put the Gestapo Headquarters? A Walking Tour of Nazi-Occupied Paris. For those of you who have read one or more of my prior books, you know that four walks are included along with a section called “Métro Walks.” Each of the four walks has multiple stops and you can walk from one stop to the next without having to jump on the métro. However, there are sites that are interesting, but I couldn’t fit them into any of the walks or they are stand-alone stops accessible by means other than the métro. Typically, I include four of these sites in each book. For example, in volume two of the book, Where Did They Burn the Last Grand Master of the Knights Templar? A Walking Tour of Medieval Paris, one of the Métro Walk stops is Château-Gaillard. This is the castle built by King Richard the Lionheart after he was released from captivity in 1194 by Leopold V, Duke of Austria. It has a very interesting history and the castle’s ruins are situated on a hill overlooking the Seine River and easily accessible by car.

Today’s subject is in the town of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, a suburb of Paris about seventeen miles (twenty kilometers) to the west. It also sits on a hill overlooking the Seine. Its strategic location was one of the reasons why Hitler chose Saint-Germain-en-Laye as headquarters for the Oberbefehlshaber West (Ob West), or German Commander-in-Chief in the West. It is a somewhat compact town and perfect for walking to the numerous bunkers built by the Germans as well as their command headquarters. It is also a town with quite a bit of French history.

Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Château Neuf, 1637. The Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye can be seen in the background. The Pavilion Henri IV is the pavilion on the right. Illustration by Auguste Alexandre Guillaumot (c. 1800s). Bibliothèque nationale de France. PD-GallicaScan. Wikimedia Commons.
Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Château Neuf, 1637. The Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye can be seen in the background. The Pavilion Henri IV is the pavilion on the right. Illustration by Auguste Alexandre Guillaumot (c. 1800s). Bibliothèque nationale de France. PD-GallicaScan. Wikimedia Commons.

Read More OB West