What is your local War heritage and family history?

[Musketeer]

Hey guys, just to let you know, that I live in a small village (cca 1k people) from which is according to some best pilot of WW 2: See "Josef Frantisek" here (my granddad went snow riding on sledges with him):

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josef_Franti%C5%A1ek

+ 1 old granddad killed in Mauthausen
+ 1 granddad on forced works in Stalhwerke Freital who experienced greatest bombing of Dresdens
+ 1 uncle partisan

[terminator]

I was born and lives even at the moment in the center of the map (Operation Nordwind) :

Haguenau(2b).jpg (244.85 KiB) Viewed 3269 times

During the operation Nordwind, a shell fell in the court of the house of my grandparents in the same town but fortunately did not explode. The city was cut in two, it was never possible of knowledge from which side came the shell.

[Yrfin]

I was born and lived in the city under Safonovo's name, near Murmansk.
(Soviet Naval Aviation fighter ace of World War II.)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boris_Safonov

[sn0wball]

One of my grandfathers was captain and owner of two cargo riverboats before WW2. Having fought in WW1 as a common soldier, he abhorred the idea of fighting again. While being in the cargo business was generally a good way to avoid the army, in 1940 he found his ships being in danger of being earmarked for relocation to Boulogne - for Operation Seelöwe! In the end, he could somehow avoid this fate - although whether through cunning, bribes or stubbornness I never learned.

[b52pilot1]

My grandfather fought in the Eurpoean theater in the American infantry serving in the 9th Armored Division (the Phantom Division) 27th Infantry Brigade. He enlisted as soon as he could and he off-loaded in France a few days after D-day. His unit figured prominently in the relief of the paratroops at Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge and he was one of the first Americans across the Rhine at Remagen (he is actually mentioned a few times in the book "The Bridge at Remagen"...he is mentioned as being so good with a Thompson sub-machine gun that he could spell his name in the side of a building with it). He earned two Bronze stars and his actions would probably earn him a Distinguished Service Cross in today's Army...the medal citations are astounding. He also earned two purple hearts and carried shrapnel in his leg from a German 88 round until the day he passed away in 1995. He had quite a collection of war memorabilia including German money, Nazi medals, and really badass Luftwaffe dagger (not sure where he got that from!). He had plenty of war stories, some of which are appalling but nonetheless reflected the reality of war. Also, interestingly he linked up with Soviet troops in Czechoslovakia at the end of the war. He remained in the Army for 20 years reaching the rank of Chief Warrant Officer III and served in the Korean Conflict as well, but was not a frontline combat troop in that one...I guess the Army figured he had risked death enough during WWII! He was my inspiration to serve in the US military (but I went to the Air Force) where I just competed 22 years of service as a pilot with over 500 combat hours in various aircraft spanning seven combat deployments.

[AlbertoC]

Both my grandfathers were part of the same cavalry division in the Italian army.

They didn't see any action. Then the armistice occured.

My maternal grandfather was made a prisoner by the invading Germans, and sent to a camp in Germany.

My paternal grandfather managed to escape, for a while. He returned to his home city in Northern Italy, but after a few days he was arrested again by the fascists. After a few weeks he too was sent to Germany, but he and a friend of his managed to jump off the truck while they were crossing the Alps. They hid in the woods for a few days, and eventually they found and joined the local partisans. He fought as a partisan on the Alps for one year and a half. He was wounded by a German sniper during the liberation of Vicenza, and was awarded a medal at the end of the war.

[AMDonline]

my family fought with King Abdul Aziz when riots began in the my home town by another family, my home town is called "AlHareeg" which means "fire" in Arabic
King abdul aziz lay siege on the rebels for 2 months until they surrendered

later my grandfather was the governor of Mecca for sometime.

[funat]

My maternal grandfather fought with (communist) partisans in Yugoslavia. Captured by Germans in 1941., he spent the rest of the war in the prisoner camp in Germany. My paternal grandfather was underage, but served as a courier and watchman for the local resistance (also communist) in southern Croatia, Yugoslavia.

[CroCop96]

One of my great-grandfathers was the first partisan in his village, as the Italians occupied his house and then he burned it down with a molotov cocktail. We're talking about southern Croatia.
His oldest son, my grandfather's brother, was also a partisan, and died - I think he was 17 years old.
The other one was a partisan as well, but I don't know much about him.
Another of my great-grandfathers was an officer in the regular army of the pro-fascist regime, the old gentleman.
Finally, the fourth one was not in a single army because of his principles: the worst scumbags from his village went to armies of both of the warring sides*, and he didn't want to go to either of those armies when they accepted such bastards I don't know how he avoided the draft into the regular Home Guard, well, I think there was no general mobilisation.

*The right-wing Home Guard (regular army of the Independent State of Croatia, named so for historical reasons, it wasn't some gun club but a real army) and the nazi Ustashe (simplified, the Croatian fascist party, and they had the Ustashe Militia which was akin to Waffen SS and was to the Home Guard what Waffen SS was to the Heer), and the left-wing Partisans, who also accepted apolitical or democratic members, but after '42 most of the commanders were communists.

WW2 in ex-Yugoslavia was very bloody and tragic. Not only did all of the people of these 6 neighbouring nations kill each others, they killed themselves amongst themselves as well. Most of Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegowina were a part of the fascist Croatia, which fought versus pan-Yugoslavian partisans, which included many Croats. Plus the Yugoslav royalists, Serbian chetniks, on Croatian territory. In Serbia, Germans vs. partisans vs. chetniks.

Also, the war is largely ignored, whereas from a military history afficionado's point of view, it is really interesting and large-scale.
The Yugoslav partisans, unlike the French, Norwegian, Greek etc. did not fight only small scale battles and raids: they actually fought large-scale pitched battles - like the Battle of Neretva river, with the movie which was nominated for an Oscar. There were sabotages, raids and espionage, of course, but there was real warfare from '42 on.

Also, the Yugoslav partisans are the only ones which actually liberated their country on their own (they received some armament, but mostly took it from their enemies, and even manufactured their own, like the Polish.
They maintained ''liberated territories'' complete with civilian administration at all times. We're talking about towns and regions, not a couple of villages.

Numbers wise: the Yugoslavian Army, which was really a true army, which grew from the partisans, had 800 000 soldiers in '45. Yes, eight hundred thousand. Complete with divisions, corpses, armies.
The Croatian Army had 100 000 - 200 000 at various points. 18 divisions in 1945. They also had a fairly good airforce for the size and significance of the country, they even received 100+ Messerschmitt 109's. Compared to our 10 MiG 21's today, they had a better airforce
The Serb royalist chetniks also had about 150 000 across whole ex-Yugoslavia.

EDIT: To further illustrate the tragic nature of the war, now I remembered, my great grandmother's 3 brothers, in Northern Croatia, were a Home Guardsman (Croatian Heer), an Ustasha (Croatian Waffen-SS), and a partisan.
Truly a fratricidal war.