David Doyle Books News #83

Two Tragic Anniversaries

Dear Friends,

The next few days will mark a couple of tragic anniversaries.  I feel that it is important that we not only remember the sacrifices of our forefathers, but also the bitter lessons that they learned.

Sunday, 7 December will mark eighty-four years since aircraft of the Empire of Japan struck the American forces in the Territory of Hawaii.  US strategic planners had long been aware of certain vulnerabilities and for several years thousands of sailors and airmen had conducted large exercises to prepare for this possibility. Nevertheless for the service men and women in Hawaii on 7 December 1941, this came as a horrific surprise.  

The American people at home and abroad -  as well as citizens of many other nations were outraged by this sudden surprise air strike on our vessels and men, prior to a declaration of war.  The smoldering remains of the sunken battleship Arizona, containing over 1000 of her crew, was burned into the minds of a generation - and became a rallying point for those desiring to preserve liberty.

Less well known, but equally or more horrific, were the events of 8 December on the other side of the world.  The sequence of events leading to this tragic scenario began in April 1934 when state and local law enforcement in Germany were removed from local control and nationalized under the Gestapo. Then, in late 1935 the Nuremberg Laws were passed, the second of which stripped certain people of their German citizenship. By December of the next year, a decree on "crime prevention" served as a pretext for Gestapo rounding up certain groups, which were then to be deported.  This plan fell apart in part due to other countries refusing to take the deportees.  Those unfortunate former citizens then lived in concentration camps and ghettos until 8 December 1941.  On that day, 700 men, women and children who had been brought from Kolo, Poland the day before, were gassed at Che?mno (in German, Kulmhof) - the so-called final solution to the presence "undesirables" had begun.  The world did not notice, in part because this was not publicized, and in part, because of the global distraction of Pearl Harbor. Ultimately, at least 163,000 people met similar fates at that camp, a huge number, but only a fracton of the estimated combined total of 2.7 million people who lost their lives in this and other death camps.

To help remember the events at Pearl Harbor, from now until midnight 10 December 2025, we will include a FREE copy of our book USS Arizona Squadron at Sea with any order of two or more of the publications (in stock publications only).  To claim your FREE copy enter the discount code PEARLduring checkout. Sorry, this is limited to the first 25 orders.  Please note - do NOT order the Arizona book and expect to get it for free - rather, enter the discount as mentioned.  You will see a discount of .01 on your order, but that will signal us to include your free book.  Unfortunately, we have no book suitable to offer in remembrance of the "final solution."

On brighter notes - we have received a number of new and restocked books, including:

British Military Trucks of WWI

Panzer Tracts 5-1 Panther D

Panzer Tracts 5-2 Panther A

Panzerwrecks 27

Through the Lens 7

Please note - If you reserved any of the above books, you were previously sent an email advising you that the time has come to fulfill your reservation. Please use the link in that notification to claim the book that was put aside for you - it is cheaper for you, and allows others to purchase through the links above.  If you reserved a book and use the links in this email, you'll pay more, and it will make books wrongly appear to be out of stock (and make a lot of extra work for me and Denise).

We also restocked again on the very popular:

US Army Tractor Trucks and Semitrailers book

USMC Tank Markings in the Pacific

Numerous Panzer Tracts and Panzerwrecks books

And last, but by no means least, by popular demand we've brought back some of our Thanksgiving sale specials.  These offers, which are in very limited quantities, can be seen here.

Denise and I remain grateful for your business!

Sincerely,

David and Denise Doyle

https://daviddoylebooks.com