Arrive' !

http://www.blurb.com/books/2416194

Ok, my book has come at last! Check out the above link for a preview.

I started this blog on April 6, 2008, over 3 yrs. ago, with almost a year off at one point. This nearly took as much time as my Dad's in the service! Feels like I've spent time in prison. Ack! I couldn't be a writer.

There are some printing errors that Blurb assured me would be ok...but aren't:

None of the red spreads printed nor did the red-to-clear gradations.
Also, I must have chosen the wrong grey ink color because in the quality of the text I can see the dot pattern. Maybe I need to use a spot color, as I thought this was supposed to be a vector file....no pixels. And it's supposed to be a warmer, creamer background color. I can tweak that, but still won't know til I get it if it will be right. But it's right enough and a thrill anyway even though I don't think it a quality print job.

Optimizing for Blurb

After a steep learning curve re: file and printing profiles and monitor calibration, I'm well on my way finalizing images for the manuscript. Still working all day, everyday where possible.

Terminatrix

After nearly 2 yrs. in the making, I've scraped myself off the ground to finish this project. I don't think I touched it for a year and I had to force myself to enter it again. I hardly remembered what I had written...and am glad the research was finished because I couldn't do it again. One good thing, I still like the style and design, so for me it has longevity, because it would be that much harder to get into.

I got discouraged because, understandably, I couldn't get much more out of my father and I don't want to press him to talk about something like this. So I decided to just go ahead and print what I've got rather than have nothing to show for all the work. The huge map I have of his journey was problematic because it wasn't practical to print it in the book as is because it is so large and detail would be lost, so what would the point be? I decided to break it up into smaller areas and sprinkle them through the book chronologically. I've yet to start this daunting task. Then I need to optimize all other artwork as per Blurb's specs. I figure several more months and for the last month I've worked at least 6 hrs. a day on it.

My manuscript has been edited and laid out in InDesign, using Blurb as my print platform. (That's a whole other blog).

They have many format options and I chose the "professional" templates as I'd had experience with InDesign before. Little did I know, but that's old news. I have enjoyed the learning experience and the forums for a change.

Here are a few spreads:

... a long time coming

This work was designed by myself and beautifully laid out and framed by Frank Sumen at FramePros in Glendale, Ca., a shop that has done much of my work over the years.

The plaques were made by Eric, proprietor of Foothill Trophy in La Canada.

Mettle Medals

Dad's medals have arrived, engraved by the govt., after 10 months of waiting. I've configured them in a design I like, with beautiful fabric...better than this mock-up shows. I left it with the framer today, FramePros in Glendale. They've done several pieces for me over the years. The plaques will be finished in a week or two, then it all gets put together. I can hardly wait.

...more incredible numbers!

We have to go back to early 1943, in the North African Campaign. After an Allied ass-wupping in Kasserine, Tunisia, Patton has now surfaced with nearly 89,000 men as II Corp in Gafsa.

Eisenhower has him in back of and supporting Montgomery because of the Americans' debacle in Kasserine. Now, as Operation WOP, Patton is pissed but still raring to go, ready for the charge. Only nary a shot was fired, beause the Italians hightailed it out of town in the middle of the night. Enraged to be only support and then have nothing happen, has one fuming and wry Patton.

Churchill says of Montgomery:

"Indomitable in retreat, invincible in advance, insufferable in victory"

I think more than anything the numbers of the war are the most interesting and incredulous things:

Venereal disease per 1,000 men: 34 whites, 451 blacks

After the disaster in Kasserine, Tunisia was cleaned up in 2 months:

2,000 jeeps assembled in Oran at 9 minutes each
1200 rail cars assembled
250 locomotives (don't know if whole or assembled..but there)

After E. pleads with Roosevelt for trucks, in 3 wks, 20 ships arrive with:
5,000 2 1/2 ton trucks
2,000 cargo trailers
400 dump trucks
80 fighter planes
12,000 tons of coal
16,000 tons of flour
9,000 tons of sugar
3,000 tons of soap
4,000 submachine guns

an accountant noted it was " a brilliant performance"

Wait, there's more...

111 tons of ammo used a day, the total supply equaled 13 TONS per soldier per month!

Between Feb-Mar 43:
130 ships arrive with:
84,000 soldiers
24,000 vehicles
1 million TONS of cargo
500 miles of communication wire
80,000 pairs of shoes

On one train to Beja:
1 sack of flour
1 case of grapefruit
1 boxcar of crackers
16 boxcars of peanut butter

One general noted "The American Army doesn't solve it's problems, but overwhelms them."

Rommel on the other hand, wanted 140,000 tons a month, nearly double that of his previous 2 month supply - and all that even before the Allies beefed up (above). In contrast, the Allies moved 220,000 tons just through the ports of Oran.

But Hitler wouldn't listen.

finally!

I've finally heard from the National Archives in St. Louis that my request for medals for my Dad are waiting to be engraved and will be on their way by January at the latest. I can't wait.

Most all of his military records were destroyed in the St. Louis fire of 1973.

1st spread

My lack of recent posts was due to the loss of most of my artwork in a crash...I was transferring the work to an external HD when it crashed my machine. Don't ask...it was painful and I'm in the process of reconstructing EVERYTHING.

Here's the first finished page that just needs kerning and tracking:

red tape, hurry up and wait

ok. It's been the 3 months you're supposed to wait to hear from the govt. about getting replacement medals and medals that haven't yet been awarded to vets. I filled out reams of paperwork and applications last May to see if I couldn't get my father's, especially his POW medal. I sent so many applications to multiple addresses, probably duplicates many times over.

The only one he managed to save was his Bronze Star for Meritorious Action. I'd had it framed for his 70th birthday and gave it to him at a surprise party. This was nearly 15 yrs. ago. (Wow, that went fast!) I'd like to get his others and frame them also. He doesn't really care about all this, but I'm doing a lot of it for my own pleasure. I still like the framing.

first battle, last battle

Here are a couple of close-ups, the top one the evening of Dad's first battle on New Year's Eve, 1944, near Rimling, France. And the bottom one near the Jagst-Kocher Rivers...he was caught just a day before this engagement and the grey line shows his POW route.

yum!

don'tcha just love this blog's new title typeface??

troop movements

This will give you an idea how the troops came up from Marseilles in the south, to the northwest shoulder of France (the grey shaded area) and west through the Sarreguemines, then pushed into Germany eastward through the insane Siegfried Line (West Wall) of fortifications. Where the red troop line stops and the grey one begins shows Dad’s capture point and subsequent convoy through prison camps south to Augsburg. The 3 red lines sweeping southward through the grey POW route, represents Dad's regiments of the 63rd as they continued their push through Germany, after his capture.

When you think that this is only part of one Regiment...there were thousands of troops orchestrated by SHAEF in Rheims, France, Eisenhower's Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force (pronounced "shāf") during this time. The logistics of this war are astounding. Close-ups are above.

Operation Undertone~Nordwind

If you enlarge this map, note in the upper left quadrant, the pink box with the white cross...that is where Dad's 253rd Infantry was attached for a few weeks to the 44th Infantry Division, under Haislip's XV Corps. Here you can also note, they were being beseiged by the fanatic 17th SS Panzer Grenadier Division, and a French division was at their backs. It was such an even fight, they stayed in the same place for a week. I'm currently researching an eye-witness account by a German soldier, "Seven Days in January". Fascinating reading. The forward is written by Theodore C. Mataxis, Brigadier General, US Army (Retired).

shoulder insignia~"Blood and Fire"

manuscript endpapers

click to enlarge....

nov. 25, 1945 ... leaving n.y.

Dad and his fellow troops departed the United States for France aboard the SS Sea Robin the day after Thanksgiving, the 25th of November, lead in convoy by the HMS Saturnia, a converted Italian luxury liner captured intact with it’s crew by the British Navy.

master map

Here is the main map I'm working on, the original map is on bottom. This map shows the front-line activity for a four-day period, April 1-April 4, 1945. I think I was able to show this time-frame more clearly on the top map in the shaded red areas near the red borders. An interesting creature appears, as we gobble up the Nazi machine.

If you double-click on the top map you'll be able to make out the white troop movement route that starts from the bottom from Marseilles, France, to the northeast shoulder of France, to the Sarreguemines area and over the border into Germany. My father was captured near Obergriesheim on April 2, in a roadside ambush. His main battles and skirmishes were in the Rhine Crossing, "Nordwind", and the blast through the insanely fortified Siegfrieg Line, with his capture just before the Jagst-Kocher River Engagement, a 9-day battle that began on April 4. As a POW, he was taken through Stuttgart, where they were inadvertently bombed by English bombers, then taken to Augsberg, stashed in a barn and finally liberated by the 45th Infantry Division.

By this time, the Battle of the Bulge was mopping up and you can see that the Rhur pocket is being closed (the "eye" of the beast).

I try to match the color palette I've established for the manuscript. This could be done as a 2-color process thereby making it much less expensive to print. And I like subtle color relationships. So that works out fine. The difficulty lies in correlating all the information I'm getting on troop movement from different sources; I've found errors in official troop Morning Reports that differ in dates and places from personal memoirs of soldiers, etc.

after


before

stats

Daily supply tonnage brought into Europe through the ports of France on December 15, 1944, the beginning of the Ardennes/Alsace Campaign:

23,050

blood and fire

I finally got the CD's I was waiting on...the compiled  history and troop movements of Dad's 253rd Infantry.  Complete order of command still confuses me (not necessarily in this order): H Company, 2nd Battalion, 253rd Infantry Regiment,  63rd Infantry Division. Vets of the campaigns/battles of the 253rd have contributed to the thin knowledge that managed to escape that fire in the Govt. archives.  It is spotty and some of the info comes in the form of copies of old mimeographed Morning Reports that were daily reports of the troops activites, some barely if not impossible to read. Being that they had to be recorded, I imagine a soldier, a few miles in back of the front lines, typing away, probably on an old Remington.

I went over a rough timeline I had pieced together with my Dad yesterday, to see what towns, villages, names of guys in his company, the officers he might remember.  It was only about 66 yrs. ago, (!) but I actually was able to jar his memory some.

He left the war behind him as soon as he was shipped home, not like some men who got involved in the organizations and reunions.  But some of these men have dedicated their time putting together as much material they could find and have actually become historians. Here is the main site I've been involved with. This is real history, with wars worth fighting. Not like today.

my dad,~joe goldberg