Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Military history/World War II task force/Archive 5

World War II article
An editor has recently added a large number of section headings into the World War II article without prior discussion. This change is currently being discussed at Talk:World War II and interested editors are invited to comment. Nick-D (talk) 10:31, 30 July 2009 (UTC)
 * A follow-up note: at Talk:World_War_II there is currently a discussion that requires input from a wider range of people. All interested editors are invited to discuss the changes. Thanks, Woody (talk) 10:18, 3 August 2009 (UTC)

Spelling of Pak
I have noticed that Panzerabwehrkanone is always abbreviated PaK on Wikipedia (i.e. with an upper-case 'K'), but in all the German manuals and other official documents I have, it is abbreviated Pak (with a lower-case 'k'). I would therefore suggest that all instances of PaK are changed to Pak, unless someone can show a number of official documents using the PaK capitalization.
 * I agree, and Flak is another where the Germans don't capitalize K just because it's normally a separate word. Sturmvogel 66 (talk) 20:02, 14 August 2009 (UTC)
 * Another good point (more of a land warfare guy myself, so I missed this one). I do have a few German manuals and documents which all spell it as Flak, so this should be pretty clear as well.
 * As I see it, the main problem will be that we'll potentially have to do a lot of redirects and small edits. Christian Ankerstjerne (talk) 02:10, 15 August 2009 (UTC)

Also, it should be noted that Pak was in at least one instance used as the abbreviation for Panzerjägerkanone, i.e. for the 4,2 cm Pak 41 in Dienstvorschrift 391 - 4,2 cm Panzerjägerkanone 41 - Gerätbeschreibung und Bedienungsanleitung from 1942 (though this is probably best noted in the 4,2 cm Pak 41 article, as it's most likely a one-off). Christian Ankerstjerne (talk) 09:22, 11 August 2009 (UTC)

Update: Started re-naming. Have moved all the Pak-pages now, with re-directs, and have updated the template. I considered changing the decimal point to a decimal comma, since one could argue that since the comma was used by the Germans rather than the point, it should be used in the title as well, but figured there was a reason for the currect usage. Christian Ankerstjerne (talk) 08:33, 20 August 2009 (UTC)

I was certain you were wrong, and reverted your changes - then I found this here, and checked various published sources and found that you were right - PAK or Pak are correct in English. So I have reverted all my changes. Can I make a suggestion though. Please when you make these changes, could you put in an inline citation to sources justifying the change. Most of these articles are very deficient in inline citations, so it would be an improvement.--Toddy1 (talk) 20:34, 20 August 2009 (UTC)
 * This has certainly crowded my watchlist for today ;-) I can get some sources, though they won't be in English. I'm using a combination of photocopies of the original manuals and Waffen-Revue W 127 (the latter being photocopies of the original German Datenblätter - can be found on eBay with a bit of patience and luck). Also, all the German period documents I've seen use Pak. I've seen PAK used in Allied documents, but never in German documents. Christian Ankerstjerne (talk) 21:12, 20 August 2009 (UTC)
 * Sources in German (or any other language) are welcome.--Toddy1 (talk) 06:08, 15 September 2009 (UTC)

Nominations open for the Military history WikiProject coordinator election
The Military history WikiProject coordinator selection process has started; to elect the coordinators to serve for the next six months. If you are interested in running, please sign up here by 23:59 (UTC) on 12 September!

Many thanks,  Roger Davies  talk 04:24, 7 September 2009 (UTC)


 * Just a reminder but, with less than 18 hours to go until nominations close, you'll need to get your skates on if you're thinking of standing as a coordinator. The election is based on self-nominations, so please don't be shy in putting your name forward. The last elections will give you an idea of what to expect.
 * Otherwise, voting starts tonight at 00:01 (UTC). Any member of the project may support as many of the candidates as they wish. You should cast your votes here.
 * Roger Davies talk 06:52, 12 September 2009 (UTC)

Requested move of World War II evacuation and expulsion articles
I recently began a centralized discussion for the renaming of population transfer or forced migrations relating to WWII. Users in this area have shown interest in the topic in the past so I wanted to bring the discussion at Talk:World_War_II_evacuation_and_expulsion to your attention. --Labattblueboy (talk) 13:25, 11 September 2009 (UTC)

Europäische Freiwillige
I have suggested that the Europäische Freiwillige article, which covers non-German 'volunteers' in the German military during World War II be moved to a new name as the term 'Europäische Freiwillige' is not commonly used in English-language sources. The discussion of this topic is at: Talk:Europäische Freiwillige Nick-D (talk) 23:47, 12 September 2009 (UTC)

Indian Army during World War II
Hi I have been working on the Indian Army during World War II, but I am having a problem with the Indian Army during World War II section, all I can find about them is -

''The Women's Auxiliary Corps was formed in May 1942, recruits had to be a minimum age of 18 years and their duties were clerical or domestic. In December 1942, the minimum age was reduced to 17 years and 11,500 women had enlisted by the end of the war.''

As you will agree not much so if anyone could add some detail or point me in the right direction I would be grateful. --Jim Sweeney (talk) 11:41, 15 October 2009 (UTC)

Does anyone want information for a list of World War II naval commanders?
For reasons too complicated to go into, I have a copy of a deleted "List of naval commanders" article now in my userspace. It contains a large number of naval commanders from the US, Japan and elsewhere who were involved in WW2 and contains names, birth/death years and nationalities. If someone wants to, information in the list could form the basis of a World War II list article, possibly multiple articles based on nationality. List of sea captains shows one way of doing this. Perhaps someone here will think it would be useful to readers browsing or trying to find a naval commander whose name they don't remember. Personally, I'm not interested enough in the subject, but I'll save the article for a while in my user space if someone tells me they have enough interest to work on it. JohnWBarber (talk) 23:15, 22 October 2009 (UTC)
 * You could probably leave the list in your userspace indefinitely to serve as a reference tool for others. Where is it, by the way? Cla68 (talk) 23:39, 22 October 2009 (UTC)

Question about Nazi loot and plunder
Well there is an article about Nazi plunder. However, I was looking at the requested articles section somewhere and stumbled across "Nazi loot". So my question is, should they become seperate articles? or just a redirect. (I have already made a redirect for now) After looking over the rise and fall of the third reich, I found a really usefull chapter about "The Nazi Plunder Of Europe" it contains a very long description about not just stolen paintings (which is the focus of the Nazi plunder article) but several other facts such as "occupation costs" and stolen gold. Enough to probably make an article (with the help of some other WP:RS) any ideas?-- Coldplay   Expert  23:20, 24 October 2009 (UTC)

Soviet invasion of Poland
nominated Soviet invasion of Poland for a featured article review here. Please join the discussion on whether this article meets featured article criteria. Articles are typically reviewed for two weeks. If substantial concerns are not addressed during the review period, the article will be moved to the Featured Article Removal Candidates list for a further period, where editors may declare "Keep" or "Remove" the article's featured status. The instructions for the review process are here. --Labattblueboy (talk) 15:37, 26 October 2009 (UTC)

3rd Opinion needed
3rd opinion is needed in Continuation War and Vyborg–Petrozavodsk_Offensive articles. As it is sort of specific issue about casualties, I hope somebody from here could help. --Whiskey (talk) 01:08, 2 November 2009 (UTC)
 * Please! You are specialists of the area, and we cannot move forward without comments! --Whiskey (talk) 10:02, 16 November 2009 (UTC)

Looking for help!! WWII
We are looking for help with the WWII article ...If you would like to help or just see what it takes to get an article of this magnitude to GA level, pls stop  by and see the procedure ->Talk:World War II and/or Talk:World War II/GA1 ...thank you in advance to all that will help!!! Buzzzsherman (talk) 20:45, 14 November 2009 (UTC)

Renaming discussion
There is currently a discussion taking place on Talk:Panzer-Lehr-Division concerning renaming the article. All interested editors are invited to comment. EyeSerene talk 11:17, 16 December 2009 (UTC)

Finding and tagging articles
I've recently been looking for untagged WWI articles, and some of the searches I did may apply here. See this section here at the WWI task force page. Two of the WWII articles I found were: Political Warfare Executive and Psychological Warfare Division. Both articles were created over 4 years ago. Is it possible that there are more untagged articles out there, and is it an idea to try and find them? Carcharoth (talk) 02:41, 16 January 2010 (UTC)
 * Searches are:


 * (A) Articles with WWII in the title (38)
 * (B) Articles with WW2 in the title (2)
 * (C) Articles with World War Two in the title (3)
 * (D) Articles with Second World War in the title (19)
 * (E) Articles with 2nd World War in the title (0)
 * (F) Articles with World War II in the title (639)
 * (G) Articles with World War 2 in the title (2)
 * (H) Articles with World Wars in the title (11)
 * I haven't checked which are tagged or not, but some articles may need renaming where the title doesn't contain a proper name, in order to ensure standard titling across all articles (World War II appears to be the standard). Carcharoth (talk) 03:11, 16 January 2010 (UTC)

Battles by country
The Category:Battles and operations of World War II by country only has subcategories for 4 countries: Australia, Canada and New Zealand (Battles only) and Germany (Battles and operations). Is there support for adding categories for other countries eg France, Soviet Union, United Kingdom and United States (and to include both battles and operations?)

This would require for France a category Category:Battles and operations of World War II involving France as a subcategory of Category:Battles involving France, which already includes the subcategory Category:Battles of World War I involving France. And some other categories like Category:Military battles of the Vichy regime would also be a subcat of the French World War II category. Hugo999 (talk) 13:21, 20 January 2010 (UTC)

WP 1.0 bot announcement
This message is being sent to each WikiProject that participates in the WP 1.0 assessment system. On Saturday, January 23, 2010, the WP 1.0 bot will be upgraded. Your project does not need to take any action, but the appearance of your project's summary table will change. The upgrade will make many new, optional features available to all WikiProjects. Additional information is available at the WP 1.0 project homepage. &mdash; Carl (CBM · talk) 04:11, 22 January 2010 (UTC)

Sharpened bamboo stakes against paratroops in Palembang?
The external link http://warfare.gq/dutcheastindies/palembang.html shows a photo of what are purported to be bamboo stakes pointed skyward as a defense against paratroops. Any confirmation of this? I haven't read about this tactic anywhere else, and the photo is not discussed in the text. To me, it looks like Rommelspargel from two years later in France and the Netherlands. I would like to know if the photo is really from 1942 in Indonesia. I would also like to know how effective was the defense—how many casualties were caused against Japanese paratroops, if any, during the Battle of Palembang. Binksternet (talk) 19:29, 19 February 2010 (UTC)

Military history of France during World War II
Hi, a well intentioned editor has been working on Military history of France during World War II. The article is in a bit of a mess but I don't know where to start trying to assist without feeling I was getting at the newbi. Anyone like to join in? --Jim Sweeney (talk) 18:42, 27 February 2010 (UTC)

New Battle of Stalingrad template
I've created a template for the Battle of Stalingrad (see foot of the article). It is still at a rudimentary stage and if you would like to comment on it please visit the template talk page and add your comments there (Template talk:Battle of Stalingrad). Please amend the template, correct it and add whatever you feel is appropriate. The basis for inclusion is pretty much the frequency with which any of the items is mentioned in Beevor's book on the battle. Thanks, Ericoides (talk) 09:24, 1 April 2010 (UTC)

Wikijunior Wikibooks help.
Hi there everyone. I'm a history buff, and am interested in World War 2. Since I don't want to be creating not-so-well-known biographies here, I decided to work more on content improval at simple and Wikibooks. Now for my appeal. Does anyone want to help me with the WikiJunior book titled World War 2 |here? It's been listed at the FB collaboration there for sometime, but it seems to have lost interest. You'd have to write in terms understandable by 10-12 year olds, as that's the aim of the project. I can't do this alone. Who's with me? Buggie111 (talk) 23:34, 5 April 2010 (UTC)

Kurt Meyer reference in D-Day book by Beevor needs checking
There is a dispute at the Kurt Meyer (soldier) article. It concerns a passage in the article cited to a recent book on D-Day. See here for details. I've asked both editors there to calm down and discuss on the talk page instead of edit warring. But if someone here has a copy of the book and can check the reference, or can work out the best thing to do if no-one else has a copy of the book, that would be greatly appreciated. The book is ''D-Day. The Battle for Normandy'' (Antony Beevor, 2009). Does anyone have a copy of that? Carcharoth (talk) 00:22, 9 April 2010 (UTC)


 * I don't, but Amazon does! I've checked the "look inside" copy of the book, which intriguingly even has the same pagination in the American edition, and the quote checks out, although sadly there's no footnote explaining where Beevor got it from. Not quite sure why someone was so convinced it was going to be an obvious hoax, I admit... Shimgray | talk | 02:10, 9 April 2010 (UTC)


 * I'd appreciate a couple more eyes on this - the sources check out, but the user who initially objected is throwing up a vast array of (to my eyes quite spurious) objections, and I am rapidly losing patience... Shimgray | talk | 14:26, 13 April 2010 (UTC)

WWII-based games
What is the position of this project/task force on military board games and video games (such as Axis & Allies, Call of Duty: World at War and others)? I tried a search of this talk page's archives but didn't find anything. Do you want them to be tagged with your project banner or do you consider them to be unrelated to your scope? Thanks. JohnnyPolo24 (talk) 15:05, 10 May 2010 (UTC)

Possession of Book Series
I will have The Third Reich Trilogy in my possession for about a month, so if there is anywhere that these books would be useful, tell me, and I'll try to apply the information there. --NativeForeigner Talk/Contribs 00:34, 3 June 2010 (UTC)

Naming of Panzer VIII / Maus article.
Interested editors are asked to spend a moment to give their opinion at Talk:Panzer VIII Maus to decide the most relevant name for the article. ( Hohum  @ ) 19:25, 17 June 2010 (UTC)

Peer review for Operation Postmaster now open
The peer review for Operation Postmaster is now open; all editors are invited to participate, and any input there would be appreciated! Thanks! -MBK004 07:51, 29 June 2010 (UTC)

Taken by Force (book)
I've just rewrote the Taken by Force (book) stub; I'm not familiar with the relevant journals and don't have access to one of the articles - if someone wants to expand the Morrow reference that'd be great, but the page also needs to be tagged with the right categories and I'm not sure what the talk page banners should be. WLU (t) (c) Wikipedia's rules: simple/complex 15:26, 15 July 2010 (UTC)

Proposed split of 330th Bombardment Group (VH)
This article has reached 114KB, well past the size recommended for spliting and I have proposed that it be split into two separate articles, 330th Bombardment Group (World War II) and List of Combat Missions of the 330th Bombardment Group (World War II). A discussion on the proposed split is here and comments (both for or against) are invited. Regards, GregJackP   Boomer!   08:40, 23 July 2010 (UTC)

A-Class review for Arado Ar E.381 now open
The A-Class review for Arado Ar E.381 is now open; all editors are invited to participate, and any input there would be appreciated! Thanks! -MBK004 06:13, 26 August 2010 (UTC)

Feature Article Candidate related to USO: Hal Block
I've nominated Hal Block as a Feature Article here:. Hal Block, although famous for What's My Line?, was also a comedy writer including for Bob Hope during his 1943 USO tour. There's a large section of Block's contribution to the USO that I thought might interest some people here. The article isn't getting great interest yet and any comments, positive or negative, would be appreciated. Thanks, BashBrannigan (talk) 01:51, 10 September 2010 (UTC)

A-Class review for Lindsay Hassett now open
The A-Class review for Lindsay Hassett is now open; all editors are invited to participate, and any input there would be appreciated! Thanks! -MBK004 21:54, 29 September 2010 (UTC)

Peer review for HMS Avenger (D14) now open
The peer review for HMS Avenger (D14) is now open; all editors are invited to participate, and any input there would be appreciated! Thanks! -MBK004 06:26, 9 October 2010 (UTC)

Battle of Iwo Jima
Please see Talk:Battle_of_Iwo_Jima. This is an important article in real bad shape. Can someone help out ? 217.235.21.30 (talk) 05:26, 11 October 2010 (UTC)

Peer review for 6th Armoured Division (South Africa) now open
The peer review for 6th Armoured Division (South Africa) is now open; all editors are invited to participate, and any input there would be appreciated! Thanks! AustralianRupert (talk) 11:37, 13 October 2010 (UTC)

A-Class review for Chilean battleship Almirante Latorre now open
The A-Class review for Chilean battleship Almirante Latorre is now open; all editors are invited to participate, and any input there would be appreciated! Thanks! Ed [talk] [majestic titan] 05:31, 14 October 2010 (UTC)

A-Class review for List of battlecruisers of Japan now open
The A-Class review for List of battlecruisers of Japan is now open; all editors are invited to participate, and any input there would be appreciated! Thanks! -MBK004 01:25, 20 October 2010 (UTC)

Peer review for Sidney Mashbir now open
The peer review for Sidney Mashbir is now open; all editors are invited to participate, and any input there would be appreciated! Thanks! -MBK004 06:33, 22 October 2010 (UTC)

Peer review for Douglas XP-48 now open
The peer review for Douglas XP-48 is now open; all editors are invited to participate, and any input there would be appreciated! Thanks! -MBK004 06:33, 22 October 2010 (UTC)

Featured article candidacy for Thomas C. Kinkaid now open
The featured article candidacy for Thomas C. Kinkaid is now open. Comments from reviewers are needed to help determine whether the article meets the criteria for featured articles; all editors are invited to participate, and any input there would be appreciated! Thanks! Ian Rose (talk) 01:52, 24 October 2010 (UTC)

Featured article candidacy for Chilean battleship Almirante Latorre now open
The featured article candidacy for Chilean battleship Almirante Latorre is now open. Comments from reviewers are needed to help determine whether the article meets the criteria for featured articles; all editors are invited to participate, and any input there would be appreciated! Thanks! -MBK004 06:32, 25 October 2010 (UTC)

A-Class review for Leslie Groves now open
The A-Class review for Leslie Groves is now open; all editors are invited to participate, and any input there would be appreciated! Thanks! -MBK004 06:35, 30 October 2010 (UTC)

A-Class review for Black Friday (1945) now open
The A-Class review for Black Friday (1945) is now open; all editors are invited to participate, and any input there would be appreciated! Thanks! Nick-D (talk) 02:05, 7 November 2010 (UTC)

A-Class review for Operation Doomsday now open
The A-Class review for Operation Doomsday is now open; all editors are invited to participate, and any input there would be appreciated! Thanks! -MBK004 08:08, 11 November 2010 (UTC)

new stub template/category proposal
Hi - given that both and  are close to the size where WikiProject Stub sorting would normally look to create some new subcategories, I am anbout to propose the creation of a new stub type, Holocaust-stub, to do with any articles related to the Holocaust and to relations between the Nazi regime and the European Jewish population. Any input to the discussion on this proposal from your project at WP:WSS/P would be greatly appreciated. Grutness...wha?  08:20, 28 November 2010 (UTC)