The Man who defied the Third Reich

 Sindelar: The man who defied the
Third Reich Adolf Hitler's Third Reich just invaded and
annexed Austria. To rally the Austrian people to his
cause, the Nazi regime decides to organize a friendly
match between the German and Austrian teams: it's the
Anschlussspiel. Players are told not to score, 0-0 is the
ideal result. On 03rd April  1938, in Vienna, under the eyes of
the highest Nazi dignitaries, Germany faces the newly
annexed Austria. The sports imbalance is clear, the
Austrians are forced not to force their talent. There's a
quarter hour left as Sindelar grabs the ball and opens
the score. He is celebrating in front of the Nazi tribune.

An Austrian defender will double down on a lob. Game
over 2-0. Nazi Germany is being publicly humiliated.
Sindelar's popularity seems to deter any violent
repression. The Nazi regime turns events to their
advantage by using Sindelar's figure as the Austrian
acceptance of invaders. The act of dividing. Political
contest or denial of sports masquerade? The Austrian
memory erects Sindelar as a national symbol of
resistance, especially since he subsequently refuses to
put on the Third Reich jersey. He was found dead in
I939, suffocated in carbon monoxide in his apartment.
The circumstances are turbulent and no one knows if
the Nazis made Sindelar pay for his goal. Picture: Three
players from Austria including Sindelar on the right
FIFA.

Shifty Powers 101st US Airborne

 Band of Brother 101st Airborne 506

Born: 13th March  1923, Clinchco, Virginia, United States...
Died:  17th June 2009, Wellmont Bristol Regional
Medical Center
Place of burial: Temple Hill Memorial Park,
Castlewood, Virginia, United States

Award: Bronze Star Medal
Powers was born in Clinohoo, Virginia. His father was
an excellent rifle and pistol shot, and taught him how
to shoot when he was young. Shifty spent a great
deal of time in the outdoors, hunting game. He got to
the point where he could throw a coin in the air and
hit it with a rifle. Many of the skills he obtained helped
him as a soldier.

Powers graduated from high school and took
a machinist course in a vocational school in Norfolk
There he befriended Robert 'Popeye' Wynn, and the
two went to work in the shipyards in Portsmouth,

Virginia after finishing the course. When they found
out that they were about to be frozen to the jobs,

clarification needed] they went to sign up for the
Army. Powers enlisted on 14th August 1942,
at Richmond, Virginia.

Powers‘ nickname "Shifty" originated from his
basketball days and his ability to be 'shifty' on his
feet.
Staff Sergeant Darrell Cecil "Shifty" Powers (13th March
1923 — 17th June 2009) was a non-commissioned
officer with Easy Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th
Parachute Infantry Regiment, in the 101 st Airborne
Division during World War ll. Powers was portrayed in
the HBO miniseries Band of Brothers by Peter
Young blood Hills.

Powers followed Easy Company to station
in Aldbourne, England. He was shocked to see that
the residents there were prepared to defend
themselves against the Germans with only garden
implements. He thought it would have been a
massacre if the Germans had indeed invaded
Aldbourne.

Powers jumped into Normandy on D-Day. Missing
his drop zone, he joined two others from the
company and the three linked up with Easy Company
several days later to fight in Carentan. Powers
participated in the Allied military operation Operation
Market Garden in the Netherlands.
Powers also fought in the Battle of the
Bulge in Belgium. On 29th December 1944, when Easy
Company was staying in the woods, Powers noticed
a tree that was not there just the day before and
reported it to First Sergeant Carwood

Joachim Peiper

 

Mugshot of Obersturmbannfurher
Joachim Peiper from the Malmedy Massacre trial,
where he was convicted of war crimes and sentenced
to death, 1946. Peiper's sentence was commuted to
35 years in 1954, and he was released on parole at
the end of December 1956, after serving 11 and a
half years. He was killed at his home in Traves,
France, in 1976.

SS-Kampfgruppe Peiper was a heavily armored task
force of the 1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte.
Named after its commander, Joachim Peiper, it was
charged with spearheading the 6th Panzer Army on
the northern sector during the Battle of the Bulge.

Kampfgruppe Peiper committed a series of war
crimes and atrocities against American prisoners of
war and Belgian civilians during the Battle of the
Bulge, including the infamous Malmedy Massacre.

On 17th December 1944, about 120 American troops
from the 285th Field Artillery Observation Battalion
were surprised by the advancing Peiper's units at the
Baugnez crossroads near Malmedy in Belgium. Along
with other American prisoners of war captured earlier
they were led into a meadow, lined up and
machine-gunned.

A few managed to escape to a café at the
crossroads. The SS soldiers set fire to the building
and shot all who tried to escape the flames. 84
American POWs were massacred, and their bodies
were left in the snow. The atrocities of Peiper's men
conflnued.

In Honsfeld, they forced the Americans to fuel their
vehicles and then shot them down in cold blood.
POWs and civilians were murdered in Bullingen,
Ligneuville, Stavelot, Cheneux, La Gleize and Wereth
At least 373 American POWs and 111 Belgian
civilians were killed by Kampfgruppe Peiper.

News of the Malmedy and other massacres spread
quickly throughout American ranks, causing great
anger and desire to retaliate. It only stiffened their
resistance, as troops became determined to hold the
lines against the German advance until
reinforcements could arrive, in particular the 101st
Airborne Division's defense of Bastogne.

Regarding Peiper's death, he was
recognized by former French Resistance fighters
nearly 30 years after WW2. Peiper died on
Bastille Day, 1976, after his home was attacked
and set on fire.