Earl Frederick Ziemke (December 16, 1922 – October 15, 2007) was an American military historian whose work was mainly on

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

and especially the Soviet-German clash in

Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russia, whi ...

Biography

Earl Ziemke was born on December 16, 1922, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and served in the

Marines Marines, or naval infantry, are typically a military force trained to operate in littoral zones in support of naval operations. Historically, tasks undertaken by marines have included helping maintain discipline and order aboard the ship (refl ...

during

. After learning

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

at Camp Elliot, California, Ziemke served in the

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contine ...

. He fought in the

Battle of Peleliu The Battle of Peleliu, codenamed Operation Stalemate II by the US military, was fought between the United States and Japan during the Mariana and Palau Islands campaign of World War II, from September 15 to November 27, 1944, on the island of ...

and then won the

Purple Heart The Purple Heart (PH) is a United States military decoration awarded in the name of the President to those wounded or killed while serving, on or after 5 April 1917, with the U.S. military. With its forerunner, the Badge of Military Merit, ...

for wounds received in the assault on

Okinawa is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan. Okinawa Prefecture is the southernmost and westernmost prefecture of Japan, has a population of 1,457,162 (as of 2 February 2020) and a geographic area of 2,281 Square kilometre, km2 (880 sq mi). ...

. At the end of the war, Corporal Ziemke served at

Tientsin Tianjin (; ; Mandarin: ), alternately romanized as Tientsin (), is a municipality and a coastal metropolis in Northern China on the shore of the Bohai Sea. It is one of the nine national central cities in Mainland China, with a total popul ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

. After his discharge, he used the G.I. Bill to pursue higher education, and in 1951 he received his Ph.D. from the

University of Wisconsin A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United Stat ...

. From 1951 until 1955, he worked at the

Bureau of Applied Social Research The Bureau of Applied Social Research was a social research institute at Columbia University which specialised in mass communications research. It grew out of the Radio Project, Radio Research Project at Princeton University, beginning in 1937. T ...

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

, while for the period 1955–1967, he was an official historian for the United States Army's

Office of the Chief of Military History The United States Army Center of Military History (CMH) is a directorate within the United States Army Training and Doctrine Command. The Institute of Heraldry remains within the Office of the Administrative Assistant to the Secretary of the Arm ...

in Washington, D.C. In 1967, he went to the

University of Georgia , mottoeng = "To teach, to serve, and to inquire into the nature of things.""To serve" was later added to the motto without changing the seal; the Latin motto directly translates as "To teach and to inquire into the nature of things." , establ ...

as a full professor and in 1977, he rose to the rank of research professor. He retired in 1993 as research

professor emeritus ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...

."The German Decision To Invade Norway and Denmark"
by Earl Ziemke,

U.S. Army Center of Military History The United States Army Center of Military History (CMH) is a directorate within the United States Army Training and Doctrine Command. The Institute of Heraldry remains within the Office of the Administrative Assistant to the Secretary of the Arm ...

He occasionally served as an expert witness for the

US Justice Department The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the United States government tasked with the enforcement of federal law and administration of justice in the United State ...

on war crimes trials relating to the

Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; ...

. He was member in various historical societies, such as The World War II Studies Association. In 1973,

Secretary of the Army The secretary of the Army (SA or SECARMY) is a senior civilian official within the United States Department of Defense, with statutory responsibility for all matters relating to the United States Army: manpower, personnel, reserve affairs, insta ...

Howard “Bo” Callaway presented Ziemke with the Outstanding Civilian Service Award. Ziemke died on October 15, 2007, and is interred at the

Arlington National Cemetery Arlington National Cemetery is one of two national cemeteries run by the United States Army. Nearly 400,000 people are buried in its 639 acres (259 ha) in Arlington, Virginia. There are about 30 funerals conducted on weekdays and 7 held on Sa ...

. He was survived by his wife Ida Mae Saltenberger Ziemke, his daughter Caroline F. Ziemke, who worked for the

Institute for Defense Analyses The Institute for Defense Analyses (IDA) is an American non-profit corporation that administers three federally funded research and development centers (FFRDCs) – the Systems and Analyses Center (SAC), the Science and Technology Policy Institute ...

,Ziemke, Caroline ''Handbook for researching missing-in-action cases, 1941-1960'',

, 1994, ASIN B0006P8WW2 both of

Annandale, Virginia Annandale () is a census-designated place (CDP) in Fairfax County, Virginia.Athens, Georgia Athens, officially Athens–Clarke County, is a consolidated city-county and college town in the U.S. state of Georgia. Athens lies about northeast of downtown Atlanta, and is a satellite city of the capital. The University of Georgia, the ...

on December 15.History Newsletter

, December 2007

Select bibliography

*''Battle for Berlin: End of the Third Reich'', Ballantine Books; 2nd edition 1972, ASIN B000KK7YVS *
The U.S. Army in the Occupation of Germany, 1944-1946
',

, 1975, ASIN B0006CN1NK *''The Soviet Juggernaut'', Time-Life Books, 1980, *''Stalingrad to Berlin: The German Defeat in the East'', Dorset Press, 1986, ,
''Online version - transcribed and formatted by Jerry Holden for the HyperWar Foundation''
*''Moscow to Stalingrad: Decision in the East'', Hippocrene Books, March 1989, *''German Report Series: German Northern Theatre Of Operations 1940-45'', 2003, Naval and Military Press, 2009 (reprint of 2003 edition), * ''The Red Army, 1918-1941: From Vanguard of World Revolution to US Ally'', Frank Cass, 2004,

References

External links

The U.S. Army Center of Military History
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ziemke, Earl F. 1922 births 2007 deaths Writers from Milwaukee University of Wisconsin–Madison alumni University of Georgia faculty American military writers 20th-century American historians Historians of World War II American military historians American male non-fiction writers Burials at Arlington National Cemetery Writers from Georgia (U.S. state) United States Marine Corps personnel of World War II United States Marine Corps non-commissioned officers Historians from Wisconsin American expatriates in China

Biography

Select bibliography

See also

References

External links