>
> Subject: For
> you History Buffs, WW II Trivia
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> WW II
>
> Trivia
>
> You
> might enjoy this from Col
> D. G. Swinford, USMC,
> Ret and history buff.
> You would really
> have to dig deep to get
> this kind of ringside
> seat to history:
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> 1. The first German
> serviceman killed in WW II
> was killed by the Japanese
> ( China , 1937), the
> first American serviceman
> killed was killed by
> the Russians ( Finland
> 1940); highest ranking
> American killed was Lt Gen
> Lesley McNair, killed
> by the US Army Air
> Corps. So much for
> allies.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> 2. The youngest US
> serviceman was 12 year old
> Calvin Graham, USN.
> He was wounded and
> given a Dishonorable
> Discharge for lying about
> his age. His benefits
> were later restored
> by act of Congress.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> 3. At the time of Pearl
> Harbor, the top US Navy
> command was called CINCUS
> (pronounced 'sink
> us'), the shoulder
> patch of the US Army's 45th
> Infantry division was the
> Swastika, and Hitler's
> private train was named
> 'Amerika.' All three
> were soon changed for PR
> purposes.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> 4. More US servicemen died
> in the Air Corps than
> the Marine Corps.
> While completing the
> required 30 missions, your
> chance of being
> killed was 71%.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> 5. Generally speaking,
> there was no such thing
> as an average fighter
> pilot. You were
> either an ace or a
> target. For instance,
> Japanese Ace Hiroyoshi
> Nishizawa shot down over
> 80 planes. He died
> while a passenger on a
> cargo plane.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> 6. It was a common practice
> on fighter planes to
> load every 5th round with a
> tracer round to aid
> in aiming. This was a
> mistake. Tracers had
> different ballistics so (at
> long range) if your
> tracers were hitting the
> target 80% of
> your rounds were missing.
> Worse yet tracers
> instantly told your enemy
> he was under fire and
> from which direction. Worst
> of all was the
> practice of loading a
> string of tracers at the
> end of the belt to tell you
> that you were out of
> ammo. This was definitely
> not something you
> wanted to tell the
> enemy. Units that
> stopped using tracers saw
> their success rate
> nearly double and their
> loss rate go down.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> YOU'VE GOT TO LOVE THIS
> ONE........
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> 7. When allied armies
> reached the Rhine, the
> first thing men did was pee
> in it. This
> was pretty universal from
> the lowest private to
> Winston Churchill (who made
> a big show of it)
> and Gen. Patton (who had
> himself photographed in
> the
> act).
>
>
>
>
>
>
> 8. German Me-264 bombers
> were capable of bombing
> New York City, but they
> decided it wasn't worth
> the effort.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> 9. German submarine U-120
> was sunk by a
> malfunctioning toilet.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> 10. Among the first
> 'Germans' captured at
> Normandy were several
> Koreans. They had
> been forced to fight for
> the Japanese Army until
> they were captured by the
> Russians and forced to
> fight for the Russian Army
> until they were
> captured by the Germans and
> forced to fight for
> the German Army until they
> were captured by the
> US Army.
>
>
>
> AND I SAVED THE BEST FOR
>
> LAST....
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> 11. Following a massive
> naval bombardment,
> 35,000 United States and
> Canadian troops stormed
> ashore at Kiska, in the
> Aleutian Islands . 21
> troops were killed in the
> assault on the island.
> It could have been worse if
> there had been any
> Japanese on the
>
> island.
>
>
>
Trivia WW 2
-
augman7518 (imported)
- Articles: 0
- Posts: 244
- Joined: Tue Mar 18, 2008 5:44 pm
-
Posting Rank
-
Riverwind (imported)
- Articles: 0
- Posts: 7558
- Joined: Sun Dec 30, 2001 1:58 pm
-
Posting Rank
-
MacTheWolf (imported)
- Articles: 0
- Posts: 4186
- Joined: Fri Jul 04, 2003 9:22 pm
-
Posting Rank
Re: Trivia WW 2
Excellent thread augman, excellent.
BTW, River can tell you of his experiences in the French and Indian War.
BTW, River can tell you of his experiences in the French and Indian War.
-
FianceeUvBigGuy (imported)
- Articles: 0
- Posts: 711
- Joined: Tue Oct 29, 2002 6:40 am
-
Posting Rank
Re: Trivia WW 2
Yoli here,
Finally, I get to contribute some of the stuff I learned from my Dad and Lt.Col. BigGuy!
There is a made-for-TV (circa the 80's?) movie about Calvin Graham, starring Ricky Schroeder.
The famed P-51 Mustang fighter was designed and built at the request of the RAF. In fact, the aircraft's nickname was appended by the British. The US Army Air Corps initially used the plane in a ground attack role and labeled it the A-36 "Apache". Once the orginal Allison engine was replaced by the famed Rolls-Royce Merlin engine, it achieved it's stellar performance.
http://www.aviation-history.com/north-american/p51.html
The Navy's famed and feared F4U Corsair fighter had those "bent" wings because the engine, the most powerful ever put in a plane, required so huge a propeller that the landing gear would have to be too long to be strong enough to withstand the shock of landing. To shorten same, they
bent the wings. Amazingly, the last Corsair didn't roll of the assembly line until 1951, 6 years after WW2 ended.
http://www.aviation-history.com/vought/f4u.html
USS O'Bannon, a US Navy destroyer, engaged a surfaced Japanese submarine in an unusual (I'll say!) way.
One night, O'Bannon found itself running alongside the sub, whose crew was unaware because those on deck were snoozing. O'Bannon was so close that her guns could not be brought to bear.
Some of O'Bannon's crew noticed a barrel of Maine-grown potatos on the deck and began to pelt the sub with potatos. The startled Japanese thought they were grenades!
http://www.destroyerhistory.org/fletche ... erson.html
By the way...And I got this one from an old salt, retired from the Royal Navy, who lives nearby here in Texas...Yes, it's proper to refer to a ship by her name, period, not as "the" USS O'Bannon; "the" HMS Sheffield, etc. Instead, it's "USS O'Bannon" or just "O'Bannon", "Sheffield". And...The Brits say "Old Chauncey? Why, yes, he's at sea IN HMS Sheffield.", not "He's ON HMS Sheffield." They're right, in that most crew are IN the ship.
See! We girlpuppies know stuff too! My Dad is to blame.
And remember, I am Yoli...Not "The Yoli"!
Finally, I get to contribute some of the stuff I learned from my Dad and Lt.Col. BigGuy!
There is a made-for-TV (circa the 80's?) movie about Calvin Graham, starring Ricky Schroeder.
The famed P-51 Mustang fighter was designed and built at the request of the RAF. In fact, the aircraft's nickname was appended by the British. The US Army Air Corps initially used the plane in a ground attack role and labeled it the A-36 "Apache". Once the orginal Allison engine was replaced by the famed Rolls-Royce Merlin engine, it achieved it's stellar performance.
http://www.aviation-history.com/north-american/p51.html
The Navy's famed and feared F4U Corsair fighter had those "bent" wings because the engine, the most powerful ever put in a plane, required so huge a propeller that the landing gear would have to be too long to be strong enough to withstand the shock of landing. To shorten same, they
bent the wings. Amazingly, the last Corsair didn't roll of the assembly line until 1951, 6 years after WW2 ended.
http://www.aviation-history.com/vought/f4u.html
USS O'Bannon, a US Navy destroyer, engaged a surfaced Japanese submarine in an unusual (I'll say!) way.
One night, O'Bannon found itself running alongside the sub, whose crew was unaware because those on deck were snoozing. O'Bannon was so close that her guns could not be brought to bear.
Some of O'Bannon's crew noticed a barrel of Maine-grown potatos on the deck and began to pelt the sub with potatos. The startled Japanese thought they were grenades!
http://www.destroyerhistory.org/fletche ... erson.html
By the way...And I got this one from an old salt, retired from the Royal Navy, who lives nearby here in Texas...Yes, it's proper to refer to a ship by her name, period, not as "the" USS O'Bannon; "the" HMS Sheffield, etc. Instead, it's "USS O'Bannon" or just "O'Bannon", "Sheffield". And...The Brits say "Old Chauncey? Why, yes, he's at sea IN HMS Sheffield.", not "He's ON HMS Sheffield." They're right, in that most crew are IN the ship.
See! We girlpuppies know stuff too! My Dad is to blame.
And remember, I am Yoli...Not "The Yoli"!
-
devi (imported)
- Articles: 0
- Posts: 1175
- Joined: Thu Dec 21, 2006 7:21 pm
-
Posting Rank
Re: Trivia WW 2
An uncle let me in on this interesting piece of trivia we don't think about that may seem obvious after you read it:
The ocean and the early morning sun was by far the most beautiful he had ever seen. The horizon was just beginning to get light. And the ocean sounded so relaxing and the early morning breeze felt so nice. And sipping on the coffee felt so good out in the open air on the deck. Such a beautiful morning.
Too bad that he'd have to be frantically shooting at as many kamikaze as he possibly could later on.
The ocean and the early morning sun was by far the most beautiful he had ever seen. The horizon was just beginning to get light. And the ocean sounded so relaxing and the early morning breeze felt so nice. And sipping on the coffee felt so good out in the open air on the deck. Such a beautiful morning.
Too bad that he'd have to be frantically shooting at as many kamikaze as he possibly could later on.