Fascinating WW2 Facts

[_Katyusha_ 1,829]

This is a selection of some strange, but true WW2 facts. It's less of an article than most, but may give you something to read while I research my next article.

 

1. World War II was the most destructive conflict in history. It cost more money, damaged more property, killed more people, and caused more far-reaching changes than any other war in history.
2. For every five German soldiers who died in WWII, four of them died on the Eastern Front.
3. Eighty percent of Soviet males born in 1923 didn’t survive WWII.
4. The original abbreviation of the National Socialist Party was Nasos. The word “Nazi” derives from a Bavarian word that means “simple minded” and was first used as a term of derision by journalist Konrad Heiden (1901-1966).
5. In 1935, British engineer Robert Watson-Watt was working on a “death ray” that would destroy enemy aircraft using radio waves. His “death ray” instead evolved into radar—or “radio detection and ranging.”
6. Out of the 40,000 men who served on U-boats during WWII, only 10,000 returned.
7. During WWII, the Japanese launched 9,000 “wind ship weapons” of paper and rubberized-silk balloons that carried incendiary and anti-personnel bombs to the U.S. More than 1,000 balloons hit their targets and they reached as far east as Michigan. The only deaths resulting from a balloon bomb were six Americans (including five children and a pregnant woman) on a picnic in Oregon.
8. From 1940-1945, the U.S. defense budget increased form $1.9 billion to $59.8 billion.
9. In 1941, a private earned $21 a month. In 1942, a private earned $50 a month.
10. During WWII, the acronym BAM stood for “Broad-Assed Marines,” or women soldiers in the U.S. Marine Corp. The women, however, called the men HAMs, for “Hairy-Assed Marines.”
11. The Nazis pirated the Harvard “fight song” to compose their Sieg Heil march.
12. The ace of all fighter aces of all nations is German fighter pilot Erich Hartmann (“the Blond Knight”) with 352 “kills.”
13. William Hitler, a nephew of Adolf Hitler, was in the U.S. Navy during WWII. He changed his name after the war.
14. Several famous actors were decorated during WWII. For example, Henry Fonda won a Bronze Star in the Pacific, Walter Matthau was awarded six battle stars while serving on a B-17, and David Niven was awarded the U.S. Legion of Merit. Christopher Lee was a pilot in the Royal Air Force and also won a number of awards.
15. Hitler kept a framed photo of Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company, on his desk. Henry Ford also kept a framed photo of the Nazi leader on his desk in Dearborn, Michigan. In Mein Kampf, Hitler included some anti-Semitic views attributed to Ford.
16. On January 31, 1945, Private Eddie Slovik was shot for desertion, the first American executed for the crime since the Civil War and the only one to suffer this punishment during WWII.
17. The most decorated unit ever in U.S. history is the 442nd regimental Combat Team, whose motto was “Go for Broke.” It consisted of Japanese-American volunteers. Together they won 4,667 major medals, awards, and citations, including 560 Silver Stars (28 of which had oak-leaf clusters), 4,000 Bronze Stars, 52 Distinguished Service Crosses, and one Medal of Honor, plus 54 other decorations. It also held the distinction of never having a case of desertion.
18. Norvell Gillespie, the garden editor of Better Homes and Gardens, designed the camouflage print for U.S. service uniforms in WWII.
19. Prisoners of war in Russian camps experienced an 85% mortality rate.
20. While in prison, Hitler envisioned the development of a “people’s car” or a Volkswagen, from the word volk, meaning “people” or “nation.”
21. On December 8, 1941, Britain and the U.S. declared war on Japan. On December 11, Germany declared war on the U.S. The U.S. is the only nation Germany formally declared war on.
22. After the sneak attack at Pearl Harbor, President Roosevelt searched for a bulletproof car. However, because government regulation prohibited spending more than $750 to buy a car, the only one they could find was Al Capone’s limo, which had been seized by the Treasury Department after he was arrested for tax evasion. FDR said, “I hope Mr. Capone won’t mind.”
23. In the 1928 elections, less than 3% of Germans voted for the Nazi party. In 1938, Hitler was Time magazine’s man of the year.
24. Because the Norway leader Vidkun Quisling (1887-1945) actively collaborated with Germany after its occupation, his name has entered the Norwegian language as a word for “traitor.”
25. In 1974, a Japanese soldier named Hiroo Onoda (1922- ) came out of the jungle of the Pacific island of Lubang. He had been hiding there for 29 years, unaware that his country had surrendered.
26. Japan and Russia never formally ended hostilities after WWII. Plans for them to sign an official peace treaty in 2000 failed because Japan wanted Russia to return four offshore islands it had taken after the war.
27. Monopoly games manufactured in England were really escape kits for POWs. 35,000 POWs escaped from Germany and Italy. About one third of these credited the contraband games for their escape.
28. Germany lost 136 Generals, which averages out to be 1 dead General every 2 weeks.
29. By D-Day, 35% of all German soldiers had been wounded at least once, 11% twice, 6% three times, 2% four times and 2% more than 4 times.
30. Air attacks caused 1/3 of German Generals' deaths.
31. For each man killed in battle, four others were wounded.
32. Germany's E-100, and E-75 tanks were never included in any actual designs. They were featured in "Signal" (equivalent to the US's "Stars and Stripes" magazine) and were only disinformation. (IE fake)
33. A German U boat, U-1206 was sunk as a result of a malfunctioning toilet.*
34. Coca Cola's brand "Fanta" was created by the Nazis after running out of the materials needed to make Coke. Fanta is short for "Fantasie" the drink's original name.
35. Intrepid was the codename of the British Intelligence network. It was created by Sir William Stephenson, close friend of Ian Flemming.  It went on to become MI5 and MI6, which James Bond works for.
36. Chester Nimitz Jr. son of Admiral Chester Nimitz, commanded the submarine USS Haddo.
37. 84 German Generals were executed by Hitler.

 

 

* The story of U-1206 and the infamous toilet.

On April 6, 1945, a German navy submarine named the U-1206 departed from the port city of Kristiansand, in Nazi-occupied Norway, and began its first combat patrol. Assigned to the waters of the North Atlantic, its mission was to seek out and destroy British and American ships on the high seas.

 

For the 50-man crew aboard submarines like the U-1206, life wasn’t just extremely dangerous, it was also very unpleasant: Quarters were cramped, and the bathrooms were no exception. There were only two heads (toilets), and because one of the heads was right next to the galley, the space was often used to store food. When it was, the toilet was unavailable, meaning the entire crew had to share the remaining toilet.

 

The plumbing on German subs of that era differed from American and British subs in one important respect: The German toilets discharged their contents directly into the sea, instead of in a holding tank. Not having such a tank saved precious space, but it came at a price. The toilets could only be used when the submarine was traveling on or near the ocean surface. When the submarine was submerged, the pressure outside the hull was too great for the toilets to be able to flush. If nature called under such circumstances, crew members had to use buckets, tin cans, or whatever other containers they could get their hands on. They had to carefully store the contents of all those containers -don’t spill!- until the submarine surfaced, when they could be poured into the toilets and flushed, or taken topside and emptied into the sea.  The ventilation systems on World War II German subs were notoriously inadequate, which meant that even in the best of circumstances, the air was foul with diesel fumes, human body odor, and other smells. When the toilets were unavailable and all those buckets and cans were filling to overflowing with you-know-what, the stench was even worse. 

 

The U-1206 had a new-and-improved plumbing system. Unlike many subs in the fleet, it had high-pressure toilets that could be used at greater depths than the standard heads could. But the new system was very difficult to operate. The toilets came with complicated instructions manuals, and a few members of the crew had to be trained so that they could serve a toilet-flushing “specialists.”

 

Barely a week into the U-1206’s first patrol, Captain Karl Adolf Schlitt (who was commanding a sub for the first time), had to use the head while the sub was cruising at a depth of 200 feet, some eight miles off the coast of Scotland. Rather than request the assistance of the toilet specialist, Schlitt tried to follow the instructions in the manual to flush the toilet himself. Something went wrong -and when Schlitt asked the toilet specialist for help, something went wrong again. The specialist opened the outside valve -the one that opened to the sea- while the inside valve was open, causing a torrent of water to flood into the sub.

 

It was then that another flaw in the U-1206’s design became apparent. When the submarine is submerged, it runs on electric motors powered by a giant bank of batteries. And the U-1206’s batteries were in a compartment directly below the malfunctioning toilet. The seawater quickly combined with battery acid and created deadly chlorine gas, which began to spread throughout the sub. 

 

As the gas filled the submarine, Schlitt had no choice but to order the submarine to surface so that the gas could be vented and replaced with breathable air. Because they surfaced within sight of the Scottish coastline, they were quickly spotted by Allied aircraft and attacked. One crew member died in the melee that followed; three others fell overboard and drowned. 

 

The U-1206 was badly damaged in the attack and could not dive. Seeing no way to save his submarine, Captain Schlitt ordered the crew into the lifeboats; then he scuttled the ship, making it the only warship in naval history to be doomed by its own malfunctioning toilet. Thirty-six members of the crew were rescued by small boats in the area; ten others made it to shore in their lifeboats and were captured. 

 

 

[MaximeDelaroux 1,579]

Very interesting!

 

#16 Amazed me the most.  8/s

Edited June 9, 2014 by MaximeDelaroux

[P51VoxelTanker 3,315]

I'm related to Quisling on my dad's side of the family.  :secret:

[ReachForTheSky 3,825]

Great stuff, thanks. The Fanta one is very interesting, as is Hitler's nephew.

[IsaakRiv94 5,260]

Is it true that Hilter had only one ball? Or is a myth?

[ReachForTheSky 3,825]

Is it true that Hilter had only one ball? Or is a myth?

Nah, it's a load of bollocks.

[_Katyusha_ 1,829]

Nah, it's a load of bollocks.

 

No one is quite sure.

http://greyfalcon.us/restored/Did%20Hitler%20have%20only%20one%20testicle.htm

[IsaakRiv94 5,260]

Lol Mr.Hilter had some issues 

 

Disclaimer: That´s John Cleese

[_Katyusha_ 1,829]

Gotta love John Cleese :)

[Shanzival 210]

Germany's E-100, and E-75 tanks were never included in any actual designs. They were featured in "Signal" (equivalent to the US's "Stars and Stripes" magazine) and were only disinformation. (IE fake)

 

Not actually true. A hull was built of the E-100 and it was captured by the western allies, but was destroyed rather than kept after the war:

 

[patrioticalien 1,087]

Really good!

[LeuCeaMia 397]

32. Germany's E-100, and E-75 tanks were never included in any actual designs. They were featured in "Signal" (equivalent to the US's "Stars and Stripes" magazine) and were only disinformation. (IE fake)

These are the fakes

Panzer IX

Panzer X

 

The Entwicklung series existed; Some say that the E-100's hull was even on display at Bovington before they scrapped it. All we know is that E-100 was captured by the British.

 

The E-50 and E-75 existed as a proposal.

 

In our Panzer Tracts No.20-1 “Paper Panzers” on a single page we summarised of the “facts” available on the E50 and E75 proposals.  Most important are the five general requirements of a next generation of Panzers - Hilary Doyle

 

Although they weren't really developed to the point were they can be added into the game without much extrapolation.

My drawings are based on the sketches attached.  Clearly, these first thoughts and proposals on future Panzer requirements were never given any priority and as the war situation deteriorated.  To me the “real“ engine/transmission package designers from Maybach never actively got involved and the armour designers certainly had not considered how a rear drive might be mounted.  What we see are proposals “that are the best ideas since sliced bread” being pushed by fringe companies and they certainly had no authority to  design the necessary new armoured hull. - Hilary Doyle

From: [WoT] Transmission Response from Mr. Doyle

E-75

E-50

Edited June 16, 2014 by LeuCeaMia

[ReachForTheSky 3,825]

Not actually true. A hull was built of the E-100 and it was captured by the western allies, but was destroyed rather than kept after the war:

 

 

 

Is that a Valentine with a 17 Pdr in the background? Or maybe a 76mm M1.

Edited June 10, 2014 by ReachForTheSky

[Riki81 245]

Is that a Valentine with a 17 Pdr in the background? Or maybe a 76mm M1.

 

Looks like a Valentine mk XI with a OQF 75mm, i.e. the gun on the Cromwell.

[__Reichtangle__ 344]

really cool facts thanks for this :good:

[gombrowitch 1,726]

700 Poles defend against 40000 Germans over 3 days in Battle of Wizna and they surrender only because dont had more ammo. Sabaton made song about it.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivgCD31iKyg

 

 

Also Poland was 4th Allied army, if we talk about numbers (after ZSRR, USA and GBT).

Edited June 15, 2014 by gombrowitch

[Hebime 1,637]

1. In 1974, a Japanese soldier named Hiroo Onoda (1922- ) came out of the jungle of the Pacific island of Lubang. He had been hiding there for 29 years, unaware that his country had surrendered.

Hiroo Onoda died this year on 16th January.

 

Also, here are some more facts from WW2.

 

1. In 1935, British engineer Robert Watson-Watt was working on a “death ray” that would destroy enemy aircraft using radio waves. His “death ray” instead evolved into radar—or “radio detection and ranging.”

2. Approximately 600,000 Jews served in the United States armed forces during WWII. More than 35,000 were killed, wounded, captured, or missing. Approximately 8,000 died in combat. However, only two Jewish soldiers were awarded the Medal of Honor in WWII.

3. During WWII, hamburgers in the U.S. were dubbed “Liberty Steaks” to avoid the German-sounding name.

4. The largest Japanese spy ring during WWII was not in the U.S. but in Mexico, where it spied on the U.S. Atlantic Fleet.

5. Prisoners of war in Russian camps experienced an 85% mortality rate.

6. Germany had a total of 3,363 generals during the war while the U.S. had just over 1,500.

7. Before Nazi Germany decided to eliminate the Jews by gassing them, it had considered sending them to the island of Madagascar. (Wood, Angela Gluck. 2007. Holocaust: The Events and Their Impact on Real People. New York, NY: Dorling Kindersley Limited.)

8. The greatest loss of life ever sustained by the U.S. Navy occurred on July 30, 1945. The USS Indianapolis was shot by Japanese submarine I-58. Captain Charles McVay, commanding officer of the cruiser, was the only U.S. Navy officer ever to be court-martialed for losing a ship in war.

9. Calvin Graham was only 12 years old when he enlisted in the U.S. Navy. He won a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart before the Navy found out how old he was.

10. Rudolf Hess, Adolf Hitler’s deputy in the Nazi party, was the last person to have been incarcerated in the Tower of London.

11. In the 1930s, the U.S. Army had only about 130,000 soldiers, making it the sixteenth largest force in the world, smaller than Czechoslovakia, Poland, Turkey, Spain, and Romania.

12. Author Ian Fleming based his character “007” on the Yugoslavian-born spy Dusko Popov (1912-1980). Popov spoke at least five languages and came up with his own formula for invisible ink. He was the first spy to use microdots, or photos shrunk down to the size of dots. He obtained information that the Japanese were planning an air strike on Pearl Harbor, but the FBI did not act on his warning. Popov later lived in the U.S. in a penthouse and created a reputation as a playboy. He wrote an account of his wartime activities in his novel Spy, Counterspy (1974).

13. The Russians were the first to have paratroopers, which they exhibited in 1935. The Allies did not catch up until 1940, when the Central Landing School opened near Manchester.

14. The most important medical advance that saved soldiers’ lives during WWII was the blood transfusion.

15. The Holocaust Memorial in Berlin is coated with an anti-graffiti chemical. It was manufactured by the very same company that made the Zyklon B gas that was used in concentration camp gas chambers during WW2.

16. Nine American crewmen survived when their war plane crashed during World War 2. Eight of them were captured by the Japanese and eaten. Only one survived because he was picked up by a passing submarine. That survivor is George H.W. Bush.

17. During WW2, penicillin was recycled and extracted from the urine of soldiers already on the antibiotics.

18.  Adrian Carton de Wiart, a British officer fought in the Boer War, WWI & II, was shot in the face, head, stomach, ankle, leg, hip and ear, survived a plane crash, tunneled out of a POW camp, and bit off his own fingers when a doctor wouldn’t amputate them. He later stated, “frankly I had enjoyed the war.”

19. During World War II, Japanese Army officers hosted a party for the Japanese Navy officers, and when they ran out of meat they served the liver of a recently deceased American soldier.

20. Coconut juice – or water inside – not only is sterile, but has the same electrolytic balance as human blood, which enabled medics in the Pacific Theater in World War II to use it as an emergency substitute for plasma.

21. During World War II, Russia forced battalions of convicts to run through minefields, search and clear them ahead of the advancing troops.

22. During World War II, the very first bomb dropped on Berlin by the Allies killed the only elephant of the Berlin Zoo. (Call Green Peace   )

23. The notion of gremlins was first conceptualized during WW2, when mechanical failures in aircraft were jokingly blamed on the small monsters.

24. During World War II, A women slipped and fell at the top of the stairs of Bethnal Green tube station in London. It was being used as a bomb shelter. The resulting domino effect killed 176 people.

25. During World War II, British officer, James Hill captured two Italian tanks using only his revolver, but was wounded while attempting to capture his third tank.

26. Pooli, the American cat was a World War II veteran, who earned three service ribbons and four battle stars. 

27. Nutella was invented during WWII because chocolate was in short supply due to World War II rationing.

28. During World War II, there was a double agent named Juan Pujol Garcia, who started a spy network consisting of 27 sub-agents of his own, all of them nonexistent. He submitted expense reports for them and had the Nazis giving him money to pay their salaries. He later received the Iron Cross, approved by Hitler himself.

29. After World War II, Denmark declined an offer of $100,000,000 from the United States to buy Greenland.

30. During WW2, a Russian pilot, Alexey Maresyev was shot down over Nazi Germany. He dragged himself 18 days to Soviet territory and had to have his legs amputated. Later, he mastered the use of prosthetic devices and returned to flying combat missions.

31. The US playing card company ‘Bicycle’ had manufactured a playing card in WW2. When the card was soaked, it revealed an escape route for Prisoners of War. These cards were Christmas presents for all POWs in Germany.

32. During WW2, American pilot, Alan Magee fell 20,000 feet without a parachute before smashing through the glass roof of a train station. He survived and lived to 82.

33. Netherland sends Canada 10,000 tulips each year as a thank you gesture for sheltering their Dutch princess during WW2.

34. German pilots used to intentionally rupture their eardrums during WW2 to prevent air pressure issues. Similarly, Bajau people of the Pacific rupture their eardrums to help them in diving and hunting at sea.

35. Marius A. Langbein, a German spy was sent to Canada during WW2. He decided to use his funds to move to Ottawa and then surrendered to Canadian authorities. During trial, Jury let him go because he didn’t do any damage or even spying.

36. During WW2, there was a secret program used by American forces to disguise plastic explosives as flour. It was such a good disguise that even baked goods could be made with it, which could then be used to blow things up.

37. A WW2 American private in the Italian Campaign single-highhandedly forced the surrender of 4 machine-gunners and captured 10 Italian prisoners. He was stripped of his medals for being a dog. BUT the cats on the other hand...

38. The official gesture that accompanied the Pledge of Allegiance was so similar to Hitler’s Nazi salute that Franklin D. Roosevelt ordered the change to the hand over heart during WW2.

39. In WW2, Lieutenant Robert R. Klingman of American forces used the propeller of his F4U Corsair to destroy an enemy reconnaissance plane. With his guns jammed, he ground away the enemy plane’s tail until it lost control and crashed. Klingman made it back to base and was awarded the Navy Cross.

40. Night Witches were the members of an all-female bomber regiment in WW2 Russia. These pilots would turn off their engines, glide and bomb German targets to avoid being heard on approach. They dropped 3,000 tons of bombs over German lines, and were so good at evading enemy planes that German pilots were promised the Iron Cross for shooting down a single Night Witch.

41. During WW2 three bombs hit a single church in Malta. Two of them just bounced off and did not explode. The last one pierced the church roof, landing among a congregation of 300, but did never exploded.

42. The Polish Army had a bear as an enlisted soldier during WW2 that ended up being an important part of the Battle of Monte Cassino.

43. Switzerland claimed neutrality during WW2 and therefore thousands of people deposited their hard-earned money in Switzerland. When the depositors died, the relatives were denied any access to their funds, funds that the banks continued to make interest off. They also funneled hundreds of millions into Nazi Germany.

44. During WW2, the Manhattan Project used the codename “Copper” for the element Plutonium. They then had to rename the element Copper to “Honest-to-God Copper.”

45.  WW2 Canadian soldier, Leo Major, singlehandedly captured about 93 Nazis in the Netherlands. He also later singlehandedly captured the town of Zwolle, also in Netherlands from the Germans. He was blind in one eye all along.

46. Lauri Törni was soldier who during WW2 served both the Finnish Army and the Waffen SS of Nazi Germany, both decorated him highly. After the war, he immigrated to the US and became a highly decorated Green Beret, served as inspiration for John Wayne’s Green Beret. He died in Vietnam.

47. While returning from bombing run during WW2, Norman Jackson of Royal Airforce was wounded. He strapped on a parachute before climbing out of the aircraft and onto the wing with a fire extinguisher, all while his airplane was flying at 140 mph, in order to put out the fire in the starboard wing fuel tank.

48. During WW2, the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Philadelphia Eagles lost so many players to military service that they temporarily merged the two teams into a single one and unofficially referred it as “The Steagles”

49. German soldiers in WW2 booby trapped paintings and hung them crooked.

50. Unsinkable Sam was a cat aboard a German ship in World War II. Having cats aboard ships is something that’s been common for hundreds of years mainly due to their ability to catch rodents. He first served on the Bismarck during its first and only mission on 18 May 1941. After a sea battle on 27 May, the Bismarck was sunk and only 115 of the 2,200 crew members survived. Sam was found floating on a board later- by the British. The British then employed him (and named him Oscar) on the HMS Cossack, until it was hit by a torpedo on 24 October and sank three days later. Though 159 people died from the torpedo, “Oscar” survived. He was officially named “Unsinkable Sam” and was transferred to the aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal, which had played a role in the destruction of Bismarck. Unfortunately, this ship also sank just days later on 14 November, once again due to torpedo. Sam survived again, and was described as “angry but quite unharmed.” The British decided to retire Sam to a seaman’s home in Belfast. There he lived for 14 more years. Who knows why… Sam still had at least 5 more ships before he was in real trouble no? 

51. 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.

52. More US servicemen died in the Air Corps that the Marine Corps. While completing the required 30 missions, your chance of being killed was 71%. Not that bombers were helpless. A B-17 carried 4 tons of bombs and 1.5 tons of machine gun ammo. The US 8th Air Force shot down 6,098 fighter planes, 1 for every 12,700 shots fired.

53. Germany's power grid was much more vulnerable than realized. One estimate is that if just 1% of the bombs dropped on German industry had instead been dropped on power plants, German industry would have collapsed.

54. 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).

55. German Me-264 bombers were capable of bombing New York City but it wasn't worth the effort.

56. A number of air crewmen died of farts. (ascending to 20,000 ft. in an un-pressurized aircraft causes intestinal gas to expand 300%!)

57. Germany lost 40-45% of their aircraft during World War 2 to accidents.

58. The Russians destroyed over 500 German aircraft by ramming them in midair. "It takes a brave man not to be a hero in the Red Army". - Joseph Stalin

59. The average German officer slot had to be refilled 9.2 times

60. The US Army had more ships that the US Navy.

61. The German Air Force had 22 infantry divisions, 2 armor divisions, and 11 paratroop divisions. None of them were capable of airborne operations. The German Army had paratroops who WERE capable of airborne operations.

62. When the US Army landed in North Africa, among the equipment brought ashore were 3 complete Coca Cola bottling plants.

63. 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 capture by the US Army.

64. The Graf Spee never sank, The scuttling attempt failed and the ship was bought by the British. On board was Germany's newest radar system.

65. One of Japan's methods of destroying tanks was to bury a very large artillery shell with on ly the nose exposed. When a tank came near the enough a soldier would whack the shell with a hammer. "Lack of weapons is no excuse for defeat." - Lt. Gen. Mataguchi

66. Following a massive naval bombardment, 35,000 US and Canadian troops stormed ashore at Kiska. 21 troops were killed in the fire-fight. It would have been worse if there had been Japanese on the island.

67. The MISS ME was an unarmed Piper Cub. While spotting for US artillery her pilot saw a similar German plane doing the same thing. He dove on the German plane and he and his co-pilot fired their pistols damaging the German plane enough that it had to make a forced landing. Whereupon they landed and took the Germans prisoner. It is unknown where they put them since the MISS ME only had two seats.

68. Most members of the Waffen SS were not German.

69. By D-Day, the Germans had 1.5 million railway workers operating 988,000 freight cars and used 29,000 per day

70. During the Japanese attack on Hong Kong, British officers objected to Canadian infantrymen taking up positions in the officer's mess. No enlisted men allowed! 

71. Nuclear physicist Niels Bohr was rescued in the nick of time from German occupied Denmark. While Danish resistance fighters provided covering fire he ran out the back door of his home stopping momentarily to grab a beer bottle full of precious "heavy water". He finally reached England still clutching the bottle, which contained beer. Perhaps some German drank the heavy water...

72. Germany lost 136 Generals, which averages out to be 1 dead General every 2 weeks.

73. During WWII, Japan bombed China with fleas infected with bubonic plague.

74. Queen Elizabeth II served as a mechanic and driver in World War II.

75. U.S. Soldier John R. McKinney held off over 100 Japanese soldiers single handedly in WWII.

76. The number of Chinese killed by the Japanese during WWII is greater than the number of Jews killed in the Holocaust.

77. Traditionalist Lieutenant Colonel John Malcolm Thorpe Fleming Churchill, or ‘Mad Jack’ as he was known, fought in World War II using a longbow and sword.  Churchill – of no apparent relation to his namesake – once asserted that “any officer who goes into action without his sword is improperly dressed.”

78. The first German serviceman killed in the second world war was killed by the Japanese (China, 1937).

79. The first American serviceman killed was killed by the Russians (Finland 1940).

80. 6 bomber crewmen were killed for each one wounded.

Edited July 8, 2014 by Hebime

[Shanzival 210]

Also, here are some more facts from WW2.

 

8. The greatest loss of life ever sustained by the U.S. Navy occurred on July 30, 1945. The USS Indianapolis was shot by Japanese submarine I-58. Captain Charles McVay, commanding officer of the cruiser, was the only U.S. Navy officer ever to be court-martialed for losing a ship in war.

 

 

16. Nine American crewmen survived when their war plane crashed during World War 2. Eight of them were captured by the Japanese and eaten. Only one survived because he was picked up by a passing submarine. That survivor is George H.W. Bush.

 

 

21. During World War II, Russia forced battalions of convicts to run through minefields, search and clear them ahead of the advancing troops.

 

 

8) The U.S.S. Indianapolis had just delivered critical parts for Little Boy and was returning to base when it was torpedoed and sunk. Due to various circumstances the Navy was not aware that it was lost until the survivors were spotted some three and a half days later. Most of its crew survived the sinking but succumbed to various causes before they were rescued. Of the crew of 1,196, only 317 survived (4 more died after being rescued)

 

16) George H.W. Bush was an Avenger TBM pilot which has a crew of 3. Only he survived bailing out of his plane (One chute didn't open, one died in the plane)

 

21) A common claim, but has no actual proof. The use of Penal Battalions by the Soviets is true and they were used in high-risk situations, but using them to clear a path through a minefield is both wasteful and ineffectual. Early version of this claimed that they were sent in before tanks, because obviously anti-tank mines would be set off by people.

 

 

Fun little one:

 

If you ever saw the 1977 war movie "A Bridge Too Far" about Operation Market Garden you might recall a British airborne officer that constantly carried around an umbrella. He was based upon Digby Tatham-Warter, a major in the 2nd Paratroop Brigade that was famed for his umbrella. During the fighting at the end of Arnhem he reportedly disabled an armored car by sticking that umbrella through the driver's vision slit and incapacitating the driver. After being captured he was able to escape and eventually returned to Allied lines with some 150 other escaped prisoners.

[Hebime 1,637]

16) George H.W. Bush was an Avenger TBM pilot which has a crew of 3. Only he survived bailing out of his plane (One chute didn't open, one died in the plane)

 

21) A common claim, but has no actual proof. The use of Penal Battalions by the Soviets is true and they were used in high-risk situations, but using them to clear a path through a minefield is both wasteful and ineffectual. Early version of this claimed that they were sent in before tanks, because obviously anti-tank mines would be set off by people.

George H.W. Bush and his mates were on a bombing raid against the small communications outpost on Chichi Jima. They were shot down. Sorry for the missing plural for "plane".

 

We all know that the Soviets shot at their own retreating men after Stalin's "Not a step back" command, but mostly at retreating Penal Battalions. Why would they bother if tens or more die, clearing a minefield? But on a side note, they might not sent there to "clear" the minefields, but to "attack through" the minefields.

[Shanzival 210]

We were all told that the Soviets shot retreating men in great numbers thanks to wonderful historical documentaries such as "Enemy at the Gates" and "Call of Duty".

 

In truth most of those 'blocking battalions were horribly undermanned and underequipped and far more often just rounded up people and sent them back to the front rather than shoot them. The Soviets did execute a good number of soldiers for cowardice (a couple of thousand, I want to say), but that number is a drop in the bucket compared to the size of their military.

 

The Soviets had a lot of men in their military, but they still had an absolutely staggering amount of territory to cover so it's not like they could toss troops away willy-nilly.

Edited July 7, 2014 by Shanzival

[_Katyusha_ 1,829]

We were all told that the Soviets shot retreating men in great numbers thanks to wonderful historical documentaries such as "Enemy at the Gates" and "Call of Duty".

 

In truth most of those 'blocking battalions were horribly undermanned and underequipped and far more often just rounded up people and sent them back to the front rather than shoot them. The Soviets did execute a good number of soldiers for cowardice (a couple of thousand, I want to say), but that number is a drop in the bucket compared to the size of their military.

 

The Soviets had a lot of men in their military, but they still had an absolutely staggering amount of territory to cover so it's not like they could toss troops away willy-nilly.

 

[spoiler] Not One Step Back’ was officially Order Number 227 issued by the Soviet High Command and signed by Joseph Stalin on July 28th, 1942. ‘Not One Step Back’ was issued in direct response to Stalin’s correct belief that the Nazi’s ‘Operation Blue’ would target Stalingrad. The order was distributed to every unit in the Russian armed forces and read out to all troops.  

 

“The people of our country, for all the love and respect that they have for the Red Army, are beginning to feel disappointment in it; they are losing faith in it, and many curse the Red Army for giving our people over to the yoke of the German oppressors while the Army runs away to the east.

 

Some foolish people at the front comfort themselves by saying that we can always retreat further east, since we have much territory, much land and manpower, and that we will always have more than enough grain. They say this to excuse their shameful conduct at the front. But such talk is lies and falsehood, and only helps our enemies.

 

After the loss of the Ukraine, Byelorussia, the Baltic lands, the Donbass and other regions, we have much less territory, far fewer people, much less grain and metal, fewer factories and industrial plants. To retreat any further would be to ruin ourselves and our Motherland. Every little scrap of land that we give up strengthens our enemy and weakens our defence, our Motherland.

 

And so the time for retreating is over. Not one step back! That must now be our watchword.

 

Can we take the blows of the enemy and push them back to the west? Yes, we can, because our factories in the rear are doing excellent work and the front is receiving ever more aircraft, tanks, artillery and mortars.

 

Is there something we lack? We lack order and discipline. This is our main shortcoming. We must establish the strictest order and iron discipline in our army if we want to rescue the situation and defend our Motherland. Panickers and cowards will be eliminated on the spot. Commanders of companies, battalions, regiments and divisions, along with their commissars and political workers, will be considered traitors to the Motherland if they retreat without orders from above.”  

 

‘Not One Step Back’ then outlined some of the practical measures that would be introduced. Any soldiers of whatever rank found guilty of a disciplinary offence would be sent to penal battalion (known as a shtrafbat). These units would be used for marching across, for example, a minefield before a main infantry unit moved up. Order 227 stated that men in these units had to atone for their crimes against the Motherland with their blood. Another new unit created by ‘Not One Step Back’ was the ‘blocking battalion’ (known as the zagradbat). Men in these units would be at the rear of an attack and would shoot anyone not advancing quickly enough or were seen retreating. Blocking battalions would end up shooting thousands of Russian soldiers at the Battle of Stalingrad for failing to show the necessary resolve in combat.[/spoiler]

 

The above is not taken from Wikipedia, but instead"Not One Step Back - Order 227". HistoryLearningSite.co.uk. 2011. Web.

[Shanzival 210]

And the same day he issued Order 227 he approved for a withdraw and consolidation of Soviet forces in the Caucasus region. Both the Soviets and Germans lost significant numbers of troops because they did not approve a withdraw until it was too late. The difference is that the Soviets became smarter about it as the war went on while the Germans started doing it more and more.

 

Did they shoot some of the deserters? Yes, they did. Tens of thousands of them by most accounts. But they sent far more up to the front.

[lisovp 958]

#22 made me spill my tea.

[Wenin 2,654]

[spoiler]‘Not One Step Back’ then outlined some of the practical measures that would be introduced. Any soldiers of whatever rank found guilty of a disciplinary offence would be sent to penal battalion (known as a shtrafbat). These units would be used for marching across, for example, a minefield before a main infantry unit moved up. Order 227 stated that men in these units had to atone for their crimes against the Motherland with their blood. Another new unit created by ‘Not One Step Back’ was the ‘blocking battalion’ (known as the zagradbat). Men in these units would be at the rear of an attack and would shoot anyone not advancing quickly enough or were seen retreating. Blocking battalions would end up shooting thousands of Russian soldiers at the Battle of Stalingrad for failing to show the necessary resolve in combat.[/spoiler]
 
The above is not taken from Wikipedia, but instead"Not One Step Back - Order 227". HistoryLearningSite.co.uk. 2011. Web.

 

The requirement for Armies to maintain companies of barrier troops was withdrawn after just three months, on October 29, 1942. Intended to galvanise the morale of the hard-pressed Soviet Army and emphasise patriotism, it had a generally detrimental effect and was not consistently implemented by commanders who viewed diverting troops to create barrier units as a waste of manpower, so by October 1942 the idea of regular blocking units was quietly dropped. By 20 November 1944 the blocking units were officially disbanded.

 

Also, here are some more facts from WW2.

5. Prisoners of war in Russian camps experienced an 85% mortality rate.

Maybe I misunderstand that, but: Red Army took about 3 million germans as PoWs, 1 million of them died. That's about 33%.

Edited July 8, 2014 by Wenin

[Hebime 1,637]

We were all told that the Soviets shot retreating men in great numbers thanks to wonderful historical documentaries such as "Enemy at the Gates" and "Call of Duty".

 

In truth most of those 'blocking battalions were horribly undermanned and underequipped and far more often just rounded up people and sent them back to the front rather than shoot them. The Soviets did execute a good number of soldiers for cowardice (a couple of thousand, I want to say), but that number is a drop in the bucket compared to the size of their military.

 

The Soviets had a lot of men in their military, but they still had an absolutely staggering amount of territory to cover so it's not like they could toss troops away willy-nilly.

Yep, "Call of Duty", "Enemy at the Gates", aaaaand a bunch of war veterans who saw with their own eyes that the Soviets opened fire at their own retreating troops. And I'm not talking about German sources, but Hungarian sources. Some 2nd Hungarian Army veterans said during their interview, that the soviets used Penal Battalion units against them at the Don River, and saw that their "officers" shot at the retreating troops.

 

Maybe I misunderstand that, but: Red Army took about 3 million germans as PoWs, 1 million of them died. That's about 33%.

 

Not just Germans. Hungarians, Romanians, Italians, etc. Such high death rate was because the Soviet Union was not prepaired for such a great number of PoWs, so they couldn't give them enough food, proper medical treatment and such. Most of the PoWs died because of illness or starvation.