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Wednesday, July 28, 2010

#743 WW II - Little Known History

Thanks, Jim A.






 
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 USArmy.

          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
Twenty-one troops were killed in the assault on the island. 
It could have been worse if there had been any Japanese 
on the island.

#743

5 comments:

Sandee said...

I think some of the words are missing. Made it a bit difficult in spots. I didn't know any of this though.

Have a terrific day. :)

Sandee said...

That's more like it. Now I get the full story here. I still didn't know this though.

They are all weird, but #10 made me laugh out loud.

Have a terrific day and thanks for fixing this post. :)

Puss-in-Boots said...

I laughed at No 7...I can just see it - a high ranking officer relieving himself on the banks of the Rhine. I bet the men loved it!

I love bits of info such as those you've posted Jack. One or two may come in handy on a trivia night at the local...

The Phosgene Kid said...

lots of crazy stuff went on from floating tanks to corpse spies. I think the only reason we really won in either theater is the other guy made bigger mistakes.

Merle said...

Hello Jack ~~ These were very interesting and I hadn't heard of them before. No.10 had a bad deal.
Thanks for sharing these with us.
I am glad you agree a reading woman certainly is a thinking woman. Take care. Regards, Merle.