WWII Trivia

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WWII Trivia

Post by Bubbachuk-PG- »

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 would have been much worse if there
had been any Japanese on the island.
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Apparition
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Re: WWII Trivia

Post by Apparition »

Makes you wonder how in the world those 21 men died. And being captured 4 different times by 4 different nations and forced to fight for 3 of them, wow!!! Great facts :mrgreen:
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Re: WWII Trivia

Post by HotStick »

My Uncle was in the Army protecting/recapturing the Aleutians, and I believe he took part in that landing. According to Wikipedia; "Even though the Japanese were gone before the invasion of Kiska was launched, Allied casualties during the operation nevertheless numbered 313. All of these casualties were the result of friendly fire, booby traps set out by the Japanese, disease, or frostbite." There was one battle in which the US had a small group of men that held the Jap forces at bay on a mountain-side in a perpetual fog, until a larger force "took" the lowlands and made their way to them. When they arrived they realized that the majority of the Jap forces had evacuated days before. I wonder if this was that battle?

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