Amusing WWII Trivia

Matrix Games Forums

Forums Register Login Photo Gallery Member List Search Calendars FAQ

My Profile Inbox Address Book My Subscription My Forums Log Out

Amusing WWII Trivia

View related threads: (in this forum | in all forums)

Logged in as: Guest

Users viewing this topic: none

Printable Version

All Forums >> [Current Games From Matrix.] >> [World War II] >> Steel Panthers World At War & Mega Campaigns >> Amusing WWII Trivia

Page: [1]

Message

<< Older Topic Newer Topic >>

Amusing WWII Trivia - 5/30/2001 2:48:00 AM

Larry Holt

Posts: 1969
Joined: 3/31/2000
From: Atlanta, GA 30068
Status: offline

Found on the Internet: 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) 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. 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%. 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. 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. 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). 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. German submarine U-120 was sunk by a malfunctioning toilet.

_____________________________

Never take counsel of your fears.

Post #: 1

- 5/30/2001 3:40:00 AM

Mumdaan

Posts: 23
Joined: 5/7/2001
Status: offline

omg that's good stuff ) hehe

_____________________________

(in reply to Larry Holt)

Post #: 2

- 5/30/2001 3:54:00 AM

TheZel66

Posts: 210
Joined: 4/6/2001
From: Phila, PA
Status: offline

What happened to the Koreans? Boy, would that make a great non-fiction novel. Dont tell me, they finished the war fighting for Korea, after they fought for US, captured by the Japaneese, then fighting for them, and captured by the Chineese, fighting for them....

_____________________________

(in reply to Larry Holt)

Post #: 3

- 5/30/2001 4:19:00 AM

Grumble

Posts: 471
Joined: 5/23/2000
From: Omaha, NE, USA
Status: offline

quote:

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.

Never read this in any AAR I've seen. Actually success went up (in USAAF and RAF) when the guns were synchronized for 300 yards or less, this was more due to higher Pk than tracer issues. In both services, guns were originally synchronized for 600yds or more; much too far away for effective shooting. At this range, yeah tracers would have a SLIGHTLY different trajectory. Inside 400-500 yards, the ability to sight through the reflector while observing fire was quite an advantage (still is), with very little difference in trajectory. Round counters (such as the Germans had at the beginning of the war) were certainly better than using tracers, but the disadvantage is not necessarily that the enemy realizes you're "winchester". If you are engaging, the target will go defensive until he realizes you aren't a threat. Assuming the guy survives to see your flurry of tracers, he still has to get you off his six and get into position to fire on you. I would doubt anyone would have situational awareness to track which of the bad guys is winchester and who isn't. The problem is one of mission management: I don't know how much ammo I have left, so do I separate and go home, or stick around.

_____________________________

"...these go up to eleven."
Nigel Tufnel

(in reply to Larry Holt)

Post #: 4

- 5/30/2001 5:15:00 AM

RolandRahn_MatrixForum

Posts: 588
Joined: 3/18/2001
From: Beloit, USA
Status: offline

I think that most of these infos came from Dunnigan, James and Nofi, Albert: "Dirty little secrets of WWII". The info abaout the tracer ammo can be found on p. 194. (BTW, the book contains a lot more interesting infos, I can only recommend it) Kind regards, Roland

_____________________________

(in reply to Larry Holt)

Post #: 5

- 5/30/2001 8:02:00 AM

Figmo

Posts: 556
Joined: 5/28/2000
From: Pennsylvania, USA
Status: offline

Thanks Larry - those were great!! My wife liked them too!! Figmo

_____________________________

"Laws that forbid the carrying of arms...disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes ...Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants; they serve rather to encourage than to prevent homicides, f

(in reply to Larry Holt)

Post #: 6

- 5/31/2001 1:02:00 AM

tuppu

Posts: 1
Joined: 5/10/2001
From: Lapua, Finland
Status: offline

Q:Hmm... what did we learn about this? A:In war everything is possible... -Totenkopf PS. Could you tell us where did you find this stuff?

_____________________________

(in reply to Larry Holt)

Post #: 7

- 5/31/2001 1:41:00 AM

ruxius

Posts: 909
Joined: 5/5/2000
From: ITALY
Status: offline

Very interesting..for those who can't find that book it would be very nice to read here more about.so whenever you want..you will not miss readers :)

_____________________________

Italian Soldier,German Discipline!

(in reply to Larry Holt)

Post #: 8

- 5/31/2001 2:33:00 AM

Larry Holt

Posts: 1969
Joined: 3/31/2000
From: Atlanta, GA 30068
Status: offline

quote:

Originally posted by Colonel Totenkopf: Q:Hmm... what did we learn about this? A:In war everything is possible... -Totenkopf PS. Could you tell us where did you find this stuff?

on a subscription humor site, www.jokeaday.com They don't cover just military humor but this one case was very humorous. RolandRahn Thanks for the orginal atribution to Dunnigan, James and Nofi, Albert

_____________________________

Never take counsel of your fears.

(in reply to Larry Holt)

Post #: 9