BjarkeP

Powered by ScribeFire.

1. The
   first German serviceman killed in the war was killed by the Japanese
   (China, 1937)
2. The
   first American serviceman killed was killed by the Russians (Finland
   1940).
3. The
   highest ranking American killed was Lt. Gen. Lesley McNair, killed by the
   US Army Air Corps.
4. The
   youngest US serviceman was 12 year old Calvin Graham, USN. He was wounded
   in combat and given a Dishonorable Discharge for lying about his age. (His
   benefits were later restored by act of Congress).
5. 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
   45^th
   Infantry division was the Swastika, and Hitler’s private train was named
   “Amerika”. All three were soon changed for PR purposes.
6. 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 8^th Air Force shot down 6,098
   fighter planes, 1 for every 12,700 shots fired.
7. 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.
8. 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.
9. It was
   a common practice on fighter planes to load every 5^th found
   with a tracer round to aid in aiming. That was a mistake. The tracers had
   different ballistics so (at long range) if your tracers were hitting the
   target, 80% of your rounds were missing. Worse yet, the 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. That 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.
10. 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). Don't believe me? Take a look at this.
11. German
    Me-264 bombers were capable of bombing New York City but it wasn’t worth
    the effort.
12. A
    number of air crewmen died of farts. (ascending to 20,000 ft. in an
    un-pressurized aircraft causes intestinal gas to expand 300%!)
13. The
    Russians destroyed over 500 German aircraft by ramming them in midair
    (they also sometimes cleared minefields by marching over them). “It takes
    a brave man not to be a hero in the Red Army”. Joseph Stalin
14. The US
    Army had more ships that the US Navy.
15. 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.
16. When
    the US Army landed in North Africa, among the equipment brought ashore
    were 3 complete Coca Cola bottling plants.
17. 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.
18. 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.
19. 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
20. 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.
21. 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.
22. Most
    members of the Waffen SS were not German.
23. The
    only nation that Germany declared was on was the USA.
24. 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!
25. 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…

Contributed by Ronald Padavan, LTC, CAP MIWG Chief of Staff
MSGT, USAF (Ret.) Past President Lodge 143, Fraternal Order of Police

As printed in, The Victory Division News. No. 4. December, 2000.

Powered by ScribeFire.

Powered by ScribeFire.

Powered by ScribeFire.