Military Facts Not Commonly Known

[CaptJackG]

Military Facts Not Commonly Known

Col D. G. Swinford, USMC, Retired

You might enjoy this from Col D. G. Swinford, USMC, Retired 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.

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 in 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 Fighter 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.

7. When allied armies reached the Rhine, the first thing men did was piss 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. A 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.

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 could have been worse if there had

been any Japanese on the island.

[Jediteo]

No.9, U120 wasn't sunk because of a toilet malfunction, in fact she was not sunk at all.

Here is an excerpt from Uboat.net, coincidentally, this was a discussion years ago on the SHIII forums.

"In many sources it is stated the U-120 was "sunk by a toilet" (probably a very bad way to go! . However this story should be attributed, with changes, to the U-1206 which was one of the late war boats fitted with the new deep water high-pressure toilets (enabling the boat to use its toilet at greater depth than before).

On 14 April 1945, only 8-10 miles off the British coast line, the boat was safely cruising at 200 feet when the commander, Schlitt, decided to use the toilet without the help of a trained specialist (the system was complicated). Something went wrong and when the specialist arrived he misunderstood something and opened the wrong valve with the end results that large amount of seawater got into the boat. The seawater reached the batteries directly under the toilet causing chlorine gas to form and the boat had to be surfaced immediately right under the enemy. When the boat reached the surface they managed to blow clean air into the boat but at the same time an aircraft bombed the boat causing extensive damages leaving the boat unable to dive. Seeing the hopeless situation Schlitt had no choice but to destroy his secret material and abandon ship to safe his crew. (Brennecke, J. (2001). Jager and Gejagte)"

The notion that tracers have a different trajectory is a quite common assumption, however the trajectory of tracer is very similar if not the same as a normal FMJ round. If tracers had a different trajectory, that would essentially negate their usefulness. Concerning the effective range of a aerial MG and the range in which the tracer is visible, and the marginal change in flight characteristics; the very slight differences in trajectory is wholly negligible. One would think that a Colonel of the USMC would have a grasp of basic ballistics.

[Zooly]

Lt Gen Lesley McNair was an idiot who thought larger caliber cannons on tanks was a bad idea and vetoed all proposals to upgun the Sherman but the British went ahead and installed the 17pdr which gave the Sherman (which became known as the Firefly) a fighting chance (not frontally though) against Panthers and tigers.

[Sid]

No.9, U120 wasn't sunk because of a toilet malfunction, in fact she was not sunk at all.

Yes it was 'sunk' - don't take it literally. Someone or something being in a hopeless situation can be described as being sunk.

[Tribunus]

The first U.S. servicemen killed in World War Two, were also killed by the Japanese in China.

The Panay Incident was a Japanese attack on the Gunboat USS Panay, while she was anchored in the Yangtze River outside of Nanking, China (now known as Nanjing) on December 12, 1937.

The USS Panay was hit by two of the eighteen 132 lb (60 kg) bombs dropped by three Yokosuka B4Y Type-96 bombers and strafed by nine Nakajima A4N Type-95 fighters. The Panay sank, killing three and wounding 43 sailors.

http://www.archive.org/details/1937-12-12_Bombing_of_USS_Panay

[FoolTrottel]

Me thinks WW2 started september 1st, 1939.

If you think it started earlier, then I'd suggest to include 1914-1918, the period in between being just a cease-fire...

[Tribunus]

If you mean the war in Europe, I would agree.

But the war against the Japanese had a much earlier beginning.

[FoolTrottel]

Sure, but that wasn't World War... there's always a war going on somewhere...

[Tribunus]

Ah, you mean a formally declared war.

I’ve never personally been in one of those. It’s been my misfortune to always participate in un-declared wars.

But I will yield the point to you Sir.

[Jediteo]

WWII can be said to have started in 1931 with the Japanese invading and Manchuria or China in 1937. The sheer scale of the conflict is equal to or greater than the '39-40 European conflict. While WWII is generally stated to have started with the German invasion of Poland, numerous smaller conflict slightly blur the lines. The assumption is that the declaration of war between Britain commonwealth & France towards Germany, and numerous smaller states constitutes the start of a world war. Meanwhile Finland had fought a war that would later be continued against the soviets, Japan had already been at war for several years, none of these wars particularly smaller than the early '39-40 Western front. Several larger states had yet to enter the war, which makes the case for a slightly more tiered or escalating approach. The historiographical issues concerning the start of the war is the subject of some quite extensive debate. '

However, it remains a historiographical and definitional issue rather statements concerning epistemology. The conventional historiographical view of a period of war and peace is a post-Westphalian peace phenomenon; while conflicts can be far more complicated than the formal declaration of war commonly expressed from a sovereign European state.

Long story short, WWII didn't really start September 1 1939, rather a series of escalating conflicts converging and merging into a multiple theatres of war across the globe involving and affecting, most if not all, nation-states. WWII as a historiographical entity is better explained as a collection of distinct conflict rather than a homogeneous period of warfare spanning very specific dates.

[FoolTrottel]

Ooowwww ... just has I had the impression I won this one, comes Jedi raining on my parade!

Oh well...

[DD_Arthur]

Ooowwww ... just has I had the impression I won this one, comes Jedi raining on my parade!

Oh well...

No, no. I believe Jedipedia has fouled up on this one. Ask him again about Japan invading China/Manchuria. 1937? Hmmmmm...................

[Jediteo]

Ooowwww ... just has I had the impression I won this one, comes Jedi raining on my parade!

Oh well...

No, no. I believe Jedipedia has fouled up on this one. Ask him again about Japan invading China/Manchuria. 1937? Hmmmmm...................

Typo, fixed.

But the Sino-Japanese war started in 1937, while 1931 they invaded Manchuria (geographically China)

[fruitbat]

Ah, you mean a formally declared war.

I’ve never personally been in one of those. It’s been my misfortune to always participate in un-declared wars.

But I will yield the point to you Sir.

that made me chuckle!

[Kira]

Gents, it's common knowledge that WWII started on Dec 7th, 1941!