Here it is mate. The soldier in question is Pvt Henry Tandey. Spent all morning looking for it. Wasn't easy to find mind. The Legends and Traditions of the Great War: Hitler's Encounter with Henry Tandey, VC It quotes the following: "As the ferocious battle wound down and enemy troops surrendered or retreated a wounded German soldier limped out of the maelstrom and into Private Tandey's line of fire, the battle weary man never raised his rifle and just stared at Tandey resigned to the inevitable. "I took aim but couldn't shoot a wounded man," said Tandey, "so I let him go." Hitler explained, "that man came so near to killing me that I thought I should never see Germany again, providence saved me from such devilishly accurate fire as those English boys were aiming at us" How different things may have been eh? cheers marcus Thanks for finding that Marcus. A very interesting account! Lee
The shoulder patch of the U.S. Army's 45th Infantry Division was the Swastika upto around 1940 and the they changed it to this: Which if you think about it, its still a bit German Interesting, never heard about it. 45th ID is the unit which liberated the concentration camp of Dachau and massacred most of the German P.O.W., by the way.
I heard, only this evening, that 'Hugo Boss' is often credited with designing the crisp looking uniforms of the SS! Seems this is a bit of an urban myth though. The original ~ and somewhat distanced by time ~ firm of Hugo Boss did make some SS uniforms. But then, in all probability, so did several other firms inside Nazi control. Himmler himself is said to have had a major hand in the design though ...
I would have thought Hugo Boss was only a lad at the time unless his name and buisness was handed down to him. Hugo Boss established his company in Metzingen, Germany, in 1923, only a few years after the end of World War I, while most of the country was in a state of economic ruin. Before and during World War II, Mr. Boss’s company both designed and manufactured uniforms and attire for the troops and officers of the Wehrmacht as well as for other governmental branches of Nazi Germany. Boss died in 1948, and the company then languished in relative obscurity until the 1950s, when, in 1953, Hugo Boss released its first suit design for menswear. Reading the quote I guess it must have been his father
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. Is this really a fact ?
Did you know that April 20, 1941, was Hitler's birthday and the Luftwaffe celebrated the event by dropping 1,000 tons of bombs on London. Many schools in the city were standing empty, the children already evacuated to the country. The Old Palace School in St. Leonard's Street, Poplar, was now sub-station 24U of the London Auxiliary Fire Service. The playground was ideal for training and the parking of fire appliances. On the night of April 20, fire service crews were standing by in anticipation of a heavy raid on the Capital. At precisely 1.53am, a land mine, dropped from a Luftwaffe bomber, scored a direct hit on the school. Thirty two firemen and two fire women were killed. The bodies of the two firewomen, mother of three Winifred Peters and twenty one year old Hilda Dupree, on duty in the watch room, were never found. This was the largest loss of Fire Brigade personnel ever suffered in the history of the service in Britain.
RAF marking systems. The names for some of the marking systems employed by Bomber Command - the names came from places in which some WAAFs were from. "Waaganui" being one such system - I know it is how this partiucular marker system got its name. The RAF were putting forward a plan to steal a FW-190 from the Luftwaffe - Eric Brown ( test pilot for enemy aircraft) was to fly one home so desperate were the RAF to get their hands on "The Butcher Bird". The plan died in its planning stages when Armin Faber landed one by accident at RAF Pembrey having become disorientated , he thought he was over the Cherbourg peninsula.
The plan died in its planning stages when Armin Faber landed one by accident at RAF Pembrey having become disorientated , he thought he was over the Cherbourg peninsula. Thats quite funny......would have loved to have seen his face A good case of 'Officers and Maps' me thinks :p
Very similar to how they later got their hands on an A-4 version of the FW190... on the night in question, 12 FW109 A4's painted with lampblack were insinuated into the bomber stream returning from Germany. This squadron had previously made two very successful intruder attacks on London, but on THIS occasion although they all dropped their bombs, no casualties were caused, and only minor damage to.... a sewage works and a children's playground! HOWEVER - they were VERY quickly painted on radar and nightfighters tasked to them, and in the ensuing melee over the captial, navigation suffered and a number who crossed the coast OF THE THAMES ESTUARY from North to South...thought they were actually crossing the CHANNEL!!! and found themselves flying over Kent with nearly empty tanks.... On that night the Watch Officer at West Malling, a Ft. Lt. Barry, heard a crash nearby as a first of these stragglers fell out of the sky into a nearby orchard - but this wasn't found until the next morning. While trying however to find out what the noise was, a single engined aircraft was heard approaching the field, and he ordered the runway lights on, as apart from the night fighters, West Malling was ready to receive damaged or low-on-fuel bombers returning from the continent. Instead, a black single-engined fighter rolled up RIGHT to the control block, under the apronm floods, and the pilot started shouting for "his" groundcrew....in German, which they couldn't hear over the noise of his engine. They shouted back, but HE couldn't hear THEM either!.... At this point a field patrol Beaverette armoured car approached, and seeing the German crosses faintly outlined under the paint, the 'car's gunner, A/C Sharlock, jumped out and pushed the rudder of the sircraft right over to stop the pilot making a run for it! The pilot got out of the cockpit....and finally realised where he was! BUT.... "...Whilst those at the scene were digesting what had just happened, events began to take an even more dramatic, and just as unbelieveable, turn. As he was on the telephone making a further report to Group, Lt. Barry heard the sound of ANOTHER aircraft making a final approach. No sooner had this aircraft touched down, welcomed by the blazing flare path than he saw Williams and Sharlock once more gunning their Beaverette, racing into action. As the armoured car dashed around the airfield perimeter to head off the new arrival Sharlock, still perched in the Beaverette's turret, realised when just 20 yards distant that indeed the unbelieveable was happening. In front of them was yet another FW190. This time there was no suprise, as the aircraft had already been given to Control as being a hostile. Suddenly, and no doubt realising his error, and eager not to suffer the same fate as Bechtold, this pilot turned his aircraft and started to set off across the airfield pushing the throttles wide open. Williams took up the pursuit and at the same time Sharlock opened fire with the twin-mounted Vickers "K" type machineguns. Still standing in the distant Watch Office and watching with increasing awe, Lt. Barry could clearly hear the staccato bark of these light machineguns in action. Sharlock's aim was dead on target. His long burst, fired from a range of 15 to 20 yards, poured into the German aircraft. He later recalled that he could see a small fire had broken out in the rear of the cockpit, but that despite this, the pilot refused to give up. As he seemed to be intent on escaping, Sharlock opened fire a second time. The Focke-Wulf immediately burst into flames and rolled to a halt. As his plane was enveloped in flames the pilot was seen to more or less fall from the cockpit. With his clothes alight he staggered towards the Beaverette. Sharlock had climbed out of the armoured car and approached the pilot. Despite the fact that his uniform was on fire, a short striggle developed between the two, the German pulling free and turning to make a dash for it! His moment of defiance was short-lived for the Station Commander - Wing Commander (later Group Captain) Peter Townsend - caught him. Once pulled to the ground the German gave up the struggle and, with the help of Sharlock, Townsend finally extinguished his burning clothes."
Of course, the question has to be asked - was that the first (the only?) time a Beaverette was engaged in "combat"????
During the weapons' searches of the troubles in Northern ireland - a large number of Martini-Henry's were turned up. So many that any RUC officer who wanted one (on the QT) could get one rebarrelled to .22.... These had been smuggled into Northern ireland in 1913 and 1914 to arm the UVF during the Home Rule Crisis...after having been bought on the open arms market of that era - whence they had been sold BY the British Government having been confiscated in great numbers from the Boers in the Boer War...who had purchased THEM on the open arms market after the British Government had previously offloaded them! Therefore....they were in British "government" hands a grand total of THREE times; when manufactured, proofed and issued...when confiscated from the Boers and sold again...and when confiscated in the 1970s and 1980s AGAIN! And if they had been used in anger against the British Army in 1914...it would have been the SECOND time they had been turned against them!!! BUT...given the colonial wars of the 1800s, possibly umpteen wars before THAT!!! Now THAT is "sterling service"!!!
There was only execution for desertion in the U.S. Army throughout the whole war. The executed private's name was Eddie D. Slovik; he served in 28th Infantry Division.
There was only execution for desertion in the U.S. Army throughout the whole war. The executed private's name was Eddie D. Slovik; he served in 28th Infantry Division. His story makes interesting reading....I'd call it a cry for help more than desertion Eddie Slovik - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Did you know that there was a German Paratroop drop near Ellsenborn Ridge to capture a vital road junction at Barack Michelle during the Battle of the Bulge? I was under the impression the Falschimjager wasn't allowed to do operational jumps after Crete due to losses. (Excuse spellings as it was just on the TV)
I was once told that a flight of German bombers loomed over the Solent, heading for Portsmouth and flew in a formation representing that cities 'Star and Crescent' crest. If I remember rightly, they put their lights on to better illustrate their little 'prank'. I would imagine that would've been 1941. Part of " The Portsmouth Blitz ". I'd be delighted to hear more on that incident.
Did you know that there was a German Paratroop drop near Ellsenborn Ridge to capture a vital road junction at Barack Michelle during the Battle of the Bulge? I was under the impression the Falschimjager wasn't allowed to do operational jumps after Crete due to losses. (Excuse spellings as it was just on the TV) After Crete, Hitler gave an order to stop any further plans to conduct major airborne operations. There were only a few exceptions, like this one or small-scale parachute jumps on eastern front. Von Heydte's operation was a disaster, but caused major panic among the Allied ranks. Whole divisions were searching for paratroopers for days and weeks, while they could be deployed on other, more important sections of the front.
I was once told that a flight of German bombers loomed over the Solent, heading for Portsmouth and flew in a formation representing that cities 'Star and Crescent' crest. If I remember rightly, they put their lights on to better illustrate their little 'prank'. I would imagine that would've been 1941. Part of " The Portsmouth Blitz ". I'd be delighted to hear more on that incident. lovely...nice to know Kraut has a something up his sleeve other than his arm. Bet the gunners were well annoyed.
