The worst weather of the war

What was the worst weather in the Pacific/Far East?

Surley they suffered some terrible typhoon, Tsunarmi (sp) or the like at some point?

 

Using that famous quote from WW2

"NUTS"

 

Why not rephrase the question to be "What was the SECOND worst weather of the war??

Whew, took it's time to hammer it in

I remember reading some twenty years ago a novel which I thought was by C.S.Forester (but I can't find it in any bibliography) of a Light Cruiser doing a Murmansk run. The description of the cold and it's effects on the people aboard is so graphic that I could never find the courage to read it again.

 

Whew, took it's time to hammer it in

I remember reading some twenty years ago a novel which I thought was by C.S.Forester (but I can't find it in any bibliography) of a Light Cruiser doing a Murmansk run. The description of the cold and it's effects on the people aboard is so graphic that I could never find the courage to read it again.

Za

Was it H.M.S. Ulysses

by Alastair Maclean



The novel that launched the astonishing career of one of the 20th century's greatest writers of action and suspense -- an acclaimed classic of heroism and the sea in World War II. Now reissued in a new cover style. The story of men who rose to heroism, and then to something greater, HMS Ulysses takes its place alongside The Caine Mutiny and The Cruel Sea as one of the classic novels of the navy at war. It is the compelling story of Convoy FR77 to Murmansk -- a voyage that pushes men to the limits of human endurance, crippled by enemy attack and the bitter cold of the Arctic.

 

Za
Are you thinking of the book The Good Shepherd by any chance? not the aviation Good shepherd by Frederick Forsyth.

 

That's it, the HMS Ulysses by A. McLean! Thanks very much, heartily recommended! When you put the book down at last you will be left with a feeling for the true heroism of those men portrayed in this monument in a work of fiction.

Thank you too, Oldman, I haven't read this one but I will I did read the Forsyth one, though, very touching.

 

Anyone got any weather reports comparing the winters during the war?
I believe a lot of wartime met records are still classified. They certainly were in 1975: my late father was PMetO Southampton at that time and they were doing a window display in the Weather Centre there for the 35th anniversary of the Battle of Britain. They wanted to show the original RAF met forecast for August 15th and had to get special permission from the MoD to do so.

When it arrived, it read something like "There will be clear skies with occasional light cloud, leading to long sunny periods, especially at night ..."

 

Firstly I need to tell you this joke....................

Without the real punchline?B) Here goes ....

A new prison officer is being shown round the prison on his first day.

He sees two prisoners chatting together and notes that all they are doing is telling each other a number and which the other prisoner roars with laughter and immediately responds with another number.

Baffled by this procedure he appeals to his guide to explain and is told:

"It's quite simple really, they've both been inside for so long that they've listed all the jokes they know and all they need to do is quote the joke number !"

"Ah, I see. Can I try?"

"Sure - go ahead."

"Okay - 63!" **Silence** "What was wrong with that?"

"Sorry, guv, not a very funny joke," says one prisoner, "Try another".

"78!"

At this point both prisoners collapse in paroxysms of laughter, falling off their chairs in hysterics. When they eventually subside into giggling and are able to talk the new officer says "So, what joke was that?"

"I've no idea, I never heard it before!!!!!"

 

On December 1944 a typhoon with winds gusting to 185 mph struck an American fleet off the Philippines with the result that three US destroyers were sunk. There were 146 planes lost - from carrier flight decks mainly, and 778 sailors were lost.
The Americans spent days searching for survivors and found quite a few - can't remember how many. Another typhoon also struck in June 1945 with, once again severe losses.
David

 

The winter of 1939-40 is mentioned again briefly in this month's Britain At War...

...where two anecdotes are given in the editorial; one is that it was reported on 28th January that "Britain had experienced, during the month of january 1940, its coldest spell since 1894". In fact, the Thames had begun to freeze over for the first time in 45 years, and in january ICEBREAKERS had to be brought up the Thames to keep the river open!

In a magazine published in February 1940, it was mentioned that "The weather in Britain during the month of January was "unmentionable" in more ways than one. The censorship forbids all reference to weather until a fortnight after the event, but when the first reports were released it was found that...the thermometer fell below zero Fahrenheit in many places..."

 

Happily I missed the worst weather in Italy for two winters - the first 1943/44 I was still in North Africa - sweating -the second 1944/45 I was lying happy and toasty in a Hospital bed way down at Catania, Sicily - it did catch up though both in Austria and just before demob at Barnard Castle in 1947 when Frank Mee - Ron and I did our share of digging out trains at Kirkby Stephen - without knowing each other at that time.

Cheers

 

Taken from the Regt History
Rob

"The winters of 1945/46 and 1946/47 were the worst Germans can remember. They were cold, and as many houses were still damaged, there was a lack of fuel (coal) and people were undernourished, many starved or froze to death. The British, in their zone, did their best to alleviate the situation".

 

Rob -
I can go along with your statement that in th very cold winters of 45/46 and 46/47 The British did their best to alleviate the situation "

as this is wot i rote for the BBc series

BBC - WW2 People's War - Operation Woodchopper

 

It's been mentioned before but you may find the link interesting, Halsey actually ran into two typhoons, I have a book about them but can't find it right now, besides Cobra I think the second was Luise that didn't sink any ships and he was criticised for not taking appropriate countermeasures.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typhoon_Cobra_(1944)

 

Read a book about the event a couple of months and like you, for the life of me can't remember it's name. In the first instance he sailed the fleet right through the
path of the typhoon, and I do remember the one that got the most flak from the inquiry was the fleet met officer. Didn't they call them aerologists or something like that ?
David

 

Rob -
I can go along with your statement that in th very cold winters of 45/46 and 46/47 The British did their best to alleviate the situation "

as this is wot i rote for the BBc series

BBC - WW2 People's War - Operation Woodchopper

Good man Tom!
Great story.
Rob

 

My dad came from a place called Glace Bay (clue in the name) Nova Scotia.
It does get a little bracing there in winter!
He said the coldest he had ever been was in the Ardennes Dec /Jan 44/45

 

I'll cast my vote for the winter of 1943, which turned out to be one of the coldest in Scandinavia in recorded history.
In January and February of that year the temperature at Hardangervidda, where the SOE "Grouse" party kept waiting for "Gunnerside" to arrive, only rarely rose above - 30 degrees C.
Against all odds they did survive and subsequently successfully attacked the heavy water plant at Vemork.

S