What have you learned about WW2 recently?

Discussion in 'General' started by dbf, Oct 22, 2010.

  1. ceolredmonger

    ceolredmonger Member

    I agree this example is certainly denim, it has the characteristic texture and hang (you can see the diagonal twill over the pocket). I have to disagree that it has to be so due to the design. Wool BD captured in 1940 would have pocket pleats and many examples exist simply modified for exposed dress buttons, especially done by wartime allies.
    Not using the Imperial measurements I assume the Germans would not have had the usual problem with Denims - that they were sized assuming wear over BD. Lots of HG accounts feature bafflement at their sizing when issued in-lieu of BD as they work out ridiculously big.
     
  2. AB64

    AB64 Senior Member

    I would disagree with your disagreement - denim were made in the pattern shown, serge wasn't - other than the Poles I can't think of anyone modifying buttonholes and having seen lots of BD (and owning about 80 Serge BD jackets) I don't think there are many examples existing. I've never really looked at U-Boat crew uniforms but would be very interested to see any that seem to be serge BD
     
    ceolredmonger likes this.
  3. AB64

    AB64 Senior Member

    ceolredmonger likes this.
  4. Andreas

    Andreas Working on two books

    Just learned this, and now I am wondering how the US ever won the war?

    "The US Army manual recommends throwing a bag of coffee grounds in a simmering pot for ten minutes if there is no percolator available."

    All the best

    Andreas
     
  5. Dave55

    Dave55 Atlanta, USA

    I used to see people do this on camping trips in the sixties. I had forgotten about it. They seemed to like it though. I'm sure they were vets.
     
  6. MarkN

    MarkN Banned

    So, the US Army invented Turkish coffee a few hundred years after the Ottomans and their underlings had been preparing it that way. :D

    Mind you, after 10 mins I imagine most of the good flavour has long gone and a few spoons of sugar will be needed to make it drinkable.
     
  7. chipm

    chipm Well-Known Member

    Operation Romeo
    Operation Romeo - Wikipedia

    All news to me.
    There are LOTS of guys making great WW2 videos. Wish somebody would make a video about this daring raid.
     
    TTH and Dave55 like this.
  8. chipm

    chipm Well-Known Member

    Battle Of the North Cape..... Scharnhorst

    While the event itself is not "New To Me".
    The details certainly are.....or rather were. I just watched 2 videos about the battle.
    A fascinating story.
    I could never serve in the bowels of a ship. NO WAY i could stay down there. They would have to transfer me to the infantry or court-martial me. :)

    It never ceases to amaze How MUCH damage those big ships could take and still function, even in limited capacity.
    It took the efforts of 10 ships to finally subdue this German Battleship.!
     
    A-58 likes this.
  9. Dave55

    Dave55 Atlanta, USA

    Ascension Island - Wikipedia

    World War II

    During World War II, to supply and augment extensive amphibious aircraft antisubmarine patrol operations ongoing from the early days of the war, the United States built an airbase on Ascension Island, known as "Wideawake",[5] after a nearby colony of sooty terns (locally called 'wideawake' birds because of their loud, distinctive constant (day-and-night) cawing chatter).[21] The airbase, which was under construction by the 38th Combat Engineer Battalion of the Army Corps of Engineers, was unexpectedly visited by two British Fairey Swordfish torpedo planes on 15 June 1942.[citation needed] According to one of the pilots, Peter Jinks, the planes were fired upon before being recognised as allies. The Swordfish had to land on the unfinished airstrip, thus becoming the first aircraft to land on Ascension Island proper—which had long served as an anti-submarine warfare base for Consolidated PBY Catalina flying boats. The event was commemorated with a postage stamp 15 June 1982.

    The airfield was used by the US military as a stopping point for American aircraft crossing the Atlantic Ocean on the way to theatres of operation in Europe and Africa. American bombers based at Wideawake were engaged in the Laconia incident.

    The only local military action during World War II occurred on 9 December 1941. At around mid-day, the German submarine U-124 approached Georgetown on the surface with the intention of sinking any ships at anchor or shelling the cable station.[citation needed] Fort Bedford, a two-gun shore battery at Cross Hill, above Georgetown, fired on the submarine. The guns scored no hits but the U-boat submerged and retreated. The battery remains largely intact to this day, together with its guns, BL 5.5 inch Mark I naval guns removed from HMS Hood during a refit in Malta in 1938.

    The airbase fell into disuse following the American departure at the end of World War II.
     
  10. CL1

    CL1 116th LAA and 92nd (Loyals) LAA,Royal Artillery

    Cant believe I watched the Battle of the River Plate for the first time all the way through
    and the Altmark was the german tender in the south Atlantic
     
    Dave55 likes this.
  11. A-58

    A-58 Not so senior Member

    I read this morning that during the Battle of Tassafaronga (in the PTO) on 1 Dec 42, the USS New Orleans took a torpedo hit that ignited the forward magazines (big boom). The aforementioned big boom took the bow completely off, amounting to about 150ft of the front of the ship. The severed bow including turret #1 was struck several times as the rest of the ship continued on causing more damage to the port side before sinking. The severed bow sank, not the rest of the ship as it was still underway. A very effective damage control effort managed to keep the ship afloat with a jury-rigged bow of coconut trees and shells allowing it to make safe harbor at Tulagi Island. Temporary repairs were made there then the New Orleans continued on Sydney, Australia for further repairs. From there she continued on the the naval yard at Puget Sound, Washington (state). Both legs of the trip were made STERN FIRST. Dang, that's a looooooong way, all the way across the Pacific Ocean backwards. I think that calls for a DOUBLE DANG at least.

    Post battle damage. Seems that it would take a lot of duct tape to fix this up.
    [​IMG]

    The USS New Orleans was repaired and returned to action for the rest of the war. After the war it was sold for scrap. The city of New Orleans should've did what it took to obtain it and make it a museum ship. A more fitting end that to end up as a pile of scrap metal.

    Read all about it!

    USS New Orleans (CA-32) - Wikipedia
     
    Last edited: Dec 23, 2021
    Dave55, Chris C and CL1 like this.
  12. A-58

    A-58 Not so senior Member

    I've read in the book "The Secret History of Food" that;

    In 1942 when the USS Lexington was torpedoed and going down during the Battle of Coral Sea, during the abandon ship procedures, sailors broke into the freezers in the galley and ate all the ice cream that they could cram down their pie holes and then carried off all the rest. They scooped their helmets full of ice cream and were eating it while waiting to board the lifeboats. Now that's something you'll never see in a movie.

    And;

    That US bomber crews would make ice cream while on their missions after figuring out that they could strap buckets of ice cream mix to the outer fuselages of their planes. By the time they landed safe back at their airbase, the mix would be frozen in the cold temps of the higher altitudes that they flew and the ice cream was churned smooth by engine vibrations, turbulence and probably machine gun fire as well. Pretty ingenious way to have a nice treat upon a successful return from a mission there.

    Ice cream is obviously great for morale.
     
    Last edited: Jan 6, 2022
    Chris C, CL1 and Little Friend like this.
  13. Little Friend

    Little Friend Senior Member

    I have read within one of my Many Books on the Eighth Air Force, that in order to have a proper Mission party, with cold beer, they loaded-up a B-17 flew up to 25.000 feet, stayed for 15 minutes, landed with the right temperature drink..:cheers:
     
    Dave55, A-58 and CL1 like this.
  14. A-58

    A-58 Not so senior Member

    I wonder if that “beer run” would count as a mission….nah.
     
  15. Tolbooth

    Tolbooth Patron Patron

    "The British Eighth Army in North Africa in 1941 was one-quarter British, three-quarters imperial. Under the South East Asia command in 1945, four-fifths of the troops were Indian and African units"
    From 'Blood and ruins', Richard Overy.

    I knew they had an important part but hadn't realised the figures were that high.
     
    A-58, Andreas, stolpi and 1 other person like this.
  16. Wg Cdr Luddite

    Wg Cdr Luddite Well-Known Member

    British authors definitely have a blindspot for the Dominion and Empire contribution.
     
    Chris C and Andreas like this.
  17. Andreas

    Andreas Working on two books

    I hesitate to say that, but I am certain Overy is quite wrong on that for 8 Army in 1941.

    All the best

    Andreas
     
  18. Tolbooth

    Tolbooth Patron Patron

    Overy does cite a source for those figures- Ashley Jackson, The Bitish Empire and the Second World War (London, 2006).

    Not a work or author I've come across before.
     
    Andreas likes this.
  19. Owen

    Owen -- --- -.. MOD

    Learnt this the other day.
    Finns called the T34 a sotka. A duck.
     
  20. Andreas

    Andreas Working on two books

    Thanks! And here is my analysis.

    How ‘Imperial’ was Eighth Army in 1941?

    All the best

    Andreas
     
    TTH, Tolbooth, 4jonboy and 1 other person like this.

Share This Page