The article was in Wikipedia Francais and translated into English. Good to see that you read it all the same.
A little know fact is that during the Second World War, Lord Nuffield paid for all sanitary towels for the Wrens. It was his contribution to their war effort.
HOME TO THE REICH This was the motto on the party badge of the Luxembourg VDB party formed in July, 1940, after the German occupation. The VDB (Volksdeutsche Bewegung) was a movement whose avowed aim was to bring Luxembourg into partnership with Hitler's Third Reich. Founded by 62 year old Professor Damian Kratzenberg, son of a German father and Luxembourg mother, its membership grew to around 69,000 by the end of 1942. Most members were blackmailed into joining with the threat of losing their jobs if they refused. After the war, hundreds of Luxembourgers were brought before the courts on charges of collaboration with the enemy. Eight death sentences were actually carried out, among them Professor Kratzenberg.
From: Lesser Known Facts of WWII - More Lesser-Known Facts of WWII A FAMOUS CHURCHILL SPEECH In a memorable speech, Churchill asked America "Give us the tools and we will finish the job." But America wouldn't 'give' anything without payment. After two years of war, Roosevelt had drained Britain dry, stripping her of all her assets in the USA, including real estate and property. The British owned Viscose Company, worth £125 million was liquidated, Britain receiving only £87 million. Britain's £1,924 million investments in Canada were sold off to pay for raw materials bought in the United States. To make sure that Roosevelt got his money, he dispatched the American cruiser Louisville to the South African naval base of Simonstown to pick up £42 million worth of British gold, Britain's last negotiable asset, to help pay for American guns and ammunition. Not content with stripping Britain of her gold and assets, in return for 50 old World War I destroyers, (desperately needed by Britain as escort vessels) he demanded that Britain transfer all her scientific and technological secrets to the USA. Also, he demanded 99 year leases on the islands of Newfoundland, Jamaica, Trinidad and Bermuda for the setting up of American military and naval bases in case Britain should fall. Of the 50 lend-lease destroyers supplied to Britain, seven were lost during the war. The first was taken over by a British crew on September 9, 1940. After 1943, when no longer useful, eight were sent to Russia, while the others were manned by French, Polish and Norwegian crews. These destroyers were renamed when they arrived in Britain. All were given the name of a town or city, hence the term 'Town Class' destroyer. During the course of the war, Britain had received 12 Billion, 775 million dollars worth of goods under the Lend-Lease program.
From: Lesser Known Facts of WWII - More Lesser-Known Facts of WWII QUOTE Lord Beaverbrook was later to exclaim "The Japanese are our relentless enemies, and the Americans our un-relenting creditors."
<TABLE id=HB_Mail_Container height="100%" cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0 UNSELECTABLE="on"><TBODY><TR height="100%" UNSELECTABLE="on" width="100%"><TD id=HB_Focus_Element vAlign=top width="100%" background="" height=250 UNSELECTABLE="off">Did you know.... Only 13 soldiers in Denmarks army were killed during the German invasion! :mellow: </TD></TR><TR UNSELECTABLE="on" hb_tag="1"><TD style="FONT-SIZE: 1pt" height=1 UNSELECTABLE="on"> </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<TABLE id=HB_Mail_Container height="100%" cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0 UNSELECTABLE="on"><TBODY><TR height="100%" width="100%" UNSELECTABLE="on"><TD id=HB_Focus_Element vAlign=top width="100%" background="" height=250 UNSELECTABLE="off">Found these on another site:</TD></TR><TR UNSELECTABLE="on" hb_tag="1"><TD style="FONT-SIZE: 1pt" height=1 UNSELECTABLE="on"> </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>World War 2 Facts <LI class=factlist type=disc>The first German serviceman killed in the war was killed by the Japanese (China, 1937) <LI class=factlist>The first American serviceman killed was killed by the Russians (Finland 1940). <LI class=factlist>80% of Soviet males born in 1923 didn't survive World War 2 <LI class=factlist>The highest ranking American killed was Lt. Gen. Lesley McNair, killed by the US Army Air Corps. <LI class=factlist>Between 1939 and 1945 the Allies dropped 3.4 million tons of bombs, An average of about 27,700 tons of bombs each month. <LI class=factlist>12,000 heavy bombers were shot down in World War 2 <LI class=factlist>2/3 of Allied bomber crews were lost for each plane destroyed <LI class=factlist>3 or 4 ground men were wounded for each killed <LI class=factlist>6 bomber crewmen were killed for each one wounded <LI class=factlist>Over 100,000 Allied bomber crewmen were killed over Europe <LI class=factlist>There were 433 Medals of Honor awarded during World War 2, 219 of them were given after the receipiant's death <LI class=factlist>From 6 June 1944 to 8 May 1945 in Europe the Allies had 200,000 dead and 550,000 wounded <LI class=factlist>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). <LI class=factlist>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<SUP>th</SUP> Infantry division was the swastika, and Hitler’s private train was named “Amerika”. All three were soon changed for PR purposes. <LI class=factlist>Germany lost 110 Division Commanders in combat <LI class=factlist>40,000 men served on U-Boats during World War 2; 30,000 never returned <LI class=factlist>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<SUP>th</SUP> Air Force shot down 6,098 fighter planes, 1 for every 12,700 shots fired. <LI class=factlist>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. <LI class=factlist>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. <LI class=factlist>It was a common practice on fighter planes to load every 5<SUP>th</SUP> 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. <LI class=factlist>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). <LI class=factlist>German Me-264 bombers were capable of bombing New York City but it wasn’t worth the effort. <LI class=factlist>A number of air crewmen died of farts. (ascending to 20,000 ft. in an un-pressurized aircraft causes intestinal gas to expand 300%!) <LI class=factlist>Germany lost 40-45% of their aircraft during World War 2 to accidents <LI class=factlist>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 <LI class=factlist>The average German officer slot had to be refilled 9.2 times <LI class=factlist>The US Army had more ships that the US Navy. <LI class=factlist>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. <LI class=factlist>When the US Army landed in North Africa, among the equipment brought ashore were 3 complete Coca Cola bottling plants. <LI class=factlist>84 German Generals were executed by Hitler <LI class=factlist>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. <LI class=factlist>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. <LI class=factlist>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 <LI class=factlist>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. <LI class=factlist>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. <LI class=factlist>Most members of the Waffen SS were not German. <LI class=factlist>Air attacks caused 1/3 of German Generals' deaths <LI class=factlist>By D-Day, the Germans had 1.5 million railway workers operating 988,000 freight cars and used 29,000 per day <LI class=factlist>The only nation that Germany declared war on was the USA. <LI class=factlist>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! <LI class=factlist>By D-Day, 35% of all German soldiers had been wounded at least once, 11% twice, 6% three times, 2% four times and 2% more than 4 times <LI class=factlist>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… Germany lost 136 Generals, which averages out to be 1 dead General every 2 weeks <SCRIPT type=text/javascript><!--google_ad_client = "pub-3998234462103866";google_alternate_ad_url = "http://www.world-war-2.info/ads/blank.html";google_ad_width = 300;google_ad_height = 250;google_ad_format = "300x250_as";google_ad_channel ="";google_ad_type = "text";google_color_border = "FFFFFF";google_color_bg = "FFFFFF";google_color_link = "0000FF";google_color_url = "008000";google_color_text = "000000";//--></SCRIPT><SCRIPT src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js" type=text/javascript></SCRIPT><IFRAME name=google_ads_frame marginWidth=0 marginHeight=0 src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/ads?client=ca-pub-3998234462103866&dt=1173304051687&lmt=1173304051&alternate_ad_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.world-war-2.info%2Fads%2Fblank.html&prev_fmts=728x15_0ads_al_s&format=300x250_as&output=html&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.world-war-2.info%2Ffacts%2F&color_bg=FFFFFF&color_text=000000&color_link=0000FF&color_url=008000&color_border=FFFFFF&ad_type=text&ref=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.co.uk%2Fsearch%3Fsourceid%3Dnavclient%26ie%3DUTF-8%26rlz%3D1T4GFRC_enGB202GB202%26q%3Dww2%2Bfacts&cc=259&u_h=600&u_w=800&u_ah=570&u_aw=800&u_cd=16&u_his=2&u_java=true" frameBorder=0 width=300 scrolling=no height=250 allowTransparency></IFRAME>
20 June 1942 - A Japanese submarine, I-26, LCdr Minoura YOKOTA CO, shelled the lighthouse at the isolated location of Estevan Point, Vancouver Island. HMCS Moolock & Santa Maria dispatched to the area but no further contact reported. There was very little damage & no loss of life as a result of this incident. This was the only known time that Canadian territory was taken under enemy fire during World War II
GRAND THEFT. The loot the Germans transported back to the Reich from Holland was staggering..... 13,786 metal working machines..... 2,729 textile machines..... 18,098 electric motors..... 358 printing presses..... 31 dredgers..... over 7,000 barges..... 90,000 lengths of railway line and a half million sleepers..... over 60,000 motor cars..... 40,000 trucks 25,000 motor bikes. 154,647 kilos of Dutch gold disappeared into the Reichsbank's safes in Berlin. On top of this, 320,000 cows, 472,036 pigs 114,220 horses were stolen. A total of 346 works of art were stolen including 27 Rembrandts, 12 Hals, 47 Steens, 40 Rubens and 12 Van Goghs. Most of these paintings were recovered after the war.
Did you know... Hitler had a taste for Fanta? Apparantly, the German branch of Coca Cola invented it when they couldn't import Cola syrup from the States.
The US Army had more ships that the US Navy. More ships? I'd have to see some source on that before I would believe it. Perhaps they meant boats, but still the US Navy had over 15,000 water craft in it's inventory, not counting whale boats, Captain's barges and what not carried by larger ships. 84 German Generals were executed by Hitler Germany lost 136 Generals, which averages out to be 1 dead General every 2 weeks So if you were a German general, you were more likely to die by the hands of your own army? 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! This seems a bit stodgy to believe.
Belfast Blitz From Wikipedia The Belfast Blitz was an event that occurred on the night of Easter Tuesday, 15 April 1941. Two hundred bombers of the Luftwaffe attacked the city of Belfast in Northern Ireland. One thousand people died as a result of the bombing and even more were injured. In terms of property damage, half of the houses in Belfast were destroyed. Outside of the city of London, this was the greatest loss of life in a night raid during the Blitz. Roughly 100,000 people of a total population of 425,000 were rendered homeless. Government Preparation Unfortunately there was almost no preparation for the conflict with Germany. James Craig Lord Craigavon, Prime Minister of Northern Ireland since its inception in 1921, claimed; "Ulster is ready when we get the word and always will be." He was asked, in the N.I. parliament: “if the government realized 'that these fast bombers can come to Northern Ireland in two and three quarter hours'.” His reply was: “We here today are in a state of war and we are prepared with the rest of the United Kingdom and empire to face all the responsibilities that imposes on the Ulster people. There is no slacking in our loyalty.” Richard Dawson Bates, the Home Affairs Minister, simply refused to reply to army correspondence and when the Ministry of Home Affairs was informed by imperial defence experts that Belfast was a certain Luftwaffe target, nothing was done. Air-raid Shelters Belfast, a city with the highest population density had the lowest proportion of air-raid shelters. Prior to the "Belfast Blitz" there were only 200 public shelters, although 4,000 households had built their own shelters. No searchlights set up, as they only arrived on April 10. There were no night-fighters. On the night of the raid, no RAF aircraft took to the air. There were only 22 anti-aircraft guns, six light, and sixteen heavy. On the night, only seven were operated for a short time. There was no smokescreen ability. There were some barrage balloons. These air-raid shelters were Anderson shelters. They were just sheets of corrugated galvanised iron. Since most casualties were caused by falling masonry rather than by blast, these structures provided effective shelter for those who had them. Children Unlike other British cities, children had not been evacuated. There had been the "Hiram Plan" initiated by Richard Dawson Bates, the Home Affairs Minister, but it failed to materialise. Fewer than 4,000 women and children were evacuated. There were still 80,000 children in Belfast. Even the children of soldiers had not been evacuated, with calamitous results when the married quarters of Victoria barracks received a direct hit. Instructions When the bombs fell, the population did not know what to do. There were few bomb shelters. An air raid shelter on the Hallidays Road received a direct hit killing all those taking shelter within it. Many people who were dug out of the rubble alive had taken shelter underneath their stairs and were fortunate enough that their homes had not received a direct hit or had even caught on fire. The population did not know whether to run, hide or stay in their beds. In the New Lodge area people had taken refuge in a Mill, which presumably appeared to them to be a sturdy building. Tragically 35 were crushed to death when the mill wall collapsed. In another mill, the York Street Mill, one of its massive sidewalls collapsed on to Sussex and Vere Streets killing all those who still remained in their homes. Major O’Sullivan reported "In the heavily ‘blitzed’ areas people ran panic-stricken into the streets and made for the open country. As many were caught in the open by blast and secondary missiles, the enormous number of casualties can be readily accounted for. It is perhaps true that many saved their lives running but I am afraid a much greater number lost them or became casualties." That night almost 300 people, many from the Shankill, took refuge in Clonard Monastery in the Falls Road. The crypt under the sanctuary and the cellar under the working sacristy, had been fitted out and opened to the people, as an air-raid shelter. Prayers were said and hymns sung by the mainly Protestant women and children during the bombing. Mortuary The mortuary services had emergency plans to deal with only 200 bodies. In the event, the public baths on the Falls Road and on Peter’s Hill, and the large fruit market, Saint George’s market, were used as mortuaries. 150 corpses remained in the Falls Road baths for three days. Then they were buried in a mass grave, with 123 still unidentified. There were a further 255 corpses were laid out in St. George’s Market. Many bodies and parts of bodies could not be identified. Mass graves were dug in the Milltown and City Cemeteries where the unclaimed bodies of those who died on that Easter Tuesday are buried. Southern reaction By 6AM; within two hours of the request for assistance, 71 fire men with 13 fire tenders from Dundalk, Drogheda, Dublin, and Dún Laoghaire were on their way to cross the Irish border to assist their Belfast colleagues. In each station volunteers were asked for, as it was beyond their normal duties. In every instance, all volunteered. They remained for three days, until they were sent back by the Northern Ireland government. By then 250 fire men from Clydeside had arrived. De Valera formally protested to Berlin. He followed up with his "they are our people" speech. <DIR>“In the past, and probably in the present, too, a number of them did not see eye to eye with us politically, but they are our people – we are one and the same people – and their sorrows in the present instance are also our sorrows; and I want to say to them that any help we can give to them in the present time we will give to them whole-heartedly, believing that were the circumstances reversed they would also give us their help whole-heartedly …” </DIR>Frank Aiken, the Minister for Defence was in Boston Massachusetts at the time. He gave an interview to the press there, saying: “the people of Belfast are Irish people too”. http://www.bbc.co.uk/northernireland/talkni/ask_blitz.shtml “Northern Ireland's defences consisted of 22 anti aircraft guns, one squadron of fighters based at Aldergrove, which was not equipped for night fighting. And a balloon barrage. When the first raids occurred it had no search lights, and no smoke screen. In addition it had shelters which would have held a quarter of Belfast population, if fully occupied.” http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/stories/16/a4210516.shtml “The Easter Sunday night and the Easter Tuesday night would have been about the 2 biggest raids. But, what they were after with the Waterworks was the docks. We were stationed, after we done the training I was stationed up the Cave hill road. And we were in a direct run there right down to the docks. And there was a cruiser in getting repaired at that time, and they think they were after it, you see? Because they had AA guns on it and they were firing at the planes. And they had also an AA gun on the top of Gallaghers in York Street. It’s not there now either. And they had some around the Cave Hill. And then you had all these auld barrage balloons.” http://www.bbc.co.uk/northernireland/yourplaceandmine/topics/war/belfastblitz//raid1.shtml Timeline, pictures and video “Without the advice of the ops room Belfast's anti-aircraft guns fall silent for fear of hitting "friendly" Hurricanes. Unaware Fighter Command had already withdrawn the Hurricanes” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulster_Hospital Ulster Hospital was “subsequently moved to Mountpottinger Road and then Templemore Avenue. While located in Mountpottinger the hospital was severely damaged in the 1941 Belfast Blitz. For gallery of photos, incl original Luftwaffe recon photo of Belfast Docks area and the pilot Georg Deininger Kampfgruppe 100, who took part in the raid on Belfast, 15-16 April 1941, see: http://multitext.ucc.ie/viewgallery/1092 ================================ In memory of my husband’s g-aunt: Volunteer BETTY BURLEIGH W/39496, Auxiliary Territorial Service who died age 21 between 15 April 1941 and 16 April 1941 Daughter of William and Mary Burleigh, of Florencecourt. Remembered with honour KILLESHER CHURCH OF IRELAND CHURCHYARD Killed whilst working at a Hospital in Belfast. And my grandfather, RA (CD & AA), who was stationed at Orangefield, Belfast. And all the others who perished and suffered...
Found this old article from the Telegraph, about rugby players ... "Which country had most international rugby players killed in action during World War Two? England? France, perhaps? ..." Talking Rugby: Timely tribute paid to rugby's fallen heroes - Rugby Union News - Telegraph http://www.cwgc.org/admin/files/Rugby%20leaflet.pdf dbf
At the time of Pearl Harbor, the top U.S. Navy command was called CINCUS (pronounced “sink us”), the shoulder patch of the U.S. Army’s 45th Infantry Division was the Swastika, and Hitler’s private train was named “Amerika.” All three names were soon changed for PR purposes. The German submarine U-120 was sunk by a malfunctioning toilet. When the US Army landed in North Africa, among the equipment brought ashore was 3 complete Coca Cola bottling plants.
The German submarine U-120 was sunk by a malfunctioning toilet. Sunk by a toilet? In many sources it is stated that this boat was lost due to a toilet problem. This is not true but U-1206, a much larger boat, did have similar problems that helped to contribute to its loss in April 1945. uboat.net - Boats - U-120
11 September 1942 The commander of U-203 (Kptlt. Rolf Mützelburg) died in a unique incident on 11 Sept. He allowed his crew to swim in the sea and when he was about to dive from the tower the boat moved and he hit the saddle tank being badly wounded. He died the next day.
