Posted on 02/03/2017 12:24:31 PM PST by w1n1
Behind these photos are forgotten stories of soldiers and events that most would not know about. The fact is every campaign had its success and life span that took its toll on the soldier/airmen. For the survivors, it is the nightmare that most see in the dark and have provided freedom for the next following generation.
1. The Soviets were the only ones that realize just how skilled Finnish snipers were during the war, they were able to kill 40 Soviet troops for every Finnish soldier killed, that is unheard of today.
2. This photo shows the massive Japanese submarine I-401. This sub was the size of an aircraft carrier and even had three folded up bombers secured inside the sub. The mission of the submarine was to bomb the Panama Canal but instead the behemoth of a sub ended up at the bottom of the ocean.
3. Bomber crews were signed on to do 25 mission tours but what most didn’t know was that from 1942-1943 air losses were so common that it became statistically impossible for a bomber to complete a full tour. See the rest of the WWII facts here.
Just offhand, I remember that the USAAF did raise the required number of missions a few times, but it was in the Army’s interest that the men had a chance to make it through. I doubt that he read Catch-22, but my uncle said that Memphis Belle was very realistic.
“3. Bomber crews were signed on to do 25 mission tours but what most didn’t know was that from 1942-1943 air losses were so common that it became statistically impossible for a bomber to complete a full tour.”
Unless you were on board the B-17 “Hell’s Angels”.
They need to do a movie about that Finnish sniper. He was a little guy and I think he sniped on the order of five or six hundred people over a three-month period of time. It would be an incredible movie. I think his nickname was white death
40:1 is all the more remarkable as the Finns had almost no artillery supporting their slaughter of the soviets. It really cost them later in the war when the soviets finally overwhelmed them with unlimited bodies to throw at their lines.
Jimmy Stewart was a MAN ... he was also funny as hell
Any Dean Martin Roast he was on was The Most Memorable ... take your pick (yep that good)
ping
Another one - on an order of magnitude - was the Mulberrys used on D-Day. Rear Adm. Edward Ellsberg's book details the near disaster.
The gist is that, as the Mulberrys were built, they were flooded down and stored on the shoals offshore of some English town. Ellsberg was tasked with some other duty, but was constantly harassed by a Captain(?) who knew of his salvage background. The Captain pestered everyone so much about the "flaws" that he was nearly court-martialed because of his constant interruptions.
The problem was that no one had tried to refloat the Mulberries and the Captain was saying the methods the Brits were using would not work. Finally, to shut the guy up, the Navy sent Ellsberg upcountry to take a look. He asked the Brits for a trial raising of one of the Mulberries. They couldn't do it as they were using sewage system pumps that only had enough strength to pump horizontally and not up-and-over. End result was that Churchill came out for a look, agreed with that Captain and ordered the Royal Navy to take over from the Army engineers.
Imagine what would have happened just before D-Day when time was of the essence, and the Mulberries couldn't be refloated. Invasion would have to be aborted, or face horrendous casualties due to lack of supplies. IMO, a VERY close call, and the people who solved it should, even at this late date, be given credit for saving the invasion.
Twice I have asked The History Channel to do a show on this but never heard back - evidently too busy with Ancient Aliens, Pawn Stars, and other meaningful offerings.
Are you old enough to remember when there actually was music on MTV?
Yeah, I’m an old fart. :-))
Later model with the remote control front lower chin Turret.
I think it’s an F or G Model.
Gorgeous Aircraft.
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