Believe it or not - facts about WW2

[Spear]

Jaeger wrote:

Taken from "World War II Almanac" by Robert Goralski:

THE FIRST SHELLING OF THE U.S. MAINLAND

"Japanese submarine I-17 shelled the Elwood oil field west of Santa Barbara, California, in the early evening hours of Feb. 23, 1942."

Hey, didn't they make a movie about this? I think it starred John Belushi... (Just kidding!)

[infohawk]

Taken from "World War II Almanac":

The 3rd Reich used an experimental battalion of monkeys in suspenders to help invade Greece. The operation was a success.

[Guest Michael emrys]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Olle Petersson:

Seems like HMGs were pretty crappy against aircraft then.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

In terms of kills, yes. It's very hard to hit something moving as fast as an airplane with an MG (unless the MG in question is mounted on a fighter). It can be done, but if you are really going after kills, you need something more in the range of 37-40mm. I think the real value of MGs as anti-aircraft weapons was to distact and disrupt enemy aircraft as they were making their attacks.

Michael

[hakujin]

19. One of Japan's methods of destroying tanks was to bury a very large

artillery shell with only the nose exposed. When a tank came near

enough a soldier would whack the shell with a hammer. "Lack of weapons

is no excuse for defeat." - LtGen. Mutaguchi

An interesting point about this one: In at least one instance of this, Americans stopped before a field because they could see the strange pattern of circles where the Japanese had dug their holes. The Americans then walked up to each circle, lifted the cover, and shot the Japanese in the head. It seems the Japanese had orders to strike the artillery shells ONLY when a tank was near. Japanese REALLY follow orders.