12 Little Known Facts About WWII

[Snipersnest]

You might enjoy this from Col D. G. Swinford, USMC, Retired and a
history buff. You would really have to dig deep to get this kind of
ringside seat to history:

1.
The first German serviceman killed in WW II was killed by the
Japanese (China, 1937), The first American serviceman killed was
killed by the Russians (Finland 1940); The highest ranking American
killed was Lt Gen Lesley McNair, killed by the US Army Air Corps.

2.
The youngest US serviceman was 12 year old: Calvin Graham, USN. He
was wounded and given a Dishonorable Discharge for lying about his
age. His benefits were later restored by act of Congress.

3.
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
45th Infantry division was the swastika. Hitler's private train was
named 'Amerika.' All three were soon changed for PR purposes.

4.
More US servicemen died in the Air Corps than the Marine Corps.
While completing the required 30 missions, an airman's chance of
being killed was 71%.

5.
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.

6.
It was a common practice on fighter planes to load every 5th round
with a tracer round to aid in aiming.
This was a big mistake. Tracers had different Ballistics so (at long
range) if your tracers were hitting the target 80% of your rounds
were missing. Worse yet 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. This 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.

7.
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).

8.
German ME-264 bombers were capable of bombing New York City, but they
decided it wasn't worth the effort.

9.
German submarine U-1206 was sunk by a malfunctioning toilet.

10.
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 captured by the US Army

11.
Following a massive naval bombardment, 35,000 United States and
Canadian troops stormed ashore at Kiska, in the Aleutian Islands. 21
troops were killed in the assault on the island... It could have been
worse if there had actually been any Japanese on the island.

12.
The last marine killed in WW2 was killed by a can of spam. He was on
the ground as a POW in Japan when rescue flights dropping food and
supplies came over, the package came apart in the air and a stray can
of spam hit him and killed him.

[Riverpigusmc]

that Spam'll screw ya everytime

[brownie]

Interesting read, thanks

[Caleb]

Interesting in deed.