Strange World War II Facts

[brien23]

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[FONT=&quot]Strange World War II Facts[/FONT][FONT=&quot] [/FONT]​

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

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[FONT=&quot]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); highest ranking American killed was Lt. Gen Lesley McNair, killed by the US Army Air Corps. So much for allies.
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[FONT=&quot]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.
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[FONT=&quot]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, and Hitler's private train was named 'Amerika.' All three were soon changed for PR purposes.
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[FONT=&quot]4. More US servicemen died in the Air Corps than the Marine Corps. [Actually the 8th Air Force alone suffered about 5,000 more KIA than the entire Marine Corps in WW2. While completing the required 30 missions, an airman's chance of being killed was 71%.
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[FONT=&quot]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.
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[FONT=&quot]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 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. Here's something related from 5th SF, Detachment B-52's Tips of the Trade item #32; "Tracers work both ways".
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[FONT=&quot]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).
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[FONT=&quot]8. German Me-264 bombers were capable of bombing New York City, but they decided it wasn't worth the effort.
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[FONT=&quot]9. German submarine U-1206 was sunk by a malfunctioning toilet. [/FONT]

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[FONT=&quot]10. Among the first 'Germans' captured at Normandy were several[/FONT][FONT=&quot] 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.
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[FONT=&quot]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 been any Japanese on the island.
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[FONT=&quot]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. [/FONT]

 

[Anymouse]

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.

If this particular fact is true, it could make an awesome movie.

 

[roncachamp]

[FONT=&quot]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); highest ranking American killed was Lt. Gen Lesley McNair, killed by the US Army Air Corps. So much for allies.
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Well, if 1937 is included, then the first American serviceman was killed by the Japanese. On December 12, 1937, the American gunboat USS Panay was attacked by Japanese aircraft while at anchor on the Yangtze River near Nanking. The boat was sunk, three sailors were killed and 45 were wounded.

 

[housefly]

Considering the Koreans were captured four times tells me they were not too interested in fighting to begin with.

 

[ScottM]

If this particular fact is true, it could make an awesome movie.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...e-soldier-stories-change-perception-ever.html

American paratroopers in Normandy in June 1944 thought they had captured a Japanese soldier in German uniform, but he turned out to be Korean. His name was Yang Kyoungjong.
In 1938, at the age of 18, Yang had been forcibly conscripted by the Japanese into their army in Manchuria. A year later, he was captured by the Red Army after the Battle of Khalkhin-Gol and sent to a labour camp. The Soviet military authorities, at a moment of crisis in 1942, drafted him, along with thousands of other prisoners, into their forces.
Then, early in 1943 he was taken prisoner at the Battle of Kharkov in Ukraine by the German army.
In 1944, now in German uniform, he was sent to France to serve with one of the Wehrmacht’s eastern battalions made up of Soviet prisoners to defend Normandy at the base of the Cotentin peninsula. After time in a prison camp in Britain, he went to the United States. Yang settled there and died in Illinois in 1992.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ies-change-perception-ever.html#ixzz2syua85hV
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yang_Kyoungjong

Also interesting:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lauri_Törni

Lauri Allan Törni (28 May 1919 – 18 October 1965), later known as Larry Thorne, was a Finnish Army captain who led an infantry company in the Finnish Winter and Continuation Wars and moved to the United States after World War II. He is known as the soldier who fought under three flags: Finnish, German (when he fought the Soviets in World War II), and American (where he was known as Larry Thorne) when he served in U.S. Army Special Forces in the Vietnam War.

 

[dagatoak]

Netflix has a Korean movie titled "My Way" which is a dramatization of the story of a Korean and Japanese soldier who fought everyone during WWII. I'm not sure of the accuracy of the facts, being it is a movie. Excellent film anyway.

 

[gismo]

[FONT=&quot]8. German Me-264 bombers were capable of bombing New York City, but they decided it wasn't worth the effort. [/FONT]

I think that's a bit misleading. AFaIK the Me-264 design never got past a few underperforming prototypes and only three were produced with two of those destroyed by Allied bombing.

 

[ARFlyer]

[FONT=&quot]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. [/FONT]

Of all the ways to die that would suck. Make it through a battle, to be captured and to be killed when being liberated.

 

[JimNtexas]

If this particular fact is true, it could make an awesome movie.

It did!