2nd WW2 Cumulative History Quiz

[steviejay]

IIRC during the Spanish Civil War both sides circumvented the British and French's rule that neither side should supply arms by using u-boats, there were a few reports of British destroyers attacking mystery uboats but I think they were Italian.

However considered the political climate at the time the Spanish Civil war seems most likely, if I had to force a guess I would need to say it was probably a German Uboat sinking a Russian cargo ship supplying munitions or something to the Nationalists as Stalin supported them.

I'd have to say that yes, and it was all thought to be an accident because of the munitions the ship carried were thought to have detonated accidently.

 

[Adler17]

No, it was no Russian ship. But the Spanish Civil war is right. Also right is that nearly all submarines which were used in this war by the nationals were of Italian origin. But one operation was done by Uboats. So what did they sink?

Adler

 

[YNCS]

You're referring to the sinking of the Spanish Republican submarine C3 by U-34 in 1936.

 

[Adler17]

YNCS, you´re totally right.
In 1936 the German Kriegsmarine wanted to test the new Uboats in combat and also help the nationalists in Spain, who had no submarines. So in the secret operation Ursula two boats were ordered to the Spanish waters to attack Republican ships. They had order to dive on day and at night fly the British ensign. It had to be absolutely secret. A few days before the German boats were going to sail to Spain an Italian submarine sunk a ship there causing trouble. But this was also a good hiding for the German boats. If they were successful the Italians would be blamed more likely.
The operation was not very successful. 3 eels were fired but all they all were dud or missing the enemy. That´s why the OKM abandoned the operation and gave the order to come back home. On the way back U 34 spotted off Malaga the Republican submarine C 3. The boat was in a difficult position and only one torpedo could be fired. Then the boat had to retreat to avoid the counter attack of the warships. The torpedo was fired but in the boat no explosion was heard only a dumb noise.
The crew of C 3 was just ready with lunch when 2 seamen brought the rubbish on deck. The captain and the 1st officer, a merchant navy captain were discussing when an explosion occured. The boat was sinking at onece. Only the two men who solved the rubbish problem and the 1st officer survived, the other 37 men died. At first a bulletin was published accusing the Germans to have sunk the sub. However the investigations gave no sign that this was true. There was no huge explosion and no water rising which is typical for a torpedo. So it was said it was an accident by an explosion of the batteries. The truth were not published before 1945.
What happened really? Most likely the torpedo was a dud torpedo again. But the hit caused an explosion in the batteries ripping the sub into two parts.
Although the result of the operation Ursula was at the first view bad, the Kriegsmarine learnt very much. At first the new type VII boats were very good. Then the torpedo quality had to be enhanced. They were awful. Although the Germans had a torpedo crise in 1939 and until Norway, the crise could be much worse without the changes already done. So on the second view it was a success, although the only sinking of a ship occured when the operation was already over formally.

YNCS, your turn.

Adler

 

[FriendlyFire]

The crew of C 3 was just ready with lunch when 2 seamen brought the rubbish on deck.

Beats canniblism

 

[Adler17]

Pardon, but I learnt that rubbish means not only nonsense but also garbage or litter. So why is that so funny?

Adler

 

[YNCS]

It isn't. Rubbish isn't particularly used in American English, but it's a common term for garbage or trash in English English. Of course, in England, rubbish is also called dust and is taken away by the dustman.

BTW, the difference between garbage and trash is that garbage was at one time edible and trash wasn't.

 

[YNCS]

Anyway, since I got the last question right, here's my question.

Can anyone tell me about the Fallshirmjägerpanzerdivision Hermann Göring?

 

[Hamlet]

By the name, it must have been some kind of Paratroop-Panzer amalgamation, I assume.

Oh, and dust and rubbish are not one and the same. Rubbish is 'trash', whereas dust is, well, dust.

 

[YNCS]

But dust is rubbish.

And your answer about Fallshirmjägerpanzerdivision Hermann Göring is hardly complete.

 

[Hamlet]

But dust is rubbish.

No, it isn't. Dust is dust. If dust were rubbish, then we'd call it rubbish and not dust.

And your answer about Fallshirmjägerpanzerdivision Hermann Göring is hardly complete.

Well, that's hardly surprising, considering I was only extrapolating from the name itself, and I know absolutely nothing about the Fallshirmjägerpanzerdivision Hermann Göring other than that.

 

[privatehudson]

It's origins lie before the war as originally a flak unit and then into an infantry unit. They were kind of like Goering's version of the Leibstandarten Adolf Hitler, guarding his house and person, used on parades and what not. The regiment was formed just before the war and a part was trained in parachute operations and served with the 7th Flieger under Student. During the war they fought in Poland twice (1939 and 1944), Sicilly where they formed a major part of the German contingent there and Russia before surrendering in the east. They probably served elsewhere too but I don't recall where. By the end of the war the formation had expanded into a division (sometime prior to sicily) and finally into a corps sometime after. It included most types of formations in its ranks, but it's soldiers only ever saw action as airborne troops when under Student. I doubt by the end that any siginificant number where parachute trained.

That's about the best I can do from memory.

 

[YNCS]

You have the general idea, privatehudson.

There was one division that was strange even by German standards. This was the Fallshirmjägerpanzerdivision Hermann Göring ("Hermann Göring Armored Parachute Division"). This outfit began as an infantry battlion and flak regiment, organized as Göring's personal bodyguard. In 1940, these units were reorganized into the Panzergrenadier (mechanized infantry) Regiment Reichsmarschall Göring, which soon expanded into brigade size and then to a division (Panzerdivision Hermann Göring) in 1942. In early 1943, most of the division was destroyed in the aftermath of the Battle of El Alamein. It was quickly rebuilt into the largest division, Fallshirmjägerpanzerdivision Hermann Göring, (19,000 men) in the German armed forces. More important, Göring saw to it that ample replacements were always on hand, so his division was always up to strength, and indeed kept growing. Most German divisions fought until they were below half strength before getting massive replacements. The Göring division was organized like a regular army panzer division, only with two flak regiments added. At the end of 1944, the division split into two (one panzer, one panzergrenadier) and became Panzerkorps Hermann Göring. If the war had gone on longer, Panzerarmee Hermann Göring would have appeared.

 

[privatehudson]

Of course despite all those replacements, it's a good bet that any such army would have been a paper formation only. So do I get the next question since you didn't specify what information you wanted?

 

[YNCS]

Of course you do. I asked a general, generic question to which you gave a general, generic answer.

 

[privatehudson]

I'll ask a relatively easy one for a change.

Churchill is famous for amongst other things the quote Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few. about the Battle of Britain of course. However, another similar phrase was used not long after, who said it and what were they referring to?

 

[FriendlyFire]

Iam pretty sure it was herman Goring but all I can recall is everyone calling him a Donkey.
since hes boast that no enemy aircraft will ever fly over reich territory.
(Or was it donkey noises ? )

 

[CruddyLeper]

If a single bomb falls on Berlin you can call me Milch (Jewish name, hence derogatory for Hermann).

 

[privatehudson]

Iam pretty sure it was herman Goring but all I can recall is everyone calling him a Donkey.
since hes boast that no enemy aircraft will ever fly over reich territory.
(Or was it donkey noises ? )

Nope, it's much closer in words to the original quote than that, very similar structure. Oh and by not long after I mean within a year.

 

[rilnator]

If a single bomb falls on Berlin you can call me Milch (Jewish name, hence derogatory for Hermann).

I think the name was Myer. There was a high ranking Milch in the Luftwaffe so I don't think Hermann would have used that name.