Useless military facts.

[Bugfatty300]

Useless facts that I know. More or less....
Not absolutely sure about some.

WWII

The first German soldier to die in WWII was killed by the Japanese in China.

The first American soldier to die in WWII was killed by the Russians in Finland.

New Zealand lost more soldiers per population than any other country in WWII.

The Nazis believed that the world was inside a giant sphere. They even sent a ship with a powerful telescope to the Baltic and pointed it toward the sky believing they could see the RN horizontally across the curve of the earth. Of course all the saw was endless sky.

80% of Russian males born in 1923 did not survive WWII.

American Civil War

7,000 Union soldiers fell in less than 20 minutes assaulting Confederate trenches at Cold Harbor. That's 6 men falling every second.

More generals were killed while fighting during the American Civil War than in any other war in history. Over 140.

The last battle of American Civil War was a Confederate victory.

More Americans died during the Civil War than all other US conflicts combined.

General

The first air-to-air combat took place in Mexico, 1913 between two passing pilots and their pistols.

The first photograph of any 'warfare' subject was snapped during the 1848 revolution in Paris. The first professional photographs of war were taken during the Crimean War. Also the first use of photos as propaganda.

There were more artillery shells fired during the Korean War than in all of WWII.

There were more bombs dropped on single Vietnamese province than all bombs dropped during WWII.

In the 2nd World War
61% of the US Military were drafted.
39% Were volunteers.
In the Vietnam War
72% of US military in Vietnam were volunteers.
28% were drafted.

The B-52 first flew in 1952 and entered service with the USAF in 1955. Endless up-grades and 'face lifts' means the USAF has no plans to scrap the B-52 until the 2050s. Thats nearly 100 years of service.

Keep it going! More useless facts!

 

[YotoKiller]

30 Americans were killed and tens of dozens were wounded storming the beaches of Kiska Island. Casaulties would have been much higher if the enemy had actually been on the island.

 

[Dragonlord]

The Nazis believed that the world was inside a giant sphere. They even sent a ship with a powerful telescope to the Baltic and pointed it toward the sky believing they could see the RN horizontally across the curve of the earth. Of course all the saw was endless sky.

I think this one is BS.... 'the Nazis' believed no such thing, though maybe a couple of crackpots who were also Nazis did.

The first photograph of any 'warfare' subject was snapped during the 1948 revolution in Paris.

That's 1848 - the Revolution Year in Europe.

 

[mortichro]

FACTS

The American soldiers are not trained to take on houses in France in the first few days of D-day.. infact theyre all not well trained for the terrain in France either..

FACTS

The Germans had difficuties posing as Americans in the Bulge because they spell "identifications" without an N..

 

[Bugfatty300]

I think this one is BS.... 'the Nazis' believed no such thing, though maybe a couple of crackpots who were also Nazis did.

Dr. Heinz Fischer was a proponet of the theory. And so were many high level nazis.http://paranormal.about.com/library/weekly/aa011199.htm 2nd Theory is pretty well known fact. Especially Dr. Fichers expadition. I seen a documentry about it on 'History's Mysteries' a long, long time ago.

And yeah, the 1948 thing was a typo.

 

[Bizon77]

The longest ranged sniper kill ever was made by a Canadian in Afghanistan.

 

[The Person]

30 Americans were killed and tens of dozens were wounded storming the beaches of Kiska Island. Casaulties would have been much higher if the enemy had actually been on the island.

Please tell me this isn't true. This can't be. Anyway, it's worth a laugh smiley:

 

[Arvin]

Well, it is true. The Americans expected 5.000 Japanese soldiers, but they were none. Although there was a naval blockade around the island, the Japanese succeeded to flee without the Americans knowing it.

Qutoe from another page:

Allied casualties during the invasion nevertheless numbered close to 200, all from friendly fire, booby traps set out by the Japanese to inflict damage on the invading allied forces, or disease. There were seventeen Americans and four Canadians killed from either friendly fire or booby traps, fifty more were wounded as a result of friendly fire or booby traps, and an additional 130 men came down with trench foot.

 

[nonconformist]

Duyring the period Britain faced Germany almost alone, German paratroopers were expected to be disguised as nuns among other things. The British homeguard had an idea to identify these spies: when coming across a nun/farmer/suspicious character, the soldier was to cry out "Heil Hitler". The idea was that a well-trained German soldier would immediately click his heels together, raise his arm and shout it back!

 

[Case]

A few Australian facts:

* The Australian 7th Division was raised in early 1940 and served throughout the war with great distinction in North Africa, Syria, Java, New Guniea and Borneo. However, the only time that the entire division went into action as a complete unit was the landings at Balikpapan in Borneo in July 1945, which was the last ground offensive the Western Allies launched in the war!

* The Australian 77th squadron was the only squadron from a British Commonwealth country to operate jet fighters in the Korean War. Of the 90 Meteors issued to the squadron over the course of the war, 54 were lost to various causes, with 30 pilots being killed in action and 6 being taken prisoner.

* The only fatal casualties suffered by the Royal Australian Navy during its patrols off the North Vietnamese coast as part of the US fleet during the Vietnam war were caused by an incident where a US fighter mistook the guided missile destroyer HMAS Hobart for, of all things, a North Vietnamese helicopter(!), and fired a Sidewinder air-to-air missile at the ship, which homed in on its funnel.

* During the early phases of the intervention in East Timor in 1999 about a dozen Royal Australian Air Force F-111 bombers were permanently kept 'bombed up' at Tindal Air Base in the Northern Territory, with their pilots recieveing continously updated briefings so that they could be dispatched at very short notice to hit targets in Indonesia if there were any serious incidents between Indonesian and the Australian-lead UN intervention force.

New Zealand lost more soldiers per population than any other country in WWII.

What's your source for that? While the 2nd NZ Division suffered the highest proportional casualties of any of the western Allies divisions (it took more then 200% casualties over the course of its campaigning in North Africa, Greece, Crete and Italy), this was NZ's only formation to see serious combat, and I can't believe that NZ took higher proportional losses then the USSR, Germany or Japan.

The first air-to-air combat took place in Mexico, 1913 between two passing pilots and their pistols.

Again, what's the source for that one? I'm pretty sure that the pistol duel between the pilots was in 1914 and was fought over France.

 

[~Corsair#01~]

New Zealand lost more soldiers per population than any other country in WWII.

I thought that was Australia?

What's your source for that? While the 2nd NZ Division suffered the highest proportional casualties of any of the western Allies divisions (it took more then 200% casualties over the course of its campaigning in North Africa, Greece, Crete and Italy), this was NZ's only formation to see serious combat, and I can't believe that NZ took higher proportional losses then the USSR, Germany or Japan.

It's proportional to the country's total population, and Aus + NZ had very small populations back then.

 

[rilnator]

Per head of population, Australia took the highest casualties in the Commonwealth during WW1. And it was the only country in the commonwealth not to have conscription. Go figure..............

 

[Adler17]

The first plane shot down by a ship was a British plane in German east africa downed by the light cruiser SMS Königsberg.
The windtalker captured by the Japanese in ww2 were thought to be Japanese.
The HMS Trinidad was badly damaged by her own torpedo fired on German destroyer. She was brought to Murmansk but after emergency repairs she was spotted by German planes and sunk.
In ww1 the British destroyer Nubian and Zulu were sunk by the Germans. Nevertheless they were raised- and with the remaining parts a hybrid ship was made: the Zubian.
Hitler did not use the Panzer divisions in the Bretagne to stop the invasion because he slept and didn´t want to be disturbed.
The last gunfight German ships had was on May 9th 1945 with Soviet MTBs- after the surrender. One Soviet MTB was sunk by the old French gun of the German transport. The ship later was given to the Soviets.
The storms of 1944/ 45 dis so much damage to the US fleets that the US had to delay invasions. Much more damage as the IJN was able to do.
The Justitia was sunk off Ireland by a German Uboat near the Irish coast. However the German Admirality knew it before the British- although it was in sight of the coast.
The Belgish fortress of Liege surrendered to only one man armed with a sabre and a pistol.

Adler

 

[Bugfatty300]

What's your source for that? While the 2nd NZ Division suffered the highest proportional casualties of any of the western Allies divisions (it took more then 200% casualties over the course of its campaigning in North Africa, Greece, Crete and Italy), this was NZ's only formation to see serious combat, and I can't believe that NZ took higher proportional losses then the USSR, Germany or Japan.



Again, what's the source for that one? I'm pretty sure that the pistol duel between the pilots was in 1914 and was fought over France.

http://www.raf.mod.uk/history/line1780.html
RAF

http://www.afa.org/magazine/kittyhawk/1903-1996.html
USAF
(Sorry Link thing isn't working right now.)

There are much more sites if you want them. These were just the first two that came up in a msn search.

Btw This was supposed to be generally uknown facts. I didn't think they would be so unbelievable that people would question my credibility.

As for NZ, Yes I meant among the western Allied countries. Not Russia or the axis.

 

[dgfred]

Great stuff , very interesting and funny

 

[CruddyLeper]

The character Tommy Atkins, widely used on Brit Army recruiting campaigns, was a real soldier.

Thomas Atkins was one of the few fatalaties in the Battle of Boxtel, Arthur Wellesley's (later Duke of Wellington) first command battle.

The Iron Duke wanted some remembrance for him - and to this day, Brit ORs (Other Ranks) call themselves "Toms".

 

[Verbose]

The character Tommy Atkins, widely used on Brit Army recruiting campaigns, was a real soldier.

Thomas Atkins was one of the few fatalaties in the Battle of Boxtel, Arthur Wellesley's (later Duke of Wellington) first command battle.

The Iron Duke wanted some remembrance for him - and to this day, Brit ORs (Other Ranks) call themselves "Toms".

He may have been real, but he didn't become a "character" until Kipling wrote a poem about the common British soldier, Tommy Atkins, wouldn't you agree?

And at least the German in WWII called british soldiers "Tommies", or perhaps it should be reserved for the English ones, as the Scotish are all "Jock". (And I assume the irish are "Paddy". The Welsh are probably "Davy".)

 

[Zeekater]

The Belgish fortress of Liege surrendered to only one man armed with a sabre and a pistol.
Adler

You're not talking about the fortress eben emael in WW2, right?

 

[Bugfatty300]

Another Bugfatty fun fact of WWII.

In 1944, the Royal Navy loaned the Soviets one of their battleships. The Royal Sovreign. The Soviets renamed the ship the Arkhangelsk. Well in 1949 the Brits wanted their ship back and the Russians returned the ship. Upon boarding the ship, the British crew descovered that every gun on the ship was still loaded and worst of all, the decks, from the bridge to the engine room were covered in human urine and feces. A small token of good will left by the Soviet crew.

Source:
See Arkhangelsk, Weapons and Warfare, Vol. 2, Page 158, 1969.

 

[Bugfatty300]

And more...

-The shoulder patch for the U.S. 45th Infantry devision was the swastika.

-Hitler's private train was called Amerika

-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.

-The last imperial Japanese soldier, Fumio Nakahira, 'surrendered' in 1980 after holding out near Mt. Halcon, Philippines. The one before him, Hiroo Onada, surrendered 1974.