War stories...

[Truckman]

It initially seemed the attempt to kill Heydrich had failed. But he died in Prague's Bulovka hospital eight days later, reportedly from septicaemia from the shrapnel, or possibly fragments of upholstery.

It's of little consolation to his victims' families that Heydrich died in the most excruciating pain imaginable from the needle-like horsehairs from his Mercedes' upholstery being driven into his body by the force of the explosion, most of which couldn't be removed by surgery...His every movement was a new adventure in pain...He probably eventually welcomed the death caused by septicemia brought on by the micro-organisms in the horsehair......Ben

Edit: A good book on the subject is "Hitler's Hangman" by Robert Gerwarth...

[wacojoe]

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-18183099

A new movie is being filmed now based on this WWII episode when Czech nationalists assassinated a particularly heinous Nazi fiend enraging Hitler.

The movie is Anthropoid and was more than "being filmed," as it opens around the country today.

[Mike]

63 Abandoned Military Structures

[Truckman]

63 Abandoned Military Structures

I've read about the German flak towers several times...Our army engineers tried to blow them up after the war, and finally decided there wasn't enough dynamite in Europe to do the job, so they left them standing...The parts they managed to destroy revealed mountains of rebar inside concrete walls 20 to 30 feet thick...They were topped with 88mm flak cannons that could fire shells 5 miles straight up...

Goebbels had one near his suburban home near Berlin where he would observe the bombing during Allied raids...They are one of the few parts of the 1,000 year reich that might last that long......Ben

[Truckman]

From a link in a CAF blog: Build a bomber in a day...

In the midst of World War II, workers at a Welsh aircraft factory gave up their weekend off to build a Wellington bomber from scratch in just 24 hours. Why? To set a new world record.

Without civilians working hard at home, the war effort would have failed......Ben

[Truckman]

This story is being shown on "Mighty Ships" on the Smithsonian Channel...During WWII the Queen Mary was pressed into service as a troop ship...On October 2, 1942, it was carrying 14,000 passengers and crew including 10,000 members of the US Army to England escorted by an aging British cruiser, HMS Curacoa...

The QM could steam at a constant 28.5 knots while the best the Curacoa could manage was 25 knots...The QM maintained a zig-zag course at full speed as required in wartime, while the Curacoa steered a straight course at maximum speed in order to keep up...At some point their courses overlapped but neither ship's commander yielded resulting in a collision...The heavier QM sliced through the cruiser as if it were a paper cup..The aft half sank immediately while the front half stayed afloat for a short time...

The QM was under orders not to stop for any reason, and continued a zig-zag course to England...338 men lost their lives from the Curacao, while about 100 were later rescued...On the TV show a member of the QM crew was interviewed, and said that on the bridge no one even felt the bump although they were aware of the collision...

In port the damage was repaired by filling the damaged prow with concrete to seal off the leakage...The QM was needed at sea, and couldn't be taken out of service long enough for proper repair...Below is a picture of the damage...

Before the end of the war, the QM had transported over a million Americans to war...After the war it was used to bring the survivors home, and then the war brides taken by the GI's in England were brought to their new homes......Ben

[mgrist]

WOW!

[wacojoe]

On WWII movies' accuracy —

http://heatst.com/entertainment/why-...r-ii-so-wrong/

[Truckman]

On WWII movies' accuracy —

http://heatst.com/entertainment/why-...r-ii-so-wrong/

I agree on the assessment of Pearl Harbor...I'm sure General Doolittle has not stopped spinning in his grave over the wretched performance of his character by the abominable Alec Baldwin......

I like reading the notes on trivia and goofs found on the pages for all movies on IMDB...It gives me something to look for the next time I watch a movie on TV......Ben

[Truckman]

As I got deeper into researching this war story, my research turned up so many twists and convolutions, I decided to write it up as an article here instead...It turned out to be a lot longer than I planned, but for those who like to read, there are a number of links to verify the facts...Now I need a nap......Ben

[wacojoe]

http://www.scout.com/military/warrio...-japan-in-wwii

The website has many these little-known war stories.

[Truckman]

Thanks, Joe...I added that to my sources......Ben

[wacojoe]

Here's another interesting saga from WWII I never knew about — Fort Drum at the entrance to Manila Bay.

https://www.elitereaders.com/fort-dr...te-battleship/

It was the first to fire on the invading Japanese forces, the last to surrender, and after the Allies re-invaded it was the last Japanese installation to be recaptured in the Philippines...gruesomely!

[Truckman]

Some tidbits concerning Fort Drum's namesake...A veteran of many battles during his 44 year career, he served during the entire War of Northern Aggression without seeing combat...Camp Drum in California was also named for him......Ben

[Truckman]

And a little about the guns...Even being only 14"/40 caliber, they actually had a little more reach than the 14"/45 caliber rifles on the USS Texas, but not the same rate of fire......Ben