Odd Military Facts....

[dragoon500ly]

In World War Two, aces (those who shot down more than five enemy aircraft in air-to-air kills) tended to have blue or light colored eyes (over two thirds), were shorter than average and had more daughters than sons. This may mean something, but as of 1994, no one has figured out what.

"Dirty Little Secrets of WWII"

[weswood]

In World War Two, aces (those who shot down more than five enemy aircraft in air-to-air kills) tended to have blue or light colored eyes (over two thirds), were shorter than average and had more daughters than sons. This may mean something, but as of 1994, no one has figured out what.

"Dirty Little Secrets of WWII"

Wow, I could have been an ace. Except I was born too late. And I'm nearsighted. And I've never driven anything I haven't had to get out and push at one time or another. But I got the short, blue eyes & daughter working for me.

[Graebarde]

Only once in nearly a century has bean soup not appeared on the menu of the Senate dining room in Washington DC. On Setember 14, 1943, as a result of wartime shortages, the supply of white Michigan beans ran out.

The ensuing senatorial uproar was sufficient to insure that there were beans enough the next day and on every subsequent day thereafter.

"Dirty Little Secrets of WWII"

And now you know the source of all the hot air on the Hill!!!!

Explains the stinking hot air that rises from DC.

[Graebarde]

Field Expedients

During the Vietnam War, soldiers serving in the central highlands found the weather pretty chilly (40-50 degrees Farenheit). Troops sometimes found themselves in the field or remote outpsots without their normal sleeping gear. The more hardened types would improvise a sleeping bag out of the "Pouch, Human Remains", better known as a body bag. Those who used the body bag reported to it was reasonably cozy.

"Dirty Little Secrets of the Vietnam War"

Just don't get zipped up in one by a buddy. Recall the scene from Boys in Company C when they first arrived in Nam.

[dragoon500ly]

During the Vietnam War, the USN reactivated the battleship New Jersey and sent her to the "gun line" off South Vietnam. During her 120 days on the line, she fired 14,891 rounds of 5-inch and 5,688 rounds of 16-inch; During her entire previous career she had previously fired a total of 7,442 16-inch.

[rcaf_777]

Intresting War Fact with a Twlight thread

USS Agent was laid down on 8 April 1942 by the Tampa Shipbuilding Co., Tampa, Florida; launched on 1 November 1942; and completed 10 July 1943. She was transferred to the Soviet Navy that same day as T-112 She had originally been built as USS Agent (AM-139), an Admirable-class minesweeper, for the United States Navy during World War II, but never saw active service in the U.S. Navy. Upon completion she was transferred to the Soviet Union under Lend-Lease as T-112 and never returned to the United States. Because of the Cold War, the U.S. Navy was unaware of the ship's status and the vessel remained on the American Naval Vessel Register until she was struck on 1 January 1983. In Soviet service, the ship was renamed TB-21 on 15 October 1955; VTR-2Y on 8 March 1956; and UTS-288 on 20 April 1972. The ship was abandoned on 31 January 1991. Recovered and returned to the US sometime between 1991 and 2000, she is currently anchored with Suisun Bay Reserve Fleet, Suisun Bay California. She still sports her Soviet Colours

Source:

http://navy.memorieshop.com/BayArea/index.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_minesweeper_T-112

[rcaf_777]

What's the source for that I have no idea whether or not a WWII field kitchen was taken to the Falklands, but the Argentines certainly didn't evacuate East Falkland - that's where almost all of the land fighting took place.

Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/funfill...ie/8054258957/
or http://www.freewebs.com/29thfieldkit...rmycookers.htm

[The Rifleman]

Venereal disease has long been recoginzed as a major cause of non-battle military noneffectiveness.

During World War One, the VD rate for the US Army was 87 cases per 1,000 men per year (far higher than the French Army rate).

During World War Two, the VD rate decreased to 49 cases per 1,000 men per year.

During the Korean War, the VD rate increased to 146 cases per 1,000 men per year.

During the Vietnam War, the VD rate increased to 325 cases per 1,000 men per year.

Hmmmmmm

"Dirty Little Secrets of WWII"

During the war on terror, we didn't have that. The army ran every single woman through every STD test they could think of before deploying them. Its like they're running a brothel.

[WallShadow]

Cue the Colonel Bogey March....

According to a summation of articles and equipment provided by the US to her allies via Lend-Lease, of all the items, of all the countries supplied, only one, single one of these was shipped to one, single nation.
The Nation The Soviet Union.
The article One (1) unit, each: athletic supporter.

Which leads one to believe that Hitler may have had only one, but Uncle Joe had two and they were iron!

[dragoon500ly]

One of the most expensive battles of rthe Allies cost them 5,000 tanks, 7,000 aircraft and over 200,000 tons of smilitary supplies. These were all lost in the holds of ships trying to reach the Soviet port of Murmansk in the far north of Russia. The 58 ships lost in the Arctic Convoys represent 7.2% of the ships sent to the USSR. This number is very grim, as overall merchant ship losses in the Atlantic Convoy was only 0.7%.

"Dirty Little Secrets of WWII"

[dragoon500ly]

You hear in a lot of histories of the effect of Stalin's pre-war purges of the Soviet military, so just how bad were the purges.

Stalin purged some 67% of the generals in the Red Army: 3 of the 5 marshals, all 11 vice commissars of war; 75 of the 80 members of the Supreme War Council, 13 of the 15 army commanders, 51 of the 85 corps commanders and 110 of the 195 division and brigade commanders. The result of this was the dismal performance of the Red Army in the opening months of World War Two. Fortunately for Russia, Stalin did not actually kill all of the purged officers, but many had ben sent to the gulags in Siberia. As a result, after the debacle of the summer of 1941, many of the survivors were relased from the gulags and back to their former commands.

"Dirty Little Secrets of WWII"

[dragoon500ly]

In the 1930-40s, Iceland was a dependency of Denmark, its position protected it from Nazi occupation when the Germans seized Denmark in 1940. The Icelanders invited the British and latter the Americans to help them defend themselves. Finally, in 1944, the Icelanders decided to declare their independece from Denmark. In Copenhage, King Christian X, then under house arrest for his support of resistance to the Nazi occupiers, sent a telegram of congratulations to his rebellious Iclandic subjects.

"Dirty Little Secrets of WWII"

[dragoon500ly]

The US Strategic Bombing Survey yeilds some really odd bites of data....

It is estimated that during World War Two, the average Berlin apartment yielded 12.7 cubic meters of rubble after being bombed.

"Dirty Little Secrets of WWII"

LONG LIVE THE BEAN COUNTERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[dragoon500ly]

There is a story that goes about the first female reporter to be attached to the US Army during WWII....

Ruth Baldwin Gowen (Associated Press), arrived in North Africa in 1943. She faced a considerable amount of oppositions to her presence, with her male counterparts holding that women could not make good war correspondents, this was soon laid to rest.

Shortly after Ms. Gowen arrived, she chanced to run into none other than George S. Patton, the ultimate no-nonsense soldier. After being introduced, Patton gave her the once over. Then he asked,

"What is the first law of war"

Ms. Gowen quickly replied,

"You kill him before he kills you!"

"She stays," said a similing Patton, much to the disappointment of those who were waiting for him to send her packing with an earful of his famous profanity.


"Dirty Little Secrets of WWII"

[rcaf_777]

Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/funfill...ie/8054258957/
or http://www.freewebs.com/29thfieldkit...rmycookers.htm

Among the reservists activated by the British Army for the Falklands War in 1982 was a WW II mobile field bakery unit nicknamed "Lizzie," called out of honorable retirement at the Museum of Army Transport for service with the troops.

Drity Little Secrets by James F. Dunnigan and Albert A. Nofi 1990 Quill publishing, an imprint of William Morrow & Co