WWII Quiz

An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile - hoping it will eat him last

Never hold discussions with the monkey when the organ grinder is in the room

Don't talk to me about naval tradition. It's nothing but rum, sodomy and the lash.

You have enemies? Good. That means you've stood up for something, sometime in your life.
 
The preceding half dozen posts have been fun to read, but how about getting back on topic?
Who has the next question?
or has the last one been fully answered?
 
I haven't seen anything like the answer yet, do you wish to give up?

Here is another clue, think of what British army had to fight with in the early days of June 1940? (think dads army)
 
perseus said:
During Churchill's famous speech

We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills
( ............Pause under the cover of loud cheers........................)
we shall never surrender, and even if, which I do not for a moment believe, this Island or a large part of it were subjugated and starving, then our Empire beyond the seas, armed and guarded by the British Fleet, would carry on the struggle, until, in God's good time, the New World, with all its power and might, steps forth to the rescue and the liberation of the old."

During the pause Churchill muttered something to Atlee who was seated next to him, which is quite amusing. What did he say?

"and we shall hit them over the head with beer bottles, because that's bloody all we've got.";)
 
Well done Redcoat, your turn

actually I have 'and we'll fight them with the butt end of broken beer bottles because that's bloody well all we've got'

(perhaps England soccer fans could use him as a patron! bit unfair, they have been relatively well behaved so far)
 
perseus said:
I assume you are refering to WW2!

Something of a guess since I have only looked at U boats

British Bristol Blenheim aircraft which sunk U31 Sunk on March 11, 1940 in Jadebusen http://www.uboat.net/boats/u31.htm
You are correct.
It was a Bristol Blenheim of 82 Squadron Bomber Command which sank U-31 when it surprised her on the surface. The U-boat sank with all hands, but later the Germans raised her from the sea-bed and re-commissioned her, only for her to be sunk again by HMS Antelope in Nov 40
 
What senior German Commander found himself in the middle of a pack of Russian Infantry in the early stages of Barbarrossa, and the Russians subsequently declared him dead?
 
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Perseus, I am completely stumped, as there is not even a way to do a search using those terms.

Dean.
 
Yeah me too, the sad thing is that I do know the answer to this question (because it has been asked before) but for the life of me I cant think of it and worst of all Guderian keeps jumping to mind but it also feels wrong.
 
Guderian keeps jumping to mind

From Tank Commanders, Forty

"As always, Guderian was up at the sharp end, dodging Russian tanks and constantly under fire. At one stage while visiting 18th Panzer Division's forward tank platoons (fortunately a Panzer IV), he unexpectedly found himself in the middle of a crowd of Russian infantry, who were busy dismounting from their lorries. He ordered his driver to speed up and drove straight through the surprised Russians, who did not have time to fire their weapons. Guderian reports in his memoirs that he must have been recognized, because later the Soviet press announced his death. He felt duty bound to inform them of the mistake via the German radio!"

Your turn MontyB
 
Actually I will pass as I am not a regular on the boards at the moment.

How about throwing a real easy one out there to give a bigger audience a shot at it.
:)
 
I have asked enough questions for the time being.

I will leave it open for whoever wishes to ask a question
 
Awww, but Perseus, your questions are so interesting, even if I could not answer a lot of them. I hope you will ask more soon.

To keep things going, here is an easy one.

At the beginning of the Battle of Midway, even though Americans are loathe to admit it, the Japanese had the upper hand. they had 4 heavy carriers to the Americans three, and they had the Zero, which was in almost every way superior to the F4F Wildcat. As well, they had more of them. However, in one attack, the ungainly SBD Dauntlesses, (obsolete, about to be replaced with the TBM Avenger) which were usually easy pickings for Zeros, managed to attack without any interference even though the Zeros were in the air. It was a clear day, with a bit of high cloud cover, and the clouds were not a factor. The attack resulted in the sinking of 3 of the 4 Japanese carriers. The question: Why were the Japanese unable to stop, or even touch the Dauntlesses?

It was one of those incredibly lucky moments of WW II.
 
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