WWII Quiz

perseus said:
Which was the most successful German naval intervention against the Overlord landing forces.
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Ok well I guess I will test the waters, German torpedo boats sunk the destroyer Svenner on D-day.

However I may have mis-interpreted the question as shore based naval guns were in action as well.
 
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By chance more than planning the Germans caught the D-Day forces practicing and attacked with torpedo boats.
Allied forces rehearsed their roles for D-Day months before the invasion. On April 28, 1944, in south Devon on the English coast, 749 U.S. soldiers and sailors were killed when German torpedo boats surprised one of these landing exercises, Exercise Tiger. I don't know of any other Naval engagements that cost the Allies that many men and equipment. This may be the same incident you mentioned MontyB.
 
Missileer said:
By chance more than planning the Germans caught the D-Day forces practicing and attacked with torpedo boats.
Allied forces rehearsed their roles for D-Day months before the invasion. On April 28, 1944, in south Devon on the English coast, 749 U.S. soldiers and sailors were killed when German torpedo boats surprised one of these landing exercises, Exercise Tiger. I don't know of any other Naval engagements that cost the Allies that many men and equipment. This may be the same incident you mentioned MontyB.
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Nope mine took place on d-day itself.
At the moment I am not really answering the question but more trying to get a feel for what he is looking for as it is rather a broad ranging question no doubt done to prevent googling.
Hehe sort of a 20 questions approach. :)
 
Yes Missiler that is the one I was looking for, I cannot find any individual incident worse than this, or effective from the German navies point of view which is connected with the Overlord landings, but I may be wrong. This incident nearly caused a rift between the UK and US, and as a consequence was not reported for some time. I was going to ask which was the worst incident of the entire operation, but Omaha could be worse. Does anyone know the death toll for that?

Your turn Missiler

Sorry for not intervening earlier. I am computerless at the moment since the internal power unit appears to have blown.

Since Missileer has not replied for a week, lets leave the forum open.

OK

Since no-one else is asking,

what was project "organic control"

you will be amazed!
 
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Ok well I will give it a shot I guess.
Project Organic Control was an investigation into using bats and birds as weapons.
Bats were equipped with incendiary devices with the idea that they would when released naturally fly into dark area's such as the roof's of buildings and within a set period of time the device would trigger and burn down the building.
The birds part of it I am not so sure about but as I recall (History channel teacher) pigeons were to be used as "guided missiles" to take out ships.
 
I've got an easy one. During the last days of WWII, there was a secret mission started on the West Coast of America. The unit involved was a Parachute Infantry Battalion. What was the unit, what was code name of their mission, and finally, what standard operating procedure did they pioneer that is used in the World today.
 
"The birds part of it I am not so sure about but as I recall (History channel teacher) pigeons were to be used as "guided missiles" to take out ships"

Damn it, I cannot catch you guys out on anything and you didn't even need to search!

During World War II, Project Pigeon (or Project Orcon, for "organic control") was American behaviorist B. F. Skinner's attempt to develop a pigeon-guided missile.
The control system involved a lens at the front of the missile projecting an image of the target to a screen inside, while a pigeon trained (by operant conditioning) to recognize the target pecked at it. As long as the pecks remained in the center of the screen, the missile would fly straight, but pecks off-center would cause the screen to tilt, which would then, via a connection to the missile's flight controls, cause the missile to change course. Three pigeons were to control the bomb's direction by majority rule.
Although skeptical of the idea, the National Defense Research Committee nevertheless contributed $25,000 to the research. However, Skinner's plans to use pigeons in Pelican missiles was apparently too radical for the military establishment; although he had some success with the training, he could not get his idea taken seriously.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Pigeon

I think its Monty's turn, but perhaps he doesn't mind missing a go.
 
I am more than happy to stick with Missileer's question, in fact been working on it for the last few hours.
I am leaning towards it having something to do with the Japanese balloon bomb campaign.
So with that in mind:
What was the unit: - 555th Parachute Infantry Battalion
what was code name of their mission - unsure but I will go with "Project Smokejumper"
what standard operating procedure did they pioneer that is used in the World today - Again not sure but I will go with the air dropping of firefighters to combat bush fires.

I may be completely off target here but it is the first thing that came to mind.
 
You got all but the code name of the mission.

I think the 555th was an all black unit also. It's been a while since I read up on this but it was very interesting. The first intercontinental bombing, I may be wrong about that one.
 
Missileer said:
You got all but the code name of the mission.
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The only other name I can find is -- The Fire-Fly Project,


I think the 555th was an all black unit also. It's been a while since I read up on this but it was very interesting. The first intercontinental bombing, I may be wrong about that one.
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Indeed it was (an all black unit that is), they have a website I found interesting information at...
http://www.triplenickle.com/
 
You're right, it was operation firefly. I have a book with some history of the 555th in it and they were a pretty fascinating outfit.
You're next.
 
Missileer said:
You're right, it was operation firefly. I have a book with some history of the 555th in it and they were a pretty fascinating outfit.
You're next.
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Ok I am not sure how to word this question so I will make it as easy as I can.

Paul Tibbets played an early role in operation Torch, what was it?
 
Well, since Tibbets was a bomber pilot and Operation Torch was an invasion of North Africa, I'm guessing that he either led or was in a bomber group that bombed Rommel's armor before the ground forces were put ashore. I know the German's had heavy gun emplacements that would play havoc on landing forces.
 
Missileer said:
Well, since Tibbets was a bomber pilot and Operation Torch was an invasion of North Africa, I'm guessing that he either led or was in a bomber group that bombed Rommel's armor before the ground forces were put ashore. I know the German's had heavy gun emplacements that would play havoc on landing forces.
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What I am looking for is a his role specific to operation Torch, there was something he did outside his bombing role that helped ensure Torch succeeded.

(I am sorry my question isn't as clear as I would like but to phrase it properly would also give the answer)
 
In late 1942, as the Americans prepared for Operation "Torch," the invasion of North Africa, Tibbets was called on to fly General Mark Clark on a secret mission to meet with the French commander in Algiers. Flying the Red Gremlin, he flew Gen. Clark to Gibraltar, where a submarine picked the general up and brought him to Algeria. Clark's mission was successful; numerous French units cooperated with the Allied landing forces. Apparently the brass were impressed with Tibbets' general-ferrying skills; on Nov. 5, her flew General Eisenhower from England to Gibralter. With the plane crowded with staff officers, Ike sat on a two-by-four hastily installed in the cockpit, so he could get a pilot's eye view of the flight, which went off smoothly.

Source: http://www.acepilots.com/usaaf_tibbets.html
 
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