WWII Quiz

FN Browning Hi-Power?

Sherman, I'll allow that answer. Though I believe it should have been, The Browning High Power model 35. The Pistole Automatique Browning Modele a Grande Puissance H.P. 35 or just good ole Browning High Power was designed by John Browning. It was one of his last weapon designs before his death in 1925. The High Power was put in production in 1935, hence the number on weapon. The HP is a single action auto-loader. It's action is incredibly similar to the Colt M1911 which was also a Browning design. Many countries were interested in aquiring the HP before the hostilities in1939. Apart from the Belgian Army and Police, Denmark, Lithuania, Rumania, Nationalist China, France and Great Britain also aquired this quality pistole. When the Nazi's over-ran the Low countries and France, the FN company at Lieges in Belgium was taken over and the HP also became a Wehrmacht weapon. The SS adopted it as their standard side arm. The Heer, Luftwaffe and Kriegsmarine used the HP to some extent also. The German's designated the pistol, Pistole P620 (b). But the Nazi's didn;t have the HP all to themselves. The Browning company set up in Canada in 1940. This company supplied all Allied Nations who wanted the High Power. Note: I have read material about certain American units using the HP, but have miss-placed the material. If anyone has information about this, it would be greatly appreciated if it could be posted on the forum.

I believe the British Army still uses the High Power.
 
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During the German Advance into france, a certain counter-attack caused a small panic to German generals, including Rommel.

1)Where was this counter attack made?
2)Which unit mounted it?
3)With what primery weapon?
4)How did Rommel break the counter-attack?
 
During the German Advance into france, a certain counter-attack caused a small panic to German generals, including Rommel.

1)Where was this counter attack made?
2)Which unit mounted it?
3)With what primery weapon?
4)How did Rommel break the counter-attack?

!. Near Arras, South and Southwest.

2. Lord Gort commander of the B.E.F. ordered two infrantry battalions of the 50th division and the 1st army tank brigade.

3. With 58 Mark 1 Matildas armed with the 2 pounder.

4. Rommel broke the counter attack by frantically forming a gun line with artillery and the 88mm anti-aircraft guns. Rommel also radiod the Panzers ahead. The Panzers arrived at the rear and flank of the British and an armoured Donnybrook commenced. The German's destroyed 7 Matildas and 6 anti-tank guns. But they lost 3 Pzkpf 4's and 6 Pzkpf 3's and a number of lighter tanks. The Germans also lost 387 men. The British fell back to Arras.
 
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nearly. just one mistake there:) try a little harder.

Edit: You know what, ill take that. The British main tank was indeed the Matilda Mk 1(58 alltogather), however these were not armed with the 2 pounder. What was probably more significant, was the presence of 16 Matilda Mk 2 tanks, armed with the 2 pounder and armoured to an extent that the German anti tank weapons could not penetrate them.
 
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nearly. just one mistake there:) try a little harder.

Edit: You know what, ill take that. The British main tank was indeed the Matilda Mk 1(58 alltogather), however these were not armed with the 2 pounder. What was probably more significant, was the presence of 16 Matilda Mk 2 tanks, armed with the 2 pounder and armoured to an extent that the German anti tank weapons could not penetrate them.

Sherman, Indeed, only 16 of these tanks had 2 pounders. And I did not mention the thickness of the armour which was about 75mm thick which was almost 3 inches thick. The Rheinmetall 3.7 mm Door Knocker just bounced off these tanks.

The next question may appear hard but there is much ample material out there for one with investigative worth.

The 7.5 cm Pak 40 was adopted in 1940 as the standard anti-tank gun of the German forces. But another gun was considered because of better armour piercing abilities.

A. What was the name of this weapon?

B. What was the starting caliber in mm and inches?

C. What was the emerging caliber in mm and inches?

D. What was the name of the principle involved in this weapon?

E. What was Germany short of which made the production of this weapon prohibative?

F. How many of these weapons were made?
 
1)sPzB 41
2)28mm or 1.102~ inches
3)20mm or 0.787~ inches
4) cone-bore principle
5)Tungstan, used for making the projectiles
6)2797
 
I've just come across an interesting fact.

There was only one major incident involving chemical agents in the European theatre of WW2. Where did the attack come from that caused the incident, who held the stocks of gas, and who got gassed?

This incident resulted in a greater number of deaths relative to those affected than the WW1 average.
 
German attack on the port city of Bari(spelling is probably not right). The port was filled with supply ships for the Allied forces in Italy. One of the American ships was carrying 100 tons of mustard gas. The ship was hit and the gas caused more than 1000 deaths to Allied troops and Italian civilians.
 
Who were dubbed Britain's Kamikazee pilots and why?

I am going to take a guess here and I choose this because I once read that what they were volunteering for was essentially a suicide mission.

So I will go with the Hurricat pilots, who's job was to be catapulted off merchant ships to protect convoys from the Luftwaffe (more specifically Focke-Wulfe Condors).

The reason it was considered a suicide mission is that there was no way to recover the Hurricane after the flight was over so it had to land in the water near a ship and the pilot recovered.

This in itself was difficult because the Hurricane was heavy aircraft and sank quickly also after an hour of fighting off German aircraft there was no guarantee that the pilot could even remain in touch with the convoy.
 
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Monty

Well done, correct again. 35 vessels were fitted with these, which consisted of a 85 ft runway and a battery of 3 inch rockets on a trolley. These aircraft bagged seven Luftwaffe aircraft and chased away scores of others. Not sure at what cost though!
 
CAM ships! A CAM ship was a World War II-era British merchant ship used in convoys as a quick emergency solution to the shortage of escort carriers. "CAM" was an acronym for "Catapult Aircraft Merchantman"[1] and a CAM ship was equipped with a rocket-propelled catapult launching a single Hawker Sea Hurricane, dubbed a "Hurricat" or "Catafighter".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CAM_ship

its simple and sweet..:p

Yep and still somewhat suicidal.
:)

I am working on a question (getting the wording right so as not to make it too easy) so if anyone has one they would like to ask go for it.
 
1)sPzB 41
2)28mm or 1.102~ inches
3)20mm or 0.787~ inches
4) cone-bore principle
5)Tungstan, used for making the projectiles
6)2797

Sherman, sorry for the forced absence. My machine crashed.

The gun they wanted was the7.5cm Pak41 taper-bore
starting caliber 75mm or 2.95in
emerging caliber 55mm or 2.16in

The 2.8cmsPzB was the smallest of the taper-bore guns
The middle gun was the 4.2cm lePak 41

Only 150 7.5cm Pak 41's were made.

But since everything else is right and I haven't been here for a few months you get the cigar.
 
OK, here is another one whilst we are waiting

Who suggested an 'innovative scheme' in April 1943 which was destined to kill at least "half a million German men", and was described as "promising" by some of the worlds top scientists working in th US. What was the plan?
 
OK, here is another one whilst we are waiting

Who suggested an 'innovative scheme' in April 1943 which was destined to kill at least "half a million German men", and was described as "promising" by some of the worlds top scientists working in th US. What was the plan?

The only thing I can think of that took place in April 43 was the Morgenthau plan for turning Germany into an agricultural state. But i don't know how this act would kill half a million German men?
 
Actually agriculture is getting slightly warm, although this isn't it. By the way when I said 'destined' I meant intended, the plan never went ahead.
 
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