WW II Historical Thread, Discussion, Pics, Videos

[Miragedriver]

A captured German V-2 rocket on display in Trafalgar Square, London. Saturday 15th of September 1945.

Operational History of the V-2:

Originally, plans called for the V-2 to be launched from massive blockhouses located at Éperlecques and La Coupole near the English Channel. This static approach was soon scrapped in favor of mobile launchers. Traveling in convoys of thirty trucks, the V-2 team would arrive at a staging area where the warhead was installed before towing it to the launch site on a Meillerwagen. There, the missile was placed on the launch platform, armed, fueled, and the gyros set. This set up took approximately 90 minutes and the launch team could clear an area in 30 minutes after launch.

This mobile system proved highly successful and up to 100 missiles a day could be launched by German V-2 forces. Also, due to their ability to stay on the move, V-2 convoys were rarely caught by Allied aircraft. The first V-2 attacks were launched against Paris and London on September 8, 1944. Over the next eight months, a total of 3,172 V-2 were launched at Allied cities including London, Paris, Antwerp, Lille, Norwich, and Liege. Due to the missile's ballistic trajectory and extreme speed, there was no effective method for intercepting them.

V-2 attacks against English and French targets only decreased when Allied troops were able to push back Germans forces and place these cities out of range. The last V-2-related casualties in Britain occurred on March 27, 1945. Accurately placed V-2s could cause extensive damage and over 2,500 were killed and nearly 6,000 wounded by the missile.

Highly interested in the weapon, both American and Soviet forces scrambled to capture existing V-2 rockets and parts at the end of the war. In the conflict's final days, engineers von Braun and Dornberger surrendered to American troops and assisted in further testing the missile before coming to the United States. While American V-2s were tested at the White Sands Proving Ground, Soviet V-2s were taken to Kapustin Yar. Working to develop more advanced rockets, von Braun's team at White Sands used variants of the V-2 up until 1952. The world's first successful large, liquid-fueled rocket, the V-2 broke new ground and was the basis for the rockets later used in the American and Soviet space programs.

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[TerraN_EmpirE]

note General Katz making a close Inspection.....

 

[Miragedriver]

note General Katz making a close Inspection.....

General Katz with the 1st Panzer division

 

[Miragedriver]

'Lightning Recon'

28th Photo Recon – In front of one of their first photo reconnaissance planes in the Marianas Islands.
These six 7th AaF Lightning pilots indicate the 12-foot stack which the 17,170 prints from their pre-invasion photographs of Iwo Jima would make if assembled in one heap. Flying l,600 miles per round trip in their unarmed Lightnings to race across Iwo Jima 50 feet above Jap gun muzzles, these pilots took pictures for Army, Navy and Marine units planning the invasion of Iwo Jima.

L. to R. on grounds 2nd_Lt. Floy Portor, Memphis, Tenn.; lst Lt. Lloyd Q. Mettes, Atlanta, Mo.; 2nd Marshall E. Mullens Omaha, Nebr.; and lst Lt. Alfred A. Wooton, Buckeye, Ariz. On shoulders; Capt. Bennie P. Bearden, Decatur, Texas. On nose; 1st Lt. Leo F. Wilkinson, Oxford, Ind.


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[Miragedriver]

'Mt Suribachi'

This image depicts Joe Rosenthal taking a photo of Marines with the U.S. flag as it flies atop Iwo Jima's Mt. Suribachi, February 1945.

Because he had no idea whether he had successfully captured the second flag-raising, Rosenthal wanted a "gung ho" group shot. At least, with a posed shot, he would have a record of the men who'd raised the flag, plus some of their "brothers in arms."


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[Miragedriver]

'Frog Skin'

A US Marine wearing his camouflage suit fires a Thompson sub-machine gun during Jungle Training - 1942.

Well over 300,000 troops trained at various Jungle Training Centers throughout WWII, most in the Hawaiian area.

The M1942 Frog Skin pattern was the United States military's first attempt at disruptive coloration camouflage, Designed by horticulturist Norvell Gillespie. In 1942, the Marine Raiders were the first issued the Frog Skin uniform, which was reversible with a five-color jungle pattern on a green background on one side and a three-color beach pattern with a tan background on the other side, however the pockets are only on the green side of the uniform.

Just prior to the Normandy invasion there was a limited experimental issue of HBT camouflage uniforms to elements of the 2nd and 30th Infantry Divisions, the 17th Engineer Battalion and the 41st Armored Infantry regiment, of the US 2nd Armored Division.

Although the uniform seems to have provided good camouflage for the troops wearing it, the unfamiliar uniforms were often mistaken for the camouflage smocks worn by the German Waffen SS. This resulted in a number of 'friendly fire' incidents.

The uniforms were withdrawn from the ETO (European Theatre of Operations), although troops were often still issued with the camouflage uniform as their original ones wore out, and period photos show the type in use until well into August 1944.


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[Miragedriver]

'Bombs Away'

Bombs from U.S. Army 7th Air Force planes are seen here about to fall on Iwo Jima. Although tiny, the island is the only major airbase between the Marianas and Japan. It is the last air barrier before the home islands, guarding the south-eastern approach to the Empire.

On the 16th February 1945 Marine Brigadier General William W. Rogers held a press conference on the command ship USS Eldorado, telling those present that the coming invasion of Iwo Jima would take five days. Strong fighting on the beaches was expected followed by counter-attacks at night – suicidal Banzai charges. But once the initial resistance was over they could take the island quickly. There were reasons to believe that the Japanese forces on Iwo Jima were seriously weakened, they had been subject to bombing since mid 1944, and they had been bombed every single day for the past 74 days, with a total of 6,800 tons of bombs. In addition there had been periodic, intense, naval bombardments, which started again on the 16th. It seemed hard to believe that anything could survive on the island after this plastering – but the raids had served to encourage the Japanese in their new strategy of moving underground and waiting for the invasion troops to come to them.

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Takahashi Toshiharu was a corporal in the Japanese First Mixed Brigade of Engineers, responsible for building some of the eleven miles of tunnels and underground bunkers on the island:

"The guns that were trained on the island all spurted fire at the same time. On the island there was a huge earthquake. There were pillars of fire that looked as if they would touch the sky.

Black smoke covered the island, and shrapnel was flying all over the place with a shrieking sound. Trees with trunks one meter across were blown out of the ground, roots uppermost.

The sound was deafening, as terrible as a couple of hundred thunderclaps coming down at once.

Even in a cave thirty meters underground, my body was jerked up off the ground. It was hell on earth.

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Large planes—many tens of them—came all together. They made a deep rumbling sound as they came. They were silver. Once over the island they dropped one-ton bombs — terrifying things. The sound they made as they fell, one after another, was terrifying. A timid man would go insane.

They made a whistling sound as they fell. Then the earth shook. There were explosions. Rocks, earth, and sand all flew up into the air. Then they fell back down. They made craters ten meters wide and five meters deep in the earth.

No one could survive in these conditions. Any Japanese soldiers, like the runners who went outside, were all killed. The only option was to take advantage of the night and go out then."



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[by78]

This is an academic paper on the effects of wind on an aircraft carrier island. Unfortunate, due to these being images, Google translate is useless. I'd appreciate it if our Chinese members here can summarize the pertinent points.

 

[by78]

 

[by78]