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purplefood wrote:

FM Ninja 048 wrote:Colonel in chief and mascot of the norwegian Royal Guard is Sir Nils Olav, not wierd at all....


...exept he's a king penguin and he lives at Edinburgh zoo.

I thought it was odd that he was knighted...

They don't attach so much importance to such things in Scandinavia; Yngwie Malmsteen is a member of Sweden's nobility (by birth, not in recognition of any musical achievement).

English Assassin wrote:

purplefood wrote:

FM Ninja 048 wrote:Colonel in chief and mascot of the norwegian Royal Guard is Sir Nils Olav, not wierd at all....


...exept he's a king penguin and he lives at Edinburgh zoo.

I thought it was odd that he was knighted...

They don't attach so much importance to such things in Scandinavia; Yngwie Malmsteen is a member of Sweden's nobility (by birth, not in recognition of any musical achievement).

At first I thought that was a horribly mangled attempt by a Brit to write a Swedish name.


Then I found out that's actually how he spells his name. The FETH?!

It wasn't his original name, though. He was born Lars Johan Yngve Lannerbäck.

4oursword wrote:It wasn't his original name, though. He was born Lars Johan Yngve Lannerbäck.

Which is why it's fething annoying. He persumably mangled his name like that on purpouse.

FM Ninja 048 wrote:Colonel in chief and mascot of the norwegian Royal Guard is Sir Nils Olav, not wierd at all....


...exept he's a king penguin and he lives at Edinburgh zoo.

That is Honourable Regimental Sergeant Major Sir Nils Olav to you

German submarine U-120 was sunk by a malfunctioning toilet.

A US sub in the pacific conflict after several attacks on Japanese convoys was poised to go home with one torpedo left, after joking they should keep it as a trophy they can across the remnants of one of the Japanese fleets and fired at a warship, only for one of the torpedoes engines fail and sink the sub that fired it...

Don't say "Jap" say Japanese. It's mildly offensive.

The sister ship of the Titanic and the Britanic, Olypmic, sank U-103 by ramming into its submerged conning tower.

-Infantry weapon of the US Civil War was more advance then the US Infantry tactics being used

-US Military started using Silhouette style targets to help break the mental barrier of shooting another human being after WWII

Sikh's won more per capita Victoria Crosses in ww2 than other groups.

While the Battle of Thermopylae is widely known about, and considered the greatest last stand. Sikhs at the Battle of Saragarhi were outnumbered by a greater ratio, and did more damage to their attackers. 21 Sikhs fought against ~10,000 pashtuns in what is now pakistan while serving in the British Indian Army. The last surviving Sikh fighter signalled to his British comrades everything that happened in the fort. My dad is named after him. And I was born 2 days after the battles 90th anniversary which is celebrated by my family, and Sikh regiments of the Indian army.

Sikhs make up 10–15% of all ranks in the Indian Army and 20% of its officers, while Sikhs form only 1.87% of the Indian population. Making us 10x more likely to be soldiers than the average Indian. Sikhs also come from the wealthiest province in India, meaning we don't join the army because we have nothing else to do, or nowhere else to go.

In 2007, plans for an all Sikh regiment for the British Army were shot down amid concerns that it was racist to exclude others. Sikhs were disappointed, as was Prince Charles, a huge proponent of the plan and admirer of Sikh martial mastery.

In essence, Sikhs are one of the most martial races ever. (And I'm damn proud)

In the trench warfare conditions of World War One, the American shotgun was so effective that it caused Germany to file a diplomatic protest against their use.

helgrenze wrote:In the trench warfare conditions of World War One, the American shotgun was so effective that it caused Germany to file a diplomatic protest against their use.

Is the "American shotgun" of a different genus than the British and German shotgun?

I think we were the only country to issue it in mass to clear the trench lines. In fact its still in use today for use in certain situation

Jihadin wrote:I think we were the only country to issue it in mass to clear the trench lines. In fact its still in use today for use in certain situation

I'm really just being a smart ass J . Plus I recognize the hand of Wikipedia.

I'm really just being a smart ass J . Plus I recognize the hand of Wikipedia.

My bad lol

NBD Jihadin. I've serviced a couple dozen Mossy's for MP's At DOL. never got to see a MASS in service; just at SHOT.
Since this is a Trivia thread BG Ansell's response to the German protest remains the official US position on the use of shotguns in combat.

AustonT wrote:

helgrenze wrote:In the trench warfare conditions of World War One, the American shotgun was so effective that it caused Germany to file a diplomatic protest against their use.

Is the "American shotgun" of a different genus than the British and German shotgun?

The Germans and British didn't issue their troops shotguns. That said it was most likely a M1897.

The "trenchgun" used by Pershings troops were Browning designed pump action. At the time, most other countries used breach-loaders. The pump action guns allowed the Americans to fire more shots at a faster rate. They also were given a bayonet mounting still allowed for the gun to be fired.

helgrenze wrote:In the trench warfare conditions of World War One, the American shotgun was so effective that it caused Germany to file a diplomatic protest against their use.

It was quite literally the real life version of, "shotguns OP bro, you such noob that you need shotgun. Blizz please nerf"

-Majority of european armies train to doctrine and standards and maintain the same in combat. US Military train to doctrine and standards but in combat it goes out the window due to initiative

http://www.aviationweek.com/Blogs.aspx?plckBlogId=Blog:27ec4a53-dcc8-42d0-bd3a-01329aef79a7&plckPostId=Blog%3A27ec4a53-dcc8-42d0-bd3a-01329aef79a7Post%3A1253fb8a-3b45-4f68-b273-fff9b8f2f73d

The USAF keep about 20+ MiGs for training use.

At the beginning of the German attacks in WW2 the Russian KV tanks were twice as heavy as their largest German counterparts, and nearly impervious to enemy AT fire except at point blank range. However, many of the systems in the tank was more than 20 years old and grossly inadequate for a tank of this weight. In fact, the transmission system was so strained it was common practice among tank crews to change gears by smashing the gear change with a hammer.

In fact, the other Allies and Germans, while impressed with the performance and design standards of Russian tanks, they were all amazed at the generally crude finishing of Russian tanks. The Russians were perfectly accepting of the crude finishing, as they reasoned a tank with a suspension system that's machined enough to last a year or two in service is more than enough, when the life expectancy of a tank was generally less than six months.

I forget exactly when and where it happened, but on one occasion a single Russian KV stopped supplies to the 7th Panzer Division for 72 hours. The KV had rolled up through German lines before breaking down in a swamp, that happened to overlook the road the Germans were using to bring up supplies.

The Germans were unable to penetrate its armor with AT rounds and ultimately resorted to using dynamite to destroy the KV. It took them three attempts to finally destroy the KV, and even then, the crew had been killed by the blast of the explosion bouncing off the tank. The KV itself was fine.

Tank looses during WW2 were staggering.
UK : Around 20,000 tanks
USA: Around 20,000 tanks
Germany: Around 45,000 to 50,000 tanks
Italy: Around 3500 tanks
Japan:Around 3000 tanks

But then there is the Soviets

Soviet Union: Between 96,500 to 100,000 tanks

I always wonder if german forces collect battle loss metal and sent it back to germany to recycle Thats a crap load of steel...and lubricants if one put a mind to collect.

Eastern front I'm referring to

Jihadin wrote:I always wonder if german forces collect battle loss metal and sent it back to germany to recycle Thats a crap load of steel...and lubricants if one put a mind to collect.

Eastern front I'm referring to

Kursk: Hitler's Gamble, 1944 wrote:The Germans did a study of tank and assault gun repairs in October and November 1943. In October 973 tanks were repaired and 450 written off as lost, 652 assault guns were repaired and 208 written off, and 200 self-propelled guns were repaired and only 62 were written off, for a total of 1825 armored vehicles repaired and only 720 lost. In November the numbers were very similar: 911 tanks repaired and 524 lost, 698 assault guns repaired and 243 lost and 195 self-propelled guns repaired and 20 lost, for a total of 1804 repaired compared to 787 lost. Most of the repaired tanks would have been claimed as destroyed by the Soviet gunners that inflicted the damage. However, most of the vehicles were back in action within a few days, and very few were sent back to Germany for complete rebuilding.

This is similar for both sides, commanders claimed a kill if they fired at a tank and it stopped moving, but it's really hard to actually destroy a tank beyond all repair


In addition if found the most usefull Ehow artivle ever http://www.ehow.com/how_8461680_destroy-tiger-tank.html

LOL thanks Youbedead.

Was referring to all the captured "metal"
rifles, tanks, artillery, munition, aircraft aluminum that sort of thing. As in smelt the metal down to build german armor and weapons.

Jihadin wrote:LOL thanks Youbedead.

Was referring to all the captured "metal"
rifles, tanks, artillery, munition, aircraft aluminum that sort of thing. As in smelt the metal down to build german armor and weapons.

Ah, well I know most 'recycled' metal was turned into ammunition, and given the amount of lead and steel that was thrown around during ww2 I doubt it had any significant impact.

There is actually a habit in German logistics to count any tank disabled in battle as "destroyed" regardless of whether it was still functional. As a result, large numbers of German tanks listed as "destroyed" were actually just fixed and put back to service. Even tanks actually destroyed tended to be retrieved from the field, especially early in the war, and repaired back to serviceable condition.

The USSR did it too.