WW2 Discussion thread

[steve25805 126,393]

For a time we hijacked Sophie's talents thread to discuss World War 2.

So now I have opened this thread where this topic can be discussed by anyone who is interested, without hijacking other threads.

Anyway....a question for Kevin. Which World War 2 battle has always interested you the most?

[Scot_Lover 1,878]

I have one too, but for anyone. Is there any documentation or documentary on the rebuilding of London after the war?

I do have a series (The World at War) that has a part on the Allies staying in Germany to help rebuild, but can find nothing on London.

[steve25805 126,393]

I have one too, but for anyone. Is there any documentation or documentary on the rebuilding of London after the war?

I do have a series (The World at War) that has a part on the Allies staying in Germany to help rebuild, but can find nothing on London.

I have found this.....

[MEDIA=vimeo]16561906[/MEDIA]

[steve25805 126,393]

I just thought I'd post a few iconic pics from World War 2......

Raising the US flag on Mount Suribachi, Iwo Jima....

Raising the Soviet flag on the Reichstag in Berlin

The nuclear age dawns. This is the Nagasaki nuclear explosion......

The meeting of the Big Three - Stalin, Roosevelt, and Churchill - at the Teheran Conference in 1943......

Hitler in Paris, following the fall of France in 1940....

[steve25805 126,393]

This is Charles Church in my home town of Plymouth UK. It was gutted during several nights of heavy German bombing in March 1941, and has been preserved in that state ever since as a memorial to those who died in those attacks......

[steve25805 126,393]

Iconic German World War 2 military aircraft......

Junkers JU87 Stuka...

Messerschmidt ME109E

Messerschmidt ME110

Focke Wulf 454

Messerschmidt ME262 jet

[steve25805 126,393]

Steve25805,

There's a restored ME - 262 now flying in the U.S. airshow circuit . That had actually combat time in W.W.II . before the Allies captured the airfield . It was based at . Then was shipped to the U.S. for evaulation . Before going derelict for some years. Till it was discovered again in the 1990's and restored to flight again. Which I have actually seen it fly in a airshow at a airport close to where I live . Here in Texas ! Which I actually sat in the cockpit of it & marveled at how well it was designed in being an actually jet with combat time at one time :)

It was amazing ! That of also meeting Adolf Galland . Once at a celebration for veterans at a Flight museum . That was hosting the celebration. That of hearing him speak about his flying career !!

The ME262 was the first military jet in history to fly in combat - and the only jet ever to see combat action in World War 2.

The first British combat jet was the Gloster Meteor.....

This came into service with the RAF at about the same time as the ME262 began service with the Luftwaffe. But the British lacked faith in it's combat abilities and never sent it into action against the Luftwaffe, using it instead exclusively to shoot down incoming German V1s.

The Meteor did see combat in Korea in the early 1950s, though.

[steve25805 126,393]

Here is a whole load of info on the Gloster Meteor. Apparently, it flew in combat in Korea with the Australian air force - the RAAF - rather than the British....

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gloster_Meteor

[steve25805 126,393]

Very informative as it lead development into other jet aircraft . both in the R.A.F. that of the U.S.A.F. in such designs as the F - 86 Sabre and the U.S. Navay's F9f Panther jet as well. In being the first few jet fighter to be used and flown in the Korean War.

It's so interesting to watch gun camera footage of such aircraft as these. In actual combat . As it's so unique plus rarely seen these days to . In viewing such active combat. That all the early jets were flown in , in the korean war.

I do Hope that the R.A.F. at Duxford . Still has an operational meteor still flying today . As it's important to have one still in use and flown in air shows there in the U.K.

There are currently four Gloster Meteors still flying in the UK. Here is video footage of one of them performing......

[media]

[/media]

[steve25805 126,393]

Here's another interesting event that happened in W.W.II . Which kept the British[ATTACH=full]67247[/ATTACH] Navy active in finding it and finally sinking it in 19444

Is that the Tirpitz?

[steve25805 126,393]

Yes , it is and it kept the British quite scared while it was afloat in Norway .

It tied down a lot of Royal Navy ships in case it tried to get out and attack the Arctic Convoys or get into the Atlantic. The Brits tried bombing it a number of times, but without much success. We sent men in on midget submarines to plant mines on her, but only succeeded in damaging her temporarily and putting her out of action for six months.

Eventually we got her by dropping heavy bombs on her before the Germans were able to conceal her with smokescreens, and she capsized - but that didn't happen until as late as November 1944.

Once she was gone though, the British were able to release more ships for service against the Japanese in the Pacific, though the Americans had already achieved total naval dominance there by then.

[Scot_Lover 1,878]

The British R.A.F. finally used the bomb called '' The Tall Boy " , and used the Lancaster to delivery it . Which the R.A.F. 617 Squadron . Which was the Dam Busters of that famous bombing raid against the dams in Germany . To deliver & drop the bombs . That finally had capsized the Tirpitz .

617 Squadron RAF Scampton.

[Scot_Lover 1,878]

Cant post pics (Upload A File), progress bar goes to 100% then stops. 1 - 2 meg each, standard .jpg. Any idea's?

[wetmanjf 2,788]

I have some fantastic WWII Genuine war photos...will have to post some later off my home computer

[steve25805 126,393]

Cant post pics (Upload A File), progress bar goes to 100% then stops. 1 - 2 meg each, standard .jpg. Any idea's?

Best bet is to talk to Admin about that. He handles the tech side of things.

[steve25805 126,393]

Had the British not capture tiger Tank # 131 , basically intact . We might not have found a way to out manuver it in destroying it with mulitiple shots in the ass . Till the fuel tanks were ignited and exploded . Which was the weakest point in it's heavy armor .

British tanks were not exactly our strongest suit in the war.

They were well on the way to becoming obsolete even at the start of the war, and all our equipment losses at Dunkirk resulted in us needing to re-equip our forces fast in the face of what appeared at the time to be the threat of imminent German invasion.

Short term need thus trumped medium term qualitative improvements, so a decision was made to shelve plans for the development of newer and better designs in order to focus entirely upon existing designs which could be mass-produced relatively rapidly.

And the British ended up sticking with this mistaken priority for much of the war, long after it was necessary. In consequence, we almost invariably went into tank battles with the Germans in inferior tanks with shorter gun ranges, weaker firepower, and often slower and less well-armoured tanks.

In battle conditions, what this often meant was that our tanks had to charge towards the Germans under constant fire, unable to fire back until they'd closed the range. By then, many of our tanks would be blown up or disabled without any loss to the enemy. And once we finally got close enough to hit back, our shells would often fail to penetrate panzer armour, whilst they continued to batter our tanks. And when - finally - it was decided that losses were too great and we started to retreat, we couldn't outrun their tanks because ours were slower.

Once you add to that the fact that the German tank commanders were often simply better trained for tank warfare than ours, and the fact of their excellent use of 88mm anti-aircraft guns which proved to be awesomely good at blowing tanks up too - well in terms of tank warfare we were often totally outclassed.

Later in the war, we actually relied increasingly heavily on the Americans equipping us with some of their much better tanks, especially Shermans, in order to compete with the Germans at all.

[steve25805 126,393]

I really salute the British . When they had modified a Sherman . In adapting a 17 pounder gun to it . Which gave it the fire power & the penetrating force to smash through the German's thicker armor they had .

Though I look down on General Patton , for delayiing improvements to be made on the Sherman tanks . In order for them to fight more on equal grounds against the Germans . As He wanted to keep the Shermans as is & just rely on speed & manuver abilities . To avoid being hit . Just that like the British in their tanks . We to were suffering high lossses in both tanks & crews. Which I find most disappointing at the first of the war. It wasn't until the M -26 Pershing came out & were deployed . In small numbers . Did we have a tank that could go toe to toe with the German Tinger tank . That of the Panther as well too . Which most consider a excellet tank design. Especially after all the teething problems with the transmissions were fixed .

Yes, in terms of sharing weaponry and technology, the British and Americans cooperated very well in the war, often resulting in both getting and sharing the best which each other had to offer. This included everything from radar to atomic research, and from tank and gun design, to aircraft engines.

[wetmanjf 2,788]

Some pictures I have

[wetmanjf 2,788]

[wetmanjf 2,788]

[F.W 5,734]

Some pictures I have

[ATTACH=full]67506[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]67507[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]67508[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]67509[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]67510[/ATTACH]

Top is 28th Div parading through Paris in August '44 i think,straight on to the front.(in '40,the German 30th Div was the one filmed marching past the Arc De Triomphe,down avenue Wagram,i think).Marines maybe on Tarawa with flame-thrower.A burial at sea,B-24 in big trouble,probably over Germany.

[steve25805 126,393]

Tell me the Definition to the word '' Flak " , is it from a German term ?

Yes, it's origins are German. "Flak" is an abbreviation of the much longer German word, "Fliegerabwehrkanone" which is one of their words for an anti-aircraft gun. It literally translates as "pilot warding-off canon".

[F.W 5,734]

Or PaK,as in PaK 40,"Panzer abwehr kanone"-anti tank cannon.

[Scot_Lover 1,878]

Cant post pics (Upload A File), progress bar goes to 100% then stops. 1 - 2 meg each, standard .jpg. Any idea's?

Think I've worked out the problem, my pics are 4000 X 3000 pixels. Will play around with resizing them.

[Scot_Lover 1,878]

Ok, trying again .....

This is a Sabre, A Meteor and an F18, the F18 pilot was interviewed after this flight, when asked how long the other 2 jets would last against the F18, the answer was "Seconds ......."