World War 2 Facts

World War 2 Facts

The first German serviceman killed in the war was killed by the Japanese
(China, 1937)


The first American serviceman killed was killed by the Russians (Finland
1940).


80% of Soviet males born in 1923 didn't survive World War 2


The highest ranking American killed was Lt. Gen. Lesley McNair, killed by
the US Army Air Corps.


Between 1939 and 1945 the Allies dropped 3.4 million tons of bombs, An
average of about 27,700 tons of bombs each month.


12,000 heavy bombers were shot down in World War 2


2/3 of Allied bomber crews were lost for each plane destroyed


3 or 4 ground men were wounded for each killed


6 bomber crewmen were killed for each one wounded


Over 100,000 Allied bomber crewmen were killed over Europe


There were 433 Medals of Honor awarded during World War 2 - 219 of them
were given after the recipient’s death


From 6 June 1944 to 8 May 1945 in Europe the Allies had 200,000 dead and
550,000 wounded


The youngest US serviceman was 12 year old Calvin Graham, USN. He was
wounded in combat and given a Dishonorable Discharge for lying about his
age. (His benefits were later restored by act of Congress).


At the time of Pearl Harbor, the top US Navy command was called CINCUS
(pronounced "sink us"), the shoulder patch of the US Army's 45th Infantry
division was the swastika, and Hitler's private train was named "Amerika".
All three were soon changed for PR purposes.


Germany lost 110 Division Commanders in combat


40,000 men served on U-Boats during World War 2 - 30,000 never returned


More US servicemen died in the Air Corps that the Marine Corps. While
completing the required 30 missions, your chance of being killed was 71 %.
Not that bombers were helpless. A B-17 carried 4 tons of bombs and 1.5
tons of machine gun ammo. The US 8th Air Force shot down 6,098 fighter
planes, 1 for every 12,700 shots fired.


Germany's power grid was much more vulnerable than realized. One
estimate is that if just 1 % of the bombs dropped on German industry had
instead been dropped on power plants, German industry would have
collapsed.  


One of Japan's methods of destroying tanks was to bury a very large artillery
shell with only the nose exposed. When a tank came near enough,  a
soldier would whack the shell with a hammer. "Lack of weapons is no
excuse for defeat." - Lt. Gen. Mataguchi


Following a massive naval bombardment, 35,000 US and Canadian troops
stormed ashore at Kiska. 21 troops were killed in the fire-fight. It would
have been worse if there had been Japanese on the island.


The MISS ME was an unarmed Piper Cub. While spotting for US artillery
her pilot saw a similar German plane doing the same thing. He dove on the
German plane and he and his co-pilot fired their pistols damaging the
German plane enough that it had to make a forced landing. Whereupon they
landed and took the Germans prisoner. It is unknown where they put them
since the MISS ME only had two seats.


Most members of the Waffen SS were not German.


Air attacks caused 1/3 of German Generals' deaths


By D-Day, the Germans had 1.5 million railway workers operating 988,000
freight cars and used 29,000 per day


The only nation that Germany declared war on was the USA.


During the Japanese attack on Hong Kong, British officers objected to
Canadian infantrymen taking up positions in the officer's mess. No enlisted
men allowed!


By D-Day, 35% of all German soldiers had been wounded at least once,
11 % twice, 6% three times, 2% four times and 2% more than 4 times


Nuclear physicist Niels Bohr was rescued in the nick of time from German
occupied Denmark. While Danish resistance fighters provided covering fire
he ran out the back door of his home stopping momentarily to grab a beer
bottle full of precious "heavy water". He finally reached England still
clutching the bottle, which contained beer. Perhaps some German drank the
heavy water ...


Germany lost 136 Generals, which averages out to be 1 dead General every
2 weeks

Brophy Sunday 06 November 2011 - 5:55 pm | | Kearsarge Marines

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