Lesser known details of WW2 part four

Why does this topic say part 4? Are there three other parts? Ther were quite a few "t" , "h", "r" and "e" in rapid sucession, in that last question. That last statement rhymed.

 

This forum has been in action for five years, and popular threads sometimes have to be segregated to remain accessible.

There are indeed three previous elements to this thread which can be found by scrolling down through previous pages, or by doing a simple search ( I just input the word 'lesser' to find them ).

 

21/09/1944

The Eighth Army’s Greek Mountain Brigade take Rimini on the Adriatic coast.

http://www.worldwar-2.net/timelines/war-in-europe/southern-europe/southern-europe-index-1944.htm

 

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

The piecharts of deaths on both sides are quite "interesting".

WW2 military deaths allied Russia 65%
China 25%

WW2 military deaths axis
Germany 65%
Japan 23%

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Aircraft losses

Germany: Estimated total losses for the war totaled 116,584 aircraft, of which 70,000 were total losses and the remainder significantly damaged. By type, losses totaled 41,452 fighters, 22,037 bombers, 15,428 trainers, 10,221 twin-engine fighters, 8,548 ground attack, 6,733 reconnaissance, and 6,141 transports

Japan: Estimates vary from 35,000 to 50,000 total losses, with about 20,000 lost operationally.

Italy: Total losses were 5,272 aircraft, of which 3,269 were lost in combat.

Where are those Allied aces??

And:

Soviet Union: Estimated total losses were over 100,000 from all causes.

 

Heinz Guderian was consulted by Erich von Manstein when he was developing what became known as the Manstein Plan ( 1940 ).


Manstein asked me if tank movements would be possible through the Ardennes in the direction of Sedan. He explained his plan of breaking through the extension of the Maginot Line near Sedan, in order to avoid the old-fashioned Schliefien plan, familiar to the enemy and likely to be expected once more. I knew the terrain from World War I, and, after studying the map, confirmed his view. Manstein then convinced General von Rundstedt and a memorandum was sent to O.K.H. (on December 4th). O.K.H. refused to accept Manstein's idea. But the latter succeeded in bringing his idea to Hitler's knowledge.

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/GERguderian.htm

 

Kai, I might be able to answer part of your question of Allied aces. There weren't that many due to the availability of pilots and of course the oppertunity to rotate out, at least for American pilots.
According to my Fathers squadron records they made (in less than two years) 771 air to air kills, and over 350 planes destroyed on the ground.
Quite an accomplishment for the 42 Mustangs of the 353rd fighter squadron, 354th fighter group, 9th Army Air Corp.
Their #1 ace Frank Beerbower got 26. No one else was even close, 17 and below. Frank was killed by anti-aircraft over France.
The math doesn't add up, does it?
Massive rotation, and a chance to be a trainer state-side.
He who fights and runs away, lives to fight another day, or so the saying went back then.

 

Anouther factor for aircraft losses are operational accidents and training accidents. Young, inexperienced pilots in bad weather or flying formation = accidents. The loss rate for the Me-109 and it's narrow landing gear was really high. RAF Bomber Command lost lots of bombers due to poor weather and the crews getting lost and running out of fuel. Training crews for the B-26 "Widow Maker" killed lots of crews before they even left the States. Toward the end of the war German and Japanese pilots recieved a fraction of the training they did early in the war and this caused more losses. Landing on a carrier wrecked many planes. Ferry pilots taken planes from the US to Russian are still being found today as well as transport planes flying the "hump" from India to China.

 

Read about these accidents and always will remember one quote:

"One a day in Tampa Bay"

http://www.b-26marauderarchive.org/DA/PA505/PA505.htm

 

Attacks on North American soil during World War II

 

The Nuremberg Rallies

Every rally was given a programmatic title, which related to recent national events.

1939 The name "Rally of Peace" (Reichsparteitag des Friedens) was to reiterate the German will to peace, to the population and other countries. It was cancelled on short notice, as one day before the planned date on September 1st, Germany began its offensive against Poland.

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

 

Ominously, the Führerbunker (in Berlin) was the 13th such structure he had occupied.

From "In Hitler´s bunker" by Armin Lehmann

 

And last, good read that book

 

Emil "Bully" Lang

On October 21, 1943, he achieved 12 victories (Nos. 62-73) in one day; in December 1943 within three weeks 72 victories, reportedly 18 on one day! As commander of II./JG 26 he carried on his successes on the Invasion front, shooting down 25 Allied aircraft in a matter of weeks. On July 9, 1944, "Bully" shot down three Spitfires in five minutes; on August 15, two P-47s in one minute; on August 25, two P-38s in three minutes; and on August 26, finally three Spitfires, his victories Nos. 171-173.

"Bully" seemed almost invulnerable, until the undercarriage of his Fw 190 fell out during a dogfight with P-47s over Belgium on September 3, 1944, whereafter he was then shot down and killed.

http://www.jg54greenhearts.com/Lang.htm

 

The Knight´s Cross:

http://www.feldgrau.com/rk.html

The first Gefreiter (Corporal) to be awarded the RK was Hubert Brinkforth, awarded the RK on March 7th, 1941 as a member of the 14.PzJg-Kompanie/Inf.Reg.25. The three youngest men to be awarded the RK were Gefreiter Christian Lohrey, awarded the RK on March 11th, 1945 as a Kompanie-Trupp-Melder in 3./Pz.Gr.Reg.41, Oberfähnrich/Leutnant Hans Bretz, awarded the RK on May 6th, 1945 as a Zugführer in PzVernichtungs-Brigade Oberschlesien, and Gefreiter Manfred Kuhnert, awarded the RK on January 22nd, 1944 as a Richtschütze in 14.PzJg-Kompanie/Gr.Reg.442.

 

Kai
To finish an answer I started.
I was looking through my "Old Mans" squadron records and as I found no definate number but, I counted over 215 photographs of pilots for the 126 planes of the 354th fighter group.
Many got no kills at all.
Many were killed.
American philosophy was different when it came to flying.
You did not have to fly until you die, like the Germans (or any other besieged country).
You did not get labeled LMF.
Honey/vinegar, thing
If you became an "Ace" and above your options improved considerably.
25 then done for 17 pilots (except of course "Catch 22").
Options to teach others or go on war bond tours.
You almost always had the option to stay, but who in their right mind would?
Passing up a chance to go back to the land of cheap beer & expensive women?
Only to be shot at on a daily basis, and taunt the "Grim Reaper".
The world has enough Hero's, and enough souls who have either willingly, or unwillingly joined the ranks of the "Glorious Dead".

 

There were bomber pilots who did many tours instead of going to training new pilots. In the Army Air Corp. you could be a fighter pilot if you did two tours as a bomber pilot. In the RAF, Guy Gibson did tours in Bomber Command and Coastal Command until he was killed. All military branches has "gun hole" types who fought until the end or the war or to their death. In Japan it was expected of you.

 

Yes, skunk works, Ta,

I sort of thought so. The problem why I am asking this is that mostly it is mentioned that there could be no such German aces because there are not such high-scoring aces in the Allied troops. But like we can see from the numbers there were enough kills to make such high-scoring aces for the Allied as well. And that´s why I was asking where are they?

 

I believe the U.S. government "pulled" Richard Bong out of active duty in the Pacific.
He still wanted to fly.
They were afraid he would run out of luck (as many good pilots did) and that would look bad for our best/highest scoring ace.
Because of the superior numbers, and superior quality of planes and pilots..towards the end in Europe, as in the Pacific, an enemy pilot need not show his bravery in any other way....than taking off!

 

Gen. Kenney indeed sent Maj. Bong back to the states but not until he had racked up 40 kills, over 200 combat missions totaling over 500 combat hours. Seems that after a war bond tour and marriage back home, Bong went to work as a test pilot helping develop the P-80. Ironically, on Aug 6, 1945, the day the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, Richard Bong was killed during a P-80 test flight.

 

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

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Poland

Starting in September 1936, France loaned Poland 2.6 billion francs over a 5-year period, which added 12% to the annual Polish military budget. The Polish defense budget for 1938–39 was 800 million złoty, of which:

Armored force—13.7 million
Artillery—16 million
Air Force—46.3 million
Navy—21.7 million
Cavalry—58 million
To raise funds for industrial development, Poland was selling much of the modern equipment it produced; for example, anti-tank guns were sold to Britain and planes were exported to Greece.

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Polish Army

Less than half of the Polish armed forces had been mobilized by 1st September, and only one-quarter (600,000) were fully equipped and in assigned positions when hostilities commenced. Thus many soldiers, mobilised after 1st September, failed to reach the designated staging areas and, together with normal civilians, sustained significant casualties when public transport (trains and roads filled with refugees) became targets of the German Air Force.