Western front-interesting bits of information

XIX tactical Air Command split its sorties almost equally between close air support for troops in contact with the enemy ( 42%) and interdiction missions deep behind German lines ( 40% ) unlike USAAF and RAF counterparts who allocated around a quarter of their missions to close air support. Patton insisted that support for his spearheads receive maximum effort.

From "Patton unleashed" by T Ripley

 

From Patton unleashed by Tim Ripley

Patton never made a move without consulting first G-2 ( intelligence staff officer (=Ultra)) in planning , G-2 always had the first say. The usual procedure at the other Hq´s was to decide what to do and then, perhaps, ask G-2 what was out in front.

 

V1 rocket leaflet campaign

http://www.psywarrior.com/V1RocketLeaf.html

Interesting....

 

Guderian on warfare in the west in 1944

" While our panzer units still existed, our leaders had chosen to fight a static battle in Normandy. Now that our motorized forces have been squandered and destroyed they were compelled to fight the mobile battle that they had hitherto refused to face."

 

Would you have believed this one?

January 1945 would be the most costly month of the whole campaign. During the first month of that year when the final offensive began, 6,000 Americans were killed.

http://www.post-gazette.com/books/reviews/19971207review5.asp

 

That would be hard to believe since during this time the German Army was on the defensive and being pushed back. Perhaps it is because of the Germans being on the defensive, they caused more casualties.

 

World War II: Interview with Ace Pilot Robert S. Johnson

http://www.historynet.com/air_sea/aces/3038771.html?page=2&c=y

MH: I understand that Oberstleutnant Hans Philipp, leader of JG.1, was one of your victories?

Johnson: That was on October 8, 1943. My wingman and I had become separated, as sometimes happens in combat. We were trying to find some friendly airplanes to fly home with. I had just shot down a Messerschmitt Bf-110, which was my fourth kill. As I pulled up from that dive I saw four Fw-190s attacking the bombers. I rolled over until I was upside down so I could watch them, as they were some 5,000 feet below me. I was inverted and continued my dive, shooting while pushing the nose forward to give the necessary lead for my bullets to intercept one of the planes. I was shooting at the leader, and his number three or four man pulled his nose up, shooting at me as I was coming down. I continued the attack, and just as I hit the leader, knocking him down, I felt a thump in my airplane. How badly I was hit I didn't know, as I was very busy. I leveled out after that, and I found out 50 years later that my fifth victory was Hans Philipp, a 206-victory ace from the Russian Front.

 

May 15th, 1945: The Axis-allied Croation forces that surrendered to British troops in Austria are handed over to Tito's partisans who without delay proceed to massacre them; they kill a total of 110,000, including women and children.(??)

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

 

" If you could tell me the answer to that question I would be very grateful."

Brian McCool, the Beachmaster when asked during questioning what the Dieppe raid had been for...

From Neillands Dieppe

 

From Yeide " Tank Killers"

On 16th May (1944), Army Ground Forces had asked the ETO ( European Theater of Operations ) whether it wanted any of the new M36 tank destroyers under development by Ordnance. The M36 was essentially an M10 with a 90 mm antiaircraft gun mounted in a redesigned open-topped turret to perform the antitank mission. The ETO expressed no interest.

On 6th July, the American European Command cabled Army Ground Forces and requested that all M10 battalions be converted to the M36 and that no more M10 battalions be shipped to the ETO.

 

From Battlefield series DVD: Battle of Britain

During the early phase on Luftwaffe attacking the convoy ships Germans lost 316 planes while RAF lost 200 planes. RAF was forced to up to 600 sorties per day during this battle.

( notice the losses ratio which later on turned much worse for Luftwaffe. )

 

Luftwaffe losses for BoB altogether:

1733 aircraft of all sorts
which was 40% of the initial strength to start the campaign with (!)
Over 2600 Luftwaffe air men died.

RAF: 746 fighters lost, 520 pilots dead.

---------

After that you could say Luftwaffe was quite "finished" for a while.

As well it was interesting to notice in the document that 1/3 of all the new planes for RAF were from the Repair Units created by Mr Beaverbrook (!!!). These units built new planes from 100% damaged planes by collecting the still usable parts together.

 

On 20 July ( 1940 ), General Alan Brooke left Southern Command HQ and replaced Ironside as C-in-C Home Forces. This made him responsible for the British Army in the entire UK. He went straight to his new HQ, at St Paul´s school, Hammersmith, and found it dirty, ill-equipped and- as his diary records- empty. " ...When I arrived there Ironside had already gone! There was a note from him stating that he had arranged with the owner of the Rolls-Royce he had been using for me to take it over, and the best of wishes. That was all! Not a word concerning the defences or his policy of defence etc. absolutely nothing!"

From Invasion 1940 by Robinson

 

When Germany invaded the West on 10 May 1940, the Luftwaffe had its worst single day of the war. On all fronts, it lost 304 aircraft destroyed and 51 damaged. More than half of those destroyed - 157 - were Ju52´s.

Derek Robinson Invasion 1940

 

Goldfish club

The Goldfish Club was formed in November 1942 by Mr. CA Robertson who was at that time Chief Draughtsman to Messrs PB Cow & Co., one of the world’s largest manufacturers of Air-Sea Rescue equipment. After hearing of the experiences of some of the airmen who had survived, ‘Robbie’ conceived the idea of forming an exclusive club for airmen who owed their lives to their life jacket, dinghy, etc.

(Among the ranks have been a number of airmen who qualified in World War I, more than twenty years before the Club’s foundation. Inevitably many of the older members have passed on yet new members still arrive. Many of those who joined in the Service days rejoin on learning of the Club’s continued existence- one chap nominated as a ‘special member’ the Italian airman who offered him a seat in his dinghy when they met in the Mediterranean in 1942. The only German Goldfish qualified when he ejected from his F104G, part of the NATO forces in 1971.)

http://www.geocities.com/b24gunr2000/Goldfish_Club.html

http://splashdown2.tripod.com/id23.html

 

I was thinking about the US giving the Germans all those F-104's. Seems like they were getting even for the German pilots shooting down all the allied aircraft in WWII. I can remember reading about an F-104 crash almost every week in the 60's.

The Germans should have been happy with their Fiat G-91's.

 

292 aircraft were lost for Germany.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F-104_Starfighter

 

Thanks TA, I enjoyed reading the "Nick-Names" for the F-104. The Canadians had the best one...Lawn Dart ! That's funny.
I remember the old joke...How do you get a F-104,
Buy some land and wait.

 

From Hastings " Bomber Command"

From around 1940 I think...

" Some nights, 82 squadron had to provide crews for the oddly-named "Cheadles" , nuisance raids on a triangular course against selected Luftwaffe airfields in France. They dropped empty beerbottles, for like most of the RAF for the rest of the war, they thought these made a noise that upset bystanders beneath. They shot up any targets they could see, and frequently came home more shaken than the Junkers and Dornier crews in their billets below."

 

The US Army in the European Theater gave 82.32% of all decorations to the Air Force, 9.3% to the infantry, 3.5% to the artillery, 1.5% to the Medical Corps and 3.38% to all others.

McCombs et al " WW2 facts..."