WWII Forums Quiz Part II

I thought this was a ww2 quiz, not a vietnam quiz.

 

He was a hero in WW2 since 1939, in Waffen SS 1941-1943, again from autumn 1944 in Waffen SS, sent to prison for several times for war crimes after 1945 but always escaped ( three times ) and later on joined the US army 1948 and helped create the special forces(I have a couple of sites to show you later on.)
If you´re a great soldier you are good everywhere you go, I think he proves this.
And yes, He was Finnish. If you didn´t think of this immediately...

 

Ok. That was Lauri Törni alias Larry Thorne. here´s the facts on him:

To the U.S. Army, he was Captain Larry A. Thorne. In Finland, he was much-decorated war hero Lauri Torni. Vietnam was his fourth war. He had worn a uniform for three different armies, three different countries, in four different decades. In October 1965, he and three South Vietnamese crewmen disappeared in a Republic of Vietnam Air Force CH34 helicopter somewhere in the jungle near Kham Doc.

Thorne enlisted in the U.S. Army in January 1954. However, it was not his first time in uniform—not even close. He had also served in the Finnish Army, fighting in the Winter War of 1939 1940, and in Germany he did a training stint with the Waffen S.S. After his return to Finland, he fought in the Continuation War. He also fought with German guerrillas against the Russians during World War II, for which he was awarded the German Iron Cross Second Class. In six years, he had fought in three wars and had been awarded every award for valor that Finland had to give, including the Mannerheim Cross, Finland's equivalent of the Medal of Honor.

Thorne's stint with the Waffen S.S., complete with photos of himself in a German S.S. uniform, proved an especially tough hurdle to overcome when he later applied to join the U.S. Army. But, in 1956, after serious lobbying, he received U.S. citizenship and his commission as a first lieutenant in the U.S. Army Signal Corps.

By late 1960, Thorne had attained the rank of captain and become a member of the Army's elite Special Forces, the Green Berets. In 1962, he led his Special Forces detachment to the summit of Iran's Zagros Mountains to recover classified material that was being transported on a U.S. Army aircraft that had crashed. Although German and Iranian expeditions to the 14,000foot crash site had failed, Thorne and his men secured the information and recovered the bodies of the aircrew.

In November 1963, Thorne and Detachment A743 entered Vietnam for a six-month tour. In April 1964, author Robin Moore was in Tinh Bien where Thorne's detachment was stationed. Moore was gathering material for a book on Special Forces based on the detachment's exploits. The book, The Green Berets, became a best-selling novel and later became a movie that starred John Wayne.1

The film did not accurately depict the ferocious fighting that occurred at Tinh Bien and other camps. As evidence of the battle's true fierceness, consider this: every member of Detachment A743 received a Purple Heart for wounds suffered at the camp in Tinh Bien. Thorne received two Purple Hearts and a Bronze Star for valor.

Thorne's second tour to South Vietnam was his last. In February 1965, he was assigned to the 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne). Soon afterward, Thorne was funneled into a special operations augmentation program, then into Headquarters Company, U.S. Military Assistance Command Vietnam (MACV), Special Detachment 5 89 1. Thorne became a soldier in the secret war in Laos.

According to H.A. Gill III's book, Soldier Under Three Flags, Thorne was the newest member of the top secret Studies and Observations Group (SOG), whose mission was gathering information.2 On 18 October 1965, Thorne and three Vietnamese crewmen were returning on a CH-34 helicopter from a covert mission in Laos. The pilot had radioed Kham Duc complaining about low visibility because of heavy clouds just before the helicopter disappeared. Exhaustive searches for the crash site were undertaken with no luck. Enemy fire, poor weather, and the rugged terrain made searching even more difficult. On 19 October 1966, the U.S. Army listed Thorne as killed in action, body not recovered.

Before his final mission, Thorne had been recommended for promotion to major and was being groomed for a staff job as an intelligence officer. He was posthumously promoted to major in December 1965. His family also received his posthumous Distinguished Flying Cross Medal.

And some sites so you can see he was a great soldier:

http://www-cgsc.army.mil/milrev/english/MayJun02/almanac%20mcdowell.asp

http://www.geocities.com/sf_chapter_33/thorne.htm

OK. I´ll ask a thing on Hans-Ulrich Rudel.
When did he do the famous escape from the Russians after having landed deep in the enemy territory, and why did he do that? What happened to his loyal back seat machine gunner?

 

On 20th March, 1944, flying his eighth mission that day, Rudel landed close to the River Dniester to attempt to rescue another, inexperienced crew who had force-landed.
Rudel's aircraft bogs down, and hordes of Russians appear.

The Germans run to the bank of the river, which is 600 metres wide with drifting ice. Stripping off most of their clothes, they swim the river. But Rudel's crewman, Erwin Hentschel, with only 80 metres to go, throws up his arms and shouts : 'I can't go on ! I can't go on any more !'. He sinks, and is never seen again.

Then begins an incredible journey lasting 24 hours before Rudel reaches friendly forces. During this trek, made barefoot, Rudel only just escapes from a Russian patrol, actually being wounded by submachinegun fire. He is continually pursued by Russians with dogs - there is a reward on his head.

Returning to his squadron, in Rudel's own words : ' I feel reborn, as if a miracle had happened. Life has been restored to me, and this reunion with my comrades is the most glorious prize for the hardest race of my life'.

The full story would take up too much space - Rudel's own book, 'Stuka Pilot' is highly recommended.

 

Well done , Martin. And really fast too!
It´s your turn now!

 

Nice quick easy one...

What was the Mosquito FBXVIII called, and what was special about it ?

 

*bump*
Come on. warbird people - you're not even trying !

 

The TseTse; it had a 6 pdr AT gun

[ 08 September 2002, 09:51 PM: Message edited by: dasreich ]

 

See - you were hiding !
Well done, DasReich - right answer and over to you......

 

Thank you, Martin.

Lets go WAY east for this one!

At the battle of Coral Sea (Japan V. USA) how many carriers were part of the action on both sides?

What were their names?

And which were destroyed?

 

No fans of the Pacific theater?

This ones easy, at least easier than my barbarossa question in the other quiz.

 

Finally! I have this one!!!

Japan: "Shokaku" and "Zuikaku", heavy carries and the light carrier "Shoho".

American: Heavy carriers "Lexington" and "Yorktown".

The "Shoho" was sunk by American dive bombers and the other two Japanesse carriers were damaged a bit.

The Americans had the immense lost of the "Lexington". The "Yorktown" was damaged a bit.

 

Richtig!

Your turn Friedrich-

 

IUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUHHHUUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!!!!

Finally!!!!

I will come with a very hard one later, I can't waste this chance!

 

Got one!

Who was the lowest-rank officer who ever commanded a division?

Tell his: name, rank, division he commanded and why did he take over, etc.

 

I dont have my book with me but here goes.

During the battle for Berlin, Major Siegfried Knappe, was sent to I think von Dufings div by General Weidling--to relieve him of command because an ordered attack had not happened. When Knappe arrived at that division--he saw that they were preparing to make an attack--just belatedly. He never took over the division and went back to Gen Weidlings HQ, somwhere in Berlin.

[ 17 September 2002, 06:52 PM: Message edited by: C.Evans ]

 

No, Carl, he wasn't the answer to my question. And even if he was, as you say he did not command the division and even if he had commanded it, I doubt it was a division...

 

Actually General Weidling DID place Major Knappe in charge of the said Division--only Knappe decided not to disrupt their preparation for the said ordered attack--as it was getting on its way when he arrived. He was a Division Commander untill he reported the situation when he got back and saw General Weidling.

 

I just finished Major Knappe's book Soldat. Very good i might add...and i remember this part in the book...him mentioning something about a very low ranked officer commanding a division...BUT being i don't have the patiece to look it up...i'll be on my way

 

Well, probably it is someone else but as I am a fan, I´ve got to put it here...Following the death of Fritz Witt on 14 June, 1944, he took command of the 12th SS, becoming the youngest division commander in the German armed forces.

That is Kurt Meyer!!!!!