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The longest WW2 sea story ever written! The second longest novel ever written!
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ON THE EDGE OF DARKNESS
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Following an heroic part in the Second Battle of Narvik, Captain Barr puts the marines, his ship and certain captured enemy vessels to such good use that their exploits come to the notice of the First Lord of the Admiralty, Churchill sees how the ‘Nishga’s’ exploits dovetail so well into his own fledgling tactic of ‘Butcher and bolt’ that he orders the new unit, to carry out clandestine missions behind enemy lines. Already Churchill has seen that commando raids will be one of the few means by which a beleagued Britain will be able to take the fight to the enemy. Soon ‘Orca becomes an elite fighting unit, codenamed ‘Orca’ with a far reaching remit to harass the enemy held coast of Norway.
DEAD RECKONING
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The World waited. Dunkirk was over, a third of a million allied troops snatched back from, in Churchill’s words, ‘death and shame’ in the largest sea-evacuation the world had ever seen.
France, the British Empire's only ally, tottered on the brink of defeat. Italy had entered the war on the side of Germany.
The World considered its future. If Britain was to be defeated and the world's largest Navy fell into the hands of the Nazis the Axis would dominate the seas and by definition the world.
Churchill had an ace up his sleeve; the Royal Navy. Support Britain in her fight to the death, or risk the Royal Navy becoming part of a greater German Navy. This was the spectra that Churchill’s friends in America held over the heads of the appeasers and the isolationists. For America had, as of yet, given no practical help to Great Britain.
In this sea of uncertainty and defeatism Churchill stood solid as a rock; the immovable platform from which victory could still be snatched.
Only the Royal Navy, was ready to carry the fight to the enemy, undefeated it patrolled the seas carrying with it the hopes and the pride of the British people.
The Special Operations Group, 'Orca', under its inspired and charismatic commander, Alexander Barr, are ordered to concentrate their efforts against the enemy U Boats based in occupied Norway…
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The World waited. Dunkirk was over, a third of a million allied troops snatched back from, in Churchill’s words, ‘death and shame’ in the largest sea-evacuation the world had ever seen.
France, the British Empire's only ally, tottered on the brink of defeat. Italy had entered the war on the side of Germany.
The World considered its future. If Britain was to be defeated and the world's largest Navy fell into the hands of the Nazis the Axis would dominate the seas and by definition the world.
Churchill had an ace up his sleeve; the Royal Navy. Support Britain in her fight to the death, or risk the Royal Navy becoming part of a greater German Navy. This was the spectra that Churchill’s friends in America held over the heads of the appeasers and the isolationists. For America had, as of yet, given no practical help to Great Britain.
In this sea of uncertainty and defeatism Churchill stood solid as a rock; the immovable platform from which victory could still be snatched.
Only the Royal Navy, was ready to carry the fight to the enemy, undefeated it patrolled the seas carrying with it the hopes and the pride of the British people.
The Special Operations Group, 'Orca', under its inspired and charismatic commander, Alexander Barr, are ordered to concentrate their efforts against the enemy U Boats based in occupied Norway…
STANDING INTO DANGER
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It is the autumn of 1940, since Dunkirk, three long, weary and worrying months before, the British people have lived under the dual threats of invasion and starvation. They are still unaware that Hitler has abandoned Operation Sea Lion and re-focused his manic ambitions east towards Russia. The threat of slow starvation is still a real and present danger. With thousands of tons of vital supplies lying at the bottom of the World's oceans, the island race tighten their belts, venturing forth, ration book and ID card in hand, to draw their meagre rations. Short of metal for munitions, of guns for Dad’s Army and with their children evacuated, they soldier on armed only with their sense of humour and a dogged determination to prevail.
The Government prepare for the worst, racing against time to re-equip a beaten and depleted Army, advising their citizens to watch the sky and the seas for invasion and to dig for victory, while sending the country's gold reserves to safety in America.
At sea the situation has grown steadily worse. Month after month more and more ships, carrying essential food and ammunition, are being sent to the bottom of the sea. September’s grim total is exceeded by October’s and October’s by November's.
The Admiralty find out the hard way that Doenitz’s U Boat Command are using new and even more deadly tactics. Tactics that threaten to starve Britain into submission within weeks rather than months. The dreaded Wolf Pack has been born. The pitiless ‘Grey Wolfs’ lie in wait across the dark sea-lanes of the Atlantic, attacking the convoys at will, without mercy and with a savage ferocity not seen before in the annals of war.
With the nation tottering on the brink of defeat, seven million in gold and securities, so vital to the county’s ultimate survival, has to go across the Atlantic by sea. What if the Germans were to learn of the British plans to take the gold out of the country? What if they lie in wait with the biggest Wolf Pack ever to be assembled?
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It is the autumn of 1940, since Dunkirk, three long, weary and worrying months before, the British people have lived under the dual threats of invasion and starvation. They are still unaware that Hitler has abandoned Operation Sea Lion and re-focused his manic ambitions east towards Russia. The threat of slow starvation is still a real and present danger. With thousands of tons of vital supplies lying at the bottom of the World's oceans, the island race tighten their belts, venturing forth, ration book and ID card in hand, to draw their meagre rations. Short of metal for munitions, of guns for Dad’s Army and with their children evacuated, they soldier on armed only with their sense of humour and a dogged determination to prevail.
The Government prepare for the worst, racing against time to re-equip a beaten and depleted Army, advising their citizens to watch the sky and the seas for invasion and to dig for victory, while sending the country's gold reserves to safety in America.
At sea the situation has grown steadily worse. Month after month more and more ships, carrying essential food and ammunition, are being sent to the bottom of the sea. September’s grim total is exceeded by October’s and October’s by November's.
The Admiralty find out the hard way that Doenitz’s U Boat Command are using new and even more deadly tactics. Tactics that threaten to starve Britain into submission within weeks rather than months. The dreaded Wolf Pack has been born. The pitiless ‘Grey Wolfs’ lie in wait across the dark sea-lanes of the Atlantic, attacking the convoys at will, without mercy and with a savage ferocity not seen before in the annals of war.
With the nation tottering on the brink of defeat, seven million in gold and securities, so vital to the county’s ultimate survival, has to go across the Atlantic by sea. What if the Germans were to learn of the British plans to take the gold out of the country? What if they lie in wait with the biggest Wolf Pack ever to be assembled?
ON FORTUNE'S SIDE
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It is 1941 and British Naval Intelligence suspect that the German High Command have plans for a spring offensive on the British convoy system, their aim, to finally snap the already tenuous supply lines between a beleaguered Britain and the rest of the free world.
Faulted in his attempts to invade Britain, Hitler turns his insane ambitions east to the sleeping bear that is Russia. However Britain and the Royal Navy in particular, remain a thorn in his side. He makes overtures of peace sending his secretary, Rudolph Hess, to Britain to negotiate on his behalf. But the British government has no wish to make peace and use Hess as a pawn to alert Stalin to Hitler's real intentions.
When he realises that his guileful plan has fallen on deaf ears he embraces Grossadmiral Raeder's plan to finally starve the British into submission.
The ‘glorious spring offensive’ will bring together, for the first time, the combined might of Germany's surface fleet and the stealthy prowess of her U Boat arm to strangle the vital Atlantic arteries that have supplied the island fortress and kept her in the War. Only then will Hitler be able to turn his full might on the Russian bear.
Captain Barr's special operations group, code named 'Orca', are ordered to do all they can to disrupt the plan, to somehow stop the scattered Baltic Fleet regrouping in safe waters from where they can sally out into the Atlantic to join forces with Doenitz's U Boat's.
The captured U Boat, ‘Antler’ must make a perilous journey four hundred miles deep into the Baltic Sea, the German Navy’s backyard, to prove that no hiding place can be safe from the Royal Navy.
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It is 1941 and British Naval Intelligence suspect that the German High Command have plans for a spring offensive on the British convoy system, their aim, to finally snap the already tenuous supply lines between a beleaguered Britain and the rest of the free world.
Faulted in his attempts to invade Britain, Hitler turns his insane ambitions east to the sleeping bear that is Russia. However Britain and the Royal Navy in particular, remain a thorn in his side. He makes overtures of peace sending his secretary, Rudolph Hess, to Britain to negotiate on his behalf. But the British government has no wish to make peace and use Hess as a pawn to alert Stalin to Hitler's real intentions.
When he realises that his guileful plan has fallen on deaf ears he embraces Grossadmiral Raeder's plan to finally starve the British into submission.
The ‘glorious spring offensive’ will bring together, for the first time, the combined might of Germany's surface fleet and the stealthy prowess of her U Boat arm to strangle the vital Atlantic arteries that have supplied the island fortress and kept her in the War. Only then will Hitler be able to turn his full might on the Russian bear.
Captain Barr's special operations group, code named 'Orca', are ordered to do all they can to disrupt the plan, to somehow stop the scattered Baltic Fleet regrouping in safe waters from where they can sally out into the Atlantic to join forces with Doenitz's U Boat's.
The captured U Boat, ‘Antler’ must make a perilous journey four hundred miles deep into the Baltic Sea, the German Navy’s backyard, to prove that no hiding place can be safe from the Royal Navy.
LONG DAY'S NIGHT
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Highly secret intelligence gathered by ‘Orca’, a special operations group under the brilliant command of Captain Alexander Barr, points to a significant change in strategy on the part of the German High Command. Barr’s unique knowledge of the Norwegian coast coupled with an astute, if unorthodox, grasp of tactics make him the idea choice to command the countermeasures and he receives orders to disrupt the enemy’s plans with every resource at his command. But before he can get his audacious plans under way the entire Home Fleet is caught up in its vengeful search for the ‘Bismarck’. It is their chance to sink one of Germany's finest ships, to avenge the sinking of the ‘Hood’ and to, quite possibly, change the course of history.
His endeavours take him and his elite force north into the treacherous waters of the Arctic where ice, cold and the might of the enemy combine to test his unique talents to the full.
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Highly secret intelligence gathered by ‘Orca’, a special operations group under the brilliant command of Captain Alexander Barr, points to a significant change in strategy on the part of the German High Command. Barr’s unique knowledge of the Norwegian coast coupled with an astute, if unorthodox, grasp of tactics make him the idea choice to command the countermeasures and he receives orders to disrupt the enemy’s plans with every resource at his command. But before he can get his audacious plans under way the entire Home Fleet is caught up in its vengeful search for the ‘Bismarck’. It is their chance to sink one of Germany's finest ships, to avenge the sinking of the ‘Hood’ and to, quite possibly, change the course of history.
His endeavours take him and his elite force north into the treacherous waters of the Arctic where ice, cold and the might of the enemy combine to test his unique talents to the full.
TO CATCH A RAT
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Following the incidental capture of highly secret papers, by the Navy's special operations group ‘Orca’, it is discovered that the Germans are carrying out research into weapons of mass destruction, chemical, biological and most frightening of all an Uranium bomb. With America still unwilling to join the fight against the Nazis could this be the thing that will commit them at last, or could the threat of such a powerful weapon keep them out altogether. ‘Orca’ is given the task of finding out just how far advanced the Germans are. Captain Barr R.N. the commander of ‘Orca’ is determined that this extra assignment should not affect the vital work they had been engaged in for two long years. There was to be no let up in their relentless and merciless harrying of the enemy’s Norwegian coast and the Nazi’s U Boat forces based there.
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Following the incidental capture of highly secret papers, by the Navy's special operations group ‘Orca’, it is discovered that the Germans are carrying out research into weapons of mass destruction, chemical, biological and most frightening of all an Uranium bomb. With America still unwilling to join the fight against the Nazis could this be the thing that will commit them at last, or could the threat of such a powerful weapon keep them out altogether. ‘Orca’ is given the task of finding out just how far advanced the Germans are. Captain Barr R.N. the commander of ‘Orca’ is determined that this extra assignment should not affect the vital work they had been engaged in for two long years. There was to be no let up in their relentless and merciless harrying of the enemy’s Norwegian coast and the Nazi’s U Boat forces based there.
MOST IMMEDIATE
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With the epic raid on the French port of St Nazaire only months away, Captain Alexander Barr, commanding officer of the Tribal Class destroyer HMS Nishga and the inspired and innovative leader of the Special Operations Group codenamed ‘Orca’, is charged with the job of creating a diversion to the main operation. True to form his audacious plans both shock and intrigue his superior officers.
In the September of 1940 Churchill met Roosevelt on board the ‘Prince of Wales’. What if another such meeting was arranged and what if German Intelligence got to know about it Because the death of these two charismatic leaders would demoralise Germany’s two most powerful enemies and pave the way for Hitler’s domination of the civilised world they would divert all their energies into finding out the where and the when.
As if Barr hadn’t enough on his plate, the Submarine Tracking Room at the Admiralty has discovered that Admiral Doenitz is concentrating his U Boats on the east coast of America. Thanks to an Anglophobic American Chief of Naval Operations they are completely disregarding the British advice to bring in the same convoy system that has saved Britain from starvation for two long years.
What can be done to save them from what could potentially be a naval disaster bigger even than Pearl Harbour? Barr’s superiors think they have the answer, Barr has his doubts.
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With the epic raid on the French port of St Nazaire only months away, Captain Alexander Barr, commanding officer of the Tribal Class destroyer HMS Nishga and the inspired and innovative leader of the Special Operations Group codenamed ‘Orca’, is charged with the job of creating a diversion to the main operation. True to form his audacious plans both shock and intrigue his superior officers.
In the September of 1940 Churchill met Roosevelt on board the ‘Prince of Wales’. What if another such meeting was arranged and what if German Intelligence got to know about it Because the death of these two charismatic leaders would demoralise Germany’s two most powerful enemies and pave the way for Hitler’s domination of the civilised world they would divert all their energies into finding out the where and the when.
As if Barr hadn’t enough on his plate, the Submarine Tracking Room at the Admiralty has discovered that Admiral Doenitz is concentrating his U Boats on the east coast of America. Thanks to an Anglophobic American Chief of Naval Operations they are completely disregarding the British advice to bring in the same convoy system that has saved Britain from starvation for two long years.
What can be done to save them from what could potentially be a naval disaster bigger even than Pearl Harbour? Barr’s superiors think they have the answer, Barr has his doubts.
BY NIGHT'S DARK SHADOW
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With the entry of the United States into the War and with the proposed North African landings imminent, the special operation group codenamed ‘Orca’ and their innovative leader Captain Alexander Barr are under orders to escalate their raids on the Norwegian coast to divert the enemy’s attention and resources. Their mission is made easier by Hitler’s personal belief that any landing in Europe, by the Allied forces, will come via the Norwegian Peninsular. However the enemy have a new secret weapon, a rocket that can be launched from a submerged U Boat; a weapon that if successful, could turn the tide of battle in the Atlantic and bring the War to the shores of the United States itself…
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With the entry of the United States into the War and with the proposed North African landings imminent, the special operation group codenamed ‘Orca’ and their innovative leader Captain Alexander Barr are under orders to escalate their raids on the Norwegian coast to divert the enemy’s attention and resources. Their mission is made easier by Hitler’s personal belief that any landing in Europe, by the Allied forces, will come via the Norwegian Peninsular. However the enemy have a new secret weapon, a rocket that can be launched from a submerged U Boat; a weapon that if successful, could turn the tide of battle in the Atlantic and bring the War to the shores of the United States itself…
NOTICE FOR STEAM
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The special operations group, codenamed ‘Orca’ was still evolving even after three years of war. Forged in the heat of the battle for Norway and tempered in its icy seas, it was now tougher than ever before. It needed to be for its wide remit was to harass the enemy along the entire coast of Norway using every means available as part of, what was already, the longest battle in history, the Battle of the Atlantic. The remit gave its inspired leader, the brilliant, if unconventional, Commodore Alexander Barr RN, the freedom to do as he thought fit. These, his latest exploits were destined to pit his skills directly against those of Admiral Doenitz himself and involve his men in a deep penetration of enemy territory to kidnap a Nazi rocket scientist.
His endeavors were to stretch his elite force to new lengths, test his and their resolve, as always Barr was ready to commit totally, whatever it cost, whatever it took.
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The special operations group, codenamed ‘Orca’ was still evolving even after three years of war. Forged in the heat of the battle for Norway and tempered in its icy seas, it was now tougher than ever before. It needed to be for its wide remit was to harass the enemy along the entire coast of Norway using every means available as part of, what was already, the longest battle in history, the Battle of the Atlantic. The remit gave its inspired leader, the brilliant, if unconventional, Commodore Alexander Barr RN, the freedom to do as he thought fit. These, his latest exploits were destined to pit his skills directly against those of Admiral Doenitz himself and involve his men in a deep penetration of enemy territory to kidnap a Nazi rocket scientist.
His endeavors were to stretch his elite force to new lengths, test his and their resolve, as always Barr was ready to commit totally, whatever it cost, whatever it took.
BY THOUGHT AND BY DEED
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Commander Alexander Barr RN continues his adventures. The 31st Escort Group's move south to the Bay of Biscay, to combat Germany's newest weapon is delayed while he organises the escape from British captivity of a German Admiral. In normal times something that would have earned him a short stay in the Tower followed by a long drop from a scaffold. But Barr was too valuable to end up in a box, he was that most rare of naval officers, one who was capable of thinking outside of it.
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Commander Alexander Barr RN continues his adventures. The 31st Escort Group's move south to the Bay of Biscay, to combat Germany's newest weapon is delayed while he organises the escape from British captivity of a German Admiral. In normal times something that would have earned him a short stay in the Tower followed by a long drop from a scaffold. But Barr was too valuable to end up in a box, he was that most rare of naval officers, one who was capable of thinking outside of it.
CONQUEROR OF THE OCEANS
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While the intolerable weight of the War had been removed from the tottering walls of Britain and redistributed to the Pacific, to Russia and to Africa, Barr’s clandestine operations were as fraught as ever. He would have said more so.
The U Boat, most now believed, had been defeated in the rout that the Germans were calling ‘Black May’. He seemed to be the only one facing up to the unwelcome truth. New and revolutionary submarine designs threatened the expanding and fragile web of Allied supply lines. Supply lines which were carrying the vulnerable reinforcements to theatres of war that lay across a vast and difficult to patrol Atlantic. If this modernisation of the U Boat Arm was allowed to continue it would mean a total rethink on the tactics used to combat his old enemy.
If Doenitz was to get the supplies of fuel, steel and men he demanded and therefore was able to build his new model U Boat Arm, it would overwhelm the Allied convoys in a matter of months and thereafter the oceans of the World. The Allies slow and outdated escorts would be deployed against U Boats able to spend longer periods under water and that were faster than surface ships.
The prognosis was a return to the bad old days; to a Britain short of materials, facing starvation with the prospect of a disastrous capitulation or total destruction under the jackbooted heel of the Nazis.
From captured papers Barr, at least, can visualise the new force that could be arrayed against them and the possible consequences if they were allowed to prevail. All he needed to do was persuade a sceptical and celebratory hierarchy, convinced that the war is all but over, that it wasn’t. He needed evidence, but that lay where few would dare to go, few except Barr’s own elite force. After a daring raid, by 30 Assault Unit, the group do get their hands on vital documents, but he finds the news is even worse than he had at first thought. The Germans not only had a new faster U Boat, they also had jet propelled planes in the pipeline and all but invincible tanks. He realises the grim truth that the research and manufacture of these super weapons must be delayed by any and every means available; even if it means the loss of ‘Orca’ itself, it must be done. Failure would mean tens of thousands of lives lost when eventually the Allies land in Europe. It means that Orca must venture into the Grey Wolves lair a second time for it is there that the biggest of prizes beckons.
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While the intolerable weight of the War had been removed from the tottering walls of Britain and redistributed to the Pacific, to Russia and to Africa, Barr’s clandestine operations were as fraught as ever. He would have said more so.
The U Boat, most now believed, had been defeated in the rout that the Germans were calling ‘Black May’. He seemed to be the only one facing up to the unwelcome truth. New and revolutionary submarine designs threatened the expanding and fragile web of Allied supply lines. Supply lines which were carrying the vulnerable reinforcements to theatres of war that lay across a vast and difficult to patrol Atlantic. If this modernisation of the U Boat Arm was allowed to continue it would mean a total rethink on the tactics used to combat his old enemy.
If Doenitz was to get the supplies of fuel, steel and men he demanded and therefore was able to build his new model U Boat Arm, it would overwhelm the Allied convoys in a matter of months and thereafter the oceans of the World. The Allies slow and outdated escorts would be deployed against U Boats able to spend longer periods under water and that were faster than surface ships.
The prognosis was a return to the bad old days; to a Britain short of materials, facing starvation with the prospect of a disastrous capitulation or total destruction under the jackbooted heel of the Nazis.
From captured papers Barr, at least, can visualise the new force that could be arrayed against them and the possible consequences if they were allowed to prevail. All he needed to do was persuade a sceptical and celebratory hierarchy, convinced that the war is all but over, that it wasn’t. He needed evidence, but that lay where few would dare to go, few except Barr’s own elite force. After a daring raid, by 30 Assault Unit, the group do get their hands on vital documents, but he finds the news is even worse than he had at first thought. The Germans not only had a new faster U Boat, they also had jet propelled planes in the pipeline and all but invincible tanks. He realises the grim truth that the research and manufacture of these super weapons must be delayed by any and every means available; even if it means the loss of ‘Orca’ itself, it must be done. Failure would mean tens of thousands of lives lost when eventually the Allies land in Europe. It means that Orca must venture into the Grey Wolves lair a second time for it is there that the biggest of prizes beckons.
RING ON MAIN ENGINES
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While the Allies celebrate the turning of the tide in the Battle of the Atlantic, Hitler broods over the possibility of defeat; but the master of the black arts is not beaten yet. His nefarious brooding gives forth a dark and strategically shattering concept, capture the biggest aircraft carrier in the North Atlantic and at the same time occupy the best placed U Boat base in the Northern Hemisphere.
By a strange coincidence Commodore Barr, ‘Orca’s brilliant, if willful leader and tactician extraordinaire is engaged in operations only miles from Hitler’s hastily assembled fleet, the biggest ever to threaten the might of the Royal Navy since Jutland. With just a handful of destroyers and two patrol boats, he now has to turn his considerable intellect from the rescue of the occupants of a small Norwegian village to combating something that, at the very least would prolong the War for another three years and, at worse, could force the Allies to cut cards with the ‘Devil’ himself.
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While the Allies celebrate the turning of the tide in the Battle of the Atlantic, Hitler broods over the possibility of defeat; but the master of the black arts is not beaten yet. His nefarious brooding gives forth a dark and strategically shattering concept, capture the biggest aircraft carrier in the North Atlantic and at the same time occupy the best placed U Boat base in the Northern Hemisphere.
By a strange coincidence Commodore Barr, ‘Orca’s brilliant, if willful leader and tactician extraordinaire is engaged in operations only miles from Hitler’s hastily assembled fleet, the biggest ever to threaten the might of the Royal Navy since Jutland. With just a handful of destroyers and two patrol boats, he now has to turn his considerable intellect from the rescue of the occupants of a small Norwegian village to combating something that, at the very least would prolong the War for another three years and, at worse, could force the Allies to cut cards with the ‘Devil’ himself.
REJOIN WITH ALL SPEED
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With hardly time to draw breath the 31st Escort Group, part of Special Force Orca, are ordered to the Mediterranean. The British Eight Army is short of landing craft following the landings in Sicily and urgently need replacements for the planned invasion of Italy.
Commodore Alexander Barr, the charismatic leader of Special Forces ‘Orca’, has five days to reach Malta with a convoy of replacement assault craft. All that stands in his way is a squadron of Junker 290s armed with the first ever Air to Ship Guided Missiles, an indeterminable number of U Boats and a superior task force from the Italian Regia Marina that includes a massive Littorio Class Battleship armed with fifteen-inch guns. He soon finds the Mediterranean War to be as dangerous, as complex and as hideous as the one he left behind in the icy wastes of Norway. Yet again, his men find themselves in a life or death struggle with not only their old adversaries, the Nazis, but also their fascist allies, the Spanish and Italian Falange terrorists.
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With hardly time to draw breath the 31st Escort Group, part of Special Force Orca, are ordered to the Mediterranean. The British Eight Army is short of landing craft following the landings in Sicily and urgently need replacements for the planned invasion of Italy.
Commodore Alexander Barr, the charismatic leader of Special Forces ‘Orca’, has five days to reach Malta with a convoy of replacement assault craft. All that stands in his way is a squadron of Junker 290s armed with the first ever Air to Ship Guided Missiles, an indeterminable number of U Boats and a superior task force from the Italian Regia Marina that includes a massive Littorio Class Battleship armed with fifteen-inch guns. He soon finds the Mediterranean War to be as dangerous, as complex and as hideous as the one he left behind in the icy wastes of Norway. Yet again, his men find themselves in a life or death struggle with not only their old adversaries, the Nazis, but also their fascist allies, the Spanish and Italian Falange terrorists.
DEADLY INTENT
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Starting from £3 or $4 Lieutenant Commander Potter rejoins Special Force Orca in the Mediterranean in time for the Italian surrender and to take command of one of their commandeered submarines to use against their former Ally, Germany. After only one day with his new boat, unexpected and potentially lethal events occur that call for some speedy lateral thinking on his part. His beloved leader Commodore Barr is no beginner at thinking out of the box himself and with the Allies bogged down on the beaches of Salerno and a disastrous second Dunkirk looming, he formulates an audacious plan to help by landing a strong force of his commandos to disrupt and hinder the enemy behind their own lines. He faces more resistance than he has envisaged and from an unexpected quarter and it is only by virtue of his Special Force Orca having independent status that he can overcome a new enemy the inexperienced and Anglophobic American General in charge of the Landings. He goes ahead with his plan and, using a creative diversion, lands a strong force on the coast to the north of the beleaguered Allied troops. Sergeant Bushel, of the Royal Marines, faces his biggest challenge yet when he takes command of the landing force and finds he has a spy in their midst... MAKE SMOKE
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Starting from £3 or $4 Following a successful stint assisting in the Mediterranean, Special Force Orca is recalled to the United Kingdom to prepare for D Day. They don’t get very far. In the Eastern Mediterranean the Battle for the Dodecanese Islands has taken a turn for the worst and threatens another disaster for British forces on the magnitude of Crete just a few years before. Churchill insists that the islands are important strategically and the battle must be won. Commodore Barr sees the stupidity of the plan, next to no air cover up against over three hundred Luftwaffe aircraft. He argues against it, but to no avail, now he foresees another ‘Destroyer’s Graveyard, more unnecessary dead, a carbon copy of Crete looms. Meanwhile German Commandos led by the ‘Most Dangerous Man in Europe’, the ruthless SS Sturmbannführer Otto Skorzeny, fresh from his success rescuing Mussolini, are planning a two pronged assassination attempt, one on the Allied leaders meeting in Cairo and the other on the Italian King and the Pope when they meet in the Vatican. The powers-that- be know there is only one man who can cope with a situation of this complexity and one organisation that can hope to upset the Nazi’s plans, Commodore Barr flies back to Gibraltar where as an entrée to an already overflowing plate of espionage, he finds German Frogmen are planning to blow up the battleship ‘Warspite’ when she arrives from Malta ... |
DEEP AND SILENT
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It is December 1943 the remaining units of Commodore Barr’s Special Force Orca with the 31st Escort Group in company have returned from the Mediterranean. It is only a matter of months to the long awaited invasion of Europe. Special Force Orca will be heavily involved in what will be the biggest seaborne invasion the World has ever seen, but first there are a few matters left outstanding after their long absence from their old hunting grounds off the craggy and desolate coast of Norway.
The Nazi’s are again showing an interest in manufacturing an A Bomb. Special Force Orca’s commandos are deployed on a mission deep behind enemy lines in an attempt to delay and disrupt the Nazi’s plans.
Meanwhile, on a routine convoy escort, Barr’s depleted squadron of three ships stumbles upon a new concept in U Boat design. The Type XXI is so advanced that it threatens to singlehandedly re-write the book on anti-submarine warfare and reverse the gains the Allies have made in the Battle of the Atlantic…The World’s first super submarine has made its first combat appearance. Can Barr make it its last…
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It is December 1943 the remaining units of Commodore Barr’s Special Force Orca with the 31st Escort Group in company have returned from the Mediterranean. It is only a matter of months to the long awaited invasion of Europe. Special Force Orca will be heavily involved in what will be the biggest seaborne invasion the World has ever seen, but first there are a few matters left outstanding after their long absence from their old hunting grounds off the craggy and desolate coast of Norway.
The Nazi’s are again showing an interest in manufacturing an A Bomb. Special Force Orca’s commandos are deployed on a mission deep behind enemy lines in an attempt to delay and disrupt the Nazi’s plans.
Meanwhile, on a routine convoy escort, Barr’s depleted squadron of three ships stumbles upon a new concept in U Boat design. The Type XXI is so advanced that it threatens to singlehandedly re-write the book on anti-submarine warfare and reverse the gains the Allies have made in the Battle of the Atlantic…The World’s first super submarine has made its first combat appearance. Can Barr make it its last…
HOIST THE BLACK PENNANT!
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Commodore Alexander Barr, Commanding Officer of Special Force ‘Orca’, now flying his Broad Pennant in the brand new Battle Class Destroyer HMS Waterloo has a fairly routine raid to carry out on the ragged Norwegian Coast. Unbeknown to him the German Kriegsmarine is carrying out exercises a scarce five nautical miles north of his designated beach. Alone the destroyer escorts to the cruiser ‘Schwerin’ outgun every ship in Barr’s 31st Destroyer Group so when the giant cruiser itself joins the ensuing melee the battle turns decidedly one sided. His only hope is to get in close, engage the enemy more closely...he has no choice but to try, the only alternative is to leave sixty Royal Marine commandos to their fate, does Barr have something up his gold ringed sleeve that could save the day...
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Commodore Alexander Barr, Commanding Officer of Special Force ‘Orca’, now flying his Broad Pennant in the brand new Battle Class Destroyer HMS Waterloo has a fairly routine raid to carry out on the ragged Norwegian Coast. Unbeknown to him the German Kriegsmarine is carrying out exercises a scarce five nautical miles north of his designated beach. Alone the destroyer escorts to the cruiser ‘Schwerin’ outgun every ship in Barr’s 31st Destroyer Group so when the giant cruiser itself joins the ensuing melee the battle turns decidedly one sided. His only hope is to get in close, engage the enemy more closely...he has no choice but to try, the only alternative is to leave sixty Royal Marine commandos to their fate, does Barr have something up his gold ringed sleeve that could save the day...
SMOKE AND MIRRORS
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Commodores of the Royal Navy are often accused of being full of hot air. Not Commodore Alexander Barr, of course. However his latest acquaintance was rather reliant on it, indeed, it was a vital part of the Commodore’s latest ruse.
The contents of a very important Arctic supply convoy, the first of the season, was urgently needed to support the Soviets who were about to launch a major offensive along the Leningrad Front and were already engaged in a costly fight for control of the Narva Isthmus.
On the 21st March the Admiralty had word that, due to the recent Russian successes on the Eastern Front, the Germans were placing a stronger emphasis on disrupting the Arctic Convoys. Convoys which had been responsible for supplying thousands of tons of planes, tanks, locomotives and ammunition to the Soviet Union.
Since the ‘X’ Crafts daring attack on the mighty ‘Tirpitz’ the battleship had been undergoing a major refit, It was a test of German organisation and engineering skills as, by necessity, it had to be carried out far from her home waters and far from any dry dock facilities. Barr’s plan had been to disrupt her supply chain so as to slow the refit down until the Allied invasion of Europe could get under way. If the hugely powerful ship was allowed to complete her refit and get amongst the invasion fleet, disaster would undoubtedly occur. Frail landing craft would be no match for her huge fifteen inch guns. Consequently since March ‘Orca’ had been doing its best to disrupt the refit, using the undoubted skills of Potter and HM Submarine Antler.
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Commodores of the Royal Navy are often accused of being full of hot air. Not Commodore Alexander Barr, of course. However his latest acquaintance was rather reliant on it, indeed, it was a vital part of the Commodore’s latest ruse.
The contents of a very important Arctic supply convoy, the first of the season, was urgently needed to support the Soviets who were about to launch a major offensive along the Leningrad Front and were already engaged in a costly fight for control of the Narva Isthmus.
On the 21st March the Admiralty had word that, due to the recent Russian successes on the Eastern Front, the Germans were placing a stronger emphasis on disrupting the Arctic Convoys. Convoys which had been responsible for supplying thousands of tons of planes, tanks, locomotives and ammunition to the Soviet Union.
Since the ‘X’ Crafts daring attack on the mighty ‘Tirpitz’ the battleship had been undergoing a major refit, It was a test of German organisation and engineering skills as, by necessity, it had to be carried out far from her home waters and far from any dry dock facilities. Barr’s plan had been to disrupt her supply chain so as to slow the refit down until the Allied invasion of Europe could get under way. If the hugely powerful ship was allowed to complete her refit and get amongst the invasion fleet, disaster would undoubtedly occur. Frail landing craft would be no match for her huge fifteen inch guns. Consequently since March ‘Orca’ had been doing its best to disrupt the refit, using the undoubted skills of Potter and HM Submarine Antler.
STEMMING THE TIDE
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TURN TOWARDS AND ENGAGE
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It is May 1944, the Allies are poised across the Channel ready to take the fight to the Nazis, but the Nazis have Hitler’s secret weapon the jet aircraft. The race is on the Allies have jet aircraft but they are still in development, the Nazis, on the other hand have the Me 262 and already have a training unit teaching their pilots to fly the five hundred and forty miles an hour jet. The fastest plane the Allies can muster is the prop engine American Super Thunderbolt at four hundred and ninety miles per hour. The Me 262 is capable of out flying anything the Allies can put against it and of destroying Allied plans of landing in France for perhaps years to come, maybe even turning the tide of the war completely and forcing at least a conditional peace. This is the last thing Churchill wants, he demands unconditional surrender so the Nazi thugs can be brought to account for their crimes.
A complete airframe of the Me 262 is needed so the ‘Boffins’ can study it and calculate its performance, only then can the Allied versions be adapted and modified to reign supreme in the air battles yet to be fought in the skies over Europe.
To get a complete aircraft back to England is a tall task, it requires men of unique capabilities, it requires Commodore Barr and the men of Special Force Orca…
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It is May 1944, the Allies are poised across the Channel ready to take the fight to the Nazis, but the Nazis have Hitler’s secret weapon the jet aircraft. The race is on the Allies have jet aircraft but they are still in development, the Nazis, on the other hand have the Me 262 and already have a training unit teaching their pilots to fly the five hundred and forty miles an hour jet. The fastest plane the Allies can muster is the prop engine American Super Thunderbolt at four hundred and ninety miles per hour. The Me 262 is capable of out flying anything the Allies can put against it and of destroying Allied plans of landing in France for perhaps years to come, maybe even turning the tide of the war completely and forcing at least a conditional peace. This is the last thing Churchill wants, he demands unconditional surrender so the Nazi thugs can be brought to account for their crimes.
A complete airframe of the Me 262 is needed so the ‘Boffins’ can study it and calculate its performance, only then can the Allied versions be adapted and modified to reign supreme in the air battles yet to be fought in the skies over Europe.
To get a complete aircraft back to England is a tall task, it requires men of unique capabilities, it requires Commodore Barr and the men of Special Force Orca…
BEFORE FIRST LIGHT
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As part of the D Day counter-invasion measures the German Navy had formed a covert fleet of thirty six U-boats known as the Landwirte Group, crewed by the best Germany had to offer, seasoned U Boat men, veterans of the Battle of the Atlantic their task was to attack Allied shipping supporting the invasion. To disrupt the vital supplies that would mean success or failure, life or death for thousands of men. Who should lead the fight against such a mighty force, who could be called upon to stop this submerged menace? Who could possibly cope when the Nazis had the invasion fleet’s recognition call sign, only one man; Commodore Alexander Barr.
On the morning of 6 June 1944, these 36 Type VIICs U Boats responded from their bomb proof concrete bunkers in North West France. But what if this was only a ruse, what if the Nazis had a war-changing ace up their sleeves, what if they actually wanted hundreds of thousands of Allied soldiers ashore in France. Had Special Force ‘Orca’ stumbled on their secret by accident, what surprise did the huge ice cave in the frozen wastes of the Arctic contain? What or who was ‘Thule’ and what deadly dangers did that evocative codename conceal?
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As part of the D Day counter-invasion measures the German Navy had formed a covert fleet of thirty six U-boats known as the Landwirte Group, crewed by the best Germany had to offer, seasoned U Boat men, veterans of the Battle of the Atlantic their task was to attack Allied shipping supporting the invasion. To disrupt the vital supplies that would mean success or failure, life or death for thousands of men. Who should lead the fight against such a mighty force, who could be called upon to stop this submerged menace? Who could possibly cope when the Nazis had the invasion fleet’s recognition call sign, only one man; Commodore Alexander Barr.
On the morning of 6 June 1944, these 36 Type VIICs U Boats responded from their bomb proof concrete bunkers in North West France. But what if this was only a ruse, what if the Nazis had a war-changing ace up their sleeves, what if they actually wanted hundreds of thousands of Allied soldiers ashore in France. Had Special Force ‘Orca’ stumbled on their secret by accident, what surprise did the huge ice cave in the frozen wastes of the Arctic contain? What or who was ‘Thule’ and what deadly dangers did that evocative codename conceal?
REST FOR THE WICKED
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It is an approved and proven maxim in war to never divide your forces. Napoleon ignored that one at ‘Waterloo. However on board HMS Waterloo Commodore Barr had no choice. He did not have the tens of thousands of men to deploy on the battlefield that the French Emperor processed, just the elite of Special Force Orca.
Acting in concert with 30 Assault Unit, an organisation that normally operated in small groups they were to raid ahead of the Allies advancing up the Cherbourg Peninsular to secure papers and secret equipment before the Nazis could destroy it or spirit it away. Much the same remit was to be followed by Lieutenant Commander Ward and his detachment with one not so small difference he was not to be a few hundred yards ahead of the line he was to be parachuted thousands of miles behind it. A V2 rocket had crashed on a remote Danish island in the Baltic Sea his job was to secure it and then, of course, it had to be picked up, that didn’t just entail going behind enemy lines that meant going through them, through the occupied Danish Straits, the German Navy’s own backyard. Meanwhile there was the little matter of protecting the supply route between the South Coast and the landing beaches of Normandy. The whole called for a juggling act of epic proportions and there was only one man for the job, but had he taken on more than he could chew…
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It is an approved and proven maxim in war to never divide your forces. Napoleon ignored that one at ‘Waterloo. However on board HMS Waterloo Commodore Barr had no choice. He did not have the tens of thousands of men to deploy on the battlefield that the French Emperor processed, just the elite of Special Force Orca.
Acting in concert with 30 Assault Unit, an organisation that normally operated in small groups they were to raid ahead of the Allies advancing up the Cherbourg Peninsular to secure papers and secret equipment before the Nazis could destroy it or spirit it away. Much the same remit was to be followed by Lieutenant Commander Ward and his detachment with one not so small difference he was not to be a few hundred yards ahead of the line he was to be parachuted thousands of miles behind it. A V2 rocket had crashed on a remote Danish island in the Baltic Sea his job was to secure it and then, of course, it had to be picked up, that didn’t just entail going behind enemy lines that meant going through them, through the occupied Danish Straits, the German Navy’s own backyard. Meanwhile there was the little matter of protecting the supply route between the South Coast and the landing beaches of Normandy. The whole called for a juggling act of epic proportions and there was only one man for the job, but had he taken on more than he could chew…
NIGHT CROSSING
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The Allies had been held at the D Day beachhead. Successive offensives had drawn the bulk of the German armoured reserves to Caen. Eight Divisions of Tiger and Panther tanks faced the British and the Canadians. Heavily armoured tanks that could so easily reduce the Allied thinly armoured and under gunned Sherman tanks to blazing torches that their crews nicknamed them ‘Ronsons’ after their cigarette lighters, which according to its advertisement ‘lit up every time’. The front was stagnant, it had been a fifty day long stalemate and the Allies were in real danger of being thrown back into the Channel. Their one advantage was the much vaulted air power, but if that was such an advantage why weren’t they winning hands down. After all, that had been the plan. The type of country they were fighting in, the small fields and endless thick hedgerows was one of the reasons. Anyone of which could hide the prolific and dreaded German Panzerfaust, the best handheld anti-tank weapon of the War.
The Allied planes were effective in keeping the German tanks at bay during the day, they could only go on the offensive at night and no one can see much in the dark, or could they! Jerry had an ace up his sleeve, infrared night vision devices were being fitted to their Panther tanks as fast as the Nazis could produce them. Soon the tank commanders would have an overwhelming, possibly war winning advantage, they would be able to see in the dark, the night would be theirs…unless…
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The Allies had been held at the D Day beachhead. Successive offensives had drawn the bulk of the German armoured reserves to Caen. Eight Divisions of Tiger and Panther tanks faced the British and the Canadians. Heavily armoured tanks that could so easily reduce the Allied thinly armoured and under gunned Sherman tanks to blazing torches that their crews nicknamed them ‘Ronsons’ after their cigarette lighters, which according to its advertisement ‘lit up every time’. The front was stagnant, it had been a fifty day long stalemate and the Allies were in real danger of being thrown back into the Channel. Their one advantage was the much vaulted air power, but if that was such an advantage why weren’t they winning hands down. After all, that had been the plan. The type of country they were fighting in, the small fields and endless thick hedgerows was one of the reasons. Anyone of which could hide the prolific and dreaded German Panzerfaust, the best handheld anti-tank weapon of the War.
The Allied planes were effective in keeping the German tanks at bay during the day, they could only go on the offensive at night and no one can see much in the dark, or could they! Jerry had an ace up his sleeve, infrared night vision devices were being fitted to their Panther tanks as fast as the Nazis could produce them. Soon the tank commanders would have an overwhelming, possibly war winning advantage, they would be able to see in the dark, the night would be theirs…unless…
FIRE FOR EFFECT
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It’s August 1944, the breakout from the Normandy beachheads has been accomplished and the Peninsula of Brittany has been completely cut off by Patton’s Third Army.
The Allies still lack an intact port they can use to land the twenty six thousand tons of food and ammunition they need each day to supply their men and machines. One of the two Mulberry Harbours has been destroyed in a summer storm, Cherbourg and Saint Malo have fallen into their hands but their harbours have been destroyed by the German garrisons before they surrendered. It will be months before they can be up and running. In an attempt to remedy the Allies logistical nightmare Patton’s VIII Corp is turned west towards the coast and the vitally strategic port of Brest.
The German troops cut off in Brittany have retreated to the fortified ports in the Peninsula. Brest has been and still is vital to the Third Reich and has been transformed since 1939 into, what German propaganda refers to as ‘Fortress Brest’. It has been put under the command of one of the Third Reich’s most ruthless and successful Afrika Korps Generals. Hermann-Bernard Ramcke has orders to deny the Allies the use of the port for as long as possible. Just how long will depend on their supply situation as much as the Allies depend on theirs.
The Allies have an ace up their sleeve, Pluto, the underwater pipelines that will be able to supply the massive Allied need for fuel. It is about to be laid across the Channel. The English Channel has been made virtually inaccessible to the enemy’s submarines by a wall of anti-submarine vessels at both ends. But the Nazis have their own ace up their sleeves, a mythical dwarf by the name of Alberich. One man is sure he can overcome the Allies mythological and the true-life problems with supply, a man who has been called on before to perform the impossible, Commodore Alexander Barr, Royal Navy.
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It’s August 1944, the breakout from the Normandy beachheads has been accomplished and the Peninsula of Brittany has been completely cut off by Patton’s Third Army.
The Allies still lack an intact port they can use to land the twenty six thousand tons of food and ammunition they need each day to supply their men and machines. One of the two Mulberry Harbours has been destroyed in a summer storm, Cherbourg and Saint Malo have fallen into their hands but their harbours have been destroyed by the German garrisons before they surrendered. It will be months before they can be up and running. In an attempt to remedy the Allies logistical nightmare Patton’s VIII Corp is turned west towards the coast and the vitally strategic port of Brest.
The German troops cut off in Brittany have retreated to the fortified ports in the Peninsula. Brest has been and still is vital to the Third Reich and has been transformed since 1939 into, what German propaganda refers to as ‘Fortress Brest’. It has been put under the command of one of the Third Reich’s most ruthless and successful Afrika Korps Generals. Hermann-Bernard Ramcke has orders to deny the Allies the use of the port for as long as possible. Just how long will depend on their supply situation as much as the Allies depend on theirs.
The Allies have an ace up their sleeve, Pluto, the underwater pipelines that will be able to supply the massive Allied need for fuel. It is about to be laid across the Channel. The English Channel has been made virtually inaccessible to the enemy’s submarines by a wall of anti-submarine vessels at both ends. But the Nazis have their own ace up their sleeves, a mythical dwarf by the name of Alberich. One man is sure he can overcome the Allies mythological and the true-life problems with supply, a man who has been called on before to perform the impossible, Commodore Alexander Barr, Royal Navy.
IN THE DARKEST HOUR
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The war was supposed to be as good as won, but then there was still Hitler’s super weapons. Perhaps the most worrying was the Messerschmitt Me 262 with a speed of six hundred miles an hour; in any number it could destroy whole formations of Allied bombers. The Allies daren’t put the British version, the Meteor up against it, if one was forced down in their territory the combined technology and the information gathered would lead to an unstoppable war plane. They kept the Meteor away, chasing V1s, but there was always human error and Jerry was still just the other side of the Channel, what if one was to crash, say in Calais?
Eisenhower was well aware that the Channel was still the weak link in the chain but so were his enemies. The Axis had tried just about everything to break that link, U Boat’s, aircraft, human torpedoes. They had a firm foothold on the ‘F’ Country’s battered and bruised shoreline, although they still hadn’t captured a Channel port in working order, something they desperately needed.
There was Calais, still in working order. In that beleaguered port the Germans had an elite force of combat divers. The Meereskämpfer, ocean warriors, a dramatic name, but these were dramatic people willing to give their lives for the Nazi cause.
The French Resistance had informed the Allies of a new weapon that these divers had been seen testing in the great moat that surrounded the Citadel in the center of Calais. The Allies needed to destroy this new threat to the supply lines, could they had the same time stop the Channel port being sabotaged as all the others had been? At the outset plans are thrown into disarray when a British Meteor jet crashes in enemy held territory. There is only one man with any hope of achieving all three tasks in the limited time available. That man was Commodore Alexander Barr, Royal Navy …
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The war was supposed to be as good as won, but then there was still Hitler’s super weapons. Perhaps the most worrying was the Messerschmitt Me 262 with a speed of six hundred miles an hour; in any number it could destroy whole formations of Allied bombers. The Allies daren’t put the British version, the Meteor up against it, if one was forced down in their territory the combined technology and the information gathered would lead to an unstoppable war plane. They kept the Meteor away, chasing V1s, but there was always human error and Jerry was still just the other side of the Channel, what if one was to crash, say in Calais?
Eisenhower was well aware that the Channel was still the weak link in the chain but so were his enemies. The Axis had tried just about everything to break that link, U Boat’s, aircraft, human torpedoes. They had a firm foothold on the ‘F’ Country’s battered and bruised shoreline, although they still hadn’t captured a Channel port in working order, something they desperately needed.
There was Calais, still in working order. In that beleaguered port the Germans had an elite force of combat divers. The Meereskämpfer, ocean warriors, a dramatic name, but these were dramatic people willing to give their lives for the Nazi cause.
The French Resistance had informed the Allies of a new weapon that these divers had been seen testing in the great moat that surrounded the Citadel in the center of Calais. The Allies needed to destroy this new threat to the supply lines, could they had the same time stop the Channel port being sabotaged as all the others had been? At the outset plans are thrown into disarray when a British Meteor jet crashes in enemy held territory. There is only one man with any hope of achieving all three tasks in the limited time available. That man was Commodore Alexander Barr, Royal Navy …
Answers to the Quiz. Good Luck For answers to Questions 299 ans beyond click on Blog (top top of this page)
53William Joyce, the most infamous of the radio announcers on Germany Calling with the famous nickname ‘Lord Haw Haw’ wasBritain’s most well-known traitor was born in Ireland, executed at Wandsworth Prison
59 Hermann Goring
75 Since 1951 Germany has paid more than 102 billion marks, in federal government reparation payments to Israel and Third Reich victims. In addition, Germans have paid out billions in private and other public funds, including about 75 million marks ($49 million) by German firms in compensation to wartime forced laborers
77 The U 570 was captured by Britain on 27 Aug, 1941 in the North Atlantic south of Iceland, in position 62.15N, 18.35W, after being damaged by a British Hudson aircraft (Sqdn. 269/S). Towed to Thorlakshafn, Iceland and salvaged. 44 survivors (no casualties). Recommisoned as HMS Graph after 2 unsuccessful patrols she was used as a training boat
78 Answer Prince Eugen a Hipper Class heavy cruiser After examining the ship in the United States, the US Navy assigned the cruiser to the Operation Crossroads nuclear tests at Bikini Atoll. After surviving both atomic blasts, Prinz Eugen was towed to Kwajalein Atoll where she ultimately capsized and sank in December 1946
80 For co-operating with the Germans. He made tanks for them
81 He didn't the deportations started after his death when the Nazis took over
82 Generalfeldmarschall Friedrich Paulus surrendered at Stalingrad Hitler had expected him to do the honourable thing.
83 There was only one by womwn
85 The Ladies Room
102 On August 15, 1945 Japan surrendered, with the surrender documents finally signed aboard the deck of the American battleship USS Missouri on September 2, 1945, ending WW2.
105 It was an S.O.E weapon used in covert ops
107 Tyre bursters used to disable enemy vehicles were disguised as rocks or animal dropping
113 The term "axis" came from Benito Mussolini's proclamation of the 1936 agreement as the axis around which states with common interests might collaborate.
114 They didn't they only declared war on the US
116 What was the anti tank weapon named after a musical instrument? http://anthonymolloy.weebly.com Where facts meet fiction
116 Bazooka
117 70 Million
118 Winston Churchill
126 I n 1943, a team of SOE-trained Norwegian commandos succeeded in destroying the heavy water production facility. Operation Gunnerside was later evaluated by SOE as the most successful act of sabotage in all of World War II.[2]
131He was the 34-year old Welsh man named Glydwr Michael who became 'The Man that never was'.
132 The Navy, the State of New York and Luciano eventually concluded a deal. In exchange for a commutation of his sentence, Luciano promised the complete assistance of his organization in providing intelligence to the Navy.
133 A patrol of Polish 12th Podolian Uhlans Regiment finally made it to the heights and raised a Polish flag over the ruins.
136.20,351 Spitfires were built in total. There are 44 Spitfires still in existence that are airworthy
142 Designated Day
143The first recorded strategic use of napalm incendiary bombs occurred in an attack by the USAAF on Berlin on 6 March 1944
149 Billingsgate Fish Market. Erh! I won't bother with the fish course, Jenkins.
150The British "Grand Slam" bomb which was dropped by a modified Lancaster bomber during world war 2 weighed in at 22,000lbs
151 It was burnt to the ground by flame throwing tanks
152 Argentina
153 Tsar Nicholas of Russia
154 Nazi Germany formed its own group of suicide aircraft pilots called the Leonidas Squadron,
155 The six, killed by Japanese balloon bombs wee the only bomb casualties in the US during the whole War
156 Eleven soldiers engaged in of Operation 'Haudegen' were the last German troops to surrender -in somewhat surreal circumstances- on September 4 1945, three months after the war ended in Europe. http://anthonymolloy.weebly.com Home of the Epic
157 The firebombing of Tokyo was the most destructive air raid in history
158 Toguri's 1949 trial resulted in a conviction on one of eight counts of treason. In 1974, investigative journalists found that key witnesses claimed they were forced to lie during testimony. Toguri was pardoned by U.S. President Gerald Ford in 1977
162 Only one officially and that was the US.
163 Stalin
164 Captain Langsdorff, dressed in full dress uniform and lying on the ship's battle ensign, shot himself.[34] In late January 1940, After the scuttling, the ship's crew were taken to Argentina, where they were interned for the remainder of the war.The wreck was partially broken up in 1942–1943, though parts of the ship are still visible now. The rumour was that the British learnt a lot from the wreck
165 In 1940, Hitler gave permission for the first non German Waffen SS formation and by the end of the war, 25 of the 38 division had non German's in them.
167 No, he was also a vegetarian. There is no evidence that he ate one of his 70 million victims. What a nice chap!
More people than ever are embarking on the armchair cruise of a lifetime over at http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006QCM1OE And why not the nights are closing in
168 168 How many German generals did Hitler have executed ? Answer http://anthonymolloy.weebly.com Where facts make fantastic fiction
172 Franco never took Spain into WW2. The Spanish Civil War did not finish until 1939 and left Spain bankrupt with much of the population near starvation.
182 General Patton in the Italian Campaign
183 2oz rising to 4 later in the War.
187 Sweet rationing ended in February 1953, and sugar rationing ended in September 1953. The final end did not come until 1954 with the end of meat and bacond on the 4th July 1954.
188 Because no one seemed to notice before Pearl that the initials of Commander in chief United States Navy or C.in.C.U.S.Navy read as sink us
189 The shoulder path was a swastika.
190 It had been called Amerika
191Lieutenant Colonel John Malcolm Thorpe Fleming Churchill, “Fighting Jack” was a British soldier renowned for his outlandish battle techniques in World War II. Routinely called mad, Churchill would go into every battle with a Scottish broadsword slung across his back, bagpipes under his arms, a longbow, and a quiver with arrows. Read more at http://www.omg-facts.com/Facts/A-British-Soldier-Fought-In-WW-II-With-A/50727#P6oPp6sD0GBVJylj.99
192 Adolf Hitler is likely to have been descended from both Jews and Africans, according to DNA tests. Samples taken from relatives of the Nazi leader show that he is biologically linked to the 'sub-human' races he sought to exterminate.
193 After studying Hitler’s handwriting in 1937,a psychologist said that Hitler had essentially female characteristics? .
194 Hitler!
95 Hitler during WW1
196 Torpedo and partially sunk the 14″ Guns of USS Nevada were in action at Normandy on D Day
197All the thousands of aircraft involved had to be painted with white D Day strips for identification purposes
198 Carbine was David Willliam's nickname while he was serving time in prison for attempted murder
199'Balls to the wall' is a US WW2 airmen's expression meaning going all out for something, it comes from pushing the ball-handled throttles all the way to the wall.
200 They used to pee in the Rhine apparently Churchill did it and there's even a photo of Patten indulging
207Panzerkampfwagen VIII Maus was a German World War II super-heavy tank completed in late 1944. It is the heaviest fully enclosed armoured fighting vehicle ever built.
212 Russia numbers vary between 80,000 and 105,000
214 Juno
215 Sealion was the invasion of the UK
216 Damned un-English
218 A rifle attachment that enabled it to fire round corners
219 Italy
220 The Hurricane
221 As the head of the Occupation administration was General MacArthur who was technically supposed to defer to an advisory council set up by the Allied powers, but in practice did everything himself.
222 The Nazi plan for the rebuilding of the German Armed Forces and the Japanese plan for the attack on Pearl Harbour
223 2,402 Americans were killed and 1,282 wounded.
224Kimmel was relieved of his command ten days after the attack.
225On the morning of 18 April, despite urgings by local commanders to cancel the trip for fear of ambush, Yamamotot left Rabaul as scheduled for the 315 mile trip. Sixteen Lightnings intercepted the flight over Bougainville and a dogfight ensued between them and the six escorts Yamamoto's plane crashed into the jungle
226 When it first went to Africa it was under the command of Lt. Gen Ludwig Cruwell. Rommel was in command of all the German troops and he reported to the Italian commanding general and the Commando Supremo in Sicily.
227 There were seven they were at Son, St. Oedenrode, two at Veghel, Grave, Nijmegen and Arhnem.
228 Market Garden (a bridge too Far) 17–25 September 1944 was an unsuccessful Allied military operation, fought in the Netherlands and Germany in the Second World War. It was the largest airborne operation up to that time.
229 There were more than 11,400 Allied caualties and less than 6,000 Axis killed in Action.
231 Dwight D. Eisenhower
233 In 1944, Ramsay was appointed Naval Commander in Chief of the Allied Naval Expeditionary Force for the invasion.On 2 January 1945, he was killed when his plane crashed on takeoff at Toussus-le-Noble
234 7000
235 Following the Battle of the Bulge mainly because of the 80.000 casualties sustained by the Us
240 Around 5 million
246 Hood was found and explored in late July 2001 by a Channel 4 expedition led by David L. Mearns
2471,415 British sailors. Only three survived.
248 5
249 14th Nov 1941Her wreck was discovered by a BBC crew in December 2002, approximately 30 nmi (35 mi; 56 km) from Gibraltar.
251Lothar von Arnauld de la Perière (1886–1941) was the most successful U-boat commander of any submarine commander in history.
263 Answer The Gloworm attacked the heavy cruiser Admiral hipper and her destroyer escort single handed and ramming her sank
264 Answer Bismarck was attacked by Fairey Swordfish torpedo bombers from the aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal
265 Answer The first major naval engagement was the Battle of the River Plate
266 They were the Achilles, Ajax and Exeter
267 The Royal Oak
269 The Duke of York
270 HMS Cossack
271 Schleswig-Holstein fired the first shots of World War II when she fired at the Polish base at Westerplatte in the early morning hours of 1 September 1939
272 Otto Ernst Lindemann went down with his ship on 27th May1941
273 The cargo included technical drawings, examples of the newest electric torpedoes, one crated Me 262 jet aircraft, a Henschel Hs 293 glide bomb and what was listed on the US Unloading Manifest as 560 kg of Uranium Oxide. There were twelve passengers, including a German general, four German naval officers, civilian engineers and scientists, and two Japanese naval officers.
274 The heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen
276 KMS Blucher Commissioned: 20 September 1939 Fate: Sunk in the Battle of Drobak Sound on 9 April 1940
277 The Scharnhorst
278 The Battle ran from 6 December 1944 – 25 January 1945.
279 The Battle of the Bulge. Because of the bulge it made in the Allied lines
280 The first jet bomber raid ever.
281The Battle of the Bulge with 80,000 casualties.
282 El Alamein
284 Because it stopped the Nazis reaching the Suez Canal
284 General Montogomery
285 The Battle of El Alamein
286 Henri-Philippe Petain
287 General de Gaulle
288 No one led the French Resistance as a whole it was made up[ of separate cells with different agendas
289 General Montgomery
290 General Patton in 1945,
291 General Montgomery lived in a caravan in his HQ he was a teetotaler and didn't smoke
292 The Special Air Service was a unit of the British Army during the Second World War, formed in July 1941 by David Stirling and originally called "L" Detachment
293 UKSF was formed to draw together the Army's Special Air Service (SAS) and the Special Boat Squadron Royal Marines (SBS) Joint Special Forces Aviation Wing, the Special Reconnaissance Regiment and the Special Forces Support Group.
294 The Special Boat Section, forerunner of the SBS, was founded in July 1940 . The SAS was formed in 1 July 1941
296 In October 1942 the first green berets were issued to the Royal Marines,
297 The 2nd Battle of the Atlantic, Axis submarines sank 609 ships for the loss of only 22 U-boats. This was roughly one quarter of all shipping sunk by U-boats during the entire Second World War.
298 An assessment by British analyst Professor Sir Solly Zuckerman reported that the defences had been reduced to 47% effectiveness. The ease of the operation led to an optimistic assessment of the effectiveness of bombing, which was not always borne out in practice.
299 Admiral Hipper and the heavy cruiser Lützow; Adolf Hitler was infuriated at what he perceived as the uselessness of the surface raiders, seeing that two heavy cruisers were driven off by mere destroyers.
505 The first tank used in combat was by the British Army on September 15, 1916 at Flers-Courcelette, during the Somme506 The German King Tiger
506
The German King Tiger 507 On 24 May 1941, early in the Battle of the
Denmark Straits German shells from the Bismarck hit a magazine and she
exploded.
508 Of the 1325 men aboard the Hood 3 survived509 Swordfish flew from merchant aircraft carriers ("MAC ships"), 20 civilian cargo or tanker ships modified to carry three or four aircraft each, on anti-submarine duties with convoys.
509 Swordfish flew from merchant aircraft carriers ("MAC ships"), 20 civilian cargo or tanker ships modified to carry three or four aircraft each, on anti-submarine duties with convoys.
510 In overall command of ground forces on DDay was General Bernard Montgomery
511 They were all Allied naval deceptions carried out in support of D Day Day
512The first self-powered machine gun was invented in 1885 by Sir Hiram Maxim. The "Maxim gun" used the recoil power of the previously fired bullet to reload the next
513 The first true revolver was a flintlock made by Elisha Collier in 1814. The percussion cap revolver was invented by Samuel Colt in 1836. 514 The armoured car was invented by RP Davidson of the Northwestern Military Academy in America in 1898
514 The armoured car was invented by RP Davidson of the Northwestern Military Academy in America in 1898
515 Cornelis Jacobszoon Drebbel was the Dutch builder of the first navigable submarine in 1620
516 . It was the Nazi intention to solve the Jewish question by transferring all the Jews to Madagascar but the plan was never implemented because of the British invasion of that island
517 They were fearful that it would be used as a base from which the Nazis would cut the Allied supply line to India round the Cape of Good Hope
518 British and two East African brigades invaded the island on May 5, 1941, Operation Ironclad. The first action against French troops in WW2. British casualties 109 killed, 284 wounded. French casualties 200 killed 500 wounded.
519 The total number of deaths from malaria is not known but is thought to be higher than those who died from fighting.
in a WW2 action packed sea saga
522 Zonderwater Camp in the Transvaal, twenty-three miles from Pretoria. Housed 63,000 POW captured during the Somaliland and Ethiopian campaigns. The efforts of their guards were recognized by the post-war Italian Government when the Camp Commandant, Colonel Hendrik Prinsloo and three of his officers were invested with the 'Order of the Star of Italy'.
523 On August 14, 1941. The German spy, Josef Jakobs, was executed , tied to a chair, by an eight man firing squad from the Scots Guards. 524On their way to attack Liverpool, four German bombers got lost and by mistake bombed Dublin in neutral Ireland.40 were killed nearly 2,000 were made homeless
524On their way to attack Liverpool, four German bombers got lost by mistake bombed Dublin in neutral Ireland.40 killed 2,000 made homeless
525 On November 5th 1940 HMS Jervis Bay, a British passenger liner converted into an armed merchant cruiser, was sunk by the pocket battleship Admiral Scheer. It took 24 minutes to sink her and the delay enabled most of the convoy of 37 to escape under cover of darkness. 65 of the Jervis Bay’s crew out of 255 survived the one sided battle. 5 of the convoy were sunk before nightfall Captain Fegen was awarded a posthumous VC.
526 HMS Belfast moored in London took part in Operation Overlord supporting the Normandy landings and helped sink the Scharnhorst as the Battle of North Cape
527 The term was first used by the Spanish to describe their camps set up by the military in Cuba during the Spanish-American War of 1895-1898.
528 One of the most infamous plans of the Nazis General Plan Ost (East) was to involve the relocation of around eighty million people, mainly from Eastern Europe to areas in western Siberia. The plan was to be implemented after the defeat of the Red Army and Communism. They were to be replaced with German settlers to create a racially pure Nazi Utopia.
529 They were the nerve center of British planning in WW2 Situated at Storey's Gate in London, close to the houses of Parliament. Its location was one of the best kept secrets of the war. They were once the cellars of the Board of Education building and covered an area of six acres with around 150 rooms
530 Seven American volunteer pilots fought alongside the RAF pilots during the Battle of Britain Only one, Pilot Officer Havilland, survived the war
531The Hurricane, not the Spitfire saved Britain during the Battle of Britain. The turn-around time for the Spitfire was 26 minutes. The Hurricane, only 9 minutes. The Spitfire was an all metal fighter but the Hurricane had a fabric covered fuselage, so was quicker to repair and could withstand more punishment. The majority of German planes shot down during that four months were down to Hurricanes
532 The Cromwell tank first saw action in the Battle of Normandy in June 1944.
533 The Battle of Cape Matapan was fought off Cape Matapan in the Mediterranean 27–29 March 1941.
534 Admiral Cunningham
535 The Battle of the Bulge was a major surprise German offensive launched through the densely forested Ardennes mountain of Belgium, Luxembourg, and Germany
536 General Patton commanded the US forces using what the Germans admitted was ‘his extraordinary skill in armoured warfare’ albeit adding ‘in a fundamental German conception’
537 On two occasions in hospitals in Sicily in 1943 he had slapped GIs whom he accused of malingering. General Eisenhower covered it up but it cost Patton, a command on D-Day
538 Eisenhower was ready to order Patton home. But his Chief of Staff, George C. Marshall, cautioned, “Patton is the only available Army commander who has fought Rommel’ Rommel was in charge of the Atlantic Wall.
539 Adolf Hitler’s favorite commando officer, Otto Skorzeny, rescued Benito Mussolini from Italian partisans, and led Germans in GI uniforms , and using captured American jeeps to misdirect units and sow confusion at the Battle of the Bulge.
540 The Allied code names for the beaches along the 50-mile stretch of Normandy coast targeted for landing were Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword.
541 German Me-264 bombers were capable of bombing New York City.
542 The US Army landed in North Africa, with 3 complete Coca Cola bottling plants.
543 The Royal Oak sunk by Prien’s U 47 in Scapa Flow
544 A Dornier DO217 was the First with the Fritz-X radio-guided, free-fall bomb, which led to the sinking of the Italian battleship ‘Roma’.
545Yamato and Musashi. The Yamato and Mushashi never got to fulfill their potential in a big gun engagement., both ships were sunk in different actions by US carrier aircraft with thousands of lives lost
546 ‘The Gneisenau ‘ and Scharnhorst operated together for much of the early years of WW2, including sorties into the Atlantic to raid British merchant shipping.
547 Damaged by a RAF raid 26th 27th Feb 1942 Her guns were removed to reinforce the Atlantic Wall and her refit was cancelled on the orders of Hitler she was sunk as a block ship then scrapped after the War.
548 Three torpedoes were fired at the ‘Bismarck’ and she sank at 10.40. May 27th 1941 Out of her crew of 2,200, there were only 115 survivors. Only 2 were officers.
549 40% of the Bismarck’s displacement was armour or5 20,000 tons
550 Admiral Lancelot Ernest Hollard commanded the British force in the Battle of Denmark Strait. He went down with the Hood
551 Two sailors on the ‘Rodney swear they saw and reported the Bismarck signaling by lamp and flag and reported same to their officers
552 Operation Cerberus. Of the 14 Fairey Swordfish bi-plane torpedo bombers that attacked the German ships, all were shot down.
553 The Type VII C 770 tons on the surface. This U-boat had saddle tanks, four bow tubes and two stern tubes. Her diesel engines gave a top speed of 17 knots on the surface and 7.5 knots underwater. It had a imited range of operation; 6,500 miles at an average speed of 12 knots
554 The collapse of France in the June of ‘40 changed submarine warfare. U-boats now had bases on the Atlantic coast of France. This increased their range and the time they could spend hunting
555 In August 1940, Hitler lifted any restrictions to U-boat activity.
566 766 U boats were sunk in WW2
567 18,800 tons of bombs were dropped on London during the Blitz, countrywide 40,000 people were killed, half of them in London
568 More than half a million who were killed in Allied bombing
569 5 million Germans died in WW2
570 No agreed figure. Many give a figure of about 554 for the air-raid which took place 14-15 November 1940.
571 The raid on St Nazaire was csrried out because the loss of its dry dock the only one big enough to take capital ships would force any large German warship in need of repairs to return to Germany and confront the Royal Navy..572 Modern frigates are related to earlier 18th and 19th century frigates only by name. The term "frigate" was reintroduced during WW2 to describe a new type of antisubmarine vessel that in size fell between a destroyer and a corvette
573 HMS Hood was the last battlecruiser to be built for the Royal Navy commissioned in 1920 and named after Admiral Samuel Hood she was one of four but the only one to be completed
574 The discovery of the wreck of the Hood in 2001 confirmed that the after magazine had exploded after her thin armour had been penetrated by a shell from the Bismarck
575 HM Submarine Thunderbolt was sunk on 14 March 1943 off Sicily by the Italian corvette Cixogna. All hands were lost in 1,350 m of water. Prior to being renamed she was the ‘Thesis’ and had been sunk in
576 The battle took place between August 23, 1942 and February 2, 1943. Just over 5 months
577The Germans hoped to shorten their lines by eliminating the Kursk salient or bulge created in the retreat from Stalingrad.
578 More than 10 times as deep as the Maginot Line, it was the most extensive defensive works ever constructed.
580The Battle of Kursk was the first battle in which a Blitzkrieg offensive was first defeated
581 Battle of the River Plate
582 In the Battle of the River plate the 'Exeter' was severely damaged and forced to retire.
583 The Graf Spee entered the port of Montevideo capital of neutral Uruguay, to effect urgent repairs.
584 He was told that his stay could not be extended beyond 72 hours, he scuttled his damaged ship rather than face the overwhelmingly superior force that the British had led him to believe was awaiting for him to leave harbour[
585 Winston Churchill met the Oxford University physicist F.A. Lindemann at a tennis tournament. He told him how science couldt help protect Britain against aerial bombardment in the event of war. Leading to the invention of Radar.
586 Canadian Robert Boyle working with A.B. Wood working for the British Board of Invention and Research produced a prototype sound detection device for testing in mid 1917. It used quartz piezoelectric crystals to produce the world's first practical underwater active sound detection apparatus.
587 The Fw 190 started flying operationally over France in August 1941, it proved itself to be superior in all but turn radius to the RAF's Spitfire MK5 until the introduction of the vastly improved Spitfire MK XI in July 1942
588 The raid on Coventry November 14, 1940 was the single most concentrated attack on a British city ever Nazi propagandists coined a new word in German - Coventrieren, to raze a city to the ground.
589 Codenamed Moonlight Sonata, the raid lasted for11 hours Almost 500 Luftwaffe bombers were involved,
590 Germany’s main night fighters were the Messerschmitt Bf-110g, Dornier Do-217J the Junkers 88 and the Heinkel He-219A Uhu (Owl)
591 Multiple barrel cannon such as Gatling guns can have rates of fire of several thousand rounds per minute. The fastest is the GSh-6-23 with a rate of fire of over 10,000 rounds per minute.
592 The upward-firing auto cannon mounted on night fighters enabled them , from May 1943, to attack from underneath British bombers. At first the damage to planes, that managed to get home ,was put down to anti aircraft fire.
593 Some actual kills by night fighters’ upward firing guns were thought to be "scarecrow shells" designed, it was thought, to resemble exploding bombers so as to damage morale. It was not for many months that evidence of these deadly attacks was accepted594 The US Navy fielded 36 carriers during WWII, the Royal Navy 24, the Japanese 26 and the French Navy had one.
594 The US Navy fielded 36 carriers during WWII, the Royal Navy 24, the Japanese 26 and the French Navy had one.
595 HMS Royal Oak
596 Douglas Havoc, Boulton Paul Defiant, Bristol Beaufighter, Bristol Blenhelm. De Havilland Mosquito and the Fairey Firefly
597There were two the first Battle of El Alamein. 1-4 July 1942. Near the Egyptian town of El Alamein, 60 mile) west of Alexandria. The Second Battle of El Alamein took place from 23 October – 11 Nov
598 Between August ’41 and May of ’45 There were 78 Arctic Convoys
599 Hitler thought that the invasion would come through Norway; a view encouraged by the Allies
600 The’ Milorg’ , the Norwegian Resistance was almost entirely wiped out except for the famous ‘Shetland Bus’
601 After the invasion of Norway and Denmark the people were informed by the Nazis that they had been invaded tp protect their country’s neutrality against Franco-British aggression
602 On April 9th 1940 Germany invaded Denmark and Norway. 603 Basically there was no need.; by holding Norway, the Danish Straits and most of the Baltic the Nazis virtually encircled Sweden.
605 PQ17
606 153 men and 24 merchant ships were lost due to Admiral Tovey’s misunderstanding that heavy units of the Krieg smarine had put to sea to attack PQ17
607.The plan to invade was in place as early as 1939 Operation Tannenbaum ,entailed the Axis invading Switzerland as many as a half a million Hitler was interested in invading but never gave order..
608 The Shetland Bus was a special operations group of mainly Norwegian fishermen who smuggled people and equipment between Norway and the Shetland Isles from 1941 until the end of the War
609 Leif Larson the leader of the Shetland Bus men was the most highly-decorated Allied naval officer in WW2
610The largest and most vital was the Battle of Britain when the Luftwaffe tried and failed to overcome the RAF before the planned invasion of England.
611 7 tonnes used by the Germans on the Eastern Front
612 Great Gustof) and Dors were two German 80cm heavy railway guns made by Krupp as siege artillery. They weighed 1,350 tonnes firing shells that weighed 7 tonnes
613 They were developed for the explicit purpose of destroying the main forts of the French Maginot Line
614 It fired shells weighing seven tonnes to a range of 47 kilometers (29 mi). T
615 It ‘s the two-inch Swiss MiniGun C1ST a fully functional firearm.
616 A howitzer is a type of artillery piece with a short barrel and the use of a small propellant charges to propel projectiles at a high trajectory
617 Called Foxer it was a ser of metal bars set loosely in a frame so that, dragged along astern of a ship they rattled and attracted acoustic torpedoes
618 Approximately 1 nautical mile or 2000yards
619 When Singapore fell to Japan in 1942 25,000 prisoners were taken
620 The holocaust was already under way but 1942 was when the concentration camp at Auschwitz started the systematic murder of Jews.
621 February 2nd 1943, the last of the German forces outside Stalingrad surrendered, this despite Hitler's declaring that surrender was out of the question.
622 With Mussolini deposed Gen. Pietro Badoglio, the man who had assumed power in Mussolini's stead negotiated with Gen. Eisenhower.Weeks later, they approved a conditional surrender on September 8th 1943 allowing the Allies to land in southern Italy Operation Avalanche, the Allied invasion of Italy, went ahead and the next day Allied troops landed in Salerno.
623 Operation Axis, the occupation of Italy by Germans began on the day that Italy surrendered Sept8th German troops entered Rome, and General Badoglio and the royal family fled to southeastern Italy. There they set up a new antifascist government. Italian troops began surrendering to their former German allies thousands were shot.
624 Submarine detection in WW2 was carried out by sound waves.
625The largest and most vital was the Battle of Britain when the Luftwaffe tried and failed to overcome the RAF before the planned invasion of England.
626 Battle of Leyte Gulf Oct 22 to Oct 25 1944 was the largest naval battle in history. Japan’s attempt to destroy Allied transport ships carrying troops and supplies to the Philippines ended in destruction of the Japanese navy. It involved 38aircraft carrier sand 21 battleships
627 Admiral Andrew Cunningham
628 Battle of Cape Matapan
629 Brazil, the Brazilian Expeditionary Force fought in Italy in WW2. During the War, Brazil lost 948 killed in action
630 In 1944 it was renamed Pegasus Bridge after the shoulder emblem worn by the British airborne forces, that held it, on D Day, against the odds, until relieved
631 180 men of D Company & the 200 men of 7th Parachute Regiment initially took on a guard of 50 who were reinforced by 12,350 men of the 21st Panzer Division with 127 tanks and 40 self propelled guns.
632 The mission was vital to the success of the UK landings. They needed to be captured intact otherwise the Allied armies would have their backs to two rivers. If the Germans kept control it would be used by their armoured divisions to attack the landing beaches .
633 The assault group was made up of six infantry platoons with the addition of one platoon of Royal Engineers. They arrived in six Airspeed Horsa gliders in had been described as the "most outstanding flying achievements of the war"
634 Nearly 15,000 of the25,000 Allied prisoners taken with the fall of Singapore were Australian
635 Belgians. Danish Estonia, France, Greece, Hungary, Poland, Norway, and even a British force (British Free Corps) was created with 27 soldiers including New Zealanders, Canadians, and Australians.
636 An armistice signed on 3 September 1943 between Italy and the Allies in Cassibile in Scily after that Island had been conquered and led to the total capitulation of Italy it was signed by King Victor Emmanuel III
637 The ambition of the Fascist regime, was to restore a "Roman Empire" in the Mediterranean (
638 On 24 July 1943, the dictator Benito Mussolini was defeated by a vote in the Grand Council, the day after he was arrested by order of the King of Italy,
639 On 12 September 1943, Mussolini was rescued from prison by German commandos. In late April 1945 he attempted to escape north, only to be captured and executed at Lake Como His body as taken to Milan there it was hung upside down at a petrol station on butcher’s hooks After ten years when the body was hidden and lost he was finally buried in the cemetery of Predappio.
640 When Mussolini was in power, Ida Dalser his ‘wife’and her son were placed under surveillance by the police, and evidence of their relationship was destroyed by government agents. She still claimed to be the dictator's wife, Eventually, she was forcibly interned in various psychiatric hospitals Her death was recorded as brain hemorrhaging but it is widely believed that she was murdered.
641Australia suffered 27,073 killed and 23,477 wounded.[1
642 The New Zealand Prime Minister at the start of WW2 was Michael Savage
643 The Greco Italian War took place from28 October 1940 to 23 April 1941 and was the first successful counter offensive against the Axis powers. 644The Greek victory over the Italian offensive of October 1940 was the first Allied land victory of WW2 645 India was occupied by Britain and thus India officially declared war on Germany in September 1939.
644The Greek victory over the Italian offensive of October 1940 was the first Allied land victory of WW2
645 India was occupied by Britain and thus India officially declared war on Germany in September 1939
646 India sent over three million volunteers to fight alongside Allied Nations against the Axis Powers
647 Indians fought with distinction through three continents during WW2 Europe, Asia and Africa
648 Who many British served in WW2? http://anthonymolloy.weebly.com/ Home to longest ever WW2 sea epic. Ten action packed thrilling volumes.
649 The Choctaw tribe where the first during WW1 to use an obscure language as a code.
650 99 percent of all eligible N.A.Indians, registered for the draft at the outbreak of WW2. The overwhelming majority of Indians welcomed the opportunity to serve.. By the end of the war, 44,521 had served.
651 Nazi Germany was so worried about a re-occurrence of the Code Talkers of WW1 that during the 30s, theiragents posed as anthropologists to try to subvert some Indian tribes , learn their language or/ and persuade them not to join the draft.
652 Hitlers remains were moved many times after being found in the bombed out garden of the Fuhrerbunker in Berlin. They had been partial burnt initial and so there were intact bones remaining. It would seem that DNA tested bones later claimed to be Hitler’s were actually those of a women (Eva Braun?) The KGB claimed that remaining bones were burnt by the Russians and scattered to the wind in what ,the Russian soldier who carried out the task, claimed was ‘ Hitlers; last flight. ; 653The remains of the Nazis convicted and sentenced to death at the Nuremberg trials (including Goering, who committed suicide before his hanging) were cremated and their ashes scattered so as not to provide a possible shrine for the Nazis.
654 The Nuremberg Trial started on Oct 1st 1946. 24 men stood accused, only 21 were there. Robert Ley had committed suicide. Gustav Krupp was considered too ill to stand trial; and Martin Bormann had not been captured but was tried in his absence
655 Of the 22 defendants, 11 were given the death penalty, 3 were acquitted, 3 were given life imprisonment and four were given imprisonment ranging from 10 to 20 years. Those sentenced to death were hanged at Spandau Prison on October 6, 1946.
656 English ‘Tank Fist’ was an antitank weapon introduced late in 1944. It comprised a disposable, preloaded launch-tube , fitted with a huge explosive warhead. Range 60m it could penetrate 200mm of armour.
657 Simo Hayha a Finnish sniper was the most prolific in History with 550 kills The Russians nicknamed him the White Death.He used a Mosin Nagant sniper rifle
658 More US servicemen died in the Air Corps that the Marine Corps they had a 71% chance of being killed
659 The Messerschmitt ME262 was the world's first operational jet fighter
660 The German night fighter Heinkel HE 219
661 The little know British Pacific Fleet was one of the largest fleets ever assembled by the Royal Navy. By VJ it had four battleships and six fleet aircraft carriers, together with fifteen smaller aircraft carriers, eleven cruisers, and numerous smaller warships, submarines, and support vessels.
662 Admiral E King USN C in C US Fleet and Chief of Naval Operations, was alleged to be an Anglophobe after being bullied while a liaison officer with the Royal Navy in WW1 This resulted in him being reluctant to introduce any of the Royal Navy’s hard earned ideas. This resulted in the Second Battle of the Atlantic when more ships were lost on the east coast of the US in six months than in the whole of the previous two years of the Battle of the Atlantic . This combined with his reluctance to release VLR Liberators to cover convoys and similar transcendence in the Pacific Theater concerning the British Pacific Fleet resulted in thousands of deaths amongst Allied seamen.
663 The Azores , part of Neutral Portugal were used as an Allied Base from October 1943 under a treaty of 1373. Salazar the Portugese dictator was afraid Hitler would react against the breaking of Portugal’s neutrality so us planes and ships had to fly UK colours instead of heir own
664 1943
665 With the sinking of the sinking of the ‘Graf Spee’ in ’39 and the ‘Blucher’ in the following year and of course the ‘Bismarck’, the superstition grew that any warship, with an admiral aboard, was bound to have bad luck
666 On November 12th; 1940 Hitler, issued Fuhrer Directive 18 ordering his planning staff to look into the possibility of an invasion of the Madeira and the Azores. The Germans had previously been using it as a base, from which, to attack the British shipping
667 The Graf Zeppelin, the only German aircraft carrier, was never operational, due to construction priorities necessitated by the war. She remained in the Baltic for the duration of the war.She was scuttled outside of Stettin in March 1945 The Soviet Union raised the ship in March 1946, and she was ultimately sunk in weapons tests north of Poland. The wreck was discovered by a Polish survey ship in July 2006.668The Screaming Eagles was the nickname of the 101st US Airborne force parachuted into Normandy the night before the ground invasion began.
669 During August 1943 the British, evoking an ancient fourteenth century treaty between them and neutral Portugal, gained basing rights for their planes and warships and the Luso-British Agreement was signed. This coupled with the use of Very Long Range Aircraft 9VLRs) closed the gap in air cover that existed in mid-Atlantic, that the German U Boats had been exploiting since the start of the War.
670 When Patton was addressing a ladies' group his bull mastiff dog William (the Conqueror) was cowed by a yapping small dog consequently he changes its name tp 'Willie'
671 "Moonshine" could.receive a radar signal and return them greatly magnified, which gave the impression of a much larger object than actually existed. It was used on D Day to fool the Nazis
672 Lancaster bombers dropped chaff at regular intervals to simulate a large fleet. The planes would maneuver so their periodic chaff drops would approximately match the speed of a surface fleet of ships to mislead German radar operators).
673The Allies rigged the Swedish stock market to go up in anticipation of Norway being free. Hitler kept several hundred thousand German soldiers stationed in Norway, forces that could have done major damage if they had been moved to Normandy.
674The British gave Garbo, real name Garcia the Order of the British Empire in 1944. He is the only person to be awarded decorations by both sides in WW2. Immediately following D-Day he reported that Normandy was just a diversion and that the main invasion would come elsewhere and the Germans swallowed this story completely
675 9th and 10th SS Panzerdivision fought at the battle of Arnham.
676On April 21, 1940, a German bomber attacking Dombas, Norway, killed the US Military Attaché to Scandinavia Capt. Robert Losey.
677 Germany’s invasion of Poland triggered a declaration of war, because of a pre-existing Anglo-Polish military alliance.
678 K Rations were thought up by a Dr. Ancel Keys and produced by the Cracker Jack Company, it provided three meals a day (and cigarettes) for U.S. Army troops
679 The British inventor, Sir Barnes Wallis, developer of the bouncing bomb devised the ‘Tallboy’,a 12,030 pound weapon capable of piercing the Tirpitz's armour plating and the battleship was eventually sunk on November 12th, 1944 On that day she was attacked by 29 Lancaster Her magazines exploded and the Tirpitz rolled over trapping over 1000 men Eighty men managed to get to the bottom of the hull where a hole was cut through allowing them to escape.
ANSWERS CONTINUED AT BLOG AT THE TOP OF THE PAGE
508 Of the 1325 men aboard the Hood 3 survived509 Swordfish flew from merchant aircraft carriers ("MAC ships"), 20 civilian cargo or tanker ships modified to carry three or four aircraft each, on anti-submarine duties with convoys.
509 Swordfish flew from merchant aircraft carriers ("MAC ships"), 20 civilian cargo or tanker ships modified to carry three or four aircraft each, on anti-submarine duties with convoys.
510 In overall command of ground forces on DDay was General Bernard Montgomery
511 They were all Allied naval deceptions carried out in support of D Day Day
512The first self-powered machine gun was invented in 1885 by Sir Hiram Maxim. The "Maxim gun" used the recoil power of the previously fired bullet to reload the next
513 The first true revolver was a flintlock made by Elisha Collier in 1814. The percussion cap revolver was invented by Samuel Colt in 1836. 514 The armoured car was invented by RP Davidson of the Northwestern Military Academy in America in 1898
514 The armoured car was invented by RP Davidson of the Northwestern Military Academy in America in 1898
515 Cornelis Jacobszoon Drebbel was the Dutch builder of the first navigable submarine in 1620
516 . It was the Nazi intention to solve the Jewish question by transferring all the Jews to Madagascar but the plan was never implemented because of the British invasion of that island
517 They were fearful that it would be used as a base from which the Nazis would cut the Allied supply line to India round the Cape of Good Hope
518 British and two East African brigades invaded the island on May 5, 1941, Operation Ironclad. The first action against French troops in WW2. British casualties 109 killed, 284 wounded. French casualties 200 killed 500 wounded.
519 The total number of deaths from malaria is not known but is thought to be higher than those who died from fighting.
in a WW2 action packed sea saga
522 Zonderwater Camp in the Transvaal, twenty-three miles from Pretoria. Housed 63,000 POW captured during the Somaliland and Ethiopian campaigns. The efforts of their guards were recognized by the post-war Italian Government when the Camp Commandant, Colonel Hendrik Prinsloo and three of his officers were invested with the 'Order of the Star of Italy'.
523 On August 14, 1941. The German spy, Josef Jakobs, was executed , tied to a chair, by an eight man firing squad from the Scots Guards. 524On their way to attack Liverpool, four German bombers got lost and by mistake bombed Dublin in neutral Ireland.40 were killed nearly 2,000 were made homeless
524On their way to attack Liverpool, four German bombers got lost by mistake bombed Dublin in neutral Ireland.40 killed 2,000 made homeless
525 On November 5th 1940 HMS Jervis Bay, a British passenger liner converted into an armed merchant cruiser, was sunk by the pocket battleship Admiral Scheer. It took 24 minutes to sink her and the delay enabled most of the convoy of 37 to escape under cover of darkness. 65 of the Jervis Bay’s crew out of 255 survived the one sided battle. 5 of the convoy were sunk before nightfall Captain Fegen was awarded a posthumous VC.
526 HMS Belfast moored in London took part in Operation Overlord supporting the Normandy landings and helped sink the Scharnhorst as the Battle of North Cape
527 The term was first used by the Spanish to describe their camps set up by the military in Cuba during the Spanish-American War of 1895-1898.
528 One of the most infamous plans of the Nazis General Plan Ost (East) was to involve the relocation of around eighty million people, mainly from Eastern Europe to areas in western Siberia. The plan was to be implemented after the defeat of the Red Army and Communism. They were to be replaced with German settlers to create a racially pure Nazi Utopia.
529 They were the nerve center of British planning in WW2 Situated at Storey's Gate in London, close to the houses of Parliament. Its location was one of the best kept secrets of the war. They were once the cellars of the Board of Education building and covered an area of six acres with around 150 rooms
530 Seven American volunteer pilots fought alongside the RAF pilots during the Battle of Britain Only one, Pilot Officer Havilland, survived the war
531The Hurricane, not the Spitfire saved Britain during the Battle of Britain. The turn-around time for the Spitfire was 26 minutes. The Hurricane, only 9 minutes. The Spitfire was an all metal fighter but the Hurricane had a fabric covered fuselage, so was quicker to repair and could withstand more punishment. The majority of German planes shot down during that four months were down to Hurricanes
532 The Cromwell tank first saw action in the Battle of Normandy in June 1944.
533 The Battle of Cape Matapan was fought off Cape Matapan in the Mediterranean 27–29 March 1941.
534 Admiral Cunningham
535 The Battle of the Bulge was a major surprise German offensive launched through the densely forested Ardennes mountain of Belgium, Luxembourg, and Germany
536 General Patton commanded the US forces using what the Germans admitted was ‘his extraordinary skill in armoured warfare’ albeit adding ‘in a fundamental German conception’
537 On two occasions in hospitals in Sicily in 1943 he had slapped GIs whom he accused of malingering. General Eisenhower covered it up but it cost Patton, a command on D-Day
538 Eisenhower was ready to order Patton home. But his Chief of Staff, George C. Marshall, cautioned, “Patton is the only available Army commander who has fought Rommel’ Rommel was in charge of the Atlantic Wall.
539 Adolf Hitler’s favorite commando officer, Otto Skorzeny, rescued Benito Mussolini from Italian partisans, and led Germans in GI uniforms , and using captured American jeeps to misdirect units and sow confusion at the Battle of the Bulge.
540 The Allied code names for the beaches along the 50-mile stretch of Normandy coast targeted for landing were Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword.
541 German Me-264 bombers were capable of bombing New York City.
542 The US Army landed in North Africa, with 3 complete Coca Cola bottling plants.
543 The Royal Oak sunk by Prien’s U 47 in Scapa Flow
544 A Dornier DO217 was the First with the Fritz-X radio-guided, free-fall bomb, which led to the sinking of the Italian battleship ‘Roma’.
545Yamato and Musashi. The Yamato and Mushashi never got to fulfill their potential in a big gun engagement., both ships were sunk in different actions by US carrier aircraft with thousands of lives lost
546 ‘The Gneisenau ‘ and Scharnhorst operated together for much of the early years of WW2, including sorties into the Atlantic to raid British merchant shipping.
547 Damaged by a RAF raid 26th 27th Feb 1942 Her guns were removed to reinforce the Atlantic Wall and her refit was cancelled on the orders of Hitler she was sunk as a block ship then scrapped after the War.
548 Three torpedoes were fired at the ‘Bismarck’ and she sank at 10.40. May 27th 1941 Out of her crew of 2,200, there were only 115 survivors. Only 2 were officers.
549 40% of the Bismarck’s displacement was armour or5 20,000 tons
550 Admiral Lancelot Ernest Hollard commanded the British force in the Battle of Denmark Strait. He went down with the Hood
551 Two sailors on the ‘Rodney swear they saw and reported the Bismarck signaling by lamp and flag and reported same to their officers
552 Operation Cerberus. Of the 14 Fairey Swordfish bi-plane torpedo bombers that attacked the German ships, all were shot down.
553 The Type VII C 770 tons on the surface. This U-boat had saddle tanks, four bow tubes and two stern tubes. Her diesel engines gave a top speed of 17 knots on the surface and 7.5 knots underwater. It had a imited range of operation; 6,500 miles at an average speed of 12 knots
554 The collapse of France in the June of ‘40 changed submarine warfare. U-boats now had bases on the Atlantic coast of France. This increased their range and the time they could spend hunting
555 In August 1940, Hitler lifted any restrictions to U-boat activity.
566 766 U boats were sunk in WW2
567 18,800 tons of bombs were dropped on London during the Blitz, countrywide 40,000 people were killed, half of them in London
568 More than half a million who were killed in Allied bombing
569 5 million Germans died in WW2
570 No agreed figure. Many give a figure of about 554 for the air-raid which took place 14-15 November 1940.
571 The raid on St Nazaire was csrried out because the loss of its dry dock the only one big enough to take capital ships would force any large German warship in need of repairs to return to Germany and confront the Royal Navy..572 Modern frigates are related to earlier 18th and 19th century frigates only by name. The term "frigate" was reintroduced during WW2 to describe a new type of antisubmarine vessel that in size fell between a destroyer and a corvette
573 HMS Hood was the last battlecruiser to be built for the Royal Navy commissioned in 1920 and named after Admiral Samuel Hood she was one of four but the only one to be completed
574 The discovery of the wreck of the Hood in 2001 confirmed that the after magazine had exploded after her thin armour had been penetrated by a shell from the Bismarck
575 HM Submarine Thunderbolt was sunk on 14 March 1943 off Sicily by the Italian corvette Cixogna. All hands were lost in 1,350 m of water. Prior to being renamed she was the ‘Thesis’ and had been sunk in
576 The battle took place between August 23, 1942 and February 2, 1943. Just over 5 months
577The Germans hoped to shorten their lines by eliminating the Kursk salient or bulge created in the retreat from Stalingrad.
578 More than 10 times as deep as the Maginot Line, it was the most extensive defensive works ever constructed.
580The Battle of Kursk was the first battle in which a Blitzkrieg offensive was first defeated
581 Battle of the River Plate
582 In the Battle of the River plate the 'Exeter' was severely damaged and forced to retire.
583 The Graf Spee entered the port of Montevideo capital of neutral Uruguay, to effect urgent repairs.
584 He was told that his stay could not be extended beyond 72 hours, he scuttled his damaged ship rather than face the overwhelmingly superior force that the British had led him to believe was awaiting for him to leave harbour[
585 Winston Churchill met the Oxford University physicist F.A. Lindemann at a tennis tournament. He told him how science couldt help protect Britain against aerial bombardment in the event of war. Leading to the invention of Radar.
586 Canadian Robert Boyle working with A.B. Wood working for the British Board of Invention and Research produced a prototype sound detection device for testing in mid 1917. It used quartz piezoelectric crystals to produce the world's first practical underwater active sound detection apparatus.
587 The Fw 190 started flying operationally over France in August 1941, it proved itself to be superior in all but turn radius to the RAF's Spitfire MK5 until the introduction of the vastly improved Spitfire MK XI in July 1942
588 The raid on Coventry November 14, 1940 was the single most concentrated attack on a British city ever Nazi propagandists coined a new word in German - Coventrieren, to raze a city to the ground.
589 Codenamed Moonlight Sonata, the raid lasted for11 hours Almost 500 Luftwaffe bombers were involved,
590 Germany’s main night fighters were the Messerschmitt Bf-110g, Dornier Do-217J the Junkers 88 and the Heinkel He-219A Uhu (Owl)
591 Multiple barrel cannon such as Gatling guns can have rates of fire of several thousand rounds per minute. The fastest is the GSh-6-23 with a rate of fire of over 10,000 rounds per minute.
592 The upward-firing auto cannon mounted on night fighters enabled them , from May 1943, to attack from underneath British bombers. At first the damage to planes, that managed to get home ,was put down to anti aircraft fire.
593 Some actual kills by night fighters’ upward firing guns were thought to be "scarecrow shells" designed, it was thought, to resemble exploding bombers so as to damage morale. It was not for many months that evidence of these deadly attacks was accepted594 The US Navy fielded 36 carriers during WWII, the Royal Navy 24, the Japanese 26 and the French Navy had one.
594 The US Navy fielded 36 carriers during WWII, the Royal Navy 24, the Japanese 26 and the French Navy had one.
595 HMS Royal Oak
596 Douglas Havoc, Boulton Paul Defiant, Bristol Beaufighter, Bristol Blenhelm. De Havilland Mosquito and the Fairey Firefly
597There were two the first Battle of El Alamein. 1-4 July 1942. Near the Egyptian town of El Alamein, 60 mile) west of Alexandria. The Second Battle of El Alamein took place from 23 October – 11 Nov
598 Between August ’41 and May of ’45 There were 78 Arctic Convoys
599 Hitler thought that the invasion would come through Norway; a view encouraged by the Allies
600 The’ Milorg’ , the Norwegian Resistance was almost entirely wiped out except for the famous ‘Shetland Bus’
601 After the invasion of Norway and Denmark the people were informed by the Nazis that they had been invaded tp protect their country’s neutrality against Franco-British aggression
602 On April 9th 1940 Germany invaded Denmark and Norway. 603 Basically there was no need.; by holding Norway, the Danish Straits and most of the Baltic the Nazis virtually encircled Sweden.
605 PQ17
606 153 men and 24 merchant ships were lost due to Admiral Tovey’s misunderstanding that heavy units of the Krieg smarine had put to sea to attack PQ17
607.The plan to invade was in place as early as 1939 Operation Tannenbaum ,entailed the Axis invading Switzerland as many as a half a million Hitler was interested in invading but never gave order..
608 The Shetland Bus was a special operations group of mainly Norwegian fishermen who smuggled people and equipment between Norway and the Shetland Isles from 1941 until the end of the War
609 Leif Larson the leader of the Shetland Bus men was the most highly-decorated Allied naval officer in WW2
610The largest and most vital was the Battle of Britain when the Luftwaffe tried and failed to overcome the RAF before the planned invasion of England.
611 7 tonnes used by the Germans on the Eastern Front
612 Great Gustof) and Dors were two German 80cm heavy railway guns made by Krupp as siege artillery. They weighed 1,350 tonnes firing shells that weighed 7 tonnes
613 They were developed for the explicit purpose of destroying the main forts of the French Maginot Line
614 It fired shells weighing seven tonnes to a range of 47 kilometers (29 mi). T
615 It ‘s the two-inch Swiss MiniGun C1ST a fully functional firearm.
616 A howitzer is a type of artillery piece with a short barrel and the use of a small propellant charges to propel projectiles at a high trajectory
617 Called Foxer it was a ser of metal bars set loosely in a frame so that, dragged along astern of a ship they rattled and attracted acoustic torpedoes
618 Approximately 1 nautical mile or 2000yards
619 When Singapore fell to Japan in 1942 25,000 prisoners were taken
620 The holocaust was already under way but 1942 was when the concentration camp at Auschwitz started the systematic murder of Jews.
621 February 2nd 1943, the last of the German forces outside Stalingrad surrendered, this despite Hitler's declaring that surrender was out of the question.
622 With Mussolini deposed Gen. Pietro Badoglio, the man who had assumed power in Mussolini's stead negotiated with Gen. Eisenhower.Weeks later, they approved a conditional surrender on September 8th 1943 allowing the Allies to land in southern Italy Operation Avalanche, the Allied invasion of Italy, went ahead and the next day Allied troops landed in Salerno.
623 Operation Axis, the occupation of Italy by Germans began on the day that Italy surrendered Sept8th German troops entered Rome, and General Badoglio and the royal family fled to southeastern Italy. There they set up a new antifascist government. Italian troops began surrendering to their former German allies thousands were shot.
624 Submarine detection in WW2 was carried out by sound waves.
625The largest and most vital was the Battle of Britain when the Luftwaffe tried and failed to overcome the RAF before the planned invasion of England.
626 Battle of Leyte Gulf Oct 22 to Oct 25 1944 was the largest naval battle in history. Japan’s attempt to destroy Allied transport ships carrying troops and supplies to the Philippines ended in destruction of the Japanese navy. It involved 38aircraft carrier sand 21 battleships
627 Admiral Andrew Cunningham
628 Battle of Cape Matapan
629 Brazil, the Brazilian Expeditionary Force fought in Italy in WW2. During the War, Brazil lost 948 killed in action
630 In 1944 it was renamed Pegasus Bridge after the shoulder emblem worn by the British airborne forces, that held it, on D Day, against the odds, until relieved
631 180 men of D Company & the 200 men of 7th Parachute Regiment initially took on a guard of 50 who were reinforced by 12,350 men of the 21st Panzer Division with 127 tanks and 40 self propelled guns.
632 The mission was vital to the success of the UK landings. They needed to be captured intact otherwise the Allied armies would have their backs to two rivers. If the Germans kept control it would be used by their armoured divisions to attack the landing beaches .
633 The assault group was made up of six infantry platoons with the addition of one platoon of Royal Engineers. They arrived in six Airspeed Horsa gliders in had been described as the "most outstanding flying achievements of the war"
634 Nearly 15,000 of the25,000 Allied prisoners taken with the fall of Singapore were Australian
635 Belgians. Danish Estonia, France, Greece, Hungary, Poland, Norway, and even a British force (British Free Corps) was created with 27 soldiers including New Zealanders, Canadians, and Australians.
636 An armistice signed on 3 September 1943 between Italy and the Allies in Cassibile in Scily after that Island had been conquered and led to the total capitulation of Italy it was signed by King Victor Emmanuel III
637 The ambition of the Fascist regime, was to restore a "Roman Empire" in the Mediterranean (
638 On 24 July 1943, the dictator Benito Mussolini was defeated by a vote in the Grand Council, the day after he was arrested by order of the King of Italy,
639 On 12 September 1943, Mussolini was rescued from prison by German commandos. In late April 1945 he attempted to escape north, only to be captured and executed at Lake Como His body as taken to Milan there it was hung upside down at a petrol station on butcher’s hooks After ten years when the body was hidden and lost he was finally buried in the cemetery of Predappio.
640 When Mussolini was in power, Ida Dalser his ‘wife’and her son were placed under surveillance by the police, and evidence of their relationship was destroyed by government agents. She still claimed to be the dictator's wife, Eventually, she was forcibly interned in various psychiatric hospitals Her death was recorded as brain hemorrhaging but it is widely believed that she was murdered.
641Australia suffered 27,073 killed and 23,477 wounded.[1
642 The New Zealand Prime Minister at the start of WW2 was Michael Savage
643 The Greco Italian War took place from28 October 1940 to 23 April 1941 and was the first successful counter offensive against the Axis powers. 644The Greek victory over the Italian offensive of October 1940 was the first Allied land victory of WW2 645 India was occupied by Britain and thus India officially declared war on Germany in September 1939.
644The Greek victory over the Italian offensive of October 1940 was the first Allied land victory of WW2
645 India was occupied by Britain and thus India officially declared war on Germany in September 1939
646 India sent over three million volunteers to fight alongside Allied Nations against the Axis Powers
647 Indians fought with distinction through three continents during WW2 Europe, Asia and Africa
648 Who many British served in WW2? http://anthonymolloy.weebly.com/ Home to longest ever WW2 sea epic. Ten action packed thrilling volumes.
649 The Choctaw tribe where the first during WW1 to use an obscure language as a code.
650 99 percent of all eligible N.A.Indians, registered for the draft at the outbreak of WW2. The overwhelming majority of Indians welcomed the opportunity to serve.. By the end of the war, 44,521 had served.
651 Nazi Germany was so worried about a re-occurrence of the Code Talkers of WW1 that during the 30s, theiragents posed as anthropologists to try to subvert some Indian tribes , learn their language or/ and persuade them not to join the draft.
652 Hitlers remains were moved many times after being found in the bombed out garden of the Fuhrerbunker in Berlin. They had been partial burnt initial and so there were intact bones remaining. It would seem that DNA tested bones later claimed to be Hitler’s were actually those of a women (Eva Braun?) The KGB claimed that remaining bones were burnt by the Russians and scattered to the wind in what ,the Russian soldier who carried out the task, claimed was ‘ Hitlers; last flight. ; 653The remains of the Nazis convicted and sentenced to death at the Nuremberg trials (including Goering, who committed suicide before his hanging) were cremated and their ashes scattered so as not to provide a possible shrine for the Nazis.
654 The Nuremberg Trial started on Oct 1st 1946. 24 men stood accused, only 21 were there. Robert Ley had committed suicide. Gustav Krupp was considered too ill to stand trial; and Martin Bormann had not been captured but was tried in his absence
655 Of the 22 defendants, 11 were given the death penalty, 3 were acquitted, 3 were given life imprisonment and four were given imprisonment ranging from 10 to 20 years. Those sentenced to death were hanged at Spandau Prison on October 6, 1946.
656 English ‘Tank Fist’ was an antitank weapon introduced late in 1944. It comprised a disposable, preloaded launch-tube , fitted with a huge explosive warhead. Range 60m it could penetrate 200mm of armour.
657 Simo Hayha a Finnish sniper was the most prolific in History with 550 kills The Russians nicknamed him the White Death.He used a Mosin Nagant sniper rifle
658 More US servicemen died in the Air Corps that the Marine Corps they had a 71% chance of being killed
659 The Messerschmitt ME262 was the world's first operational jet fighter
660 The German night fighter Heinkel HE 219
661 The little know British Pacific Fleet was one of the largest fleets ever assembled by the Royal Navy. By VJ it had four battleships and six fleet aircraft carriers, together with fifteen smaller aircraft carriers, eleven cruisers, and numerous smaller warships, submarines, and support vessels.
662 Admiral E King USN C in C US Fleet and Chief of Naval Operations, was alleged to be an Anglophobe after being bullied while a liaison officer with the Royal Navy in WW1 This resulted in him being reluctant to introduce any of the Royal Navy’s hard earned ideas. This resulted in the Second Battle of the Atlantic when more ships were lost on the east coast of the US in six months than in the whole of the previous two years of the Battle of the Atlantic . This combined with his reluctance to release VLR Liberators to cover convoys and similar transcendence in the Pacific Theater concerning the British Pacific Fleet resulted in thousands of deaths amongst Allied seamen.
663 The Azores , part of Neutral Portugal were used as an Allied Base from October 1943 under a treaty of 1373. Salazar the Portugese dictator was afraid Hitler would react against the breaking of Portugal’s neutrality so us planes and ships had to fly UK colours instead of heir own
664 1943
665 With the sinking of the sinking of the ‘Graf Spee’ in ’39 and the ‘Blucher’ in the following year and of course the ‘Bismarck’, the superstition grew that any warship, with an admiral aboard, was bound to have bad luck
666 On November 12th; 1940 Hitler, issued Fuhrer Directive 18 ordering his planning staff to look into the possibility of an invasion of the Madeira and the Azores. The Germans had previously been using it as a base, from which, to attack the British shipping
667 The Graf Zeppelin, the only German aircraft carrier, was never operational, due to construction priorities necessitated by the war. She remained in the Baltic for the duration of the war.She was scuttled outside of Stettin in March 1945 The Soviet Union raised the ship in March 1946, and she was ultimately sunk in weapons tests north of Poland. The wreck was discovered by a Polish survey ship in July 2006.668The Screaming Eagles was the nickname of the 101st US Airborne force parachuted into Normandy the night before the ground invasion began.
669 During August 1943 the British, evoking an ancient fourteenth century treaty between them and neutral Portugal, gained basing rights for their planes and warships and the Luso-British Agreement was signed. This coupled with the use of Very Long Range Aircraft 9VLRs) closed the gap in air cover that existed in mid-Atlantic, that the German U Boats had been exploiting since the start of the War.
670 When Patton was addressing a ladies' group his bull mastiff dog William (the Conqueror) was cowed by a yapping small dog consequently he changes its name tp 'Willie'
671 "Moonshine" could.receive a radar signal and return them greatly magnified, which gave the impression of a much larger object than actually existed. It was used on D Day to fool the Nazis
672 Lancaster bombers dropped chaff at regular intervals to simulate a large fleet. The planes would maneuver so their periodic chaff drops would approximately match the speed of a surface fleet of ships to mislead German radar operators).
673The Allies rigged the Swedish stock market to go up in anticipation of Norway being free. Hitler kept several hundred thousand German soldiers stationed in Norway, forces that could have done major damage if they had been moved to Normandy.
674The British gave Garbo, real name Garcia the Order of the British Empire in 1944. He is the only person to be awarded decorations by both sides in WW2. Immediately following D-Day he reported that Normandy was just a diversion and that the main invasion would come elsewhere and the Germans swallowed this story completely
675 9th and 10th SS Panzerdivision fought at the battle of Arnham.
676On April 21, 1940, a German bomber attacking Dombas, Norway, killed the US Military Attaché to Scandinavia Capt. Robert Losey.
677 Germany’s invasion of Poland triggered a declaration of war, because of a pre-existing Anglo-Polish military alliance.
678 K Rations were thought up by a Dr. Ancel Keys and produced by the Cracker Jack Company, it provided three meals a day (and cigarettes) for U.S. Army troops
679 The British inventor, Sir Barnes Wallis, developer of the bouncing bomb devised the ‘Tallboy’,a 12,030 pound weapon capable of piercing the Tirpitz's armour plating and the battleship was eventually sunk on November 12th, 1944 On that day she was attacked by 29 Lancaster Her magazines exploded and the Tirpitz rolled over trapping over 1000 men Eighty men managed to get to the bottom of the hull where a hole was cut through allowing them to escape.
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