Questions tagged [world-war-two]
Questions related to aspects of World War II (1939-1945 AD). An international conflict whose major participants were the fascist countries of Germany, Italy, and Japan engaged against the allied nations of the UK, France, China, the USSR, and the USA. The conflict began with the German invasion of Poland and formally ended with the American victory over Japan.
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How has the slogan "Bis in den Tod, Rot-Weiss-Rot" been used before and after the Anschluss, and in modern times?
I am curious about Austrian slogan "Bis in den Tod! Rot-Weiss-Rot! Österreich!", usually rendered in English as "Red-White-Red until we are dead!", where "Red-White-Red" ...
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Does anyone know the history on this artillery shell I found in my grandfather’s shed?
The shell is 57 mm in diameter and 170mm long. There is a hole in the bottom of the shell 13 mm in diameter. Any information on this shell would be greatly appreciated. I would like to keep it in my ...
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Given the concern about Soviet oil in World War II, why is so little mention made of captured Soviet coal reserves?
Fall Blau, and a lot of the eastern campaign was centred around capturing Soviet oil reserves, particularly around Maikop, Grozny, and Baku in the Caucasus. But the Germans captured the majority of ...
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Is Bulgaria the only country in modern history to have gained territory after being on the losing side of a war?
According to the sources I could find, Bulgaria was given a piece of land called 'Southern Dobruja' at the end of WW2 even though they officially were part of the Axis powers from 1941 up until 1944, ...
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Did allied soldiers in the WWII Pacific Theater use the term 'flak' for anti-aircraft guns?
I just stumbled upon a clip from the movie 'Unbroken', where the crew of a bomber stationed in the Pacific refer to anti-aircraft fire as 'flak'. Flak, of course, is short for 'Flugabwehrkanone', the ...
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What is the source of this quote about hope and POWs?
I seem to recall someone who was a POW, possibly held by Japanese, saying something like that the people that survived were the ones that gave up hope of getting out and the people that died were the ...
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Why was the US so pro-China and so anti-Japan before WW2?
There is little doubt that the US embargoes on Japan pushed an already aggressive Japan towards Pearl Harbor. Japanese Navy doctrine had already been contemplating a conflict with the US and this ...
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Was it viable to continue the battle of France in the French colonies in 1940?
Was continuing the battle of France in the French colonies a viable option in 1940?
This option was advocated by de Gaulle, Churchill, and many leading political figures in France at the time. De ...
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Why didn't the Allies use a naval invasion to retake Norway?
Norway was captured by Germany during WWII, and been liberated from Germany after Karl Dönitz signed the surrender treaty with the Allies. But there were some chances for Allies to create an assistant ...
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How were German soldiers chosen to be flown out of Stalingrad?
During the siege of Stalingrad, something like 300,000 Axis soldiers were killed, wounded and captured. There was an airlift to bring ammunition and other supplies to the trapped forces. According to ...
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Is there a breakdown for transported goods on different routes in the Persian corridor in WWII?
In August 1941, the Soviet Union and the United Kingdom together occupied Iran. One motivation for that invasion was the establishment of a supply line to the Soviet Union through Iran, the so-called ...
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Did the Soviets lack ball bearings in WWII?
There is a good discussion on this site of the German situation during World War II concerning ball bearings. Does anyone know what the Soviet situation was? I have heard as a result of Barbarossa ...
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Did Hitler have any plans in regards to the troops he had stationed in Norway throughout the war?
Throughout WW2 Germany had 400,000 troops stationed in Norway essentially doing occupation duty and fighting of partisans after Norway's surrender.
Now as the war started to turn against the Germans ...
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How did Nazi Germany justify the attempted invasion of Britain?
Virtually all modern nations offer a justifying reason why they're engaging in any war, if only to convince their own people that they're fighting on the side of right and justice.
What justification ...
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In WW2 USN ships, what was the weight of a typical boiler?
I've been searching for this for days, but cannot find it. What is the weight of a typical boiler on a WW2 US Navy ship?
Example: Fletcher Class DD had a total weight (displacement) 2100 to 2500 tons ...
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How well did American bombers fight enemy fighters in World War II?
Normally, fighters shoot down bombers. but sometimes bombers "turn the tables" and destroy enemy fighters. My understanding is that American bombers did this from time to time against weaker ...
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How did East Indies oil lose its "top billing" in the Pacific War as the war went on?
The road to Pearl Harbor appeared to begin with the American embargo of oil (and other items) in July 1941. The Japanese decided that they had to 1) cripple the American Pacific fleet and 2) obtain ...
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How did Charles de Gaulle become the leading figure of French liberation movement?
How did Charles de Gaulle become the leading figure of French liberation movement? While acknowledging his talents and the personality, I find it hard to believe that he was the only or the most ...
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How were Japanese elite divisions defeated? [closed]
During the early months of the involvement of Japan in World War 2, Japanese land armies performed well against British, American and other Allied (Filipino, Dutch) troops. From my research, on books ...
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Did the Germans fuel the general's purge?
In the book A Man Called Intrepid the author claims that the Germans contributed greatly to Stalin's purge of the generals.
I know this is a poor source yet I have found nothing to confirm nor deny. I'...
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What does this acronym and the symbol in the middle represent?
One of my Polish friends just bought a ruined old brick house in a village in Poland, which was supposedly reigned by Germany during the second world war (I didn't ask the name nor the location of the ...
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What was the timetable for the arrival of the 100,000 man Japanese garrison at Rabaul?
Early in 1942, the Japanese seized the natural port of Rabaul on New Britain Island. This was to protect its existing base at Truk, in the Carolines, and also to provide a forward base for operations ...
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How many of the Frenchmen who volunteered for service in the Wehrmacht were former POWs?
During World War II, a number of Frenchmen volunteered for service in the Wehrmacht. For the purposes of this question, these men came from two sources: 1) genuine volunteers (freiwillige or "...
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Why did Nazis flee to South America?
The wikipedia article on Josef Mengele states:
After the war, Mengele fled to South America. He sailed to Argentina
in July 1949, assisted by a network of former SS members. He initially
lived in and ...
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After World War II, what happened to the Soviet industrial facilities that had been evacuated?
In late 1941, some 1500 Soviet factories were relocated to the Urals, or other areas east of European Russia to keep them safe from German bombing, or worse, occupation. (My understanding is that ...
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Which arresting wire did Japanese carrier pilots aim for?
I'm reading an alternate-WWII story where one of the characters, an elite Japanese Navy fighter pilot, is routinely described as catching the first wire when landing his plane on a carrier. American ...
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Was game theory used during World War II?
The mathematical theory of game theory is about finding optimal srategies for games such as rock-paper-scissors.
I have heard it claimed several times that game theory was used during World War II by ...
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What was the price of a theatre ticket in London during WW2?
I would like to know the price of a theatre ticket in the city of London during the second world war.
I can't find this information anywhere.
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Were any Japanese defendants at the far east war criminal trials after WW2 IQ tested by the allies?
Since the Americans tested the IQ of the defendants of the Nuremberg trials I was wondering if there was an analogous deed done to the Japanese war criminals after the WW2.
I can't find anything ...
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Could the Japanese garrison at Rabaul have fed itself if it had been spread out over New Britain Island instead of being concentrated at Rabaul?
Early in 1942, Japan seized the fine port at Rabaul on New Britain Island. They later concentrated around 100,000 men at Rabaul, many of whom starved after the Allies encircled and blockaded the base ...
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What percentage of troops in the Wehrmacht were front-line combat troops?
As with every army, a given percentage of the troops are dedicated to the logistics and transport of supplies to support that army’s campaigns. The Wehrmacht of World War Two required a great deal of ...
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(Why) are there two different versions of the photograph of inmates at the Buchenwald concentration camp?
It is alleged that the picture on the 42nd page of the May 6th, 1945 issue of the New York Times Magazine, depicting inmates at the Buchenwald concentration camp, and taken five days after liberation, ...
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How much did "Rhino" tanks improve the American advance in Normandy?
After leaving the beaches during the Battle of Normandy, the Americans confronted the Germans on the so-called "bocage", or pastoral land. This included large "hedgerows," that ...
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When did fluorescent lights become common in Europe?
In the OSS Simple Sabotage Field Manual, one suggestion for interfering with radio transmissions in occupied Europe is:
Damaging insulation on any electrical equipment tends to create radio ...
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Did Jagdgeschwader 7 operate any Bf-109s?
I know the photo of "white 44" is JG 301, and that the photo of "yellow 20" is a training squadron. However, Revell of Germany came out with a kit that had II/JG 7 Bf-109G-10 "...
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Did Kampfgeschwader 6 operate Me-262s and Bf-109s from the same airfield? If so, which one?
I know that Kampfgeschwader 6 operated both Me-262 and Bf-109s, because they were retraining the extra bomber crew for fighter rolls, and that this was done from several airfields in Czechoslovakia: ...
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Were there German bomb disposal units in WW2?
There is lots of information about British bomb disposal units in Britain during WW2. Britain dropped a lot of bombs in Germany. Many of them didn't explode - they're still digging them up now.
The ...
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Did the "unexpectedness" of key events argue against a "third strike" at Pearl Harbor?
Japan's Admiral Nagumo has been criticized for not launching a "third strike" at Pearl Harbor, specifically to destroy the dry docks, fuel stores, repair facilities and other key ...
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Why was artillery a more effective infantry support weapon on tanks than machine guns?
In supporting infantry, why are tanks equipped with large guns breach guns which seem more effective than assault vehicles with machine guns? For example, comparing the service of WW2 German Assault ...
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Was the town Jadovno near Gospić named after the concentration camp during World War 2, or was it the other way around?
What does the name "Jadovno", a town near Gospić where a concentration camp used to be during World War 2, mean? Was the town named after the concentration camp (from "jad" meaning ...
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Were some groups in the Soviet Union more likely to collaborate with the Germans than others?
In the case of Yugoslavia, to take one example, there were three main groups: Croat Ustaze, the largely Serbian Chetniks, and the Titoites, who were largely drawn "neither of the above." ...
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Have Germans expelled from Eastern Europe been re-enfranchised?
After World War II, large numbers of ethnic-Germans who had lived in Eastern Europe were expelled - by the local (post-Nazi-occupation) government, by the USSR and even with some Western power ...
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How often did WWII bomber gunners actually shoot?
The Wikipedia page for recently deceased Leon Hale mentions he flew 50 missions as a gunner yet never fired at an enemy plane. Are there any statistics on how often gunners actually shot?
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In WWII, how were all pilots/soldiers able to identify enemy vehicles?
After watching Saving Private Ryan and other documentaries for WWII, they made it seem like everyone was able to identify enemy vehicles very easily. For example, in Saving Private Ryan, they were ...
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How efficiently did the Red Army conduct itself during the invasion of Poland in 1939?
In 1937, Stalin purged the majority of his top military officers, starting with Marshal Tukhachevsky
This disorganized the Red Army, to say the least, and helped account for its later poor performance ...
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Why did the Metall und Lackierwarenfabrik company get asked to bid on the creation of the MG42?
The MG42. A very iconic machine gun built during World War 2. Known for its high rate of fire, three man operating squad and its ability to suppress advancing troops, was built by Metall und ...
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What do we know about Hitler/OKW's plans concerning USSR if Molotov/Ribbentropp Pact hadn't happened?
Molotov/Ribbentrop was signed Aug 23, 1939 and Hitler invaded Poland Sept 1, 1939. Came as a bit of a surprise, considering how much Hitler hated both Communists and Slavic people. And the talks ...
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Why did Hitler send Manstein's army (and not some other) to Leningrad in the summer of 1942?
In July, 1942, Germany's General von Manstein won the siege of Sevastopol. Shortly thereafter, Manstein and his 11th Army were sent to Leningrad, which the Germans were also besieging.
I don't ...
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Has anyone (other than Churchill) indicated that the Germans might have won a negotiated peace in World War II?
I have long believed that it was possible for the Germans to get to a strong position that might have led to a "stalemate" and hence a negotiated peace in World War II/ The main ways were: 1)...
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Post WWII Munich- U.S.occupation
Is there any way to find out which unit of the US army of occupation took control of US HQ in Munich after April 30th, 1945?
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