WWII Points To Ponder

[Geek44]

In Tibetan Buddhist circles, the swastika the nazi way is a symbol of female energy and reversed, of male energy. The Finnish armed forces used the blue swastika set square (rather than diamond) before the nazis adopted it and continued to use it until they changed sides, when a white and blue roundel was adopted. Sadly, the nazis have contaminated the symbol for a long time yet.

[cyberia]

The youngest US serviceman was 12 year old Calvin Graham, USN. He was wounded in combat and given a Dishonorable Discharge for lying about his age. Though at first denied, years after the war his veteran's benefits were restored by act of Congress.

[Geek44]

The prototype of the Junkers Ju88 had among its design team two temporarily employed Americans.

[cyberia]

12,000 heavy bombers were shot down in World War 2.

Over 100,000 Allied bomber crewmen were killed over Europe.

Two-thirds of Allied bomber crews were lost for each plane destroyed.

It is estimated 3 to 4 ground men were wounded for each killed.

Six bomber crewmen were killed for each one wounded.

[Geek44]

And Albert Speer described the air war over Germany as a 'front' in its own right. I agree with him. I've read that Speer was the only senior nazi at Nuremberg who escaped the death penalty because he alone admitted responsibility, culpability and knowledge.

[Panzermacher]

A Large percentage of German officers who served on the Ostfront, had attended the Frunze Military Academy in the Soviet Union, and had a first hand picture of the Russian front weather they would soon be facing.......(It has always bugged me how the Russian winters were such a "surprise" to German Military Leadership)

[cyberia]

The Luftwaffe had 22 infantry divisions, 2 armor divisions, and 11 paratroop divisions. None of which were truly capable of airborne operations.

The Heer on the other hand had paratroops that were capable of airborne operations.

[Wolster]

RAF Fighter Command suffered 3,690 killed, 1,215 wounded and 601 POW between 1939 and 1945.

RAF Bomber Command suffered 55,573 killed, 8,403 wounded 9,838 POW between 1939 and 1945.

[Wolster]

Australian squadrons of Bomber Command equalled only two percent of Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) personnel, but the 4,050 killed represented 23% of the total number of RAAF personnel killed in action during World War II. No. 460 Squadron RAAF, which had an aircrew establishment of about 200, experienced 1,018 combat deaths during 1942-45 and was therefore effectively wiped out five times over.

[Wolster]

To man the flak regiments in Germany required some 90,000 fit personnel, and a further 1 million were deployed in clearing up and repairing the vast bomb damage caused by the RAF attacks.

To put this into perspective General Erwin Rommel's German forces defending Normandy in 1944 comprised 50,000, and their resistance caused the Western Allies grave problems.