OT - WWII quiz

[panzers]

ORIGINAL: monkla

ORIGINAL: Ted1066

ORIGINAL: terje439

Current unanswered questions:

-Neilster: What strange method of guiding American air-launched weapons was suggested by a famous researcher towards the end of the Second World War?

-Warspite1: Which two naval vessels - one Italian, one German were named after the same historical character?

-Tigercub: when was the worlds first computer made and what for?

I'll take a stab at the computer question: I think its the Enigma Machine you're going for, used in Bletchley Park to decrypt the German ciphers.

Cheers,

Ted

I don't know when but I seem to recall from somewhere that it may have been designed in the US and was used to help calculate artillery trajectories?????

Leigh

wasn't the first computer ENIAC, and was used specifically for intelligence of some sort towards the axis powers? The computer took up an entire room and the fans alone weighed over 1000 pounds to keep it from overheating

[composer99]

ORIGINAL: cockney

thought it was a type of soda
and I found this picture.

Hilarious. [:D]

But unless this is from WWII it's not a correct answer (and if it is, it's not the answer I was looking for [:)]).

[NeBert]

ORIGINAL: Froonp

ORIGINAL: NeBert

Maybe a picture-Q?
Who knows Type and manufacturer of this nice bird?

Blohm und Voss. Bv141 dude.

100% right

Warspite1

I remember this from an old airfix model when I was a kid - its a Blohm & Voss BV-something or other reconnaisance plane. Can I have 1/2 point please?

[:D] Yes sure, - and it was a reconnaisance plane!

[Neilster]

ORIGINAL: panzers

ORIGINAL: monkla

ORIGINAL: Ted1066




I'll take a stab at the computer question: I think its the Enigma Machine you're going for, used in Bletchley Park to decrypt the German ciphers.

Cheers,

Ted

I don't know when but I seem to recall from somewhere that it may have been designed in the US and was used to help calculate artillery trajectories?????

Leigh

wasn't the first computer ENIAC, and was used specifically for intelligence of some sort towards the axis powers? The computer took up an entire room and the fans alone weighed over 1000 pounds to keep it from overheating

This was answered above. Colossus pre-dated ENIAC. It was kept secret till the 1970s.

Enigma machines were used to encode messages by the German armed forces.

Cheers, Neilster

[cockney]

Q What was the name of the longest stop line built in England during ww2? and where did it run to and from?

[Neilster]

ORIGINAL: panzers

ORIGINAL: Orm

ORIGINAL: terje439

Right on everything. Well except for calling the Jagdtiger a tank. No revolving turret=no tank.

When became revolving turret the definition of a tank?

Was revolving turret the definition of a tank during WWII?

With that definition the worlds first tank was not a tank.
Picture of a British Mark I tank near Thiepval, 25 September 1916.

Photograph by Lt. Ernest Brooks.
Imperial War Museum catalogue number Q 2486.

And at last. Not all has that definition today.

From:
Compact Oxford English Dictionary

tank
• a heavy armoured fighting vehicle carrying guns and moving on a continuous metal track.

-Orm

Actually, because of the many tanks in WWII, there ended up being many different classes of tanks. Where the Brits made the first one back in WWI(actually, I thought it was the French), it was the first armored moving machine, so they called it a tank.
As WWII progressed, Germany was always looking to make bigger and better tanks. In the process they stated to make vehicles that were better served to just sit in a bush or something and use it more for sniper like tactics. Thus a new class of tanks were born. So although you can say the jagdtiger or jagdpanther were tanks, yes they were, but they were not meant to be used in the way a regular tiger or panther because of having the ability to shoot on the run with the mobile turrets. The two tanks I just mentioned were used very late in the war and were so heavy that the Germans simply could not waste whatever precious fuel they had left. So they just placed them in a dense forest and just used it as a platform with a nasty gun. It's main purpose was the armor was virtually inpenetrable while having the ability to fire shells that did nothing but disintegrate anything that got in it's way. It was the ultimate defense weapon. So by definition, yes I guess it would be a tank, but in the way they were is in WWII, was it really a tank? When on defence ( like, for instance, the battle of Berlin) it was clearly the most feared weapon in the entire war except for maybe the ME262 jet,also nothing but a defensive fighter, but because of it's immobility, the allies were very quick to surround it and disable it, but not before it was able to destroy anything around for miles away
Added note. I typed this before reading the rest of the posts on this thread. So sorry if I was sounding redundant.

1. "Tank" was a codename. It stuck.

2. The turretless German vehicles you describe were officially tank-destroyers, not tanks. Turret-rings were difficult and expensive to produce and a larger weapon could be mounted in a vehicle if it didn't have a turret. In defensive warfare, the lack of a turret was less of a disadvantage and as the Germans desperately needed tank killing armour after 1942 they produced more and more tank-destroyers.

3. Tank-destroyers most definitely moved around. Apart from getting to and from battlefields, they tended to shoot and scoot (often in reverse) from one good firing position to the next. Your suggestion that they just stayed in a single position due to a lack of fuel is basically nonsense.

4. There were many types of German tank-destroyers. You can't generalise about their resistance to attack, especially away from the frontal arc.

5. The Me 262 wasn't a "defensive fighter". It was a fighter, that due to Germany's war situation was often used in a defensive role to attack bombers. As a fighter-bomber it certainly wasn't used defensively.

6. Reading the other posts in this thread that clearly point out the difference between a tank and a tank-destroyer (grey areas notwithstanding) might have a been a good idea.

Cheers, Neilster

[Neilster]

ORIGINAL: cockney

Q What was the name of the longest stop line built in England during ww2? and where did it run to and from?

The GHQ line? I think it ran from the west coast (possibly north of Wales) to the Thames estuary, taking in London.

Cheers, Neilster

[cockney]

Well done it was indeed the GHQ line running from the Taunton line near Bristol to the Thames estuary, to protect London and the industrial midlands. 

[cockney]

 Q. who was Teruo Nakamura?

[panzers]

ORIGINAL: Neilster

ORIGINAL: panzers

ORIGINAL: Orm



When became revolving turret the definition of a tank?

Was revolving turret the definition of a tank during WWII?

With that definition the worlds first tank was not a tank.
Picture of a British Mark I tank near Thiepval, 25 September 1916.

Photograph by Lt. Ernest Brooks.
Imperial War Museum catalogue number Q 2486.

And at last. Not all has that definition today.

From:
Compact Oxford English Dictionary

tank
• a heavy armoured fighting vehicle carrying guns and moving on a continuous metal track.

-Orm

Actually, because of the many tanks in WWII, there ended up being many different classes of tanks. Where the Brits made the first one back in WWI(actually, I thought it was the French), it was the first armored moving machine, so they called it a tank.
As WWII progressed, Germany was always looking to make bigger and better tanks. In the process they stated to make vehicles that were better served to just sit in a bush or something and use it more for sniper like tactics. Thus a new class of tanks were born. So although you can say the jagdtiger or jagdpanther were tanks, yes they were, but they were not meant to be used in the way a regular tiger or panther because of having the ability to shoot on the run with the mobile turrets. The two tanks I just mentioned were used very late in the war and were so heavy that the Germans simply could not waste whatever precious fuel they had left. So they just placed them in a dense forest and just used it as a platform with a nasty gun. It's main purpose was the armor was virtually inpenetrable while having the ability to fire shells that did nothing but disintegrate anything that got in it's way. It was the ultimate defense weapon. So by definition, yes I guess it would be a tank, but in the way they were is in WWII, was it really a tank? When on defence ( like, for instance, the battle of Berlin) it was clearly the most feared weapon in the entire war except for maybe the ME262 jet,also nothing but a defensive fighter, but because of it's immobility, the allies were very quick to surround it and disable it, but not before it was able to destroy anything around for miles away
Added note. I typed this before reading the rest of the posts on this thread. So sorry if I was sounding redundant.

1. "Tank" was a codename. It stuck.

2. The turretless German vehicles you describe were officially tank-destroyers, not tanks. Turret-rings were difficult and expensive to produce and a larger weapon could be mounted in a vehicle if it didn't have a turret. In defensive warfare, the lack of a turret was less of a disadvantage and as the Germans desperately needed tank killing armour after 1942 they produced more and more tank-destroyers.

3. Tank-destroyers most definitely moved around. Apart from getting to and from battlefields, they tended to shoot and scoot (often in reverse) from one good firing position to the next. Your suggestion that they just stayed in a single position due to a lack of fuel is basically nonsense.

4. There were many types of German tank-destroyers. You can't generalise about their resistance to attack, especially away from the frontal arc.

5. The Me 262 wasn't a "defensive fighter". It was a fighter, that due to Germany's war situation was often used in a defensive role to attack bombers. As a fighter-bomber it certainly wasn't used defensively.

6. Reading the other posts in this thread that clearly point out the difference between a tank and a tank-destroyer (grey areas notwithstanding) might have a been a good idea.

Cheers, Neilster

I'm talking about the end of the war. The jagdpanther and tigers were meant specifically for defense. As for the me262's: Do you even know what their attack range was?. Hardly used for an offensive weapon. It was just a super fast jet airplane meant to go up and hunt down enemy fighters and bombers in the immediate vicinity and come right back to refuel. To say it was a gas whore is a gross understatement.

[Neilster]

I'm talking about the end of the war. The jagdpanther and tigers were meant specifically for defense. As for the me262's: Do you even know what their attack range was?. Hardly used for an offensive weapon. It was just a super fast jet airplane meant to go up and hunt down enemy fighters and bombers in the immediate vicinity and come right back to refuel. To say it was a gas whore is a gross understatement.

What do you mean by "the end of the war"? The Germans were still conducting armoured operations to the very end. Fuel became increasingly scarce, yes, but what you wrote about tank destroyers being unmoving pillboxes is garbage.

The Me 262 project was begun before WW2 and it was designed as an interceptor. That means it was meant for all fighter roles and not, as you seem to suggest, some sort of point-defence weapon. As I have already explained, they were mostly used defensively due to Germany's war situation by the time they were introduced but they were often used offensively as well, especially as fighter-bombers.

Although its Junkers Jumo 004s had quite high fuel consumption, the Me 262 had large tanks and its range of 1050km compared quite well to many of its piston-engined contemporaries. The FW 190D for example had a range of 800km. I know a bit about this stuff because as well as studying WW2 for many years, I'm a gas-turbine specialist and was an aircraft technician on fighters.

Cheers, Neilster

[Froonp]

ORIGINAL: panzers
I'm talking about the end of the war. The jagdpanther and tigers were meant specifically for defense. As for the me262's: Do you even know what their attack range was?. Hardly used for an offensive weapon. It was just a super fast jet airplane meant to go up and hunt down enemy fighters and bombers in the immediate vicinity and come right back to refuel. To say it was a gas whore is a gross understatement.

Looks like you're confusing Me262 with Me163 here.

[Froonp]

ORIGINAL: cockney

 Q. who was Teruo Nakamura?

A Japanese Pilot ?

[Froonp]

ORIGINAL: cockney

Q What was the name of the longest stop line built in England during ww2? and where did it run to and from?

what is a "stop line" ?

[Neilster]

ORIGINAL: Froonp

ORIGINAL: cockney

Q What was the name of the longest stop line built in England during ww2? and where did it run to and from?

what is a "stop line" ?

A defensive position that usually takes in natural barriers like rivers and higher ground and that has had some field-works incorporated into it. It's mostly a position to fall back to (although the Dyle Line was a stop line that was advanced to) and is usually prepared in some haste, although there were examples like the Stalin Line where significant fortifications existed.

In the event of a successful German invasion of England on the south coast, the Commonwealth forces were to retire to the GHQ line to defend London and the industrial Midlands.

Cheers, Neilster

[cockney]

ORIGINAL: Froonp

ORIGINAL: cockney

 Q. who was Teruo Nakamura?

A Japanese Pilot ?

Yes he was Japanese, but not a pilot.

a clue would, that he made the news on his return home.

[Dave3L]

Isn't he the soldier who refused to surrender until the mid-70's?

[Norman42]

Would he be the infamous Japanese soldier that was stationed on some small Pacific Isle and remained on duty until the 1960s, when he was discovered and returned home?

[Neilster]

I think one dude didn't surrender until 1973ish. They had to get his original commanding officer to tell him it was ok to surrender.

Cheers, Neilster

[cockney]

Teruo Nakamura was discovered by the Indonesian Air Force on Moroti and surrendered to a search patrol on December 18 1974.
 
The last (as far as we know) Japenese soildier to surrender.