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It was the engine breakdowns which occured quite often (the clutch didn't work as well as it should...), because the AFV was so heavy. The Kingtiger had the same problems, however not as bad as the Elefant.

How they solved this: I haven't got a clue. I thought they didn't solve this problem at all...

Ahh - the petro-electrical drive. That was a problem, but not an oversight. Just a technical limitation.

Micheljq has the oversight. An 88mm AT gun, but no anti-infantry machine-guns. What was the solution given to Panzer crews to correct this deficiency?

Should really have said Ferdinand rather than Elephant. The Elephant modification added a bow MG.
But no, the bow MG is not the solution we're looking for.

ORIGINAL: Orm

USS Peary. I had planned to use USS Peary as the next clue for my Darwin question. If you asked this a week ago I would have had no clue at all.[:)]

Warspite1

...is the right answer [:)]

OK well so no one has ever heard of this Axis mission in North America, so I'll hand out some clues that might help someone solve it.

This mission did not encounter any people at all, military or civilian.

The personnel on this mission all returned to their base safely, unlike an identical mission at the same time.

There is definitive evidence of this mission in an Allied country's national war museum today.

This mission did not take place on that country's territory at that time.

ORIGINAL: brian brian

OK well so no one has ever heard of this Axis mission in North America, so I'll hand out some clues that might help someone solve it.

This mission did not encounter any people at all, military or civilian.

The personnel on this mission all returned to their base safely, unlike an identical mission at the same time.

There is definitive evidence of this mission in an Allied country's national war museum today.

This mission did not take place on that country's territory at that time.

A submarine landing in the Caribbean? I know my grandparents and other relatives were constantly worried about that along the Atlantic coast.

ORIGINAL: ezz

Ahh - the petro-electrical drive. That was a problem, but not an oversight. Just a technical limitation.

Micheljq has the oversight. An 88mm AT gun, but no anti-infantry machine-guns. What was the solution given to Panzer crews to correct this deficiency?

They gave pistols to the crew? [:D]

Closer than you think!

It was a small arms remedy. But an usual one.

I know that the Germans developed something they called "Nachverteidigungswaffe" (close defense weapon) for AFV's, which they could use against enemy soldiers in close combat. I don't know what exactly they used for this weapon. Handgranates or something like that? I haven't got a clue.

OK for the Axis in North America, the Caribbean is a good guess and my various profs in grad-level WWII courses would probably hand out a partial credit for that, though they would expect a 3 page paper on the politico-social ramifications of Nazi contact with the post-colonial native inhabitants there instead of just a quiz answer. A handful of times there, a U-Boat crew would sun themselves ashore, but this was a designed mission carried out by the German sailors of U-537.

I thought the part about it being in a war museum of a country that did not control the area might lead to a guess of Newfoundland, which was part of the Commonwealth during the war but was not yet an official part of Canada. And actually it happened at a far northern cape in Labrador, where this crew set up an automated weather station that sent data back to Germany. Records of it were re-discovered by a historian writing a history of the Siemens corporation in 1981, and an expedition to the site found the equipment still there. It is now in the Canadian National War Museum:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weather_Station_Kurt

Now here is another pretty good quiz question. When and where did the last European Axis unit surrender it's weapons?

No, none of them headed off into competition with the Japanese on this one, it happened in the year 1945.

ORIGINAL: ezz

Closer than you think!

It was a small arms remedy. But an usual one.

Although I can't remember the name of the weapon I do rememeber a submachine gun with a barrel that curved to a 90 degree angle. It was so they could shoot over the side of the "wall" without exposing themselves. The barrels wore out quickly and the bullets tended to shatter but it was found that the latter actually made the weapon more effective at such close ranges.

it was the STG 44 ..that had that barrel.

it was the forefather for all modern assault rifles. especially the AK-47 ..which is just a copy

That's the answer.  The rare and sought after STG 44 assault rifle with The 'Krummlauf' attachment was issued to panzer crews. The idea was to hose down the big hull without exposure. As ItBurns said the bullets shattered so it was a really short range weapon. It worked fine at the close range the tankers were using it. It was also used like that on Halftracks.
At Kursk there were reports of crews pointing the TD at the enemy infantry firing their small arms down the barrel of the 88.

originally fitted with a bow Mg, it was removed to allow extra armour plate. Shouldn't have been that much of a problem if the Ferdinand had stayed back and picked off the enemy armour instead of going forwards.

So that was what they used against infantry in close combat from their tanks. Nice to know...

ahh well, another too obscure question. at least y'all don't just Google it.

the last European Axis personnel handed in their weapons in September, 1945. And yes, they were Germans of course. No way any Italians were that dedicated, nor was it some rogue Balkan partisans. These folks weren't exactly "fighting" any more either, but they were armed. Any guess where this happened?

I would go for Norway. It took the allies a long time to reach the German forces there, who used weapons there for food.
I don't know if it the last unit surrendered in September, but I know of a German unit disarmed near Narvik in early August 1945 (I've got Austrain roots, and one of my relatives was fighting in Norway in 1945. He surrendered at that time). It took them a long time to reach Narvik from the Russian/Norwegian/Finnish border on foot...
They used the weapons to shoot animals, while moving. They were afraid of capture by the Soviets and therefore the Gebirgsjäger decided to move to the Norwegian coast near Narvik...

very close. Spitsbergen would be the answer, where yet another Axis weather team was more accurately described as 'rescued' than 'surrendered' I think, in September '45. but I have read it described as the last Axis personnel to hand over weapons. my next clue would have been ... the same and only location where the Tirpitz fired it's main guns at the enemy.....which I think might be a quiz question in here somewhere.

one last bit of trivia from the "Weather War".....what Axis equipment was still sending out weather data in 1946? This is another obscure one ... the Germans designed and built buoys that could submerge and then surface briefly for a radio transmission. one was still working in the North Atlantic a year after the war ended.

quiz 1.

1. I was sunk by my own crew  

quiz 2.

1. I was sunk by my own crew