#WW2 #StrategicBombing Carrying Fire: Battle Stations B17 Flying Fortress

Another good blog post from Don Christensen about B-17's,

Carrying Fire: Battle Stations B17 Flying Fortress: 44 minutes long and a good view of B-17 history and experience of the crews.

#WW2 April 30th 1945 Hitler Comitts Suicide

On this day in 1945, Hitler committed suicide with his wife, Eva Braun. The end of war in Europe was not far away.

Did Hitler die? There is overwhelming evidence that he did committ suicide, the Russians interrogated many people who were in the bunker at the time of his death including his chauffeur.
Then I found this webpage, including evidence from the FBI who knew he was still alive in South America, have a read: http://topinfopost.com/2014/02/12/historians-lied-hitler-did-not-die-in-germany

#WW2Fiction The Eagle Has Landed

The Eagle Has Landed - one of the best books I have ever read. It is about an assassination  plot masterminded by Heinrich Himmler. The year the story is set in is 1944, the target - Winston Churchill.

Jack Higgins is one of the great adventure writers, he ranks alongside Wilbur Smith and Alastair Maclean. He has an uncanny ability to create characters which come to life, one of my favourite in this book is a character called Liam Devlin. Devlin appears in many of Higgins' books. He is an ex IRA hitman who studied at Dublin University. Devlin has a wry sense of humour and can kill when ordered without a qualm. Kurt Steiner is the German paratroop officer who leads his men on the mission. He is saved from death in a penal unit, as were his men by agreeing to take part in the mission. Steiner is a warrior with a heart, who had previously been in trouble for attempting to save a Jewish girl from being shot in Warsaw. The Germans train for their mission at  a secret base, wear British uniforms and are dropped from a captured Dakota. They are helped by Devlin and an Afrikaans lady called Joanna Grey who has lived in Britain for years. Do they succeed in killing Churchill? You had better read it to find out or watch the film...

#WW2 #RAF Not Very Good Aircraft Flown By The Royal Air Force In The Second World War

We are always told how great the Supermarine Spitfire was in the Second World War, how Adolf Galland told Goering that he wanted a squadron for his men.  What we don't often see is the bad aircraft the RAF had to fly, especially in the early years of the war.So I thought I would put together some facts about some of them here.

The Boulton Paul Defiant, the Fairey Battle, the Blackburn Gotha and the Hawker Typhoon, just some of the aircraft that were not designed for the Second World War.

The Boulton Paul Defiant

Boulton Paul Defiant found at:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fd/Boulton_Paul_Defiant_Mk_I_in_flight.jpg

This was a tragic design. An aircraft designed to attack bomber formations without a forward firing machine gun or cannon. It is a shame nobody mentioned it may be attacked by fighters. The Defiant had a turret with four .303 machine guns and a crew of two. Due to the aircraft's poor manoeverablity and vulnerability to a frontal attack, it was withdrawn from daylight operations and became a night fighter.

Crew -2

Max Speed- 315mph at 16,500 ft.

Range- 465 miles.

Armament-4 Browning .303 machine guns in turret with 600 rounds per gun.

PLEASE NOTE, I AM CURRENTLY RESEARCHING INFORMATION ABOUT HOW SUCCESSFUL THE DEFIANT WAS IN SHOOTING DOWN ENEMY PLANES - WATCH THIS SPACE & KNEE JERK REACTION FROM THE AIR MINISTRY WHICH LED TO IT BEING TAKEN OUT OF FRONT LINE DUTIES 1940 WATCH THIS SPACE PLEASE

The Fairey Battle

Fairey Battle, image found at:http://www.svida.cz/horrido/fairey/battles.jpg

Again, like the Boulton-Paul Defiant, the Fairey Battle was hopelessly outclassed by the time it met with enemy aircraft. The best feature was a forward firing machine gun, it was better than nothing. Losses in the Battle of France were heavy, particularly in the raids on the Maastricht bridges and Luxembourg.The aircraft was hopelessly underpowered by one Rolls Royce Merlin engine, see specifications below.

Crew - 2

Max Speed - 241 mph.

Range - 795 miles.

Armament - One aft firing Vickers machine gun and one Browning .303 forward. It also carried a 1000lb bombload.

After being retired from active service the Fairey battle was used for training, mainly target tugs and gunnery.

Blackburn Botha

                                         Blackburn Botha, image found at:http://www.newzeal.com/aviation/BL/BlackburnBotha2.jpg

Testing of the Blackburn Botha  showed some serious failings; it had poor stability and virtually non-existent vision from ether side due to the engines and also poor vision to the rear. Whoever designed this aircraft for an Air Ministry requirement of a 3/4 seater aircraft, twin engined, suitable for torpedo bombing and reconnaissance was maybe paid by the Luftwaffe? It was powered by a Perseus X engine of 880hp. In practice the aircraft proved to be underpowered and unstable resulting in fatal crashes. Strangely enough, the Botha was withdrawn from frontline service and was used as a trainer, resulting in more fatalities.

Crew -3

Max Speed- 249 mph.

Range- 1270 miles.

Armament-3 - .303 machine guns. Torpedo, mines or bombs up to 2000lbs.

The Hawker Typhoon

                                                  Hawker Typhoons, found at:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2f/56_Sqn-1.jpg

I can hear people asking, why has this dude put the Hawker Typhoon in this poxy list? Well, there's one reason and it's a good one. When the Typhoon went into a steep dive, the tail sometimes detached itself from the rest of the aircraft. It may have been an excellent tank buster, but the Typhoon had such a bad reputation that pilots were forcibly transferred from fighter squadrons to fly Typhoons. To the best of my knowledge there are no Typhoons flying today, maybe that's a good thing.

Crew - 1

Max Speed - 412 mph.

Range - 510 mph.

Armament - 8 rockets, 4x20 mm cannon, 2x 500lb or 2 x 1000lb bombs. 

#WW2 April 16th 1940

A plan approved by the War cabinet to send 1000 Canadian troops from Britain to capture forts at Trondheim was postponed for six days after Chiefs of Staff feared high casualties.

One of Chamberlain's secretaries wrote in his diary that the Norwegians would 'lose heart unless quickly assured of substantial support'.(cited at: Gilbert, M, Second World War).

Two Norwegian submarines were scuttled by their own crews on April 16th 1940 in Verbukta at Tonsberg.

I have included a Movietone newsreel clip from the period, what is obvious in the struggle of the Allies is the Germans' air superiority. No anti aircraft guns or fighter aircraft to defend the British are lacking, little wonder Norway was a failure.

#WW2 April 15th 1940 #NorwayCampaign

General Carton de Wiart, found at: http://badassoftheweek.com/images/30045813384/wiart1.jpg

On April 15th 1940 The codebreaking team at Bletchley Park broke the Enigma code used by the German army and Luftwaffe. Unfortunately there was no team to analyse the information, and no way of transmitting information directly to British forces securely http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/stories/08/a6841208.shtml.

Further British reinforcements for Alesund were delayed by gales off Scotland.
Troops at Namsos reported snow 4ft deep. The British Commander General Carton de Wiart was unable to leave the flying boat he had arrived at Namsos in due to German machine gun fire.
Night time temperatures fell to zero degrees farenheit. Frostbite was reported,
Other British troops held positions at Harstad, Salangen and Bogen, all suffering in the harsh conditions.

In the south of Norway the Norwegian 3rd Division surrendered to the Germans at Sedestal. 2000 soldiers surrendered.

#OnThisDayIn1940 #WW2 Royal Marines Land At Namsos April 14th 1940 #NorwayCampaign

Norwegian Campaign Map April may 1940, found at:https://historicalresources.files.wordpress.com/2008/09/norway.jpg

On April 14th 1940 350 British Royal Marines landed at Namsos, Norway to prepare for the arrival of the 146th Territorial Brigade, the first British troops to land in Norway.

German paratroopers of the 7th Flieger Division landed at Dombas, Norway, they suffered heavy losses due to landing in the middle of the camp belonging to the Norwegian 11th Regt. Unfortunately they were still able to damage nearby railways and occupied farmhouses causing logistic problems for several days. 

HMS Sterlet, found at:http://www.battleships-cruisers.co.uk/images/hmssterlet.jpg

Out at sea, British submarine HMS Sterlet damaged the German gunnery training ship and minelayer Brummer in the Skagerrak (between Sweden and Norway). The Brummer sank the next day.

Brummer before #WW2, found at:http://www.kbismarck.com/photo100.html

#WW2 #OnThisDay1940 Second Battle Of Narvik April 13th 1940

HMS Warspite, found at:http://ww2today.com/the-second-battle-of-narvik

On April 13th 1940 The Royal Navy with 9 destroyers screening the battleship HMS Warspite, attacked 3 German destroyers and a submarine at Narvik. The Swordfish biplane launched from HMS Warspite attacked and sunk the submarine taking damage from the U-Boat's anti-aircraft gun.  The three German warships were sunk by a combination of shell fire from the Royal navy ships and the Fairey Swordfish.http://ww2today.com/the-second-battle-of-narvik

#WW2 #OnThisDay1940 April 12th 1940 Hegra Fortress Occupied By Norwegian Forces

Gun position at Hegra Fortress, found at:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/84/Hegra_Fortress_gun_position.jpg/300px-Hegra_Fortress_gun_position.jpg

Hegra Fortress in the Nord-Trondelag (Southern) area of Norway had been mothballed and was to become a place of resistance until May 1940. The fort had been left unoccupied for years, but the fort was to become famous in April and May 1940, when Major Holtermann with his force of 250 men (and one woman) withstood the German onslaught for 26 full days. The fort was defended by 10 artillery pieces of varying calibre, able to fire to a range between 6 & 9km.http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Battle_of_Hegra_Fortress

Today the fortress is a museum and looks well worth a visit: http://www.visitnorway.com/uk/where-to-go-uk/central/trondheim/what-to-do-in-trondheim/attractions-in-trondheim/hegra-fortress/

#WW2 On 11th April 1940 In Norway...

On 11th April 1940, German forces advanced so to link up from Oslo to Trondheim.

The German ship Lutzow was badly damaged by the British submarine HMS Spearfish, as a result Lutzow returned to base on April 18th 1940.

Why was Britain and France involved in Norway? The reason was its neighbour - Sweden. In winter, iron ore from Sweden was exported from the Norwegian port of Narvik - whoever occupied Norway would control the supply of iron ore to Germany. If Britain controlled the Norwegian ports, the North Sea would be virtually closed to the German navy, and the Baltic would be in striking distance.