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Old 15th July 2019, 23:33   #136
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Re: The World War II: Movies, Books & Trivia

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Originally Posted by hserus View Post
Those of course and also Italy where they were deployed in Monte Cassino

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indi...g_World_War_II

Add the pioneer / mule corps battalions at Dunkirk.
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Originally Posted by shashanka View Post
Thanks akshay for this very interesting bit of memorabilia. The countries which lost the most (Russia, Germany, Poland, China.....) have maintained a reasonably low key stand on this tragic issue. Whereas those whose losses were relatively less seem to be among those who are doing the most saber-rattling today.

Gives weight to the lurking fear in many quarters that our planet has a global death-wish.
My sister is currently documenting and creating an art project on the 2.5 million soldiers who fought in WW2. She is currently seeking any photos or memorabilia.
Here is what she started with at the Kochi Biennale.

http://www.annumatthew.com/gallery/unremembered/

Here's a pic of an Indian soldier in Pisa
The World War II: Movies, Books & Trivia-img_5444-2.jpg
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Old 16th July 2019, 20:50   #137
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Re: The World War II: Movies, Books & Trivia

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My sister is currently documenting and creating an art project on the 2.5 million soldiers who fought in WW2. She is currently seeking any photos or memorabilia.
Here is what she started with at the Kochi Biennale.
http://www.annumatthew.com/gallery/unremembered/
Here's a pic of an Indian soldier in Pisa
I just went through the link you provided ajmat, and it is indeed very commendable work that your sister has undertaken. How little we know about the efforts that are going into keeping these memories (of past sacrifices of our own countrymen) alive. "The sun never set on the British Empire" as the saying went - and today look how the mighty have fallen!
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Old 14th December 2019, 21:20   #138
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Re: The World War II: Movies, Books & Trivia

The Interesting History of the Jerry Can.

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A fascinating piece of WW II history – the importance of small things…

During World War II the United States exported more tons of petroleum products than of all other war material combined. The mainstay of the enormous oil-and gasoline transportation network that fed the war was the oceangoing tanker, supplemented on land by pipelines, railroad tank cars, and trucks. But for combat vehicles on the move, another link was crucial—smaller containers that could be carried and poured by hand and moved around a battle zone by trucks.

Hitler knew this. He perceived early on that the weakest link in his plans for blitzkrieg using his panzer divisions was fuel supply. He ordered his staff to design a fuel container that would minimize gasoline losses under combat conditions. As a result the German army had thousands of jerrycans, as they came to be called, stored and ready when hostilities began in 1939.

The jerrycan had been developed under the strictest secrecy, and its unique features were many. It was flat-sided and rectangular in shape, consisting of two halves welded together as in a typical automobile gasoline tank. It had three handles, enabling one man to carry two cans and pass one to another man in bucket-brigade fashion. Its capacity was approximately five U.S. gallons; its weight filled, forty-five pounds. Thanks to an air chamber at the top, it would float on water if dropped overboard or from a plane. Its short spout was secured with a snap closure that could be propped open for pouring, making unnecessary any funnel or opener. A gasket made the mouth leak proof. An air-breathing tube from the spout to the air space kept the pouring smooth. And most important, the can’s inside was lined with an impervious plastic material developed for the insides of steel beer barrels. This enabled the jerrycan to be used alternately for gasoline and water.

Early in the summer of 1939, this secret weapon began a roundabout odyssey into American hands. An American engineer named Paul Pleiss, finishing up a manufacturing job in Berlin, persuaded a German colleague to join him on a vacation trip overland to India. The two bought an automobile chassis and built a body for it. As they prepared to leave on their journey, they realized that they had no provision for emergency water. The German engineer knew of and had access to thousands of jerrycans stored at Tempelhof Airport. He simply took three and mounted them on the underside of the car.

The two drove across eleven national borders without incident and were halfway across India when Field Marshal Goering sent a plane to take the German engineer back home. Before departing, the engineer compounded his treason by giving Pleiss complete specifications for the jerrycan’s manufacture. Pleiss continued on alone to Calcutta. Then he put the car in storage and returned to Philadelphia.

Back in the United States, Pleiss told military officials about the container, but without a sample can he could stir no interest, even though the war was now well under way. The risk involved in having the cans removed from the car and shipped from Calcutta seemed too great, so he eventually had the complete vehicle sent to him, via Turkey and the Cape of Good Hope. It arrived in New York in the summer of 1940 with the three jerrycans intact. Pleiss immediately sent one of the cans to Washington. The War Department looked at it but unwisely decided that an updated version of their World War I container would be good enough. That was a cylindrical ten-gallon can with two screw closures. It required a wrench and a funnel for pouring.

That one jerrycan in the Army’s possession was later sent to Camp Holabird, in Maryland. There it was poorly redesigned; the only features retained were the size, shape, and handles. The welded circumferential joint was replaced with rolled seams around the bottom and one side. Both a wrench and a funnel were required for its use. And it now had no lining. As any petroleum engineer knows, it is unsafe to store gasoline in a container with rolled seams. This ersatz can did not win wide acceptance.

The British first encountered the jerrycan during the German invasion of Norway, in 1940, and gave it its English name (the Germans were, of course, the “Jerries”). Later that year Pleiss was in London and was asked by British officers if he knew anything about the can’s design and manufacture. He ordered the second of his three jerrycans flown to London. Steps were taken to manufacture exact duplicates of it.

Two years later the United States was still oblivious of the can. Then, in September 1942, two quality-control officers posted to American refineries in the Mideast ran smack into the problems being created by ignoring the jerrycan. I was one of those two. passing through Cairo two weeks before the start of the Battle of El Alamein, we learned that the British wanted no part of a planned U.S. Navy can; as far as they were concerned, the only container worth having was the Jerrycan, even though their only supply was those captured in battle. The British were bitter; two years after the invasion of Norway there was still no evidence that their government had done anything about the jerrycan.

My colleague and I learned quickly about the jerrycan’s advantages and the Allied can’s costly disadvantages, and we sent a cable to naval officials in Washington stating that 40 percent of all the gasoline sent to Egypt was being lost through spillage and evaporation. We added that a detailed report would follow. The 40 percent figure was actually a guess intended to provoke alarm, but it worked. A cable came back immediately requesting confirmation.

We then arranged a visit to several fuel-handling depots at the rear of Montgomery’s army and found there that conditions were indeed appalling. Fuel arrived by rail from the sea in fifty-five-gallon steel drums with rolled seams and friction-sealed metallic mouths. The drums were handled violently by local laborers. Many leaked. The next link in the chain was the infamous five-gallon “petrol tin.” This was a square can of tin plate that had been used for decades to supply lamp kerosene. It was hardly useful for gasoline. In the hot desert sun, it tended to swell up, burst at the seams, and leak. Since a funnel was needed for pouring, spillage was also a problem.

Allied soldiers in Africa knew that the only gasoline container worth having was German. Similar tins were carried on Liberator bombers in flight. They leaked out perhaps a third of the fuel they carried. Because of this, General Wavell’s defeat of the Italians in North Africa in 1940 had come to naught. His planes and combat vehicles had literally run out of gas. Likewise in 1941, General Auchinleck’s victory over Rommel had withered away. In 1942 General Montgomery saw to it that he had enough supplies, including gasoline, to whip Rommel in spite of terrific wastage. And he was helped by captured jerrycans.

The British historian Desmond Young later confirmed the great importance of oil cans in the early African part of the war. “No one who did not serve in the desert,” he wrote, “can realize to what extent the difference between complete and partial success rested on the simplest item of our equipment—and the worst. Whoever sent our troops into desert warfare with the [five-gallon] petrol tin has much to answer for. General Auchinleck estimates that this ‘flimsy and ill-constructed container’ led to the loss of thirty per cent of petrol between base and consumer. … The overall loss was almost incalculable. To calculate the tanks destroyed, the number of men who were killed or went into captivity because of shortage of petrol at some crucial moment, the ships and merchant seamen lost in carrying it, would be quite impossible. After my colleague and I made our report, a new five-gallon container under consideration in Washington was canceled.

Meanwhile the British were finally gearing up for mass production. Two million British jerrycans were sent to North Africa in early 1943, and by early 1944 they were being manufactured in the Middle East. Since the British had such a head start, the Allies agreed to let them produce all the cans needed for the invasion of Europe. Millions were ready by D-day. By V-E day some twenty-one million Allied jerrycans had been scattered all over Europe. President Roosevelt observed in November 1944, “Without these cans it would have been impossible for our armies to cut their way across France at a lightning pace which exceeded the German Blitz of 1940.”

In Washington little about the jerrycan appears in the official record. A military report says simply, “A sample of the jerry can was brought to the office of the Quartermaster General in the summer of 1940.”

Richard M. Daniel is a retired commander in the U.S. Naval Reserve and a chemical engineer.
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Old 16th March 2020, 13:35   #139
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Re: The World War II: Movies, Books & Trivia

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/h...9d52JrdXOqS7zc

Some glimpses of action in the Northeast during WW2.
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Old 22nd March 2020, 07:15   #140
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Originally Posted by BuBooMan View Post
And does anyone remember the English movie with the lead character being an English boy who lives in Singapore but is booted to a Jap POW camp in China after the Japs took Singapore? I am dying to add it to my collection but have completely forgotten the name.
Empire of the Sun.I also enjoyed it a lot.
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Old 22nd March 2020, 07:27   #141
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Re: The World War II: Movies, Books & Trivia

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Empire of the Sun.I also enjoyed it a lot.
Based on the JG Ballard book. Pick that up, you should find it on Amazon / Kindle. Well worth a read and if anything, better than the movie.
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Old 4th April 2020, 17:02   #142
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Re: The World War II: Movies, Books & Trivia

Found this on Netflix India - World War II in HD Color. It is a 13 episode documentary (narration + colorized original footage)

The World War II: Movies, Books & Trivia-ww2.jpg
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Old 5th April 2020, 18:18   #143
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Re: The World War II: Movies, Books & Trivia

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Found this on Netflix India - World War II in HD Color. It is a 13 episode documentary (narration + colorized original footage)

Attachment 1988550
The one posted by you is from 2009 and they have uncovered some additional footage from archives since. Below is from 2019 and also on Netflix
The World War II: Movies, Books & Trivia-ww-2.jpg

Last edited by AZT : 5th April 2020 at 18:20.
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Old 11th April 2020, 04:50   #144
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Re: The World War II: Movies, Books & Trivia

I quite recently came across of treasure trove of WWII videos on YouTube, which are explained and narrated by a chap named Mark Felton. I find his narration style along with the footage excellent!

Example:



Source: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfC...S1ONgww/videos

Enjoy watching the rest if interested.

Cheers
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Old 4th May 2020, 08:46   #145
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Re: The World War II: Movies, Books & Trivia

Guys,
Can anyone help me with the better book to pick up on Patton

- Lucky Forward: Patton's Third U.S. Army (Robert Sharon Allen)
- War as I Knew It (George S. Patton Jr.)
- Patton: A Genius for War (Carlo D'Este)

Currently, I'm leaning towards the third book, but I'd love to hear any feedback/suggestions. Seen the 1970 movie numerous times, happy to have inputs on supporting documentaries that provide additional coverage (for example the movie completely ignores the Lorraine campaign)
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Old 7th May 2020, 02:47   #146
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Re: The World War II: Movies, Books & Trivia

WEB Griffin and his series of books starting from WW2 is a good read. There is one series (Brotherhood of Arms) focused on US Army and another one (The Corps) on the Marines. There are e-versions available online.

IMHO, these are the kind of series best suited for a television series. Remember Stephen Ambrose?
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Old 1st July 2020, 08:52   #147
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Re: The World War II: Movies, Books & Trivia



WW2 in Europe, nice video of changing frontlines with each passing day, accurate timeline.
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Old 2nd July 2020, 05:44   #148
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Re: The World War II: Movies, Books & Trivia

I have two recommendations at this time.
1. There is a Youtube channel - Paralight WorX, which produces low budget high quality short video which provide the German infantry view/actions on small skirmishes and firefights. Found those to be fascinating especially the VSDG series. Do note it is all in German but easy to understand and relate to what is happening.
2. There are a very interesting books on alternate history relating to WW2. Harry Turtledove is a leading alternate history author and his books are quite good.

I am also looking forward to Greyhound (starring Tom Hanks) to be release on Apple TV this month. The trailer is amazing.
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Old 9th August 2020, 21:15   #149
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Re: The World War II: Movies, Books & Trivia

I haven't been able to read anything over the past two years, and in this lockdown, I decided to start off slow. I cannot resist used book stalls, and had a stock pile of books picked up over the last 4 years which have just been lying in a corner of the house. I started off light with some Jack Higgins, and re-readings of Frederick Forsyth,but the last rummaging in the pile brought out this.
It's quite engaging, and if you can get one to read, I'll recommend it. In paperback, though. Somehow, reading about this in electronic format, I think will lose out on something.
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The World War II: Movies, Books & Trivia-15969877253485076520286810716191.jpg  


Last edited by mayankk : 9th August 2020 at 21:17.
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Old 9th August 2020, 21:49   #150
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Re: The World War II: Movies, Books & Trivia

If anyone remembers commando comics they’ve been around for decades and are surprisingly enough still around. Two reprints of old issues and two new ones, twice a month.

You can buy a digital subscription and access to some few hundreds of their old collection at https://www.commandocomics.com/digital-subscription/

There is even an fb group that has many of the artists and storyboard people, as well as current and former commando editorial staff besides a bunch of fans. Good fun.
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