James G
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Post by James G on Aug 2, 2021 17:08:37 GMT
lordroel mentioned to me yesterday HMS Belfast, the WW2 cruiser docked in the Pool of London. Today I remembered the story that, after it was berthed near Tower Bridge, its guns were pointed at a distant target somewhere north of London. HMS Belfast had her main guns targeting a far-off motorway service station, one thought likely to be taken by paratroopers/airmobile troops as a staging post for a hypothetical Soviet invasion of the UK. The story is not true. I once read a complete debunking of it. It is false, a joke. There are so many reasons why it isn't true. Regardless, does anyone know any similar stories like that? Hoaxes, jokes about military equipment or units that are fantastical?
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lordroel
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Post by lordroel on Aug 2, 2021 17:23:37 GMT
lordroel mentioned to me yesterday HMS Belfast, the WW2 cruiser docked in the Pool of London. Today I remembered the story that, after it was berthed near Tower Bridge, its guns were pointed at a distant target somewhere north of London. HMS Belfast had her main guns targeting a far-off motorway service station, one thought likely to be taken by paratroopers/airmobile troops as a staging post for a hypothetical Soviet invasion of the UK. The story is not true. I once read a complete debunking of it. It is false, a joke. There are so many reasons why it isn't true. Regardless, does anyone know any similar stories like that? Hoaxes, jokes about military equipment or units that are fantastical? You mean this myth: Why Do The Guns Of HMS Belfast Point At A Motorway Service Station? |
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James G
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Post by James G on Aug 2, 2021 17:31:33 GMT
lordroel mentioned to me yesterday HMS Belfast, the WW2 cruiser docked in the Pool of London. Today I remembered the story that, after it was berthed near Tower Bridge, its guns were pointed at a distant target somewhere north of London. HMS Belfast had her main guns targeting a far-off motorway service station, one thought likely to be taken by paratroopers/airmobile troops as a staging post for a hypothetical Soviet invasion of the UK. The story is not true. I once read a complete debunking of it. It is false, a joke. There are so many reasons why it isn't true. Regardless, does anyone know any similar stories like that? Hoaxes, jokes about military equipment or units that are fantastical? You mean this myth: Why Do The Guns Of HMS Belfast Point At A Motorway Service Station?Yep, but that source interlinks with others and only mentions the 'target'... not the why. |
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stevep
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Post by stevep on Aug 2, 2021 17:54:56 GMT
lordroel mentioned to me yesterday HMS Belfast, the WW2 cruiser docked in the Pool of London. Today I remembered the story that, after it was berthed near Tower Bridge, its guns were pointed at a distant target somewhere north of London. HMS Belfast had her main guns targeting a far-off motorway service station, one thought likely to be taken by paratroopers/airmobile troops as a staging post for a hypothetical Soviet invasion of the UK. The story is not true. I once read a complete debunking of it. It is false, a joke. There are so many reasons why it isn't true. Regardless, does anyone know any similar stories like that? Hoaxes, jokes about military equipment or units that are fantastical?
Well there is the old story about the 15" guns at Singapore being unable to fire inland and hence failed to help against the Japanese invasion. As I understand it they could but because they were only expected to face naval targets they were only supplied with AP shells, which aren't a lot of good when firing into jungle.
Another one I remember from my childhood. The story about carrots being good for the eye-sight seems to have come from a cover story RAF pilots were told to use if captured by the Germans during the BoB. This was meant to hide the fact that British was being so effective at intercepting German air attacks due to radar - and of course a comprehensive air control system for interception. Possibly somewhat weakened as the Germans had radar themselves so presumably had some idea, hence their attacks on the coastal radar stations at one stage of the battle.
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James G
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Post by James G on Aug 2, 2021 18:12:20 GMT
lordroel mentioned to me yesterday HMS Belfast, the WW2 cruiser docked in the Pool of London. Today I remembered the story that, after it was berthed near Tower Bridge, its guns were pointed at a distant target somewhere north of London. HMS Belfast had her main guns targeting a far-off motorway service station, one thought likely to be taken by paratroopers/airmobile troops as a staging post for a hypothetical Soviet invasion of the UK. The story is not true. I once read a complete debunking of it. It is false, a joke. There are so many reasons why it isn't true. Regardless, does anyone know any similar stories like that? Hoaxes, jokes about military equipment or units that are fantastical?
Well there is the old story about the 15" guns at Singapore being unable to fire inland and hence failed to help against the Japanese invasion. As I understand it they could but because they were only expected to face naval targets they were only supplied with AP shells, which aren't a lot of good when firing into jungle.
Another one I remember from my childhood. The story about carrots being good for the eye-sight seems to have come from a cover story RAF pilots were told to use if captured by the Germans during the BoB. This was meant to hide the fact that British was being so effective at intercepting German air attacks due to radar - and of course a comprehensive air control system for interception. Possibly somewhat weakened as the Germans had radar themselves so presumably had some idea, hence their attacks on the coastal radar stations at one stage of the battle.
I believed the Singapore one until now! The origin of the carrots story is one I didn't know, but I have known it isn't true about night visions. |
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Post by fieldmarshal on Aug 23, 2021 11:43:11 GMT
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forcon
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Post by forcon on Sept 29, 2021 17:51:28 GMT
I do remember hearing one about US Marines fighting a giant in Afghanistan in 2002 or so. A personal favourite of mine is the one about the Gurkhas being asked to jump behind enemy lines during WW2. An English officer was allegedly disappointed that only half of the Gurkha battalion had stepped forward when he asked for volunteers to jump behind Nazi lines. The battalion commander replied, "well, sir, you haven't told them that they'll have parachutes yet."
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stevep
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Post by stevep on Sept 30, 2021 11:17:03 GMT
I do remember hearing one about US Marines fighting a giant in Afghanistan in 2002 or so. A personal favourite of mine is the one about the Gurkhas being asked to jump behind enemy lines during WW2. An English officer was allegedly disappointed that only half of the Gurkha battalion had stepped forward when he asked for volunteers to jump behind Nazi lines. The battalion commander replied, "well, sir, you haven't told them that they'll have parachutes yet."
That sounds so much like the bravery of the Gurkhas although hopefully even they wouldn't be that suicidal.  |
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ukron
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Post by ukron on Aug 4, 2022 13:36:27 GMT
The fact the French Pluton and Hadès tactical missile launchers weren't only deployed to counter a possible soviet offensive through Rhine but also to hit Germany in case of a deterioration of diplomatic relationships between Paris and Bonn (Of course, that's was just an hoax).
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stevep
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Post by stevep on Aug 5, 2022 10:29:13 GMT
The fact the French Pluton and Hadès tactical missile launchers weren't only deployed to counter a possible soviet offensive through Rhine but also to hit Germany in case of a deterioration of diplomatic relationships between Paris and Bonn (Of course, that's was just an hoax).
Just checking. You mean it was an hoax that they were deployed in part to counter a possible Soviet advance to the Rhine don't you?  |
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ukron
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Post by ukron on Aug 5, 2022 15:33:49 GMT
Lol
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lordroel
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Post by lordroel on Aug 5, 2022 15:44:27 GMT
You do know we have LOL button for LOL. |
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Post by Max Sinister on Aug 7, 2022 2:06:32 GMT
Well there is the old story about the 15" guns at Singapore being unable to fire inland and hence failed to help against the Japanese invasion. As I understand it they could but because they were only expected to face naval targets they were only supplied with AP shells, which aren't a lot of good when firing into jungle.
Another one I remember from my childhood. The story about carrots being good for the eye-sight seems to have come from a cover story RAF pilots were told to use if captured by the Germans during the BoB. This was meant to hide the fact that British was being so effective at intercepting German air attacks due to radar - and of course a comprehensive air control system for interception. Possibly somewhat weakened as the Germans had radar themselves so presumably had some idea, hence their attacks on the coastal radar stations at one stage of the battle.
The bit about Singapore makes an important difference. Well, except for the fact that the city still fell.
About the other story - didn't this involve the cracking of Enigma either?
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stevep
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Post by stevep on Aug 7, 2022 10:24:02 GMT
Well there is the old story about the 15" guns at Singapore being unable to fire inland and hence failed to help against the Japanese invasion. As I understand it they could but because they were only expected to face naval targets they were only supplied with AP shells, which aren't a lot of good when firing into jungle.
Another one I remember from my childhood. The story about carrots being good for the eye-sight seems to have come from a cover story RAF pilots were told to use if captured by the Germans during the BoB. This was meant to hide the fact that British was being so effective at intercepting German air attacks due to radar - and of course a comprehensive air control system for interception. Possibly somewhat weakened as the Germans had radar themselves so presumably had some idea, hence their attacks on the coastal radar stations at one stage of the battle.
The bit about Singapore makes an important difference. Well, except for the fact that the city still fell.
About the other story - didn't this involve the cracking of Enigma either?
The city and island fell because the peninsula had already fallen. Which was due to a wide range of issues including the poor quality of the defences of the colony and poor political and military leadership. Once the mainland had fallen and the Japanese had further isolated Singapore by landings in Sumatra then there was no way of rescuing it and the people trapped there any more than Bataan.
Most of the successes of the code cracking came later. The BoB was largely because of a combination of home advantage, fighter production really being boosted, the comprehensive air defence system of which radar was an important part, flaws in the Luftwaffe command and a lot of brave men and women.
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miletus12
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Post by miletus12 on Aug 29, 2022 2:52:27 GMT
The fact the French Pluton and Hadès tactical missile launchers weren't only deployed to counter a possible soviet offensive through Rhine but also to hit Germany in case of a deterioration of diplomatic relationships between Paris and Bonn (Of course, that's was just an hoax). Russians or Prussians, it is still a capability. Shorts would have landed on US 7th Corps. That means "rockets pointed in all directions". Essentially it translates into, " Don't Tread On Me, I Bite" This does not mean Macron would light up Sholtz with an ASMP, but he has that capability as an option, so it exists as an improbable possibility. |
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