Would you believe or Did you know?

[marcus69x]

Did you know...

Hitler had a taste for Fanta?

Apparantly, the German branch of Coca Cola invented it when they couldn't import Cola syrup from the States.

[von Poop]

Cokelore:
Urban Legends Reference Pages: Fanta and the Nazis

[Slipdigit]

The US Army had more ships that the US Navy.

More ships? I'd have to see some source on that before I would believe it. Perhaps they meant boats, but still the US Navy had over 15,000 water craft in it's inventory, not counting whale boats, Captain's barges and what not carried by larger ships.

84 German Generals were executed by Hitler
Germany lost 136 Generals, which averages out to be 1 dead General every 2 weeks

So if you were a German general, you were more likely to die by the hands of your own army?

During the Japanese attack on Hong Kong, British officers objected to Canadian infantrymen taking up positions in the officer’s mess. No enlisted men allowed!

This seems a bit stodgy to believe.

[Ron Goldstein]

Couldn't help wondering if this wasn't the same bloke who nearly hit me in Cockfosters last week !

[Andy in West Oz]

If not, probably related, Ron.

[dbf]

Belfast Blitz From Wikipedia

The Belfast Blitz was an event that occurred on the night of Easter Tuesday, 15 April 1941. Two hundred bombers of the Luftwaffe attacked the city of Belfast in Northern Ireland. One thousand people died as a result of the bombing and even more were injured. In terms of property damage, half of the houses in Belfast were destroyed. Outside of the city of London, this was the greatest loss of life in a night raid during the Blitz. Roughly 100,000 people of a total population of 425,000 were rendered homeless.

Government Preparation
Unfortunately there was almost no preparation for the conflict with Germany.
James Craig Lord Craigavon, Prime Minister of Northern Ireland since its inception in 1921, claimed; "Ulster is ready when we get the word and always will be." He was asked, in the N.I. parliament: “if the government realized 'that these fast bombers can come to Northern Ireland in two and three quarter hours'.” His reply was: “We here today are in a state of war and we are prepared with the rest of the United Kingdom and empire to face all the responsibilities that imposes on the Ulster people. There is no slacking in our loyalty.”
Richard Dawson Bates, the Home Affairs Minister, simply refused to reply to army correspondence and when the Ministry of Home Affairs was informed by imperial defence experts that Belfast was a certain Luftwaffe target, nothing was done.

Air-raid Shelters
Belfast, a city with the highest population density had the lowest proportion of air-raid shelters. Prior to the "Belfast Blitz" there were only 200 public shelters, although 4,000 households had built their own shelters. No searchlights set up, as they only arrived on April 10. There were no night-fighters. On the night of the raid, no RAF aircraft took to the air. There were only 22 anti-aircraft guns, six light, and sixteen heavy. On the night, only seven were operated for a short time. There was no smokescreen ability. There were some barrage balloons.
These air-raid shelters were Anderson shelters. They were just sheets of corrugated galvanised iron. Since most casualties were caused by falling masonry rather than by blast, these structures provided effective shelter for those who had them.

Children
Unlike other British cities, children had not been evacuated. There had been the "Hiram Plan" initiated by Richard Dawson Bates, the Home Affairs Minister, but it failed to materialise. Fewer than 4,000 women and children were evacuated. There were still 80,000 children in Belfast. Even the children of soldiers had not been evacuated, with calamitous results when the married quarters of Victoria barracks received a direct hit.

Instructions
When the bombs fell, the population did not know what to do. There were few bomb shelters. An air raid shelter on the Hallidays Road received a direct hit killing all those taking shelter within it. Many people who were dug out of the rubble alive had taken shelter underneath their stairs and were fortunate enough that their homes had not received a direct hit or had even caught on fire.
The population did not know whether to run, hide or stay in their beds.
In the New Lodge area people had taken refuge in a Mill, which presumably appeared to them to be a sturdy building. Tragically 35 were crushed to death when the mill wall collapsed. In another mill, the York Street Mill, one of its massive sidewalls collapsed on to Sussex and Vere Streets killing all those who still remained in their homes.
Major O’Sullivan reported "In the heavily ‘blitzed’ areas people ran panic-stricken into the streets and made for the open country. As many were caught in the open by blast and secondary missiles, the enormous number of casualties can be readily accounted for. It is perhaps true that many saved their lives running but I am afraid a much greater number lost them or became casualties."
That night almost 300 people, many from the Shankill, took refuge in Clonard Monastery in the Falls Road. The crypt under the sanctuary and the cellar under the working sacristy, had been fitted out and opened to the people, as an air-raid shelter. Prayers were said and hymns sung by the mainly Protestant women and children during the bombing.

Mortuary
The mortuary services had emergency plans to deal with only 200 bodies. In the event, the public baths on the Falls Road and on Peter’s Hill, and the large fruit market, Saint George’s market, were used as mortuaries. 150 corpses remained in the Falls Road baths for three days. Then they were buried in a mass grave, with 123 still unidentified. There were a further 255 corpses were laid out in St. George’s Market. Many bodies and parts of bodies could not be identified.
Mass graves were dug in the Milltown and City Cemeteries where the unclaimed bodies of those who died on that Easter Tuesday are buried.

Southern reaction
By 6AM; within two hours of the request for assistance, 71 fire men with 13 fire tenders from Dundalk, Drogheda, Dublin, and Dún Laoghaire were on their way to cross the Irish border to assist their Belfast colleagues. In each station volunteers were asked for, as it was beyond their normal duties. In every instance, all volunteered. They remained for three days, until they were sent back by the Northern Ireland government. By then 250 fire men from Clydeside had arrived.
De Valera formally protested to Berlin. He followed up with his "they are our people" speech.

“In the past, and probably in the present, too, a number of them did not see eye to eye with us politically, but they are our people – we are one and the same people – and their sorrows in the present instance are also our sorrows; and I want to say to them that any help we can give to them in the present time we will give to them whole-heartedly, believing that were the circumstances reversed they would also give us their help whole-heartedly …”

Frank Aiken, the Minister for Defence was in Boston Massachusetts at the time. He gave an interview to the press there, saying: “the people of Belfast are Irish people too”.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/northernireland/talkni/ask_blitz.shtml
“Northern Ireland's defences consisted of 22 anti aircraft guns, one squadron of fighters based at Aldergrove, which was not equipped for night fighting. And a balloon barrage.

When the first raids occurred it had no search lights, and no smoke screen. In addition it had shelters which would have held a quarter of Belfast population, if fully occupied.”

http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/stories/16/a4210516.shtml
“The Easter Sunday night and the Easter Tuesday night would have been about the 2 biggest raids. But, what they were after with the Waterworks was the docks.
We were stationed, after we done the training I was stationed up the Cave hill road. And we were in a direct run there right down to the docks. And there was a cruiser in getting repaired at that time, and they think they were after it, you see? Because they had AA guns on it and they were firing at the planes. And they had also an AA gun on the top of Gallaghers in York Street. It’s not there now either. And they had some around the Cave Hill. And then you had all these auld barrage balloons.”

http://www.bbc.co.uk/northernireland/yourplaceandmine/topics/war/belfastblitz//raid1.shtml
Timeline, pictures and video

“Without the advice of the ops room Belfast's anti-aircraft guns fall silent for fear of hitting "friendly" Hurricanes. Unaware Fighter Command had already withdrawn the Hurricanes”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulster_Hospital
Ulster Hospital was “subsequently moved to Mountpottinger Road and then Templemore Avenue. While located in Mountpottinger the hospital was severely damaged in the 1941 Belfast Blitz.

For gallery of photos, incl original Luftwaffe recon photo of Belfast Docks area and the pilot Georg Deininger Kampfgruppe 100, who took part in the raid on Belfast, 15-16 April 1941, see: http://multitext.ucc.ie/viewgallery/1092

================================
In memory of my husband’s g-aunt:
Volunteer BETTY BURLEIGH
W/39496, Auxiliary Territorial Service
who died age 21 between 15 April 1941 and 16 April 1941
Daughter of William and Mary Burleigh, of Florencecourt.
Remembered with honour
KILLESHER CHURCH OF IRELAND CHURCHYARD
Killed whilst working at a Hospital in Belfast.

And my grandfather, RA (CD & AA), who was stationed at Orangefield, Belfast.

And all the others who perished and suffered...

[dbf]

Found this old article from the Telegraph, about rugby players ...

"Which country had most international rugby players killed in action during World War Two? England? France, perhaps? ..."

Talking Rugby: Timely tribute paid to rugby's fallen heroes - Rugby Union News - Telegraph
http://www.cwgc.org/admin/files/Rugby%20leaflet.pdf
dbf