Wartime Myths (and hopefully explanations!)

Dear forum Members,

I would like to list just a few of the wartime myths that cropped up during the five odd years of the conflict.

If members want to add to this list, feel free.

As we go, an idea as to the origin and explanation of the various myths will also be attempted.

Here goes. Hope you all enjoy.



1) Pilots Could Improve Their Night-vision by Eating Carrots

This myth was prevalent at the height of the Battle of Britain, and I believe continued right through the duration of the conflict. It stated that night flyers could, with a diet of raw carrots, make their night-vision something more than what it was. Pilot after pilot must have given it a try. Seems this myth was exclusively a British and Dominions 'thing'. It turned out to be totally untrue, with pilots getting intestinal trouble due to the raw food combined with constant altitude changes.

2) 'Scarecrow' AA Shells

This myth grew out of the steady supply of bombers whose cargo's were detonating over enemy territory. Rumour had it that the Germans had developed a certain type of AA device, fired from a gun, that could replicate the flash and bang of a bomber, and it was dubbed a 'scarecrow' shell. Tired and frightened pilots simply could not believe the evidence of their eyes and ears, and sought an explanation that blamed the enemy. The truth was that no such ordnance existed, in the German arsenal or elsewhere. Sometimes human nature will turn the obvious into the not so obvious, with a willing suspension of disbelief. To this day, some still believe this myth.

3) Adolf Hitler Had Only One Testicle

Arising from wartime gossip, Hitlers sex life was much examined, not only by wartime intelligence, but by the rank and file as well. It was an attempt to de-humanise an enemy that everyone wished to believe was just as depraved and brutal with the door closed as he was in public. I'm told that Hitler had a nickname in wartime Britain, "Sammy", from the popular old music-hall ditty that ran, "My name is Sammy Hall, I've only got one ball." The truth was that, not only was Hitlers sex-life with Eva braun quite normal, but all his testicles were right where they ought to have been as well. Eva's maid confirms that her menstrual cycle was normal, and the blood smeared sheets had to be washed like any other couple. Make no mistake, Adolf Hitler was a meglomaniac with no compunction about wasting human life for his own ends. He just wasn't that odd in bed.

4) Japanese Pilots Could Not Shoot Straight

This myth came forth from the inevitable rascism that dogged Pacific operations in the early days. Orientals, having poor eyesight, could not possibly operate a modern weapon like a fighter aircraft without being handicapped by their very oriental features. The Japanese Army and Naval Air Service quickly put paid to silly myths like that. Their infantryman had no problems with rifles, either, nor their artillery with calculations.

5) Japanese Soldiers Were Jungle Experts

With the invasion of Singapore, the rapid advances of General Yamashita's troops, hooking through the jungle around Allied roadblocks, gave forth a rumour that they were especially jungle trained and conditioned. A captured manual seemed to confirm these fears, enabling this myth to have a lively run. American/Australian operations in the Solomons and New Guinea told a different story, as the Japanese infantryman was revealed to have just the same frailties as any other human being in the jungle, particularly when un-supplied. The only jungle soldiers that could ever truthfully make this claim were the Papuans and Solomon Islanders themselves, who proved to be the best of all. This myth dies a hard death, as the 'Jap' was credited with more jungle 'nouse' right up to the end of the war. Seems some myths die harder than others.

6) The German Army Was Prevented From Taking Moscow by Muddy Conditions.

You may think this is a post-war myth, propogated by German generals wishing to whitewash the failings of the army in Russia. But this myth was around the traps as early as January 1942, with the High Command seeking to explain away the lack of suitable winter clothing to their understandably angry troops. This myth gained speed, to turn up as the excuse for the failure of the entire effort of Armee Gruppe Center, rather than just for lack of equipment. Truth was, that the muddy season was very short for the year 1941, and the ground froze, making mobile operations for far more of that period than the Soviets would have been comfortable with. Guderian also mentions that ammunition, food and fuel got priority, whereas winterclothing and other gear sat languishing in Poland. I suppose they had to tell the troops something to calm their fears, and restore their fighting spirit.

7) The Regia Marina Were Cowards

This myth cost many a life in the Med. Royal Navy Captains and personnel were fed a steady diet of propaganda about the capacities of the Regia Marina. Even Rommel used the myth for his own ends, consistently blaming the Italians for failure to deliver supplies and men. Truth was, that the Regia Marina failed to deliver only a small fraction of supplies and troops to Rommel. Royal Navy Captains were consistently amazed by the courage of Italian escort vessels, who regularly turned toward their attackers to enable the cargo vessels to arrive safely. The comic opera machinations of the Italian Army in Egypt were one thing, but the Regia Marina's performance despite many handicaps were a source of incredulous head shaking among their enemies. Truly, a myth that needs to be sunk forever.

8) 'The Second Front' Appeared Only in June 1944

The late Albert Speer, Hitler's Armaments Minister, in many post-war interviews, quashed this old myth, by stating that in addition to the the war weariness that it created, the Allied Bomber Offensive created a set of conditions on the home front of Germany that sapped the reserve potential of the German nation, keeping much material (including approx. 30,000 Flak pieces) and tying down as many as a million men, mostly in construction, trying to repair the damage, particularly to the transport network. This was , in fact, the "Second Front" that Joseph Stalin kept agitating for, and feeding the Soviet people a steady diet of half truth all the while. Whether this was as an excuse for the many losses they were sustaining, or simply to keep the Soviet people angry at the so-called lack of support, this myth still exists in one form or another today. Truth is, that the bombing campaign was a 'work in progress'. The Commanders that ran it were still fine tuning it as a weapon. Speer stated after Hamburg in 43' that "Six more raids like that would finish the war." Had Arthur Harris and others realised this, the results attributed to the Offensive may have been re-examined. As it was, the Allies were simply using their industrialism to fight a new kind of war, one not only unprecedented, but with far fewer losses than the envious Russian people could imagine. More modern credit for this needs to be had, along with a bloody campaign medal for Bomber Command. Modern recognition before all these veterans are gone forever would go along way to making up for the lack of it in 1941-45.

9)The Japanese Were Going to Invade Australia

This myth was most prevelant, obviously in 1942. It was used to whip up morale on the Australian home front, and to encourage more people to volunteer. Australia had over half a million men of military age who were exempted for one reason or another, and no conscription. Tired frontline soldiers in understrength divisions complained of having been thrust back into the line far more often than they ought to have, whilst an entire army of Australian men languished at home. This was not something these soldiers simply mythologized about. Postwar records prove it. But this was considered a myth at the time, as veteran soldiers in all nations have roughly the same gripe around dinner time. Passed off as a rumour, it turned out to be fact. The invasion itself was the rumour that turned out to be a myth. The Japanese, themselves, found that they were over-extended during their push into the Solomons/New Guniea. They could not attempt to gain both objectives at once, but tried anyway, and paid the price. New Guniea forces ended up canabalizing their dead during the retreat, and the number of troops poured into Guadacanal became cause for their infantry to refer to it as the "Island of Death".

I will leave the good members of this forum to fill in numbers 10, 11 etc. No doubt some of the learned people here can come up with more. Feel free to critique mine as well, as it's all about historical accuracy, and any critics will be cheerfully welcomed.

For the meantime, adios, and thanks for tuning in.

 

Brokaw's "Greatest Generation" is the myth that annoys me. It's a phrase that has become mainstream to describe the WWII generation in the US. The idea that a whole generation of human beings is better than any other generation is of course utter nonsense. The fact is that the vast majority of the "Greatest Generation" were just ordinary men placed into extraordinary situations. Most didn't even want to be there. Having said that, I'm taking nothing away from these men and women who had a job to do and did it. But I'm certain that if today's generation were faced with such a threat they'd do the same. History cannot be simplified like this and reduced to sound bites. But that's what you get when news readers start writing history books!

 

Wasn't no. 1 was made up by the British authorities in order to explain how our night fighters were able to find enemy bombers in the dark without revealing that we had developed radar sets small enough to fit into an aircraft?

 

Cats Eyes Cunningham

http://www.warhistoryonline.com/featured-article/legendary-fighter-ace-john-cats-eyes-cunninghams-medal-sell-for-a-record-384000.html

 

Drusus,

The carrot/night vision argument isn’t as clear cut as you make out, it certainly isn’t “totally untrue”

Briefly:
There are two types of photoreceptors in your retina, cones for colour discrimination and rods for black and white. The light sensitive pigment in rod cells, called rhodopsin, fails to regenerate as fast if you have a Vitamin A deficiency.
An extreme example of rhodopsin at work is when someone fires a camera flash in your face in a dark room and you can still see the flash for ages afterwards. Rhodopsin regenerates the rod cells eventually and the image of the flash in your eyes disappears. If you have a Vitamin A deficiency it will take longer for your eyes to get back to normal.
Carrots contain an abundance of Vitamin A which contains something called 11-cis-retinal which helps in the regeneration of rhodopsin after the rods have been exposed to bright light.

So if you had a healthy diet and your Vitamin A levels were normal then carrots probably couldn’t help. But if you were undernourished or your diet was Vit A deficient then eating carrots certainly would help your night vision.

Some light reading if you’re bored:

http://www.vetmed.vt.edu/education/curriculum/vm8054/eye/rhodopsn.htm
http://cpr.molsci.ucla.edu/cpr/cpr_info/rsc_preview.asp?a_id=700045&r_id=res6&e=e
http://www.health.harvard.edu/newsletters/Harvard_Womens_Health_Watch/2007/June/Blinded-by-the-night

Rgds

Pete

 

I did a lot of work on this a couple of years ago in a long thread on AHF concerning the two Rasputitsa periods of 1941; most people forget there are actually TWO "muddy periods" each year - a Spring one as well as a late Autumn/early Winter one!

In fact the Spring Rasputitsa of 1941 was both two weeks late and two weeks longer; by definition that year; the Scandanavian and Western European Spring Thaw didn't start on time, it was delayed several weks...which is why when the British arrived in Norway in April they found snow on the ground and waterlogged airfields...rather than the Spring thaw under way much longer and the terrain drying out!

Throigh late May and early June, when it should have finished...the "muddy period" was prolonged by a series of winter storms that passed over Scandanavia and Russia and Eastern Europe, brought down from the Acrtic by the Jet Stream being far further south that year....more of this in a monmoment...and the River Bug flooded three times that year, instead of its normal once.

Moving to the end of 1941 - the Raspititsa came early that year because of the winter weather. By definition - the Rasputitsa is when it freezes at night,...but thaws after sunrise every morning...so that hard frozen ground overnight turns immediately to muddy mush. Not unlike farmers ploughing towards the end of winter to allow the last frosts to break sods down. It ends when it gets cold enough that it doesn't thaw and go muddy each day....and something approaching "normal" mobility is possible on the frozen ground until the real extremes of Winter arrive.

It came two weeks early - but lasted only as long as normal in late 1941...because the extremes of Winter arrived early too! Thus it appeared to those trying to fight through it that it was shorter than normal; no, it ended early just as it started early

So...what was unique about 1941...and 1940, and 1942, come to that...?

Simple - on the other side of the world there was a La Nina event in the Pacific! Which, as I noted above (and happened last winter if you remember in the U.S.) allowed the Jet Stream to wobble much further south than normal, which meant that it didn't keep Arctic weather up in its normal northerly latitudes as it should have; hence the Arctic storms that in 1941 were drawn down out of the "Polar Spiral" and across Western Europe, Scandanavia and Eastern Europe.

The same thing had happened in the winter of 1939 and 1940; in Western Europe it resulted in the very bad winter of 1939...the worst in the UK for decades...and over Norway climatologists have re-interpreted historical weather data AND made discoveries in glaciers at the 1939/40 level that show that the Jet Stream came far enough south at the start of 1940 that it allowed Polar-type transient holes in the Ozone Layer to open over parts of Norway!

 

Eating carrots for night vision seems more of a propaganda line to get everyone eating carrots, a bit like potatoes are good for you in years there is a glut and bad for you in years there is a shortage. Brian

 

According to an official statement made by Hitlers doctor he actually did have only one testicle.Another account says that he had an affair with his niece.Later she committed suicide,and her death gave caused him to have deep depression.

 

Not according to a recent(I think) Channel 4 documentary all about Dr Morrell, Hitler was normal in that department as to his perversion, as far as I'm aware(maybe wrong) it is one authors speculation and there is no actual proof.

 

I am sticking to what I have stated.

 

everyone is entitled to his petty opinion

 

Nearly, but not quite, there. Official propaganda about carrots enabling air pilots to see in the dark was nothing to do with encouraging pilots themselves to go on a carrot diet, and I am not aware of any pilot being ill from a surfeit of carrots. The propaganda was to encourage carrot eating by the general population (by the suggestion that carrots would help one to see better in the blackout), but not to use up a glut of carrots. It was to encourage healthy eating generally, comparable to the present five-a-day campaign. It also helped the "Dig for Victory" campaign, in which people were encouraged to grow food in gardens and allotments, as carrots are relatively easy to grow, and can be eaten raw (as well as cooked), the point being that they can still be eaten even when the gas or electricity is out of action because of bombing, or during long nights in the shelter.

 

10)Hitler was sleeping on D Day and because of this,Overlord succeeded

11) A whole army was waiting on the Pas de Calais on an invasion which never came ,and because of this,Overlord was a success

12)Citadel failed because British intelligence warned the Soviets(the Soviets were to stupid to know about Citadel)

13) If the Germans had captured the oil fields of the Caucasus,the SU would have collapsed

14) Stalingrad was the fault of Hitler,not of his generals

15) Gehlen was a genious

16) The war was the responsabiliry of the West : if they had not capitulated at Munich,Halder would have arrested Hitler (source ;Halder)

17) The Germans were winning the BoB,but Hitler spoiled everything

18) If the Germans had 100 pilots as Hartmann,they would have won the war

19) Britain was broked and saved by Lend-Lease

20) The SU was saved by LL

21) Patton was better than Montgomery,because he was an American

22) Britain was fighting till the last Frenchman,Canadian,Australian (depending on where you are living /Paris,Quebeck or Hobart)

23) In the SU,it was only cold on the German side,while the Soviets paraded in shorts

24)If it was cold,it was the fault of Adolf

25) It was cold,the Germans had no winter clothing,(fault of Adolf) and 99 % survived.

The others (26-999) are for november

 

17. Which BoB? Britain or Bulge?

Chris

 

The Battle of Britain .

 

26)Hitler was stupid

27)Hitler was a genius

28) Malta was decisive for the war in NA

29) Poland was betrayed

30) If France and Britain had wanted,they could have marched through Germany in september 1939

31) The defeat of FRance was the fault of Gamelin

32)The WM was fighting an honorable war in the East ans was not involved in the Holocaust

33) The fall of Crete was the fault of Freyberg

34) Overlord was possible in 1943

35) Yalta was betrayal

36) The Germans had the first jet-fighters

37) The air offensive against Germany was the work of the USAAF

38) The decision of Churchill to send troops to Greece (Compass) prevented Wavell from capturing Tripolis in january 1941

39) The German air attacks were moral,the Allied air attacks were immoral

40) Speer was a genius (source : Speer)

41 ) The WSS was elite (source: the WSS)

42) Stalin was responsible for the Soviet defeats,the Soviet generals were responsible for the Soviet victories (source : Zhukov)

43) The Italian attack on Greece was responsible for the delay and failure of Barbarossa (source:Hitler)

44) Without the air attacks on Germany,Germany would have defeated the SU

45) Sorge saved the SU

46) The Siberian divisions saved the SU

47) FDR knew of the planned attack on PH but did nothing (source : a senator of Wisconsin)

48) Harry Hopkins was a Soviet spy (source : also Joe from Wisconsin)

49) PzD were essential (source :the tank lobby )

50) The only thing that counts in a PzD is the number of tanks (source : Guderian)

51 ) Basil Hart is a reliable source (source : himself and Guderian)

52) The guns of Singapore could only shoot direction sea

53) The memoirs of Guderian and Manstein are a must (source : Guderian,Manstein and Hart)

 

54) The Can of Worms : Arnhem :

The responsible of the defeat was Montgomery,no:Eisenhower, no:intelligence,no:the Airborne units,no:logistics,no : a traitor :King Kong .

 

THAT one is still being fought out IIRC. The Beevor comments on the post-invasion debate are the last I've seen, but still no resolution yet...unlike John Ray's book which seems to have been the final act of the Dowding/Leigh Mallory debate.

Technically, it was the fault of the Germans...

I've never been a fan of this idea; Halder only records HALF of Hitler's speech to the officers that day...see my comments elsewhere in this thread about the Spring 1941 Rasputitsa.

He was certainly warned that the stepped-up embargo after the occupation of IndoChina would lead directly to war. It was someone at State as they left the Oval Office, possibly Averill Harriman, can't remember offhand.

 

55) The British knew, through Engima decypts, that Coventry was the target for the Luftwaffe on the night of the devastating raid that almost destroyed the city. To move AAA guns and extra night-fighters to cover the city might have tipped the Germans off that we were reading their codes and, on direct orders from Churchill, no action was taken.

In fact, although we were reading their codes, the previously successful jamming of the German radio-navigation beams was carried out incorrectly and failed to work, plus once the fires had started in the city all Luftwaffe pilots had to do has visually home on the fires, which were visible from the Channel coast.