What have you learned about WW2 recently?

Snorkel Tiger
No idea

 

White Coke - Wikipedia

 

I just listened to the latest episode of WW2 Podcast (#300!) which was about the SOE camouflage section book (Exploding Rats and...) by Craig Moore, and I'd have to say they'd have given James Bond's Q a run for his money. Things hidden in toothpaste tubes, explosive rats and radios disguised as bundles of firewood. Incredible!

 

I will have to find that.
What is the name of the Podcast?

 

WOW is the picture the same plane as he crashed? I have heard the story before but never really "got it"

 

It is actually just called WW2 Podcast. Just make sure it's the one by Angus Wallace.

 

And don't tell me who won, I'm still reading.

 

"And on the last episode of Snorkel Tiger..."

 

I am reading a book titled "Refusing War, Affirming Peace: The History of Civilian Public Service Camp #21 at Cascade Locks " by Jeffrey Kovac.
It is about a conscientious objector (CO) camp in Oregon (where I live).
I find it interesting how many of them had obvious feelings as to who should come out in front in the war, but felt no interest in fighting the war or being associated it for religious reasons.
There were a lot more of them than I thought, and they did a very wide variety of jobs during the war.

 

Bellamy salute - Wikipedia

 

Rallen (@rallen78.bsky.social)

 

Reading a book completely unrelated to WW2 I've just read about "sweetheart grips" .
I'm sure I've never heard of that before and we've covered nearly everything about WW2 on here over the years.
Examples here.
https://www.google.com/search?q=swe...AHWUcL8wQ7Al6BAgdEAM&biw=411&bih=804&dpr=2.63

 

One of my Boy Scoutmasters had them on his sheath knife. He was in the USAAF in the PTO and made them from some type of plane canopy . Come to think of it, I think he said he made the knife out of a file. Hadn't thought about that in sixty years.

 

Recently saw a Youtube video about German propaganda films trying to appropriate Irish anti-British feeling.Intrigued. Certainly an aspect of World War 2 I had never considered.

 

I just finished a book: 1945 Beginn einer Zukunft by Herrmann Glaser.
A fascinating documentation about our German mentality and the three Allies in Berlin and the three Zones.
One statement, I liked very much:"Born in early 1945 - the spring of a new world!"
Born in March 1945, this is what I always felt.

Stefan.

 

Bearn collided with a troopship and this man was one of those killed.

Private Thomas B. Twilley, Jr. (1922–1945) – Delaware's World War II Fallen

 

I know this will not be a surprise to you learned folk, but for me it was - the beaches Sword, Juno and Gold were originally named by Montgomery for fish? According to Max Hastings, Juno was originally Jelly until Churchill said that was a bit rubbish (I'm paraphrasing) what with the number of Canadians who were likely to be killed or wounded there.

 

Actually, Hastings is in fact just repeating a myth. There is no evidence that what became JUNO beach was initially called JELLY, and non whatsoever that the three British/Canadian beaches were originally given code names related to fish.
The code names given to all the D-Day landing areas were in fact related to the naval task forces allocated to each area, therefore OMAHA because this was the area allocated to Task Force O, SWORD because this was the area allocated to Task Force S etc. The naval task forces were given their designations before the beach areas, not the other way around. Giving naval task forces letter based designations was standard Royal Navy practice (Force H & Force Z are other well known WW2 Royal Navy task forces) , and it was the Royal Navy that got to name the task forces because they were providing the majority of the ships for Operation NEPTUNE. The names given to the D-Day beaches had no significance beyond them starting with the same letter as the corresponding naval task force.
There is an excellent description of the naming the D-Day beaches issue in Stephen Fisher's (our very own Spitfires of the Sea ) superb book "Sword Beach".

 

Naughty old Max! A fundamental flaw in much (most? all?) big-picture historical writing, I guess, but a little disappointing nonetheless. If you're going to publish stuff you should at least fact-check it, especially if the information is already out there. Thanks for this, Red Jim, very interesting - and makes more sense.