History Forum / War History / World War II / August 2007

I just saw the Nazi Propaganda film "Titanic" (from 1943) and I have
to say it is terrible at its stated job of anti-British and American
propaganda. For those who have never heard of it, it was filmed at a
huge cost, by a director who committed suicide during the editing

An oddity in the news. Full story at
http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/europe/07/28/britain.wwii.bomb.reut/index.html
A live V-1 was found in a construction site in London. Interesting
factoid: according to the article, the British called them "doodlebugs".

I'm referring here to units of battalion size and smaller.
Were infantry battalions commonly commanded by majors or Lt. Colonels?
Were infantry regiments commanded by Colonels?
How many squads were in an infantry platoon and how many men did they

This is an attempt to put some figures on the loss of US AFV's in
France and Germany in 1944/45.  Most of the data is supplied
by Richard Anderson, the interpretation and conclusions are mine.
The vehicles covered are the M4 Sherman, broken down into the

A "what if" that's always seemed substantive to me, is what if the loss at
Stalingrad, Hitler's obstinate no withdrawal stance and the misjudgments and
over-reaching operations leading up  the debacle, were followed by a coup
removing Hitler.

If you go down the numbers of the Divisions, there are quite a few gaps
in the numbering - anybody know why?
csmdave

Here are some odds and ends of conventions that I have had clarified to me
of terms and spellings that were the way the Army was supposed to use them
....
- shrapnel vs. shell fragment

i. Did all US army infantry battalions commonly consist of 4 companies? Or
was there a headquarters company as well?
ii. Were the companies always called Mike, Item, Love, and King?
iii. Is Mike company always the heavy weapons company?

Anyone know how much (if any) the Japanese kept the Germans informed on things in the
PTO, and not just their victories, but their defeats, too?

In the UK BBC Book version there is a photograph on the front cover by
Walter Frentz of Hitler and his entourage at the Wolfs Lair.  Does anybody
know the title of the photo and if possible WHO is in it aprat from AH
himself and I think Romel who is looking at the camera?

I've read a few books on the battle of Stalingrad and it seems that
historians, German officers and Russian commanders all agreed that Paulus
was not up to the task, given his cautious, methodological style.
So, I'm curious as to why Hitler stuck to Paulus when he had other ...

Did the German Navy show any interest in the Prince of Wales and Repulse
sinkings by the IJN land based bombers? And if so, did they follow up on it
in any meaningful way.

I've read from various sources that attribute 100,000  French deaths
(360000 total wounded) vs. approx 45000 German deaths (+100000
wounded) in the short period beginning in May 1940 known as the the
Battle of France.

Jimmy Thach is quoted as saying, "A pilot who cannot hit with four guns will
miss with eight." (from wikipedia).
Did wildcats w/4 machine guns have realize significant performance
advantages over those w/6 (as to rate of climb, maximum speed)?

To anyone who could help,
  I am trying to find out if the 187th Port company was ever attached to The
101st Airborne Division. If so what type of a Unit was it during the Normandy
Campaign. I believe my father was in this company as a cook or baker.