The Gang of Five
Beyond the Mysterious Beyond => The Party Room => Ask Me => Topic started by: f-22 "raptor" ace on August 11, 2009, 10:12:36 PM
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As the name implies ask me your questions on military history.
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How come King Henry I was able to take Normandy with foot soldiers when Hitler couldn't do it with tanks?
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He used a reserve force to flank his enemy while his other two groups of infantry charged at the linesand envolped his foe in a pincer movement. (That's what I gathered from reading about it on wikipedia)
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I've heard about some WW2 ships classified as Cruisers, Light Cruisers, Heavy Cruisers, and Battlecruisers. What makes each type different?
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I've heard about some WW2 ships classified as Cruisers, Light Cruisers, Heavy Cruisers, and Battlecruisers. What makes each type different?
Heavy Cruisers are heavily armoured and have heavy guns usually 8inch guns, light cruisers are less armoured and usually have 6inch guns both are bigger than destroyers but smaller than battleships. A battlecrusier is like a battleship in size but has less armour though it still has the heavy guns of a battleship but it's speed makes it great for short quick attacks.
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I think battlecruisers in the British Navy were bigger than battleships. The HMS Hood (a battlecruiser) was bigger and more heavily armed than the HMS Prince of Wales (a battleship).
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Why is Sun Tzu's The Art of War the longest lasting successful military treatise of all time?
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the tactics and lessons in it are just as viable today as they were when he first wrote it.
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Who's more realistic: Gordon Freeman or John 117?
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John 117 because you never want to piss off a spartan.
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What set the battle of Malvern Hill (July 1st 1862) apart from any other major battle during the the US Civil War?
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Robert E Lee Continued to attack in in rows straight into the guns of the Union infantry even after another Confederate general told him attacking around behind the hill where the hill was less steeper.
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That's not so unique. Lee did launch uphill attacks against fortified federal troops before (e.g. at Mechanicsville and Gaines Mill just a few days earlier) and he would do so again at Gettysburg. The unique aspect about the battle of Malvern Hill concerns the victims / casualties of the battle.
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Uhm... I think I may possibly have misunderstood the whole point of this section posting quiz questions rather than real questions on which I don't know the answer. I'm sorry about that and if you want to I'll just give away the answer to the above question :oops
There is one other question though where I really don't know the answer but would really hope to get the answer from the experts (and knowing many of you live in a more heavily armed country than I do I may be successful about a question that concerns ballistics :lol).
I have read in many contexts, but specifically with reference to the American Civil War that soldiers were usually ordered to "aim low" because especially inexperienced troops tended to aim so high that they shoot way over the heads of their enemies. On some battlefields bullet marks on treetrunks way above a man's size bore wittness to the frequent too high aim of the soldiers. I never heard any reason why this was so. Can anyone tell me why aiming too high was so common an error or the 19th century (and I think not only the 19th century) marksmen?
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According to a book on Civil War weapons (Arms and Equipment of the Civil War by Jack Coggins), the bullets fired by these rifles tended to have a somewhat high trajectory. Also, marksmanship training was somewhat lacking in most Civil War commands.
And having fired a crossbow and a BB gun, I theorize that overcompensating for the "drop" in the projectile may also be a cause.
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By the end of WW2, most of those responsible for the war are dead. I know Mussolini was murdered by a mob, Admiral Yamamoto (the one who planned the Pearl Harbor attack) was shot down by P-38's, and Hitler committed suicide in a bunker. General Tojo was the one who took control of the Japanese military and sent japan to war, but what did happen to him by Japan's surrender?
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He was found guilty of war crimes and hanged in 1948.
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I remember reading about some war that lasted 72 hours or some small amount like that. What were the details on that war?
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Where did you come up with your character names Hans and Werner Donitz for the Darwin's Soldiers RP?
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Sorry about getting behind in this.
To answer your first question I looked but could not find anything about a war lasting 72 hours.
As for your second one LB&T I was originally think of Admiral Donitz when I thought of them but they are not related to him.
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I looked but could not find anything about a war lasting 72 hours
I think it was when Israel were attack by a few contries. But the plan backfired, and after 72 hours, Israel were victorious
I'm not entirely sure about this, but this is at least what I've heard.
Where the T-34 more efficient than the Tiger... except for outnumbering the Tiger?
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The T-34 had a better power/weight ratio, longer range, and a faster speed than the tiger. It also cost less the the Tiger to produce.
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What is current state of Russia as a military power and the inheritor of the Soviet war machine?
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In WW2, what's the typical number of a fully armed fleet? Or does it vary among countries?
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The typical number could be up to 10 or more ships. It varied among the nations and on how many ships they had.
As for the first question the russian military has been drasticaly weakened snice the fall of the Soviet Union many of the ships in it's navy are 30+ years old.
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I remembered in WW2, the Japanese planned to use balloons with bombs and send them across the Pacific to the United States. How many actually made it? And could the Roswell "incident" may have been connected?
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over 9,000 balloons were launched. 10% (around 900) were expected of to reach America 300 balloon bombs were found and it is likely there are still more in the forests of the pacific northwest. Over all they caused little damage and a few were destroyed or captured by the Army. it was connect to the Roswell Incedent because the Army said it was a weather baloon and some of the evidence supports this. On a side note a group of 5 school children found one and 1 adult were killed when one of them blew up they were the only deaths caused by the baloon bombs.
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What are the pros and cons of whether submachine guns use pistol rounds or rifle rounds?
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How did you choose the names for your Darwin's Soldiers characters (HAns and Werner)?
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Well the pros of submachine guns having pistol round are they have some hitting power but not as much as a rifle round would. The cons of it having rifle round would be you would have better range and stopping power but you would have to enlagre the weapon and if you did that it would no longer be a viable close quaters weapon.
To answer the second one I chose werner's name after the character Lt werner from Das Boot and I chose Han's name because my Oc Frank Anderson is German and had the name Hans before he moved to the US and changed his name to Frank.
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If there were a movie of Darwin's Soldiers made, who would you want to play Hans and Werner?
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I would want Thomas Kretschmann to play Hans I'm not sure who I'd want to play werner.
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How well does that new Russian fighter jet perform in comparison with modern American fighters?
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Have you thought of an actor for Werner yet? We're discussing a fictional movie in the Darwin's Soldiers RP right now, so if you know of an actor for Werner I'd like to post it.
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What is the operational range for a US Navy WWII PT boat? Say, a Elco 80'. Can these vessel operate in the ocean, or just near the coasts?
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answer to ? 1 the PAK FA in comparison to the F-15 and F-16 it is more advanced. in comparison to the F-22 and F-35 they are pretty much equal though the PAK FA lacks a gun on the prototype but it has provision for a cannon and it's new radar will reduce pilot work load time but will tell how well it is against the F-22 and F-35.
answer to ? 2 I'd want Shia LaBeouf to play him I guess.
answer to ? 3 Well they mostly stayed close to their island bases could go into open water as was the case with the PT boat that carried General Douglas Mcarthur from the Philippines to Australia.
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*Bump*
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Why do you, F-22, think are military inventions the allies developed during WW2 (such as the British Gloster Meteor and the American F-80 Shooting Star) so often disregarded while so much attention is given to some inventions that were planned by the nazis but (in many cases) never got so much as a prototype?
I know you are interested in modern military planes and I think in planes of WW2 (maybe also WW1?) as well. Are you also interested in the pilots and aces who flew those planes?
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Well I think that the inventions developed by the allies during world war 2 are disregarded because the German designs were much more advanced than the allies inventions.
I'm interested in military planes in general mostly word war 2 to present day but WWI planes deserve credit like the Fokker D VII since it was the best fighter of WW1. As for the aces I am interested in the aces and pilots who flew them but Erich Hartmann is one of the most interesting.
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Well I think that the inventions developed by the allies during world war 2 are disregarded because the German designs were much more advanced than the allies inventions.
Not really true. The F-80 Shooting star was superior to the Me-262 in pretty much every respect.
I do not doubt the fact that scientists in Germany did come up with some important innovations, but it sometimes puzzles me how the work of allied technicians is often overlooked.
As for the aces I am interested in the aces and pilots who flew them but Erich Hartmann is one of the most interesting.
As I was (still am) very interested in the history of aviation and hoped to make some interviews with surviving aces I tried to contact him many years ago, but but by that time he was already dead for several years and so was his adjutant whom I tried to contact as well. Some others aces were still alive at the time and I could exchange some letters and in one case make an oral history interview which I recorded on tape.
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It might also be that some of the work by German scientists was so radical and groundbreaking that it's just remembered more than the allied breakthroughs and also the post war uses of said breakthroughs. For example the Delta wing and the Swept wing designs. Also the engine designs the BMW 003, and the Junkers Jumo 004. The 003 with the help of Hermann ÷strich later became the Atar which powered the Dassault Ouragan and the Dassault Mirage III both of which were supplied to Israel.
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I would think German weapons of WW1 & 2 are so popular because they created weapons that were the first of their kind. Not THE best, but the first. The Germans were the first with chemical weapons, jet aircraft (which was the He 178 in 1939, and and no Allied had a more reliable jet engine before then), long-range rockets, assault rifles, battleships, and also to have the largest artillery, powerful tanks, and not to forget the possibilities of aircraft carriers (which were not completed by the end of the war) and the rumors of nuclear weapons.
If it wasn't for a series of factors that played a part on both sides, these weapons would've played a bigger part and the war would've had a different outcome.
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I have a question. I can't seem to find a definate answer anywhere which is surprising. Anyway, my question is: Does the Messerschmitt BF-109 have an aluminum airframe or is it made of something else?
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I also have a question that I can't find an answer to. Do WWII destroyer escorts, Cannon-class for example, carry active sonar or passive sonar (or both)?
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I read that the Me-109 had an all metal airframe but the book really did not say what metal was used but I beleive it was aluminum.
WWII Destroyers had Active sonar for sure but I'm not too sure if they had Passive sonar.
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What is your most favorite of the following:
Military Aircraft (any era)
Military Vehicle (any era)
Ship (any era)
Infantry Weapon (any era)
Ancient Weapon
Anything Else?
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#1 Before any of you ask no it's not the F-22 it would have to be the P-51 Mustang. the P-51 is like a old sports car it's sleek, fast, and is just a wonderfully designed aircraft.
#2 if any it would have to be the Tiger 1 tank yes it did have it's flaws but it was one of the most powerful and most well armoured tanks of the war.
#3 For ships I would have to say my favorite it's a tie between the Bismarck and the Hood. Now both these ships did face off but in the space of ten days both of these ships were sunk.
#4 Infantry weapons the Thompson submachine gun. it's my favorite infantry weapon because the eralier models could carry a 100 round drum magazine which the later models couldn't carry but it was still loved by front line troops for it's fire power.
#5 the Xiphos used by the Ancient Greeks it was a double edged single handed sword. It was about 50-60 cm long and very few seem to have survived through history but it was a secondary battlefield weapon.
That just about does it.
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OK, more of the silly stuff I asked above. What is your favorite of the following:
General or Leader (any era)
Battlefield (any era)
Innovational Technology (any era)
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MERRYCHRISTMAS!!!