Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Worst weapons of WWII

Well, it was obviously caused by some nitwit's handload as there has never been a case of blow-up caused by a factory load. I know this because an editor has said so.

The Bell P-39 Aircobra was not a bad airplane, it was not a piece of junk- it was just a lousy fighter, but a hell of a good ground support airplane, had a 37mm cannon in the nose. The Russians loved the airplane. Bell made a lot of them for the Soviets. If you got to Watson Lake Yukon, there is one its a memorial - Americans would fly them to there, and Russian pilots would fly from across Siberia to were the fighting was. As for cannon tubes failing well they do from time to time. That Abrams was no doubt put back into service right quick they can pull barrels pretty quick on them. As for the liberator pistol, the intend was for the Frenchy to sneak up on the german and shoot him in the head and take his gun. And to give the germans a lot of sleepless nights thinking about it. A case of any gun is better than no gun at all.

How about the Japanese Type 97 grenade? Any kind of explosive that calls for striking it on a hard surface while it's in your hand is just a bad idea.

Thanks John. My apologies; I hadn't read the whole thread.

Now THAT, is a piece..

"I told Jerry to take the bore sighter out first!!!"

Fixed

There are a few facts that you are forgetting. First there was no way we could have prevented this short of fighting a war. There was no way that the west could have fought this war as we had just finished 4-6 years of war and were ready for peace.

It's a "worst", but not exactly a weapon:

Guy Small, head of British intelligence, flew to Washington DC about 3 months before Pearl Harbor, and briefed J Edgar Hoover on the impending attack. Apparently, Hoover did nothing with the information because we were caught completely flat footed.

Hoover later sent Small a very expensive gold table top cigarette lighter, which Small would show to his guests and tell them that it was his reward for not ratting Hoover out.

I knew Small's daughter, Anne, very well a few decades ago. Since I was into WWII history at the time, she took time to tell me some of the back stories that aren't in the books.

We realized in late 1941 that that there would be "an attack". However, I seriously doubt that anyone knew when and where the attack would take place. In fact, the evidence points against anyone but a very few people on the Japanese side who did know.

Anything else is just tin foil hat conspiracy nonsense.

The Allied forces in Sept. 1945, numbered in the millions, were now well-blooded, superbly and completely equipped and led by Brit.US.Canuck generals who had learned to like, respect and work well with each other.

The Russians, DID have LOTS of troops, but, their best were nowhere close to the US paras, the British Guards, Highland and other "regiments of the line" and certainly not to the outstanding First Canadian Army. They DEPENDED on US for supplies and many of their troops would have GLADLY defected if Allied lines were close enough to surrender to.

So, not that I am keen on war, too many of my immediate family bled in both WWs, but, we could have destroyed the entire Soviet Union in about 18 months or less with conventional weapons. We SHOULD have done so, BUT, Marshall read the mood of the US people very well and knew that the Yanks were sick and tired of sending their boys to die in some Euro. schithole for some foreigners who seem to never learn to live together in peace.

We of The Commonwealth, could have beaten the Russkies, BUT, we did NOT have the manpower to really survive such a conflict as viable nations and who wanted to end up like the poor, bloody civilian survivors in Germany, Poland and, for that matter, Russia, itself?

I know that almost every Canadian, Brtish and American combat veteran of WWII I have known, quite a large number, has told me that they just wanted the hideous slaughter to end so they could go home.....and, would any of us be different?

Complex situation, but, it may yet end that the Russians become our close allies against the horror and terror of radical Islam, Sikhism and all the other grotty scum of the "east".

PA is communist? Really? Dang I guess communism really isn't that bad then. Don't know what I was so worried about?

I am not forgetting nothing. The point I was trying to make was, that from Stalin's side the war was political in every aspect - while western forces were trying to win the war first and deal with after war Europe later. Stalin knew that Churchill did not trust him - that's why he cooked it with FDR instead - zones of influence and all that jazz. NKVD was moving east with Russian army, arresting and shooting russian immigrants from before the war along with russian POWs, Vlasov's soldiers and such. They were seeting everything ready for all those east block russian satelite we all remember from 1950 on till 1989.

I agree with you that Stalins war was completly political. As the Soviet army moved forward the NKVD set about removing any opposition in the occuppied countries.

FDR thought his charm and intellect would sway Stalin to cooperate with him. FDR was a fool.

After the defeat of Hitler there was still the war with Japan do deal with. Those American forces in Europe would be transferred to the Pacific for the planned invasion of Japan. And the U.S. was negotiating for the Soviets to invade Manchuria. The idea that the U.S. and the Brits could have forced the Red Army out of Eastern Europe is an unrealistic fantasy.

Agree 100%

At this stage in the war the Soviet Union no longer needed American largess to field their huge Red Army and Red Air Force. They were producing some of the finest equipment, particularly armor, in their very own factories.
The lousy Soviet officers had been weeded out to a large extent and the NCO's and junior officers were competent and experienced.
Battling the Red Army toe to toe with the Soviets having the advantage of interior lines of communication would have been folly.
Unless of course the US was able and willing to use their atomic monopoly against a former ally.

or not. I have always felt Roosevelt was a commie himself, and that he sympathized more with Stalin's aims than with Churchill's.

Too true! First time I saw the village of Greenbelt in MD I thought I am back in 50ties. Community owned store, community gathering place - the reign of FDR was closest the USA got to socialism.

Hmm, I take that back, the current administration is on the roll

FDR= Stalin's lap dog

More like Stalin's B-otch! FDR swallowed Stalin's BS hook, line, and sinker.

And more to the point though, for a gazillion reasons, we couldn't have fought the Sov's after the war. Almost no one would support that which is kinda sad. For Eastern Europe we traded one sociopath for an only slightly more stable sociopath. I thought we were there to liberate Europe, but apparently only parts of Europe. Sad.