Some more WW II facts many people aren't aware of:- (Hope they are of interest to you???)
Operation Fortitude was the collective codename for a number of the deception operations used by the Allied forces during World War II prior to and following the Normandy landings. It was part of the overall deception plan for 1944, Operation Bodyguard. Fortitude had two forms:
Fortitude North, which was to instill in Hitler and his generals fear of an amphibious landing in Norway, and Fortitude South, which was to trick the German high command into believing that the landings would take place in the Pas de Calais rather than on the Normandy beaches.
In Operation Quicksilver the Allies created an entire fake army. FUSAG, the First United States Army Group, was largely fake except for its leader, General George Patton, some token units and a complete signals outfit sending made up traffic. Patton was unpopular with the Allied high command, but he was regarded by leaders on both sides as one of the Allies' best mechanized warfare experts.
At no point were the Germans fed false documents describing the invasion plans. Instead they were allowed to construct a misleading order of battle for the allied forces. To mount a massive invasion of Europe from England, military planners had little choice but to stage units around the country with those that would land first nearest to the embarkation point. By placing FUSAG in the south-east, German intelligence would (and did) deduce that the center of gravity of the invasion force was opposite Calais, the point on the French coast closest to England and therefore a likely landing point.
The Allies were able to easily judge the effectiveness of these strategies. ULTRA intelligence — that gained from the breaking of German codes and ciphers, such as the Enigma machine — was able to provide an indication of the German high command's responses to their actions. They maintained the pretense of FUSAG and other forces threatening Pas de Calais for some considerable time after D-Day, possibly even as late as September 1944. This was vital to the success of the Allied plan since it forced the Germans to keep most of their reserves bottled up waiting for an attack on Calais which never came, thereby allowing the Allies to maintain and build upon their marginal foothold in Normandy
Quotes
"So how successful was (Operation) Fortitude? It couldn't have been more successfulStephen Ambrose
There were times I wished I were in that paper army instead of where I actually was as they were usung REAL bullets and I might have been hurt (LOL)
On this day in 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union sign a non-aggression pact, stunning the world, given their diametrically opposed ideologies. But the dictators were, despite appearances, both playing to their own political needs.
After Nazi Germany's invasion of Czechoslovakia, Britain had to decide to what extent it would intervene should Hitler continue German expansion. Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, at first indifferent to Hitler's capture of the Sudetenland, the German-speaking area of Czechoslovakia, suddenly snapped to life when Poland became threatened. He made it plain that Britain would be obliged to come to the aid of Poland in the event of German invasion. But he wanted, and needed, an ally. The only power large enough to stop Hitler, and with a vested interest in doing so, was the Soviet Union. But Stalin was cool to Britain after its effort to create a political alliance with Britain and France against Germany had been rebuffed a year earlier. Plus, Poland's leaders were less than thrilled with the prospect of Russia becoming its guardian; to them, it was simply occupation by another monstrous regime.
Hitler believed that Britain would never take him on alone, so he decided to swallow his fear and loathing of communism and cozy up to the Soviet dictator, thereby pulling the rug out from the British initiative. Both sides were extremely suspicious of the other, trying to discern ulterior motives. But Hitler was in a hurry; he knew if he was to invade Poland it had to be done quickly, before the West could create a unified front. Agreeing basically to carve up parts of Eastern Europe-and leave each other alone in the process-Hitler's foreign minister, Joachim von Ribbentrop, flew to Moscow and signed the non-aggression pact with his Soviet counterpart, V.M. Molotov (which is why the pact is often referred to as the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact). Supporters of bolshevism around the world had their heretofore romantic view of "international socialism" ruined; they were outraged that Stalin would enter into any kind of league with the fascist dictator.
But once Poland was German-occupied territory, the alliance would not last for long.
I'm sure you know that at times there is a sort of perverse or almost sadistic humor among the troops but it was used at times as a safety valve and here's one such incident.
In Normandy,near either Rennes or Laval(senior moment-I forget which),we decided to spend the night in a nearby farm house that was virtually intact. With us was a "so-called" Plt.Sgt. that had reached that rank in the National Guard through POLITICAL INFLUENCE back home. Most of the guys requested that they be allowed to be behind him when advancing because he would fire at anything he was so scared. Believe me he wasn't a leader!! I tried several times to unload him to no avail. Even considered shooting him myself!!(LOL)
A couple of my "real NCOs" came to me with a proposal they wanted to put in effect but to protect me they asked that I not get into any details of said proposal. Knowing these men, I knew it would be much better if I truthfully could say after the fact that I had no knowledge of the "prank". Never could lie!!
Naturally, since this was a farm the house had no indoor plumbing so a "slit trench" was dug in a sort of a grove of trees for all to use and it was out of sight and dark here.(Have to properly set the stage)!!
In the barn we found a Kraut bicycle,weapons and camouflage capes etc. left behind when we moved up and into the farm. The "real NCOs" fashioned a figure in the shadows with a statue that from a distance was a work of artful deception that appeared to be a Kraut sniper who did travel on bicycles for obvious reasons and some did travel alone. The bike,rifle,camo jacket etc. were all there.
After eating and before bedding down, the "real NCOs" suggested a check of the perimeter and the slit trench area with the "Plt. Sgt." as the leader but this was was after suggestive stories about hearing noises in the barn,across the road in the Hedgerow field etc which scared the living you know what out of our friend. Off they went and in a few moments I heard ungodly screaming about a sniper in the grove so everybody went down ASAP. Not knowing any better,the Plt. Sgt. threw a few grenades and shot the daylights out of the make-believe sniper with a Thompson while the rest of the patrol was rolling on the ground with laughter.
From that day on until he managed,and I don't know how,to be transferred back to England accompanied by his nickname "Sniper".
The Company Co. was not amused but did admit he was glad he was gone.
Wanted to share this with you folks, as there are a few things about it that make it out of the ordinary and (I believe) interesting! It is a passport/ID booklet issued by the Deutsches Konsulat to Yokohama Japan. The two-Axis connection itself makes it unique, but the date on which it was issued is also interesting: December 9, 1941......Just 2 days after Pearl Harbor was attacked! Do you think maybe the staff of the German Consulate had a clue that things might be getting busy soon? The Waffenampt stamps are very crisp & clear, the first being dated in '41. Another interesting thing is that big purple stamp from the "Tokyo International Business & Trade Bureau", which is stamped "June 27,1950." Okay.....the girl is not bad looking either .
Now I must confess: I don't read German or Japanese, so when I first saw this was issued by the German "Konsulat" I thought perhaps the woman might be some high-ranking SS or Gestapo person, and started thinking "$$$$ B " for Jim, but when I showed it to a German speaking friend, she told me there was a word there that indicated she was probably just some kind of domestic helper, like a Nanny or something ..............
We left England aboard a troop ship just about a week after D-Day and there wasn't a whole lot a space aboard the ship but the trip was fairly short. When we got about a half mile off-shore they dropped cargo nets over the side and I'm sure you remember the drill. Groups of sixes were lined up and approached the side to descend into the Higgin's boats that were coming along side when the word was given-down you went with all your gear. (Note - The Channel must be loaded with the gas masks that were thrown over the side as excess weight.)
Due to the swell that was running this day, the sailors had painted a line on the ship's side below which you were not to go. In truth,it wasn't too high but to us it looked liked we had to climb down from a very high place into a a canoe which was to hold about a Platoon of Infantry.
The swell had guys sick just looking down at the boat and one guy got so agitated he didn't think to stop at the painted line and when the swell carried the Higgins boat up it knocked him off the cargo net and he was gone. I've always remembered that because we hadn't even got onto the landing craft and we had lost a man that I knew very well. That sobered everybody and all talking stopped. Even the nervous type of talking trying to hide your fears.
Then the circling began until the required number of Higgins boats were filled and this took time and caused a lot of the men on the boat to get sea sick. By the time we were lined up in our wave, we were knee deep in vomit and God forbid you fell down but several men did and it wasn't pretty.
One man in the Plt. was lying on the deck and when we got to the beach he said he was too sick to walk ashore let alone fight if he had to. The Plt. Ldr.told him that if he didn't get up and in position he would go back to the troop ship and surely be sent back to the beach again. That was enough to get him on his feet and to wade ashore(thankfully this washed a lot on the vomit off him in the process) so he looked and smelled much better.
The next day the "sick" man approached me and was very upset because he said he just realized that in order to get back to the States,if he "made it',he would have to get back on a ship and he didn't think he would be able to do so.
I'm happy to say he made it back to Michigan and after a number of years died in his own bed at home with his wife and family around him.
Here's what it looked like -talk about a cattle boat and the Krauts were using REAL BULLETS OY VEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The Waffenampt stamps are very crisp & clear, the first being dated in '41. Another interesting thing is that big purple stamp from the "Tokyo International Business & Trade Bureau", which is stamped "June 27,1950." Okay.....the girl is not bad looking either 
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Dogdaddy
