Feb. 27, 2004 During World War I, Fort Douaumont at Verdun in France was captured in 1916 by a single German soldier after French General Chretien forgot to pass on orders to defend the outside fort to the last man to his successor. On 25 February 1916 the spectacular event happened: A German sergeant was smashed into the moat of Fort Douaumont due to a nearby explosion. The sergeant, a member of the 24th Brandenburger division, decided to have a better look at the fort. He was surprised when he discovered that there were only a couple of French soldiers to defend Douaumont. The sergeant walked in and took the French defenders as prisoners of war. The rumour that Douaumont was taken by the Germans was an enormous shock for the French soldiers, reinforcements and staff in the city of Verdun. From now on the Germans could aim their guns directly at the city.
Feb. 26, 2004 A "siesta" ordered by Mexican General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna to his troops during a conflict between the Mexicans and Texans caused the infantry to be overtaken in just 18 minutes.
Feb. 25, 2004 The Russians tried to wreak havoc on German Panzer divisions during WWII by strapping bombs to the backs of dogs and teaching them to associate food with the underneath of their enemies' tanks. Unfortunately, the dogs only associated food with their own tanks and forced an entire Soviet division to retreat.
Feb. 24, 2004 The German submarine U-1206 was sunk by a malfunctioning toilet.
Feb. 23, 2004 During World War II, more U.S. servicemen died in the U.S. Army Air Corps than in the Marine Corps. While completing the required 25 missions your chance of being killed was 71 percent.
FACTOID: Feb. 20, 2004
At the time of Pearl Harbor, the top US Navy command was called CINCUS (pronounced “sink us”).
Feb. 20, 2004 At the time of Pearl Harbor, the top US Navy command was called CINCUS (pronounced “sink us”), the shoulder patch of the US Army’s 45th Infantry division was the Swastika, and Hitler’s private train was named “Amerika”. All three were soon changed for PR purposes.
Feb. 19, 2004 The largest ever airborne invasion was the Anglo-American assault of three divisions near Arnhem, Netherlands on 17 September 1944 -- Operation Market-Garden. 34,000 men, 2,800 aircraft and 1,600 gliders were involved.
Feb. 18, 2004 Chrysler built B-29's that bombed Japan, Mitsubishi built Zeros that tried to shoot them down. Both companies now build cars in a joint plant called Diamond Star.
Feb. 17, 2004 During the Vietnam War, soldiers used slinkies as radio antennas by stretching the coiled-up toys between two trees.
Feb. 13, 2004 The siege of Leningrad is considered to be the worst in history. The siege lasted for 900 days, from September 8 1941 until January 27 1944. In January 1943 the Siege was broken and a year later, on January 27 1944 it was fully lifted. At least 641,000 people had died in Leningrad during the siege (some estimates put this figure closer to 800,000).
Feb. 12, 2004 In World War I women served in two roles: nurses or telephone operators.
Feb. 11, 2004 The Civil War provided the first recorded incident of American soldiers making an effort to ensure that their identities would be known should they die on the battlefield. Their methods were varied, and all were taken on a soldier's own initiative. Some troops fashioned their own identification tags out of pieces of wood, boring a hole in one end so that they could be worn on a string around the neck. Upon seeing the demand for tags, the commercial sector began to provide and improve identification products.
Feb. 10, 2004 By 1862 there were four grades of general in the Confederate Army: brigadier, major, lieutenant and full general. All wore the same insignia making it impossible to identify a general´s rank by his uniform.
Feb. 9, 2004 During World War II the military production of the Ford Motor Company exceeded that of the whole of Italy. During 1942, Ford Motor Company halted its civilian car output and shifted to total military production.
Feb. 6, 2004 The only place where a flag flies all day, never goes up or comes down, never flies half-mast and does not get saluted, is the moon.
FACTOID: Feb. 5, 2004
During World War I, Rolls-Royce went to battle.
Feb. 5, 2004 During World War I, Rolls-Royce went to battle. Colonel T. E. Lawrence, the famous "Lawrence of Arabia" fought the Turks with nine "Silver Ghosts," once writing, "A Rolls in the desert was above rubies."
Feb. 4, 2004 During World War II, “gray” steel cents were issued to conserve usage of copper.
Feb. 3, 2004 Parrots played an important role in aerial warfare during World War I. Because of their acute hearing, they were kept on the Eiffel Tower to warn when an aircraft was approaching long before the planes were heard or seen by human spotters.
Feb. 2, 2004 The Sanskrit word for "war" means "desire for more cows."
