Part of the problem that the US Navy ran into when it went to war was that – like many military forces before or since – it had to learn some things for itself before it believed them. The British had over two years of experience fighting the Battle of the Atlantic at that point, but the Americans didn’t feel that they needed any advice from them on the matter. It didn’t help that Admiral Ernest J. King was an Anglophobe, in addition to having a generally abrasive personality. (His wife reputedly once said: “Ernie is the most even-tempered man I’ve ever met. He’s always in a foul mood.”) As a result, the Americans made mistakes in their early ASW methods of operations which could have been avoided. In fairness, the US Army had similar learning-curve problems in North Africa, notably at Kasserine Pass if I remember correctly.
WWII Pilot Greenland Glacier Crash Story
-
From the BBC website:
-
Wild!
I just read recently about a B-29 that landed on a lake in Greenland, and was left there for 50/60 years… in 1995 they tried to restore it - got it up and running, and then it burned :(
-
Wild!
I just read recently about a B-52 that landed on a lake in Greenland, and was left there for 50/60 years… in 1995 they tried to restore it - got it up and running, and then it burned :(
I watched a NOVA episode where a B-29 was restored during two year timespan and it burned on its attempt to get airborne killing several people. Very sad.
-
That was a ridiculous(rescue)story. Why even fly over Greenland? Sounds like it was unnecessarily dangerous!
And sad about the B29. -
@wittmann:
Why even fly over Greenland? Sounds like it was unnecessarily dangerous!
It may have had something to do with the US occupation of Greenland, which the Americans seized early in the war to prevent Germany from getting any idea of doing the same thing.
-
Thanks Marc.
I suppose it had value for tracking the Convoys. Not that I can imagine the Germans seriously considered capturing it. And with what exactly? -
@ABWorsham:
Wild!
I just read recently about a B-52 that landed on a lake in Greenland, and was left there for 50/60 years… in 1995 they tried to restore it - got it up and running, and then it burned :(
I watched a NOVA episode where a B-29 was restored during two year timespan and it burned on its attempt to get airborne killing several people. Very sad.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kee_Bird
The Kee Bird!
-
@wittmann:
I suppose it had value for tracking the Convoys. Not that I can imagine the Germans seriously considered capturing it. And with what exactly?
Capturing Iceland would have been more practical (it’s closer) and more useful (as a U-boat base) for Germany; for that reason, Britain occupied Iceland to deny it to Germany. I think the most sensible German use for Greenland – for which capturing only a small part would have sufficed – would have been as a meteorological station, given that weather typically moves west-to-east across the Atlantic . See this article for a related operation Germany undertook during the war:
-
@CWO:
@wittmann:
I suppose it had value for tracking the Convoys. Not that I can imagine the Germans seriously considered capturing it. And with what exactly?
Capturing Iceland would have been more practical (it’s closer) and more useful (as a U-boat base) for Germany; for that reason, Britain occupied Iceland to deny it to Germany. I think the most sensible German use for Greenland – for which capturing only a small part would have sufficed – would have been as a meteorological station, given that weather typically moves west-to-east across the Atlantic . See this article for a related operation Germany undertook during the war:
Germany did use Greenland for Weather Stations.
And America fought them there!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Greenland_during_World_War_II
-
Thanks both.
Fancy not knowing that. I would have been no use to the Axis war effort.
Suggested Topics
