Parts Catalog Accessories Catalog How To Articles Tech Forums
Call Pelican Parts at 888-280-7799
Shopping Cart Cart | Project List | Order Status | Help



Go Back   PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum > General Discussions > Off-Topic Discussion

Reply
 
LinkBack Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old 04-08-2013, 08:11 PM
Fulcrum525's Avatar
Sing Blue Silver
 
Join Date: May 2008
Location: CT
Posts: 2,117
Amazing WW2 Stories

They are always popping up....

USS Borie (DD-215) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

__________________
1982 300GD Carmine Red (DB3535) Cabriolet Parting Out
1990 300SEL Smoke Silver (Parting out)
1991 350SDL Blackberry Metallic (481)

"The thing is Bob, its not that I'm lazy...its that I just don't care."
Reply With Quote
  #2  
Old 04-08-2013, 08:29 PM
BenzDieselTuner's Avatar
Großmeister, OBK #7
 
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Southwestern Germany / Southwest Florida
Posts: 301
i have quite a few amazing true war stories, German war stories, that i have collected from various old people, relatives of friends, handed-down tales told to them as young boys by their great-grandfathers, etc etc.....

some of them are pretty amazing.....dont know if anyone here wants to hear such tales of glory, as they are from a German perspective, and involve fighting the russian enemy and fighting to hold back the allies of the west......still some very amazing tales.....wouldnt believe some of them myself, if they hadnt been told to me by old men in wheelchairs, most of who are "nodding off" in the head with their old age, but ask them about the war, and they suddenly become energetic and remember everything from that time as clear as if it happened yesterday.....

for example.......ask me about the story from the man in Eberstadt, who's remodeling work we always do, about the gold.......took the 600 man crew three days to carry aboard, working night and day with no rest allowed........in the end he was one of three men out of over 100 that survived the blast, after 5 days in the water with the sharks, north of Australia.....

or how about how my boss's grandfather's brother was at Stalingrad, and had to follow orders and be shot by his boyhood friend, so that he could leave on a transport aircraft for the wounded, even though he wanted to be the one who sacrificed himself to save his friend.......sticks were drawn every morning and every evening, by men in groups of three......the one who won got to be shot and live and go back to Germany, while the other two had to flip a coin to decide who has to be the shooter....he wanted to stay behind and let his friend be the one to go, but orders were strict, that the results of the lotto be followed, no matter what......he never saw his friend again, who froze to death on the front there at Stalingrad.....he was posthumously granted the Iron Cross Second Class, which was the only thing the family ever got back after he left to fight......
__________________
-Justin

I believe in extreme automotive perfection whenever possible.......there is no such thing as "It doesn't matter" !!!

1985 300 CDT - 287k miles

1980 240 D - 340k miles

With extras !!

http://facebook.com/BenzDieselTuner

http://facebook.com/SWFLAlternativeFuelsClub

http://facebook.com/SWFLBenzClub

http://SWFLBenzClub.com
Reply With Quote
  #3  
Old 04-08-2013, 08:55 PM
Fulcrum525's Avatar
Sing Blue Silver
 
Join Date: May 2008
Location: CT
Posts: 2,117
Quote:
Originally Posted by BenzDieselTuner View Post
i have quite a few amazing true war stories, German war stories, that i have collected from various old people, relatives of friends, handed-down tales told to them as young boys by their great-grandfathers, etc etc.....

some of them are pretty amazing.....dont know if anyone here wants to hear such tales of glory, as they are from a German perspective, and involve fighting the russian enemy and fighting to hold back the allies of the west......still some very amazing tales.....wouldnt believe some of them myself, if they hadnt been told to me by old men in wheelchairs, most of who are "nodding off" in the head with their old age, but ask them about the war, and they suddenly become energetic and remember everything from that time as clear as if it happened yesterday.....

I watched the movie "Stalingrad" and I one scene that always stood out for me was of the last Ju-52 taking off....

By all means please post them! It's rare to hear the German side of things and I think people have finally been learning to listen to them without automatically invoking Godwins law after one post

I think the Kiwi does a good job of explaining why (2:14 with the really relevant bit starts at 6:40)
Why World War 2? - YouTube
Reply With Quote
  #4  
Old 04-08-2013, 10:26 PM
Hatterasguy's Avatar
Zero
 
Join Date: Nov 2002
Location: Milford, CT
Posts: 19,318
Hans Von Luck has some pretty good stories, he was quite a story teller.

My two favorite were of the Luftwaffe Flak crew that decided in Normandy that shooting at Canadian tanks on the ground was not in their job description, and that they only shot at airplanes!

Von Luck produced his pistol and ordered the Captain to shoot at the tanks, or he would shot him, promote his Lt, and hopefully he would shot at the tanks. Never argue with a sleep deprived, pissed off German Lt Colonial who is hell bent on doing his job.

The Canadian tanks had a bad go of it.

The other story was when he got re assigned from Russian in early 1942 and decided to jump into his Mercedes with his orderly and drive to Berlin non stop with lots of pep pills.

Well they got a bit turned around and their unit was out front...so before they knew it they were driving threw a clearing and a group of Russian infantry...the Russians didn't shoot at first because they were so surprised! His orderly was driving and he ordered him to floor it towards the other side of the clearing as he leaned his machine pistol out the window and let a mag fly, and as Russian bullets were punching holes in his beloved Mercedes.

He also said that the best way to get fuel quickly from depots behind the lines was to tell the motor pool guys that the Russians had broken threw and that they were running from them!
__________________
1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200
Reply With Quote
  #5  
Old 04-09-2013, 07:19 AM
Registered User
 
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Carson City, NV
Posts: 3,850
I always enjoy a good war story no matter which side it's from. The Forgotten Soldier by Guy Sajer is/was on the Marine Corps Reading List, which I was about 2/3 of the way through before I got sidetracked. Short version: French guy with some German ancestry joins the German army during the war, is generally a lousy soldier by his own admission, but still manages to survive a long stint on the Eastern Front, and by all odds should have died several times over. Gets lucky as the war is ending and is transferred to the Western Front in time to surrender to the Allies, does a brief stint of "rehabilitation" serving in the French army, and goes on to become a successful cartoonist.
__________________
Whoever said there's nothing more expensive than a cheap Mercedes never had a cheap Jaguar.

83 300D Turbo with manual conversion, early W126 vented front rotors and H4 headlights 400,xxx miles
08 Suzuki GSX-R600 M4 Slip-on 22,xxx miles
88 Jaguar XJS V12 94,xxx miles. Work in progress.
Reply With Quote
  #6  
Old 04-09-2013, 08:08 AM
dynalow's Avatar
Registered User
 
Join Date: Feb 2002
Posts: 1,599
Thumbs up Death of a Wooden Shoe

An illegal diary was kept by a young Coast Guard sailor serving aboard a wooden trawler on the Greenland Patrol in 1942.
A long, but interesting read, especially the last part telling of a return trip to Boston in Dec. of 42. A three ship convoy hit a hellacious storm and one was lost.
(In the interest of full disclosure, my father served on the Greenland Patrol May '41 to Mar.'42 & July '42 to June '43.)

http://www.uscg.mil/history/weboralhistory/WoodenShoe.pdf

December 19, Saturday; At sea.

Weather conditions unchanged. This must be hell for hell too is eternal.
We continue to chop ice like there is no tomorrow and possibly there may not be. Wind and waves beat at us. Snow is intermittent. The army weatherman’s predictions are devastating. Barometer is useless, weather changes so swiftly.
Flu-like symptoms prevail. Men move silently. Weariness takes it’s toll. Conversation is an effort.
The anemometer high on the yardarm records maximum speed, then jams. Later it tears away from the yardarm, falls into the sea, and is lost. Finally, the yardarm is ripped from the mast and the mast splits. Rope lines that had been left strung and secured are torn loose. They fray and snap in the wind and must be chopped away. I am stricken with the worst sea sickness experienced to date. My retching ceases after I spit some blood.
The radio antenna strung from fore to aft masts has flown away. It is now impossible to send SOS or Mayday should such an emergency arise. It will be great if we should have no such need.

Maggie and the aerographer are in the pilot house as I take over the wheel. Water sprays into the pilot house through the skipper’s old peep hole. It splashes onto clothing and becomes ice crust. The skipper speaks kindly to me. No sarcasm or impatience. As many times in the past, he asks many questions, mostly about my home life, my family, friends, and hobbies. He grins broadly when I tell him I am the second youngest of twelve children. I tell him my oldest brother Ben served in World War I, while brothers Joe, Ray, and Ed are serving in World War II. Ben, the oldest, is thirty-one years older than Ed, the youngest. Ben has a son older than I am. Conversation keeps time moving along. Maggie tells me much more about himself. I believe we have become shipmates.

Maggie’s glances return again and again to my cold hands. I’d forgotten to bring along my waterproof mittens. Maggie disappears into his cabin and returns with a heavy pair of woolen socks and pulls them onto my hands. He pours both of us several ounces of dry gin. Mine burns it’s way to my stomach. It is stimulating and I am grateful.

The rudder becomes ever more difficult to control because my strength is not up to par. The wheel is necessarily large to provide leverage enough to move the giant rudder. My first Coast Guard vessel, the Sea Cloud, was equipped with electric motors that provided the necessary muscle. Not so the Nanok. Nanok’s rudder shaft is topped with a quadrant strung with heavy chain that leads through a series of pulleys, into the pilot house. There, the chain-ends are led-in from both port and starboard sides and are fastened to cable ends. The cable itself is wound around the axle of the ship’s wheel. Controls of this type are powered solely by man’s muscle. It is all one can do to steady the wheel as the seas whiplash the rudder. My arm muscles cramp and I pound the arm against the wheel to alleviate muscle constriction while I steer with the other. My teeth chatter constantly and I wonder why they don’t shatter. My knees quiver again with cold. According to the adjustment holes in my belt, I have lost much weight and several inches of girth............
Reply With Quote
  #7  
Old 04-09-2013, 09:04 PM
Hatterasguy's Avatar
Zero
 
Join Date: Nov 2002
Location: Milford, CT
Posts: 19,318
Sounds like some of the Cape Horn log entries I have read.

Day 8 decks awash.

Day 9 decks awash, lost three men overboard trying to lash a sail.

Day 10 decks awash.
__________________
1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200
Reply With Quote
  #8  
Old 04-10-2013, 04:05 PM
Registered User
 
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: NW OKlahoma
Posts: 410
WW II veteran receives Distinguished Flying Cross

This was a friend of mine. He passed away a few months ago at age 90. As you can see from the article the DFC was awarded long after the war and only after considerable lobbying from our local politicians.
When he was shot down they ditched in the North Sea and his Mae West flotation device got hung up as he tried to climb out the cockpit window. He was able to free himself as the plane was sinking but was actually still entangled when the plane went under. He showed me pictures he had drawn while a POW. One was a caricature of a Nazi guard and his Doberman goose-stepping with rifles on their shoulders. He said he got a beating when they found the drawing but upon his release at war's end they returned it to him and the guard complimented him on his artistic ability.
I also have some stories from my Dad and Uncle and may share later. Nothing quite as dramatic as Fran, more anecdotal.
If any of you know any WWII veterans by all means try to get their stories while you still can. The youngest ones are mid-80s and they are leaving us every day.
__________________
1983 M-B 240D-Gone too.
1976 M-B 300D-Departed.

"Good" is the worst enemy of "Great".
Reply With Quote
  #9  
Old 04-10-2013, 09:23 PM
GTStinger's Avatar
Registered User
 
Join Date: Aug 2003
Location: Richmond, VA
Posts: 150
Grandad was Lieutenant in the signal corp. His company served as a liason unit attached to a British division.

He was given a 3-day pass during the Sicily campaign, but nobody was allowed to base because of nearby enemy activity.

Totally bored one evening, he walks around the airfield checking out the planes. An Englishman wearing an eye patch sticks his head out of an idling cargo plane and says something the the effect of "Hey buddy. Want to go to Cairo? I'll have you back tommorow. Pull out those blocks and hop aboard."

Of course Grandad jumps at the chance. As they taxi down the runway he notices that:
A. There is no co-pilot.
B. The pilot never calls for clearance.
C. The plane and runway lights are off.

Turns out the pilot is a bomber pilot grounded due to his injury who just decided to steal a plane on a lark. And he was "A bit mad" as the British like to say. They wind up landing in Alexandria when the pilot couldn't bluff his way into a Cairo RAF airfield.

Somehow Grandad managed to talk his way back to Sicily before his leave was up.
__________________
Greg Schwall

1983 300SD - 465,000 miles
Reply With Quote
  #10  
Old 04-11-2013, 09:07 PM
dynalow's Avatar
Registered User
 
Join Date: Feb 2002
Posts: 1,599
Quote:
Originally Posted by Fulcrum525 View Post
There was an old movie loosely smilar to this: American tin can vs German U boat At the end they end up ramming and the Germans are plucked off their sinking boat by the Americans
Don't know if they had this USS Borie in mind when they filmed it.
It had a Hollywood semi happy ending iirc. Americans sink the enemy, but rescue the German survivors.
"The Enemy Below"
The Enemy below - YouTube
Reply With Quote
  #11  
Old 04-12-2013, 03:53 AM
w123fanman's Avatar
Registered User
 
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: Atlanta, GA
Posts: 1,691
I had 3 WWII veterans in my family. One was my grandfather's brother (dad's side), who was a Navy pilot who died at Iwo Jima, not because he was shot down but because he became lost from rest of the group during a storm and was given the incorrect coordinates (read backwards apparently) and ran out of fuel and crashed into the ocean and his body was never recovered. I am named after him.
Another was my grandfather on my mom's side who was in naval intelligence at Pearl Harbor after the war started, apparently he worked with the Navajo code talkers at one point. He kept mostly to himself about the war and passed in 2007.
Now, the one I know most about was my grandfather on my dad's side. He joined the Army Air Corps right before the war started. He became a pilot but was grounded because of vertigo so he never saw combat while flying. He was then given somewhat of a leadership role. After the war started, he was given orders to take a convoy of men to California from New York. On this trip across America in a convoy of transport trucks, he had a man ride up on a motorcycle and told him to get his trucks out of the way because he had to bring his tanks through. This man was General Patton (not General at the time, not sure what his rank was). Now my grandfather was obviously much lower ranked than Patton but his orders overrode Patton's and Patton had to wait to get his tanks through.
He and these men were put on old cruise ships and taken to Australia, and this was the first shipment of troops to the Pacific. The propeller shaft on his ship was bent and would violently vibrate at low speeds, threatening to tear the ship apart so the ship was forced to go full speed in circles around the other ships in the convoy. They were forced to wear life vests at all time while on the ships, which the men hated but when they reached Australia, one man threw his life vest over the side of the ship into the water and it sunk. While in Australia, he did keep a pet kangaroo.
I will add more about his story later, I'm a bit too tired to finish it now.
__________________
Current: 1975 450SEL, 83 300D, 88 Yugo GVX, 90 300D OM603 swap, 91 F150 4.6 4v swap, 93 190E Sportline LE 3.0L M104 swap, 93 190E Sportline LE Megasquirt, 03 Sprinter, 06 E500 4Matic wagon.
Reply With Quote
  #12  
Old 04-12-2013, 06:49 AM
t walgamuth's Avatar
dieselarchitect
 
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Lafayette Indiana
Posts: 38,609
Great thread, I'll have to come back when I can take more time to read it all!

The Borie story is amazing. Reminded me of John Paul Jones and the Bon Homme Richard battle. It should be made into a movie!

__________________
[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.
Reply With Quote
Reply

Bookmarks

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is On
Trackbacks are On
Pingbacks are On
Refbacks are On




All times are GMT -4. The time now is 05:00 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.7
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
Search Engine Optimization by vBSEO 3.6.0
Copyright 2024 Pelican Parts, LLC - Posts may be archived for display on the Peach Parts or Pelican Parts Website -    DMCA Registered Agent Contact Page