Lesser-Known Facts and Trivia of WW2

Some Fun trivia found here:

Lesser-Known Facts of World War II by George Duncan.
http://members.iinet.net.au/~gduncan/facts.html

Fire away with any more you can dredge up, Rogues!

 

interesting that lobsters were not rationed, it says....?? how was the fishing effected by the war?? were lobsters popular in Britain then? ..it being an Island, didn't they get a lot of seafood during the war?....much thanks any replies

 

As i recall, the Brits were sick and tired of anything sea caught during the war.

From Food on the Home Front: http://wartimecanada.ca/essay/eating/food-home-front-during-second-world-war

Early in the war, Canadians were asked to contribute voluntarily to Canada’s food export commitments by avoiding foods that were needed in Britain and by consuming
more Canadian foods whose European export markets had disappeared and were, therefore, threatening farmers and fishermen with massive unused surpluses.

Apples and lobster were two of the earliest foods to be rebranded as “patriotic” after the export markets for both products collapsed.
In December 1939, for instance, the Department of Agriculture began running glossy advertisements with the message: “Serve apples daily and you serve your country too.”

Magazines such as Canadian Home Journal repeated such messages by publishing articles with titles like “It’s Patriotic and Pleasant to Eat Canadian Lobster”
and which included recipes for patriotic dishes like Lobster Cocktail, Lobster à la King, and Lobster Sandwiches.

From: http://www.history.com/news/a-taste-of-lobster-history
The largest lobster on record was caught off Novia Scotia in 1988. It weighed in at 44 pounds and was 42 inches long.
Scientists believe it was at least 100 years old — twice the lifespan of the average lobster.

 

excellent article...one of my favorite subjects is food during the war....I never ate lobster growing up as it was expensive and not a staple of the area...I take it, then, that the Brits had mucho seafood during the war.....much thanks for the reading....very interesting to me

 

Kuddo's going to the British Fishing Fleet.
Pretty much everything of theirs over 25' in length being converted to Mine Sweepers.

From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minesweeper
The function of the fishing fleet's trawlers with their trawl gear was recognized as having a natural connection with mine clearance
and, among other things, trawlers were used to keep the English Channel clear of mines.
A Trawler Section of the Royal Navy Reserve became the predecessor of the mine sweeping forces with specially designed ships and equipment to follow.
These reserve Trawler Section fishermen and their trawlers were activated, supplied with mine gear, rifles, uniforms and pay as the first minesweepers.
The dedicated, purpose-built minesweeper first appeared during World War I with the Flower-class minesweeping sloop.
By the end of the War, naval mine technology had grown beyond the ability of minesweepers to detect and remove.

From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Naval_Patrol_Service
The pre WW1 Commander-in-Chief of the Home Fleet, Admiral Lord Charles Beresford, is credited with recommending the use of Grimsby trawlers for minesweeping operations following visits he made to various East Coast Ports in 1907.
Grimsby, with its impressive docklands and trawler fleet was seen as ideal, with the Commander-in-Chief arguing that the fishing fleet would be inactive in times of war as fishing grounds became war zones.
It was also thought that trawlermen would be more skilled than naval ratings with regards to the handling of the sizable warps and winches that would be required for mine sweeping as they were already accustomed to using them with the working of the trawl.
The Admiralty Minesweeping Division remained active throughout the remainder of World War I until the end of the war when the trawlers were returned to their owners to resume fishing operations and the division was disbanded.

Trawlers still fishing 1939-1944:
From: http://www.scarboroughsmaritimeheritage.org.uk/aww2trawling.php

Scarborough had 7 trawlers fishing in July 1939.
This went down to 5 in December 1940, it was 4 in December 1942, 3 in December 1943 and 4 in December 1944.

Hull had 191 at the beginning of the war but just 66 in December 1939. It went down to just 1 in December 1940.

Grimsby had 381 at the start of the war and never went below 66 (December 1942).

For both Hull and Grimsby numbers increased in 1943 and 1944.

 

They weren't always considered as highly as they are today. The really big ones that were common in colonies were often chopped up and fed to hogs.

http://factually.gizmodo.com/lobsters-were-once-only-fed-to-poor-people-and-prisoner-1612356919

 

excellent reading and photos...very good diversion from the news, and some of the same same same here...as you can tell, I loved the lobster trivia.....Grimsby always reminds me of the Elton Jon song...I'm not impressed with lobster.....seems like a lot of effort for little amount of food
and we don't see much on the unsung heroes of the war, such as these sailors on the ''little'' boats.....

 

One word: Spam.

This rather awful food product became a sort of staple in Britain for many years after the war. It's also still a tradition across much of the Pacific at weddings and celebrations. If you know any Samoans or Hawaiians or other Pacific Island people and are unlucky enough to get invited to a party or wedding, somebody will shove Spam in your face. At weddings especially, you're expected to show up with cans of Spam for the bride and groom. I had Samoan friends back in Alaska and as it was explained to me, when the GI's showed up during the war with all other trade shut off, they began feeding everybody with Spam and it became part of the culture. You can fry it in cutlets with pineapples, mix it with boiled taro, chop it in rice, glob it together and bake it as a big "ham." I guess they were pretty hungry during the war, and big globs of gelatinous salted pork by-products must have been an improvement over whatever else they were foraging to eat.
It strikes me as odd that it's still a "thing" with them. I can choke it down sliced and fried like bacon on camping trips, but even then it's so salty that it makes me chug water for an hour or so. Maybe in the sweaty tropics that salt is less objectionable.

 

138 and counting World War 2 Ration Recipes:
https://1940sexperiment.wordpress.com/100-wartime-recipes/

Recipe 17: SPAM, SPAM, SPAM, SPAM everybody loves SPAM!

 

British Ration for 2 people for one week during WW2 - through 1940 - 1941.

 

Must be good. It has it's own religion, the Cargo Cult

http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2010/11/cargo_cult_keynesians_1.html

 

much thanks all replies........WW2 food trivia....? hey Kody, we always have ads for Alaskan seafood here in the midwest.....sounds ''adventurous''! as stated many times, there was much hunger during the war....front line servicemen, POWs, civilians, etc......we should all be thankful for whatever food we get...that reminds me, I'm going to get some spam