WWII Forums Quiz Part IV

Arrgghhh, how annoying....

I Have exhausted all "original" sources available to myself. (including my new arrival SO FEW by David Masters, with some notes in the margin of what must be a vet. Near the name of WC Walter Sheen DSO, he writes He was our leader on the attack we carried out on Friedrichshaven (!) 1943. exclamationmark is mine... )

Martin, We are in need of a hint.

 

Hint - the crew were Pathfinders, flying with 7 Squadron from Oakington, Cambs.

There - that's giving it away...!

 

I haven't lived in Berlin ever! I hardly know the city!

 

Tried to look for the answer in the net but only found some confusing results. So I am not gonna answer but instead I´ll give a site with some interesting info on the matter:

JIM MALLEY's service with the RAF during the Second World War extended to a remarkable 127 operations over enemy territory.

One of his first operations was in the Vickers Wellington F for Freddie, which became a national byword after it featured in the wartime film Target for Tonight (1941). His last were in Mosquitoes of 139 squadron in which he flew 53 missions between September 1944 and April 1945, in one case flying on operations on ten successive night. His assignments included more than 30 raids over Berlin, which was the most dreaded target because of the nine-hour flight, the fighter screen and the anti-aircraft fire.


http://www.upwood-base.co.uk/squadronleaderjm.html

Squadron Leader Jim Malley, DSO, DFC and Bar, wartime Pathfinder and civil servant, was born on July 24, 1918. He died on June 5, 2000 aged 81.

 

I can see I'm going to have to lower the standard to new depths - the number I'm looking for completes a consecutive sequence of three among what's already been guessed at......

 

Say What!? New Depths??

What does all this mean, you Mad Math Wizard!?

All I get that the number you are looking for is somewhere between the lowest and highest already guessed. So Kai's 30 is way off.


I guess 18 is the only one "completing [a]consequtive sequence of three" within the range already guessed at...

Do I at least get a point for logic?

 

Dohhh! No - it's like '3' completes a sequence '1,2...'

Blimey ! What's this got to do with 7 Squadron over Berlin....

If no-one gets it by this evening I'll give it up. Oh - and 18 is wrong !

 

Dohhh! No - it's like '3' completes a sequence '1,2...'

Blimey ! What's this got to do with 7 Squadron over Berlin....

If no-one gets it by this evening I'll give it up. Oh - and 18 is wrong !

 

Argh. Well, since we have 15 and 16, it could be 17. Or since there is 11 and 12 it could be 13.

Seems like 17 would be the most likely answer though. Martin, you had better educate us soon, this is getting pretty embarrassing...

 

What a relief !! 17 it is !! I guess you knew it all along, Heartland ....

Just to bring us back to WWII, the gold watches went to the crew of F/Lt Bob Sexton from Queensland who beat all the odds to fly 17 Berlin 'ops' through the winter of 43/44. For the record, the 'Battle of Berlin' consisted of nineteen raids in total.

And now over to Heartland, the ace mathematician....

 

Sorry Martin for the interruption,

but I got interested. Do you know if this Jim Malley made the most Berlin raids in WW2?

 

It was getting rather annoying actually!

Of course it was awarded to an Aussie though...we are the best!

S!

 

Indeed. Had you going there for a while didn't I? Bah, how could anyone not know such trivial and basic facts.



Alright then, a simple one to let us regain confidence following this sadistic streak in Martin.

Who rasied the very first Soviet flag on the Reichstag? And for a bonus cookie, when was it raised?

 

Hmmmm...actually a very difficult question...

I thought it was easy but after checking some sites for this to be sure I found more than I bargainend for...

Maybe the version for propaganda was shot on 2nd May.

One of the most famous answers:

Stepan Andreyevich Neustroyev
At 10:50 p.m. on April 30, the banner of victory was unfurled over the Reichstag. (?)

http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/de1945rt.html

But:

First red flag was hoisted by G. Bulatov on 30, April, 1945 14:25 (plain red banner). It was throwed down soon because the battle was very fierce.

http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/su%5Evctry.html

On 7, April, 1945 Military Council of 3rd Shock Army (lead by general Kuznetsov) decided to make 9 “victory banners”. They were made of table-clothes in Moscow and presented to 9 divisions of the Army in 20ths of April. All banners were destroyed except the banner #5. It was hoisted upon Reichstag on 30, April, 1945 21:50 by sergeants Egorov (russian) and Meliton Kantarija (georgian). Lt. Berest escorted the two inside the building, but he didn't went to the roof. As you understand nodody (and famous photographer Khaldei too) can take a photograph in that time. It was late evening.

The banner was photographed by plane in early morning ot 1, May. But on afternoon 1 of May the banner was throwed down with german projectile. Somebody (may be Egorov and Kantarija again?) hoisted the banner again in afternoon 1 of May. On 3 of May the Banner was taken off from Reichstag and in June was sent to Moscow.

The Victory Banner was not a first red banner upon Reichstag in 1945. It is a well known fact since 1960ths. It was first official flag, first flag officially adopted and inspired by army command.

Other banners was made by soldiers without official adoption. We know about 40 (!) red banners hoisted by different military units of Red Army upon Reichstag. All they were hand-made, very often plain red without inscriptions. First red flag was hoisted by G. Bulatov on 30, April, 1945 14:25 (plain red banner). It was throwed down soon because the battle was very fierce.

Victor Lomantsov, 08 May 2000

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By Stepan Neustroyev himself...

http://english.pravda.ru/printed.html?news_id=9934

All of a sudden, two guys from the regimental reconnaissance, Sergeant Yegorov and Junior Sergeant Kantaria came up with a Victory Flag.
Regiment Commander Colonel Zinchenko introduced the guys to me and told they were given the honor to raise the Soviet Flag over the Reichstag. Then the colonel gave the order to raise the flag and the sergeants saluted and disappeared into the darkness. It was very dark inside the building, and the guys had no flashlights. They came back in a few minutes. I ordered Alexey Berest to take a squad of submachine-gunners and escort the sergeants. The agonizing suspense lasted for minutes, but it seemed we had to wait for hours. Suddenly, we heard a grenade blast and a burst of machine-gun fire. The whole of the battalion was ready to rush upstairs, but suddenly everything calmed down. In about half an hour, Yegorov and Kantaria got back smiling together with the whole squad of submachine-gunners safe and sound. Alexey Berest said that the guys fastened the flag to bronze horses, to a statue on the top of the building, with their belts so that the Soviet flag could wave there for a long period of time.

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I guess you could make a book on this who put what for a flag over Reichstag and when...

 

That's the one I was looking for! Thought someone might blurt out the first offical one you mentioned but no such luck...

 

Haaa...

So it was a trick question....



Ok, next question:

By mid-June 1940 only one fort of the original Maginot line had fallen. Name it?!

 

Villy-la-Ferte ?

 

So that was easy I guess (?)....That is the correct answer!

Well done, Martin, over to you!

 

Actually, Kai - I have to thank 'After The Battle' magazine for helping me with that one !

OK, my last one was much too hard - so here's a really easy-peasy one....

Operation Compass, 1940 - which British aircraft had such noisy engines that it was used in the early stages of this Operation to mask the sound of vehicles ?

And if you can post a link to an online picture of the aircraft you may qualify for a Hero Of The WWII Forums award....

 

Bristol Bombay ?
Don't know what I am doing with regards to links ! www.constable.ca/bombay.htm