WW2 Daily Pic

So last week, Paul Allen's expedition found the wreckage of the Japanese Yamato Class Battleship Musashi near the Philippines. The ship lies at a depth of around 1,000 metres!

This is the sister ship of the notorious Yamato Battleship, which are to this day the largest and heaviest armed battleships ever built. the Musashi was commissioned in mid-1942, modified to serve as the flagship of the Combined Fleet Neither Ship survived WW2.

She was present during the Battle of the Philippine Sea in June, but did not come in contact with American surface forces. Musashi was sunk by an estimated 19 torpedo and 17 bomb hits from American carrier-based aircraft on 24 October 1944 during the Battle of Leyte Gulf. Over half of her crew was rescued.

Pictures of the wreck:

News video of the Wreckage of the Musashi.

Another news video.

The anchor.



If you look closely you can see Japanese markings on this crank used to adjusting the elevation of the guns.

Pictures of the Musashi while it was still terrorizing the Pacific:



Emperor Hirohito of Japan (front row, center), with officers of the Imperial Japanese Navy, on board the Japanese battleship Musashi off Yokosuka Naval Base, 24 June 1943.
Admiral Osami Nagano is sixth from left in the front row.




Yamato & Musashi on leaving a harbour:

Musashi under fire by warplanes before beink sunk.

Diagram of RGD-33 grenade



special naval landing force soldiers using a Type 97 81 mm infantry mortar during training (buna-gona 1942)

officers of the Don Front inspect the captured German reconnaissance aircraft Focke-Wulf Fw.189 at the airport at Stalingrad.



T-34 Soviet 5th Guards Tank Brigade crews



German soldiers and carts on the road in Belgium



Red Army gunners Western Front firing at German troops 120-mm mortar regimental mortar sample .

Soviet mortar crew with model 1938 120-mm regimental mortar in the position on the Kursk front. (1943).



Soviet soldiers with a heavy mortar in the spring of 1945.



Box of Molotov Cocktails captured at Summa. Winter War, February 1940.

Anti-tank dogs were used by the Red Army against the Germans.The dogs were dogs taught to carry explosives to tanks, armored vehicles and other military targets. They were intensively trained by the Soviet and Russian military forces between 1930 and 1996 and used in 1941–1942 against German tanks .

Personally i dont believe they were used that extensively , its too cruel .

Personally i dont believe they were used that extensively , its too cruel .

USSR didn't gave a flying garden about that.
Only reason why they were not used extensively was because they were ineffective.

USSR didn't gave a flying garden about that.
Only reason why they were not used extensively was because they were ineffective.

thats a bit harsh towards them .

thats a bit harsh towards them .

That was the reality back then.

maybe I´m wrong, but I read long time ago, that it was a big fail, because those dogs were trained with Russian tanks (diesel) and then, when they were used in the real war, most of them didn´t go againts German Tanks (petrol, gasoline) but againts the own russian tanks because dogs learned the smell of diesel xD

sorry for my bad english.....

maybe I´m wrong, but I read long time ago, that it was a big fail, because those dogs were trained with Russian tanks (diesel) and then, when they were used in the real war, most of them didn´t go againts German Tanks (petrol, gasoline) but againts the own russian tanks because dogs learned the smell of diesel xD

sorry for my bad english.....

i read that as well .

Yes the soviets had AT-dogs. The how, when and how much is quite disputed, there is some mentioned by known historians but that doesn't really mean anything.
Some sources claim total failure, other claim some success.

Frankly it just is a really good story and no matter the outcome it isn't that historically imporant. Or the subject would have been studied further.

Bat bombs

Yes the soviets had AT-dogs. The how, when and how much is quite disputed, there is some mentioned by known historians but that doesn't really mean anything.
Some sources claim total failure, other claim some success.

Frankly it just is a really good story and no matter the outcome it isn't that historically imporant. Or the subject would have been studied further.

The Germans actually refused to believe they existed until they captured dogs with AT mines strapped to them, similarly they refused to believe the Soviets were employing women as snipers till they found bodies of them.

"I hope one day we shall not be so desperate as to throw milk maids and seamstress's into battle" - Attributed to German staff officer in 1942.

ISU-152



Sherman tanks of 11th Armoured Division, near Eterville, 30 June 1944.

North American Mitchell Mk IIs of No. 226 Squadron RAF based at Hartford Bridge, Hampshire, dropping 500-lb MC bombs over the Foret de Grimbosq south of Caen, in the evening of 12 June 1944. This operation was the biggest daylight raid mounted by No. 2 Group since 6 June, in which 90 aircraft bombed the 21st Panzer Division which was dispersed in the forest.



At Courseulles, France wounded men are being transferred from ambulances to Hospital Tank Landing Ship LST 428 through its bow doors at low tide as the ship helps to transport casualties, including enemy wounded, from the battle area to the United Kingdom.



Sherman tanks and Bren carriers on the road to Montchamp during the advance towards Vassy, 4 August 1944.

Bat bombs

While we're on the topic of insane experimental animal based American bombs does anyone have a picture of a cat guided bomb?

Bat bombs were an experimental World War II weapon developed by the United States. The bomb consisted of a bomb-shaped casing with over a thousand compartments, each containing an hibernating Mexican Free-tailed Bat with a small timed incendiary bomb attached. Dropped from a bomber at dawn, the casings would deploy a parachute in mid-flight and open to release the bats which would then roost in eaves and attics in a 20-40 mile radius. The incendiaries would start fires in inaccessible places in the largely wood and paper construction of the Japanese cities that were the weapon's intended target.

While we're on the topic of insane experimental animal based American bombs does anyone have a picture of a cat guided bomb?

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