Parachuting dogs and German eating dogs among bizarre WW2 tactics
IWM Farmers painted white stripes on their black cattle to prevent car accidents
ANIMALS ● Paradogs accompanied D-Day troops dropped behind enemy lines, sniffing out mines, traps and troops. They were given two months intensive training, including how to angle themselves in the air: “forepaws up and rear legs down”. But not surprisingly some dogs had to be enticed out of the plane with the aid of a 2lb piece of meat. ● The US military investigated the possibility of pigeon-guided bombs. The birds were trained by famous psychologist BF Skinner to sit inside the glider carrying the bomb and steer it by pecking at the target on a screen. The experience unnerved the pigeons so they were fed hemp before the mission. The project was cancelled: perhaps the military didn’t want stoned pigeons in charge of bombs. ● One canister was built to house a thousand bats, each carrying a little napalm bomb. Released over Japan the bats would seek roosting spots, setting the country ablaze. Remarkably the inventor was able to secure a memo from the US president stating: “This man is not a nut.” Wrong: the only blaze the bats started was at a US air force base when they were released by mistake. ● The source of Britain’s sneakiest rumours was the Underground Propaganda Committee, which aimed to exaggerate our military strength as the German invasion loomed in 1940. The strangest of these fabrications was that the Australian government had supplied 200 sharks to roam the English Channel and eat any Germans who fell in. ● Even in the countryside the blackout held hazards and some farmers took to painting white stripes on their black cattle to prevent car accidents.
IWM Parachuting pooches sniffed out mines
SUPREME LEADERS ● As part of their plans to defeat Britain the Germans created exploding chocolate bars, which they aimed to smuggle into a dining room used by Winston Churchill and his war cabinet. Fortunately the plot was uncovered by British agents. ● Bizarre plots planned against Hitler included lacing his vegetables with female hormones to make him less aggressive and driving him mad by dropping pornography on his bunker (he was supposedly very prudish). Given that he was taking a vast number of drugs, from cocaine to extracts of Bulgarian peasants’ faeces (for his flatulence) these plots seem almost redundant. KEEP CALM ● As the Blitz took hold between September 1940 and May 1941 the sound of air-raid sirens was an almost daily event. Many felt that the mournful rising and falling wail was dampening morale and tried to come up with cheerier alternatives. The Bishop of Chelmsford’s suggestion was a “gay cock-a-doodle-do” repeated half a dozen times. ● A high-tech concealed weapon was a pipe that fi red bullets. It was invented by Mr V MartenGilliam to give plain clothes members of the Home Guard a “means of dealing with isolated enemy paratroopers in country districts”. The gun could be smoked like a real pipe although you’d have to be pretty brave.
Unused WW2 Posters Up For Sale Sun, November 2, 2014 A fascinating archive of iconic World War Two recruiting posters - some which have never been seen before has emerged for sale for £10,000. Among the 150 posters up for grabs are three thought never to have made it into production featuring Adolf Hitler, Nazi spin doctor Joseph Goebbels and Luftwaffe chief Hermann Goerring. It is thought the designs were blocked from print because Brits might not have recognised the enemy leaders and might have taken the messages to "take time off" literally. Play slideshow PenzanceAuctionHouse/BNPS 1 of 16 A fascinating archive of iconic World War Two recruiting posters, some which have never been seen before has emerged for sale for £10,000.