also, in Belgium they still have what they refer to as the 'iron harvest' when farmers expose unexploded WWI munitons each year. They still find over 150 tons each year.

Reference article:
https://theworld.org/stories/2023-08-04/iron-harvest-belgian-team-unearths-unexploded-ammunition-wwi

agrams said:

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7 of 8 German soldiers who died in WWII died on the eastern front vs Russia.

Its amazing how many casualties other countries experienced as compared to the united states.

we had less than 1/3 of 1% killed per our 1939 population. (about 1 death per 312 people). Poland lost 1 in 6 of their population (mainly civilians).

The American war production capacity may have been the machine behind victory, but Russia was the meat grinder that chewed up most of Germany's soldiers.

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Poland got off easy compared to countries like Belarus (1/4 of the population gone including the educated and virtually every Jew in the country). Timothy Synder's Bloodlands is incredible reading but holy **** is it dark. I think I'd rather deal with the Plague than be a civilian in Eastern Europe during World War II.

agrams said:

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also, in Belgium they still have what they refer to as the 'iron harvest' when farmers expose unexploded WWI munitons each year. They still find over 150 tons each year.

Reference article:
https://theworld.org/stories/2023-08-04/iron-harvest-belgian-team-unearths-unexploded-ammunition-wwi

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France too. It is pretty wild to drive around Flanders or French farmlands and seeing small piles of unexploded ordinance on the side of the roads plowed up during the spring planting season.

There were actually 5 jobs more dangerous to do in WWII than infantryman:

1. Ball turret gunners
2. Heck, just being in an airplane
3. Merchant mariners
4. Submariners
5. Field telephone layers and radio teams

https://www.wearethemighty.com/articles/5-world-war-ii-jobs-that-were-more-dangerous-than-being-an-infantryman/

1. Nope
2. Nope
3. Nope
4. Hell No
5. Not if I could avoid it

I don't like the ocean or heights.

With Cinco Ranch Aggie's post reminds me of another fact.

The US suffered more deaths in the air war over Europe than the USMC did in the Pacific

Between 1910 to 1911, there were more than 70 silent films made in San Antonio. Rivaling Los Angeles.
Link

Related:

The first Oscar Award went to the silent movie Wings, which was filmed and Premiered in San Antonio in 1927.

The Aztec Theater in San Antonio (opened in 1926) was designed by the firm Meyer and Holler, which opened another and more famous and fanciful therater, Grauman's Chinese Theater, a year later.





It's an amazing concert venue if you ever get the opportunity to see a show there.

Rabid Cougar said:

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When the Iowa Class Battleships fire a full broadside they DO NOT move sideways…. Not even a half inch…

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At the other end of the battleship stability spectrum was the Vasa, a Swedish warship that sank in 1628, 20 minutes into its maiden voyage, scarcely a nautical mile from shore in Stockholm Harbor. The culprit was a gust of wind that hit it broadside. That, and it was ridiculously unstable. The gun deck was designed by someone who didn't have experience building such a heavily armed ship. It was designed to carry 36 guns, and had nearly twice that number when it set sail. And there was a lot of ornate woodwork, which was very pretty to look at but also contributed to the ship being fatally top-heavy.

On the plus side, it's the only preserved 17th-century ship in the world, thanks to sinking close to shore in water that's very cold and oxygen-poor.

BrazosBendHorn said:

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At the other end of the battleship stability spectrum was the Vasa, a Swedish warship that sank in 1628,

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One of the coolest single attraction museums in the world!

Awesome thread here everyone, thank you! Let's keep it going!!

Aaron Burr's wife used Alexander Hamilton Jr. as her divorce attorney.

in 1860, the United States had a bigger rail network than the rest of the world combined.

Rudolf Diesel, inventor of the Diesel engine, faked his own suicide with the help of Winston Churchill and British secret service to defect from imperial Germany to Great Britain. He brought his expertise to help Britain catch up in Diesel technology, especially for submarines.

p_bubel said:

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Violet Jessop was a stewardess on the RMS Olympic when it collided with the warship Hawke in 1911 transferred to the RMS Titanic and survived the sinking. She then went on to work on the HMHS Britannic which wound up striking a mine in1916 and sank. Which she also survived.

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Violet Jessop gets all the attention, but IMHO the coal stoker Arthur John Priest deserves more credit for surviving the same three incidents plus:

• RMS Asturias having a (non-fatal) collision on her maiden voyage in 1908.
• HMS Alcantara being sunk in combat in 1916.
• SS Donegal being sunk by a torpedo in 1917.

Priest retired for working at sea after the Donegal incident. It's not clear how he made a living after that, but I'd like to think that shipping companies paid him to stay away.

Agthatbuilds said:

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Mel blanc, the voice of bugs bunny and nearly every other Warner Brothers cartoon was nearly killed in a car crash but survived though he was left in a coma.

After 21 days, the doctor came in and asked how bugs bunny was doing and blanc responded as bugs bunny. They tried tweedy bird and he respond as tweedy bird.

Blanc went on to recover

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And when Blanc finally did die in 1989, he had "THAT'S ALL FOLKS" carved on his gravestone.

Baby Jessica is now 37 yrs old. In 1987, she was only 18 months old when she fell into a well at her aunt's home in Midland, Tx

"I am a Pole."

Piorun, a British built destroyer manned by Poles, took part, along with the British destroyers, in the search for Bismarck (she was the first of the destroyers to spot the German ship). She joined in the shadowing of and torpedo attacks on the German battleship the night before Bismarck was sunk. Arriving first on the scene with the British Tribal-class destroyer Maori, Piorun charged at Bismarck by herself, while Maori manoeuvred for position to fire torpedoes. Alone, Piorun exchanged fire with Bismarck for an hour, with neither side scoring any hitsalthough after the third salvo, Bismarck missed by only 20 yards (18 m), causing Pawski to pull away.

According to one report Pawski transmitted the message "I am a Pole" before commencing fire on Bismarck.

(Sorry, most stuff I know is San Antonio based)

The original plan was to pave over the San Antonio River downtown after a disastrous flood in 1921. (Most of y'all probably know this) Instead they installed gates along the horseshoe bend and cut a new channel to isolate downtown from heavy rains. Now, there's a 24' tall tunnel running 3 miles underneath downtown to bypass all this.

Flooding is the reason there is a dam along Hwy 281 just north of downtown with no regular water behind it. Downtown is in a valley.

A large part of San Antonio's history is water management. Keeping it out, trying to get more of it and dealing with geography.