War
Operation Cornflakes
1945: Toward the end of World War II, the American OSS cooked up a scheme to use postage stamps to demoralize the German people. The idea was to create fake 12 Pfennig stamps on which Hitler's profile was replaced by an image of Hitler with his jaw eaten away.The Operation had no discernible effect on German morale. But it's a favorite topic among stamp collectors, who are flattered to think that anyone in the OSS ever imagined that stamps might have had such an effect.
More info: wikipedia
Posted By: Alex - Wed Feb 10, 2021 -
Comments (1)
Category: War, Spies and Intelligence Services, 1940s, Stamps
Predicting war by mathematics
At an August 1938 meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, Professor Lewis F. Richardson attempted to use mathematics to predict the likelihood of war:He concluded there was "no chance of war," which proved to be a somewhat inaccurate prediction.
The Alexandria Town Talk - Sep 27, 1938
Encyclopedia.com offers some more info on what Richardson was up to:
Despite the eccentricity of his mathematical war-prediction model, Richardson was apparently quite influential in the history of mathematics. Wikipedia notes that he did pioneering work in mathematical techniques of weather forecasting, as well as in the study of fractals.
Posted By: Alex - Sun Jan 10, 2021 -
Comments (8)
Category: Science, War, 1930s
Pickle Peace Plan
The Pickle Peace Plan was championed by the Picklers Planetary Unity Party which, in turn, was a creation of the Pickle Packers International, an industry association. It had two main planks:- Instead of a red telephone or bomb button, heads of governments should have a jar of pickles handy. At the first sign of hostility, they would send pickles to each other instead of missiles.
- If war did break out, all politicians would be required to don uniforms and do the fighting while everyone else watched it on television.
William R. Moore, executive vice president of the Pickle Packers International, noted, "We picklers think that with such a peace plan, both sides would either come to a quick armistice or talk themselves to death. Either way, we the public would benefit by such action."
Desert Sun - Feb 2, 1979
Fort Worth Star Telegram - Nov 6, 1976
Oil City Derrick - Nov 6, 1976
Posted By: Alex - Wed Dec 30, 2020 -
Comments (3)
Category: Food, War, 1970s
When Belgium Invaded England
Very good long article here.
Tip of the hat to pal Peter Danssaert.
Posted By: Paul - Tue Dec 22, 2020 -
Comments (1)
Category: Government, Oceans and Maritime Pursuits, War, Reader Recommendation, 1960s, Europe, United Kingdom
Grover Loening’s Flying Airstrip
Source.
The inventor's Wikipedia page.
Posted By: Paul - Mon Dec 14, 2020 -
Comments (1)
Category: Excess, Overkill, Hyperbole and Too Much Is Not Enough, War, Weapons, Air Travel and Airlines, 1950s
Demoralize Nazis with tea
1940: Stephens Fothergill of London had a very British plan to defeat the Nazis:
St. Louis Post-Dispatch - Feb 15, 1940
Posted By: Alex - Wed Oct 28, 2020 -
Comments (2)
Category: Military, War, 1940s
The Germ-Hun
With thanks to Lawrence Person.
Posted By: Paul - Sun Oct 11, 2020 -
Comments (0)
Category: Excess, Overkill, Hyperbole and Too Much Is Not Enough, Hygiene, Propaganda, Thought Control and Brainwashing, War, Reader Recommendation, Europe, Twentieth Century
The Duchess of Windsor’s Trench Mittens
Wallis Simpson, the Duchess of Windsor, is best known as the woman for whom King Edward VIII abdicated the throne in 1936, so he could marry her. But she was also an inventor, though not a very prolific one. In 1940, she invented "trench mittens" that could be unzipped to allow a soldier to use his trigger finger.
The Whitewright Sun - Feb 8, 1940
The backstory is that the Duke and Duchess were widely suspected to be Nazi sympathizers. Nevertheless, at the start of the war they were trying to make a public display of how patriotic they were. The Duke pushed to get a position in the army. And the Duchess used her fashion skills to invent "trench mittens".
But by the end of 1940, the British military had decided they were too much of a liability to keep around, so they were shipped off to the Bahamas for the duration of the war.
Winnipeg Tribune - Apr 6, 1940
The Duke and Duchess of Windsor in 1937
Posted By: Alex - Fri Sep 25, 2020 -
Comments (1)
Category: Fashion, Royalty, War, 1940s
Caccolube
Or, how to ruin an engine, courtesy of the OSS."When circulated through this system, the compound fuses and welds the moving metal parts of the machinery. Slipped into a truck, the Caccolube takes effect after the truck has been driven from 30 to 50 miles. It reacts so thoroughly on pistons, cylinder walls and bearing journals that the vehicle is not only thrown out of service but the engine is destroyed beyond repair."
This lethal "lube job" replaced the original effort using sugar, when it was discovered that sugar actually promoted better engine performance in the vehicles of that era.
Source: Jack Anderson, "Rare arsenal used by spies," Santa Cruz Sentinel, Mar 9, 1987.
Posted By: Alex - Sat Sep 12, 2020 -
Comments (1)
Category: Motor Vehicles, War, Weapons, Spies and Intelligence Services
UK’s Central Government War HQ
The Central Government War Headquarters (CGWHQ) is a 35-acre (14 ha)[1] complex built 120 feet (37 m) underground[2] as the United Kingdom's emergency government war headquarters – the hub of the country's alternative seat of power outside London during a nuclear war or conflict with the Soviet Union. It is located in Corsham, Wiltshire, in a former Bath stone quarry known as Spring Quarry, under the present-day MoD Corsham.[3]
The Wikipedia page.
Posted By: Paul - Tue Aug 25, 2020 -
Comments (3)
Category: War, 1960s, United Kingdom
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