195. Wait and Sea, the Tale of Poon Lim

1942, World War II was raging across the land and the oceans too. At this time Britain sent out a call for help, and many Chinese responded. One of these brave or foolish souls was Poon Lim. He was working as second mess steward on board the SS Benlomond and became quickly accustomed to life on board.

The SS Benlomond was a merchant steamer, unremarkable, and equally unarmed. German U-Boats scoured the seas for their metallic prey. Ready to shoot on sight. On November 23 1942 a German U-Boat sighted the SS Benlomond and contact was made. Contact in the form of two explosive torpedoes. That did not go down well.

SS Benlomond

2 hours after the sinking, Poon Lim happened upon a life raft and flailed in its general direction. I say ‘flailed‘ because during World War II, an ability to swim was not required to be in the Navy. This led to a surprisingly large amount of drownings among Navy staff throughout the war, even when rescue was swift on arrival. Eventually, after much uncoordinated splashing, he reached the side of the raft and hauled his soaking self on board.

Once he had recovered from the physical exertion he examined the raft. It was a ‘Carley Float Life Raft‘ and fairly well stocked. Among the supplies were some biscuit tins (complete with biscuits), a 10 gallon jug of water, flares, an electric torch and a bag of sugar lumps. More than enough for a short trip. Many things could be said about Poon Lim’s ensuing journey, ‘short’ is not one of them. In fact Poon Lim spent 133 days in the Pacific Ocean, a record of epic proportions.

 

142. Sealand, The Unofficial Prinicipality

The Principality of Sealand is an odd case, it is an old World War II floating fort 10km off the coast of Suffolk, England. In 1956 the fort was abandoned, then in 1967 Major Paddy Roy Bates, along with his family and some associates occupied the fort, claiming it to be a new and separate principality. The Principality Of Sealand. Originally it was set up for the British Mr Bates to broadcast his pirate radio station. However it soon became more.

He crowned himself king. In 1968 some British workmen came to service a navigational buoy nearby. Paddy Bates claimed the waters to be part of his territory and his son Michal Bates, shot a rifle to scare them off. Then they went to court on firearms charges. The case could not proceed. A that time anything within 5km of the shore was part of the United Kingdom, and the fort fell just outside of that jurisdiction. It was in international waters and exempt from the rules.

 

135. Operation Mincemeat

During World War II there was a man, with important documents. Major William Martin he was; also he was dead. April 30, 1943 his body was found well decomposed in the waters off of Huelva in southwest Spain. He was clothed in a black trench coat, uniform and boots. Then there was a most important item indeed, a black attaché case chained to his waist, its contents unknown.

The Spanish fisherman who found his body reported it to the authorities, and so began a most complex series of events. The black attaché case you see, contained secrets which would greatly affect the outcome of that global conflict. Firstly the authorities scanned his wallet, finding that he was indeed the deceased Briton, Major William Martin. In his pockets they found odds and ends such as a picture of his fiancé and the bill for the diamond ring. Also he had what was reported to be high quality woolen underwear as was afforded to those of high rank – high quality underwear being in short supply during times of rationing.

A pathologist investigated the body and confirmed that he had died of a combination of hypothermia and drowning. Then the British got involved. The British vice-consul was a Francis Haselden. In his presence the case was opened revealing the contents to be military envelopes of great importance with the necessary seals.

 

130. The White Death

The White Death

3 months after the start of World War II a smaller war began in Eastern Finland, the Winter War. Finland’s opponent, the Soviet Union. Finland’s champion, Simo Häyhä, soon to be nicknamed the White Death, he was a formidable sniper. His farmhouse reportedly filled with all of the trophies from marksmanship tournaments he had won. His skill was unmatched. With his modified Mosin-Nagant he did kill a confirmed 505 Soviet soldiers. The record which still stands for the highest number of confirmed sniper kills in any major war. The remarkable thing is that he did it, in under 100 days.

It all happened in the forests, the White Death endured the -40 to -20 degree winter in a white hooded jacket and a white mask. From his position he would take down any enemy soldiers who passed by, using only the iron sights on his rifle, shunning the preferred telescopic sights. In addition with his submachine gun he killed a further 200 soldiers, bringing his total to 705 kills, a macabre high score in the theater of war.

 

109. The Exploding Soviet Dogs of War

Release the Dogs of War!

Anti-tank dogs were one of the odd products of the Soviet Union. In 1924 the Revolutionary Military Council permitted the use of dogs within the military. To assist with this a special military dog training school was founded in the Moscow Oblast. The Soviets then realised that they actually had no dog trainers so they hired a motley crew of those with experience, ranging from hunters to the circus. Leading animal scientists produced a wide-scale training program for the dogs. For a while it was the normal stuff, rescue, delivery of first aid, biting enemies and carrying messages.

Then came the 1930s and an idea. Why not make the dogs… blow up.

 

105. The Safest War

This is one of the many things that did not happen

1648, the Scilly Isles just off of South East England. Some Royalists were causing a problem. they were fighting in the Second English Civil War, a war extremely lacking in civility I note. The problem they were causing was this, they had a navy and were fighting Oliver Cromwell’s Parliamentarians, they also attacked his allies. Namely the Dutch.

The Dutch knew what they were doing, they were aligning themselves with what they thought(correctly) was the winning side of the civil war. Unfortunately they suffered heavy losses and had both ships stolen and goods purloined. So in 1651 they went over to the Isles of Scilly and asked for reparation, essentially a form of apology, which form? Money.

 

103. The Nightingale Floor

An attempt at silently crossing the Nightingale Floor

A Song in Silent Steps

Edo period of Japan, after the unification Japan was run by a semi-feudalistic system with many regional Lords or Daimyo commanding their own land and private armies. At this time of intrigue each Daimyo did tread most carefully along the delicate political threads. All were careful but tenacious, hoping to rise up the ranks and become stronger Daimyo. They did occasionally get it wrong though. With dire consequence.

Specifically assassination, by ninja. At this point in time the Ninja were unstoppable. Notoriously effective and using unknown techniques combined with pure trickery the had the power to seemingly strike any target at any time then disappear undetected like a deathly gasp of the wind. This understandably caused some upset to their targets, so a means was devised to detect their presence, even in the depths of night.

The Nightingale Floor, in Japanese Uguisu-bari (鴬張り).

 

43. Razzle Dazzle Navy

FACT: Military Vessels around the world are grey. Or black, or white, regardless the problem is that they are boring and plain, but it was not always this way. As the image shows the seas used to be better, brighter. Navy vessels were covered in these bright and contrasting series of shapes and interrupting lines, like seafaring cubism artworks. This was called ‘Dazzle camouflage’ by the British and the much more impressive title of ‘Razzle Dazzle‘ by the American. But now there is a question, why were ships painted so brightly?

The answer is oddly enough – camouflage. However counter-intuitive, this bright covering of lines was camouflage used in World War I by every naval vessel in the British, French and American Navies. The reason was that no camouflage was effective at hiding ships in all weathers so U-boats and submarines kept sinking ships. However they depended on people in the U-boats looking through telescopes and periscopes and guessing how far away and quickly traveling the ships were, so the bright lines on ships distracted their eyes making them miss the ships.

The British concluded that the camouflage was ineffective as their ships kept being sunk, however they kept the paint because it boosted the morale of the naval officers on board and it boosted the morale of everyone who saw the ships together, as the sight of hundreds of brightly coloured floating hulls of art was a sight that had never been seen before. Also, unfortunately, due to advances in range-finding technology after World War I, it was a sight that was never seen again. Slowly ships were sunk or repainted in their drab grey skins again and voyages became monochromatic excursions of tedium. The sea used to be so much better and brighter, but this is consigned to the past now.

The only place you can see the Razzle Dazzle now is on Austrian speed traps, which are painted so distractingly that motorists cannot tell how far away they are, meaning that they slow down much earlier. Clever Austrians.

 

For more information: http://www.gotouring.com/razzledazzle/articles/dazzle.html

 

38. Camp Century – The Nuclear City of Ice

Initial construction of the prefabricated buildings

June 1959, Greenland. It is the Cold War and the worlds largest military powers are on edge, everyone fears nuclear war but both sides still hold their hands nervously over their respective ‘red buttons.’ But we are in Greenland and it is the beginning of the construction of a truly grand project by the US Army Corps of Engineering. The project was a challenge that beggars belief; to build a small facility with city-like facilities, all of which was to be buried in the Greenland Ice Sheet. It also was not the most hospitable site, located a mere 800 miles from the North Pole it went through a normal day with an average temperature of -23 degrees Celsius and winds exceeding 200 kilometres and hour (125 mph).

Despite the Herculean task ahead of them they set at t with great tenacity and enthusiasm, due, in no small part to Captain Andre G. Broumas, commanding officer of the first contingent to stay at the camp during the winter. He was a driving force behind the project and was given a distinctive position as the projects ‘Inspirational Commander.’ ‘ANOTHER DAY IN WHICH TO EXCEL!’ was his motto.

October 1960, the site is complete and the PM-2A reactor has been installed: welcome to Camp Century – the worlds first nuclear ice city. Enjoy your stay.