Question of the Hour

[Fishbone Jones]

Or are you speaking of the Greek letter "L" that was on the Spartan shield meaning "Laconia" or "Lakedaimon" for Sparta?

 

[redleafjumper]

Two excellent answers!   The original name for the shield of the Spartan hoplite is an aspis and though Spartan shields were originally marked according to the preferences of the bearer, they were later uniformly marked with the Greek letter "L" which stood for the greek word "lambda".   This letter was an abbreviation for Lakedaimon, which is a name for Sparta.


What is a zoauve?

 

[mo-litia]

There are also two answer for this question: a Zouave is either a member of a French infantry unit made up mostly of Alergians, or, a member of a   US Civil War era infantry unit that emulated these French units.

Here's a question - what was the name of the father of the American Indian leader Crazy Horse?

 

[Fishbone Jones]

There are also two answer for this question: a Zouave is either a member of a French infantry unit made up mostly of Alergians, or, a member of a   US Civil War era infantry unit that emulated these French units.

Three actually. It's also the name of a Civil War era .58 cal musket, called as such for it's fancy brass furniture.

Here's a question - what was the name of the father of the American Indian leader Crazy Horse?

Crazy Horse's father, was also named Crazy Horse, but took the name Worm after passing the Crazy Horse name to his son.

 

[Bill Smy]

Of what note does History make of Lieutenant Den Brotherbridge, D Company, The Oxford and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry?

 

[big bad john]

Of what note does History make of Lieutenant Den Brotherbridge, D Company, The Oxford and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry?

Commanded 25 Platoon at Caen Canal Bridge (Pegesus Bridge)...BTW It was 25 Platoon , D Company 2nd Batallion The Oxford and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry. 6 June 1944

 

[redleafjumper]

Re: Zoauve   The answers received are correct and complete. Here is some more information about these troops:
Zoauves are French light infantry originally raised from Algerian Berbers in 1831.   They are known for their brightly coloured North African style uniforms.  

From: http://www.anoca.org/war/zouaves/zouave.html:

Zouave is the name given to certain infantry regiments in the French army .
The corps was first raised in Algeria in 1831 with one and later two battalions, and recruited solely from the Zouaoua, a tribe of Berbers , dwelling in the mountains of the Jurjura range (see Kabyles ). In 1838 a third battalion was raised, and the regiment thus formedwas commanded by Lamoriciere. Shortly afterwards the formation of the Tirailleurs algeriens, the Turcos, as the corpsfor natives, changed the enlistment for the Zouave battalions, and they became, as they now remain, a purely French body. Threeregiments were formed in 1852 , and a fourth, the Zouaves of the Imperial Guard, in 1854 . The Crimean War was the first servicewhich the regiments saw outside Algeria.

The Papal Zouaves were formed in defence of the Papalstates by Lamoriciere in 1860 . After the occupation of Rome by Victor Emmanuel in 1870 , the Papal Zouaves served the government of National Defence in France during the Franco-Prussian War , and were disbanded after the entrance of German troops into Paris .

Several Zouave Regiments were organized from American soldiers who adopted the name and the North African inspired uniforms during the American Civil War .

 

[redleafjumper]

What is the name of the ship that, when it sank, resulted in the largest ever maritime disaster (measured by loss of life) in either war or peace?
How many died in that sinking and what were the circumstances of that vessel's loss?

 

[Danjanou]

Another ACW question.

What was unique about the 79th New York Regiment?

 

[big bad john]

Another ACW question.

What was unique about the 79th New York Regiment?

79th New York Regiment was "known" as the "Cameron Highlanders", Kilts and all.  It has been debated but is considered unlikely that they wore kilts at Bull Run.

 

[redleafjumper]

I believe that the 79th New York was the only American highland infantry unit.  I recall reading that they actually had kilts but I don't believe that they actually wore them in combat.

 

[mo-litia]

What is the name of the ship that, when it sank, resulted in the largest ever maritime disaster (measured by loss of life) in either war or peace?
How many died in that sinking and what were the circumstances of that vessel's loss?

Wilhelm Gustloff, sunk on Jan 30th 1945 with 5,900 to 7,000 killed.

German steamer of 25,484 tons. Torpedoed by Russian submarine S-13 about 28 n/miles NNE of Leba, Baltic. It is estimated that this number of persons may have been on board the vessel during the evacuation of German troops and personnel from Baltic ports

 

[redleafjumper]

The Wilhelm Gustloff is the correct answer.  Figures of the number of people killed range as high as 10,000, it is probably closer to 9,000 (I recall reading something to that effect in the Deutches Marine Ehrenmal near Laboe).  There are several web sites with excellent descriptions of the event.  This one is well done:
        http://www.wilhelmgustloff.com/sinking.htm

 

[mo-litia]

What was the name of the WW2 German general who went on to lead the West German intelligence service and who alleged that Martin Bormann was a Soviet agent?

 

[redleafjumper]

I believe it was General Gehlen.

 

[Danjanou]

Correct Big Bad John & Redleafjumper you both win a cookie. However due to recent budget cuts there is only one cookie so you'll have to share.

Interesting info on the 79th NY

http://www.americancivilwar.org.uk/articles/highlanders.htm

http://79ny.50megs.com/History.htm

 

[redleafjumper]

What was the first anti-tank rifle, when was it produced and by whom?

 

[mo-litia]

Good call on General Gehlen, redleafjumper.

I'm just guessing at the first AT weapon...I'm pretty sure that it wasn't our mighty PIAT; so was it either the Panzerfaust or the American bazooka? ???

 

[Long in the tooth]

Was the first AT Rifle the Finnish Lahti used in the winter war?

 

[redleafjumper]

Thanks mo-litia, I've been a military history buff since I was a wee lad and long before there were such things as search engines!

Sadly, your guess on the first AT weapon is not correct.  There are several that predate the ones that you mention...

Worn Out Grunt's answer on the very nice Lahti is also not correct.