Awe-Inspiring Millitary Photo-stories : A Tribute to all the Armed Personnel.

[john70]

Friends few days back I posted few pictures in Awesome Millitary Photos, they were some awe-inspiring pics from world war 2 depicting the story behind those photos, they had captured a moment in war which puts us laymen in awe, awe for these millitary men and women who risk their lives, leave their loved ones at home and fight for a cause of a nation - a group of nations.

I felt these pictures with stories deserve a thread which we all can share.

Thank you and welcome to the thread.

USS BUNKER HILL hit by two Kamikazes in 30 seconds on 11 May 1945 off Kyushu. Dead-372. Wounded-264
USS Bunker Hill (CV/CVA/CVS-17, AVT-9) was one of 24 Essex-class aircraft carriers built during World War II for the United States Navy. The ship, the second US Navy ship to bear the name, was named for the Battle of Bunker Hill. Bunker Hill was commissioned in May 1943, and served in several campaigns in the Pacific Theater of Operations, earning eleven battle stars and a Presidential Unit Citation. She was badly damaged in May 1945 by Japanese kamikaze attacks, with the loss of hundreds of her crew,[1] becoming one of the most heavily damaged carriers to survive the war.[2]

Kamikaze pilot Ensign Kiyoshi Ogawa, who damaged the carrier USS Bunker Hill during Operation Kikusui No. 6 on May 11th, 1945.

 

[john70]

Erwin Johannes Eugen Rommel[1] (15 November 1891 – 14 October 1944), popularly known as the Desert Fox , was a German Field Marshal of World War II.

He won the respect of both his own troops and the enemies he fought.

Rommel is regarded as having been a humane and professional officer. His Afrikakorps was never accused of war crimes. Soldiers captured during his Africa campaign were reported to have been treated humanely. Furthermore, he ignored orders to kill captured commandos, Jewish soldiers and civilians in all theaters of his command.

Late in the war, Rommel was linked to the conspiracy to kill Adolf Hitler. Because Rommel was widely renowned, Hitler chose to eliminate him quietly; in trade for assurances his family would be spared, Rommel agreed to commit suicide.

 

[john70]

Patton Nagar

Patton Nagar was the imaginary name given to a stretch of land at the Bhikiwind village in the Khem Karan sector in 1965, where more than 60 tanks of the Pakistani Army were displayed after the Indo-Pak War which occurred in the same year. The Pakistan Army tanks were captured at the Battle of Assal Uttar - Pakistan's Waterloo - by India's 4th Infantry Division and it became a memorial to the Indian triumph of blunting the over-hyped Pakistani War Machine in the 1965 War. The tanks were displayed for some time after which they were shipped to various cantonments and army establishments for display as war trophies.

Wheat Fields
Abandoned Pak Army Pattons captured in the wheat fields of Mahmudpura, in the Khem Karan sector. The farmers had to wait for the arrival of the EME (Electrical & Mechanical Engineers) to move the Pak Army tanks, so they could do their work. However at times, the farmers used to work around these tanks.

 

[john70]

Coast Guardsmen on the deck of the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Spencer watch the explosion of a depth charge which blasted a Nazi U-boat's hope of breaking into the center of a large convoy." Sinking of U-175. WO Jack January, April 17, 1943

 

[john70]

After being forced to leave the Philippines after the Japanese victory in 1942, General Douglas MacArthur vowed, "I shall return." 31 months later, he waded ashore at Palo Beach at the outset of the Battle of Leyte, fulfilling his pledge as the United States retook the island.
Photo credit: United States Army

 

[john70]

Photograph taken from a Japanese plane during the torpedo attack on ships moored on both sides of Ford Island shortly after the beginning of the Pearl Harbor attack. View looks about east, with the supply depot, submarine base and fuel tank farm in the right center distance.
A torpedo has just hit USS West Virginia on the far side of Ford Island (center). Other battleships moored nearby are (from left): Nevada, Arizona, Tennessee (inboard of West Virginia), Oklahoma (torpedoed and listing) alongside Maryland, and California.
On the near side of Ford Island, to the left, are light cruisers Detroit and Raleigh, target and training ship Utah and seaplane tender Tangier. Raleigh and Utah have been torpedoed, and Utah is listing sharply to port.
Japanese planes are visible in the right center (over Ford Island) and over the Navy Yard at right. U.S. Navy planes on the seaplane ramp are on fire.

Japanese writing in the lower right states that the photograph was reproduced by authorization of the Navy Ministry.

Battleship Row was the grouping of eight U.S. battleships in port at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, when the Japanese attacked on December 7, 1941.[1] These ships bore most of the brunt of the Japanese assault. They were moored next to Ford Island when the attack commenced. The ships were Arizona, California, Maryland, Nevada, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and West Virginia. A repair ship (former coal ship), Vestal, was also present, moored next to Arizona.[1]


Japanese planes attacking Battleship Row, as seen from the southwest. Ford Island is in the center of the picture, and Battleship row is behind the island
Arizona, California, Oklahoma, and West Virginia were sunk during the attack. Arizona suffered the most serious damage and loss of life, an explosion in a forward magazine breaking the hull in two. Of the other four, only Nevada had serious damage.[1] Pennsylvania was in dry dock, making attack difficult, and as a result was relatively undamaged. Vestal was also damaged. Following the attack, operations immediately commenced to refloat and repair the damaged ships. By the end of the war, all except the Arizona and Oklahoma had been put back into service. The six surviving ships were decommissioned soon after the war was over. Nevada and Pennsylvania were expended in atomic bomb tests in the Pacific.[1] The rest were scrapped in the late 1950s. Oklahoma was eventually refloated but not repaired, and capsized and sank while being towed back to the mainland for scrapping. Arizona's hulk remains a memorial, one of the most popular tourist attractions on the island.[1]

 

[Bhadra]

Japanese scared the sh#t out of the yanks so much so that they had to nuke them..
I really do not know if history judges them as cowards ..... !!

 

[john70]

Japanese scared the sh#t out of the yanks so much so that they had to nuke them..
I really do not know if history judges them as cowards ..... !!

In the history of US this was an attack unprovoked and too ruthless for them to digest. The Japs were a formidable and courageous lot. Even after repeated losses, blocking of the japanese island they refused to surrender .... The US took this decision in venom as well as with view to force them to surrender. The Japanese seeing the condition of their cities with atomic bombings, immediately surrendered.