9.
BALL TURRET GUNNER
One of the most dangerous jobs during World War II was being a ball turret gunner, who
rode in a sphere attached to the bottom of a warplane with two .50 caliber machine guns.
He had to be ready to defend the aircraft’s underbelly at a moment’s notice.
The ball, or turret, was cramped and uncomfortable, even for the smaller-framed men who were often
chosen for the position.
The turret was made of Plexiglas and about four feet (1.2m) in diameter, that’s about
two-thirds the size of a refrigerator.
Space was so tight that many of them chose not to wear a parachute and they typically
also went without an armored vest.
Once the door was closed and secured, the gunner was on his own and couldn’t rely
on his fellow crew members for much help.
On the floor of the sphere, one foot sat on a pedal that controlled the gunsight, which
hung between his legs, and his other foot pedal ran the intercom.
This was the only way to communicate with the rest of his crew inside the fortress.
If the plane took on enemy gunfire and the airmen were forced to jump from the plane,
the ball turret gunner would have to climb back into the aircraft and find his parachute
if he even had the time to before bailing out.
Although this was one of the most dangerous World War II assignments, there are conflicting
statistics on the actual mortality rate for ball turret gunners, but many figures claim
they had double the mortality rate of the rest of the crew.
There's certainly no doubt that they were a prime target for their enemies, who could
turn a plane into nothing more than a moving target by eliminating its gunner.
8.
MERCHANT MARINER
During World War II, 243,000 American men bravely volunteered to help transport much-needed
supplies across the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans for the Allies.
They served under what was known as the U.S. Merchant Marine, carrying out their duties
not as military members but as civilian seamen.
And they received little fanfare, but the Allied victory wouldn’t have been possible
without them, and they faced some of the highest casualty rates of any war-related job.
Members of the U.S. Merchant Marine received no government benefits, yet they willingly
risked their lives on a regular basis to ensure that troops fighting overseas had the things
that they needed.
They were included among the conflict’s first American casualties, with six merchant
mariner ships being sunk by the Germans and the Japanese even before the infamous attack
on Pearl Harbor.
Merchant mariner ships were a major target for German U-boats, which sank 733 ships throughout
the war.
One in every 26 mariners died in service, and over 600 were taken by the Japanese as
prisoners of war.
Besides receiving little recognition, these civilian seamen were accused of dodging the
wartime draft and of collecting wartime bonuses that boosted their pay higher than many soldiers’
salaries.
Some people saw taking the job as a cop-out from actual military service.
But to anyone who noticed the dangerous job and the sacrifices these men made, the Merchant
Marines were unsung heroes who diligently got things where they needed to go and often
ended up paying for it with their lives.
Most of the mariners who sailed against the German subs have passed on now.
The few thousand who are still alive honor Memorial Day as a celebration that they were
never fully included in.
But it’s still not too late to remember how much we owe them for their contribution.
7.
SUBMARINER
Allied submarine operators had to keep their eye on a lot of things to avoid a disaster
at sea during World War II.
Not only were they under the constant threat of attack by German U-boats and Japanese vessels,
but sailors also had to ensure that their submarine’s many instruments were working
properly.
And where crews failed to pick up on a problem or experienced an unexpected mechanical failure,
anyone who came out alive was extremely lucky.
One way disaster could happen was if a vessel’s ventilation system stopped working, causing
a submarine to fill with diesel fumes and suffocate the crew inside.
Asphyxiation could also happen if a submarine’s batteries caught fire.
There was also the risk of torpedoes making what’s called a “circle run,” when the
weapon drifts to one side, causing it to circle around and hit the submarine that fired it.
Besides being dangerous, operating a submarine was uncomfortable.
Even the biggest and most advanced vessels were tightly packed with crew members, requiring
them to work and live in an uncomfortably close space to one another.
Sometimes, sailors had to share bunks with crew members who worked and slept on a different
schedule.
And there were usually just a few toilets, sinks, and showers that were shared among
dozens of men, whose war patrols typically lasted anywhere from 45 to 60 days.
Conditions were no better on German U-Boats, which were also rather small for the number
of crew members and equipment on board.
Most U-Boats were around 200 feet (61 meters) long and 15 feet (4.6 meters) wide, That’s
about two-thirds the size of the Statue of Liberty, with crews numbering between 40 and
50 men who were stationed on the vessel for up to six months at a time.
And most times, they only had one toilet.
You can just imagine how long the wait for the bathroom could be.
6.
KAMIKAZE PILOT
Anyone who served in World War II knew they might not make it back home, but some Japanese
pilots went on missions knowing that they were about to die.
In a suicide bombing campaign that began in October 1944, they flew explosive planes that
acted like guided missiles called kamikazes into Allied vessels in the Pacific Theater.
Around 3,800 kamikaze pilots and 7,000 of their opposing naval targets died in these
attacks.
The Japanese resorted to this disturbing method because it was clear that they were losing
the war, and kamikaze tactics were often more accurate and damaging than conventional attacks.
By the time these suicide missions began, Japan had lost many of its best pilots and
its aircraft was becoming outdated.
The country had also lost several key battles.
Things weren’t looking good for the future, but the Japanese refused to surrender and
instead came up with this and other last-ditch efforts to try to gain an upper hand in the
conflict.
The belief that dying in the war was more honorable than surrendering was deeply ingrained
in the country’s military culture and history.
This dates back to the days of the samurai when it was part of the Bushido code.
Besides the kamikaze attacks, the Japanese also operated torpedoes that were specifically
designed for suicide missions.
Known as Kaiten, these manned weapons also went into service in the later stages of the
war, when the conflict began turning in favor of the Allies.
Would you rather surrender or die in battle?
Let us know in the comments and remember to hit the subscribe button before the end of
the video!
5.
ARCTIC CONVOYS
The most direct route to Soviet territory was navigating around the northern tip of
Norway, which required the ships to pass through a narrow stretch between Arctic pack ice and
German bases in the region.
In June 1941, Germany invaded the Soviet Union, which found itself in need of supplies in
its efforts to fight back.
Soviet leader Joseph Stalin called on the Allies for help, and soon enough, shipping
convoys laden with Lend-Lease equipment were on their way to the Soviet ports of Murmansk
and Archangel.
This was especially dangerous during the winter, when the pack ice extended southward, further
narrowing the passageway.
These convoys were major targets for nearby German warships, submarines, and aircraft.
The violence came as crews already faced hard conditions, including extreme cold, ice, strong
currents, heavy fog, and gales.
Ships often became covered in thick ice, making them dangerously top-heavy.
To make things even more complicated, there was limited daylight during the winter.
The crews on these ships faced one of the most challenging environments of all Allied
sailors, and the vessels had a higher loss rate than any other Allied convoy route.
Besides the dangers of warfare, crews often suffered from tuberculosis and other diseases,
which spread like wildfire when they clogged up the ship’s ventilation, trying to keep
more heat in.
4.
HUMAN TORPEDOES
The first human torpedo that was used during WWII was the Italian Maiale, which means “pig.”
It was operated by two men wearing dive suits who swam right up to their target and released
a detachable warhead before steering away to safety.
The self-guided torpedoes that exist today would have been a pleasant dream for the military
members whose job was to guide them during World War II.
The technology simply wasn’t advanced enough for humans to part ways with a torpedo at
a safe and comfortable distance from their target.
The British developed their own version of a manned torpedo called the Chariot, and the
Germans had what was known as the Neger submarine.
Unlike the Chariot, the German weapon could detach a torpedo from inside the vessel.
Designed for one operator, the Neger was prone to technical issues, often resulting in the
operator’s death.
Over 80 percent of Germany’s human torpedoes were destroyed in accidents.
Besides any mechanical problems that human torpedoes were prone to, the very nature of
the job of deploying one was dangerous.
It involved going close enough to the enemy to have little or no opportunity to escape
if the vessel was spotted.
Because of this, most of these missions were carried out at night and during the new moon,
when the risk of being seen was the lowest.
3.
PENAL BATTALIONS In July 1942, Soviet leader Joseph Stalin
issued Order 227, which imposed severe penalties on soldiers for serious offenses, including
retreating from the battlefield out of fear.
This had become a problem since the German invasion of the Soviet Union, and anyone caught
doing it faced the possibility of being executed on the spot.
If their life was spared, the offender was sent to a penal battalion, or shtrafbat, where
they would remain until they redeemed themselves for their alleged wrongdoing.
As part of their punishment, these prisons often had some of the war’s most dangerous
jobs.
Between September 1942 and May 1945, 422,700 Soviet soldiers were sent to penal battalions,
and very few of them survived the war.
Sentences ranged from one to three years and were imposed with the awareness that anyone
who faced three years there was very unlikely to come out of it alive.
A lot of the suffering that these soldiers endured depended partially on how they were
treated by their commanders, who were given a lot of decision-making power over when to
release the men back to their normal units.
In one instance, a commander released all the troops under him who had shown exceptional
bravery during a battle.
Sometimes, wounded soldiers were released.
But in some penal battalions, particularly those serving under the Soviet Air Force,
almost any injury was fatal, and the death rate was extremely high.
This made it unlikely for troops to be released for impressive service or because of injury.
Stalin’s inspiration for establishing these prisons came from seeing that Hitler ran a
similar program of prisoner battalions called Strafbataillon.
These units were sent on the worst missions, which often meant they were suicide missions.
They had to clear minefields, defend against overwhelming enemy forces, and do other dangerous
jobs that came with a high likelihood of dying.
2.
AIR FORCE TRAINEE/PILOT About 15,000 USAAF recruits died in training
accidents, it’s around 10 times the number of Americans who were killed on D-Day.
Aviation was still in its infancy when World War II broke out, but it was clear that fighter
aircraft would play a major role in the conflict.
To bring the American military up to speed with rapidly advancing flight technology,
the United States Army Air Force (USAAF) was formed in 1941.
It involved training a lot of pilots in a very short time.
During these early days of aviation, both civilian and military plane accidents were
already far more common than today’s standards would ever allow.
It wasn't just the pilots’ lack of experience that led to these tragedies.
The U.S. needed to produce a lot of planes quickly for the war.
Most of the contracts went to big companies that had never built aircraft before but had
the facilities necessary for manufacturing them in large numbers.
Many planes were classified as airworthy without undergoing proper testing.
Even when manufacturers knew about certain design flaws, the problem often went uncorrected
because they felt there wasn’t enough time to inspect and fix the problem.
Some issues became common, including engine failures and fires.
Pilots noticed these tendencies among certain planes, particularly the B-24 bomber, which
was nicknamed the “flying coffin” and killed more trainees than any other aircraft.
Besides the deaths caused by plane accidents, thousands of recruits ended up flunking out
of flight training.
And these catastrophic crashes weren’t limited to USAAF training.
Because the training was so rushed, many pilots were sent overseas and put in control of complex
aircraft with very little experience.
As a result, more planes were lost because of pilot error and mechanical failures than
were shot down in combat.
1.
BATTLEFIELD MEDIC
World War II medics had the job of stabilizing wounded soldiers and easing their pain until
they could get them to the nearest aid station.
It came with the difficult job of deciding which soldiers were beyond helping and leaving
them behind to focus on others whose injuries were less deadly.
Medics were under the constant threat of gunfire and other enemy action as they scoured the
battlefield in the middle of active combat for men who needed their help.
There were often 30 or fewer medics for units numbering as many as 400 or 500 soldiers.
Their work was especially overwhelming in some of the war’s biggest battles, like
D-Day.
Edwin Pepping was 21 years old when he served as a combat medic for the U.S. Army during
the Allied invasion of Normandy.
He and his company’s two other medics lost most of their supplies during their parachute
landings.
They were left to work with whatever materials they could find while treating injured soldiers
from both “sides” of the fight.
The trio was credited with saving at least 80 lives that day thanks to their determination
to help anyone they possibly could.
Both Army and Navy medics earned a reputation throughout the war for their dedication and
compassion, both on and off the battlefield.
For wounded servicemen, the path to healing that followed started with the lifesaving
diligence of their attending medics.
Once they reached an aid station, they would be treated by the medical staff there or,
if necessary, sent to a hospital or other facility that could treat more serious injuries.
OUTRO: Would you rather have been a medic or a pilot during the war?
Let us know in the comments, and thanks for watching!
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See you next time, bye! :)