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THE HAVOCSTORIAN
Solar’s Stumper
This Month brought to you by last months winner, RedDwarf"Okay here's my 2 part stumper.......
Defensive fortifications known as the MANNERHEIM LINE were
in what country. Who attacked these fortifications in Nov 1939?
rgds,
RedDwarf"
The winner of the stumper will be required to submit the next stumper to get credit. The first club member to send in the correct answer will be declared the winner, after the official release of HAVOC.
Last Months Question….
What Allied Cruiser was sunk after a naval battle with a German raider 19 days before Pearl Harbor? The Cruiser had radioed in it had sunk the raider and was headed home, but only the 50 Germans captured where ever seen again. Surrounded by mysterious events, that to this day has yet to be completely and fully explained!Last Months Answer…
Her Majesties Australian Ship, Sydney
-This story could be a little off, I'm doing it from memory and my memory isn't so good lately
.The HMAS Sydney "pride of the Aussie Navy" was the Australian Flag ship. As I recall the sailors lost accounted for one third of the entire Naval losses Australia suffered in the war, 645 hundred souls were on board.
The story goes that a German raider, flying I believe a flag from Holland, was spotted by the Heavy cruiser in the Indian Ocean, about 700 nautical miles west of Australia. The HMAS Sydney moved to intercept for a routine inspection. Once it got within the raiders range, the German ship opened fire, and then hoisted a German flag. This was how the raiders operated. What ensued was a gun battle leaving the Sydney on Fire, and the Raider sunk. This author doesn't exactly know the extent of the damage. As I remember the Sydney radioed in it was on fire amid ships and that the fire was containable, also that she had 50 German prisoners aboard from the German raider. She was 200 miles West of the Australian shore when she gave her position heading home for repair. That was the last anyone saw or heard of the HMAS Sydney.
Two days later, 50 German sailors washed up on the western coast of Australia. But not a single soul from the Sydney was recovered.
"A great loss for The Royal Australian Navy, which touched Australians deeply."
/s/
Solar
IMO. (In my opinion)
19 days before Pearl Harbor, Japanese ships were on the verge of receiving information about the impending attack. The Pacific had been flooded with radio messages, and the UK was already in the war. Could one of these messages have alerted their subs operating in the Indian Ocean of the impending attack on the USA? Would a Japanese sub captain have fired on the Sydney, the biggest threat the Japanese faced in the southern waters of that Ocean, you bet they would have. Could they have intercepted the message of the raider and Sydney gun battle, the answer to all of these questions is yes. How did 50 Germans make it 200 miles to Australia in two days? There is only one possible answer, by ship.
These are things we may never know the answer to but I believe that this is one of the possible outcomes.
-Lately I've heard that there was a deep-water expedition to find the HMAS Sydney Wreckage but I don't know any of the facts pertaining to it.
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