Infinite Wisdom

La Triviata

• During World War II, Oscar-winning Hollywood set designer Ken Adam (Dr. Strangelove, etc.) was a Sergeant Pilot in 609 Squadron of the RAF , one of about 10,000 German citizens – many of them Jewish – who fought in the British armed forces against the Nazis.
• After bumping off his Imperial Brother Geta, the Roman Emperor Caracalla (r. A.D. 211-217) disposed of the lad’s friends and supporters as well, by some accounts numbering as many as 20,000.
• While Air Force types often criticize the Navy for allegedly never allowing an aircraft carrier to be “sunk” in a wargame, they generally evade discussion of the impressive survival rate of AWACS aircraft in their own exercises; even enemy AWACS.
• Sometimes aptly called “The Battle of the Nations,” the Battle of Leipzig (Oct. 16-19, 1813) between the French Empire and the Allied powers, which involved somewhat over 600,000 troops, both sides together, was the largest battle in history until 1914.
• In 1538, the Genovese naval entrepreneur Andrea Doria (1466-1560) owned 22 war galleys, which were available for hire to the highest bidder.
• Recently closed due to financial difficulties after 126 years , the New York Military Academy, near West Point, numbered among its alumni Broadway composer Stephen Sondheim, crime boss John A. Gotti, and politician Donald J. Trump.
• Concerned about the transfer of veteran troops from his army in Palestine to the Western front during the winter and spring of 1918, British General Edmund Allenby suggested asking Japan for several divisions to help maintain his combat strength, an idea that was promptly quashed by the Foreign Office.
• Gen. Curtis Lemay, long-time head of the Strategic Air Command during the height of the Cold War, was an enthusiastic amateur radio hobbyist, and would often use his “ham” equipment to keep in touch with his airborne bomber crews.
• The Second Florida War (1835-1842) involved the mobilization of about 40,000 regulars, volunteers, and militiamen at a cost of $30 million and about 5,000 U.S. dead, all to “relocate” some 3,000 Seminoles to Oklahoma.
• Despite repeated encounters with the Japanese Type 93 Model 2 torpedo (commonly known as the “Long Lance”), it was not until March of 1944, after numerous Allied ships had been lost, that U.S. Navy intelligence bulletins first correctly described its capabilities.

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