"Wingardium Leviosa!"
Posted on 02/20/2015 8:47:03 AM PST by pabianice
NATO combat readiness to be put to test in 2015
The German army has faced a shortage of equipment for years, but the situation has recently become so precarious that some soldiers took matters into their own hands.
On Tuesday, German broadcaster ARD revealed that German soldiers tried to hide the lack of arms by replacing heavy machine guns with broomsticks during a NATO exercise last year. After painting the wooden sticks black, the German soldiers swiftly attached them to the top of armored vehicles, according to a confidential army report which was leaked to ARD.
A defense ministry spokesperson said the use of broomsticks was not a common practice, and that the decision of the involved soldiers was "hard to comprehend." According to the ministry, the armored vehicles were furthermore not supposed to be armed. It remains unclear how many broomsticks were substituted for machine guns.
I was just about to say the same thing. Actually the US army in ‘40 and early ‘41 too. On the Realtime thread we saw pictures of them using fake guns in exercises down in LA. Fake Anti tank guns, jeeps in place of real tanks, etc.
Putin isn’t laughing. He’s hysterical!
They turned them into "assault" broomsticks!
Reminds me of a classic joke:
A private in WWII is preparing to defend his position against the Germans when he realizes he has lost his rifle. He runs to his sergeant and says, “Sarge! I lost my rifle! What do I do?”
The sergeant looks around, see a broomstick, and hands it to the private and says, “Just point this at the Krauts and say, ‘Bangitty bangitty bang!’”
The private is incredulous. He starts to object, “But Sarge...”
“PRIVATE! JUST DO AS YOU’RE TOLD!”
The private thinks he is defenseless with just a broomstick, so he tries for a bayonet. “What if they get too close? I need a bayonet.”
The sergeant spots a piece of string on the ground, ties it to the end of the broomstick and says, “If they get close, just thrust this at them and say, ‘Stabbity stabbity stab!’”
Now the private really thinks his NCO has lost his mind. He starts to object, “Sarge! I’m gonna die...”
“PRIVATE! JUST DO AS YOU’RE TOLD!”
Dejected, the private returns to his fighting position and awaits battle, certain he will die. When the fighting starts, he yells out “Bangitty bangitty bang!” and a German soldier falls over dead. He does it again, and again. Germans are dying all around him! He can’t believe it! Some Germans get too close, so he yells, “Stabbity stabbity stab!” The soldiers keel over dead.
The private is elated! It works! He’s killing more Germans than anyone else on the battlefield!
Suddenly, he spots a German marching towards him with a stern look on his face.
“Bangitty bangitty bang!”
But the German doesn’t die.
“Bangitty bangitty bang!”
The German keeps marching directly at him, getting close!
“Stabbity stabbity stab!”
It doesn’t stop the German. In fact, the German marches right up to the soldier, unphased, and tramples the poor private into the ground. As the private lays in the dirt with broken bones, the German solider keeps walking on saying, “Tankitty tankitty tank!”
Or Patton's "Ghost Army" pre D-day.
That is an old and very bad joke, and exactly what I thought of when reading the headline.
Don’t tell it when under the influence of alcohol...
‘It remains unclear how many broomsticks were substituted for machine guns’...and it remains unclear how many cabbages were substituted for brains...
I can’t think of an armored vehicle without some kind of mounted weapon?
Were they trying to hide the fact that they did not have weapons or trying to highlight and bring it to public attention.
In most armies soldiers are not permitted criticize their suppliers in public so embarrassing them often is the only recourse they have.
No wonder the germans are talking with Russia.
“Germany has the largest Muslim population in Western Europe after France. Approximately 3.0 to 3.5 million Muslims live in Germany, and 80% of them do not have German citizenship; 608,000 are German citizens. 100,000 of them are German converts to Islam. Recent statistics show a continuing increase in their numbers.
70% are turks...
http://www.euro-islam.info/country-profiles/germany/
Sounds like innovative thinking!
During WW2 the Germans built the Ju 88 in both lightly armed bomber versions and heavily armed fighter versions. A common field modification was to paint the solid nose of the fighter variant with lines to make it appear to be a glass bomber nose from a distance.
What a coincidence. Pelosi, Waters, Hillary, and other democrat “ladies” have been looking for their brooms lately.
Broomsticks ,Blah , I hate getting run over by the guys shouting , TANK TANK TANK
Germany should find money in its budget to fund its military, instead of wasting wealth by bankrolling the EU, especially the debt defaulting Greeks.
After the end of WW2, US military intelligence interviewed captured Japanese Generals, and asked them how they thought they could defeat the United States. A number of them explained that they saw the American newsreel from 1940-1941 showing the US Amy practicing with wooden guns. Their overall impression was that it will be a “piece of cake”, as a “real military” would never use fake weapons. Pictures send a giant message.
American newsreel from 1940-1941 showing the US Amy practicing with wooden guns
Then the Japanese started using Wooden Bullets
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