FARK.com: (2008475) What Secret Weapon helped us win WWII? The prune

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		What Secret Weapon helped us win WWII? The prune (abcnews.go.com)		72
		More: Unlikely

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24378 clicks; posted to Main » on 11 Apr 2006 at 6:51 PM | Favorite | share:

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VonKraut		2006-04-11 02:30:26 PM

cool story.

dedekind_cut		2006-04-11 02:34:34 PM

Cool story, seconded

But
Radio >> Some spies prunes
Nuclear Weapon >> some spies prunes
Mustang Fighter >> some spies prunes
B-29 >> some spies prunes
Cracked codes >> some spies prunes (but these may be related)

All of which not particularly effective against an insurgency

2wolves		2006-04-11 03:10:36 PM

Ask anyone from the Pacific and they might say the proximity fuse.

iphtashufitz		2006-04-11 03:14:01 PM

dedekind_cut: But...

Don't forget what the purpose of the prunes was. They were used to provide POW's with escape information. By constantly trying (and succeeding) to escape, POW's forced the Germans to expend a lot of resources on tracking them down. Resources that would otherwise have gone to the front lines, and possibly prolonged the war.

I've always been absolutely amazed by what WWII POW's were able to do. If you ever want to read some truely amazing stuff go look for books on Colditz Castle. Pretty amazing stuff. I've read books written by both former POW's as well as the former German commandant, and it sure was interesting to get their opposing perspectives on everything.

SockMonkeyHolocaust		2006-04-11 03:31:14 PM

Sometimes referred to as "the Baker Street Irregulars" after Sherlock Holmes' fictional group of spies, the executive was set up by Winston Churchill and Hugh Dalton to conduct warfare by means other than direct military engagement.

If they used prunes, wouldn't they be the "Baker Street Regulars"?

*giggle*

lordargent		2006-04-11 03:44:30 PM

Of course they did, haven't you ever heard the term regular troops

CheekyMunky		2006-04-11 05:06:05 PM

dedekind_cut: But
Radio >> Some spies prunes
Nuclear Weapon >> some spies prunes
...etc...

You're right, but I don't think anyone's claiming that the prune was the most important WWII innovation. Just one to add to the list.

iphtashufitz: I've always been absolutely amazed by what WWII POW's were able to do. If you ever want to read some truely amazing stuff go look for books on Colditz Castle. Pretty amazing stuff.

Suggested reading.

just teasing

Donald_McRonald		2006-04-11 06:53:22 PM

Are you shiatting me?

AlienOmega		2006-04-11 06:57:10 PM

Sure it wasn't Captain America?

</first thing I thought of>
</yes I lead a lonely life>

eraser8		2006-04-11 06:57:30 PM

Not nearly as cool as Camels of Mass Destruction.

Sophistimucated		2006-04-11 06:58:31 PM

Somebody call Slim Pickins!

/obscure?

eraser8		2006-04-11 06:58:32 PM

lordargent: regular troops

I shouldn't have laughed. But I did.

buttertownmayor		2006-04-11 06:58:59 PM

See, the Axis powers had similar research going, but they were working with grapes instead of prunes. Problem is, the grapes would burst and there'd just be a big mess and all the grunts would be like, "Whaaa, whaaa, Grupenfuhrer, my fingers are all sticky," and it was just bad.

KaijuMunky		2006-04-11 06:59:02 PM

Donald_McRonald: Are you shiatting me?

Because of the prune, YES.

Ow My Balls		2006-04-11 06:59:53 PM

No picture yet of John Cleese shouting about defending yourself with fresh fruit?

todangst		2006-04-11 06:59:56 PM

it's true, just look at the effect they had on hitler:

ssevillano.free.fr

Something_Creative		2006-04-11 07:00:14 PM

dedekind_cut: wins. You can all go home now.

mikeyrules		2006-04-11 07:00:23 PM

I sent 40 of our best men to the latrines that day...

dg41		2006-04-11 07:02:44 PM

Hey, they say it is a warrior's drink.

TheBigBadCrystallineEntity		2006-04-11 07:03:13 PM

why does it get that tag?

Northernexposed		2006-04-11 07:03:48 PM

enimanigma?

maxwellhauser		2006-04-11 07:05:47 PM

The way your dad looked at it, this watch was your birthright. He'd be damned if any of the slopes were gonna get their greasy yellow hands on his boy's birthright. So he hid it in the one place he knew he could hide something: his ass. Five long years, he wore this watch up his ass. Then when he died of dysentery, he gave me the watch. I hid this uncomfortable piece of metal up my ass for two years. Then, after seven years, I was sent home to my family. And now, little man, I give the watch to you.

Good thing he didn't eat the prunes, or else he'd never been able to keep the watch hidden.

/realizes it's not the same war

Buddha04		2006-04-11 07:06:11 PM

How do we use them on Muhammed's Chocolate Starfish?

Father_Jack		2006-04-11 07:06:48 PM

What secret weapon helped us win ww2?

The Red Army. But it wasn't so secret now was it.

chuggernaught		2006-04-11 07:06:57 PM

Huh, I thought it had something to do with our ability to out-produce our enemies. You know gearing up the American industrial insitution, the "slumbering giant" that Admiral Yamamoto was so concerned about.

maxwellhauser		2006-04-11 07:07:18 PM

Stupid italics.

Monkey's Knuckle		2006-04-11 07:07:28 PM

Don't you mean Codename: PRUNE?

Sinto		2006-04-11 07:07:50 PM

Hoooooogaaaaaannnnnnn!!!!

KernLead		2006-04-11 07:10:49 PM

I'll second the proximity fuse with a runner-up award to napalm.

JosephFinn		2006-04-11 07:11:05 PM

Well, that's certainly a new wrinkle in WWII history.

BobtheFascist		2006-04-11 07:12:06 PM

That's a wicked story.

Waffle_Hound_of_Doom		2006-04-11 07:13:47 PM

iphtashufitz: that is a great link!

All hail prunes!

potato_chip_eating_geek		2006-04-11 07:17:01 PM

Ultra
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bletchley_Park

we even beat the yanks to the worlds first electronically programable computer. so feck off.

SoberIRL		2006-04-11 07:17:25 PM

/obscure?

rs_joe		2006-04-11 07:18:49 PM

maxwellhauser, you read my mind

Surf Nazi		2006-04-11 07:21:50 PM

SoberIRL: /obscure?

Not really.

Zafayal		2006-04-11 07:22:36 PM

this sped along the effects of the brown noise

monkey muffin		2006-04-11 07:22:44 PM

nope, got it SoberIRL

Elvis_had_a_stinky_butt		2006-04-11 07:24:17 PM

Sophistimucated: Somebody call Slim Pickins!

/obscure?

"I've been constipated for weeks and there's not a DAMN thing you can do about it!"

BlueBook		2006-04-11 07:25:46 PM

This thread incomplete without a screencap of Slim Pickens onboard the Japanese sub in 1941.

alexdagrate		2006-04-11 07:26:58 PM

BlueBook		2006-04-11 07:27:13 PM

Dammit, missed yours, Sophistimucated!

CupOfSTFU		2006-04-11 07:30:11 PM

Prune juice!

Extanium		2006-04-11 07:30:33 PM

But that's not why 87 year old Henry here likes em
i1.tinypic.com

dewihafta		2006-04-11 07:31:51 PM

SoberIRL:

Nah, That was totally the first thing I thought of. They all had prunes to shield them in the line of battle!

This was so much better, though. What a neat idea!

WokeUpDead		2006-04-11 07:32:35 PM

I thought that said WWIII at first and thought 'no, Dubya's doing everything in his power to make it happen but we're not quite there yet.'

It was a cool article anyway.

sirgrim		2006-04-11 07:34:23 PM

nope it was the carrier pigeon

studebaker hoch		2006-04-11 07:34:45 PM

Somebody call Slim Pickins!

You won't get shait out of him.

/in no way obscure on this BBS

StrikitRich		2006-04-11 07:37:17 PM

Sure it wasn't a brown note siren?

//You sneaky little batards aren't getting doodly s**t from me, except maybe my name, rank, and Social Security number: Wood, Hollis P., Lumberjack, Social Security 106-43-2185.