I was playing “Medal of Honour” again the other day and a recurring question popped up.
During the game, set in Western Europe post Normandy, the American troops shout out a word to unidentified units. I assume it to be an identification code of some sort to separate friend from foe. It sounds like “Sunder” or something similar, and at first I thought it was ‘Surrender”, but in context it doesn’t make any sense.
For those of you unfamiliar with the game, the word is also used in “Saving Private Ryan”. In the movie it is used in the scene where the squad has entered the village and has just come into contact with the French civilians, right before the Vin Diesel gets icked by a sniper. The Captain yells out “??? or we will fire on you”.
So to the general question.
What is this word?
Is it just a common word that I can’t understand because of the accent?
Was there some code word issued to US troops for identifying to each other?
Was the word used by all allied troops or just Americans?
Erm, typically “Flash” is first (as in, lighting flashes, then you hear the thunder). And I’d imagine the Brits, Aussies, New Zealenders, and Canucks were in on it. Not sure on that, though.
Why those words? Your average German soldier doesn’t speak English, so they don’t know WTF “Flash” or “Thunder” is, much less how to respond correctly (or without their accent
Imagine sitting in a lightly forested road in 1944 and hearing “Blitz”. (We all know what it means now, but not so much then) Now, imagine trying to figure out that 1) It was a code word, 2) What it meant, and 3) How to respond (Donner, I believe). It was a short term code - the Germans would figure it out eventually, but it only needed to last through the invasion until units linked up.
Clicker is a generic term I just used to describe a… um, clicker. It makes a clicking noise that isn’t as obvious as a voice shouting. Clicked in a certain pattern, it can obviously be used to communicate.
Extremely off-topic, but this did remind me of a major accomplishment of Paul Linbarger (aka Cordwainer Smith) during WWII.
He wrote up a pamphlet in Chinese, telling their troops that if they wanted to quit the war, they could go to any American unit and say the Chinese words for ‘love,’ ‘duty,’ ‘humanity,’ and ‘virtue,’ which, sounds just like “I surrender” in English. Thus the Chinese could surrender without losing face.
Some American troops were issued small hand-held devices (really, just cheap childrens’ toys named “crickets”) that made clicking noises. You were supposed to click once if you saw someone in the darkness, and if he was friendly, he was supposed to click twice.
From what I’ve heard it is true that the clickers sounded like a German weapon, though I’m too tired looking up sources or details (I think I spent an hour looking through FCC documents on that color bar question).
On briefings for missions we were always given code challenges and responses for the particular areas of the front and the days on which we would likely need them.
As far as I know, such challenges and responses are changed regularly to avoid compromise.
“Thunder” followed by “flash” is the correct sequence.
A “Thunderflash” was (and is) a pyrotechnic used in military training, generally to simulate a hand grenade.
I have in front of me right now, a large tin (10 inches deep, 7.5 inches across), with large letters: “30 Thunderflashes, Mark V.” It is dated 11/44, and also has a lot number. At the bottom is “Made by T.W. Hand Fireworkds Co. Ltd. Canada.” (A name familiar to all Canadian kids from Halloweens gone by.)
There is a larger version in use as well, which simulates an artillery shell landing, and produces quite a bang, according to my (very experienced) Canadian Forces informants.
