It’s been forgotten that SLA Marshall had an important appendix to his research on American soldiers not firing in combat in the Pacific, entitled ‘The underpants factor’.
Marshall noted that American troops rarely fired in their underpants, but when not wearing underpants they were much more willing to use their weapons.
This research led the eminent Russian combat analyst, Colonel Vladimir Ripdemoff, to research the underpants factor among Soviet troops. He found that the nearer they got to Berlin, the less they wore underpants to ensure that they would be ready for any action.
Marshall’s reseach also caused the British Major Dorian Gray to establish the picture with British troops. He found that the underpants factor generally didn’t affect the performance of English troops as most of the OR’s didn’t know what underpants were.
Upon learning of Major Gray’s results, de Gaulle appointed a staff officer to establish French superiority on the underpants factor. This showed that many French soldiers were ineffective in combat due to muscle stiffness caused by their silk underpants. de Gaulle suppressed the results of this research.
When the Australians heard of the underpants factor, they misunderstood the results of Marshall’s research and thought that he was commenting upon the number of troops who fired into their underpants. Accordingly, all men in three randomly selected infantry battalions were, upon returning to Australia, subjected to rigorous questioning by the army’s esteemed psychologists, based largely around the men’s response to questions based on this image.
The psychologists reported that the weapon response was the same for men with and without underpants.
Which nation do you think had the most powerful underpants in WWII?
You may vote for more than one option.
Even the vaunted Americans:mrgreen:
