zraver

I was found in a moment of chance and one of the names I was given was Queen Victoria. I was instrumental in helping may nations defeat the nationalist of a one nation. Although named by some for the Queen of England, I was carried by on an Italian and fed Russian by Americans, what am I?

maximusslade

Can ya fix the grammatical errors? Or were they on purpose?

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Hit Hard, Hit Fast, Hit Often...

maximusslade

I am going to venture a guess....

9th London Regiment, Queen Victoria's Rifles

zraver

No, it is an item not flesh and blood.

RustyBattleship

Lake Victoria in Africa?

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Able to leap tall tales in a single groan.

zraver

No one of the names this thing was known by is Queen Victoria

Hint- It was discovered while digging

named by some after the British Queen, it was borne by something from Italy, fed by something from Russia, and crewed by Americans.

maximusslade

The Cunard Line Queen Victoria?

zraver

No.

maximusslade

Well, I'm stumped.

zraver

it is a weapon

RustyBattleship

You mean something that ran on Vodka?

zraver

boo,

more like 9 pound shells

RustyBattleship

Wait a minute. I saw a picture of the real cannon, but in the movie '55 Days in Peking" (with Charleton Heston) they jury rigged a cannon that I think was an Italian howitzer, used Russian ammunition, manned by US Marines and was put together by a British minister.

Nah! Too far-fetched and I probably got my movie characters and props wrong. But I do recall it used Russian ammo. As for digging it up, that's what throws the monkey wrench into my theory. Why would they have buried it afterwards?

Whoopsy Daisy. Just googled it but the barrel was British, not Italian:

In the compound, the defense was led by the British ambassador, Claude M. McDonald. Fighting with small arms and one old cannon, they managed to keep the Boxers at bay. This cannon became known as the "International Gun," as it had a British barrel, an Italian carriage, fired Russian shells, and was served by Americans.

zraver

You got it, when the international force was digging defenses in the diplomatic quater they uncovered the old gun left over form the Opium Wars, I had not heard it was for sure a British gun, it might have been Chinese. It was a God send regardless of who it used to fight for. The Russians had set out on the march with all thier artillery ammunition, but they left the gun itself on the train. The Italians had a 1 pounder Hotchkiss rapid firing cannon and a spare carriage, but very few rounds. Before the International Gun was discovered the defenders were taking the Russian shells prying them apart to reload the Hotchkiss casings. Then the gun was found and lo and behold the Russian shells fit.

RustyBattleship

It is fairly well known that the Nisei soldiers of the 242nd in WW II did a lot of the radio communcations in Europe as most German soldiers could not speak Japanese.

Also, Native Americans were used for the same purpose in the Pacific Theater ("Wind Talkers").

But in the First World War, many messages were written and delivered by a courier or even a carrier pigeon. But it was written in a language that no Germans, Austrians or Hungarians could read.

What was that language?