On the lighter side of things      , the germans during world war 2 used to use them for gunnery practice with cannon range finding,
the japaneese found them great live practice for bayonnette drills, and the english used to send them out to probe the enemys machine gun nests, to see just where the big guns were. i think about that when i wonder what the hell is in my chicken currys.     

maybe they are still a bit pissed and are all now sitting in telemarketing centres around the world, getting back at us all. just a thought.