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Anti-tank Kangaroo
During the Second World War a lot of the UK's odd weapons and equipment research came from one of two departments. The famous MD1, nicknamed 'Churchill's Toyshop' or the Admiralty's Directorate of...
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The Navy's Little Gem's
Note: I first got clued into this story from the IWM website. They have a large collection of free to use images relating to the first part of this story. The rest took a bit of digging.On December...
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Run Out the Mortars!
Mortars are great, they give the infantry they are supporting some organic indirect fire, sort of like pocket artillery. Plus, they're cheap! That is why pretty much every single army has kept medium...
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More Cow gun
There has always been an appeal to military types of the ability to place the firepower of artillery on the mobility and positioning of aircraft. The idea of being able to use direct fire artillery...
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All American
Ralph Burbridge was 21 in 1940, at this age he could finally make his own life choices, and his first one was to join the USAAF. On December 7th 1941 he was still undergoing training when the Japanese...
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Field of Dreams
In the west corner of the Zeppelin field, one of the Nazi Party rally grounds at Nuremberg, German soldiers dug in furiously. Above them were the giant Swastika flags and iconography on the buildings....
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Panzershreck
Last weekend I was rather busy with a trip, which meant time away. Then the Long Haired CO (the wife) decided we were going to be out all day on Sunday for an exhibition. The trip away will be of...
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Eden
A couple of weeks ago I had to travel up to Yorkshire. I travelled down the day before, and as I had a few hours spare I visited a Museum called Eden Camp. Consider this review, if you will.Eden camp...
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Bombing with Hope
Imagine if you will, you are a young soldier in September 1944, and you are in a glider bouncing over the North Sea towards Arnhem. Perhaps you are from a land locked state in the US, or an inner-city...
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It Werfer's Panzers?
A couple of months ago I did a post about Nebelwerfers. In it you'll spot that I failed to mention anything about the Panzerwerfer 42, that is what this follow on article is about.The Panzerwerfer 42...
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Beaver Attack
In October 1927 a new fast merchant ship was launched from Glasgow. The ship was the first of the Beaver class, and it will come as no surprise that it was ordered by a Canadian company. This ship was...
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Light is Right
Light has long been used as a weapon. Some of the first experiments were in the form of searchlights used as dazzle weapons at night. The British developed a series of tanks called Canal Defence...
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Well, as warned, last week the house move fun and games has been quite substantial. Could it go wrong? Then yes it has! My car broke down last weekend, with a terminal prognosis, so I had to go buy a...
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Fun, Games and Speculation
As some of you will have seen over on my Facebook page, I've been moving house and it's not been going well. But I have gotten somewhere and I promised you content. It really did look like I was going...
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Old Dog Learning New Tricks.
Seek, Strike and Destroy was the motto and tactical doctrine of the US tank destroyer battalions. The US had come up with a silly idea that their tank destroyers would pursue enemy tanks around the...
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A Box of Polish
In August 1944 a small group of Poles were surrounded in an area just two kilometres across, cut off and running out of ammunition they were fighting to hold the Germans at bay, then the SS soldiers...
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Immediate Take Off!
Just after 0300, on the morning of the 17th of January 1991 Lieutenant Zuhair Dawood, of the Iraqi Air Force, was on duty. The day previously the deadline set for the withdrawal of Iraqi forces from...
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Tank Action!
The QF 4.5in howitzer had been designed off the back of the British experience in the Second Boer War, and by 1909 was entering service with the Royal Artillery. This stumpy looking gun formed a major...
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Empire Building
The US equipment procurement system is complex and impenetrable to an outsider. On at least one occasion it has been the subject for a comedy (Pentagon Wars). But today I feel we should cover that, and...
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Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrt!
Last week we looked at the background to the mighty A-10 and its development, now we continue the story.The A-10 has been made famous by its weapon, the GAU-8 Avenger. A weapon so massive that the...
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