tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post1215336506732548781..comments2024-03-28T09:03:52.495-07:00Comments on Chant du Départ: The MonsterOldAFSargehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15935839956936191547noreply@blogger.comBlogger36125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-17087460863349171482018-08-20T08:44:16.873-07:002018-08-20T08:44:16.873-07:00Some of the "French" at Dien Bien Phu we...Some of the "French" at Dien Bien Phu were Germans (Foreign Legion), and may have experienced those guns before.OldAFSargehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15935839956936191547noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-47916966470911155422018-08-20T06:33:38.860-07:002018-08-20T06:33:38.860-07:00122mm howitzers that pounded the Germans would be ...122mm howitzers that pounded the Germans would be hard surprise decade later to French at Dien Bien Phu...<br />and would be present in so many of Cold War "limited proxy wars"Paweł Kasperekhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17636249014878876718noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-89457062171931942052018-08-20T05:06:41.660-07:002018-08-20T05:06:41.660-07:00And the Russians have always loved their artillery...And the Russians have always loved their artillery.OldAFSargehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15935839956936191547noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-6937719469860746832018-08-20T05:05:24.563-07:002018-08-20T05:05:24.563-07:00I han't thought of that. I wonder if the scree...I han't thought of that. I wonder if the screenwriters knew the story, or just got lucky.OldAFSargehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15935839956936191547noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-84547303007487470362018-08-20T05:03:08.256-07:002018-08-20T05:03:08.256-07:00That would be awe...
At that price, uh yeah, neve...That would be awe...<br /><br />At that price, uh yeah, never mind.OldAFSargehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15935839956936191547noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-19250653187791089952018-08-19T23:52:15.344-07:002018-08-19T23:52:15.344-07:00On a website, I found a 1:6 Hetzer, and I thought ...On a website, I found a 1:6 Hetzer, and I thought Katy is into armor, I should get her one. Then I noticed the $1500.00 price tag.SCOTTtheBADGERhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12859188068159799373noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-9764257271056845932018-08-19T20:19:25.963-07:002018-08-19T20:19:25.963-07:00Most historians point out that the quality of Arty...Most historians point out that the quality of Arty officers was superior to that of Inf officers due to Army personnel policies which followed from its doctrine of heavy use of arty. The amount of logistical train in an Army arty unit at every level is also scary. I remember reading a book about joint Army-Marine ops near the DMZ describing the relocation of an Army arty unit in a UMC AO for additional support. The Army personnel arrived ahead of their equipment, so to give the exhausted Marine gun crews a rest it was agreed they'ed man the positions for the night. "How many rounds/tube do we have?" Asked the Army CO. "Fifty/tube for defense for the whole night," came back the ans. ""Christ" thought the Army type, "we usually use at least 50/tube just to sight in the area before we bed down for the night let alone account for enemy action." LOL, logistically speaking Army arty is in a world of its own..virgil xenophonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14577165785872035948noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-61424364816471225892018-08-19T17:20:07.919-07:002018-08-19T17:20:07.919-07:00This reminds me forcibly of the movie "Fury&q...This reminds me forcibly of the movie "Fury", which I somewhat liked but also disliked. Part of the problem was a comment I had heard about the ridiculousness of the mission: with the shrinking of the German lines and the buildup of Allied forces, we would hardly have sent four unsupported tanks behind enemy lines.( I will not[!] digress into the "Hollywoodizing" of the action) This story is the real thing and makes sense in its time and place. I suspect it is the actual basis for the movie and further shows my thesis that no screenwriter ever saw a true story that he didn't think he could make better. One small group of men decided to make a difference, and did so. With a few more groups like that, you become hard to defeat. Put a bunch of men like that under good leadership...LoFan Johnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09670806965670035017noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-10445026117745721652018-08-19T14:37:22.632-07:002018-08-19T14:37:22.632-07:00Yup.Yup.OldAFSargehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15935839956936191547noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-76295554993567262102018-08-19T14:06:19.602-07:002018-08-19T14:06:19.602-07:00Those men were Warriors, and the Warriors they fou...Those men were Warriors, and the Warriors they fought knew it, and acknowledged it.drjimhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05647484115197408897noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-30075542182422172042018-08-19T10:49:12.149-07:002018-08-19T10:49:12.149-07:00Great story, Paweł. Thanks for the link.Great story, Paweł. Thanks for the link.OldAFSargehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15935839956936191547noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-82702529069691613332018-08-19T09:36:50.541-07:002018-08-19T09:36:50.541-07:00https://ulice44.wordpress.com/1944/08/05/wyzwoleni...https://ulice44.wordpress.com/1944/08/05/wyzwolenie-gesiowki-liberation-of-gesiowka-prison-camp/<br />here you have account of liberation of one of lesser German concentration camps in Warsaw<br />one of captured Panthers was crucial in the action<br />scroll down for English version of story<br />Paweł Kasperekhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17636249014878876718noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-23982770289223149612018-08-19T06:27:30.140-07:002018-08-19T06:27:30.140-07:00Of course you're absolutely right, Paweł. Indi...Of course you're absolutely right, Paweł. Individual Soviet troops fought well but yes, an inexperienced officer corps doomed many of them to starvation in German POW camps, or worse.<br /><br />The T-34 was a huge shock.OldAFSargehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15935839956936191547noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-71965833336962059652018-08-19T06:25:15.962-07:002018-08-19T06:25:15.962-07:00Indeed.Indeed.OldAFSargehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15935839956936191547noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-83698321105984615492018-08-19T06:24:04.740-07:002018-08-19T06:24:04.740-07:00The Hetzer was a hot little vehicle. The museum at...The Hetzer was a hot little vehicle. The museum at Bastogne has one.<br /><br />I had no idea that the Poles had actually captured some armor during the Warsaw Rising.OldAFSargehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15935839956936191547noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-25025155323353578472018-08-19T04:20:08.728-07:002018-08-19T04:20:08.728-07:00Abandoning Czechoslovakia in 1938 has costed allie...Abandoning Czechoslovakia in 1938 has costed allies dearly.<br />Germans made good use of captured equipment and produced many more vehicles on basis of pz38t<br />perhaps most succesful was Hetzer, a 75mm pak40 mounted on pz38t chassis in well armored casematte with 60mm of sloped frontal armor giving pause to most 75mm guns<br />(reportedly design was made directly along notes by Guderian himself)<br />one Hetzer was capture by 1944 Warsaw uprising and has been used to great effect in the first days of uprising,<br />along with 2 Panthers captured and possibly only one underground-manufactured armored car...<br />https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2d/Barykada.jpg<br />http://www.panzermodelling.com/wordp/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Panther_G_375_text.jpg<br /><br />Paweł Kasperekhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17636249014878876718noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-87898216549008661552018-08-19T04:09:52.763-07:002018-08-19T04:09:52.763-07:00a few critical comments about the whole battle... ...a few critical comments about the whole battle... <br />while it gave the pause to German advance, on a balance it was a huge loss to Soviet side as they lost entire armored corps<br />(equivalent of armored division) in piecemal counterattacks with every kv-2 invovled lost<br />Germans in the first days of the invasion were totally owning inexperienced soviet troops led by officer corps decimated by stalins purges<br />the problem is, every small stop on the road to moscow counbted, and Soviets were able to raise new armies faster than Germans were destroying old ones, and once the giant tanlk factories moved to Urals they were safe from any German attack and started producing t-34s by thousands which meant Germans were now facing numerically superior foe with increasingly more battle hardened crews manning excellent tanks<br />Paweł Kasperekhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17636249014878876718noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-47219783221610758972018-08-18T21:29:42.885-07:002018-08-18T21:29:42.885-07:00Badger Paw Salute!Badger Paw Salute!SCOTTtheBADGERhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12859188068159799373noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-75146221568865562632018-08-18T20:58:20.103-07:002018-08-18T20:58:20.103-07:00Heh.Heh.OldAFSargehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15935839956936191547noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-22271123924800929822018-08-18T20:47:20.260-07:002018-08-18T20:47:20.260-07:00Yep. Some of them shot at least one German for ev...Yep. Some of them shot at least one German for every 10 Russians...Beanshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15293778848879361153noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-88964506378109627602018-08-18T18:51:16.132-07:002018-08-18T18:51:16.132-07:00I hadn't heard that about the SVT-40, I did kn...I hadn't heard that about the SVT-40, I did know that the Germans liked the PPSh-41.<br /><br />The Russian 76.2 AT gun was excellent.<br /><br />German use of French artillery was of necessity, not by choice. They needed lots of artillery, they captured a lot of French artillery. The Krupp guns were better, in my opinion. The French 75 was obsolete after WWI.OldAFSargehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15935839956936191547noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-40486237189230077972018-08-18T18:45:56.695-07:002018-08-18T18:45:56.695-07:00Old joke -
If you encounter a unit you can’t ide...Old joke - <br /><br /><i>If you encounter a unit you can’t identify, fire one round over their heads so it won’t hit anyone.<br /><br />If the response is a fusillade of rapid, precise rifle fire, they’re British.<br /><br />If the response is a shitstorm of machine-gun fire, they’re German.<br /><br />If they throw down their arms and surrender, they’re Italian.<br /><br />And if nothing happens for five minutes and then your position is obliterated by support artillery or an airstrike, they’re American.</i>OldAFSargehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15935839956936191547noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-24586257973026030412018-08-18T18:41:25.166-07:002018-08-18T18:41:25.166-07:00Well, ya know how it is with the "true believ...Well, ya know how it is with the "true believers." Some of 'em were kinda feisty.OldAFSargehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15935839956936191547noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-57758684963604143822018-08-18T17:47:38.712-07:002018-08-18T17:47:38.712-07:00German armor forces loved the Pzkw 38(t) as the Ch...German armor forces loved the Pzkw 38(t) as the Christie suspension didn't break down like the smaller wheeled German tanks. Armor layout was better, gun was equal or even better than the equivalent 37mm German gun. <br /><br />Germany was smart in that they really utilized all the captured arms and factories. German troops loved the Russian semi-auto rifle. And were so enamored (and captured so many) of the Russian 76.2mm long anti-tank and anti-aircraft guns that they devoted a whole production like to producing ammo for it. Loved French artillery, something the French did very well (a lot of our artillery pieces, by the way, were evolutions of French pieces, including the 155 and 203 (6" and 8") and the whole 75mm gun line was an evolution of the famous 'French 75' that our troops fell head-over-heels in love with in WWI.) And Germans loved Italian food...Beanshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15293778848879361153noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684531976778247960.post-84335502900196319172018-08-18T17:39:41.177-07:002018-08-18T17:39:41.177-07:00During WWI, the very professional German officers ...During WWI, the very professional German officers labeled the US Doughboys as 'gifted amateurs' and were surprised when we didn't retreat under horrible odds.<br /><br />During WWII, German officers said the same thing, but then also cursed our, what to them was wasteful, use of air power and artillery. A joke, bad joke was that you know you're fighting the Americans when you see one, he disappears, and 5 minutes later your whole area disappears under an artillery barrage. There's a lot of truth in that statement. (Most US Tank Destroyers were actually used as mobile artillery and close support tanks. Weird, but it is what it is.)Beanshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15293778848879361153noreply@blogger.com