The Juvat Clan will have a semi-traditional Fourth. That means parking my Truck on Main Street early on the 3rd and leaving it overnight. The next morning, slathering up in SPF 9 million sunscreen, a hat and light weight long sleeve shirt and sitting on the bed of said truck for about 4 hours for the parade. MBD and SIL will be splitting the Holiday between the two families. We get them on the 3rd and the morning of the 4th, so they'll be joining us for the parade then visiting his family for fireworks and BBQ. My Niece (as yet un-callsigned), my nephew-in-law (Ditto) and Grand-Niece and Grand-Nephew will be joining us also. Unfortunately, Little Juvat and LJW are back in the sandbox and, having used all their leave and, more importantly, miles, will not be joining us.
After the parade, and later that evening, we'll rendezvous at the airport for the fireworks display. It's always a lot of fun.
Hope yours is as well.
Had a topic for today's post, but frankly, it irritated the snot out of me, so not wishing to harsh your mellow, I elected not to write it this week. Yes, the verb in that last clause is a clue as to the subject.
So....You get pictures and then a pop quiz.
In the comments after last week's post, were several requests for more Normandy pictures. We here, on the rowing deck of the good ship Chant du Départ (I think that's French for "Lollypop") aim to please. Well, except when Sarge wants us to take him water skiing after lunch.
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| Photo #1 |
What I didn't know about the Higgins Boat operations in almost all theaters was that they were skippered almost entirely by members of the US Coast Guard. Little things like that are why I get so bored when folks say "The XXX won World War II". The only correct answer when solving for XXX is "Allies". Not Bombers, Submarines, Real Marines, Army, Navy blah, blah, fricking blah, ad nauseam.
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| Photo #2 |
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| Photo #3 |
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| Photo #4 |
- The figure to the left represents a Sailor loading a gun for the Naval Bombardment.
- The figure to the right represents the Naval Combat Demolition units (later they would be SEALS) who came ashore to eliminate obstacles and took very high casualties.
- The figure in the middle represents the leadership in the operations. (their words not mine)
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| Photo #5 |
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| Photo #6 |
Just normal kids...Serving their country.
So....Pop Quiz time. (Which is why all the photo's have been numbered.)
What are the proper nomenclature (or popular name) for each of the following objects? (Starting at #7, Beans)
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| Photo # 7 |
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| Photo # |
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| Photo #9 |
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| Photo #10 |
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| Photo #11 |
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| Photo #12 |
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| Photo #13 |
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| Photo #14 Hint: It's ok to Hiss at this one |
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| Photo #15 |
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| Photo #16 |
Hope you all have a great Fourth of July and remember being Free isn't free and the fight is never over!
M10 tank destroyer, Churchill tank.. not the flame thrower version, Churchill again, Deuce and a half radio carrier, Deuce and a half troop carrier, German 75mm PAK, US 105mmPack howitzer, German 88mm gun, #15 Kangaroo troop carrier(?),and lastly German Hertzer tank detroyer. Not sure on the trucks though. No said there'd be a quiz this early!?!
ReplyDeleteI looked up #15. Intitally thought something in the Priest line, but is actually this guy:
Deletehttp://tank-photographs.s3-website-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/battle-normandy-museum-bayeux-sexton-spg.html
A little mental warm up at the start of a new week/month.
Deletea bear,
DeleteGood catch.
You can tell it's a Sexton because it doesn't have the pulpit on the right side(the round tube-ish thing that was the .50 BMG gun mount and commander's position. Either made of old Grant/Lee hulls, Ram hulls or early marks of the Sherman. Wimpy gun, though. Much prefer the 105mm of the Priest.
DeleteWell...I could tell it was a Sexton because I had the answer key. But, if you say so ;-)
DeleteHetzer, not Hertzer. Though that was an unofficial nickname.
Delete7) M10 tank-shooter
ReplyDelete8) Churchill tankything.
9) woop, 8 is actually a Crocodile flammenwerfertankything
10) Truck-thing, with house on back.
11) Truck-thing in natural habitat (brokedown beside road)
12) Um. Smile and wait for flash? (75mm Pak, I forget the numbers)
13) Howitz *your* day going? I’m good, just slacking at work.
14) 88mm Flakkentankenschützer
15) Hello Polish readers! You are valued community members!
16) Hetzer which is not a Hetzer, because that name was never official.
Well Done!
DeleteTook me a while to find it, but found this about the naming issue.
"The name Hetzer (German for "baiter" or "chaser") was at the time not used for this vehicle. It was the designation for a related prototype, the E-10. The Škoda factory for a very short period confused the two names in its documentation and the very first unit equipped with the vehicle thus for a few weeks applied the incorrect name until matters were clarified. However, there exists a briefing paper from Heinz Guderian to Hitler claiming that an unofficial name, Hetzer, had spontaneously been coined by the troops. Post-war historians basing themselves on this statement made the name popular in their works, though the vehicle was never named as such in official documents."
The Chieftain (Nicholas Moran) covered this vehicle in a two-parter (search on YouTube The Chieftain's Hatch Hetzer).
DeleteThat video is here
DeleteAnd you can still buy post-war era versions, as they were made till the mid '50s. Good design.
DeleteHmmm, might be an alternative to my truck bed mounted Vulcan. Will it do 70?
DeleteYou don't want a casement SPG. Limited field of fire unless you actually move the whole thing. Now if you want highway speeds the M-18 Hellcat is your choice. 50mph with the governor on, someone tells me up to 70mph on roads without said governor, though it will trash the transmission after a while. Easily loaded good powered 76mm gun and a .50 on a scarf ring.
DeleteNo wouldn't that be a sight. Little old lady (of either gender) driving along at 45 in a 70. Glances in her rearview mirror to see how many vehicles she's got stacked up behind her. Lo and behold, here comes an M-18 racing up behind her/him turret slewed and pointed at him/her. I believe the Depends might need changing at that point.
DeletePhoto 10 is a radio truck with the most excellent HT25(??) Hallicrafters set in it. Followed by a genset on a trailer
ReplyDeletePhoto 13 Pack Howitzer?
Photo 14 the infamous 88mm
The rest are searchables. Not even gonna hazard a guess.
I figured #10 was a comm vehicle, but how did you know about which radio was in it?
DeleteI'm a Hallicrafters nerd. I have a small collection of tube gear they made. I worked with a man that knew the designer of their logo.
DeleteWe had the chance to get some of the equipment in the old fellow's estate, but I was a broke father of 3 at the time. Free in Chicago was too expensive for me.
I was wrong, I knew it was Hallicrafters, but it's an HT-4, watch both parts: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U41WoqbX6u8
I'm re-reading W.E.B. Griffin's The Corps series right now and he mentioned Hallicrafter radios. So that caught my eye.
DeleteThat is an American story. Halligan made a company out of a hobby.... A company whose products went on polar expeditions, went to war in WW2, and provided ville radios in the 1960's. His ham radio stuff was a bit gimmicky, but it worked. I've always been impressed with his story.
DeleteI'll recuse myself on the photo contest. I will say this, I had no idea that we had a 105mm pack howitzer (M3). I have seen the 75mm up close and personal.
ReplyDeleteNice photos, nice post. I suppose asking for "moar" is right out?
Why? I was kinda counting on you to actually give the right answers. I had to go into the metadata on wikimedia to find the actual (I think) name for #16. Supposedly it's a Jagdpanzer 38(T) and Brother a bear was correct in it's nickname
DeleteAh, but I knew that. An American WW2 Reenactment unit actually has (had) one they purchased from Switzerland. Bit of bother getting it through customs as I recall.
DeleteYes, I'm still a slacker. 😉
Slacking is acceptable...until the spouse decides it's not.
DeleteRoger that!
DeleteThe retirement thing makes my last all the more important. One must keep a portion of one's limited (very in my case) brain focused on the spousal unit as the indications that slack time is over are minute initially but quickly escalate when not acted upon. Global annihilation is not outside the realm of possibility. DAMHIK.
DeleteProvide free of charge for your retirement planning handbook.
The M3 105mm gun wasn't really a pack howitzer, as it wasn't capable of being broken down into smaller loads. Buy the end of the war it served as the gun in each infantry regiment's Cannon Company, and in the Divisional Artillery battalions of the Airborne Divisions.
DeleteAs to the Duece and a half, the basic design from White was designated CCKW.
Finally, the USCG not only manned a lot of landing craft, they also manned most of the US Army Transportation Corps's huge fleet of transport ships. One of which would eventually go on be commissioned as USS Pueblo.
I saw a #14 a couple of days ago at the Air Force museum at Wright-Patterson AFB.
ReplyDeleteInteresting, I don't remember seeing that when we visited a couple of years ago. That having been said, there's so much to see that I probably overwrote that RAM in my brain with some other fascinating thing. Very cool museum!
DeleteIt would take a week to do Wright-Pat right, which sadly I have never had.
ReplyDeleteWe did 3 days and I think you're right. Museum fatigue started to hit and the feet and knees started giving out. I'd really like to go back though.
DeleteTwo and a half days at Wright-Pat was about right for us.
DeleteStaying at the Comfort Inn across the street from the gate worked out really well.
If we had tried to read the signage for every exhibit it would have taken much, much, longer.
The B-36 was awesome.
When we visited Normandy I kept it reasonably well together until we go to the cemetery, and then I needed a bunch of tissues.
Good post. Thank you.
Yeah, I lost it there also. But the rowdy French teens that showed up really roused my ire. Fortunately, some other French folks lit into them and they left. Would have been hard for me to avoid an international incident had that not happened.
DeleteRe: B-36. Puts a new meaning to the word "Huge" doesn't it?
The B-36 wingspan is 230' and the B-52 wingspan is 185' and nobody would say the '52 is small.
DeleteThere's a cutaway of one of the six Pratt & Whitney engines used in the '36 on display at Udvar-Hazy, and that is an awful lot of moving parts to take into the air.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pratt_%26_Whitney_R-4360_Wasp_Major
https://airandspace.si.edu/collection-objects/pratt-whitney-wasp-major-r-4360-59b-cutaway-radial-engine
And a video of one of the cutaway engines in operation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0Y9k914B_I
"Huge" isn't the half of it.
When you were toting large flashbulbs into the air, you needed big bomb bays, and the aircraft size flows from that.
My list would have been much like Suz's list.
My list was also, until I found the photograph metadata on the Museum's website. That was the "Answer Key" I referred to earlier. Otherwise, my Target/Not Target list would have had to suffice.
Delete#15 is a Sexton 25 pounder SP. Basically an M-7 Priest, but with a 25 pounder, rather than a 105mm howitzer.
ReplyDeleteYes, Sir!
DeleteOk...here goes...not cheating...
ReplyDelete#7 tank
#8 bigger tank
#9 tank with red tread ( does that mean it's a designer tank?)
#10 truck with antennas
#11 troop carrier
#12 camouflaged cannon (so the European deer can't see ya coming?)
#13 large gun/cannon thingy
#14 Longer gun/cannon thingy
#15 back of tank?
#16 camouflaged tank to match with #12.
Neat pics. And no wonder the back kept falling off that Higgins boat...he was from Nebraska, not, like, Rhode Island!! Very cool post!!
Suz, 100%! Well done. Although I think I would have broken it down thusly.
Delete7. Not Target
8. Not Target
9. Not Target
10. Not Target
11. Not Target
12. Target
13. Not Target
14. TARGET!!!!!
15. Not Target
15. Target
But that's just me...being a black and white kinda guy!
Good job, Suz.
DeleteAs to you, juvat, the world of a fighter/attack pilot is simple, almost binary, isn't it?
Pretty much so...yes. Bad guy, good guy. Shooting at you, not shooting at you. Enough gas, not enough gas. On the ground wishing I was in the air, in the air, praying to be on the ground. Yep, pretty much binary.
DeleteThanks for the great post. To my shame I am in the camp of tank, truck, truck, tank, tank, truck, etc., 88!!, and so on.
ReplyDeleteI am still reading "A Woman of No Importance" and what strikes me most is how they did so much with so very little. And, how important soap came to be to almost everyone at some point in time or another.
Added that book to my Kindle. I'll let you know how it goes.
DeleteOkay, everyone else got the answers before me. The Churchill looks like it's mounting one of the 75mm gun variants, so it's either a Mk VI or Mk VII. Woulda been cool if they had one of the Churchill ARVE (Armored Engineering vehicle based on the Churchill chassis, with a 290mm Mortar in the turret.)
ReplyDeleteThe 105mm Pack Howitzer threw me for a loop. I mean, the carriage is obviously off a US 75mm AT gun, and the whole thing looks so darned American, but not a 75mm pack howitzer (which actually could be broken down into components carried by pack horses.) Did not know there was a 105mm M3 Pack Howitzer designed for use by Airborne troopies, so, well, it's a good day because I learned something new.
As to the Coasties, yep, many many Coasties gave up their lives piloting and crewing landing craft.
Glad you didn't have to smack some surly French fries around. Glad their elders still remember.
Me too. As I said last week (I think), Parisians tended to be a bit snobbish. Once you got out into the country, most French were pretty easy going.
DeleteI very much enjoyed the photos; however, I am going to have some very sharp words with a bear over his comment about the duce and a half. I never had any problem with any that I drove ( although it is true that I drove later models and our maintenance people were outstanding). I love me some twice and a half ( the 5-ton is even better, it has power steering ).
ReplyDeleteRe: W.E.B. Griffin- I, too, am re-reading one of his series. He, and his son, write good stories, don't they.
As to the photo of the plaque about the Higgins Boats, I believe that there is an error in how the wording is written. To the best of my knowledge, Southern France was invaded by Allied Forces AFTER the landings of 6 June 1944. If anyone has different information showing that I am mistaken, please let me know.
The town in which I currently live throws a free-for-all parade. Anyone who wants to drive or walk in it is welcome to do so. Sometimes it is a fairly long parade and sometimes it's rather short; but there are ( or have been at the three I have attended so far ) people throwing candy to the people who are watching, so that draws a crowd.
Thanks for the post.
Paul L. Quandt
Operation Dragoon took place on August 15, 1944, so you are correct, although I think the sentence is poorly written rather than implying that that invasion was simultaneous. It was planned to be, but there just wasn't enough "stuff" to make it so.
DeleteAwkward sentence indeed!
DeleteA bunch of stuff came up between the time I started the previous comment and when I posted it. It would have been more timely otherwise.
DeletePaul
Sorry for the slight against the Deuce-anna-haff, I was just being gooofy with my answers.
DeleteAs consolation, have this:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=oi0a51ZqjOQ
The Deuce and a Half and the Liberty Ships were two of the unsung "heroes" of the war IMHO. If equipment can be heroic.
Deletesome thoughts:
ReplyDelete-Churchill once famously quippeed the tank named for him had as many failings as the namesake... slow and prone to mechanical breakdowns, undergunned but sporting quite good armor
-88 was dreaded but far more prolific 75mm pak40 was easier to conceal, move and had enough punch to K-O any sherman or t-34
-Polish 1st armored div definitely needs own post
-Hetzer was great little vehicle, packing punch of pak-40 onto light chassis with very good frontal armor sloped at great angle
"Hetzers gonna hetz" is a meme coined by WOT players who made thsi little beast their favorite (though for reasons unknown in the game most common armament for them is 105mm howitzer)
Polish resistance captured one in Warsaw uprising and used to fight erstwhile owners...
"Polish 1st armored div definitely needs own post"
DeleteSarge, it appears your AWOL Muse has been visiting Poland.
I wondered whether the slope of the front armor would make a difference. Not to any weapons I might have delivered, but by something coming in more horizontally.
Tak by się wydawało!
DeleteSlope of armor to the incoming round definitely affects the penetration of incoming round. Besides not providing a flat surface perpendicular to said round, it effectively increases the thickness of the armor by the magic of science and math!.
DeleteAs to the 105mm howitzer on the Hetzer in World of Tanks... well, they kinda have gone off the weird end by offering up all sorts of proposed but never made versions of existing tanks or never made tanks. Kind of frustrating as it would have been nice if they stuck with only the real-real stuff. But, well, still fun to play.
It is also why the Maverick missiles first guidance command was a pitch upward.
DeleteWell, I have long wondered why the invasion was at Normandy instead of Southern France. Certainly the beaches were better. Oh well, the decision was made even before I was born.
ReplyDeleteAs to Coastie coxes, I was aware of that; one of the reasons I was proud to have been a member of the Coast Guard Auxiliary.
Paul
I suspect the proximity to England was a big factor in that decision.
DeleteThe reason I deleted the 1922 hrs. comment was that I had misspelled a word and had already hit publish before I noticed it.
ReplyDeletePaul
A misspelling? No! Say it isn't sew!
DeleteHoops and yet more hoops, I am jumping through a multitude of hoops.
ReplyDeletePaul
Hoop jumping is good exercise. I performed it regularly in my careers.
DeleteSailor here, so I didn't know any of them other than the Higgins, and yes, crewed by Coasties, and NOT armored... Brave souls!
ReplyDelete