Hitler envisaged the star turn of his Ardennes offensive to be the Sixth Panzer Army, an entirely new creation. That it was to be led by the Waffen-SS’s senior field commander, and contain four SS panzer divisions, was no accident. This was another of the Führer’s responses to 20 July: thereafter the only organisation with […]…
Category: WW2 Era Weapons
We Accept Death, We Hand Out Death II
The forty-three-year-old Gruppenführer Hermann Priess commanded the I SS Corps, formerly Sepp Dietrich’s old formation, which contained 1st and 12th Panzer Divisions, totalling around 240 panzers on 16 December. We have seen via Dietrich’s career how the Leibstandarte expanded from a motorised regiment in 1939 to the largest division in the armed forces by December […]…
Know Your Weapons: The Johnson Rifle
31 Mar 20 Melvin Johnson’s Rifle Sergie Simonov’s SKS Rifle, first adopted by the Soviets in 1945 (replacing Fedor Tokarev’s short-lived SVT), saw service only until 1952, after which it was superceded by Mikhail Kalashnikov’s AK. However, the SKS continued to see second-tier service in the USSR, and continuing first-tier service in the PRC (China),…
Know Your History: WW2 Trifecta
Some Light Reading… This Panzer Ace Destroyed More Than A Dozen British Tanks Operation Queen: The Western Allied November 1944 Offensive Ireland Was Neutral in World War II, so Why Did the Nazis Attack It?
Know Your Weapons: M1 Carbine
M1 Carbine history: More than the Garand’s Little Brother Great write up on one of my favorite WWII-era weapons. Stay Alert, Armed and Dangerous!
MG-42: German Machine Gun
Know Your Weapons!
World War II History: The Butcher Bird Blitz
Stay Alert, Armed and Dangerous!
AFRICA WWII – REFLECTIONS AND REPUTATIONS I
I am currently reading two books on the North African Theater in WWII and found this article fascinating. On November 4, the time had come for Eighth Army to pursue a crippled and defeated Axis force. Montgomery was well aware that Rommel’s army was now gravely damaged and in retreat. He launched two…
Japan’s Underwater Aircraft Carriers – part one
Amazing Read!
Wellington Bomber in Service
Research material for Part 2 of my WW2 OSS Trilogy, which should be finished by early summer 2019. Stay Alert, Armed and Dangerous!