Via: War Views Military History Blog Pacific War 1 – Preliminary Moves Road to the Pacific War Beginning of the war in the Pacific came unexpectedly, at least for some people. Attention was on Europe, where war had been raging for two years. Poland had been invaded by Germany and USSR in September…
Category: Military Weapons from the Past
Asymmetrical Warfare and 4GW: How Militia Groups Are America’s Domestic Viet Cong
*From the Archives Asymmetrical Warfare and 4GW: How Militia Groups are America’s Domestic Viet Cong Civil War 2 appears to be the new buzzword among both sides of the brewing conflict in the US, no longer considered some fringe notion. The Right and the Left find themselves at an impasse, and its rapidly…
Know Your Firearms History: The Maxim Irony
Know Your Real Civil War History: The Whitworth Sniper Rifle
Whitworth “Sharpshooter” Rifle The Whitworth was widely considered to have been the first rifle used for true sniping. They were reportedly accurate up to 1,800 yards or more. At shorter distances, such as 500 yards, the Whitworth was far more accurate with tighter groupings than the Enfield rifles of the time thanks…
Know Your WW2 Naval History: Hunting the Bismarck – Part I
Hunting the Bismarck – Part I Without doubt, the Bismarck is the single best-known German warship of World War II. Large, fast, hard to sink and equipped with the latest in German radar and optics technology, it quickly earned notoriety after it sank the HMS Hood, the pride of the Royal Navy. The panicked British response eventually brought low the German monster, but only after…
Know Your Obscure WW2 History: Boeing Wonderland
Did You Know About the Boeing Wonderland? World War II saw numerous innovative attempts to confuse the enemy through camouflage: by hiding one’s assets from detection, while creating fake units elsewhere to misdirect the enemy’s attention. (You might recall one of our older articles about the Germans disguising the battleship Tirpitz as a group of houses. Read our earlier…
Know Your WW2 History: The M8 Greyhound
The M8 Greyhound Armored cars tend to be overlooked by World War II history buffs. Nimble fighter planes, deadly bombers, hulking tanks and stealthy submarines are “sexier” than a car that can’t fight like a tank, can’t race a plane, and can’t use terrain to its advantage like infantry. Nevertheless, armored cars were a vital part…
Obscure WW2 History: Jap Lunge Mines and Banzai Sticks
Jap Lunge Mines and Banzai Sticks – Last Ditch Weapons in WW2 During World War II, the ancient Samurai moral code of honor, obedience, duty and self-sacrifice found its way into Japanese military tactics, particularly during the last desperate months of the empire of the Rising Sun. Beyond the high-profile Kamikaze air strikes, the…
AK Corner: AK’s from Finland
AKs from Finland. Part 1: Development History The small European country of Finland always had a great reputation when it comes to arms production. For collectors, Finnish-made Mosin-Nagants are some of the most desirable Mosin rifles, but there is another rifle design that the Finnish took to a whole other level. It is called RK…
AK Corner: Story of the RPK-74
Story of the RPK-74 The 5.45x39mm RPK-74 was an evolutionary development of Mikhail Kalashnikov’s original 1940’s-vintage AK-47. The earliest AK (Avtomat Kalashnikova) rifle fired the then radically new M43 7.62x39mm round and was built around a stamped steel receiver. This 35″, 7.7-lb. infantry rifle legitimately changed the world. Alas, those early stamped receivers weren’t…