Japanese Model 89 Knee Mortar For more than a century, American troops have given a wide variety of nicknames to their own weapons, and also those of their enemies. During World War II, American troops in the Pacific Theatre created a nickname for a highly effective Japanese weapon that was a bit misleading. The…
Category: Military Weapons History
Marine Corps: Optics vs. Iron Sights
Marine Corps: Optics vs. Iron Sights Chief Warrant Officer 2 Billy Shinault, Officer-in-charge of Chosin Rifle Range at Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, along with Warrant Officer Bobby Yarbrough, MCRD Parris Island CommStrat, explain the advantages of training recruits to start shooting with the Rifle Combat Optic instead of using iron sights….
The Marine Corps Iwo Jima Stinger
The Marine Corps Iwo Jima Stinger Good God, do I love the United States Marine Corps. Not just because I served in the Marine Corps and because the cult brainwashing runs deep, but because of the Marine Corps attitude of improvising, overcoming, and adapting. Until recently, the Marine Corps has been famously known for…
Interview with MACV-SOG Major John L. Plaster
MACV-SOG Major John L. Plaster I have two books from Plaster in my Library that are dog eared, highlighted and just about worn out. The first is The Ultimate Sniper which I got many moons ago as a gift from a now departed friend (who was a better shot than me by a country…
Know You USMC History: Operation Starlite (1965)
H/T Fix Bayonets Locate, Close With, and Destroy There are two reasons for people to clash. First, because some people believe they have no other choice. A second reason is that it suits them. During OPERATION STARLITE, the 1st V.C. Regiment lost 615 men, either as killed in action or detained as…
Know Your Firearms History: The ‘Tiffany Guns’ of the Spanish-American War
The ‘Tiffany Guns’ of the Spanish-American War President Joe Biden has repeatedly suggested when it was first drafted there were restrictions to the Second Amendment. He pressed the point by stating that “you couldn’t own a cannon,” while more recently he’s made the argument that the Second Amendment isn’t absolute in that Americans today…
Fast and Furious: The Philosophy and Mechanics of the Blitzkrieg Tactic
Fast and Furious: The Philosophy and Mechanics of the Blitzkrieg Tactic It’s the dawn of World War II, and the old ways of fighting aren’t cutting it anymore. Soldiers huddled in trenches, days turning into weeks with little progress—it’s a stalemate that no one wants to repeat. Enter the Blitzkrieg tactic, a plan that’s…
Chaos Reigns: Modern Warfare in the West
Via: The Patrol Base Archives Disgusted by the latest news, I pushed myself back from my computer desk. “The country is going to Hell,” I declared to no one. It seemed like America was pulling herself apart. In this cold Civil War, the schism isn’t as evident as the Mason-Dixon line was. Instead,…
Know Your History: 3 Key Phases in the History of the Roman Army
3 Key Phases in the History of the Roman Army More Great articles in Roman Military History.
Know Your WW2 History: German-Soviet Alliance – How the Soviet Union Enabled Hitler’s Conquests
German-Soviet Alliance: How Soviet Union Enabled Hitler’s Conquests For all you fellow amateur military historians out there, I highly recommend you bookmark the resources for this article. They make for some excellent reading by themselves: The Buildup of the German War Economy: The Importance of the Nazi-Soviet Economic Agreements of 1939 and 1940 Historian…