November 11, 1918 My grandfather served in France during WWI in a machine-gun unit. That, along with the somewhat cryptic “PFC 314 Machine Gun Company” marking on his headstone, was all I knew about Gramp, who died at home on the night of the 1973 Paris Peace Accords and never, ever talked about his service to…
Category: World War One
Texas News: What Lurks Below
The Texas drought caused some World War I-era shipwrecks to resurface on a river near Beaumont Susan Kilcrease was worried a piece of U.S. history would be altered or damaged after it surfaced on the Neches River last week. Parts of several shipwrecks recently surfaced on the southeast Texas river due to lower water…
Know Your WW1 History: The East Africa Campaign and Colonel Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck
H/T WRSA The East Africa Campaign On the outbreak of war in 1914, Colonel Paul Von Lettow-Vorbeck was the commander of a small army in German East Africa (Tanzania, Burundi and Rwanda). He was determined to tie down as many Allied troops as he could in the region to prevent them from…
Know Your Military History: The Black Watch Regiment of the Royal Highlanders
Black Watch: Royal Highlanders The Black Watch regiment is a storied unit within the Scottish military, dating back to the early 18th century. The origin of the Black Watch is similarly steeped in history, with a long lineage of skilled marksmen dating back centuries. Following the Jacobite Rebellion, loyalists of the Highland clans of…
Know Your WW1 History: American Pravda, Lost Histories of the Great War
American Pravda: Lost Histories of the Great War “On reading this, I did a double-take and almost questioned my sanity. Surely, Hochschild must be aware that exactly at that point in time, the government of Germany had publicly proposed international peace talks without preconditions aimed at ending the war, suggesting that the massive, pointless…
Know Your WW1 History: Medieval WW1 Trench Weapons
Medieval WWI Trench Weapons The Brutal reality of Close-Quarter Combat in WW1.
Know Your WW1 History: Steering a Steam Roller – The German Invasion of France in 1914
Steering a Steamroller Bear in mind the German’s did this operation TWICE. Once in 1914 with infantry and again in 1940 with tanks and infantry (Blitzkrieg) which only took 46 days. What a difference 26 years makes.
Four for Fighting: The Greatest Quartet of Combat Shotguns
Four for Fighting: The Greatest Quartet of Combat Shotguns A Look Back at the Heavyweight Champions of Combat Shotty’s: Winchester Model 1897 Browning A5 Remington Model 11 Ithaca Model 37 Here is a fascinating article regarding why Germany wanted to ban the Winchester Model 1897 during WW1.
Know Your WW1 Weapons: Germany’s MG08 Heavy Machine Gun
Germany’s Heavy Machine Gun of WWI: The MG08 All you former infantryman out there might find this fact jaw dropping: “The MG08 machine gun itself weighed approximately 60 pounds. Combined with its “Sled” (or Sledge) mount that used four legs, the whole affair weighed around 140 pounds, excluding the water can and ammunition supply….
Know Your Weapons: The American Enfield AKA the US Model 1917 Magazine Rifle
The American Enfield AKA the US Model 1917 Magazine Rifle You can’t go wrong with a Mauser Action in .30-06 Caliber!