How Cumulative Projectiles Work Cumulative or HEAT warheads are the staple of infantry (man-portable) anti-tank weapons and are also used by artillery and various unarmoured and armoured vehicles for the purposes of anti-tank combat. Their main advantage over other types of anti-tank projectiles is that their effectiveness does not depend on the projectile’s velocity. As…
Category: WW2 Era Weapons
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…
Know Your WW2 History: Kursk – The Battle that Changed Everything
Kursk: The Battle that Changed Everything It is 75 years since the Battle of Kursk, the largest tank battle in history. More than 3,000,000 men and 8,000 tanks met, 400 miles south of Moscow. Yet today, once again, German tanks are facing Russian tanks, just a few hundred miles from the site of that…
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…
Fairbairn and Sykes: Shooting to Live
Fairbairn and Sykes: Shooting to Live Travis Pike provides a practical review of the classic book “Shooting to Live” by Fairbairn and Sykes. Considered by many to be a forerunner to modern defensive firearms training, the book focused on the use of handguns in self-defense scenarios. The authors, with their extensive experience in law…
Know Your WW2 Weapons: The German Panzerfaust
Panzerfaust — The Story of Germany’s “Tank Fist” Panzerfaust literally translates to “tank fist,” and it was one of several desperation weapons fielded by the Germans in the closing months of World War II to blunt the Soviet juggernaut and the increasing threats on the Western Front. First developed in 1942, as Germany’s fortunes…
Know Your WW2 Weapons: The Welrod Pistol
Welrod Pistol: Allied Assassination Tool Welrod Technical Specifications Caliber .32ACP and 9mm Parabellum models Weight 48 oz Barrel Length 3.25″ Overall Length 14.5″ Method of Operation Manual bolt action, striker-fired with grip safety Feed System Metal box magazine with Ebonite coating that served as a grip Magazine Capacity 8 rounds (.32 ACP) or 6…
Know Your Weapons: The German Panzerschreck
German Panzerschreck: Allied Tank’s Bane The German Raketenpanzerbüchse 54 or “Rocket Anti-armor Rifle Model 54” was abbreviated to RPzB 54. German troops called it the Panzerschreck. This literally translates to “tank scream,” “tank fright,” or “tank’s bane.” The RPzB 54 was essentially a copy of the American bazooka tweaked in places and scaled up to better…
Know Your WWII History: The True Story that Inspired ‘Fury’
The True Story that Inspired ‘Fury’ Is Fury a true story? Was the Fury tank an actual Sherman? It sure seems to be. In this article, the renowned and redoubtable Red2Alpha73 (Mike Durand) reviews Belton Y. Cooper’s 1998 memoir: Death Traps: The Survival of an American Armored Division in World War II.
Hugo Jaeger WW2 Color Photo Collection
H/T Inch High Guy Invasion of Poland 1939 Color Photographs, Hugo Jaeger Collection Part I French Armor Color Photographs, Hugo Jaeger Collection Part II Dunkirk Color Photographs, Hugo Jaeger Collection Part III Invasion of Holland and Belgium Color Photographs, Hugo Jaeger Collection Part IV Invasion of Holland and Belgium Color…