Marder I, 17 SS Panzergrenadier Division Gotz von Berlichingen 17. SS commander Werner von Ostendorf (left) plans the attack on Carentan with Fallschirmjager commander Friedrich August Freiherr von der Heydte (centre). Thrown into combat on 10 June 1944 near Carentan, the reconnaissance battalion of the 17th SS Panzergrenadier Division fought the American paratroops of the […]…
Category: WW2 Era Weapons
Know Your WW2 History: The Blitzkrieg – Word and Concept
I never used the word Blitzkrieg because it is a very stupid word. Adolf Hitler, 8 November 1941 The Word “Blitzkrieg” In sober military language, there is hardly any other word that is so strikingly full of significance and at the same time so misleading and subject to misinterpretation as the term blitzkrieg. Its early […]…
Ferdinands/Elefants on the Eastern Front
Superb piece of WW2 History. I have mentioned this before, but as a Military Historical Fiction Writer if you have not read The Last Citadel by David L. Robbins about the Battle of Kursk, I HIGHLY Recommend it.
Know Your History: Was Hitler’s Ho 299 the First True Stealth Fighter?
https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/was-hitlers-ho-299-first-true-stealth-fighter-152356 The Nazi invention wasn’t exactly a “stealth” fighter, but it did share a certain idea. by Sebastien Roblin Key point: The plane never took over. However, it did accidentally stumble upon how a certain shape can help reduce a plane’s radar signature. Northrop Grumman revealed this year it is developing a second flying wing […]…
Know Your WW2 History: 51st and 52nd Panzer Battalions
Panthers were supplied to form Panzer Abteilung 51 (Tank Battalion 51) on 9 January, and then Pz.Abt. 52 on 6 February 1943. The first production Panther tanks were plagued with mechanical problems. The engine was dangerously prone to overheating and suffered from connecting rod or bearing failures. Gasoline leaks from the fuel pump or carburetor, […]…
Know Your WW2 History: Jagdtiger SdKfz 186
The heaviest armored vehicle fielded by the Germans in World War II was the Panzerjäger Tiger Ausf B. This was built on a slightly lengthened Tiger II chassis topped with a fixed casemate and a 12.8 cm PaK 44 L/55 antitank gun. It weighed seventy-nine tons. A few early versions of the Jagdtiger had a […]…
Know your WW2 History: Lotfernrohr 7
Fascinating piece of World War II Espionage and Military History. Until late 1943, the Norden bombsight was always protected by exceptionally heavy security. Sights were normally stored in air-conditioned, dustproof vaults that were patrolled by armed guards. During training, USAAF bombardiers had to swear a solemn oath to guard the secret weapon with their…
Know Your Weapons: Soviet WWII Machine Guns
The Soviets were latecomers to machine-gun development generally. Prior to World War I, the czarist army bought machine guns from other countries and manufactured some under license. For this reason, Russian machine-gun development and production had to start virtually from scratch after the Russian Revolution. A top priority was the development of a light machine […]…
We Accept Death, We Hand Out Death I
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 […]…
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 […]…