Picture of the day

One of the early SA vehicles that protect from land mines?

It's a Leopard. The front and rear wheel assembly were bolted on with 4 bolts, so that when a mine was hit the wheel assembly would shear off taking a lot of force with it.

The hull shape directed the blast away from the occupants. You had to strap in as you didn't want to be rolling around inside the crew compartment. I think six of us could fit inside but it's been over 40 years so it may have been driver plus 3.

Based on a VW van frame IIRC. I saw stacks and stacks of VW bus chassis in Salisbury, in the outskirts. It was slightly under powered (VW engine) and tended to sway but was pretty stable all things considered. The gov't gave one to my employer (the wife) after he (the husband) hit a TMH 46 in a Datsun pickup truck..... not a lot left to bury.

The pookie was much smaller and based on the Mini Moke. Rhodseian buyers would travel around South African race tracks buying up used F1 style tires for the pookie. The wide tires gave it a very 'light touch' over the ground thus not triggering the land mine
 
Well that explains where the smooth tires came from. Wondered about that at the time. I thought back then that they may have been some sort of aircraft tire.
 
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A Moroccan Goumier sharpens his bayonet.

Sofia Loren starred in a movie about the exploits of the infamous Goumiers set during the Battle of the Gustav Line. The film was called: 'La Ciociara.' The more recent film 'Days of Glory' sort of alluded to them.

The pic looks posed. The soldier is using what looks like a large bastard file (?) One of those darned files is probably over a hundred bucks now for a US or European brand lol.
 
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Ottoman Empire Turkish (Sudanese) soldier, winter 1915, western Ukraine, supporting Austro-Hungarians defending against invading Russians, with his German-supplied made-in-Russia Mosin rifle.

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The kneeling GI has a 1919 in front of him you can see the two rear tripod pads and there is the lid of an open ammo can visible. Another soldier is bringing up more ammo.
Four prisoners just standing there, oddly disturbing photo.
 
Shortly after this photo was taken, Lt Col Felix Sparks stopped the executions by firing his pistol in the air, and kicking the guy behind the .30 cal in the ribs. Because the men were under his command, he was going to be charged with a war crime, but Patton himself dismissed the charges.
 
Walking into a place like Dachau, being shot at when the war is essentially over, and then seeing what had been done there. I totally get the impulse to start shooting anyone even remotely responsible and available. Himmler's dead. Adolf's dead. But this arsehole is right here and his guilt is undeniable.

That being said, shooting prisoners is not what a civilized army does. Yep, everyone did it. But that extrajudicial business is hard to defend, and if you lose the war, you'll be tried for it. Better to not.

I toured Flossenburg KZ years ago. Rainy day. Just me, my honey, and her cousin. All alone with the ghosts.

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Quarrying stone 18 hours a day on far too few calories. Hell of a thing to do to people.

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Plenty of fresh air. Snow many months. No winter kit.

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The goal was, of course, not rehabilitation. The intention was death by exhaustion, disease, starvation, and insufficient support of life.

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Anytime I hear of people suggesting we suspend any sort of civil rights, or "ship off" people they don't care for for some reason, I think of how that idea manifests. You get Flossenburg. And anyone who sees that as some sort of "ideal solution" to criminality or other anti-social behavior either hasn't thought it through, or is OK with excesses in the name of order. Watch out for people like that. Watch 'em REALLY closely.
 
If you want to see something that hits you hard into reality. There are some surviving satellite camps of Mathausen on the Austrian/Yugoslavian border. They were left alone as they split the border, thus the camp was essentially left alone since it was liberated and the burn pits where the bodies were disposed of still have human fat left on the walls. I never meant to go to this camp because it was so out of the way and I’ve been to about 30 of the camps already. It a sobering reminder on what happens when tyrannical govt’s come to power. The only camp that I’ve been to that was worse then some of the main camps is Jasnovac in Croatia, the SS shut it down because it was to brutal. The camps were run by Franciscan priests who were pro Croatian.
 
DAD wrote Walking into a place like Dachau, being shot at when the war is essentially over, and then seeing what had been done there. I totally get the impulse to start shooting anyone even remotely responsible and available. Himmler's dead. Adolf's dead. But this arsehole is right here and his guilt is undeniable.

That being said, shooting prisoners is not what a civilized army does. Yep, everyone did it. But that extrajudicial business is hard to defend, and if you lose the war, you'll be tried for it. Better to not.

I toured Flossenburg KZ years ago. Rainy day. Just me, my honey, and her cousin. All alone with the ghosts."


DAD, I've been on the back end of an INSTANT AND IMMEDIATE RETRIBUTION tribunal and to this day, I don't regret it one bit.

The depravity and warped minds of certain individuals is mind bending and when you view the results??????????

At least our RETRIBUTION was QUICK. Maybe I should call it "refusing surrender"
 
The Nazi’s built one concentration camp in France and it was near the small village of Strutoff in the hills near the German border. I visited there twice in the early 70’s and it was a chilling experience and something I’ll never forget.

Later on in the 90’s we were doing contract flights for the military into Lahr and I mentioned Strutoff to some of the crew and a few wanted to see it so we rented a vehicle and drove out there. It’s remote and not well signed until getting very close. The drive out was talkative and cheerful but there wasn’t a word spoken on the 2 hour return trip. Chilling is a perfect description …

I see by the pics that there’s been a memorial constructed there since my visits.

Natzwiller - Strutoff Concentration camp

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Anytime I hear of people suggesting we suspend any sort of civil rights, or "ship off" people they don't care for for some reason, I think of how that idea manifests. You get Flossenburg. And anyone who sees that as some sort of "ideal solution" to criminality or other anti-social behavior either hasn't thought it through, or is OK with excesses in the name of order. Watch out for people like that. Watch 'em REALLY closely.

It seems the very people who for decades said, "never again" are the first people to support and repeat the idea of jailing and re-educating people whose opinion they disagree with. It's like they didn't really learn anything in school and have just mindlessly repeated platitudes so as to feel good about themselves, when in truth they are evil, awful people.
 
It seems the very people who for decades said, "never again" are the first people to support and repeat the idea of jailing and re-educating people whose opinion they disagree with. It's like they didn't really learn anything in school and have just mindlessly repeated platitudes so as to feel good about themselves, when in truth they are evil, awful people.

That's just normal for humanity. Humans become complacent and lethargic when all they really have to do is work/eat/sleep/play without worrying about their future, because "someone else'' is going to take care of it for them.

I can remember when I first started working, compulsory Canada Pension Plan payments by employees/employers had just come into law and some folks were actually getting rather meager stipends.

The hue and cry put up was weak but relevant.

People being people, they swallowed the Tommy Douglas/CCF KoolAid in large draughts. They didn't understand what the politicians, bureaucrats and corporations would do the original bill by the time it cleared the halls of Parliament and the Senate.

The original bill was worded and designed to provide appx 65% of what it would cost for a person to retire "alone'' in a reasonably comfortable but basic manner.

By the time it was passed, even though the vast majority of voters wanted and still beleived they were getting the "originally proposed bill" it was watered down to the point that the OAP payment would only be appx 25% of what was needed to live comfortably in a very basic manner with few, if any luxuries.

Mind you, back then just being able to listen to a radio, have an electric light bulb in every room and not have to use an outdoor biffy, while being warm enough not to freeze and enough to eat was considered basic.

The original bill was considered to be to expensive to maintain on a long term basis and the corporations threatened to pull out of Canada if their taxes, etc were increased and their rather excessive profits were infringed to pay for what they considered to be wanton largess on no longer productive assets.

I'm still amazed at how many people get within a few years of retirement and have only their CPP/OAP to live on come to the realization that life is going to be a lot less comfortable than it was while working.

The combined provincial and federal pension plans are only set up to provide appx 35% of a very basic retirement, which is based on an existence or preservation of life, rather than a relatively stress free and reasonably enjoyable time.

I should explain, I used the above as an example of what and how this happens.

Pretty much off topic. Sorry.

The only thing similar is the mood created by social engineers from the mid 1890s up past WWII.

Religions, Political groups all looked for a scapegoat to blame the present dire state of their existence on. In Russia, it was the Czar and his minions, In most of Europe it was Jews or Gypsies.

Racisms and even territorialism was the flavor of the day. Whites thought they were superior to every other skin tone out there and had the power/tech to enforce their whimsical and disastrous wills.

Don't get me wrong, racism has never been bound by color and it most certainly isn't a White Only thing. It all depends on which version of it is most profitable and influential at any given time.

It's one pendulum that has many different shapes, weights and colors.
 
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