Picture of the day
- Thread starter jwhc
- Start date
So they had a easier than Glider troops.....they got to get out of the aircraft BEFORE it crashed!!
Not denigrating glider troops in the least; it's like being delivered to a theather of operations by a cheap carnival ride. Just saying the guys in the photo, I believe, were Pathfinders. Not exactly living la "dolce vita"
Dark Alley Dan
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Darkest Edmonton
"A" models. I imagine they were early examples.
Great big magnificent bastards, they were.
[youtube]VGjyH2ulsCk[/youtube]
Flying one would be like flying a container ship or a city block.
Great big magnificent bastards, they were.
[youtube]VGjyH2ulsCk[/youtube]
Flying one would be like flying a container ship or a city block.
I'm still kind of in awe that nobody has really figured out how to exactly replicate greek fire, especially since we seem to spend most of our time coming up with new and interesting ways to kill each other in horrible ways.
One of my grandparents kept all their old back issues of Popular Mechanics, I used to love going up to their attic and leafing through all the ones from WW II especially. I remember one of them had an article about flamethrowers, complete with a bunch of black and white pictures of a concrete test bunker that had a small 2 inch by 2 inch hole in the wall. The pictures had an outside shot of the flame hitting the bunker, and an inside picture of what it looked like when flaming jellied gasoline (or whatever they used in those things) under pressure came through a hole much smaller than a firing port or observation slit.
One of my grandparents kept all their old back issues of Popular Mechanics, I used to love going up to their attic and leafing through all the ones from WW II especially. I remember one of them had an article about flamethrowers, complete with a bunch of black and white pictures of a concrete test bunker that had a small 2 inch by 2 inch hole in the wall. The pictures had an outside shot of the flame hitting the bunker, and an inside picture of what it looked like when flaming jellied gasoline (or whatever they used in those things) under pressure came through a hole much smaller than a firing port or observation slit.
71st anniversary of the beginning of the "Prague Uprising" today (May 5). Happened by chance to be in the city this morning for a few more hours before leaving, and caught some of the commemorative ceremonies.
Very much an Ad Hoc style of Honour Guard affair. Like a lot of things the Czechs are doing, they're still figuring out what do with their independence, how to honour certain dates, or even which dates should be honoured. I actually had to ask a few locals for an explanation of what was going on (it's been a long couple of weeks, and the date didn't immediately resonate with me) before I found someone who actually did know what was up.
Apparently, there will be wreaths laid every day from the 5th to the 8th, to honour those who rose up against the Germans, fought, and mostly died, in the last days of the war.
The Americans were within 70 km of the city when the uprising began, and never moved a foot further - held back by the politicians and the Malta Accords. The Soviets, for very unclear reasons, delayed advancing until after the uprising had been quashed, then stepped in literally a day later to "liberate" the city.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prague_uprising
Sad ending to that story all around.
Pics are from mine and my wife's cel phone. Still travelling and dependent on hotel Wi-Fi, so crunched them down a fair bit to get them to my FTP server.
Very much an Ad Hoc style of Honour Guard affair. Like a lot of things the Czechs are doing, they're still figuring out what do with their independence, how to honour certain dates, or even which dates should be honoured. I actually had to ask a few locals for an explanation of what was going on (it's been a long couple of weeks, and the date didn't immediately resonate with me) before I found someone who actually did know what was up.
Apparently, there will be wreaths laid every day from the 5th to the 8th, to honour those who rose up against the Germans, fought, and mostly died, in the last days of the war.
The Americans were within 70 km of the city when the uprising began, and never moved a foot further - held back by the politicians and the Malta Accords. The Soviets, for very unclear reasons, delayed advancing until after the uprising had been quashed, then stepped in literally a day later to "liberate" the city.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prague_uprising
Sad ending to that story all around.
Pics are from mine and my wife's cel phone. Still travelling and dependent on hotel Wi-Fi, so crunched them down a fair bit to get them to my FTP server.
p.s. No, don't know what unit those guys are from. Or even if they're "regular army". But the uniforms are quite different from the Palace Guard uniforms, and more akin to the Czech Army Dress uniforms.
They are using VZ-52 rifles for Honour Guard rifles though. Again, different from the Palace Guard VZ-52's. The Palace Guard VZ-58's are chrome metal with black lacquered stocks. These are chrome metal with highly polished, possibly clear lacquered, natural wood coloured stocks.
They are using VZ-52 rifles for Honour Guard rifles though. Again, different from the Palace Guard VZ-52's. The Palace Guard VZ-58's are chrome metal with black lacquered stocks. These are chrome metal with highly polished, possibly clear lacquered, natural wood coloured stocks.
So how do you feel about air dropped Napalm? What's the difference other than the method of delivery? Both capitalize on the human fear of death by fire.
I like them both Mosquito is prettier but the Beau is just plain mean looking. Never a ad thing in a combat aircraft.
Dark Alley Dan
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Darkest Edmonton
True, and so equally horrible, just more effective.
Lighting people on fire is a hell of a way to kill them, and while killing most folks, no matter the method, is pretty much the definition of "inhumane", there are methods that are more inhumane than others. Killing people with fire is goddamned cruel, no matter the delivery method.
Anyhow, pictures. I'm sure the French appreciated having captured French tanks included in the victory parade in Paris in 1940...
Name that tank.
You mean like the A-10 Warthog? Not WWII, but that's a 'bas ass' aircraft in both looks and capability. The Infantryman's guardian angel.
No but at its height the allies had one army group in the west while the Russians had four larger army groups at all times on the eastern front. The battles of Moscow, Stalingrad, Kursk, Leningrad, bagration, Berlin where all bigger than the largest battle in the west, the bulge. The scale on the eastern front makes WWI look like a sideshow. I am not trying to downplay the sacrifices made but compare Russian casualties with US casualties and you will see what I mean. They are orders of magnitude different.
Not surprising since it was the "Vlasov Army" or "Russian Liberation Army" (ROA) which liberated the city, more than the mostly communistic partisans, who then turned on the ROA men and began seizing them and handing them over to the Soviets. A lot good that did the Czechs.
