Picture of the day
- Thread starter jwhc
- Start date
It did eventually end though. Here are some pictures from my grandfather's service showing the surrender of the Japanese in Java circa 1945, that is all the detail I have.
Can anyone ID the officers? Always been curious.
fat tony
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
The ethnic cleansing and mixed bag of internal wars going on in addition to the obvious war.
Dark Alley Dan
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
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...should be safely outside the blast radius of the bomb.
That's a mighty important qualifier. "Poor Smitty. He should have been safely outside the blast radius of the bomb."
That's a mighty important qualifier. "Poor Smitty. He should have been safely outside the blast radius of the bomb."
nasty infections...and of course head hunters. I met an Australian who had worked with local anti-Japanese (or so they said) irregulars ... after one successful ambush of a Japanese patrol...he was horrified to see them take heads from the prisoners. He remarked if the war had 'gone the other way'...he likely would have been executed as a 'war criminal'..
(oh...you also forgot 'warm beer'.....the horror!!!)
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Dark Alley Dan
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
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- Darkest Edmonton
I wonder how effective it was. That's a LOT of extra weight. Bet Kamerad KV-2 was some slow.
I like the Beaufighter. What a cool, scrappy devil-bird she is. But with Merlin power?
Apparently so.
Looks badass.
Don't see how the chains would stay on the tank deck under acceleration and braking, never mind uneven terrain. Likely just dumped on the tank. Perhaps it was used to move ships or barges through canals.Does not look as if the chains were welded together or wired for use as extra armor.
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Early KV tanks were know to be slow due to weak clutches and therefore low gearing.KV-2 on the picture would be even slower sporting massive and very high turret with huge gun.
Chains are early German idea to combat Russian AT grenades being thrown on top of engine compartment.They just tossed on whatever chains they found in abandoned factories.
There are pictures around of this on 38Ts and Pzr IIIs.
Chains are early German idea to combat Russian AT grenades being thrown on top of engine compartment.They just tossed on whatever chains they found in abandoned factories.
There are pictures around of this on 38Ts and Pzr IIIs.
The KV-2 was never known as a speedster at the best of times. Probably a bit slower, but not debilitating. The difference between 25kph theoretical top speed (on a nicely paved road, downhill, with the wind behind it), and 20kph with all those chains under similarly ideal conditions.
In the field, they tended to trundle along between 7-12kph. They were more limited by the tendency to want to topple over, so careful handling was needed. The chains probably helped, more than hinder, in that regard, by lowering the center of gravity.
Ever spent any time on a farm? Pretty typical to throw chains on the deck of a flatbed trailer and go tearing offroad to go fetch whatever equipment has broken down. An empty flatbed is pretty bouncy, and the chains... Just don't go anywhere. You really need to get that trailer airborne to get the chains to move around (don't ask how I know). The KV-2 wouldn't be hitting those kinds of speeds, and certainly isn't very bouncy. And those are some mighty heavy gauge chains, don't think they'd be going anywhere.
Interesting note. I doubted they'd be much use against AP shells (for the same reason chainmail armour doesn't do much to stop arrows). But they could be useful against HE, shaped charges, etc.
In the end, it probably fell under the category of "more trouble than it's worth." All the same, interesting to see what the guys in the field will come up with when left unsupervised.
I wonder how effective it was. That's a LOT of extra weight. Bet Kamerad KV-2 was some slow.
I like the Beaufighter. What a cool, scrappy devil-bird she is. But with Merlin power?
Apparently so.
Looks badass.
They looked badass and were badass in the right hands.
We're pretty lucky to live where we do. There's something cleansing about long, cold winters, but why do those mosquitoes always survive?
There are a lot of environmental perils in the world and malaria is still a big one. We used to take a malaria prophylaxis in Egypt and sleep with a mosquito bar over the bed.
Then there's a whole range of parasites and weird diseases in warm places. I lived on the economy in Syria for a long time and picked up repeated parasitic infestations that wound up frying a portion of my guts. For a lot of the time true happiness was a dry fart.
If Trudeau winds up sending our people off to Africa on a fool's errand for the UN there are some unhappy environmental hazards and diseases waiting for them.
fat tony
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
Used to great effect in the Pacific - Bismarck Sea battle and Coastal Command used them in anti shipping attacks - some wild period footage out there.
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I was talking about hand grenades like RPG-40 here.One of those thrown on engine compartment will stop the tank.Few of those will ruin your day.
Germans had huge problem with infantryman rushing at tank in bunches armed with nothing but those from day one of Barbarossa.
Later on came AT rifles like PTRS and PTRD and those were fielded in huge numbers just like PPSh-41.AT grenades were still serious issue for tankers all the way till fall of Berlin,especially in urban settings.
My very good friend grew up in a neighborhood in southern Germany where the local hero was a chap who had lost his left forearm during the war. He had destroyed multiple Soviet tanks by rushing them and attaching a magnetic anti tank mine which was detonated and destroyed the tank. He lost most of his left arm when he discovered that a mine wouldnt stick to the hull of the last tank he attacked.....so since he was right handed...he took cover under the tank and reached up behind the engine compartment with his left and held the mine against the armour...until it detonated...and took his arm with it. Geezus!!I was talking about hand grenades like RPG-40 here.One of those thrown on engine compartment will stop the tank.Few of those will ruin your day.
Germans had huge problem with infantryman rushing at tank in bunches armed with nothing but those from day one of Barbarossa.
Later on came AT rifles like PTRS and PTRD and those were fielded in huge numbers just like PPSh-41.AT grenades were still serious issue for tankers all the way till fall of Berlin,especially in urban settings.
