Month: November 2013
Bad Calls – Online Magazine Lists Allies’ Worst Blunders of WW2
Hitler famously remarked at the outset of the Second World War that the victor of the coming contest would be the side that made the fewest mistakes. And he was correct — the Axis certainly committed…
Back to the Drawing Board — The Stupidest Weapons Ever Invented
IN 1914, machines guns were anything but portable. Weapons like the Maxim, Vickers or Hotchkiss were cumbersome and bulky. And with a weight of about 50 lbs. (not counting ammunition), the weapons needed to…
American Revolutions — Six Rebellions That Pre-Date the War of Independence
“In the 100 years leading up to the revolution, there were at least six separate armed uprisings in Britain’s New World provinces.” THE AMERICAN writer Ralph Waldo Emerson famously referred to the opening musket volley of the April…
From Red Coats to Disruptive Camo – 250 years of British Army Uniforms
A READER FROM THE U.K forwarded us this infographic (SEE BELOW). It charts the evolution of the British soldier from the Seven Years War right up to the campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan. Allie May Redmond…
Operation Downfall — The Campaign to Conquer Japan Would Have Dwarfed the D-Day Landings
“The U.S. military, expecting the resistance of a ‘fanatically hostile population’, were making preparations for between 1.7 and 4 million casualties.” IT COULD BE called the world’s greatest battle… that never happened. Operation Downfall, the codename…
The Bob Semple Tank – Meet New Zealand’s Strange Home-Grown Armoured Vehicle
“Prototypes of this curious tank were slapped together in the early 1940s amid growing panic in New Zealand over the threat of a Japanese invasion.” THE GERMANS named some of the their most powerful tanks after…
