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ThisIsJohnWayne posted:e: And know I'm on a google memoir spree
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Feb 11, 2016 23:52
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Anyone read Burwell Puller Jr. memoirs? I don't care if its good, it's a memoir from a soldier in the Vietnam war titled 'Fortunate Son', wich is so. god. damned. perfect.
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HEY GAL posted:One of the few times I've seen my mother really angry was when she was discussing that song and her cousin's death. Was this in response to that Wrangler jeans ad that cut away just before "it ain't me"?
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Feb 12, 2016 00:22
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HEY GAL posted:From a muster roll I've just finished, ca. 1635: Doesn't "guttwillig" mean "willingly"? As in, "he joined the Swedes willingly"?
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Feb 12, 2016 01:01
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Just a quick comment about the weight and darkness of war-memoirs: it feels like we all understand that they are something more than another puzzle of the history writing and historic understanding of the various conflicts they involve... that darkness, both during and what remains after the end, but also what dark the conflict has created in the survivors; it makes it possible to understand. To actually (to a finite extent) realize what it was, and the danger and sorrow that is war and murder. But also the elation a human can feel in combat. And what joy is when everything is ww1-dark. There's a sociological value in war-experience memoirs, the irony is that it's the historians that understand that. And I say this mostly because of two other memoirs; Guy Sajer's The Forgotten Soldier and Arkady Babshenko's One Soldier's War. Read them and everything else. And then read Catch 22.
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Feb 12, 2016 01:07
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buttcoinbrony posted:Was this in response to that Wrangler jeans ad that cut away just before "it ain't me"? Wow, that's as good as "The times they are a' changing" on a bank commercial
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Feb 12, 2016 01:23
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Nebakenezzer posted:Wow, that's as good as "The times they are a' changing" on a bank commercial Or GE using "Sixteen Tons" with a bunch of lingerie models swinging picks and shovels to advertise coal power.
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Feb 12, 2016 01:38
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Alekanderu posted:Doesn't "guttwillig" mean "willingly"? As in, "he joined the Swedes willingly"?
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Feb 12, 2016 01:55
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Truck-chat Pictured, a good book on trucks/vehicles In "Military Vehicles of World War 2" by John Church, he begins by describing the three basic chassis and frames used in trucks. First is the "Wood, re-inforced by steel flitch plates" frame which is comprised of ash side members with steel plates attached to one or both sides. The thickness of the plates ranged from 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick. The flitch frame had several disadvantages, namely that it could not be inswept (Made narrower) at the front to accomodate a steering lock and couldn't be upswept (Curved upwards) at the rear to allow for rear axle movement. While this form of frame would not see continued use in cars after 1903, its use lingered on in Lorries until 1920s. The second frame is the "Rolled steel frame", itself having limitations due to the nature of its construction. The rolled steel was quite rigid, heavier than necessary, and cost more to produce examples with an in- or upsweep. With the advent of "Pressed steel frames", the fhird frame type, the RSF would see its popularity decline in comparison. The pressed steel frame was used more and more as the necessary heavy presses were acquired by the automotive industry. Pressed steel frames have the following advantages: High strength to weight ratio; Cheap to produce in quantity; Easily modified; and Ease of providing mounts for the transmission, power plant, etc. These pressed steel frames would form the majority of the chassis used in wheeled military vehicles by the start of hostilities. Church also points out that the British term "Rigid Six-Wheeler" is not describing the frame. Instead, it is used to distinguish the vehicle between an articulated (two-axle) or a rigid (one-axle) vehicle. In later references, this will be described as 6x4 or 6x6 rather than 4x2-2 or 4x4-2. The next part of the truck described is the vital suspension system. This was not helped by the lack of good shock absorbers or the solid rubber tyres in early trucks. Several spring systems would eventually be developed, the types are as follows: Semi-elliptic, Three-Quarter elliptic, Cantilever, Quarter elliptic, and Transverse. The must common type for a two-axle truck was the semi-elliptic spring system. Church later goes on to say that spring replacement and/or repair in the field was always an issue for armies and provides the following example to support this. Tobruk - 1941/42 "No replacement springs were arriving from the UK, and the situation was critical as only a small amount of spring steel was available to the British forces. Salvage parties were therefore sent out to remove all springs from derelict British and italian vehicles in the area, enabling 9 completed springs to be made daily by hand. As this did not meet requirements, heavy section Italian springs were reduced by drawing under a power hammer. Two 4-foot furnaces, two quencing tanks and forming jigs for the eye ends were manufactured from local resources. No temperature control equipment was available and temperatures were judged by the blacksmith. Four blacksmiths and four hammermen managed to raise production to 30 springs a day until Tobruk fell and the workshop passed into enemy hands." He goes on to say that twin-axle rear-bogied trucks normally had two inverted semi-elliptical springs but that a heavier duty bogie would sometimes only have one large spring assembly. After springs and bogies come the wheels. Early wheels were made of ash or hickory spokes built into a hub/sectional rim bound together by a steel tyre. These were notably affected by weather, and difficult to maintain. Wire wheels such as those seen on bicycles were rarely used for military purposes. Steel wheels were used on early cars, made from a steel single-disc that was dished for strength and had a tyre rime riveted to its circumference. A heavier type of single-disc steel wheel was used for lorries that simply riveted a flat disc to the dished disc. The advent of penumatic tyres brought along the issue of frequent punctures, which then led to designs trying to prevent it. This would lead to the pressed steel disc wheels that have continued to the present today. By early 1930, heavy-duty pneumatic tyres were available at prices that allowed them to become the standard for trucks and other vehicles. As a side note, special tyres and treads were developed as pneumatic tyres became more widespread. One such development was sand tyres, which came about thanks to expeditions in North Africa in the 20s and 30s. Another interesting wheel that came about just before the start of World War 2 was the British "runflat" (or Combat Tire, in the USA). The runflat wheels were capable of supporting normal vehicle loads even when deflated for 50 to 100 miles, as long as speeds were kept below 30 miles per hour. With rubber shortages in WW2, wheels incorporating other materials were designed and introduced. These wheels, made with Butyl required extra care and maintenance in order to have similar lifespans to natural rubber tyres. Half-tracks, too, were maturing and becoming more capable as tyre and track were being improved. The beginnings of half-tracks find themselves with the Kegresse track, which was like normal tracks except that it used a flexible belt rather than interlocking metal segments. The system improved the off-road capabilities of the vehicle and would eventually be adopted by the French. In the 20s, the Germans took quite an interest in Kegresse's research although they would eventually use the Richter(?) bogie system and designed a series of vehicles, these are as follows: 1-ton Sd.Kfz 10 Demag (25,000 produced) 3-ton Sd.Kfz 11 Hanomag (25,000 produced) 5-ton Sd.Kfz 6 Bussing-Nag (3,500 produced) 8-ton Sd.Kfz 7 Krauss-Maffei (12,500 produced) 12-ton Sd.Kfz 8 Daimler-Benz (4,000 produced) 18-ton Sd.Kfz 9 Famo (2,000 produced) An interesting design element of the German half-tracks was the track-assisted steering whereby turning the wheel slightly would only engage the wheels but turning the wheel more than "half-lock" would engage the track, like a tank, to help turn the vehicle. This system was complex and coslty, however. During Operation Barbarossa, the muddy Russian terrain was exacerbated by the poor roads. German trucks frequently bogged down while half-tracks continued to perform adequately, but this obviously lead to supply and logistic issues. To alleviate this, they attached Carden Lloyd suspension assemblies taken from universal/bren gun carriers and created the Maultier. The assembly was installed in place of the rear axle. (It should be noted that Maultier is a generic term for any truck so converted by the Germans) Another country to adopt half-tracks was the Americans, who had some experience with semi-tracked tractors in World War 1. The US Army wouldn't revisit the concept until the 1930s after purchasing a Citroen-Kegresse P17. Research and evaluation produced the Marmon-Herrington conversion set, which was innovative because both the front axle and the tracks were driven. After qualifications, the Army settled on the M2 Half-track which was based on the Citroen-Kegresse design. The M2 Half-track, and its resultant extended series, would reach some 50,000+ examples produced. No one but the Germans, Americans, and French built half-tracks in large quantities, whereas some others like the UK and Russia experimented with them or simply received them as part of Lend-Lease or foreign purchases. Speaking of the UK, they had acquired a Renault designed 6-wheeler in the mid-20s and tested it extensively at the RASC in Aldershot. These tests led to the creation of a torque reaction system that kept the wheels in contact with the ground to provide an equal amount of thrust. Slightly before the prior acquisiton, the British had sent some troops to the Dardanelles in 1922 as a preventative measure against closing the straits to international shipping. This force was supplied with trucks fitted with pneumatic tyres which, at the time, had yet to have proven their worth. Despite their perceived inferiority, the tyres and trucks performed well, so much so that it was decided that all future trucks were to be pneumatically-tyred with 6x4 drivetrains. They would also introduced differential lock on their chassis to prevent loss of traction in slippery terrain. Interestingly, did you know that there existed a "Horsepower tax" in Britain between World War 1 and 2? It went like this... HP = (D^2 x N) / 2.5 D: Diameter of piston in inches N: Number of cylinders 2.5: Constant This wasn't limited to the UK, and you can read more here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax_horsepower Which brings me to engines, which were able to increase in power as better materials and construction techniques became available. Church goes on to say that engine speeds doubled between 1906 and 1914, but stalled afterwards until aero-engines matured between 1914-1920. Air-cooled engines were a big step up for desert warfare, as the elimination of the liquid-cooling system made it more reliable in the event of damage sustained during combat. They do come with the disadvantage of requiring forward motion to produce a draft to cool the engine, or have a fan force a flow of air. Church says that the fan would normally require about 10% of the total output of the engine to run. Another drawback of air-cooled engines was the tendency for the cooling fins to clog up from sand and debris, but this was usually rectified with the installation of special air filters like those seen on the Panzer VI, Bf-109E-4 Trop, or Hawker Hurricane Mk.IIB Trop. By the same token, liquid-cooled engines required a large area for the cooling radiator as they relied on the "Thermo-Syphon principle". In this, the hot water from the cylinder-block rose to the radiator header tank and subsequently lowered through the cooling tubes as the temperature dropped. This required a header tank that was higher than the cylinder-block. Military vehicles required even larger systems due to the increased temps generated by low-gear cross-country or desert movement. The thermo-syphon principle problem was rectified once forced or pump-assisted circulation systems were created and installed. Despite air filters increasing in quality and efficiency, there still existed problems during World War 2 where excessive dust or sand would dramatically shorten the lifespan of engines. In Church's book, he describes how the average overhaul life of a British military motorcycle engine was between 7,000 and 10,000 miles, but that number dropped to between 2,000 and 3,000 miles in the dusty Normandy environment. He also states that, by 1943, German production of synthetic oil products had reached 5.7 million tonnes per year, or about 57% of their total fuel requirements. Next time: Talk about popular, special and rare vehicles used in the various armies. Excuse the formatting, I'm tired
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Feb 12, 2016 02:19
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Trin Tragula posted:Time for the begging bowl again. 1915: The Pale Battalions is now available for pre-order at Amazon; price in most territories 2.99, release date March 28th. If you enjoy the blog, please do chuck a few pennies in; a solid number of pre-orders does equal a small but useful dollop of cash from sales every month after that. The text is revised and expanded and includes among other things a much improved treatment of the Eastern Front in 1915, which got very badly short-changed in real time. Also I stubbornly refuse to believe that "Pale Battalions" doesn't refer to the 1st Irish Division at Suvla  ALL-PRO SEXMAN posted:Or GE using "Sixteen Tons" with a bunch of lingerie models swinging picks and shovels to advertise coal power. Arquinsiel fucked around with this message at 05:00 on Feb 12, 2016 |
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Feb 12, 2016 02:56
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Arquinsiel posted:Paul Ryan saying one of his favourite bands is Rage Against The Machine... I'm not sure that will ever be topped. Reagan using Born in the USA at campaign rallies?
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Feb 12, 2016 04:45
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Feb 12, 2016 04:56
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^^^^ Johnny Rotten has kind of... drifted from his roots. Yeah, that's a polite way of saying it. Pontius Pilate posted:Reagan using Born in the USA at campaign rallies?
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Feb 12, 2016 05:03
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Arquinsiel posted:Weirdly Amazon didn't even ask me to sign in to order, it just let me click buy and magically it was bought. Worrying. This happened to me too.
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Feb 12, 2016 05:33
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Arquinsiel posted:Johnny Rotten has kind of... drifted from his roots. Yeah, that's a polite way of saying it. Eh, I'd vote for him. Anyway, weren't the Sex Pistols half a naked cash-in from the beginning? Maybe it's because I'm an American but that doesn't bother me nearly as much as the "Sixteen Tons" thing. Holy poo poo. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6ueDHn2HTk
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Feb 12, 2016 05:48
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The Visa commercial to the Smashing Pumpkins' "Today" is pretty great too. Yes, be inspired to be a carefree consumer by a song about self harm.
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Feb 12, 2016 05:57
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Today was a common secondary school graduation song amongst my age group. I'm never entirely sure if people just thought that the chorus was somehow hopeful or they were being snide about how the top dogs of pre-adult life were being thrown to the sharks and it was all downhill from there.
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Feb 12, 2016 06:22
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Arquinsiel posted:Today was a common secondary school graduation song amongst my age group. I'm never entirely sure if people just thought that the chorus was somehow hopeful or they were being snide about how the top dogs of pre-adult life were being thrown to the sharks and it was all downhill from there. It's teenagers, so the latter.
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Feb 12, 2016 06:36
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Johnny Rotten has if anything become cooler since splitting from the pistols. EMI, not Rotten, is responsible for selling the Pistols likeness to all sorts of poo poo, but you have to remember that the band was a boy-band cash cow to begin with.HEY GAL posted:One of the few times I've seen my mother really angry was when she was discussing that song and her cousin's death. I realize we're deep into personal territory here, so just say if you won't - but can you say what the discussion was about? Tias fucked around with this message at 08:30 on Feb 12, 2016 |
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Feb 12, 2016 08:27
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Tias posted:I realize we're deep into personal territory here, so just say if you won't - but can you say what the discussion was about?
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Feb 12, 2016 08:30
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E: Also, thanks all for the awesome book suggestions, I am going to read the poo poo out of them  HEY GAL posted:I don't even remember, but she mentioned someone famous and said "yeah, and he was a fortunate son, you know" and the naked venom in her voice shocked me. Can't say I blame her, if there was any justice to Vietnam, McNamara would be dicking around in the mud defending his own line.
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Feb 12, 2016 08:31
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mcnamara is an interesting dude. you would probably enjoy the best and the brightest edit: my mom said that at some point it was like someone somewhere pulled a plug and all the boys their age were gone, but at least my dad got to spend part of the war either in grad school or a mental institution instead! :iamafag: HEY GUNS fucked around with this message at 08:36 on Feb 12, 2016 |
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Feb 12, 2016 08:33
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ALL-PRO SEXMAN posted:Eh, I'd vote for him. This is my favourite ad. It's so drat incredible.
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Feb 12, 2016 08:38
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HEY GAL posted:mcnamara is an interesting dude. you would probably enjoy the best and the brightest I don't know man, I just saw an interview with Halberstam and something about him makes my skin itch on the inside.
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Feb 12, 2016 08:47
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Tias posted:I don't know man, I just saw an interview with Halberstam and something about him makes my skin itch on the inside. i said interesting, didn't i
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Feb 12, 2016 08:50
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Well, yes  The wikipedia alone is pretty interesting! quote:The Democratic party was still haunted by claims that it had 'lost China' to Communists, and it did not want to be said to have lost Vietnam also  
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Feb 12, 2016 08:53
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HEY GAL posted:Edit: Found one of my favorite Wettin pictures, Elector Augustus I with the Meissen schwert, which is I think a symbol of their office: I can totally see that guy guarding a parking structure in Chicago.
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Feb 12, 2016 11:51
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So this is making the rounds on facebook https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mh5LY4Mz15o
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Feb 12, 2016 19:08
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Tias posted:So this is making the rounds on facebook Ah yes, Human History Abridged episode 101. But still, they left 1-2 important parts out. Since they didn't mention those very important things (tm) and missed out on some more tasteless jokes, I can only give them 5/10. Try better next time, guys!
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Feb 12, 2016 19:49
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Just a book request: Anyone know a good book on Mussolini's Italy, and Italy in WW2? Or a good biography of Mussolini himself.
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Feb 12, 2016 19:57
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By the way, how did one become a man-at-arms in the middle ages? I don't imagine a serf waking up, tsking one look at the land he has to work and going "gently caress it, I'm gonna stab people for a living"
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Feb 12, 2016 20:32
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JcDent posted:By the way, how did one become a man-at-arms in the middle ages? I don't imagine a serf waking up, tsking one look at the land he has to work and going "gently caress it, I'm gonna stab people for a living" Land is finite, and if you didn't inherit any you gotta find something to do.
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Feb 12, 2016 20:36
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So, who are some monarchs or rulers of countries who managed to get themselves captured in (or in the immediate aftermath of) battle? Off the top of my head there's Napoleon III, John II of France, and that poor fucker Emperor Valerian, but I'm sure there's more.
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Feb 12, 2016 20:44
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Ensign Expendable posted:Land is finite, and if you didn't inherit any you gotta find something to do. So is it a richman-ish thing? How would an inheritanceless peasant get arms, armor and training?
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Feb 12, 2016 20:46
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nothing to seehere posted:Just a book request: Anyone know a good book on Mussolini's Italy
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Feb 12, 2016 20:53
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Empress Theonora posted:So, who are some monarchs or rulers of countries who managed to get themselves captured in (or in the immediate aftermath of) battle? Off the top of my head there's Napoleon III, John II of France, and that poor fucker Emperor Valerian, but I'm sure there's more. A Count of Hoya did this once, in the 15th century. He got captured by Nienburg's mortal enemies in Oldenburg and spent 14 years hanging over their market. In a wooden cage.
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Feb 12, 2016 21:06
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Libluini posted:A Count of Hoya did this once, in the 15th century. He got captured by Nienburg's mortal enemies in Oldenburg and spent 14 years hanging over their market. In a wooden cage.
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Feb 12, 2016 21:18
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JcDent posted:So is it a richman-ish thing? How would an inheritanceless peasant get arms, armor and training? By showing up at his local lord, who may be in need of a warm body.
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Feb 12, 2016 21:25
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I was looking at some pictures of the eastern front circa 1945 and I'm seeing a real mishmash of uniforms; was even this a supply issue by this point or is this different troopers being more or less comfortable as it heats up through spring?
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Feb 12, 2016 21:35
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spectralent posted:I was looking at some pictures of the eastern front circa 1945 and I'm seeing a real mishmash of uniforms; was even this a supply issue by this point or is this different troopers being more or less comfortable as it heats up through spring?
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Feb 12, 2016 21:40
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Arquinsiel posted:Yes. A mix of "whatever's handy" and "whatever's comfortable" then?
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Feb 12, 2016 21:41
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