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Ataxerxes posted:The Finnish tank forces had, according to Reino Lehväslaiho who served there (in his memoirs titled "Sotkalla sodassa" (in the war with Sotka(a nickname for a T-34), assigned people there pretty much randomly. Lehväslaiho had served as a volunteer in the Winter War (since he wasn't old enough to have been called into service by the time it started). He got sent into the Tank Regiment (as it was called then) to do his national service and ended up serving there for the rest of the war. Does that book have an english translation? Because I'm pretty interested in Finland's war lately. Comstar posted:Why don't their chin straps, actually go under their chins? Also echoing this, never quite understood it. It seems to be a feature everywhere.
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Sep 15, 2016 22:06
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Comstar posted:Why don't their chin straps, actually go under their chins?
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Sep 15, 2016 22:06
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Cythereal posted:And most marching band uniforms invoke the imagery of those uniforms. Bonus points for sashes and those strappy things across the chest, which my high school's band had on our uniforms. We were in dark green, black, silver trim, and white plumes for line members and black plumes for the section leaders. The strap things are called crossbelts. Your missing the other belt that is suppose to carry your cartridge box and bayonet frog for obvious reasons.
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Sep 15, 2016 22:14
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I think I've just gotten an insight into why hypotheticals and the Nazis go together - it's because at some point the Nazi plans stop connecting to reality and it's like the senior Nazi hierarchy is just gay black hitler-ing it up rather than face reality.
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Sep 15, 2016 22:14
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Nebakenezzer posted:I think I've just gotten an insight into why hypotheticals and the Nazis go together - it's because at some point the Nazi plans stop connecting to reality and it's like the senior Nazi hierarchy is just gay black hitler-ing it up rather than face reality. There's a pretty well respected theory about how the Nazi state ran itself, how some of the rather insane or deplorable decisions ended up happening, and why things were taken to the extremes that they were. You usually see it referenced as "Working towards the Fuhrer" and it basically tl;dr's down to "What Would Hitler Do?" The idea is that you can't have direct instruction for every single thing, but people had a general idea of the things that Adolf considered important or at the very least was down with. This leads to underlings trying to jockey for advancement by being more-Nazi than the other guy, all the while coming up with ever more radical ideas and solutions that they think are where Hitler would want to take things. I'm simplifying, but it explains a lot of why everything ratchets up the way it does. It also works pretty well for systems run by a single all powerful leader with vocal ideas or beliefs in general.
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Sep 15, 2016 22:19
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Comstar posted:Why don't their chin straps, actually go under their chins? Seriously, I would love to know the answer to this.
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Sep 15, 2016 22:25
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Yes, it's like a lava lamp.
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PittTheElder posted:Seriously, I would love to know the answer to this. According to Audie Murphy, an explosion nearby would rip the helmets off their heads, and their heads off their necks if the chinstrap was buckled securely. They would either leave the strap unbuckled or let it catch beneath their nose if it kept falling off.
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Sep 15, 2016 22:38
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MikeCrotch posted:Native North Americans might cover what you are looking for, a lot of tribes fought for the French in the Seven Years War then for the British in the American War of Independence, because they knew that being left alone on the continent with the American colonist was going to be bad, bad news for them. After the revolution the various tribes ran the gamut of reactions that you mentioned. Oh this sounds very cool. Thanks, I'll definitely look into that.
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Sep 15, 2016 22:38
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Cyrano4747 posted:There's a pretty well respected theory about how the Nazi state ran itself, how some of the rather insane or deplorable decisions ended up happening, and why things were taken to the extremes that they were. You usually see it referenced as "Working towards the Fuhrer" and it basically tl;dr's down to "What Would Hitler Do?" The idea is that you can't have direct instruction for every single thing, but people had a general idea of the things that Adolf considered important or at the very least was down with. This leads to underlings trying to jockey for advancement by being more-Nazi than the other guy, all the while coming up with ever more radical ideas and solutions that they think are where Hitler would want to take things. I'd contend that a similar mechanism was at play in Japan, just without a notional head but instead an ideological focus.
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Sep 15, 2016 22:39
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That does make sense. I'm re-reading a historian's book on Nazi strategic bomber/Amerika bomber projects, and the process is very much like a tumble-dryer full of ideas. They go around and around, bouncing off the same old problems and never really solving any of them. And because problems are insoluble, they try to take shortcuts, make square pegs fit in round holes, and generally dream their little dreams. The thing that really knocks me out about reading this is that the estimates for production the Nazi bigwings are using just become untethered from reality at some point; like "by the end of 1943 we should be producing more Ju 290s on a monthly basis than were in fact made in total" sort of thing. The saga of the Me 264 is especially pathetic; it is developed and engineered (Messerschmidt had to farm out lots of the engineering work to the Dutch) and then three prototypes were built. Messerschmidt for years had zero excess capacity to make a series run of the thing, and despite the Reich Air Ministry (RLM) trying to job it out to any other German firm, there was no capacity there either. Then, in late 1943, even Hitler cools on the idea of bombing Amerika, and it looks like the project is going to be shelved. So Messerschmidt gets ahold of Hitler during a social occasion and talks up the Me 264. So, suddenly the Me 264 is back on again, despite the fact that the whole type was basically an experiment like the B-19. It needs 2.5 km to take off with a full load of fuel, and even then it is doubtful enough that engineers are thinking of takeoff assist rockets or some kinda fuckin' tow aircraft to haul it into the sky. It can carry 2 tons of bombs to like Nova Scotia or something, *not* America, and the initial series run is going to be anywhere from 20 to 50 in total. Not that they can make it, mind you; they still have absolutely zero spare industrial capacity to do it. Meanwhile, FAGr 5 is flying 4 Ju 290s, and when they make contact with Allied Convoys they can circle them for hours. This is because the convoy mistook the Ju 290 for an Allied plane, because it had been so long since the Luftwaffe flew recon flights mid Atlantic. Another part where a hypothetical long range bomber (Ta 400) is being developed to take any of three engines, none of which exist, is another fun passage ---------------------- Also I've started reading "A European Tragedy" and have had my mind blown by the Holy Roman Empire First, for the first time ever I understand why they were called electors Second, the notion of a government so complected it was more like a cryptography scheme than a government Third, that the Hapsburgs were not Emperors by birth, it's just their part of the syndicate brought in the most money, which gave them the most power
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Sep 15, 2016 22:55
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spectralent posted:Does that book have an english translation? Because I'm pretty interested in Finland's war lately. It does not. Here are two new books in English: https://ospreypublishing.com/finland-at-war-the-winter-war-1939-40 and https://ospreypublishing.com/finland-at-war-the-continuation-and-lapland-wars-1941-45 Haven't read them, but I've heard that they're decent.
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Sep 15, 2016 22:56
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Nebakenezzer posted:Also I've started reading "A European Tragedy" and have had my mind blown by the Holy Roman Empire in re your 3rd point, turns out the electors have a lot of leverage over the current emperor because they elect his successor during his lifetime and each 'burg really wants it to be another one. so that's one way the electors swing their dicks around if the emperor's worried about the succession https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_of_the_Romans
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Sep 15, 2016 22:59
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Deteriorata posted:According to Audie Murphy, an explosion nearby would rip the helmets off their heads, and their heads off their necks if the chinstrap was buckled securely. They would either leave the strap unbuckled or let it catch beneath their nose if it kept falling off. Isn't an explosion strong enough to pull your head off that way going to kill you anyway?
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Sep 15, 2016 23:04
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So how accurate is the depiction of battle and combat in The Last Kingdom? It looks like they might be using Roman tactics? Making a shield wall, advancing until the shield walls touch, then poking stabby bits through the holes.
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Sep 15, 2016 23:07
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Cyrano4747 posted:There's a pretty well respected theory about how the Nazi state ran itself, how some of the rather insane or deplorable decisions ended up happening, and why things were taken to the extremes that they were. You usually see it referenced as "Working towards the Fuhrer" and it basically tl;dr's down to "What Would Hitler Do?" The idea is that you can't have direct instruction for every single thing, but people had a general idea of the things that Adolf considered important or at the very least was down with. This leads to underlings trying to jockey for advancement by being more-Nazi than the other guy, all the while coming up with ever more radical ideas and solutions that they think are where Hitler would want to take things. I vaguely remember something about how this was partly because Hitler was lazy so he'd just give people ideas and let them get on with it. Is that right?
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Sep 15, 2016 23:08
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PittTheElder posted:Isn't an explosion strong enough to pull your head off that way going to kill you anyway? The head-blown-off-because-of-chin-strap thing appears to have been a thing that was believed by almost everyone, that was just plain wrong. e: 
MrMojok fucked around with this message at 23:18 on Sep 15, 2016 |
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Sep 15, 2016 23:15
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spectralent posted:I vaguely remember something about how this was partly because Hitler was lazy so he'd just give people ideas and let them get on with it. Is that right? Hitler's leadership style was almost never to give direct orders but to make broad statements and leave implications.
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Sep 15, 2016 23:37
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Cyrano4747 posted:That poo poo's still around. Here's a considerably more recent photo of the exact same outfit. And an older one. 
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Sep 15, 2016 23:55
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Comstar posted:Why don't their chin straps, actually go under their chins? This is my military pet peeve. It makes me feel uncomfortable just looking at them wearing the straps like that! Nebakenezzer posted:Meanwhile, FAGr 5 is flying 4 Ju 290s, and when they make contact with Allied Convoys they can circle them for hours. This is because the convoy mistook the Ju 290 for an Allied plane, because it had been so long since the Luftwaffe flew recon flights mid Atlantic I wish to hell I could have been a fly on the wall in both Allied and German cockpits when this happened.
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Sep 16, 2016 00:13
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Mister Adequate posted:This is my military pet peeve. It makes me feel uncomfortable just looking at them wearing the straps like that! the strap is always uncomfortable if it's anywhere near your chin. I was in marching band in highschool and college and everyone either shoved the strap up inside the hat or buckled it around the back unless it was windy enough to blow the hat off your head.
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Sep 16, 2016 00:49
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HEY GAL posted:it is an extremely good Empire So, they'd be all "I know you want this guy to become Emperor, but we disagree with your desire for a new Balkan war, so we were thinking of nominating Flavorious Flavious instead? Also that link you posted describes some of the "King of the Romans" as "Anti-Kings." Should I even ask
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Sep 16, 2016 00:50
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HEY GAL posted:it is an extremely good Empire That article lead me down the Wikipedia rabbit hole and eventually I found this, about Napoleon II (Boney's son, who amounted to nothing and died childless at 21 of pneumonia): "The Hapsburgs got up to some weird poo poo posted:On 15 December 1940, Adolf Hitler ordered the remains of Napoleon II to be transferred from Vienna to the dome of Les Invalides in Paris.[9][10] The remains of Napoleon I had been returned to France in December 1840, at the time of the July Monarchy.[11] For some time, the remains of the young prince who had briefly been an emperor rested beside those of his father. Later, the prince's remains were moved to the lower church. 
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Sep 16, 2016 02:08
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Nebakenezzer posted:Also that link you posted describes some of the "King of the Romans" as "Anti-Kings." Should I even ask Sometimes the electors charge their mind.
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Sep 16, 2016 03:42
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PittTheElder posted:Isn't an explosion strong enough to pull your head off that way going to kill you anyway? Yes. This is along the same lines as the guys on the shop floor who say you shouldn't wear steel-toed boots because if something heavy drops on your toes it will crush the steel and amputate your toes, when anything heavy enough to do that is going to crush your toes off anyway.
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Sep 16, 2016 03:52
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Phanatic posted:Yes. This is along the same lines as the guys on the shop floor who say you shouldn't wear steel-toed boots because if something heavy drops on your toes it will crush the steel and amputate your toes, when anything heavy enough to do that is going to crush your toes off anyway. This mostly comes from guys who work in a place where nothing is heavy enough to crimp your toes off with a steel-toed boot. The guys who do work in proper danger will tell you to wear the drat things because not everything is that heavy.
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Sep 16, 2016 04:01
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In wood and metal work during secondary school back when I was a wee teenager that warning made sense because some people wore lovely cheap trainers where a pointed iron file could seriously gently caress your toes/feet up if dropped.
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Sep 16, 2016 04:04
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Nebakenezzer posted:So, they'd be all "I know you want this guy to become Emperor, but we disagree with your desire for a new Balkan war, so we were thinking of nominating Flavorious Flavious instead? It's like the same thing as an Anti-Pope, which is to say a guy who set himself up as an opposing king and lost the inevitable fight to determine who's the real king.
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Sep 16, 2016 04:42
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While trying to have some of my questions answered (I'm super into armored warfare, but really wanted to learn more ancient stuff recently), I ran across this channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCv_vLHiWVBh_FR9vbeuiY-A/featured It's presented like a high school presentation, but the simple visualizations helped me wrap my head around things like roman military/political organization and how certain battles played out on a grander scale.
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Sep 16, 2016 05:20
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spectralent posted:Does that book have an english translation? Because I'm pretty interested in Finland's war lately. Sadly none of his books have been translated, the target audience kinda is Finnish, so while they might sell abroad I don't think anyone has thought of translating them. I found this snipped online, but it's all I did: https://lehvaslaiho.wordpress.com/2010/05/27/in-english-stalin-in-the-battlefield/ The translation isn't that great but it kinda catches the point. He has a really laconic way of writing and the books are quite readable, but a bit samey after a while, or so I have heard. I have read two of his works, the one about his own experiences and one other. After reading Trin Tagulas blog I think Lehväslaihos story reads a bit like that of Louis Barths, with slightly less socialism. Ataxerxes fucked around with this message at 06:23 on Sep 16, 2016 |
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Sep 16, 2016 06:18
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i think i saw the crypt where they keep the hearts, too
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Sep 16, 2016 06:25
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Ataxerxes posted:Sadly none of his books have been translated, the target audience kinda is Finnish, so while they might sell abroad I don't think anyone has thought of translating them. I found this snipped online, but it's all I did: https://lehvaslaiho.wordpress.com/2010/05/27/in-english-stalin-in-the-battlefield/ His best anecdote is from the Finnish counterattacks during the battle of Tali-Ihantala. The official military history says something like "Major Suchandsuch ordered the heavy armor company to counterattack the Soviet tank battalion" and Lehväslaiho comments that it wasn't really a heavy company anymore because all the other tanks had either been shot to poo poo or had to be abandoned. So it was just four dudes (the tank commander had been killed in a previous engagement) in a T-.34, hitting a Soviet battalion, winning and making it retreat.
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Sep 16, 2016 07:58
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Deteriorata posted:According to Audie Murphy, an explosion nearby would rip the helmets off their heads, and their heads off their necks if the chinstrap was buckled securely. They would either leave the strap unbuckled or let it catch beneath their nose if it kept falling off. This was apparently a common superstition across the U.S. armed forces even after WW2, though it has no basis in reality and in fact may have contributed to casualties. Grand Prize Winner posted:That article lead me down the Wikipedia rabbit hole and eventually I found this, about Napoleon II (Boney's son, who amounted to nothing and died childless at 21 of pneumonia): So are they really keen on getting their poo poo haunted or what? #don'tsplitthecorpse
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Sep 16, 2016 08:49
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Tias posted:So are they really keen on getting their poo poo haunted or what? #don'tsplitthecorpse quote:In centuries past, the corpses of some pontiffs were set upon by mobs or looted for relics. Until the beginning of the last century, the internal organs of popes were preserved in jars and interred separately from their bodies, but Pope Pius X, who considered the practice gruesome, put a halt to it before his own death in 1914. http://articles.latimes.com/2005/apr/07/world/fg-embalmer7
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Sep 16, 2016 08:56
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Yeah, but in the case of the pope, it's not buried in another drat city, is it?
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Sep 16, 2016 09:02
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Tias posted:Yeah, but in the case of the pope, it's not buried in another drat city, is it? i have, in fact, no idea where you keep an ex-pope's internal organs
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Sep 16, 2016 09:04
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HEY GAL posted:i have, in fact, no idea where you keep an ex-pope's internal organs Shame on a christian
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Sep 16, 2016 09:22
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HEY GAL posted:i have, in fact, no idea where you keep an ex-pope's internal organs This doesn't bode well for your next horoscope  .
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Sep 16, 2016 09:33
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Can't a strapped-on helmet mess you up if you have to jump into the water though?
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Sep 16, 2016 12:17
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HEY GAL posted:i have, in fact, no idea where you keep an ex-pope's internal organs We do have a decent idea where Benedict's are, though 
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Sep 16, 2016 13:49
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hogmartin posted:Can't a strapped-on helmet mess you up if you have to jump into the water though? I would think if you have to jump into deep water with full gear on you're either 1. On a boat that has just been sunk, in which case you're hosed anyway, or 2. Probably going to have more problems swimming in your clothes and with the rest of your gear than your helmet.
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Sep 16, 2016 14:03
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