|
Someone mentioned earlier about UXO in the area around El Alemein. I was reading something or listening to NPR or whatever and they mentioned that a lot of the IEDs turning up in the Sinai and in Libya are made with HE taken out of WW2 era land mines from those battlefields.
|
#
?
Nov 30, 2016 22:25
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 19, 2024 18:23 |
|
|
Did anybody in these places that ended up riddled with landmines know how badly they were loving up the country long after the war was over? Did anybody at the time ever think of a plan to deal with them in the future? Even in the short term, you can lay a minefield to handily screw things up for your enemy, but what if they don't end up going through the minefield? You've just screwed up a patch of land forevermore for your troops as well.
|
|
#
?
Nov 30, 2016 22:34
|
|
|
Cyrano4747 posted:Someone mentioned earlier about UXO in the area around El Alemein. I was reading something or listening to NPR or whatever and they mentioned that a lot of the IEDs turning up in the Sinai and in Libya are made with HE taken out of WW2 era land mines from those battlefields.  I cringe when viewing Syrian videos of people fooling around with unexploded bombs, but here just the mental image is enough to give me goose bumps. Simultaneously I'm at awe if that really works, you'd think that the extremity of Saharan climate would take its toll on chemical compounds over such long period of time. SlothfulCobra posted:Did anybody in these places that ended up riddled with landmines know how badly they were loving up the country long after the war was over? Did anybody at the time ever think of a plan to deal with them in the future? You are always supposed to make a map of your mines so removing them would be easy, but guess what, if the enemy breaches the minefield and runs over your army then chances are the information will be lost. Then you have the family of air and artillery scatterable mines which you can't map, you can just hope that they are programmed to self-detonate after a certain time and that this also works 100%. Also mines are used indiscriminately during civil wars because they're a simple and efficient weapon system and during civil wars all sorts of principles get defenestrated. Nenonen fucked around with this message at 22:45 on Nov 30, 2016 |
|
#
?
Nov 30, 2016 22:35
|
|
|
SlothfulCobra posted:Did anybody in these places that ended up riddled with landmines know how badly they were loving up the country long after the war was over? Did anybody at the time ever think of a plan to deal with them in the future? The thing is that you know where the mines are. Land mine maps are a big thing. The issue with landmines isn't that you make a belt of terrain impassible, you just make it impassible enough that moving large formations through it is a PITA if you don't know the couple of corridors that you left empty.
|
|
#
?
Nov 30, 2016 22:36
|
|
|
How desperate must you be to go into WWII minefields in search of explosives?
|
|
#
?
Nov 30, 2016 22:55
|
|
|
dude, it's free explosives
|
|
#
?
Nov 30, 2016 23:15
|
|
|
1:05 PM - Absolute Madman "Plutonis": stair 1:06 PM - Absolute Madman "Plutonis": can you do me a favor and post these on the milhist thread  
|
|
#
?
Nov 30, 2016 23:41
|
|
|
HEY GAL posted:dude, it's free explosives A friend just asked for some historical fiction recommendations and I told them to go read 1632 How bad a friend am I
|
|
#
?
Dec 1, 2016 00:00
|
|
|
HEY GAL posted:dude, it's free explosives "Black archeologists" in Russia are strictly prosecuted for this reason. The government doesn't like free explosives floating around.
|
|
#
?
Dec 1, 2016 00:05
|
|
|
MikeCrotch posted:A friend just asked for some historical fiction recommendations and I told them to go read 1632
|
|
#
?
Dec 1, 2016 00:07
|
|
|
MikeCrotch posted:A friend just asked for some historical fiction recommendations and I told them to go read 1632 you have good taste in schlock
|
|
#
?
Dec 1, 2016 00:48
|
|
|
Stairmaster posted:1:05 PM - Absolute Madman "Plutonis": stair I can not look at anything history on Reddit or imgur because there are guaranteed multiple highly rated comments of people stumbling over each other to say "reminder that not all German soldiers were nazis!!!"
|
|
#
?
Dec 1, 2016 01:02
|
|
|
FastestGunAlive posted:I can not look at anything history on Reddit or imgur because there are guaranteed multiple highly rated comments of people stumbling over each other to say "reminder that not all German soldiers were nazis!!!" Is the waffen SS more the "we are terrified conscripts" but of the German army or "we volunteered" bit? Or some of both?
|
|
#
?
Dec 1, 2016 01:11
|
|
|
If it's got SS in the name somewhere they're literally a branch of the Nazi party, so draw your conclusions from there.
|
|
#
?
Dec 1, 2016 01:18
|
|
Ensign Expendable posted:"Black archeologists" in Russia are strictly prosecuted for this reason. The government doesn't like free explosives floating around. gently caress those guys explosives or not. Something really skeevy about dudes happy about plundering shamelessly amongst the war dead for profit. It's not the 19th century anymore now.
|
|
|
#
?
Dec 1, 2016 01:18
|
|
|
Fusion Restaurant posted:Is the waffen SS more the "we are terrified conscripts" but of the German army or "we volunteered" bit? Or some of both? 1st SS's full name is 1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, initially Hitler's personal bodyguard. The entire division was tried and found guilty of direct participation in multiple atrocities at Nuremburg. Thank him for his service
|
|
#
?
Dec 1, 2016 01:24
|
|
|
That image is essential fucktalkingabouthistoryonredditfullofnazis.jpeg That image is like the reverse of that German heer guy breaking down during a showing of Come & See and pretty much stating he was there, he saw that poo poo.
|
|
|
#
?
Dec 1, 2016 01:29
|
|
|
Fusion Restaurant posted:Is the waffen SS more the "we are terrified conscripts" but of the German army or "we volunteered" bit? Or some of both? Really, really depends on the unit and the year. If we're talking the SS Hitlerjugend in spring 1944? HOOOOOOLY poo poo yeah bunch of true believers. If we're talking some dude who got fed into SS Das Reich in the spring of '45? Eh, dude could just be an unlucky conscript. SS Panzerlehrer? gently caress, could go either way. Those were literally the tank school instructors organized into an elite tank unit (you can imagine what this did for the training cadre) so you'd have a mix of opinions re: hitler, jews, etc. All that said, the "thank your granddad for his service" thing is super laughable because he served THE loving NAZIS. Its doubly odd given that it's directed to a German in the first plce - the American fetishizatoin of military service is considered super weird to most of the rest of the world.
|
|
#
?
Dec 1, 2016 01:38
|
|
|
I'm 98% sure that random Redditor is just a max tier wehraboo who made up the story for points anyways, because who else would go on the internet and broadcast the fact that their grandfather is a war criminal. Still, it's a pretty good litmus test of Reddit's dumb opinions. E: Should we also thank ISIS and Friends for their service? Sure, they're technically the enemy, but they're fighting for their people and their way of life. A brave thing to do. Crazycryodude fucked around with this message at 01:44 on Dec 1, 2016 |
|
#
?
Dec 1, 2016 01:40
|
|
|
Crazycryodude posted:I'm 98% sure that random Redditor is just a max tier wehraboo who made up the story for points anyways, because who else would go on the internet and broadcast the fact that their grandfather is a war criminal. Still, it's a pretty good litmus test of Reddit's dumb opinions. Or he could be the sort of douche who spends his weekends marching around Dresden with his Pegida bros.
|
|
#
?
Dec 1, 2016 01:41
|
|
|
I tried posting on Reddit history stuff once. I got banned.
|
|
#
?
Dec 1, 2016 01:41
|
|
|
Stairmaster posted:1:05 PM - Absolute Madman "Plutonis": stair How do most veterans feel about that anyways? There was a big explosion of people making a show of honoring veterans after 9/11, but not to the point of...y'know, making the VA work or anything. I know my grandad said he felt uncomfortable about people thanking him for his service because he was a radio operator and spent most of the war goofing off as opposed to risking his life or anything.
|
|
#
?
Dec 1, 2016 01:43
|
|
|
everyone stop slagging on dresden, i live here too for six months out of every year
|
|
#
?
Dec 1, 2016 01:44
|
|
|
We'll just have Bomber Harris do it again when you aren't around.
|
|
#
?
Dec 1, 2016 01:45
|
|
|
SlothfulCobra posted:I know my grandad said he felt uncomfortable about people thanking him for his service because he was a radio operator and spent most of the war goofing off as opposed to risking his life or anything. Personally a little uncomfortable if it's anything more than a brief comment. The sentiment is appreciated, but like your granddad, I don't feel like I did anything particularly dangerous and it feels kind of undeserved. I can't speak for anyone who's actually seen poo poo though.
|
|
#
?
Dec 1, 2016 01:52
|
|
bewbies posted:I tried posting on Reddit history stuff once. I got banned. And this pretty much seals the deal with my theory now.
|
|
|
#
?
Dec 1, 2016 01:56
|
|
|
On one hand you've those who are embarrassed by being thanked, on the other you have dudes who own only the most corny of motard nine line apparel shirts and poo poo like that and wear them at every opportunity
|
|
#
?
Dec 1, 2016 02:05
|
|
|
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/01/the-tragedy-of-the-american-military/383516/ this summarizes my feelings on american military fetishism better than I've ever managed to articulate it I post this regularly, sorry
|
|
#
?
Dec 1, 2016 02:12
|
|
|
Alchenar posted:There's a sunken ship in the Thames estuary with 1400 tonnes of explosives still on it  How is this a thing JcDent posted:How desperate must you be to go into WWII minefields in search of explosives? I read an article about "red mercury" in Harper's (a non-existent miracle chemical that allows terrorists to construct nuclear weapons without understanding nuclear weapons) and people, every year, are killed because they start digging up old landmines to extract the red mercury
|
|
#
?
Dec 1, 2016 02:48
|
|
Nebakenezzer posted:
The Thames is sort of dirty, it might have formed some sort of protective gunk layer around the ship!
|
|
|
#
?
Dec 1, 2016 02:51
|
|
|
bewbies posted:http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/01/the-tragedy-of-the-american-military/383516/ Jesus that's perfect. Thanks. Bookmarked. Edit: Except for the A-10 fetishism again.
|
|
#
?
Dec 1, 2016 03:00
|
|
|
bewbies posted:http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/01/the-tragedy-of-the-american-military/383516/ Wow this is getting bookmarked. I've never seen it before so you obviously don't post it enough.
|
|
#
?
Dec 1, 2016 03:16
|
|
|
SlothfulCobra posted:I know my grandad said he felt uncomfortable about people thanking him for his service because he was a radio operator and spent most of the war goofing off as opposed to risking his life or anything. My gramps did see poo poo and his view is basically that it's nothing to be proud of. OTOH we're pretty sure he convinced a replacement to come with him on a routine mission when the kid was nervy and he died first time, so that might be influencing things. The only other guy I've directly spoken to about stuff was one of my friend's uncles who got cut off at dunkirk, managed to make it back to the UK and immediately got sent off to africa. I don't know if he feels proud of his service but he has a lot of "funny stories" about shooting germans.
|
|
#
?
Dec 1, 2016 03:17
|
|
|
bewbies posted:http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/01/the-tragedy-of-the-american-military/383516/ Yeah, this was great and I hadn't seen it before and I've been reading these threads since admiral snackbar existed (I know it's from 2015). Sent it to my dad who spent nearly 25 years in the navy and decided to go into non-profits rather than defense contracting.
|
|
#
?
Dec 1, 2016 04:17
|
|
|
Phanatic posted:Jesus that's perfect. Thanks. Bookmarked. I'd like to know more about the A-10 and whether it really is out of date or whatever. My layman/civilian understanding is that it is  and the F-35 is dogshit, have any good articles on the issue without said fetishization?
|
|
#
?
Dec 1, 2016 04:57
|
|
|
I know I read a good article about this, I'll go see if I can dig it up. Here's what I remember in the meantime. The biggest problem with the A-10 is that while it was very well designed for its intended role as a ground attack aircraft in a much less electronically advanced/connected age (specifically putting big holes in Soviet tanks trying to force the Fulda Gap during the 70's/80's), nowadays it's too big and slow to survive a modern battlefield. It's still great at doing gun runs against insurgents with nothing better than AK's and the odd Stinger, but if there was ever a hot war against another major power the A-10 would get knocked out of the sky by mobile AA/modern MANPADS faster than you can say "Oh Christ this thing has a radar cross section bigger than Australia". Crazycryodude fucked around with this message at 05:46 on Dec 1, 2016 |
|
#
?
Dec 1, 2016 05:11
|
|
|
Fun fact: The A-10 was designed with input from Nazi Stuka ace Hans Rudel   
|
|
#
?
Dec 1, 2016 05:42
|
|
|
Crazycryodude posted:I'm 98% sure that random Redditor is just a max tier wehraboo who made up the story for points anyways, because who else would go on the internet and broadcast the fact that their grandfather is a war criminal. Still, it's a pretty good litmus test of Reddit's dumb opinions. ISIS isn't technically a soldier, though, so it wouldn't count.
|
|
#
?
Dec 1, 2016 06:24
|
|
|
Crazycryodude posted:I know I read a good article about this, I'll go see if I can dig it up. Here's what I remember in the meantime. On the plus side, a very high proportion of modern action is against exactly those insurgents, so there is totally a place for the durdly old Warthog in the fleet.
|
|
#
?
Dec 1, 2016 06:34
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 19, 2024 18:23 |
|
|
Crazycryodude posted:I know I read a good article about this, I'll go see if I can dig it up. Here's what I remember in the meantime. Wasn't it really considered too big and too slow to really survive a Fulda Gap scenario either? I thought they were supposed to take absolutely horrendous losses in the process of slowing a Soviet advance. Meaning what really changed over the last decade or two was the definition of acceptable losses.
|
|
#
?
Dec 1, 2016 06:36
|
|
Yes, it's like a lava lamp.