Some Interesting Military Data
- Thread starter Timerover51
- Start date
Possible, but I haven't read anything on that.
Timerover51
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I have had a couple of threads shut down for remarks like this. I would not like to see this thread shut down. Kindly keep this a somewhat serious discussion of military and near-military information, please.
Timerover51
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I just found this on Project Gutenberg, since is was posted on May 4, 2015, and it looks quite interesting.The title is Manual for the Solution of Military Ciphers, by Parker Hitt, Captain of Infantry, U. S. A. PRESS OF THE ARMY SERVICE SCHOOLS Fort Leavenworth, Kansas 1916
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/48871
That was the predecessor to the Army Command and Staff College.
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/48871
That was the predecessor to the Army Command and Staff College.
Timerover51
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An account of the death during the Battle of Lutzen of Gustavus Adolphus Vasa II, one of the "Great Captains" of military history. It is taken from the following work available at Project Gutenberg, The Great Events by Famous Historians, Volume 11.
Brian Smaller
SOC-12
My father went into action at Monte Cassino aged 18 and in his first engagement bayoneted a German soldier when they ran into each other by surprise in the rubble. He told me he couldn't pull it out (probably stuck in the guy's spine) and the poor German was wriggling on the end of it. His sergeant knocked him out of the way, chambered a round in the rifle and fired allowing the bayonet to be withdrawn - the German solder was naturally killed. Dad said he threw his rifle away and got a tommy gun. He said he would rather have been killed than have to bayonet a man ever again.
One of my uncles was in Patton's 3rd Army. He told me about the death camps he liberated. Well, not much, I was 6 years old at the time he mentioned them.
My first dad, parents divorced when I was 3 years old, was on Corregidor Island in 1941 and part of 1942. He met mom after the war at a USO where she worked. They married and I was born a year later.
Timerover51
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An interesting assessment of the Plains Indians as fighting men by Major-General Grenville Dodge, commander of the Department of the Missouri in 1865, at the start of the post-Civil War Plains Wars with the Plains Indians. It comes from his book, The Battle of Atlanta and Other Campaigns, Addresses, Etc., available for download from Project Gutenberg.
Timerover51
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Nuclear Weapons
For those who like to toss tactical nuclear weapons around, the following unclassified study on the tactical use of atomic bombs might be of interest.
http://cgsc.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p4013coll11/id/2104/rec/1021
For a really detailed discussion of nuclear weapon effects, I recommend reading The Effects of Nuclear Weapons by Samuel Glasstone et al.
http://www.abomb1.org/nukeffct/index.html#EONW77
You can also find hard copies on the Internet. If you get one, try for one with the circular slide rule weapon effects calculator with it. Otherwise, be prepared for a fair amount of number crunching on a calculator.
For those who like to toss tactical nuclear weapons around, the following unclassified study on the tactical use of atomic bombs might be of interest.
http://cgsc.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p4013coll11/id/2104/rec/1021
For a really detailed discussion of nuclear weapon effects, I recommend reading The Effects of Nuclear Weapons by Samuel Glasstone et al.
http://www.abomb1.org/nukeffct/index.html#EONW77
You can also find hard copies on the Internet. If you get one, try for one with the circular slide rule weapon effects calculator with it. Otherwise, be prepared for a fair amount of number crunching on a calculator.
Timerover51
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I think just about everyone has heard, in some form or the other, of Custer and the Battle of the Little Big Horn. That was not the worst defeat ever suffered by the US Army in its various campaigns against the Indians. The following is the worst, from CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF ENGAGEMENTS
BETWEEN THE REGULAR ARMY OF THE UNITED STATES AND VARIOUS TRIBES OF HOSTILE INDIANS WHICH OCCURRED DURING THE YEARS 1790 to 1898, INCLUSIVE, by George Webb, courtesy of archives.org. This is not an exhaustive list, but it does give some idea as to what was going on in any given year.
The "Simon Girty" mentioned is an infamous white renegade of the period prior to 1800.
The following combat occurred after the Civil War, and was the only case of a active-duty US Army General being killed by the Indians. Custer was a brevet Major-General during the Civil War, but his Regular Army rank at the time of the Little Big Horn was Lieutenant Colonel.
The 4th U.S. Artillery batteries were mainly serving as infantry, not as artillery. Canby's death occurred during a parley with the Modoc group led by Captain Jack in an effort to get the Modocs to surrender.
BETWEEN THE REGULAR ARMY OF THE UNITED STATES AND VARIOUS TRIBES OF HOSTILE INDIANS WHICH OCCURRED DURING THE YEARS 1790 to 1898, INCLUSIVE, by George Webb, courtesy of archives.org. This is not an exhaustive list, but it does give some idea as to what was going on in any given year.
The "Simon Girty" mentioned is an infamous white renegade of the period prior to 1800.
The following combat occurred after the Civil War, and was the only case of a active-duty US Army General being killed by the Indians. Custer was a brevet Major-General during the Civil War, but his Regular Army rank at the time of the Little Big Horn was Lieutenant Colonel.
The 4th U.S. Artillery batteries were mainly serving as infantry, not as artillery. Canby's death occurred during a parley with the Modoc group led by Captain Jack in an effort to get the Modocs to surrender.
I haven't been able to find it, but years ago I saw a web site deailing the history of the Comanche. Some of my ancestors.
One part of it was a photocopied and translated letter from the Spanish military commander in Tejas, to the Viceroy in Havanna, Cuba. The letter begged for infantry and cavalry replacements.
The Viceroy replied back and asked basically 'what happened to the ones I sent you last year ?'.
The military commander said they had all been captured or killed. When they went out chasing the Comanche, they would split up, his men split up to follow them, then the Comanche would reform and attack the small groups of soldiers and cavalry.
So he needed the replacements to get back the horses the Comanche had taken the year before.
One part of it was a photocopied and translated letter from the Spanish military commander in Tejas, to the Viceroy in Havanna, Cuba. The letter begged for infantry and cavalry replacements.
The Viceroy replied back and asked basically 'what happened to the ones I sent you last year ?'.
The military commander said they had all been captured or killed. When they went out chasing the Comanche, they would split up, his men split up to follow them, then the Comanche would reform and attack the small groups of soldiers and cavalry.
So he needed the replacements to get back the horses the Comanche had taken the year before.
Timerover51
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I came across this comment in the US Army WW2 history of Quartermaster Operations Against Japan while preparing material for the World War 2 class that I am presently teaching. Comments about the problem of differing rail gauges also show up in the official Australian histories.
Could any of our Australian friends let me know if this situation still exists, or have the Australian railways standardized on the 4 foot 8.5 inch gauge?
Could any of our Australian friends let me know if this situation still exists, or have the Australian railways standardized on the 4 foot 8.5 inch gauge?
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BlackBat242
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Yes - I saw something years ago about the confused situation with Australian railroads in the 1930s & 40s.
I would definitely like to get a good picture of which lines were which gauge, along with maps showing where they ran.
Since the 1950s I do know there has been a concerted effort to rationalize ans standardize the gauges, but I'm not sure if they have completed that or not.
I would definitely like to get a good picture of which lines were which gauge, along with maps showing where they ran.
Since the 1950s I do know there has been a concerted effort to rationalize ans standardize the gauges, but I'm not sure if they have completed that or not.
Timerover51
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The official Australian history AUSTRALIA IN THE WAR OF 1939-1945, SERIES FOUR, CIVIL, VOLUME III, WAR ECONOMY, 1939-1942 has the map for the World War 2 period in Chapter 12, on page 401.
You can find it at this website.
https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/RCDIG1070215/
kilemall
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You want a study in confused gauging affecting rail transport, the American Civil War on both sides had SERIOUS gauge issues, on a continental scale.
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Condottiere
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From comments I've seen on MBTs and rail infrastructure, tunnels, bridges and gauges can limit the size of tanks that can be placed on rail cars, so transportation of any largish sized equipment should be carefully scouted out in advance.
kilemall
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Right, the apocryphal story is that Russian MBTs are sized to go through older Russian tunnels, although I have read some conflicting articles saying that is an old saw and not true.
For rail, besides the sheer clearance of the tank itself, the main issue is the car itself- both number of axles, the more axles the more the weight is spread around and not pressing on the rail (25 tons or less is optimal but US Class I railroads can handle more- mostly), and the deck of the car itself. Something like only 400+ cars can handle M1s, as I recall.
For rail, besides the sheer clearance of the tank itself, the main issue is the car itself- both number of axles, the more axles the more the weight is spread around and not pressing on the rail (25 tons or less is optimal but US Class I railroads can handle more- mostly), and the deck of the car itself. Something like only 400+ cars can handle M1s, as I recall.
BlackBat242
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Thanks very much for this.
BlackBat242
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Some lines are still non-standard. The wiki article on "Rail Gauge in Australia has a photo with the caption
And a drawing:
