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SerthVarnee posted:What else is he gonna spend his time on? You don't go to the hunting lodge to go hunting, you go to spend time with your generals away from their nagging wives so you can make them dress up in tutus and dance for your amusement.
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Jan 5, 2022 00:20
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The royal lifestyle leaves plenty of time to practice things like art.RocknRollaAyatollah posted:American presidents would often doodle in their notes and a good deal of them are saved due to document retention laws. My boredom doodles look an awful lot like Hoover's and Nixon's, which is very concerning.
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Jan 5, 2022 00:33
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I feel like this is relevant somehow to this thread https://youtu.be/a5DJbPgrGWs
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Jan 5, 2022 01:08
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Been watching the current WW2 in color on Netflix about the invasion of Italy. One of the historians adds that because of Clarks disdain of the British and basically wanting glory decides to push into Rome instead of cutting off the German retreat north. Is there much truth to this? What were his chances of pushing across the rugged center of Italy in time to do that? And why exactly was Rome considered not relevant by the Germans? Was it not a major logistics hub?
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Jan 5, 2022 08:32
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SerthVarnee posted:What else is he gonna spend his time on? Willy also had a hosed up withered arm from an injury he had sustained as an infant (may have been during birth even), it was essentially useless leaving him one-armed in practice. To compensate his other arm was pretty strong though, and I think there's photos or film of him shooting a rifle one-handed. I doubt he could have been a very good hunter, and probably didn't do much of it. e: Seems he actually is documented as doing a fair bit of hunting, as well as cutting wood, during his final years in exile. Randarkman fucked around with this message at 09:12 on Jan 5, 2022 |
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Jan 5, 2022 09:08
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Dick Ripple posted:Been watching the current WW2 in color on Netflix about the invasion of Italy. One of the historians adds that because of Clarks disdain of the British and basically wanting glory decides to push into Rome instead of cutting off the German retreat north. Is there much truth to this? What were his chances of pushing across the rugged center of Italy in time to do that? And why exactly was Rome considered not relevant by the Germans? Was it not a major logistics hub? Mark Clark was a well known glory hound which leads me to believe that if it had been possible to cut off the German retreat and take all those soldiers prisoner he would have if only for the spectacle. Given that he instead pushed for Rome means it probably wasn't.
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Jan 5, 2022 15:58
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My current meta for any "why didn't they just x" suggestion about the Italian front in WWII is to say, "OK, show me the roads they'd use to do that." A lot of ideas sound great until you realize the terrain doesn't really allow it. Invading Italy was probably one of those ideas. Also, I don't know if anyone on the German side was planning this anyway, but the idea of trying to rush Rome and not allow the Nazis to try to reinforce it and fight for the city makes a lot of sense. I struggle to imagine a shittier job than trying to dig stubborn Germans out of Rome. Paris might have been it but I don't think there's another.
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Jan 5, 2022 21:42
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Zorak of Michigan posted:My current meta for any "why didn't they just x" suggestion about the Italian front in WWII is to say, "OK, show me the roads they'd use to do that." A lot of ideas sound great until you realize the terrain doesn't really allow it. Invading Italy was probably one of those ideas. I think they generally didn't fancy defending in Rome, because the terrain and position really wasn't that beneficial, the preferred strategy being to withdraw north to an easier to defend forntline, so the result was that when Rome became threatened it was declared and open city and abandoned.
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Jan 5, 2022 21:57
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Rick Atkinson’s Day of Battle is an excellent history of the Sicily and mainland Italy invasions. I learned a ton about why it was so slow going, the use of paratroopers, and how much of a mess it was when Italy tried to switch sides.
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Jan 5, 2022 22:14
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There was some Finnish Air Force chat in the Grognard Games thread that I think is more relevant to this thread, soNenonen posted:So yeah they changed the symbol on the planes to a blue and white roundel in 1944 for practical reasons, but militaries are big on tradition and they probably were proud of their symbol and thought history would forget that Bohemian corporal and his lot soon so it was left on squadron flags. 
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Jan 5, 2022 22:54
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Dick Ripple posted:Been watching the current WW2 in color on Netflix about the invasion of Italy. One of the historians adds that because of Clarks disdain of the British and basically wanting glory decides to push into Rome instead of cutting off the German retreat north. Is there much truth to this? What were his chances of pushing across the rugged center of Italy in time to do that? And why exactly was Rome considered not relevant by the Germans? Was it not a major logistics hub? I did a search and can't find many defenders of Clark's actions that day. Most damning might be Clark himself, who when asked about the matter just poo poo-talked the British and said that Americans deserved to be first in Rome. Zorak of Michigan posted:My current meta for any "why didn't they just x" suggestion about the Italian front in WWII is to say, "OK, show me the roads they'd use to do that." A lot of ideas sound great until you realize the terrain doesn't really allow it. Invading Italy was probably one of those ideas. The initial plan was to advance to Valmontone, and there was a road. The decision by Clark to shift the axis of attack was delivered so late that Truscott was briefly shocked and had to hastily reorient his forces.  Valmontone was the initial objective. Clark's attack was launched along the coast, where the Germans had actually finished the defences of the Caesar line. It actually failed, and brought him no closer to Rome. The actual breakthrough came through a German blunder, as they left a gap in their lines engaging the single division that Clark had sent to Valmontone. VI Corps exploited this gap and raced for Rome along Highway 6, which was the initial plan. Clark just cocked it up for a week for no reason. Scratch Monkey posted:Mark Clark was a well known glory hound which leads me to believe that if it had been possible to cut off the German retreat and take all those soldiers prisoner he would have if only for the spectacle. Given that he instead pushed for Rome means it probably wasn't. The only defense I could find online was the possibility that he had OSS intelligence about German buildup at Valmontone. But this was coming from him, and even with that knowledge it isn't very convincing. He still sent a lone division to contest it, if the Germans were truly strong they could have just mauled it all the same. It's not like his alternate thrust really worked.
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Jan 6, 2022 07:24
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Tomn posted:Many Interesting Words Few pages back now, but thanks again! This was fascinating.
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Jan 6, 2022 07:53
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Are there machine guns with variable settings for the rate of automatic fire? Someone mentioned that the high rates of fire of the MG34 and MG42 were counter-productive when the Germans used them to deliver suppressive fire since they ate through their ammo belts too quickly.
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Jan 6, 2022 08:35
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White Coke posted:Are there machine guns with variable settings for the rate of automatic fire? Someone mentioned that the high rates of fire of the MG34 and MG42 were counter-productive when the Germans used them to deliver suppressive fire since they ate through their ammo belts too quickly. I think the BAR had that. Two different rates of automatic fire. For a completely fictional example that doesn't answer your question there's the SMG in EYE Divine Cybermancy, which has fuller auto
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Jan 6, 2022 10:40
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Any electric powered machine gun has a variable rate of fire. The M134 Minigun, and the GAU-8 Avenger, for examples.
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Jan 6, 2022 11:01
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White Coke posted:Are there machine guns with variable settings for the rate of automatic fire? Someone mentioned that the high rates of fire of the MG34 and MG42 were counter-productive when the Germans used them to deliver suppressive fire since they ate through their ammo belts too quickly. Yeah those exist, Forgotten Weapons recently had one on with the DS-39. Had a relatively slow-paced RoF for regular use, and a much faster one for anti-air use: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krl3qHGOkgw
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Jan 6, 2022 11:09
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Earlier MG-34 models had selectable cyclic rate. In MG-42 you could alter this by changing bolts and springs. A heavier bolt and stiffer spring would use more recoil energy to operate, thus slowing the operation. FN MAG has an adjustable gas valve for changing the cyclic rate. The most important cyclic rate control is found under index finger, though. Automatic weapons aren't expected to be used like it was a Middle East wedding, except in anti-aircraft use. Shorter bursts will suppress the enemy just as well and you don't need to be changing the barrel all the time.
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Jan 6, 2022 12:33
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Was there much use of cavalry on the Eastern Front during World War I?
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Jan 6, 2022 16:49
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StandardVC10 posted:Was there much use of cavalry on the Eastern Front during World War I? Quite a bit. Horses are an excellent way to give a soldier the ability to move relatively long distances with less logistics drain than a motor vehicle. At the time of Barbarossa the RKKA had four cavalry corps. They didn't do well in 1941, but new and reorganized cavalry units were fielded and used extensively until the end of the war. In addition to front line service they did the really useful but unromantic stuff; chewing up isolated units, keeping pro-Axis partisans away from supply lines or towns, that sort of thing. The Soviets didn’t disband their last cavalry unit until 1957, so I guess you could say “cavalry survived into the nuclear age” if you wanted to do so. Edit: Oh, poo poo, I thought you said WWII. Sorry about that. Cavalry was used even more in WWI. The Russians had 36 Cavalry divisions at the start, and they were used extensively - and were also widely used in the Russian Civil War. Cessna fucked around with this message at 17:27 on Jan 6, 2022 |
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Jan 6, 2022 17:00
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Worth noting that there was a lot of use of cavalry on the Western front before and after trench warfare developed too, though the British in particular had difficulty since they wanted to create combined arms units of horse cavalry and Whippet light tanks, but the horses were a bit too vulnerable and the tanks a bit too slow for it to be effective.
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Jan 6, 2022 17:10
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In the early stages there are pretty dynamic engagements with lots of glorious cavalry charges and lances at the ready but eventually it all turns in to dragoons
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Jan 6, 2022 17:18
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Cessna posted:Quite a bit. Horses are an excellent way to give a soldier the ability to move relatively long distances with less logistics drain than a motor vehicle. Indeed, the Soviets got a lot of use out of cavalry corps later on in the war as a way to get some of the benefits of motorized infantry with trucks and truck support being a precious and limited resource. Part of their emphasis on cavalry in the combined arms unit comes from the Russian Civil War experience where cavalry was a somewhat decisive arm in the running battles that characterized it.
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Jan 6, 2022 17:22
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Cessna posted:The Soviets didn’t disband their last cavalry unit until 1957, so I guess you could say “cavalry survived into the nuclear age” if you wanted to do so. https://twitter.com/RecceGen/status/1449688830970376198?s=20
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Jan 6, 2022 17:24
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A horse wearing a gas-mask is absolutely terrifying. Good to know.
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Jan 6, 2022 17:35
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we saw that video clip in high school and everyone immediately changed their life goals to "ride a horse in to a nuclear explosion while shooting an AK"
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Jan 6, 2022 17:43
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The one with the guy with the saber out is the coolest photo ever taken
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Jan 6, 2022 17:48
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Very 40k
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Jan 6, 2022 17:52
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Phobeste posted:The one with the guy with the saber out is the coolest photo ever taken We would all watch the gently caress out of that movie.
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Jan 6, 2022 18:02
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Wow I can't believe we survived that nuclear blas- OH FOR FUCKS SAKE
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Jan 6, 2022 18:34
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zoux posted:Wow I can't believe we survived that nuclear blas- OH FOR FUCKS SAKE LMAO, literal horsemen of the apocalypse!
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Jan 6, 2022 18:40
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Cav is also really good at scouting. Arguably it was the most important function it played even in the eras where we think of combat cav and and they stayed useful for it well into the automotive age. Horses are much more able to get around uneven and even rough terrain than a car. The US had scattered horse mounted recon elements through to the end of WW2. Double checking that I found this interesting tidbit:quote:
Really, it’s the airplane, helicopter, and eventually sats/drones that replace the horse. Once you have a multi-hundred mile per hour way of zipping through the air to find out what’s on the other side of those hills then the horse becomes truly obsolete in a military context.
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Jan 6, 2022 18:48
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Cavalrymen were recruited heavily as fighter pilots in WWI for that reason - both the idea that if they could handle an unpredictable rear end in a top hat horse they could do the same with a finicky 1910s canvas plane, but also that sketching and scouting were the primary job of both cavalryman and early aviators.
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Jan 6, 2022 19:00
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There were Green Berets who used horses in Afghanistan. https://www.militarytimes.com/news/...n-18-years-ago/ article posted:Although Nutsch said there was a steep learning curve at first, the men adapted well and the horses actually provided them with some flexibility. For example, they could ride at any time during the day or night, in all terrain types.
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Jan 6, 2022 20:03
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MikeCrotch posted:Cavalrymen were recruited heavily as fighter pilots in WWI for that reason - both the idea that if they could handle an unpredictable rear end in a top hat horse they could do the same with a finicky 1910s canvas plane, but also that sketching and scouting were the primary job of both cavalryman and early aviators. Was it also because presumably lots of cavalrymen were aristocrats?
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Jan 6, 2022 20:05
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Slim Jim Pickens posted:The Cruel Sea is a good movie. It's also a movie that's actually about WWII, rather than a hero fantasy masked behind self-pity and outrageously evil villains. just watched it such a great film
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Jan 6, 2022 20:51
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steinrokkan posted:Was it also because presumably lots of cavalrymen were aristocrats? cavalry officers are aristos but your average trooper is not
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Jan 6, 2022 20:59
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Poor ol' Freckles, thought of rads and died.
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Jan 6, 2022 21:26
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Slim Jim Pickens posted:The Cruel Sea is a good movie. It's also a movie that's actually about WWII, rather than a hero fantasy masked behind self-pity and outrageously evil villains. ChubbyChecker posted:just watched it It is so good - probably the best of the black & white British WW2 movie genre. The book is (imo) even better than the film, although it makes the film version seem like an Ealing Comedy by comparison. A bit like how the author of 'Das Boot' hated the film adaptation because it was too cheery and upbeat... On horse chat: the British Royal Army Veterinary Corp was originally set up to care for horses although now the majority of its work is with other animals. It's still responsible for the horses used for ceremonial purposes but does still plan, train and exercise for the deployment of horses in operational sense, since there are still some cases where it's anticipated they might be required (similar to the US using them in Afghanistan, I would suppose).
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Jan 6, 2022 22:10
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BalloonFish posted:It is so good - probably the best of the black & white British WW2 movie genre. The book is (imo) even better than the film, although it makes the film version seem like an Ealing Comedy by comparison. A bit like how the author of 'Das Boot' hated the film adaptation because it was too cheery and upbeat... After that I watched Angels One Five which also had Jack Hawkins, but which wasn't nearly as good. Though it's interesting if you want to see how RAF operations rooms worked. Then I started watching Midshipman Easy, which was utter rubbish. I think I managed 10 minutes before quitting, it had gamer words and everything. Re: cavalry and supplies. Cavalry and horse drawn carriages and artillery need quite a lot of supplies if you don't have the time and space to graze. And they need it even when not moving unlike trucks. On the plus side you can eat the horses, unlike trucks. 
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Jan 6, 2022 22:48
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Cessna posted:In his early life he sketched some seascapes and ships: link What I'm reading here is the Kaiser was ahead of his time in the design of Steampunk flying ships because drat that's a good piece of concept art right there for a steampunk Exhibit A: 
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