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asbo subject posted:But why is it that Australians think nobody else was there and they did all the fighting and dieing? It's this "small island in a big world" mentality we have. Constantly under the shadow of "mother England" we've tended to have a bit of a "we can do this too!" nature. The fact is Australia's always been a support role in many engagements, so to compensate there's always this attempt to put a positive spin on something that wasn't really that important at all. The common theme in any Australian engagement is "shining through hardship", see also Kadoda trail and Vietnam. Gallipolli has become such a byword for "Aussie battlers", "Mateship" and other jingoistic echos of sacrifice. You have to remember that it was dreamed up by a British journo, who wasn't there in the first place, and in some way it was an attempt to comfort the readers that the Australians did something other than getting shredded due to poor planning. It's gotten to a point where it's "Un-Australian" not to acknowledge the advent. There was a huge surge in nationalism during the run of John Howard where he went so far as to suggest he'd claim that patch of Turkish soil as there was more Australian blood there than Turkish.
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Aug 26, 2010 00:55
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asbo subject posted:Jesus, your country really is quite stupid. Pretty much. ANZAC day REALLY suffers from being buried under clods of revisionism. For starters, most people tend to forget it also includes New Zealand. Around the time of the Vietnam war attitudes changed dramatically and by the mid 1970's it had pretty much been forgotten. Peter Wier's film kickstarted the 1980 revival along with the incessant preaching that Australia "Was born on the battlefields of Turkey", despite being a federation at the time, and over the decade remembering the losses at Anzac slowly turned into a nationalistic rock concert promoted by the PM. Many veterans don't bother going there as they no longer see it as a solemn remembrance but a showpiece where former Generals appear on commercials asking Australians to have a pint for honor, sponsored by VB and Legacy. http://raiseaglass.com.au/#/videos And this is what is the really tragic part, the fact that anyone who's 20 now only sees Anzac day as something as another "Australia day" without understanding how it actually came about. It's been overblown to proportion as there's very little in Australia's military history that plays any worldly significance, and there's a tendency to overplay participation in wars as a crucible of sacrifice and hardship, but the question is for what exactly.
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Aug 26, 2010 04:51
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ufarn posted:I have suddenly found out that I need to get my uncle a Christmas present. He is very interested in World War 2, and he has a vast library of WW2 literature. Can you recommend any books that he might like - and not own? The World at War: The Landmark Oral History from the Previously Unpublished Archives http://www.amazon.co.uk/World-War-Landmark-Previously-Unpublished/dp/0091917522/ref=pd_sim_b_1 It's a companion piece to the TV series, a bit like watching the deleted scenes on a DVD, but far more engrossing.
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Dec 21, 2010 01:29
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During the second world war my grandfather admired the Russian's ability to make soup out of anything, reportedly even boots.
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Jan 5, 2011 05:12
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Burning Beard posted:The 1872 campaign hat (one of the worst pieces of issue kit ever issued)
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Aug 11, 2011 15:36
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http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/ww2.html This is a 20 week photo essay covering World War 2 from 1939 to 1945. It aims to cover some of the broader parts of the war, such as pre war Madrid, the home front, the global reaction and so forth. People forget there were Nazi Party offices in New York in 1932.
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Aug 15, 2011 07:35
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My Grandfather grew up in Bavaria during this time and pretty much pointed out to me that part of the reason Hitler got to where he was because he generally portrayed he had the ability to pay off Germany's debts before 1998 and it was somewhat proven with the resulting economic boom in the late 1930's. He joined the army simply because it paid better than the lagging farmer's life he lead, even his teachers were ending up in the army at that time. He was subsequently put to work in the Ukraine working on huge farms used to provide food. He ultimately wound up serving in the 12th SS Panzer Division Hitlerjugend sometime before the Battle of the Bulge where he was eventually captured by the Americans somewhere in Czechoslovakia after attempting to do failed skirmishes, such as one horrid instance where they had to take out a bridge with timed explosives that tragically co-coincided with an unknown nearby camp of prisoners who ran out onto the bridge to greet the advancing US army. He has another story of blowing up weapon stores while on the run that also included a jet plane that was utterly useless as they had no fuel for it. He was acquitted on war crimes charges (the Malmedy massacre) due to being under 17 on the insistence of the Red Cross. He wasn't pro Nazi, his father hated what was happening to the point where he arranged for his former Captain, a Jewish store owner, and his family to get out into Switzerland in 1938. Somehow they arrived into the US and one of them ended up in the Army and consequently wound up back in Bavaria and ran bang smack into my Great-Uncle who was in disguise as a French soldier having legged it from Berlin. As a result their family being saved he US soldier arranged for him to skip the POW camp and consequently got my grandfather out of another one based on a small note he'd dropped out of a convoy truck. For US military goons, are there any online records that I might be able to use to find the name of that soldier? Somehow my Great-grandfather survived Stalingrad, serving as an Anti-aircraft operator during both wars. although he was presumed dead for a while before turning up a somewhat shattered individual. While I might be humanizing a few things, I don't for one doubt how horrific Hitler's dictatorship turned out to be.
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Sep 25, 2011 03:13
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Rodrigo Diaz posted:You will never find him without a name. I know if I find a WWI Haubtmann with a missing leg who possibly served in anti air then I'm on the right track. Of course there's always the factor of them changing their name from something German to English. At best all I can do is comb through passenger records and hope to find a whole family that matches around 1938/9 or get a name out of my grandfather.
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Sep 25, 2011 14:29
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There's one I've read that I've never been able to find elsewhere; the VW Beetle was able to be converted into a light tank.
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Sep 25, 2011 18:32
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oobject.com has an interesting gallery on WWI battle armor. It would have been nicer if there was more information. Most appear to be directly adapted off traditional plate armor and helm. Despite looking cumbersome as hell there's this photo that suggests you were able to survive a few hits. But I'm not sure if that's from shrapnel or gunfire. 
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Oct 1, 2011 06:00
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Ograbme posted:What were Napoleon's secrets to success? A clever gimmick, luck, balls, genius, or ??? Stocking and replenishing an army is one of the more expensive things in the books, the air conditioning costs for the American Army leaps into the millions, and that's just one small element of logistics. Going back to earlier times one importance of capturing towns was to loot it of supplies to replenish your supplies. Seasonal variations also limited when an army could effectively march as there would be less on hand to eat during winter. In the early 1800's a reward was offered for anyone who could discover a cheap way to preserve large amounts of food. The first form was an Appert Canning jar, by cooking food in the jar and sealing it in a vacuum so no air escapes the food essentially stays fresh for years. The mason jar in the 1850's was an improvement on the same principles, notably the screw top and a rubber seal that would shrink as it cooled. These jars were replaced by canisters of tin, as it's cheaper to roll out and cut than glass is. The Dutch were known to have a similar method of preserving smoked salmon in iron boxes but these weren't much different than the usual preservation of salting and smoking. Bayonets were the first can opener. Usually followed by shooting it open in frustration as the tin was quite thick. The benefits are enormous for an army, you are now able to quickly deliver meat and veg across a wide area without spoiling or having to cart around additional animals to feed and slaughter. Post Napoleonic wars the British Army took up the slack of refining canned goods. BogDew fucked around with this message at 06:54 on Oct 7, 2011 |
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Oct 7, 2011 03:29
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Xiahou Dun posted:Is this a misuse of a word or typo?
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Oct 7, 2011 06:55
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Shimrra Jamaane posted:I wish Sea lion had been attempted. The Germans would have lost the war earlier. My mate's grandmother never found Dad's Army amusing as she noted that "it's exactly what they did back then."
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Oct 15, 2011 03:20
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Does anyone have any information on just how deadly various forms of rifle ammunition were? Somewhere I've read that Civil War era rifles were notoriously deadly due to the fact that if they hit bone it would cause a large area to simply shatter, hence why many amputations were performed as you had a huge gap of bone missing in your arm. The other factor was the lead shot caused horrific infections if it wasn't fished out in time and some wounds were minor proved fatal by poor medical hygiene such as dirty fingers groping around for bullets. From what I understand modern bullets have a higher chance of passing through completely and leaving a cleaner wound.
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Oct 28, 2011 07:43
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DTurtle posted:Here's another question about World War 1:  The French were also big on exploring tank designs and came up with all sorts of bizzare ideas such as the Boirault Machine that was designed to flatten terrain.  It was clear that an armored tractor was the go and in 1917 what's known as the predecessor to the modern tank, the Renault FT, was created with it's advantages of a crew of two and a rotating turret. The design hung around as a hand-me-down tank up to 1948. The Germans barely had any. There's one that was captured by Australian forces sitting in the Museum of Queensland. They focused heavily on anti tank with high levels of success at the Battle of Armines. They did dabble in their love for oversize tanks with the K-Wagen which was pressed into production by Hindenburg despite it's impractical nature. Hitler reportedly had a wooden model for study.
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Nov 28, 2011 04:44
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Ghost of Mussolini posted:What is the "most successful" scenario for the Battle of Britain? Is it a destruction of the south-east airfields in a bid to have air control over the channel and attempt Sealion?
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Jan 29, 2012 07:13
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SeanBeansShako posted:Is there any other battle or campaign with information that has been so badly fluffed up and conflicted by the winners, losers and patriotic Historians as Waterloo? Historically it was the first time Australia had fought independently from Britain under the ANZAC group so popular thinking has created this odd idea that the country was "formed" in the fields of WWI despite becoming a federation a decade earlier. This was easily paired with the idyllic notion that the country was innocent and young as were the troops heading over. The modern propaganda for the whole Anzac spirit has gotten pretty insane to the point where former PM John Howard once suggested that Anzac cove be claimed as part of Australia due to the amount of Australians killed there. Nowadays many kids flock there for the rock concerts as some sort of warped pilgrimage as they're told it's a very important day, but not really sure why.
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Mar 26, 2012 02:38
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Shimrra Jamaane posted:cat.jpg  A pet ring tailed possum examines department of information movie camera somewhere in north Australia and assumes the operators' stance.
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May 14, 2012 04:49
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My Great-great grandfather on the German side was an AA operator in World War 1 (and later on in WW2 during Stalingrad). Given planes were not much more than a highly experimental way to lob bricks at people, what was WWI AA like?
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May 14, 2012 10:53
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Time for a bit of clarification on facts... Years ago there was a pretty awesome "PYF weird naval facts" or something to the effect where it ranged from highly speculative Roman naval battles involving hot sand and snakes being used as projectile weapons to one story involved two cruise liners decking it out during WW2 - what was that? And also there was also some history on why WWI circa warships ships have that weird bulging hull as it was apparently developed to skirt around class designation by tonnage - what were the details behind that?
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May 25, 2012 01:31
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SeanBeansShako posted:Who is this man? and the man he has saved. What army did they fight in?  It's British. The man he is carrying has been suggested to be from the 29th Division and the guy doing the carrying is possibly from 21st Battalion, The West Yorkshire Regiment. More speculation here It's believed to have been shot around White City / Jacob's Ladder / Sunken Road area opposite Beaumont Hamel. http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205019100 BogDew fucked around with this message at 03:44 on May 27, 2012 |
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May 27, 2012 03:42
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SeanBeansShako posted:I hope some museums have copies of the local towns or cities newspapers where they printed the local casualties daily. Here's the Roll of Honour page for the Sydney Morning Herald for the 2nd of May 1916. This stuff was printed daily. Here's a random page from July 29th 1916 detailing incidents. quote:THE GREAT EUROPEAN WAR. quote:GENERAL ITEMS BogDew fucked around with this message at 02:50 on May 28, 2012 |
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May 28, 2012 02:45
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wdarkk posted:The ones they put into the US had a tendency to get caught.
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Jun 6, 2012 05:45
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I could draw a crude correlation that the further away we've gotten from attacking each other the more increased the stresses become. Perhaps there's a primal instinct that kicks in and reassures us when wresting someone to the ground and clobbering them with a cudgel before they do. For instance bomber squadrons would get affected by the fact they never saw the effects of what they were hitting until watching it in the newsreels - notably Dresden. Or nowadays you have drone operators suffer breakdowns from being so affected over what they're shooting at on screen has no chance of actually harming him. Apparently, in Australia, the Navy has the higher percentages of depression, which could be more to being based at sea for so long. There was a thread in the military forums about PTSD which suggested the rise of the casual macho drinking male in the 50's was stemmed from WW2 vets drinking regularly to blot out memories and had been seen as a positive thing by the younger generation who imitated them.
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Jun 22, 2012 02:37
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SeanBeansShako posted:By the middle of the 18th century early pointy things at the end of guns technology finally got it right.
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Jul 2, 2012 15:40
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Panzeh posted:That being said, German infantry in general from 1943 on was in a constant state of disrepair as the divisions were stripped bare of virtually everything to get manpower and equipment for the panzer and panzergrenadier divisions.
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Jul 9, 2012 12:18
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SeanBeansShako posted:Whats a good website for either US Civil War photographs and images of the First World War?
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Jul 26, 2012 04:09
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zoux posted:From a historical perspective, how good is the Ken Burns WWII series in your opinions? It does have some interesting anecdotes, such as Ray Leopold recounting how he'd met a German soldier who had an uncanny knowledge of the lay of an American town, who revealed he was in training for possible German occupation of America.
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Jul 27, 2012 04:33
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SeanBeansShako posted:Plus the usual tales of Dads Army and even worse types of incompetence.
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Jul 28, 2012 13:06
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Can someone confirm this fact: that battles in medievial times were somewhat more notable when they happened given the fact that armies would often come to meet each other, only to withdraw if the terrian was more faveourable to one side; then simply attempt to reposition and try again - no doubt a cheaper option than expensive losses.
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Aug 18, 2012 06:01
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Nenonen posted:Wouldn't the feeling of not being in control or even seeing where you're going, combined with the G forces, make you poo poo yourself several times per mission?
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Sep 25, 2012 14:41
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Phanatic posted:There's a lot bad poo poo out there.
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Sep 27, 2012 03:38
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Boiled Water posted:Was it used to throw fog or is it a traditional rocket mortar?
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Oct 13, 2012 06:35
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Has anyone ever recorded just what Colditz Shiraz was made from? From what I recall it was wine created from jam and turned you blind but google has no info.
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Jun 30, 2013 17:11
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