John Kettler

For WW I (and maybe mass produced tanks in general), the hands down winner for ugliest, in my view, at least, is the St. Chamond. Not only does is look ugly, stupid and ungainly, but from a functional aspect, it seems optimized for taking core samples out of the far wall of a trench when crossing! The Cromwell baffles me. As a tank that looks martial? Full marks. But as a design I'd want to go to war in? Seems to me that the positive aspects of the Crusader, all those sloping surfaces, were abandoned utterly, resulting in an armored box whose only real armor slope on upper hull and above was the glacis plate, a device for assisting arriving projectiles to hit the driver's plate. with everything else vertical. Compared to a Crusader, the Cromwell was a super tank. Regards, John Kettler

Lucky Strike, It's a new Red Army technique called Instinctual Traffic Control. Trial would have progressed more had the tankisti stopped squishing the traffic directors! On a separate note, I find seeing such a super clean tank disconcerting. Looks for like an overgrown toy than a combat vehicle. Regards, John Kettler

Nektoman, If I understood you correctly, you seem to be saying that some units, such as your Motor Rifle Regiment, did take in raw recruits and train them inside the unit,? And troops requiring specialized skills were trained elsewhere before being assigned to their actual units? If those things are right, then the comedy in question depicted a real practice but in the wrong kind of unit, for if ever there was a unit requiring specialized training, it would be the Strategic Rocket Troops. Have read the SRT, of all the branches of the Red Army, had the top choice when it came to getting the smart recruits, and the exacting nature and danger of the work certainly isn't something I'd let a raw recruit anywhere near. During the Cold War, a mechanic fropped a wrech while working on a Titan II ICBM in its closed silo. The wrench hit something on the way down, bounced into the side of the liquid fueled huge missile, pierced one of the tanks and BOOM! The explosion was so powerful it blew the 50 ton sliding cover clean off the silo. That's with a highly trained missile technician! Regards, John Kettler

Husker2142, Did you ever see, hear or read about shipping raw recruits directly to the receiving unit, rather than going through basic training (or similar) at a large dedicated recruit training facility? Seems like the Red Army of the early 90s and early 2000 was much like the US Army in the aftermath of the Vietnam War--a huge mess, made far worse by a host of high leverage related issues. Regards, John Kettler

BornGinger, Am well aware of that fact, but I wanted to see whether there was any truth to the to me unusual approach to training depicted in that comedy. Regards, John Kettler

This is a first class military technical article from the authoritative Tank Archives. Shows what the Red Army had and then the not pretty process of eventually fielding the RPG-43, as well as a quick look at wartime projects for more advanced grenades that ran out of war. https://www.tankarchives.ca/2021/01/red-armys-first-heat-grenades.html?m=1&fbclid=IwAR2yMG0YLBrjVRwPbStr-E8ePKkJUp5iJFsavdyjelrBgYghQGzCrMISG1A Regards, John Kettler

The July 1, 2:42 AM entry on the page of the Military History Club za' oboronu has an extensive photo spread on the above event held June 26-27 this year. Had no way to share this directly, but here's the page link. https://www.facebook.com/zaoboronu Regards, John Kettler

SAN loss near certainty, but delight certain! 830 paintings covering a multitude of periods and subjects. https://scrolller.com/r/BattlePaintings Regards, John Kettler

On a separate note, brother George has identified this particular Firefly as a Mark IC (Hybrid). It's hybrid because it has a cast glacis and differential drive housing, but all the rest of the tank is welded. Never knew such a thing existed until today, and leave to my eagle eyed brother to a) spot it and b) quiz me about it publicly of the CoC FB page. When I first saw Henkel's, my brain interpreted it as Heinkel's, a decidedly odd thing to put on a public sign on the side of a building. Regards, John Kettler

So many grog types we have on these Forums! Now we must add ad sign grogs to the list. Well done, guys! Does that make this place a laundry or just a vertical space witha highly durable ad on it? Regards, John Kettler

A Canadian 17 Pounder Sherman (Firefly) of the 21st Armoured Regt. (The Governor General's Foot Guards) in Wissel, Germany. March/April, 1945. The tank appears to be fitted with an 8-tube smoke discharger I've never seen before. It's a fine study of a combat vehicle and building damage at excellent resolution. Regards, John Kettler

Here's a short video of Challenger 2s in the field with no extraneous sounds, just the tank sounds alone. Though of no use now, it will be when we finally get the British. Regards, John Kettler

Put it over here because this is where the skin modders dwell. Have seen quite a few pics and videos of Russian female soldiers with pigtails and earrings. Am fairly sure I've seen such ladies on exercise in makeup, too. Would note her weapon is well worn as well. Regards, John Kettler

Have been up all night, so am not at all sharp, but the pic is and is expandable. PLease don't ask me to explain what that is behind her. Regards, John Kettler

Took some doing, but I finally found that SU-100 film (translates as War is war) with English subtitles. The film is considered one of the best Soviet GPW films, having relatively little propaganda. The site itself sovietmoviesonline.com is a subscription site, but for $5 you can watch as many movies as you want in a single day (many longer subscription options available, and if you subscribe for a month or more, you can download), and it's got some truly fantastic things to see, such as Soviet torpedo bombers. https://sovietmoviesonline.com/drama/na-voyne-kak-na-voyne Regards, John Kettler

FogForever, Haven't been on the CM Forums much lately, so if I haven't done so already, welcome aboard! Based on what I've read and seen about running a shoot, I'm amazed they hit at all. It's possible that they were already ranged in for the sector and/or that the guy radioing in the corrections was a trained FO on the GTL (Gun Target Line) enabling proper corrections to be determined and sent. Maybe, too, these guys have been in sector long enough that they know own location and what's where on the enemy end. Certainly, the fact the AGS-17 is already at mortar type elevation when the video begins tells me they're no strangers to using it as a mortar, and with all the buildings in the way, it would be impossible to conduct any shoot by direct observation. This leads me to think this is their norm, rather than being an exception. Regards, JOhn Kettler

Mods, If this isn't in the right place, please move it. Guys, Recently saw the dark and hilarious Russian military comedy Demobbed and was surprised by the lack of any facility for basic training, boot camp, etc. Instead, our hapless Russian Federation recruits go straight from interview, med exam, tests and being peeled like grapes by the barber, and are escorted and delivered by a warrant officer to their unit. After some unknown number of weeks, they finally are squared away and take the Military Oath. Was I looking at artistic license in the film, or is there really only training once in the unit, rather than huge training establishments to teach core service skills? Does Osoviakhim or something similar now obviate the need for US style large group training? Genuinely want to know and would appreciate your insights. Thanks! Regards, John Kettler

For comparison, here's how the Japanese did it in the same time frame. This is nothing short of astounding, but there's nothing in the video at all on the pole mines visible in the keyframe. Also, while the Japanese incendiary bottles were designed to use a wick (impossible to light under windy conditions), happily for them, the tanks, under extreme heat conditions, provided the means to ignite them. By contrast, the Russians used a wickless system employing a chemical igniter activated when the bottle broke. Regards, John Kettler

What's shown here would be broadly applicable to German and probably Axis forces working closely with the Germans. Nor would it be confined solely to the Eastern Front. The guy who did this is a dyed-in-the-wool hands on German (nationality) military historian. He is brutal on every nation's defects in equipment tactics or both and not one of those fanboy types. There is an error of omission or lack of understanding regarding the use of the axe, too, for German close combat against tanks training films show that one important use is to bend exposed MG barrels, using the back of the axe head as a hammer, as a way to defang the tank , thus facilitating its ultimate outright destruction. Another tactic not mentioned at all was putting a grenade up the cannon barrel. There's video from Iraq of this being done with devastating effect on a T-72. Strongly suspect the gun breech was open when this wass done, for the effect was pretty much instantaneous. Regards, John Kettler

Mods, Am posting this here because this is the only Forum specifically addressing the modern Ukraine situation. By all means move it if some other Forum is better. While this is naval in nature, presuming the information is true, it looks like Putin has dramatically upped the stakes ref control of the Black Sea and the Russian views on the waters around the Crimean peninsula. The video title is overblown, and the keyframe is deliberate clickbait of the most sensational sort, but it got my attention, and I'm glad I saw this video. Speaking as someone fairly familiar with how Chicken of the Sea was played during the Cold War, things have definitely gotten much hotter. Never have I heard of either side using cannon fire, much less aerial bombs, to drive the other side away. Historically, Chicken of the Sea was a who blinks first fight for right of way or trying to mess with a carrier conducting flight ops. But if the info in this video is correct, this Chicken of the Sea incident, which occurred during a Freedom of Navigation mission, could easily have gone south--clear down to Antarctica! Frankly, this video rattled me. Regards, John Kettler

Have never seen this done before, but I found it because I saw in the sidebar on YT one on US Marines doing this with a MK-19. According to the comments for this vid, the weapon manual for the AGS-17 describes how to do this. I get the sense this was improvised, rather than taken from the manual. Fire direction is anything but like mortar firing, starting with the complete absence of panoramic sight or cross leveling between shots. It's more like a really crude version of observed fire. No grids, no shot out, etc. Regards, John Kettler

They think they can fire a short mission and clear out before any counterfire hits, but I have grave doubts on that score, considering that the Soviets, circa 1980, were already using 4 minutes as the time window before the MQ-4, a far cry from the Hughes Firefinder radars to come, could bring down counterbattery fire. This is especially true if MRLs, particularly with bomblets (a la US steel rain) are employed. Regards, John Kettler

Erwin, Suspect the reason this was allowed was because Putin was still solidifying his regime at the foundational level and was simply too busy with that. Seriously doubt this would be allowed today. Would be instantly branded anti-Russian, and harsh consequences would follow. Did you watch it yet? Regards, John Kettler

Just to show I'm not always serious when it comes to films and series about the Soviet or, later, Russian military, here's a 2000 comedy or black comedy. Regardless, it would've been viewed as outright subversive and dealt with accordingly in the Soviet Union. Frankly, I'm amazed it was allowed under Putin, for it does NOT paint Russian young men, or the Russian military, in a good light at all. To the contrary, it skewers some of the worst traits, including pandemic drunkenness, spousal abuse, the grandfather system, and the general bleak pointlessness and corruption of Russian military life. Even so, the movie was so funny I repeatedly choked from laughing so hard! I thoroughly enjoyed this wildly original take at a soldier's life in someone non-US's military, and would say the state of the Red Army in this movie is on par with the shape the US Army was in during the 1970s--terrible. Russian with English subtitles. Regards, John Kettler

Brother George has had some experience with SMGs (don't recall offhand which ones) and doesn't consider them effective beyond 50 meters. Here is a very good Quora thread on comparing major combatants' SMGs. Some of those responding have owned one or more of the types listed and put many rounds through them. The only SMG I've ever fired was an Uzi, and that was in semiautomatic in a piss poor indoor range attempt at hip shooting! In the long Quora thread is a dazzling video (below) in which a heavily body armored and assault helmed a la OMON Kalashnikov firm gun expert puts over 900 rounds through a GPW PPSh41 practically as fast as he could change magazines. According to him, an assault rifle would've been done for at 500 rounds put through it in rapid succession. https://www.quora.com/How-effective-was-the-PPSH-41-compared-to-other-WW2-SMGs-such-as-the-MP40-and-the-Thompson?share=1 Bizarrely, firing tests against a pipe with a Thompson, an MP40 and a PPSh41 resulted in a big dent, a smaller dent and a jagged hole from the last SMG, but paradoxically, Russian troops preferred the MP40 for its penetration, when its apparent advantages were greater range and single shot capability via much slower rate of fire. The Thompson, even with compensator, climbed like crazy. The PPSh41 , as you can clearly see in the video, pretty much doesn't climb at all. The master shooter says the recoli is no worse than a .22 Long Rifle because of the heavy bolt.The. below video pretty much left me in shock. Was also shocked to learn that drum magazines for the PPSh41, other than the two with serial numbers matching a particular SMG, often weren't interchangeable, because of sloppy tolerances which varied from shoop to shop. For some components, there might be as much as a centimeter! Does anyone have any GPW period combat accounts of the effective range for the PPSh41? So far, the best number I've been able to find is 150 meters, and it doesn't say combat, just effective. At close range, the volume of fire the PPSh41 produced, and the hitting power and penetration of the Tokarev pitol cartrdge combined apparently to make the weapon capable of ripping off limbs. Regards, John Kettler