John Kettler

Just to be on the safe side, I crosschecked the 2018 Javelin missile system sale and learned that not only did it complete wbut that delivery was made before the State Department announcement of the sale! https://www.rferl.org/a/javelin-missile-delivery-ukraine-us-confirmed/29200588.html From Radio Free Europe comes further support for my positing that the additional Javelin buy plan which President Zelenskyy mentioned to President Trump might be in addition to the previously described 2018 sale under FMS of 37 CLUs and 210 missiles, not to mention BST (Basic System Trainer) gear. Bear in mind that President Trumps phone call with President Zelenskyy occurred on July 25, 2019 and the statement by the Ambassador in the below link August 5, 2019. https://www.rferl.org/a/us-ambassador-ukraine-asks-to-buy-more-javelin-missiles/30093162.html Regards, John Kettler

As a result of something I saw at the bottom of Page 2 in the declassified transcript of the President's telephone call to Ukraine's President Zelenskyy, I did some digging and found this. If I understood its somewhat tortured phrasing correctly, Ukraine received 37 CLUs and 210 Javelin missiles in 2018 and has some classified quantities of both it's buying this year. https://en.topwar.ru/162404-minoborony-ukrainy-zajavilo-o-prjamyh-zakupkah-v-ssha-ptrk-javelin.html The above being the case, what did I mean by more to come? This was stated in that same call, and it's worth quoting what was said, since I believe this passage may refer to a Javelin purchase that is is over and above the already in the mill classified purchase this year to date. President Zelenskyy "...We are ready to continue to cooperate for the next steps. Specifically we are almost ready to buy more Javelins from the United States for defense purposes." That passage suggests to me, but does not necessarily prove, there is another buy in the mill and that Ukraine is getting ready to execute it. There, is, though, the possibility what President Zelensky told President Trump referred to the previously described 2019 classified buy. Can anyone shed some light on these issues? Regards, John Kettler

Why cats and yoga are a bad idea. Could make up a great slogan for an ad campaign, but I fear it might get me into Mod trouble, so shall refrain. Ballerina recommended? Regards, John Kettler

This one's weird, funny and true. There is such a sign (verified it through several different sites), and most Aussies don't understand why it's funny, because they use a different worse for the part which makes it funny to us here in the US. How's that for navigating the Mod rapids?! The little blue sign shows the name of the big sign's owning firm. Regards, John Kettler

Michael Emrys, That would be my cue to leave. Intimacy with a nihilist isn't erotic for me. the same can be said of other horrors I've seen for female chest tattoos, such as large demons and skulls. Talk about modd killers! Sgt.Squarehead, Your reply puzzled me--until I got it. Ha! Well played. Regards, John Kettler

When she said she hated being hugged, she meant it! Taking down doors, in situations where the bad guys are likely armed to the teeth on the other side is serious and potentially fatal business, but notice how these guys lightened up things. Speaking of smilies, decades back a friend of mine who had a wicked sense of humor carved them onto .357 Magnum bullets. He was pretty gleeful until I pointedly opined on how bad this would look were he ever involved in a self-defense shooting! This made me absolutely gag.Call it Barbie's home defense system. I feel embarrassed for the poor shotgun! Regards, John Kettler

Am surprised and frustrated that no one's provided so much as a whiff of a response to my query. Surely someone must recall my posting the link to the book and a description of its contents here, for it was as topical as the day is long, super meaty and free? So far, my efforts in reviewing emails to my brother have been complete failures. Unless I blinked and missed something, am talking going back clear through 2014! Nor have I had any luck in recalling the unit's popular name, real name or the major whose name was part of the title of the book of which he was the subject. Regards, JOhn Kettler

Found this piece of an article series via following a Flckr post of a badly shot up Sherman at Anzio. This is a translation of the German orders for those units, has a good, expandable situation map, details what was where, who was relieving whom and when, supply situation, who composed the opposition and where, casualty returns from both sides, operational orders and tons more, including some good pics added by the OP to enhance the translated trove.. Pure researcher gold, especially in terms of understanding the German perceptions of the situation and for selecting suitable ground for creating historically credible engagements! https://www.eucmh.be/2018/11/22/anzio-italy-1944-the-german-10-and-14-armies-4/ Regards, John Kettler

Erwin, Not sure what, if there's anything I can do, to solve the problem you described. I know we have people not on FB who can't see what's tied to those links. Sgt.Squarehead, Truly impressive ruination of an ICV! While it didn't disintegrate the way the Hummer did after its parachute was sabotaged, am pretty sure that, other than cannibalizing useful parts, these shattered AFV should probably either become range targets or be recycled. Regards, John Kettler

"Man bites dog!" was supposed to be an unusual news story back when, but I've got one that beats that hands down. After reading it, I think you'll agree it's a good thing there was no video. Not even Hollywood could've come up with this stupid mixed with high weirdness combo. https://www.krem.com/article/news/weird/louisiana-grosse-tete-camel-sits-on-woman-tiger-truck-stop/67-99dec376-dbd1-4bbb-824e-08077cb2656b?fbclid=IwAR3tm8KBzOxf0m_TxBoX17R1zk3kvZBW6xlMguQ5mOdr-FDYesnK-2kZ1C8 Regards, John Kettler

This isn't a news item, but I believe it does deserve presentation as a kind of news and definitely unusual at that. Found this on the TooFatLardies Forum. TFL is the firm which makes CoC. In a thread discussing USMC WW II organization, one John de terre neuve (his handle) said this: "As I read English and Classics in the university as a young man, spelling has long fascinated me. The use of "s" vs "z" is really one of the more interesting areas. Here is the grammarist's analysis, he actually has a section on organize vs organize but the one on realize is more expansive: Realise and realize are different spellings of the same word, and both are used to varying degrees throughout the English-speaking world. Realize is the preferred spelling in American and Canadian English, and realise is preferred outside North America. The spelling distinction extends to all derivatives of the verb, including realised/realized, realising/realizing, and realisation/realization.Although realize is now regarded by many in the U.K. and Australasia as the American spelling, it is not an Americanism. In fact, the -ize spelling variant is older than –ise—realize predates the United States and Canada by nearly two centuries—and has been the preferred spelling throughout most of the word’s history in English. If we can believe the ngram below, which graphs the use of realize and realise in British books and journals published between 1800 and 2000, realise had a brief ascendancy in British English from the late 19th century through the early 20th, but realize was preferred before around 1875 and is again preferred today—perhaps because of the influence of dictionaries like Oxford, Cambridge, and Collins, which encourage -ize over -ise. But the British preference for realize is not in evidence when we search for the two spellings in 21st-century British news publications, where realise is about ten times as common as realize. We have trouble explaining this, but perhaps it’s simply that a few influential British news organizations have collectively adopted the newer spelling, while most of the publishers of books and journals (including prestigious British scientific periodicals such as Nature and The Lancet) in Google’s Books index have kept –ize. The favoring of -ise may also have something to do with a decline in classical education; with Latin and Greek no longer mainstays of British schooling, their influence on English is weakening (-ize has its origins in Ancient Greek).1As the –ise spelling grows in popularity, realize is increasingly associated with North American writing, giving rise to the belief that it is an Americanism and hence to be avoided. There is no doubt, however, that both -ize and -ise are acceptable in British, Australian and New Zealand English, and writers in those varieties should not feel obliged to shun -ize, nor should they abandon -ise if they prefer it. The caveat on this advice is the -ize suffix does risk distracting non-American readers with what is (mistakenly) perceived to be a Americanism.Whichever suffix you use, it is wise to use that one consistently throughout any given text. Note too that, for etymological reasons, some words are never spelled with a z in any variety of English, e.g. surmise, improvisation, televise, surprise, etc. So I actually believe you are quite wrong that in your statement: I won't even try to explain to yet another American that 'organisation' is spelled with an 's'. . Spelling "organization" without a "z" is actually not an Americanism." Regards, John Kettler

Here's the one I first saw then couldn't find again for quite a bit. Though she fights for the bag, hard, at first, she realizes that she needs to get out of Dodge, so flings it away from herself. This is a sound tactic, and just look at what she does with that window! Regards, John Kettler

Erwin, Thought you were referring to what was in. the back of the first video. On an unrelated note... Have always loved to watch ladies pole dance, but I guarantee you (unless you watch the AUS edition of a certain show) you've not seen the likes of this, and it's "G" rated, too. wildly innovative! These women violated one of the mugging survival rules, but just watch how they turned things around and gives instant karma a super high gloss in the process. Regards, John Kettler

Erwin, What's scarier than Wibmer's Law? The much longer than it behind the scenes! Regards, John Kettler

Wicky, Truly outstanding story and a terrific find! Just got through posting it to FB, too. While rooting around the same site, I saw a bunch of Nutella stories. Thought the one on last year's Nutella riots was interesting and weird enough to share. Here in the US, we have similar and worse scenes on Black Friday, the Barney's sale and other competitive retail activities. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-42826028 Regards, John Kettler

Parkour with a bicycle! This isa tour de force demonstration of Applied Physics and a host of other disciplines. Regards, John Kettler

Effective combination of marketing and STEM. Have seen some great examples of owls blending in, but this is ridiculous. Regards, John Kettler

Brother George conducts miniature warfare in a range of scales, including 6 mm/1/285-1-300 scale. By sheer fluke while on CoC's FB page I noticed a 6 mm group page in the sidebar and on that I found this eye-popper. To commemorate the 75th Anniversary of Arnhem attack he built a huge chunk of Arnhem in 6 mm scale. Don't want to think about how much work that took. Will make you MG types glad it's all done in the computer. CMBB fans may be interested in the BoB game table being put together too. Page link is to a blog, not a retail site for selling, cough, other wargames. https://www.allhellletloose.co.uk/?fbclid=IwAR2B39AOhnxpTcSVsarDyDtmBIZ0mYhOtPeUyYFmoWIeqXpaOuetOIHq7zw Regards, John Kettler

Sgt.Squarehead, Didn't know anything about this project, but what you've done is stunning and dazzling! Also, what is that music from, please? Really like it. Regards, John Kettler

What kind of tank is this? Anyone know? Regards, John Kettler

Someone who saw this GIF labeled it a failed resue, but that is incorrect. This was a successful suicide prevention initiated after every other means of talking the would-be jumper had been tried and failed. HIgh risk, but huge payoff. This occurred in Brazil, but there were no other details given on the Tumblr where I found it. Regards, John Kettler

Was trying to find some information on the attack frontage for a GPW Rifle Regiment and got served this by the search engine. It is a most interesting discussion on the above topic which was on The Dupuy Institute Forum. Not only was it great read, but one of our own, Andreas, was smack in the middle of the discussion. One of his observations was a stunner, especially from a CM perspective. In the named operation in the text, the breakthrough frontage for the entire 37th Army (3rd Ukrainian Front) was a mere 3.5 kilometers wide, well within CM map dimensions! His remarks in Bold. Of more direct CMRT interest is that in October 1944 3rd Ukrainian Front reduced platoon strength by a squad per platoon throughout all the infantry formations. The Force Superiority figures are a bit disconcerting, because they are expressed backwards from the way we do it here in the US and many other places. The Russians list the enemy first. This becomes patently obvious in a listing for tanks and assault guns which shows 1:11.2. Talk about crushing armor superiority! http://www.dupuyinstitute.org/ubb/Forum4/HTML/000042.html Andreas posted 01-08-2003 07:39 AM I am also wondering about the "preferred". Reading Koniev's memoirs (Aufzeichnungen eines Frontbefehlshabers) last night, and looking at Samsonov's excellent study of the Iassy-Kishinjev operation (Die Zerstoerung der Heeresgruppe Suedukraine), two things stand out for me. 1. By this stage of the war, a Red Army rifle division was considered to be at full strength if it reached about 6-7,000 men (Koniev refers to his divisions at Lvov being filled up to "full strength" with about this level of men). 2. Assault divisions going in as part of the first wave would be filled up to this level. Rifle divisions not in this wave would presumably be of lower strength, because the destruction of the enemy was to be achieved by rapid maneuver of mechanised forces. I think where "preferred" comes in is when you look at the attachments of independent artillery, guards mortar, SP gun, breakthrough tank and whatnot units, which seem to have been made on Corps level. Hmm, for those interested I repost some info here from a thread on a wargaming forum a while back (http://www.battlefront.com/cgi-bin/bbs/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=025686 for those wanting to read the whole discussion we had). I thought it was quite a good discussion, and I would be interested in comments by members of this forum on the undoubtedly numerous mistakes in my assessment of the operation. Maybe familiar to some (Greg, Tero): Funnily enough, this is actually CM size, at least when you look at the map size. Iasi-Kischinjow Operation, August 1944 (Kischinjow would probably be called Kischinew in German unit histories) Operations of 3rd Ukrainian Front (GOC General Tolbuchin) Main effort of the front is in the sector of the 37th Army (GOC Lieutenant General Scharochin). Main effort of 37th Army is 66th Rifle Corps and 6th Guards Rifle Corps. The 37th Army has a 4km wide breakthrough frontage assigned to it. It is divided in two groupings, two corps up, one corps reserve. According to plan, it is supposed to break through the depth of the German/Romanian defense in 7 days, to a distance of 110-120km, with the distance to be covered in the first four days 15km each. 66th Rifle Corps (GOC Major General Kuprijanow) consisting of two groupings (61st Guards RD, 333rd RD up, 244th RD reserve). Attached are 46th Gun Artillery Brigade, 152nd Howitzer Artillery Regiment, 184th and 1245th Tank Destroyer Regiment, 10th Mortar Regiment, 26th Light Artillery Brigade, 87th Recoilless Mortar Regiment, 92nd and 52nd Tank Regiment, 398th Assault Gun Regiment, two Pioneer Assault Battalions, and two Light Flamethrower Companies. Corps frontage 4km Corps breakthrough frontage 3.5km (61st RD 1.5km, 333rd RD 2km) Densities per kilometer of frontage: Rifle battalions 7.7 Guns/mortars 248 Tanks and assault guns 18 Superiority Infantry 1:3 Artillery 1:7 Tanks and assault guns 1:11.2 There is no man-power information for the divisions, but expect them to have between 7,000 - 7,500 men each, 61st GRD maybe 8,000-9,000. The soldiers were prepared over the course of August by exercising in areas similar to those they had to attack, and being brought up to speed on special tactics needed to overcome the enemy in their sector. Density in 61st GRD sector per kilometer of frontage: Rifle battalions 6.0 Guns/mortars 234 Tanks and assault guns 18 Density in 333rd RD sector per kilometer of frontage: Rifle battalions 4.5 Guns/mortars 231 Tanks and assault guns 18 The initial attack 333rd RD did not bother with niceties like reserves and put three regiments up. 61st GRD attacked in classic two regiment up, one reserve formation. This proved to be lucky, since its right wing of 188th Guards(?) Rifle Regiment got stuck in front of the strongpoint Ploptuschbej. 189th Rifle Regiment on the left wing made good progress though, as did 333rd RD on its left. The GOC 61st GRD therefore inserted his reserve (187th GRR) behind 189th RR and off they went. When darkness came, 244th RD was inserted to break through the second line of defense. It lost its way though, and only arrived at 2300, by which time elements of 13th Panzer were counterattacking. The German/Romanian opposition was XXX. and XXIX. AK, with 15th, 306th German ID, 4th Romanian Mountain Division, and 21st Romanian ID. 13th PD was in reserve. At the end of day one, 4th Romanian Mountain, and 21st Romanian Divisions were almost completely destroyed, while 15th and 306th ID were heavily damaged (according to a German source: 306th lost 50% in the barrage, and was destroyed apart from local strongpoints by evening). Almost no artillery survived the fire preparation. 13th Panzer counter-attacked 66th Rifle Corps on day one, and tried to stop it on day two but to no avail. A study on the divisions history says 'The Russian dictated the course of events.' 13th Panzer at the time was a materially understrength, but high manpower unit, with a high proportion of recent reinforcements. It only had Panzer IV, Stugs and SP AT guns. The division was at the end of the second day in a condition that it was incapable to attack or of meaningful resistance. At the end of day two, the Red Army stood deep in the rear of German 6th Army. No more organised re-supply of forces would be forthcoming, and 6th Army was doomed to be encircled and chopped up. Franz-Josef Strauss, who was to become a very important German politician after the war, served with the Panzerregiment of 13th Panzer. He comments that the division had ceased to exist as a tactical unit on day three of the Soviet offensive: 'The enemy was everywhere.' The comment on the result of 66th Rifle Corps operations in Mazulenko is: 'Because of the reinforcement of the Corps and the deep battle arrangements of troops and units the enemy defenses were broken through at high speed.' This post is based on two German language sources, one being Mazulenko, 'The destruction of AG South Ukraine', and the other Hoffmann, 'Die Magdeburger Division', a history of 13th Panzer. This is what the Red Army saw as a late war set-piece attack. It is a relentless meat-grinder, that was protected by Maskirovka, full control of the air, and prepared with almost scientific rigour. This kind of stuff made Blitzkrieg look like Kindergarten. Almost exactly after a month the Red Army had destroyed AG South Ukraine completely. On the 6th September it had reached the Jugoslavian border at Turnu-Severin, on the 16th September it stood in Sofia, on the 19th it had reached the Hungarian border at Arad. Before that, on the 17th the old lands of the Danube Swabians at Temeschwar (Timisoara) were occupied. I posted this because I thought some people maybe interested in this rather 'secondary' theatre, and also because it is one of the few accounts I have come across that details almost down to battalion level for some aspects the organisation and preparation for a Soviet offensive of this scale. A German battalion commander (Hauptmann Hans Diebisch, CO II.IR579, 306.ID) commented: 'The fire assets of the German defense were literally destroyed by the Soviet fighter bombers attacking the MLR and the rear positions. When the Russian infantry appeared (auftauchte - indicating they did not see them coming) inside the positions ofthe battalion and it tried to retreat, the Russian air force made this impossible. The battalion was dispersed und partly destroyed through the fire of the air force, mortars and machine guns.' (quoted from Mazulenko) The divisions were (as I said) at far below strength, it is therefore logical to assume that their consituent parts were below strength too. The authorised strength was ~9,200 men based on the 1943 shtat. These divisions are at about 80% of that. One way to deal with that was to lose specialist personnel. Interestingly, according to Zaloga in order to reach 8,000 men division in October 1944, 3rd Ukrainian Front (the front undertaking this operation) ordered a specialist TO&E under which each rifle platoon would lose a squad. So the rifle battalions here would have about 2/3 TO&E strength. Assume a bit more for 61st GRD, since Guards divisions seem to have received more reinforcements. Still, at 4.5 rifle battalions to a km, and 2/3 strength, you are effectively putting 3 full-strength rifle battalions in there per km. Open a CMBO map and have a look at what that looks like. The Germans were heavily outnumbered at this point (as they were at many other points). But this did not happen because of some accident, or because the Germans overlooked something. It was the result of successful planning, Maskirovka that led to the Germans expecting the attack elsewhere or not at all, and consequent superior concentration of overwhelming force in a narrow breakthrough sector. Once resistance there was smashed, rapid movement would bring about the complete disintegration of the German rear areas as well as troop command and control. Regards, John Kettler

General Jack Ripper, Speaking from the perspective of someone who did "Duck and cover" drills (terrifying to a kid who understood nukes and that if war came, it would be goodbye, since near Luke AFB, which had BUIC (Backup Interceptor control for the entire west coast)and was therefore a strategic target), that must be weird and a bit disturbing--or would be for me. My best guess is that this police car somehow light a light post or something along those lines at immense speed, but never have I seen a car with damage of this sort. Would call it arresting! Didn't know this was possible, but here's a guy one handing an AK-47. This is quite the coincidence. Recently, I saw the Dominique Swain, Jeremy Irons, Melanie Griffith "Lolita," which featured Lana Del Rey's song of the same name. Only a few minutes ago, I found myself on a Tumblr site dedicated to her, and the site name which linked over gave no clue this was the case. And now we have this interesting marquee error also on Tumblr, but a different site, an error which I hope was fixed! Regards, John Kettler

During the GPW had and used mine dogs, a practice likely continued to this day by Russia's SO units. This certainly was the case during the Cold War, as attested by then GRU officer Suvorov/Rezun, who was a Spetsnaz training officer for a time. He said their dogs were used to protect the Spetsnaz teams but were also trained to wear a mine pack under their backs and run under missile transporters. But ISIS is using something larger and wearing suicide vests--cows! https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7430463/ISIS-strap-suicide-vests-COWS-blow-animals-attack.html Regards, John Kettler

Spoiler alert! Have just about finished Sewell's and Preisler's Scorpion Down. Sewell, principal author (Richmond was the other author) of the excellent Red Star Rogue and a former submariner clearly had excellent sources, which are presented as quotes at the beginnings of some chapters. Some are sourced to named and unnamed Russian Navy flag rank officers. There are others from not named US Naval Intelligence types. It's absolutely clear the Scorpion was sunk by the Soviets as retaliation for the sinking of the K-129, which we didn't do. It's clear both sides knew what happened and that it was mutually agreed never to discuss it. Further the authors were given unattributed info from the Russian end detailing exactly how the Scorpion was located and killed, as well as by what. Walker's sellout of the KW-7 Orestes (Russians got one intact from the captured Pueblo) cryptographic system and regular update of the keycards let the Russians read our radio traffic directly, and they had ESM assets in the area, too. The authors here seem blissfully unaware of the earler secret search that found the Scorpion, and there are some maddening technical errors which I think originate with the co-author. These include a grossly incorrect description of broaching, calling the Sturgeon (SSN, a fast attack sub) a SSBN (ballistic missile sub), also a major gaffe, and saying the Scorpion had a top submerged speed of 47 knots per hour (redundant considering what "knots" means). Global Security lists the Skipjack class SSN (which Scorpion was part of) top speed underwater as 29 knots! Don't know what I'm reading next, but there's a strong likelihood it'll be about finding and recovering major parts of the K-129. Have two books addressing that and which I've never read. Regards, John Kettler