John Kettler Posted April 14, 2004 Share Posted April 14, 2004 Just finished reading bestselling British novelist Wilbur Smith's CRY WOLF, which covers the run up to and much of the 1935 Italian invasion of Ethiopia. The novel is a beautifully crafted, rather graphic, adventure novel, but will be of interest to some here because the writer does a stellar job of describing the Italian officer corps, good, bad, and indifferent. From the tough as nails veteran major, to his political hack, noble boss (who takes the field with nearly every luxury imaginable), and his master of delay general back in Eritrea, the book beautifully depicts what was good and bad about the Italian Army and the Regia Aeronautica. It also graphically depicts the horrible human toll of the scarcely equipped Ethiopians facing a modern army equipped with tanks, superb field artillery, motorized infantry, and even air support delivering not only regular ordnance but mustard gas as well on a foe lacking any defense whatsoever against gas warfare. Be warned, though, that his armor descriptions are way off--unless light "cavalry tank" CV 3s have 100 mm of front armor, curved bow plates, and 5 cm Spandau cannon in revolving turrets. Could use some of those in my battles! The scenario designers out there might be able to put together some juicy scenarios from what's described in the book, too. Happy reading! John Kettler 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kanonier Reichmann Posted April 14, 2004 Share Posted April 14, 2004 Interesting info. John. BTW, what the hell is a "Spandau" cannon? Is that term used simply to distinguish it as being of German origin? Regards Jim R. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seanachai Posted April 14, 2004 Share Posted April 14, 2004 Originally posted by Kanonier Reichmann: Interesting info. John. BTW, what the hell is a "Spandau" cannon? Is that term used simply to distinguish it as being of German origin? I imagine he simply mis-typed 'Spandex'... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redwolf Posted April 14, 2004 Share Posted April 14, 2004 I thought the Spandau is the MG34 and MG42. But it is named that way because there was a weapons factory who made them in Berlin-Spandau. If they made a 5 cm gun that one might have gotten the name by the same lines. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike8g Posted April 14, 2004 Share Posted April 14, 2004 AFAIK, MG34 and MG42 were never named with the designation "Spandau". The Spandau MG is a WWI weapon: http://www.adrax.com/watsons/m8.htm http://users.erols.com/hyattg/usmcguns/usmconst.htm Marcus 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Kettler Posted April 14, 2004 Author Share Posted April 14, 2004 Troops, Should've mentioned that there are quite a few hilarious events described regarding these officers, some worthy of Hollywood's attention. Am talking side splitting and cinematic! KR, Am merely repeating the info as given. This is in no way a warranty of correctness or technical accuracy. Pretty much threw me when I read it. Seanachai, If your proposal is correct, then we need to resolve the next vexed matters. Is the cannon made of Spandex, or does it fire Spandex projectiles? Will either or both of us be sued for abusing a trademark in such a martial manner? Once we've established these answers, we can move on to the true technical minutiae. redwolf, In normal circles, I believe you're correct. I rather doubt the Italians manufactured German guns, especially since their tanks with cannon in the listed bore size had 47mm cannon, and they weren't on CV 3 series hulls either. The tanks described sound like fast and woefully undergunned Italian Tiger equivalents. Regards, John Kettler [ April 14, 2004, 03:14 AM: Message edited by: John Kettler ] 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Harmes Posted April 14, 2004 Share Posted April 14, 2004 I hope nobody ever invents a Spandex gun... Imagine the horror... "fix bayonettes... check your your weapons.. over the top.. CHARGE! BLAM BLAM BLAM... Am I hit? Must carry on.. there.. enemy ahead.. writhing in pain.. no wait.. they're laughing? what? ... look down... the evil bastards! they fired a pair of tight spandex shorts onto me... oh the shame!...death." 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sergei Posted April 14, 2004 Share Posted April 14, 2004 Spandau is a town somewhere south of Berlin, as far as I am concerned. And to tell you the truth, I am not concerned. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redwolf Posted April 14, 2004 Share Posted April 14, 2004 What probably happened is that people started calling any German MG "Spandau" after WW1 and some people kept it through WW2. I would imagine the Germans gave some guns to the Italians to mount on SP guns but I am not aware of a widely produced German 50mm gun in 1935. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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