What are you currently reading ?

[sean66]

Going from a 7.62 to 5.56 round? Not surprised. (See also US forces going from the M14 to M16.)

that was due to NATO Standardization practices. everyone was adopting the 5.56mm round.

I can only imagine, because much like the designers of the SA80  I have never fired a firearm

the original SA80 design was the late 50's early 60's (if i remember correctly). most of the designers hadnt been involved in the previous Wars.

regards
Sean

[Ithoriel]

An "uncle", actually a second cousin once removed or something similar, once commented that the SA80 was "not so much a weapon as the governments contempt for it's soldiery made manifest." I don't think he was a fan!

[DaveH]

Mark Zuelkhe Forgotten Victory: First Canadian Army and the Cruel Winter of 1944-45 - interesting read about Operation Veritable. Not sure it would be a great campaign to wargame given how much it turned into similar conditions to WW1 with extremely wet weather and terrain and frontal attacks forced by the conditions.

[Ithoriel]

Mark Zuelkhe Forgotten Victory: First Canadian Army and the Cruel Winter of 1944-45 - interesting read about Operation Veritable. Not sure it would be a great campaign to wargame given how much it turned into similar conditions to WW1 with extremely wet weather and terrain and frontal attacks forced by the conditions.

Yes, the attacks up the causeways were a grinding match. The amphibious landings seem to have been pretty much a walkover. Neither much fun to game.

A fascinating campaign none the less and one for which the Canadians did not get the recognition they deserved.

[sean66]

Yes, the attacks up the causeways were a grinding match. The amphibious landings seem to have been pretty much a walkover. Neither much fun to game.

A fascinating campaign none the less and one for which the Canadians did not get the recognition they deserved.

a lot of the slogwork at the end of WW2 didn't get the recognition it deserved. the newsmen at the time (and subsequent historians) are more enamored to the Armoured Thrusts and cult personalities. the Battles around and through the Hurtgen forest were also treat just as shabbily
(especially when they didn't even need to be fought)
regards
Sean 

[Steve J]

that was due to NATO Standardization practices. everyone was adopting the 5.56mm round.

IIRC, if you were hit by a 7.62mm round in the arm or leg, you were likely to bleed to death before help could arrive etc. With the 5.56mm round, it would disable you but not kill you, thus requiring two soldiers to extrract you, the medical logistics getting 'over loaded' etc. Also I believe that it was a much more accurate wapon than the SLR...

[Ben Waterhouse]

IIRC, if you were hit by a 7.62mm round in the arm or leg, you were likely to bleed to death before help could arrive etc. With the 5.56mm round, it would disable you but not kill you, thus requiring two soldiers to extrract you, the medical logistics getting 'over loaded' etc. Also I believe that it was a much more accurate wapon than the SLR...

Warsaw Pact NBC tactics held to the same theory...

[steve_holmes_11]

a lot of the slogwork at the end of WW2 didn't get the recognition it deserved. the newsmen at the time (and subsequent historians) are more enamored to the Armoured Thrusts and cult personalities. the Battles around and through the Hurtgen forest were also treat just as shabbily
(especially when they didn't even need to be fought)
regards
Sean 

There are a few highlights.
I read (long ago, so some details may be incorrect) that the Prinz Eugen surrendered to a British Carrier platoon, part of a force Liberating Denmark.
One of a few naval captures by land forces since the French Cavalry caught the icebound Dutch fleet at Den Helder.

Plenty of other grim stuff, liberation of camps (POW or "concentration"), liberating starving towns after the hongerwinter...

[steve_holmes_11]

IIRC, if you were hit by a 7.62mm round in the arm or leg, you were likely to bleed to death before help could arrive etc. With the 5.56mm round, it would disable you but not kill you, thus requiring two soldiers to extrract you, the medical logistics getting 'over loaded' etc. Also I believe that it was a much more accurate wapon than the SLR...

I was at school at the time, and we had an MOD fellow visit and talk about new weapons.

He popped up a few graphs about kinetic energy (1/2 M V^2) to advocate a smaller faster bullet.
We also got some slowmo of a 5.56 cutting through ballistic gel, with particularly nasty cavitation at each end of its range.
The comparable 7.62 stuff tended to go through cleaner and exit before expending most of its energy.

After that some discussion of the "casualty epidemic" - the usual 2 comrades required to evacuate one wounded man (You never see that in Enemy at the Gates type films).
Some really unpleasant stuff about ballistic shock, necrosis and the battlefield surgery necessary to survive it.

At that point one of the "Hard lads" who did Cadets and was a notorious school bully lurched out of the seat and emptied his stomach just outside the classroom door.

The finale saw the MOD guy explain that the Brits actually wanted a smaller faster round, but Nato insisted on the 556.
Then a bit of 16mm to reassure the small calibre doubters that the Army retained enough big calibre "blow sh*t up" capability to keep te pesky forriners on their sides of the borders.

[steve_holmes_11]

Finished with all the computer textbooks, now reading:

The Infantry Attacks - Erwin Rommel.


So far, an excellent read, well presented, and very accessible.
Quite a contrast to other stuff I've read by German authors that tends to be quite heavy going.
I don't know whether that's a problem for the authors or translators.

Finished.
I did rather bog down with descriptions of the larger actions in the Italian campaign.
The earlier pieces, 1914 in France and mountin trooping in Romania were highly accessible.

Well worth a read, through I'd advise using something like Google maps to follow the terrain.

[steve_holmes_11]

The Beast, The Emperor and the Milkman by Harry "Achtung Schweinhund" Pearson

This combines a trip to witness Flanders spring cycle races with a history of the region and its cyclists.
Humorous tales of getting soaked while travelling to watch cycle races, manfully digesting enormous Flemish snacks (and beer), and once being mistaken for an old Dutch cycling star.

The book follows the formula of Achtung Schweinhund.
The author writes and digresses on an obscure subject finding interest and humour in its more absurd and heroic aspects.

In this case, there's a limited number of ways to describe a bus/train ride to a race, grabbing a snack, finding a bar with a television and popping outside to witness the riders pass in a blur.
The author changes pace with accounts of famous sons of the towns he visits, seeking out their statues, the quirks of a nation/region wedded to a traditional sport.

Not up to Achtung Schweinhund's standards, but worth a punt if you're interested in cycle racing or Flanders.

[flamingpig0]

The Vengeance of Vampirella and John (Penguin Monarchs): An Evil King?

[paulr]

Tanks - 100 years of evolution by Richard Ogorkiewicz

A very interesting read by someone who really knows his subject, reading about the post WWI 'Anticlimax' at the moment

[kipt]

Finished "The Waterloo archive; Volume 1: British Sources" edited by Gareth Glover.  It is as is says, original letters, journals, diaries from the British troops, officers and men, regarding Waterloo.  Some discrepancies from the written history makes for interesting reading.  Also, being too close to the action results in wild guesses.

I have 7 volumes but I think they may now go up to 12?

[Steve J]

Too Little, Too Late by Mike Embree, about the campaign in SW Germany during the 1866 Austro-Prussian War. I read it before without knowing much about the conflict, so this time around it's making a lot more sense.

[Big Insect]

The Future of War by Lawrence Freedman

very interesting and insightful. I am only just starting the book but it has already gripped my imagination.

In the early chapters the author is looking at how past generations have attempted to predict what war in their near future might potentially look like, and often how very wrong they had gotten it.
However, there is one interesting instance were a 1908 academic 'think-tank' correctly guessed that the cause of the next Great War, would be triggered by an assassination attempt in the Balkans. They got the monarch wrong - a Bulgarian Crown Prince and he survived the attack - but they were pretty much spot on with the domino effect it set off. But they saw a war of fast maneuver and swift decisive grand battle action. along the lines of the Franco-Prussian War - not the lengthy trench warfare of the Western Front.

Freedman also makes the point that most predictions of warfare in the (near or far) future are marred by the era they currently live in - just like the Hammer's Slammers sci-fi novels have Cold War style tank battles in the far distance future - paralleling the era (1979) when the author (David Drake) wrote them.

I am looking forward to reading more.
NB I am only on page 20 of 284 ... so a lot more to come

Mark

[Raider4]

The Future of War by Lawrence Freedman

"I do not know with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones." – Attributed to Albert Einstein.

[kipt]

Finished "Guide To The Battle Of Chickamauga" edited by Matt Spruil.  As it says a guided tour of the battlefield, based on the staff rides done by the US Army.  This is for anyone.  Actual reports from the Union and Confederate units involved.  Since I am currently into Regimental Fire and Fury, this totally complements those rules.

There is an appendix Medical Practices and the Handling of Wounded in the Civil War: Theory and Application, as well as an OOB.

I read this before when it first was published, 1993, but this was a good reread.

[steve_holmes_11]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1177_B.C.:_The_Year_Civilization_Collapsed

Eric Cline's interpretation of the Bronze Age collapse.

One chapter in. Interesting stuff.
I'm familiar with the sources (Mainly Egyptian, Syrian and Cretan inscriptions and clay tablets.

The style is rather dry and academic, so don't expect the type of heroic narrative that's typical of most Bronze age media.

[mmcv]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1177_B.C.:_The_Year_Civilization_Collapsed

Eric Cline's interpretation of the Bronze Age collapse.

One chapter in. Interesting stuff.
I'm familiar with the sources (Mainly Egyptian, Syrian and Cretan inscriptions and clay tablets.

The style is rather dry and academic, so don't expect the type of heroic narrative that's typical of most Bronze age media.

I really enjoyed that. He has a few good interviews and lectures on YouTube too.