Quotulatiousness

June 20, 2022

Japan – Liberators of India? – WAH 065 – June 19, 1943

World War Two
Published 19 Jun 2022

As the people of Bengal and Iran continue to be tormented by hunger, so are the people of Germany and Yugoslavia by bombs. In Eastern Europe, the Germans continue to kill anyone they deem an enemy.
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June 19, 2022

Kursk: Soviets Dig-In for Blitzkrieg – WW2 – 199 – June 18, 1943

World War Two
Published 18 Jun 2022

The Soviets have put civilians to work by the hundreds of thousands, building line after line of defenses in the Kursk salient, where they are sure the Germans are soon to attack. Meanwhile the Allies are making moves in preparations for two big upcoming offensives of their own — in Sicily and the Central Solomon Islands.
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June 16, 2022

Mussolini’s Pope? – The Geopolitics of the Vatican

Filed under: History, Italy, Religion, WW2 — Tags: , , , , , — Nicholas @ 04:00

World War Two
Published 14 Jun 2022

Pope Pius XI is the first Pope to guide the Catholic Church through the age of fascism. How has his Vatican responded to Fascists Italy and Nazi Germany, and what is the geopolitical position of the Papacy on the eve of war of World War Two?
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June 14, 2022

History of Rome in 15 Buildings 13. San Pietro in Vincoli

Filed under: Architecture, History, Italy, Religion — Tags: , , , , , — Nicholas @ 02:00

toldinstone
Published 2 Oct 2018

Speech stands at the threshold of the compressed lips. Righteous indignation is written in the lines of the set jaw. The presence of God blazes forth from the eyes. As a work of art, Michelangelo’s Moses is nothing short of awe-inspiring. It sits, however, in the cramped central niche of a rather underwhelming wall tomb, ringed by smaller statues ranging in quality from mediocre to incompetent. This thirteenth episode in our History of Rome discusses the creation of the Moses, and the circumstances that brought it to the church of San Pietro in Vincoli.

To see the story and photo essay associated with this video, go to:
https://toldinstone.com/san-pietro-in…

June 13, 2022

Nazis in a Balkan Mess – WAH 064 – June 12, 1943

World War Two
Published 12 Jun 2022

In the Balkans, the Axis powers fail to rout Yugoslav and Greek Partisans. In Bengal, British India starvation is spreading, and in the Netherlands, the Nazis send 1,296 children and infants from the Vught Camp to the gas chambers at Sobibor.
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June 12, 2022

Eisenhower Lays Out His Plans for Sicily – WW2 – 198 – June 11, 1943

World War Two
Published 11 Jun 2022

The Allies bomb Mediterranean islands in preparation for their invasion of Sicily next month; they also prepare a lot of deceptions to mislead the enemy as to where they will attack. The German plans for the summer offensive against the Kursk salient are ever more concrete, and in the field this week, the Chinese stop the Japanese offensive cold.
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June 7, 2022

History of Rome in 15 Buildings 12. Santa Maria in Trastevere

Filed under: Architecture, History, Italy, Religion — Tags: , , , , — Nicholas @ 02:00

toldinstone
Published 2 Oct 2018

Wanted: candidate for Pope. Must be a good fundraiser, effective administrator, and shrewd politician. Deep pockets a must. Sanctity negotiable.

The medieval papacy lies at the heart of this twelfth episode of our History of Rome, in which we discuss the catastrophic schism that created the church of Santa Maria in Trastevere.

To see the story and photo essay associated with this video, go to:
https://toldinstone.com/santa-maria-i…

June 5, 2022

Banzai Charges in Alaska – WW2 – 197 – June 4, 1943

World War Two
Published 4 Jun 2022

The Chinese defeat the Japanese at Shipai Fortress and the Americans maul the Japanese in the Aleutians. The Japanese are also worried about the possibility of the USSR joining the war against them. Meanwhile the Allies still plan to invade Sicily, but have no idea what they’ll do after that.
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May 31, 2022

History of Rome in 15 Buildings 11. Santa Prassede

Filed under: Architecture, History, Italy, Religion — Tags: , , , , — Nicholas @ 02:00

toldinstone
Published 2 Oct 2018

After Leo III crowned Charlemagne Holy Roman Emperor in 800, Europe had two notional leaders: the pope and the emperor. In theory, they were the twin pillars of a well-ordered Christian society. In practice, they were usually at each other’s throats. One product of their rivalry was the ninth-century church of Santa Prassede, the subject of this eleventh episode in our history of Rome.

To see the story and photo essay associated with this video, go to:
https://toldinstone.com/santa-prassede/

May 29, 2022

Black May, Nazi Subs Defeated – WW2 – 196 – May 28, 1943

World War Two
Published 28 May 2021

German Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz orders the U-Boats to leave the Atlantic this week; the losses lately have just been too great for their patrols to continue there. There is active fighting in China, the Aleutians, and the Kuban, and there are special weapons tests in the skies over Germany.
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May 25, 2022

M1915 Villar Perosa

Filed under: History, Italy, Military, Weapons, WW1 — Tags: , , , , , , — Nicholas @ 02:00

Forgotten Weapons
Published 5 Aug 2016

http://www.patreon.com/ForgottenWeapons

The Villar Perosa is one of the first small machine guns developed and used by a military force. It was designed in Italy and introduced in 1915 as an aircraft weapon, to be used in a flexible mount by an airplane’s observer. The gun consists of two independent firing actions mounted together. Each fires from an open bolt as a rate of 1200-1500 rounds/minute, feeding from a 25 round magazine of 9mm Glisenti cartridges. This allowed the maximum possible volume of fire in an aerial combat situation, where in 1915 ballistic power was not particularly important.

As aircraft armaments improved and synchronized, belt-fed machine guns became practical, the Villar Perosa was quickly made obsolete in aerial use. The Italian military experimented with several applications of the weapon in ground combat, including slings and belt fittings for walking fire, tripods, mounts with integral armor shields, and bicycle mounts. None of these proved particularly successful, as the elements that made the gun well adapted to early aerial use (high rate of fire with a small cartridge) made it relatively ineffective for infantry use.

Ultimately, the best use of the Villar Perosa was to break them up and convert the actions into shoulder-fired submachine guns. Designs to do this were developed by both the Beretta company and Villar Perosa themselves, and in 1918 these guns entered service in the same approximate period as the first German MP-18 submachine guns. Because of this recycling, intact M1915 Villar Perosa guns are quite rare today.

May 22, 2022

Axis Prisoners Face French Wrath – WW2 – 195 – May 21 1943

Filed under: Africa, Britain, France, Germany, History, Italy, Military, Russia, USA, WW2 — Tags: , , , — Nicholas @ 16:00

World War Two
Published 21 May 2022

The Allies have won the battle for Africa, but now they have nearly 250,000 POWs to care for, and do not have the facilities to do so. The Trident Conference continues in Washington to try and decide the direction of the Allied war effort, but they launch the Dambuster Raids this week in Germany to try and cripple German water power — and thus, industry — with a new type of bomb.
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May 16, 2022

Heaviest Air Raid in Human History – WAH 060 – May 15, 1943

World War Two
Published 15 May 2022

As the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising is being quashed, there are renewed Japanese atrocities in China, and the RAF sets a world record by bombing German civilians.
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May 15, 2022

The End of the War in Africa – WW2 – 194 – May 14, 1943

World War Two
Published 14 May 2022

With the end of the Tunisian Campaign, the Allies have won the war for the African Continent. What next? They meet at the Trident Conference in Washington DC to try and figure that out. Meanwhile, the fight in the field continues — in Burma, the Aleutians, China, and the Kuban.
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Tank Chat #147 M14/41 | The Tank Museum

Filed under: Africa, History, Italy, Military, Weapons, WW2 — Tags: , , , , — Nicholas @ 02:00

The Tank Museum
Published 4 Feb 2022

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