Quotulatiousness

November 23, 2021

Conquering the Arctic: HMCS Labrador and her air wing, the Piasecki HUP-3 Retriever and Bell HTL-4

Filed under: Cancon, History, Military — Tags: , , , , , , , — Nicholas @ 04:00

Polyus Studios
Published 10 Nov 2021

Support me on Patreon – https://www.patreon.com/polyusstudios

In 1954 the Canadian military deployed its first and only icebreaker. With it they would help to secure sovereignty over the Arctic and map the fabled Northwest passage. It was the first deep-draught ship to transit the Northwest Passage and the second vessel ever to accomplish the feat in one season.

HMCS Labrador‘s contributions to opening up sea navigation in Canada’s Arctic were monumental. In four years of operating in dangerous and uncharted waters she never ran aground or was seriously damaged in any way. She explored and charted thousands of kilometres of coastline in some of the least hospitable places in the world. Its faithful helicopters pushed the limits of what was possible with a ship at sea.

While almost forgotten today, HMCS Labrador and her Peasecki HUP-3, and Bell HTL-4 helicopters helped to shape Canadian sovereignty to this day.

0:00 Introduction
0:31 Quest to secure Canadian arctic sovereignty
3:05 HMCS Labrador is built to assert sovereignty over the Arctic
5:19 Bell HTL-4
5:58 Piasecki HUP-3 Retriever
7:12 Deployment history
12:59 HMCS Labrador retired from RCN
13:57 Retirement of HUPs and other uses
14:51 Retirement of HLTs, and other uses
15:17 Conclusion

Music:
Denmark – Portland Cello Project

Research Sources:

Footage Sources:
BOLD JOURNEY ROYAL CANADIAN NAVY LABRADOR THROUGH NW PASSAGE – https://youtu.be/B7wOv5s0-F4

#Arctic #CanadianAerospace #PolyusStudios

Canadian Army Newsreel – Baby Flat-Tops Protect Convoys

Filed under: Britain, Cancon, History, Military, WW2 — Tags: , , — Nicholas @ 02:00

canmildoc
Published 18 Nov 2012

Newsreels shot between 1940 and 1946 by the Canadian Army Film Unit for presentation to servicemen and women. A unique document of Canada’s role in the war on the front lines as well as on the home front.

Tags: Canadian Army Film Unit, Canadian Army, war, World War II, front lines, home front, servicemen, servicewomen, newsreel, military, WWII

November 22, 2021

Geiseric & The Kingdom of The Vandals

Filed under: Africa, Europe, History, Military — Tags: , , , , — Nicholas @ 04:00

History Time
Published 5 Sep 2017

A brief look at Geiseric and the Vandals

Further reading:-
Edward Gibbon, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
Walter Goffart, Barbarian & Romans
Peter Heather, The Fall of the Roman Empire
Andrew Merrills, The Vandals

Music:-
Morning Light – “Deep Thoughts” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1tXOL…
Peter Gundry – “Víðbláinn” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnCML…
Kevin MacLeod – “Ossuary 2: Turn” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6jZS…

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November 21, 2021

The Red Army Kicks Ass – Operation Uranus! – WW2 – 169 – November 20th, 1942

Filed under: Africa, Australia, Britain, France, Germany, History, Japan, Military, Pacific, Russia, USA, WW2 — Tags: , , , , , , , , , — Nicholas @ 04:00

World War Two
Published 20 Nov 2021

After months of stubborn defense the time has finally come for the Soviet counterstroke, but is it in time to save Stalingrad? And can the Allies reach Tunis and take all of North Africa before the Axis can reinforce?
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SA80 History: XL60 Series in 4.85mm

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

Forgotten Weapons
Published 10 May 2017

Armament Research Services (ARES) is a specialist technical intelligence consultancy, offering expertise and analysis to a range of government and non-government entities in the arms and munitions field. For detailed photos of the guns in this video, don’t miss the ARES companion blog post:

http://armamentresearch.com/british-e…

Once the basic configuration of the new British rifle was determined, the next step was to build a series of prototypes. The design that took form was basically a bullpup copy of the Armalite AR-18. The design team at Enfield were mostly senior draftsmen, with virtually no firearms experience among them. To make things worse, most of the design team was regularly rotated onto other projects, preventing them from developing any project experience on the rifle.

Several prototype batches were made (typically of a dozen guns each, both IWs and LSWs), all in the unique British 4.85x49mm cartridge, with a variety of different feature sets. Through the different patterns, configurations would change on the safety (push button vs lever) fire selector (push button vs lever), and magazine catch (straight-in side lever vs rock-in side lever vs rock-in rear paddle). At this time, plans still existed to make both left- and right-handed versions of the final gun, so prototypes of both were manufactured.

Because cost-cutting measures had not yet been forced on the project, these XL-60 series guns were generally reliable, at least in normal conditions. They are quite comfortable to fire, with a cartridge very similar to the 5.56mm NATO in practical terms. There is nothing particularly wrong with that cartridge, but it would be dropped when it lost NATO trials to the Belgian SS109 … but we will address that in the next episode of the SA80 history.

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November 19, 2021

Bismarck Gets Closer To German Unification – A New Spanish King I GLORY & DEFEAT

Filed under: Europe, France, Germany, History, Military — Tags: , , , , , , , — Nicholas @ 06:00

Real Time History
Published 18 Nov 2021

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While the Franco-Prussian War is continuing its messy guerilla phase, the German leaders are negotiating towards a united Germany. Hesse and Baden join the promptly renamed German Confederation — but Württemberg and Bavaria still want more concessions. Meanwhile the question of Spanish succession that started the war is solved in Madrid.

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Taylor Allen
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» OUR PODCAST
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» LITERATURE
Arand, Tobias: 1870/71. Der Deutsch-Französische Krieg erzählt in Einzelschicksalen. Hamburg 2018

Gouttman, Alain: La grande défaite. 1870-1871. Paris 2015

Koch, Roland : “Les canons à balles dans l’armée du Rhin en 1870” in Revue historique des armées, 255 (2009), p. 95-107.

» SOURCES
Braun, Lily (Hrsg): Kriegsbriefe aus den Jahren 1870/71 von Hans von Kretschman weiland General der Infanterie. Berlin 1911

Carr, Raymond: Spain 1808–1939. Oxford: At the Clarendon Press, 1975

Deuerlein, Ernst: Die Gründung des Deutschen Reichs 1870/71 in Augenzeugenberichten. Düsseldorf 1970

Goncourt, Edmond de: Journal des Goncourts. II.1. 1870-1871. Paris 1890

Kühnhauser, Florian: Kriegs-Erinnerungen eines Soldaten des königlich bayerischen Infanterie Leibregiments. Partenkirchen 1898

Lowndes, Emma: Récits de femmes pendant la guerre franco-prussienne (1870-1871). Paris, 2013.

Meisner, Heinrich Otto (Hrsg.): Kaiser Friedrich III. Das Kriegstagebuch von 1870/71. Berlin, Leipzig 1926

N.N: + Amadeus von Savoyen in: Neue Presse v. 19. Januar 1890. S. 2

N. N. (Hrsg.): Bismarcks Briefe an seine Gattin aus dem Kriege 1870/71. Stuttgart, Berlin 1903

Schikorsky, Isa (Hrsg.). “Wenn doch dies Elend ein Ende hätte”. Ein Briefwechsel aus dem Deutsch-Französischen Krieg 1870/71. Köln, Weimar, Wien 1999

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Maps: Battlefield Design
Research by: Cathérine Pfauth, Prof. Dr. Tobias Arand
Fact checking: Cathérine Pfauth, Prof. Dr. Tobias Arand

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Contains licensed material by getty images
All rights reserved – Real Time History GmbH 2021

The Allied 1942 Plan to Invade Europe – WW2 Special

Filed under: Africa, Britain, History, Military, USA, WW2 — Tags: , , , , — Nicholas @ 04:00

World War Two
Published 18 Nov 2021

The second front has been opened, and Allied forces are invading Vichy French Northwest Africa. But did you know that it could very well have been an invasion of Europe taking place right now instead? Let’s examine how this idea came about, and why it never worked out.
(more…)

“We don’t even fund our search-and-rescue units properly. That’s the least controversial thing the military does.”

Filed under: Cancon, Environment, Military — Tags: , , , , — Nicholas @ 03:00

In The Line, Matt Gurney discusses the situation of the Canadian Armed Forces as domestic demands escalate (especially in the Vancouver area this week), and the already under-staffed units strain to meet Canadians’ needs:

“A job well done by @RCAF_ARC’s 442 Transport & Rescue Squadron. Using 3 CH149 helicopters and supported by a CC115 Buffalo, the Sqn evacuated 311 people, 26 Dogs and a Cat to safety in Agassiz after being trapped by landslides on roads in BC.
RCAF Operations, Nov 16, 2021 (https://twitter.com/RCAFOperations/status/1460664604648947721)”

If you’ve heard of General Wayne Eyre, Canadian Army, it’s probably because he’s currently the acting chief of the defence staff — that’s the top officer in the Canadian Armed Forces, in command of the army, navy and air force. He got the job after the last CDS got entangled in the sexual misconduct scandal now roiling the military. Gen. Erye stands a pretty good chance of being the next CDS on a full-time basis, assuming the government ever gets around to making a decision on that front. Given the attention the Liberals usually give the military, this is not a guarantee.

If you’d heard of Gen. Eyre before all the weirdness alluded to above, there’s a decent chance it’s because of a pretty stark warning he sounded not long ago. Interviewed by the Canadian Press, the general, then head of the army, warned that the military was simply too small to do all that was being asked of it. Specifically, he warned that increasingly frequent domestic deployments were interfering with the military’s ability to conduct large-scale, multi-unit exercises. In typical Canadian fashion, the general reached for a hockey metaphor to describe why such large exercises are essential, and told the CP, “It’s like a hockey team that would never train, never play on the ice together, and then all of a sudden being thrown into an NHL game and be expected to win.”

There are other concerns with increasing domestic deployments, which the CP noted were becoming larger as well as more frequent in line with worsening natural disasters. They exhaust personnel and wear out equipment. But the point was made — the general was telling Canadians that our world was changing, and our military was struggling to keep up. Military guys usually aren’t verbose or particularly expressive. The fact that Gen. Eyre gave this interview at all was notable on its own.

The interview was published on Jan. 20, 2020, by the way, on a day when hundreds of troops were helping Newfoundlanders dig out after a nasty winter storm. Anyone recall what else was getting underway back in early 2020?

As I write this column, I’m watching a press conference from British Columbia government officials, addressing the massive damage done by recent floods and landslides. It’s an unusually emotional press conference. That’s not a criticism, but simply an observation from a journalist who’s watched more of these than he can remember over the years. The ministers are clearly possessed by the enormity of this problem; the minister of transportation aptly described the province’s transportation network as “crippled.” Major highways and railways are either underwater or blocked by debris. Some others seem to have been partially destroyed, the ground beneath them simply gone. Many communities in B.C. are now entirely cut off from the outside world or have, at best, extremely limited access; helicopters are hauling supplies in and stranded people out. The city of Vancouver, Canada’s third largest, is essentially detached from the rest of the country unless one wants to take a huge detour through the United States, which only reopened its land border to Canadians a few days ago.

The economic toll of cutting off the Port of Vancouver from the rest of the country, at a time when supply chain disruptions are already biting hard, is going to be gigantic. Economist Trevor Tombe did some quick math and estimated it at over $2 billion a week in trade between B.C. and the rest of the country that’s just been wiped off the national GDP, not to mention the direct costs of actually fixing the damaged infrastructure, of repairing property damaged or destroyed by the tragedy and, sadly, and the massive losses to farmers in property and livestock, much of which has drowned. This is a big, big economic hit to Canada.

November 18, 2021

When artillery became powerful enough to literally destroy castles

Filed under: Britain, France, History, Military, Weapons — Tags: , , , — Nicholas @ 03:00

In Quillette, Paul Lockhart recounts one of the early artillery successes in European siege warfare, the reduction of the English-held fortifications at Odruik:

Portrtait of Philip the Bold (Philip II, Duke of Burgundy), 1342-1404.
Unknown painter of the Flemish School via Wikimedia Commons.

Philip the Bold, duke of Burgundy, was a warrior’s warrior. Hawk-nosed, ambitious, and brash, Philip had been a soldier since childhood. He was still a smooth-faced boy of 14 when he fought alongside his father, King John II of France, in the battle of Poitiers in 1356. Like King John, he was taken prisoner by the English when Edward, the Black Prince of Wales, vanquished the French on the field at Poitiers. A decade later, the duke, always looking for an advantage over the Englishmen who had invaded his country, embraced a novel technology: gunpowder.

This mysterious Asian invention had been known in Europe for more than a century, and for nearly that long European armies had used it as a weapon of war — or, more precisely, as the substance that made another recent innovation, the cannon, work. So far, gunpowder artillery had not shown great promise. Cannon had been used as siege engines in European warfare at least as early as the 1320s. But for all the trouble and effort they demanded, they had not proven themselves to be much more effective than conventional siege weapons such as catapults and trebuchets, machines that used mechanical energy to hurl projectiles at castle walls. Certainly, the early cannon did not appear to be effective enough to justify their cost, which was substantial.

But Philip the Bold saw promise in the new weapons, especially the huge siege guns that came to be known as bombards, and in 1369 he began to invest heavily in them. France and England were then locked in the on-again, off-again series of dynastic conflicts known today as the Hundred Years’ War (1337–1453). In 1377, when Duke Philip’s brother and sovereign, King Charles V of France, ordered him to attack the English in the Calais region, the duke answered the call, bringing with him more than 100 new cannon, including one monster of a gun that fired a stone cannonball weighing some 450 livres (around 485 pounds).

One of the duke’s intended targets was the English-held castle at Odruik, built with stout masonry walls and surrounded by a thick layer of outworks. Odruik would be a tough nut to crack. Its defenders seemed to think so, too, and were confident that they could hold out against Duke Philip’s army, even as the duke’s men began to put their huge siege cannon into position in full view of the castle walls.

The first few shots from Philip’s siege-battery hammered Odruik’s outer walls into dust. Soon, the stone cannonballs were sailing through the walls as if they weren’t there; soon after that, the outer walls actually weren’t there. After Philip’s guns had fired a grand total of about 200 rounds, much of Odruik’s once-proud walls lay in ruin, and before the duke could send his men through the breach and into the castle, Odruik’s defenders capitulated.

Philip the Bold’s triumph at Odruik in 1377 was a harbinger of things to come, a revealer of unsettling truths. Gunpowder artillery had been used in sieges before, but Odruik was its first overwhelming and clear-cut victory over a castle. The siege of Odruik demonstrated that — when the guns were big enough, and when there were enough of them — cannon were more powerful than any siege engine yet invented, and could knock down castles in a matter of hours. What happened at Odruik would be repeated over and over again at castles throughout continental Europe and the British Isles through the remainder of the Middle Ages and beyond.

It was one of the accepted “rules” of war that a besieged town that surrendered before the beseiging army conducted an infantry assault would be spared from sack … the theory being that once the fortifications had been overcome, the final outcome was not in doubt and the defenders lost no honour from the surrender. You can certainly understand why the citizens of the defended town would be eager to avoid the plunder and rapine of an assaulting army once the walls were breached.

All the Guns on a T-62 Tank (with Nicholas Moran, the Chieftain)

Filed under: History, Middle East, Military, Russia, Weapons — Tags: , , , , , , , , — Nicholas @ 02:00

Forgotten Weapons
Published 5 Aug 2021

Try out World of Tanks with a special bonus tank using this link!

https://tanks.ly/3dqGoBL

Today Nicholas Moran (the Chieftain) and I are at Battlefield Vegas courtesy of Wargaming.net, to show you around a Soviet T-62 and all its various armaments. This particular T-62 was built in 1971 or 1972 and initially sold to Syria. It saw combat in the Valley of Tears in 1973, but survived as was eventually transferred to Lebanese ownership. From there is was captured by Israel and eventually imported into the United States via the UK. The T-62 was the last of the “simple” WW2-style Soviet tanks, and equipped with an extremely effective 115mm smoothbore main gun. In addition to that cannon, we will discuss and shoot the coaxial PKT machine gun and the loader’s antiaircraft DShKM heavy machine gun.

If you enjoy this video, check out World of Tanks – and maybe they will send Nicholas and I back again to do the same thing yet again on a third tank!

For videos on the detail of tanks like this one, check out The Chieftain:
https://www.youtube.com/user/WorldOfT…
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCp4j…

0:00:00 – Introduction
0:06:02 – Coaxial PKT
0:13:12 – Antiaircraft DShKM
0:20:25 – 115mm Main Gun
0:28:43 – Firing the main gun

Contact:
Forgotten Weapons
6281 N. Oracle 36270
Tucson, AZ 85740

November 17, 2021

The Real History Behind The Forgotten Battle | Battle of Walcheren 1944

Filed under: Britain, Cancon, Europe, Germany, History, Military, WW2 — Tags: , , , , , , — Nicholas @ 06:00

History With Hilbert
Published 10 Nov 2021

The Forgotten Battle is a Dutch/Belgian Netflix war film set during the Battle of Walcheren in 1944, part of the Liberation of the Netherlands from German control following the successful D-Day landings of the Allies. In this video I look at the history of the Battle of the Scheldt and in particular the assault on Walcheren, as well as some of the other historical aspects covered by the film such as Dutchmen who served in the Waffen SS on the Eastern Front and the Dutch Resistance (De Ondergrondse) who fought against the German occupiers and aided the Allies in their push into the Netherlands.

@History Hustle’s excellent videos on Dutch Waffen SS units:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQlF0…

Go Fund My Windmills (Patreon):
https://www.patreon.com/HistorywithHi…

Join in the Banter on Twitter:
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0:00 – Intro
3:00 – Walcheren Remains In German Hands
4:14 – The Battle of Walcheren Causeway
6:18 – Operation Infatuate I & II
8:00 – Walcheren Is Captured
8:47 – Dutchmen Serving in the SS
10:18 – The Dutch Resistance In World War 2
13:04 – Outro

Send me an email if you’d be interested in doing a collaboration! historywithhilbert@gmail.com

#WW2 #Netherlands #Netflix

Child Soldier Camps, Captured Crewmen, and Chaotic Air Forces – WW2 – OOTF 025

Filed under: Europe, Germany, History, Military, Russia, WW2 — Tags: , , , , , — Nicholas @ 04:00

World War Two
Published 16 Nov 2021

How did the “Nazi pirates” treat their captured crewmen? Why didn’t the Soviets just bomb the motionless German armies stuck in a traffic jam? And how did the Nazi government convince parents to allow their children to go to “evacuation” camps? Find out the answers in this latest edition of Out of the Foxholes!
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Tank Chats #132 | Morris Light Reconnaissance Car | The Tank Museum

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

The Tank Museum
Published 23 Jul 2021

David Fletcher is back with another Tank Chat discussing the Morris Light Reconnaissance Car.
(more…)

November 15, 2021

Fighting Nazis with Radios and Funerals – WAH 046 – November 1942, Pt. 1

Filed under: Europe, France, Germany, History, Japan, Military, WW2 — Tags: , , , , , — Nicholas @ 04:00

World War Two
Published 14 Nov 2021

As the Winter of 1942/43 is beginning, the German Nazis are under more and more pressure, both on the frontlines and in the occupation zones.
(more…)

November 14, 2021

Axis and Allies Both Invade France – WW2 – 168 – November 13, 1942

Filed under: Africa, Australia, Britain, France, Germany, History, Italy, Japan, Military, Pacific, Russia, USA, WW2 — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , — Nicholas @ 04:00

World War Two
Published 13 Nov 2021

Operation Torch goes off this week, the Allied invasion of French Northwest Africa, but this prompts the Germans to invade Vichy France. This is the Allies’ first combined major offensive in the Western Hemisphere. The Germans launch another offensive of their own this week, though — Operation Hubertus in Stalingrad. And in the South Pacific, a major naval battle begins off Guadalcanal.
(more…)

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