One of the lessons learned by the British military in the aftermath of the Boer War was that modern Mauser rifles were superior to their Lee-action rifles and carbines. In response, British ordnance began experimenting with a Mauser-pattern rifle, ultimately finalized as the Pattern 1913. This rifle would also leave behind the obsolescent .303 rimmed cartridge, in favor of a new rimless .276 Enfield round.
The Pattern 13 rifle itself was excellent — it balanced and handled well, it had very good sights, and a smooth and fast bolt throw. However, the .276 Enfield cartridge was really more potent than it needed to be, and caused problems. The cartridge threw a 165 grain bullet at just under 2800fps, pretty close to the ballistics of today’s 7mm Remington Magnum. Loaded with Cordite propellent, this led to excessive barrel wear and unpleasant recoil, along with some parts breakage. However, as final testing was being done in the first half of 1914, the Great War broke out.
At this point, plans for using a new cartridge were abandoned. The rifle itself was redesigned in the .303 cartridge, to be manufactured in large numbers by American firms under contract. It would also be refitted for the .30-06 cartridge and used in large numbers by the American armed forces as the M1917 Enfield rifle. According to General Julian Hatcher (who ought to know), it was the best rifle of the First World War.
The planning for Barbarossa, the German invasion of the Soviet Union, took nearly a year and went through a variety of scenarios. The basic plan was finalized in December 1940, and that month General Friedrich Paulus ran a series of war games to test its feasibility. Today we’ll look at his conclusions.
Written and Hosted by: Indy Neidell
Director: Astrid Deinhard
Producers: Astrid Deinhard and Spartacus Olsson
Executive Producers: Astrid Deinhard, Indy Neidell, Spartacus Olsson, Bodo Rittenauer
Creative Producer: Joram Appel
Post-Production Director: Wieke Kapteijns
Research by: Indy Neidell
Edited by: Mikołaj Cackowski
Sound design: Marek Kamiński
Map animations: Mikołaj Cackowski, Eastory (https://www.youtube.com/c/eastory)
Sources:
Bundesarchiv
Narodowe Archiwum Cyfrowe
SA Kuva
from the Noun Project: Target by RITASYA, soldier by Wonmo Kang
Soundtracks from the Epidemic Sound:
Reynard Seidel – “Deflection”
Johannes Bornlof – “The Inspector 4”
Phoenix Tail – “At the Front”
Johannes Bornlof – “Deviation In Time”
Fabien Tell – “Last Point of Safe Return”
Johan Hynynen -” Dark Beginning”
Johannes Bornlof – “Death and Glory 3”
Rannar Sillard – “March Of The Brave 4”
Sorry about the delay I’ve been without internet while I’ve moved apartment. And thanks for the 9,000 subs
Thanks to Xios, Alan Haskayne, Lachlan Lindenmayer, William Crabb, Derpvic, Seth Reeves and all my other Patrons. If you want to help out – https://www.patreon.com/Jabzy?ty=h
Please let me know if I’ve forgot to mention you, I’m a little disorganized without internet.
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For unlimited access to the world’s top documentaries and nonfiction series go to http://go.thoughtleaders.io/166892020… and use the promo code ‘historigraph‘ to get 30 days free access.
China has been quickly adding capabilities and hulls to the PLAN, but a relatively recent change to how larger naval ship command is structured may be a throwback to Soviet Union practices:
China’s Type 001A aircraft carrier shortly after launch, 17 August 2017. Photo via Wikimedia Commons
When dealing with Chinese navy or coast guard ships, foreign naval commanders have learned to take into account the dual command structure of Chinese crews. In effect, Chinese warships except for smaller (less than 2,000 tons) ones, have dual commanders and a naval command system that is more premeditated and slower to respond to unexpected conditions.
This comes as a surprise to many Western naval officers. Although the Chinese military has achieved many visible signs of modernizing, like new weapons, equipment, uniforms, tactics and officer training, it is still having problems in several key areas. When it comes to leadership there are problems with the political officers.
The Chinese long ago borrowed the concept of the political officer (“Zampolit“) from the Soviet Union. The political officer represents the Communist Party and has the authority to overrule any order a military commander gives. In reality, the political officer usually acts as a combined morale and special events officer. The political officers are primarily responsible for preventing anything happening in their unit that would embarrass the party. For naval zampolits that meant watching out for signs of mutiny or sailors planning to seek asylum in a foreign port.
Unlike the Russian naval zampolit, the Chinese counterpart, called a political commissar is considered the equal of the regular naval commander and his superior when it comes to a “special mission”, like deliberately harassing foreign warships or opening fire on anyone. The political commissar is the same rank as the ship captain and can overrule the ship commander at any time and in any situation. It was not always that way.
An important change took place in 2018 when naval political commissars were given equal authority with the captain as “mission commander” and is expected to replace the captain if the captain is disabled by injury or sickness. The normal second-in-command (the XO or executive officer) becomes the XO for the political commissar and the captain and third, not second, in command. The practical problem with this is that the captain and XO have spent their entire careers (fifteen or more years) learning how to run a ship and supervise the crew. In contrast, the political commissar learned enough tech stuff to be more annoying. The political commissar was a professional busybody, scold and snitch. The political commissar can end the career of the captain, XO or any other officer by simply making a series of uncomplimentary reports.
The 2018 change was part of a program that began in 2016 throughout the military as the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) sought to improve its control over the military. In the navy that meant the political commissar had the ultimate responsibility for achieving goals assigned to a ship. The captain is not the true commander of the ship in the Western sense. He is there to see that technical details are well taken care of and that would include taking change during very bad weather or some kind of technical (fire, explosion) problem aboard ship. The political commissar is expected to personally undertake particularly dangerous leadership missions, although only those he is qualified to deal with. That means political commissars have led boarding parties in dangerous situations but not entrusted with command during damage control situations.
The full impact of the 2016-18 “reforms” to improve CCP control of the military are still working themselves out in the navy. Western, especially American, captains are being warned that their Chinese counterparts will probably not react as quickly to an emergency or unexpected situation that that should be taken into account, or taken advantage of.
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What did Spanish Republicans do during the Second World War? How would the Axis have divided Africa? And did Hitler plan to keep Mussolini around after the war? Find out as Indy and the Chair of Infinite Knowledge answer three more intriguing questions in this episode of Out of the Foxholes!
Hosted by: Indy Neidell
Written by: Rune Væver Hartvig
Director: Astrid Deinhard
Producers: Astrid Deinhard and Spartacus Olsson
Executive Producers: Astrid Deinhard, Indy Neidell, Spartacus Olsson, Bodo Rittenauer
Creative Producer: Joram Appel
Post-Production Director: Wieke Kapteijns
Research by: Rune Væver Hartvig
Edited by: Karolina Dołęga
Sound design: Marek Kamiński
Map animations: Karolina Dołęga
Visual Sources:
Bundesarchiv
US Holocaust Memorial Museums
Library of Congress Geography and Map Division
Nasjonalbiblioteket from Norway
Icons from The Noun Project by: Milinda Courey, Eucalyp, Luis Prado, Gan Khoon Lay, DonBLC, Pavel N and Rigo Peter
Music:
“Deviation In Time” – Johannes Bornlof
“Superior” – Silver Maple
“Underlying Truth” – Howard Harper-Barnes
The L85A1 (part of the SA80 small arms family) was adopted by the British military in 1985 as a new generation of small arms to replace the L1A1 FAL (one quick note, where “A1” indicates a revision in American designations, it is simply the first iteration in British ones — there was no “L85”). As a bullpup rifle, the L85A1 was intended to replace both the FAL and Sterling SMG, similar to the French replacing the MAS 49/56 and MAT 49 with the FAMAS.
Unfortunately, the L85A1 had massive problems of both reliability and durability. They were kept pretty much hidden until Desert Storm, when it became unavoidably clear that the weapon was seriously flawed. The UK government denied the problems for several years, until finally contracting with H&K (then owned by Royal Ordnance) to redesign and rebuild the rifles. The result, after changes to virtually every part of the rifle, was the L85A2 — a much better rifle that will be tainted with its predecessor’s reputation regardless.
Mechanically, the L85A1 and A2 are basically copies of the Armalite AR-180, with a multi-lug rotating bolt and a short stroke gas piston. It feeds from STANAG magazines, and it universally fitted with the heavy but rugged SUSAT optical sight.
Thanks to the Institute of Military Technology for allowing me to have access to this rifle (which is extremely rare in the US) and bring it to you! Check them out at:
On Sunday, 28 October, 1962 the Cuban Missile Crisis comes to an end to end all things, and almost everything. Only one young man, Vasili Arkhipov will stand between humanity and nuclear armageddon.
A TimeGhost chronological documentary produced by OnLion Entertainment GmbH.
From the comments:
TimeGhost History
59 minutes ago (edited)
When we recorded this the first time, we didn’t have the chance to release these day by day. It took us almost half a year from when we had the idea until the last episode came out. We still felt that it was a revelation to see it chronologically. For me as writer it was in any case a deep dive into a story that I thought I knew, but rediscovered by reassembling the source documents in the exact order things happened. I learnt new aspects and gained an incredibly more detailed understanding of both the events and the people involved. But today, on Sunday July 19, 2020 it is the fourteenth day that both Indy, Astrid and I watch the remade episodes completed as they are released every day, I haven’t even watched this last episode yet, and even though I know exactly what is going to happen, I’m excited. This is crazy, crazy stuff.
And now, the three of us are sitting in the garden in Bavaria preparing to shoot the next months shows. And when we look back and talk about it it we’re all so glad that we got the chance to make this even better. Astrid could go full out on the set, and do even more with Indy’s costume. We had fun adding drama with the light. Indy make the delivery even better by changing the tenses to the present and altering the script slightly so that it felt more immediate. But perhaps more than anything, we could get more, better archive, get our editors added touch, and rethink the music score so that it was more consistent and period appropriate.
We also want to take this moment to thank:
The TimeGhost Army – it is your membership that enabled us to improve to this level from 2017 until now – you are the souls of TimeGhost.
Wieke, who directed the post-production and put his personal flair into it – especially grateful for the choice of music.
Daniel and Karolina who did a fantastic job on the editing.
All of our colorizers that made the portraits come alive in technicolor splendor (OK, OK… RGB splendor, but same, same)
Marek who sound engineered and made it sound so much better than what I managed in the first round.
Joram who made sure that we had all the publishing in order so that it worked day by day.
And all of the rest of the TimeGhost team that as usual had their hands full with this and all the mad stuff we do.
For Astrid, Indy and myself,
I’m Spartacus.
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As the German armed forces stretch further and further into the USSR, the Wehrmacht command doesn’t seem to agree where they are really going. In the Middle East, the Fascist French forces are delivered a hard blow as the Allied Syrian campaign comes to an end.
On October 27, 1962 a deal to resolve the Cuban Missile Crisis is ever so close, but then almost everything that can go wrong, goes wrong. The world is left teetering on the brink, and someone has to die.
A TimeGhost chronological documentary produced by OnLion Entertainment GmbH.
From the comments:
TimeGhost History
26 minutes ago
Just when everything looks OK again, the house of cards that the USSR and USA have built starts to crumble. To us in 2020 that should serve to remind us that words matter. Because that’s all it was to begin with — words like “give it to the Reds!” and “down with the Bourgeoisie!” But words easily become bluster, and bluster easily becomes action, and action is always hard to control.
Remembering the past so that we can learn from it, without ideological bias, without demagoguery, and proposing oversimplified solutions to complex problems. That is our mission here at TimeGhost Become a part of that effort by joining the TimeGhost Army at https://www.patreon.com/TimeGhostHistory or https://timeghost.tv
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From the 14th to the 17th century, the star fortress became ever more important for siege warfare. Engineers and tacticians developed fortresses that were more elaborate and more solid than ever before. As a result, siege warfare reached an immense level of complexity. Throughout the middle ages, high and relatively thin walls were enough protection against storming ladders, siege equipment and projectiles.
But since the 14th century ever more effective firearms and artillery challenged the defensive potential of fortresses. A to and fro of military innovations began – improved fortifications countered improved gunpowder weapons and vice versa. This went on until the end of the 16th century, when according to historian Stephan Hoppe, “a successful solution to all important issues of defense had been found”. One famous type of stronghold that was crucial to this evolution was the trace italienne better known as the star fortress. It was to be found quickly all over Europe, though in a variety of forms. Historian John A. Lynn states that at the same time the number of fortified sites increased drastically, so that central European warfare shifted away from open field battles and finally revolved above all around sieges.
Sources:
Hoppe, S., s.v. “Festungsbau”, in: Enzyklopädie der Neuzeit.
Lynn, J. A., “States in Conflict 1661-1763”, in: Parker, G. (Ed.), The Cambridge History of Warfare, Cambridge 2005.
Lynn, J. A., “The trace itallienne and the Growth of Armies”, in: Rogers, C. J. (Ed.), The Military Revolution Debate. Readings on the Military Transformation of Early Modern Europe, Boulder / San Francisco / Oxford 1995.
Ortenburg, G., Waffe und Waffengebrauch im Zeitalter der Landsknechte (Heerwesen der Neuzeit, Abt. 1, Bd. 1) Koblenz 1984.
Parker, G., “The Limits to Revolutions in Military Affairs: Maurice of Nassau, the Battle of Nieuwpoort (1600), and the Legacy”, in The Journal of Military History, 71;2, 2007; S. 331 – 372.
Rogers, C.J. / Tallet F. (editors), European Warfare, 1350–1750, 2010.
Van Nimwegen, O., The Dutch Army and the Military Revolutions, 1588-1688.
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On 26 October 1962, US President John F Kennedy at first continues to plan an invasion of Cuba, but while the politicians make new plans, their previous military plans take on a life of their own
Music:
“Try and Catch Us Now” – David Celeste
“Cold Eyes” – Elliot Holmes.mp3
“Under the Dome” – Philip Ayers
“Mexican Standoff” – Walt Adams
“Car Chase in Virginia” – White Bones
“When They Fell” – Wendel Scherer
“Moving to Disturbia” – Experia
“Kid Me Not” – Elliot Holmes
“From the Depths” – Walt Adams
“Nightclub Standoff” – Elliot Holmes
“Potential Redemption” – Max Anson
August 1944. After nearly 5 years of suffering and oppression at the hands of the Nazis, the Polish resistance in Warsaw was ready to rise up against the German occupation. With the Red Army approaching towards the Vistula from the east, the insurgents planned to take over much of the Polish capital and hold it until help from their Allies arrived. In the early morning hours of August 1, groups of armed young men broke the curfew and stormed official buildings and German warehouses. But as insurgents fought for their lives and future, the outside world however, remained eerily quiet to their pleas for help.
Hosted by: Indy Neidell
Written by: Markus Linke and Indy Neidell
Directed by: Astrid Deinhard and Wieke Kapteijns
Produced by: Pär Sundström, Astrid Deinhard and Spartacus Olsson
Creative Producer: Joram Appel
Community Manager: Maria Kyhle
Executive Producers: Pär Sundström, Joakim Broden, Tomas Sunmo, Indy Neidell, Astrid Deinhard, and Spartacus Olsson
Post-Production Director: Wieke Kapteijns
Edited by: Iryna Dulka
Sound Editing by: Marek Kaminski
On October 25, 1962 while the US Navy are looking for something to do in the Caribbean, US Ambassador to the UN Adlai Stevenson is about to face off with USSR Ambassador to the UN, Valerian Zorin in a historic showdown at the United Nations headquarters in New York.
The Accuracy International Precision Marksman rifle was the winner of the British MoD’s competition to replace the L42A1 as the standard British sniper rifle, and was accordingly adopted as the L96A1. It was the vanguard of the modern sniper rifle, with a highly modular chassis design, and it revolutionized British sniping performance. Thanks to Steve Houghton, was have access today to one of a tiny number of original L96A1 rifles in private hands. If you are interested in learning more, I highly recommend checking out Steve’s newly released book, The British Sniper: A Century of Evolution. It can be found at:
