Forgotten Weapons
Published 21 Apr 2025After World War One, there was a lot of tinkering with the BAR by the US military. It was recognized as being a very good platform, but the original M1918 configuration left a lot to be desired. It was deemed too heavy to use effectively from the shoulder, but also not really well suited to sustained fire. In an effort to optimize it for use as a dynamic support weapon by a small squad, the Infantry & Cavalry Board requested a model with a heavier barrel and lightweight bipod in 1920. Six experimental examples were made form existing BARs, and the design was formalized two years later as the Model 1922.
This pattern of BAR has a heavy finned barrel to give it more sustained fire capacity and a folding bipod and rear monopod for more accurate use prone. The Board also experimented with larger magazines, and ended up recommending a 30-round size — although this was never put into production. In total, 500 of the Model 1922 guns were made, all converted from existing BARs. Experimentation continued slowly, and eventually in 1937 a lighter pattern was adopted as the M1918A1. The Model 1922 was formally declared obsolete in April 1941, and virtually all of them were rebuilt to the new M1918A2 pattern for use in World War Two. Surviving examples like this one are extremely rare — this is the only known example in private hands.
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August 27, 2025
M1922 BAR Cavalry Light Machine Gun
August 26, 2025
When Jagdpanther Fought Churchill
The Tank Museum
Published 18 Apr 2025Jagdpanther vs Churchill. Tank destroyer vs tank. New technology vs proven veteran. Who will emerge victorious?
It’s 6pm on 30th July 1944. Outnumbered 6 to 1, a platoon of 3 German Jagdpanthers is about to go into action for the first time. Facing them will be a squadron of 18 British Churchill tanks. Within 5 minutes, 11 tanks will be knocked out.
The Jagdpanther is the latest German armoured vehicle to arrive in Normandy. With a devastating gun, and a heavily armoured superstructure, this tank hunter is quick, reliable and deadly.
The Churchill has been fighting with Allied armies in North Africa, Italy and on the Eastern Front. The early marks struggled with a range of issues, but by 1944 it is an essential part of the British and Canadian tank force.
It’s during Operation Bluecoat where these two machines would come face-to-face for the very first time. The Churchills of S Squadron, 3rd Battalion, Scots Guards, have captured Hill 226 – a strategically important area to the south of Caumont. They are preparing for a German counterattack, but their infantry is yet to arrive – leaving their left flank dangerously exposed. And a platoon of Jagdpanthers is ready to take full advantage of their vulnerable state …
00:00 | Introduction
00:35 | The Jagdpanther
02:38 | The Churchill
05:43 | Operation Bluecoat
07:46 | A Turkey Shoot?
12:25 | Aftermath
17:40 | Roll of Honour
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August 25, 2025
Vietnam 1950: Giáp Crushes France on Route Coloniale 4 – W2W 41
TimeGhost History
Published 24 Aug 2025Viet Minh forces shift to the offensive, attacking French troops up and down the country. As guerilla war reigns in the southern half of Vietnam, more organised attacks begin in the north up near Hanoi. France cycles through multiple new commanders, trying to stem the tide. But do they truly have a hope of turning this around? Or are they just delaying the inevitable?
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The Sharpest Pen of the Edwardian Age | Who Was Saki?
Vault of Lost Tales
Published 5 Apr 2025Delve into the razor-sharp world of Saki in this engaging author talk exploring his chillingly clever short story, “The Open Window”. Discover the man behind the pen name — H.H. Munro — and uncover how his biting satire, Edwardian upbringing, and darkly humorous worldview shaped this unforgettable tale. Perfect for fans of classic literature, Oscar Wilde-style wit, and unsettling plot twists, this literary deep dive offers historical context, thematic insights, and just enough spookiness to keep you on edge. Whether you’re a student, a short story lover, or just curious about the mind that created one of literature’s most deviously satisfying endings, this talk is your open invitation.
“Saki”, the wickedly sharp pen name of Hector Hugh Munro, masked a man whose wit could slice through Edwardian society like a silver butter knife through scandal.
Born in 1870 in British Burma and raised in England, Munro brought an acerbic wit to the drawing rooms of empire, crafting tales that balanced dry humor, social critique, and sudden, often shocking twists. Writing under the name “Saki”, he produced short stories that mocked the pretensions of the upper class, exposed the darkness beneath genteel facades, and made readers laugh — sometimes uncomfortably. His life, marked by loss, repressed identity, and service in World War I, ended tragically in 1916 on the battlefield, but his stories continue to delight and disturb to this day.
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August 24, 2025
This is Westland Helicopters (1960s)
British Helicopters History
Published 17 Jan 2020Major rationalisation of the UK aircraft industry occurred during the 1960s. With the acquisition of Bristol Helicopters, Fairey Aviation and Saunders-Roe, Westland Helicopters transformed itself into Britain’s only helicopter maker with plants at Yeovil, Weston-super-Mare, Eastleigh, and Hayes, producing helicopters for all roles.
August 23, 2025
T-55: 70 Years Old. Still in Service
The Tank Museum
Published 22 Aug 2025No tank in history has been produced in the quantities that the T-55 and its relatives have. Some sources suggest as many as 100,000 have been built since 1946, this tank is still seeing service across the globe. So how come this 80-year-old tank is still in service in 2025?
When looking at its predecessor, the T-34, the move to the T-55 looks like a massive leap in design. But there is a clear evolutionary progression – there is just a missing link. The T-44 laid the groundwork for future Soviet tank design – pioneering torsion bar suspension and a transverse engine.
It was soon decided that the T-44 would require a new 100mm gun to replace the 85mm. This new model would be called the T-54. While NATO classes both the T-54 and 55 as the same vehicle, the T-55 is a substantially better tank. A comprehensive series of upgrades made this an effective force on the battlefield.The T-55 would prove popular with forces around the world. It would even go head-to-head against itself in the Iran-Iraq War of the 1980s. Eventually the T-55 would become outdated as NATO technology became more and more advanced. But it is still in service in the conflict in Ukraine – why?
The Russian army, despite the stereotype of having unending stockpiles of weaponry, have been struggling to keep up with the astounding loss rate the Ukrainians have been able to inflict on them. This has resulted in older and older vehicles being dragged out of those large storage depots across Russia, mainly being used as mobile, protected artillery.
The T-55 has endured partly due to its sheer numbers, availability and upgradability. Its performance on the battlefield has varied, but its basic but effective design has proven itself again and again throughout the decades. It is worth reiterating how remarkable it that a vehicle conceived at the end of the Second World War is still even a consideration for armies 80 years on.
In this video, historian James Donaldson explores the history of the most-produced tank in history – the T-55. This Soviet design has its roots in the iconic T-34, evolving through the years to become an effective fighting machine that was sold around the world. Despite manufacturing ending in the 1980s, this tank is still a feature on the battlefield, with both sides making use of T-55s in the current conflict in Ukraine. It may not be engaging in tank-on-tank combat as initially intended, but the T-55 is still providing a useful, effective and relatively cheap addition to the arsenal of many armies in the 21st Century.
00:00 | Introduction
00:43 | The Missing Link
02:31 | Making the T-55
05:24 | Upgrades
08:34 | A Numbers Game
12:51 | In Action
16:41 | T-55 Today
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August 22, 2025
Resolved – This country’s youth will not fight to defend this country
On Tuesday, John Robson discussed the results of a recent Angus Reid survey that, among other things, indicated that Canadians are at least as anti-military as they’ve been since the first Trudeau government:
Canadian soldiers set a perimeter position after disembarking a U.S. Navy landing craft during a simulated amphibious landing, 24 April 2009.
U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer Seth Johnson via Wikimedia Commons.
The National Post reports an Angus Reid survey finding that a significant majority of us favour compulsory voluntary service by the youth of today. Which might sound like a bracingly traditional Jordan Peterson clean-your-room, stand-up-straight, shoulders-back attitude until you read the fine print, which would risk making Peterson ill if he weren’t already. Because it turns out we want to conscript them to work in health care so we get stuff we didn’t pay for, not to defend the country because if ye break faith and so on.
According to the survey, 74 per cent of respondents want young people to have to give a year of their lives to bolstering our failing, structurally unsound socialized medical system. Respondents were also in favour of mandatory service in support of the environment (73 per cent), “youth services” (72 per cent), whatever it might be, and “civil protection” (70 per cent). But when it comes to (ugh) national defence, just 43 per cent supported it, with 44 per cent opposed.
Spending on comfort while barbarians undermine the city walls lacks prudence as well as dignity. As I observed in a long-ago graduate-school debate about American national security, it didn’t matter how wonderfully progressive the Dutch social welfare system was in 1940 when the Nazis came calling. And we too seem to have our priorities backward.
If I might confuse the government by discussing principles of political economy, there are good reasons why national defence is considered a binding duty on those able to contribute to it. First is the “free rider” problem that everyone benefits from successful protection of the community, especially, at least in a narrow and hedonistic sense, if you send some other chump to die for your freedom while you recline comfortably at home.
Second is the moral consideration that, as John Stuart Mill famously if uncharacteristically put it, “War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things: the decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth a war, is much worse”. Which comes from, yes, his “Principles of Political Economy”.
Mill was no warmonger. As he immediately continued, “When a people are used as mere human instruments for firing cannon or thrusting bayonets, in the service and for the selfish purposes of a master, such war degrades a people”.
But not all wars are like Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, let alone Hamas’s attack on Israel. As the anything-but-bellicose Mill added, “A war to protect other human beings against tyrannical injustice; a war to give victory to their own ideas of right and good, and which is their own war, carried on for an honest purpose by their free choice — is often the means of their regeneration”.
August 21, 2025
Six Reasons Operation Market Garden FAILED
The Tank Museum
Published 3 April 2025Operation Market Garden failed because the tanks of XXX Corps did not reach the Paras in Arnhem in time. Many historians have argued that the British armoured column “let the side down”. But is this actually true?
We reckon there are six reasons why the operation was a total disaster. It was a poor plan from the get-go, relying on a rate of advance that would outmatch the German invasion of France in 1940. Bad weather prevented the deployment of badly-needed reinforcements, and the terrain Guards Armoured were expected to traverse – a single road with impassable conditions on either side – significantly hampered the efforts of the tank crews.
Poor intelligence also meant that the British column was not prepared for resistance from a retreating and desperate German Army. It was a combination of all these factors that caused Market Garden to unravel completely.
Despite the complications, many acts of valour were carried out by both the airborne and armoured divisions, including the legendary assault across the Waal by the US 82nd Airborne.
So, join us as we explore these six reasons why Operation Market Garden failed and decide for yourself whether XXX Corps could have done anymore.
00:00 | Introduction
02:23 | #1 – A Bad Plan
06:22 | #2 – Poor Intelligence
07:51 | #3 – Difficult Terrain
11:27 | #4 – Determined Resistance
13:45 | #5 – Bad Weather
14:38 | #6 – Loss of Surprise
19:45 | What Went Wrong?
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August 20, 2025
The Korean War Week 61: The South Koreans Strike as Ceasefire Talks Stall – August 19, 1951
The Korean War by Indy Neidell
Published 19 Aug 2025After two months of inactivity, 8th Army begins new offensive operations this week, and it is the South Korean forces doing the fighting. Meanwhile, the Kaesong peace talks are ever more threatened by continuing neutral zone violations.
Chapters
00:00 Hook
00:48 Recap
01:13 Neutral Zone Violations
02:17 The UN Defense System
06:59 The ROK Attacks
10:38 Summer Diseases
12:48 Summary
13:33 Conclusion
15:20 Call to Action
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UK vz.59 Czech Universal Machine Gun: History and Mechanics
Forgotten Weapons
Published 21 Mar 2018In 1952, Czechoslovakia adopted a whole new family of small arms, including the vz.52 pistol, vz.52 rifle, and vz.52 light machine gun. The rifle and LMG were both chambered in the Czech 7.62x45mm cartridge, and both would be adapted to the Soviet standard 7.62x39mm a few years later, in 1957. Very shortly thereafter, the Czechs would also introduce a heavier universal machine gun version in 7.62x54mmR under the designation UK vz.59 (universal machine gun model 59).
The UK 59 was basically a scaled up sibling of the vz.52 and vz.52/57 machine guns, although it fed from a belt only, where its smaller predecessors had allowed either belt or magazine feed. It used a pivoting locking block system much like the Walther P38 and Beretta pistols, in conjunction with a long stroke gas piston much like that of the vz.26 light machine gun.
The weapon did not see much interest outside of Czechoslovakia, although it does remain in service in that region in the modernized 7.62x51mm iteration.
Thanks to Marstar for letting me examine and shoot their UK vz.59!
August 19, 2025
Dieppe 1942: The Failed Raid That Shaped D-Day
Battle Guide
Published 2 May 2025On 19th August 1942, as dawn was breaking along the coast of occupied France, a force of just over 6,000 men stormed the beaches around the port town of Dieppe in the first major allied strike against Hitler’s Atlantic Wall. Within a matter of minutes hundreds lay dead or wounded, washed up against seawalls, hung on wire entanglements or incinerated in the burning landing craft. Over 60% of the mainly Canadian assault force were killed, wounded or captured by the end of the day, and the Dieppe Raid has, for the allies, gone down as one of the most infamous days of the Second World War.
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Operation Jubilee: Canada’s Devastating WWII Loss
WarsofTheWorld
Published 17 Jun 2023By 1942, the war was no longer another great European conflict. It was now a firmly global affair enveloping all of the world’s great powers as the Allies squared off against the tyranny and aggression of the Axis nations. Against such colossal forces, no one country could stand alone and events that affected one combatant would ultimately have consequences for the other further down the road.
To that end, while the western Allies and the Soviet Union were effectively fighting separate wars against the same enemy, there needed to be cooperation between the two fronts in order to squeeze the life out of Nazi Germany and insure victory against Fascism. However, the relationship was often a strained one as both Allied power blocks were suspicious of the other’s intentions once the war was over.
Thus, we come to the subject of today’s episode and a story of the war that is still the subject of much debate today. It was an operation with no specific military objective other than to experiment with conducting division-sized amphibious landings against a fortified beach and as a gesture to the Soviet Union who were starting to feel abandoned by their Allies. It is an operation that has become seared into the hearts and minds of the Canadian people for the sacrifice they were asked to make for it.
0:00 Introduction
3:26 A Red Request
7:50 Planning and Preparation
13:32 Operation Rutter – A False Start
18:10 Reviving Rutter
24:02 Operation Jubilee
35:52 A Necessary Lesson?
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QotD: The fall of France: mass and defeat in detail
A reason to be cautious about anticipating attrition as the shape of future war is the danger of a “defeat in detail”. By failing to match mass against mass, your enemy has the chance to utterly destroy a part of your force. This offers the chance not only to shift the balance of force, but to subsequently overwhelm other elements caught off-guard by the initial defeat. In this way, one force may defeat another of comparable or even superior strength without the bloody cost typical of the clash of mass meeting mass. Prioritizing preparations for attritional struggle may allow your enemy to gain the seemingly small advantages that cascade into a defeat in detail.
As mentioned, for Clausewitz, the defeat of Prussia in the war of the Fourth Coalition was the template, but the more contemporary archetype is the Fall of France in WW2. French command and control was oriented towards a lengthy war of attrition and proved unable to react quickly enough to the German breakthrough at Sedan. Counterattacks were therefore only undertaken on the local level and without coordination. Despite German vulnerability, they were able to defeat the piecemeal commitment of superior forces and ultimately collapse Allied defenses.
The initial German breakthrough was made possible by local air superiority, enabled by the same principle. This was achieved despite an overall superiority by the Allies in aircraft (even when counting only modern planes) because the Allies kept many planes in reserve, anticipating a long war. By the time they realized the significance of the German concentration, the Germans had been able to move forward anti-aircraft guns and it was too late to destroy the bridgeheads over the Meuse (despite the desperate kamikaze-like efforts of a stricken bomber).
The case of France in 1940 gives a clear example of why a defeat in detail has been so feared. French strategy was premised on winning a lengthy war — the initial battle was assumed to be no more conclusive than the Battle of Frontiers had been in 1914 [Wiki]. The exact error of the French is unlikely to be replicated, but the nature of the mistake remains a universal peril. Dismissing the likelihood of an early decision and preparing for a “later” that never comes is the reciprocal mistake of assuming an early decision is inevitable (which can be identified with the “Cult of the Offensive” that preceded WWI).
Kiran Pfitzner, “In Defense of Taiwan: Attrition or Annihilation”, Dead Carl and You, 2025-05-14.
August 18, 2025
Confederate Morse Carbine: Centerfire Cartridges Ahead of Their Time
Forgotten Weapons
Published 23 Oct 2017George Morse of Baton Rouge patented a design for a remarkably modern centerfire cartridge and breechloading rifle action in 1856 and 1858, using a standard percussion cap as a primer. This was coupled with a gutta percha washer for sealing and a rolled brass cartridge body that was strong and robust — easily reloaded, if somewhat complex to manufacture.
After positive trials by the Army and Navy, Morse received a contract to make first complete guns and then a royalty contract for the conversion of existing muskets to his system. Work began at the Harper’s Ferry Arsenal, but money ran out with only 60 conversion completed. When the Civil War broke out, Morse chose to side with the Confederacy, and the tooling for his conversions was taken from the captured Armory to be put to use. He initially set up in Nashville, but the city fell to the Union in 1862, and he was forced to relocate to Atlanta and the Greenville South Carolina. It was in Greenville that Morse was finally able to manufacture guns in quantity, and he built approximately a thousand brass-framed single shot cartridge carbines for the South Carolina state militia.
Unfortunately for the Confederacy, the infrastructure to supply a modern type of cartridge ammunition really did not exist in the South, and this crippled any chance of Morse’s carbines becoming a significant factor in the war. The best technology in the world is still of no use if ammunition cannot be provided!
This Morse carbine is of the third type, using a sliding latch on the breechblock to hold the action closed when firing. Two previous versions used different and less secure systems, but this third type was introduced around serial number 350 and would comprise the remaining 2/3rds of the production run.
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