Whenever there is a discussion around Operation Jubilee, the Dieppe raid, someone will claim that it taught the Allies valuable lessons about amphibious operations. There’s…
Military history and RPG books
Whenever there is a discussion around Operation Jubilee, the Dieppe raid, someone will claim that it taught the Allies valuable lessons about amphibious operations. There’s…
I’ve written before about getting kids started in wargaming. Since writing that post, I’ve played several games of Panzer Kids by Peter Schweighofer. This is…
Today is International Women’s Day. This seems like an appropriate time to write about Berthe Mayer, MBE. In October 1941, Berthe and her husband Percy…
The British A17 Tetrarch light tank is best known for its role in Operation Overlord, where they landed in Hamilcar gliders in support of the…
A friend of mine wrote a custom, World War II-themed logic puzzle for me. She’s given me permission to post it here so that others…
For some time, I’ve been planning to introduce my nine year old son, Doug, to wargaming. He likes playing board games, including some aimed at…
On the 5th July 1940, a message was sent to all LDV area commanders. This message informed the commanders that men were needed for a…
The SMLE (sometimes pronounced “smelly”), or “Rifle, Short, Magazine, Lee-Enfield”, to give its full designation, entered British army service in 1904. This replaced the MLE (Magazine Lee-Enfield, sometimes pronounced “Emily”), which had been produced in long (with a 30.2″ barrel) and carbine (21.2″ barrel) versions. The new rifle was designated “short” because its barrel length was 25.2″, mid-way between the long rifle and the carbine. The short length was controversial. Many people believed the new rifle’s short barrel would make it too inaccurate. In Canada, the Ross rifle was adopted for service instead of the SMLE, partly for this reason. A long bayonet (known as a “sword bayonet”) was issued with the rifle, to compensate for the shorter length when fighting in close combat.
Yesterday, Bovington Tank Museum posted a photo on their Facebook page, of a Tetrarch light tank being loaded onto a Hamilcar glider. I don’t mind…
On Remembrance Day last year I wrote, “I consider Remembrance Day to be a time to remember everyone that has been harmed by war. Any…