Tag: Cold War
The Soviet BREM-1 Armoured Recovery Vehicle
In contrast to the German army during the Second World War, the Soviet army did not have specialised recovery vehicles or tactics for using them. They started to experiment with their use at the end o... Read More
The Iranian Embassy Siege: The Myth of the Wall
On 30th April 1980, terrorists stormed the Iranian Embassy in London and took twenty-six hostages. A six-day siege ensued, during which the embassy’s press attaché, Abbas Lavasani, was murdered... Read More
Project Prodigal and the British Army’s Flying Cars
On a visit to the National Archives, I ordered document AVIA 65/1540, “Project PRODIGAL: army vehicle with limited airborne capability”. I was expecting it to be about FV4401 Contentious, ... Read More
Soviet 73mm SPG-9 Kopye Recoilless Gun
Introduced in the late 1960s, the SPG-9 was a light anti-tank gun mounted on a tripod. It had a four-man crew, and could be carried by two soldiers.... Read More
Transporting The Bear: Vehicles In The Bear’s Claws
Rakovich’s Ride: The BMP-2 Infantry Fighting Vehicle In The Bear’s Claws, the main character, Praporshchik Vladislav Rakovich, rides in a BMP-2 infantry fighting vehicle. Like an armoured ... Read More
Weapons and Equipment of the Warsaw Pact now in paperback and hardback
After some difficulties and delays, I’ve finally managed to create a compendium paper edition of the first three books in my Weapons and Equipment of the Warsaw Pact series. It is now available in p... Read More
New Book: The Bear’s Claws
I read both fiction and non-fiction, but until recently, I’d only ever written non-fiction. A while ago, a writer friend and I decided it would be interesting to work on a project together. The ... Read More
Soviet 100mm T-12 & MT-12 Anti-Tank Gun
The T-12 was developed as a replacement for the D-48 85mm anti-tank gun, and was the first smoothbore anti-tank gun to enter service, in 1961. The decision to adopt a smoothbore barrel led to improved... Read More