Category Archives: US Army

Nerding out on 1775 firepower

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We’ve been digging into the ballistics and history around the battles of Lexington and Concord, which are now 250 years in the rearview.

Of interest, we found that a .69 caliber spherical musket ball of 584 grains, pushed by 110 grains of modern 2F black powder out of the barrel of a Land Pattern musket, was still able to zip through 32 inches of 10 percent FBI ballistics gel and keep going through two water jugs into the berm!

That’s no slouch.

Photos by Paul Peterson, Guns.com

Looking back at the outfitting of the local militia, in the Journal of Arthur Harris of the Bridgewater Coy of Militia (n.d.), Arthur Harris states that in 1775, Massachusetts forces were required to have with them:

A good fire arm, a steel or iron ram rod and a spring for same, a worm, a priming wire and brush, a bayonet fitted to his gun [at this time Minute Companies were outfitted with bayonets while many Militia Companies were not required to use them], a scabbard and belt thereof, a cutting sword or tomahawk or hatchet, a…cartridge box holding fifteen rounds…at least, a hundred buckshot, six flints, one pound of powder, forty leaded balls fitted to the gun, a knapsack and blanket, a canteen or wooden bottle to hold one quart [of water].

Many of the guns at those battles that were carried by the militia were “long fowlers,” or hunting pieces, of assorted calibers, along with a smattering of British (.77 caliber) and Dutch-made (.78 caliber) martial muskets and some French infantry muskets (.60 and .62 caliber) captured in the French and Indian War.

Meanwhile, the British regulars were armed with 46-inch-barreled Long Land muskets and 42-inch-barreled Short Land muskets in .75 caliber. As bullets of the age were often molded to much smaller diameter than the bore (for instance the British used .69 caliber balls in their .75 caliber muskets), to aid in rapid loading as part of a paper cartridge, this only adds to the curious array of balls recovered not only in this early battle but in many Revolutionary War sites.

A sampling of the British and Colonial musket balls recovered from Lexington and Concord. One analysis of just 32 balls recovered at the Parker’s Revenge site spanned from .449 to .702 in diameter. 

When the smoke cleared, the Massachusetts provincials lost 49 killed, around 40 wounded, and 5 missing out of roughly 4,000 who answered the drum. The British lost 269 killed and wounded out of 1,800 regulars engaged.

A deep dive into those on the ground there, as interpreted by Lt Paul O’Shaughnessy and Pte Nick Woodbury of the 10th Regiment, and Steven Conners of the Lexington Minutemen:

Rolling Bones

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80 years ago. Awaiting removal of a roadblock on the road to Eisfeld, Germany, a 90mm GMC M36 tank destroyer crew whiles away the time shooting craps. 28th Infantry Division (“Keystone”), U.S. Third Army, 12 April 1945.

Signal Corps Photo 111-SC-204555, National Archives Identifier 6927819

The men are likely “Cossacks” of the 630th TD Battalion, Battle of the Bulge vets who passed from temporary XVIII Airborne Corps control back to the 28th near Wolfstein around this time.
Among the camp gear accumulated on the back of the M36 is a case of “10-in-1” rations, Menu 3, which would include bulk-packed K rations in two 5-serving packs, the first in packages and the second in cans. Of key importance, a 10-in-1 also held ten packages of cigarettes– each holding 10 Chesterfields, Luckies, or Pall Malls– along with ten GI matchbooks and 250 sheets of GI toilet paper. Tough but fair.

Lessons from Ukraine for the Future Force

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In the mood for some light reading on lessons learned in blood and treasure from the war in Ukraine. Well, here are 359 pages courtesy of the U.S. Army War College.

Written by John A. Nagl and Katie Crombe, A Call to Action: Lessons from Ukraine for the Future Force explores the changing character of war through the lens of the Russia- Ukraine War. The authors analyze the conflict’s history, each side’s warfighting functions, the role of multidomain operations, and more. The radical changes in the character of war suggest the United States is at a strategic inflection point.

The authors draw lessons from both the Ukrainians and the Russians to suggest improvements for the United States. Advances in drone technology, cyber warfare, and electromagnetic warfare pose new technological vulnerabilities and possibilities. In addition, the war has highlighted the roles of allies in deterrence and training, as well as how leadership styles within the military—specifically, in the implementation of mission command—can be a decisive factor. As the Russia- Ukraine War has demonstrated, modern conflict touches a plethora of domains; thus, having sufficient personnel who are ready to fill a variety of capacities will be critical in the future.

Finally, the war has shown that history and justice are critical aspects of going to war and achieving peace, so crafting a narrative and satisfying stakeholders will be necessary for establishing a stable world order. The Russia- Ukraine War foreshadows the challenges the United States will face in future conflict and highlights the keys to adapting to modern warfare.

Download here.

Keepers of the Sparks

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Original caption: “Signal Corps activities at Fort Monmouth, New Jersey. Field telephone and switchboard operators in action during maneuvers, 1930.” Note the badge of the 51st Signal Battalion on the men’s campaign hats.

Signal Corps photo 111-SC-100576. National Archives Identifier 329585448

Before the days of Fort Eisenhower (Gordon), the U.S. Army Signal School from 1924-1947, tasked with all land forces’ meteorological, photographic, and communications training, as well as running the Signal Corps Laboratory, was in Fort Monmouth, New Jersey.

The post’s two tactical units in the 1930s, the 16 officers and 437 enlisted men (authorized billets) of the 51st Signal Battalion and the 1st Signal Company, provided enlisted instructors for the school while at the same time preserving the Army’s sole provisional GHQ signals group and signals intelligence company. The 51st, which had served the role in the AEF in 1918 as the 55th Telegraph Battalion, had some experience with the matter.

They often took their show on the road.

Original Caption: National Rifle Matches, Camp Perry, Ohio, Aug. 25 – Sept. 14, 1930 Signal Corps Detachment Lt Lubbe, S.C. National Archives Identifier 405231336. Local Identifier 111-SC-95390-128

Note the badge of the 51st Signal Battalion in the above photo.

Original caption: Signal Corps activities at Fort Monmouth, New Jersey. Telephone Operator at message center, in operation during maneuvers. Night scene. National Archives Identifier 329585451. Local Identifier 111-SC-100577

Field Printer. Fort Monmouth, NJ, December 1932 111-SC-098285

Fort Monmouth Signal Corps field radio set in operation during maneuvers 1930. 111-SC-100578

Fort Monmouth Telephone Linemen in action during maneuvers. 1930 111-SC-100574

Fort Monmouth Message Center in operation during maneuvers 1930 111-SC-100575

Fort Monmouth Field telephone switchboard in operation during maneuvers. 1930 111-SC-100573

Original Caption: A One-Horse Power Radio Set. A mobile transmitter and receiver for mounting on horseback has been developed at the Signal Corps radio laboratories at Fort Monmouth, New Jersey. The hand generator shown at the left furnishes the power for the set, which is SCR-189. October, 1932. National Archives Identifier 329578433, Local Identifier 111-SC-98102

In 1935, the battalion took part in the Pine Camp Maneuvers in New York, which at the time were the largest peacetime exercises, with some 35,000 Army and National Guard personnel. The 51st was solely responsible for the installation of all communications during this exercise; in this capacity, it employed 177 miles of bare copper wire, 126 miles of twisted pair field wire, and 8,260 feet of lead-covered overhead cable. This set the stage for the larger Louisiana Maneuvers in 1941, which began the lessons learned for the Army in WWII.

The 51st shipped out for its second World War in 1943 and would earn a Meritorious Unit Commendation and five campaign streamers supporting the invasion of Sicily and the Italian Campaign.

Following post-war operations in Korea and the Sandbox, the 51st earned three additional MUCs and the Presidential Unit Citation. Today, as the oldest continuously serving active-duty signal unit (formed in 1916 and often renamed but never disbanded), the now 51st Expeditionary Signal Battalion is part of the 22nd Corps Signal Brigade and is based at Joint Base Lewis McChord, tasked with distributing enhanced comms throughout the Pacific.

Their motto is Semper Constans (Always Constant).

Red Stars over Niagara

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Just call it Operation Honeymoon.

The curious, but very normal, 1944-45 sight of Lend-Leased Bell P-63 Kingcobras flying over Niagara Falls, clad in the Red Stars and tactical dark green livery of the Soviet Air Force.
Bell assembled the P-63 at the company’s factory in Wheatfield, New York.

P-63A-10-BE at Bell’s Wheatfield, New York factory

From there, after passing inspections by first an American and the Soviet AF officer, these P-63s would be immediately attached to twin 285-liter drop tanks, flown by USAAF Air Transport Command ferry pilots across the Dakotas to Great Falls, Montana, then to RCAF Station Edmonton, Alberta, and finally to Ladd Field at Fairbanks Alaska– a trip of over 4,000 miles– where the “Reds” picked them up and flew them on to Siberia and points west.
Notably, on both the American and Soviet ends of the Alaska-Siberia route, a predominance of ferry pilots was female.

WASP “skippers” on Wheatfield P-39s and P-63s

Besides the P-63s and the earlier P-39s, P-40s, A-20s, C-47s, and B-25s were also ferried from CONUS and then across the Bering Sea, with 7,983 aircraft successfully delivered to the Russians, and only 133 of all types were lost to weather or pilot error.

Warming pre-flight

P-63 Kingcobra fighters in flight during a ferry flight along the Alaska-Siberia air route, with Avachinskaya Sopka in Kamchatka in the background

Being slow compared to the P-38 and P-51 and less of a brute than the P-47, the Kingcobra saw negligible service with the USAAF. However, the Russkis loved the tough, heavily-armed, and reliable aircraft, which was well-suited to their particular brand of tactical aviation.

Of the 3,303 production aircraft, some three-quarters, at least 2,397 airframes, were delivered new to Uncle Joe and the gang, with only the hours racked up in the ferry flights from Niagara. They endured in Soviet service so long that they picked up a NATO F-code (fighter) reporting name in the 1950s (Fred).

Ace pilots of the 9th Guard Aviation Division at the Bell P-39 fighter Airacobra by GA Rechkalova. From left to right: Alexander Fedorovich Klubov (twice Hero of the Union, shot down 31 airplanes personally, 19 in a group), Grigory Andreevich Rechkalov (twice a Hero, shot down 56 airplanes personally and 6 in a group), Andrei Ivanovich Trud (Hero of the USSR, shot down 25 airplanes individually and 1 in a group) and commander of the 16th Guards Fighter Squad Air Regiment Boris Borisovich Glinka (Hero of the Soviet Union, shot down 30 airplanes personally and 1 in a group). The 2nd Ukrainian Front. The photo was taken in June 1944 – the number of stars on Rechkalov’s plane corresponds to his achievements at that time (46 planes shot down personally, 6 in a group).

Soviet Red Air Force ace Alexander Pokryshkin chalked up 65 victories on the Eastern Front, almost all in P-39 Aircobras and P-63 Kings

Soviet P-63 Kingcobra of the VVS. Artist Vladimir Voronin.

Traveling light

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Some 80 years ago, “backpacking around Europe,” a GI takes a breather along the Rhine in increasingly Allied-occupied Germany, April 1945.

LIFE Magazine Archives – William Vandivert Photographer

Besides his M1 Garand cane (muzzle awareness be damned), he is lightly equipped with his M1936 khaki webbed belt and suspenders complete with E-tool, while two extra 80-round bandoliers for said Garand are carried bandito style. A pair of cardboard K-ration “Supper” boxes are tied together. As a party favor, he has what looks like an M1 pineapple grenade on his left shoulder. 

No River Too Swift

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It happened 80 years ago today.

Rhine River, Worms, Germany, U.S. Seventh Army area of operations. The official caption to period original Kodachrome: “U.S. Army mechanized forces cross the Rhine River on the Alexander Patch Heavy Pontoon Bridge, 28 March 1945. The bridge, built by the 85th Engineers, replaces the ruined bridge at right, which was destroyed by the retreating German Army.”

National Archives USA C-273

The 85th Engineer Heavy Pontoon Battalion was activated on 3 June 1941– six months before the attack on Pearl Harbor- at Ft. Belvoir, Virginia, just one of 12 such units established by the Army in WWII. Its cadre was drawn from the 5th Engineer Regiment(Combat).

Each Heavy Pontoon Battalion was made up of 16 officers, 3 warrant officers, and 501 enlisted men and, as the name would imply, specialized in erecting the M1940 series heavy pontoon bridge capable of holding up to 26 tons as opposed to light (10 ton) and pnuematic raft (5 ton) types through the use of Mack trucks and assault boats.

Another view of the Worms bridge with a tank destroyer rattling over it on 26 March, before the sign was erected. Not the kind of stuff you can handle just any pontoon.

Shipping out to North Africa in May 1943, the 85th landed in Italy shortly after to support 5th Army and then shipped out for France in 1944 and switched to the 7th.

The Battalion earned five battle stars for participation in the following battles and campaigns: Naples-Foggia; Rome-Arno; Southern France; Rhineland; and Central Europe.

Their motto was “No River Too Swift.”

Hat Trick

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80 years ago this week. At the tail end of Operation Varsity near Wesel, Germany, the British 2nd Army and American 9th Army links up with Allied paras and glider troops that had been airmailed to the area three days prior.

Official wartime caption: “Airborne force leap the Rhine. The link-up is complete. 26 March 1945. An Achilles tank destroyer [a U.S. M10 with a QF 17-pounder] on the east bank of the Rhine moves up to link with airborne forces whose abandoned gliders can be seen in the background.”

The glider appears to be a British Hadrian model while the barbed wire could be for an EPOW bullpen, which makes sense as the British 6th Airborne bagged something like 1,500 “Jerries” during the operation. Photo by Christie (Sergeant), No. 5 Army Film and Photo Section, Army Film and Photographic Unit, IWM BU 2396

Early in the morning of 24 March 1945, 1,500 American aircraft and gliders carrying two Airborne divisions, one American (9,650 men of the 17th Airborne) and one British (7,220 men of the 6th Airborne including the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion), flew over the Rhine River, completing the hattrick started by the Market Garden and Overlord/Tonga drops in 1944.

17th Airborne Glider Troops wait to board their glider on 24 March 1945 for Operation VARSITY, note the M1919, M1 Garand, and Carbine

Operation Varsity glider troops, note bandage on helmet

Operation Varsity 1945 M1A1 paratrooper folding stocked carbine. Note the bayonet on his leg

As the Normandy and Market Garden drops had been spaced out across several geographic locations, while the Varsity drop was more tightly focused at Hamminkeln-Wesel, it is considered the largest airborne operation ever conducted on a single day and in one location.

It was no walkover, with 49 C-46/47 transports, many packed with men of the 17th, lost to German flak and other casualties across a three-day fight which left 1,346 casualties among the American Sky soldiers while the Brits and Canadians logged at least 1,078.

Sadly, except for a one-minute mention in Band of Brothers, the jump is largely forgotten.

Lucked into a RIA NM 1911

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Well, as you may remember from my previous posts, I wound up in Round 4 of the CMP 1911’s program. After sending in my packet in the summer of 2023, I pulled Random Generated Number (RGN) 46295 in the lottery on 10 October 2023.

Then, I waited.

And waited.

Finally, on 25 February 2025, I got the magic call and was told all four grades were available. As I already have a pretty neat Service Grade that I lucked into during Round 2, I went “Range Grade” which typically have aftermarket parts installed and were usually either A) late-use guns issued out to SF units in the 1990s and early 2000s, or B) guns used by the military marksmanship teams in target completion.

Requesting a Colt (if possible), my gun shipped the next day and I recently managed to break free and swing by my local FFL to pick it up.

And here we are:

Delving into it piece by piece, the frame is that of a Colt Military Model M1911A1, SN# 824784, which was made in 1942.

CMP Forums books notes: It shipped to Springfield between September 18 and October 22, 1942 probably destined for Europe with the Army. For example, SN 823189 went from Colt to Springfield on 10/02/42 and from Springfield to the NY Port of Embarkation on 10/13/42. The very closest SN is 824446 was with the 6th Army on 07/09/46.

The rest of the gun quickly points to that fact that it was subsequently selected for upgrade to a National Match competition-grade pistol in 1968 at Rock Island Arsenal (RIA and NM marked on right side of frame) with a Colt NM 7791435 marked slide including 1/8” .358 high front sight, a Colt NM 7791414 marked barrel, NM7267718 barrel bushing, large U.S. marked Kensight rear sight, aluminum trigger, milled front strap, straight mainspring housing, checkered thumb safety, and black checkered grips. The right side is marked: Colts PT. F.A. Mfg. Co. Hartford, Conn. U.S.A. Lightly scratched into the rear of right slide is “WC.”

It was likely issued out to a division, post, regional, Army, state, or other-level Marksmanship Training Unit post-1968 until finding its way to Anniston Army Depot and the CMP. It has a UID label (an animal only introduced in 2005) on the dust cover, a clue that, along with the more modern grips, may mean that it was still in use with a team until very recently.

I have a FOIA request for its history and will update you guys with what I find out.

New Army History Magazine Now Available!!

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Via the U.S. Army’s Center for Military History:

In this Winter 2025 issue of Army History, we are excited to share two outstanding articles, a look at an interesting Army artifact, a special feature that highlights both the art and artifacts of a famous artist, and a selection of quality book reviews.

The first article, by Donald Wright, details the transformation of the 7th Infantry Division into a light division, a concept that was developed toward the end of the Cold War.

The second article, by Ryan Hovatter, examines the career of Florida National Guard soldier Fred A. Safay. Hovatter expertly tells the story of this relatively unknown soldier, highlighting his service, warts and all.

The Artifact Spotlight for the issue shows us the High Standard Model HDMS pistol. This silenced .22-caliber pistol entered service in early 1944 and was used primarily for clandestine missions by members of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS).

This issue contains a slightly different feature, instead of our usual museum spotlight, which gives us the rare opportunity to look at not only some Army artwork but also some artifacts that belonged to the artist.

Get your FREE download here: https://history.army.mil/Publications/Army-History-Magazine/

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