Category Archives: weapons

The Flotsam of History

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In early February 1807, in Prussian Silesia, French Field Marshal Michel Ney’s cavalry clashed with mounted elements of Russian Lt. Gen. Karl Gustav von Baggovut’s column in the snow outside of the small village of Waltersmühl, causing Gen. Pyotr Bagration to send reinforcements to Bagavout’s aid, and a constant running combat was kept up until nightfall when the Russians withdrew in good order.

It was a nightmarish day of cavalry charge and counter-charge, sans the boorish interference of artillery and infantry. A day of lances and sabers. Horses, steel, and leather. Death the old-fashioned way, with lots of elan and honor. 

The indecisive skirmish, which left Baggovut seriously wounded with a French lance splinter in his chest, was one of the opening actions of what would be remembered as the great pyrrhic Battle of Eylau— which itself saw some of the greatest massed cavalry charges in history.

Fast forward to 1945 and the Russians were back during the tail-end of WWII, this time under a Red Banner, and occupied Waltersmühl. Soon after the war, the region became part of Poland and today Waltersmühl is known as Konradowo.

Last week, during the renovation of an old building in the village, workers discovered three firearms and 403 assorted cartridges concealed inside an attic floor. The guns included a bolt-action Mauser 98K, a Beretta 38 submachine gun, and a Sturmgewehr 44, the latter with three magazines.

Cue the “Jesus, I’ve seen what you’ve done for other people” memes:

The guns were likely stashed “just in case” near the tail-end of WWII when the Soviet Red Army was steamrolling through the area on its way to Berlin.

The fact that the guns were never retrieved although Russian troops only left Poland after 1993, may point to the possibility that the individual who created the cache did not survive the initial stages of the occupation, or was deported soon after the change in flags.

Odds are, if you dig in the garden behind the house, you may find a saber or lance points. 

Warwickshire Cuckoos

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Some 85 years ago this week, the regulars of 2 Battalion, the Royal Warwickshire Regiment, part of the 2nd Infantry Division, British Expeditionary Force, drill in their snow-covered trench near Rumegies, Northern France on 22 January 1940 during the eight-month “Phoney War” or “Sitzkrieg” period between the fall of Poland and the invasion of France.

Note the Great War-era “tin plate” Mk. I Brodie helmets and Short, Magazine Lee-Enfield Rifle No.1 Mk IIIs, items very familiar to the trench life in France.

Photo by Leslie Buxton Davies and Stanley Hedley Kessell, War Office official photographers, IWM F 2212.

And seen the same day in platoon formation in the snow, complete with Bren guns, gas mask chest bags, and at least a few men wearing sleeveless leather jerkins, another Great War throwback:

Drink in that Pattern 37 kit. Men of the 2nd Battalion Royal Warwickshire Regiment on parade in the snow at Rumegies, 22 January 1940. Photo by Leslie Buxton Davies and Stanley Hedley Kessell, War Office official photographers, F 2207.

And how about this gem, taken the same place and date:

2nd Battalion, the Warwickshire Regiment sniper in a tree taking aim with his rifle. 22nd January 1940.

The above lads saw much action in May 1940, with several of their men massacred at Wormhoudt after being captured by the Waffen SS, but managed to evacuate at Dunkirk, sans anything that couldn’t be carried while swimming. Dedicated to the defense of England until the time was right, they came back to France with lots of friends in June 1944 and fought across Belgium and Holland to Germany.

Raised in 1673 as an ad-hoc force and made official in 1685 as the 6th Regiment of Foot, the Warwickshires were reliable campaigners and earned no less than 15 honors ranging from Namur to Niagara and Corunna to Khartoum before picking up another ~70 during the Great War, the latter so high due to the fact that they had raised 31 battalions for the fight against the Kaiser.

Recruiting poster, 5th Battalion, The Royal Warwickshire Regiment, c1905, via NAM

In WWII service, the Warwickshires still managed to raise 11 battalions and earned 16 honors (Defence of Escaut, Wormhoudt, Ypres-Comines Canal, Normandy Landing, Caen, Bourguébus Ridge, Mont Pincon, Falaise, Venraij, Rhineland, Lingen, Brinkum, Bremen, North-West Europe 1940 ’44–45, Burma 1945).

Post-war, they were amalgamated several times until the traditions of the unit were handed down to the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers in 1968, with their current RHQ in the Tower of London.

Today they field an active duty armored infantry battalion (1st) equipped with Warriors while a TA unit, (5th bn) is equipped as light infantry.

Cold Canuks

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80 years ago today. Infantrymen of the French-Canadian Régiment de la Chaudière, who are wearing British winter camouflage clothing, on patrol, Bergendal, Netherlands, 24 January 1945. This is either a training course or a unit’s sniper section. The rifles are No.4 Mk.I (T) or No.4 Mk.I* (T). Equipped with No. 32 scopes.

(L-R): Sergeants R.A. Wilkinson and René Letendre, Lieutenant Pierre-Paul Elie, Corporal W. Arsenault and Private Jean-Paul Drouin. Department of National Defence. Library and Archives Canada, PA-137987 by Lieut. Barney J. Gloster

Formed as a reserve unit in 1869, the regiment sailed for Britain in July 1941 and garrisoned the islands until landed on Juno Beach at Bernières-sur-Mer, France, on D-Day, 6 June 1944, from HMCS Prince David and fought their way across Northwest Europe over the next 10 months as part of the 8th Infantry Brigade, 3rd Canadian Infantry Division.

Private Jack Roy of Le Régiment de la Chaudière preparing to disembark from HMCS Prince David off Bernières-sur-Mer, France, 6 June 1944. Note the No. 38 field wireless set across his chest, E-tool slung over his shoulder, helmet skrim, and wrapped Enfield. PD-371 LAC 3396561

An unidentified infantryman of Le Régiment de la Chaudière, 8th Infantry Brigade, 3rd Canadian Infantry Division, preparing to disembark from HMCS Prince David off the Normandy beachhead, France, 6 June 1944. Note that his Enfield is in a protective plastic bag. PD-360. LAC 3202207

They earned 19 battle honors for their time in Europe.

Still on the Canadian rolls, as a reserve unit, they are garrisoned in Levis, Quebec.

STENs and Radar-Directed 3.7s are a girl’s best friend

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80 years ago this week: Private Kay Elms of the ATS, a member of 281st Battery, 137 (Mixed) Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiment (TA), Royal Artillery, carries a STEN gun at a camp in Belgium, on 26 January 1945.

Photograph by LT O’Brien, War Office official photographer, IWM H 41228

Another from the same shoot.

One of the first “Mixed (co-ed) regiments in which women of the Auxiliary Territorial Service were integrated, the 137th was formed in 1941 and fought during the Blitz then, as shown above, were forward deployed with their SCR-584 radar-directed Mk IIC 3.7-inch HAA guns and to reinforce the Brussels “X” defenses against German V-1s in January 1945.

As noted by RA 1939-45:

137 (Mixed) Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiment RA (TA) was formed at Newton, Chester in November 1941. The Regiment served in Anti-Aircraft Command until moving to Brussels with 101 Anti-Aircraft Brigade in January 1945. They were the first Mixed AA Regiment to arrive there. Their experience with the static, power-operated 3.7’s and the latest Radar and Predictor proved invaluable in shooting down the V 1’s. 137 (Mixed) Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiment RA (TA) was disbanded in October 1945.

Yankee Brandt 60

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Some 81 years ago this month, January 1954, Dien Bien Phu, French Indochina, members of the newly-formed 5e BPVN (5e bataillon de parachutistes vietnamiens) of Groupe d’Opération Nord-Ouest (GONO), operate their American-made M2 60mm mortar.

You have to love the mix of TAP 47/52 lizard camo jackets and American M1 helmets as well. Réf. : NVN 54-9 R61, Daniel Camus/ECPAD/Défense

Based, ironically, on the French Brandt 60mm Mortier Modèle 1935 and licensed by that company for production in America, the U.S. M2 mortar was a hit with light infantry of all strokes for the last half of the 20th Century. Weighing just 42 pounds all-up (which is light for a mortar), a five-man crew (two in a pinch) could land 3-pound shells out to a mile away for as long as the ammo held out, even topping 30 rounds per minute if the rounds are staged and ready.

The French paras loved it in Vietnam.

Légionnaire du 2e bataillon étranger parachutiste (2e BEP) Roger Chapel, working a 60mm M2 mortar in Indochina, 10 May 1952. Note the crowd-pleasing belt of M49A2/3 HE mortar bombs around his waist– some 18 pounds of shells– and the M4 Collimator sight on the left of the mortar. Réf. TONK 52-123 R12, Jean Péraud/ECPAD/Défense

The French developed a light mortar shell vest with segmented front and back canvas pockets to carry 8 rounds of 60mm mortar ammunition (24 pounds of shells) for use in Indochina and later Algeria. These could be used to carry extra machine gun magazines too like 16 Bren .303/MAC 24 7.5mm magazines, a cool 16 Ba mươi ba “333” beer cans, or 8 magnum-sized ‘Foster’s lager’ beers!

The M2 was replaced in U.S. service by the new and improved (47 pounds!) M224 60mm company mortar after 1978, but you can be sure that thousands old the old “Yankee Brandts” still linger on in arsenals across the Third World.

5-inchers got a Lot more use than you’d expect in the Red Sea (and an LCS got in on it)

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As detailed by the head of Naval Surface Forces, VADM Brendan McLane, during the annual Surface Navy Association conference this week, warships expended some 400 pieces of ordnance in defense against incoming threats from Iranian/Houthi rebels over the past 15 months.

  • 120 SM-2 missiles.
  • 80 SM-6 missiles.
  • 20 Evolved Sea Sparrow Missiles (ESSM) and SM-3 missiles.
  • 160 rounds from destroyers and cruisers’ five-inch main guns.

The last one is great news, as the anti-air capability of the MK 45 5″/54 and 5″/62— especially when using proximity (VTF and IR) rounds– has been often overlooked. I mean they have a published effective AA range of 23,000 feet and can fire 20 rounds in the first minute of going hot.

Datasheets inbound: 

LCS Combat!

One interesting tidbit not included in the above table is that an LCS has been bloodied in battle as well, with the USS Indianapolis (LCS 17) recently earning a Combat Action Ribbon and Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal, the first for her type, “after shooting down Houthi drones and missiles in the Red Sea.”

Indy, a Freedom-variant littoral combat ship, just completed an 18-month deployment, which included two exchanges of command between LCS Crew 112 and LCS Crew 118.

While traveling as a Surface Action Group with the destroyers USS Spruance and USS Stockdale through the Red Sea, the ships “successfully detected and defeated a combined 23 Ballistic and Anti-Ship Cruise missiles and one-way attack drones fired from Houthi Rebels in Yemen” across three days from 23-25 September.

Now, unclear is if Indy got in shots on said incoming vampires, and if so was it from her 57mm gun, her Sea-Ram, or her embarked MH-60 from HSC 28. It was also recently detailed that a Seahawk downed a Houthi drone via its 7.62mm door gun last month, so that’s a possibility.

“What this team of amazing Americans achieved over the course of this deployment will pay dividends in the maintenance planning and tactics development arenas for years to come,” said Cmdr. Matthew Arndt, USS Indianapolis’ Commanding Officer. “As the workhorse of the Arabian Gulf, Indy executed the lower tier missions necessary to maintaining good diplomatic relations in the Middle East which allowed Standard Missile shooters to reposition to deal with bad actors in the Red Sea. I think it’s pretty special that we were able to provide the 5th Fleet commander with more tools and options to aid in the free flow of commerce through a contested waterway.”

The Littlest Wren

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Some 82 years ago this week, the official caption: “WREN Nancy Jackson asking the sentry’s permission to go onboard a destroyer to deliver a message in Harwich, Essex, England – January 15, 1943. At 4 ft 7 inches tall, Nancy Jackson was the shortest WREN (Women’s Royal Naval Service) in the Royal Navy during WW2

Davies, F A (Lt) Photographer, Admiralty collection, IWM A 13976
https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205147218

The gangplank sentry is armed with the classic Great War era “Smelly” (SMLE Rifle #1 Mark III*).

As for the WRENS, formed originally in 1917— at about the same time as the sentry’s rifle was made, by the end of the war they counted 5,500 members. However, they really came into their own in WWII, with some 74,000 women– all volunteers– involved in over 200 different jobs within the Royal Navy, concentrating on clerical, workshop, and communications taskings.

WOMEN ON THE HOME FRONT 1939 – 1945 (A 13209) The Women’s Royal Naval Service (WRNS): Wren Armourers, whose jobs included the overhaul, maintenance and serving of guns, pictured testing a Lewis gun at Lee-on-Solent Naval Air Station. Copyright: © IWM. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205193235

WOMEN’S ROYAL NAVAL SERVICE. MAINTENANCE WRENS MAINTAIN SMALL ARMS UP TO 3 POUNDER HOTCHKISS FOR ALL TYPES OF SMALL CRAFT – MTB, MGB, ML, MOS AND MASB. THESE GIRLS KNOWN AS QO (QUICK-FIRING ORDNANCE) WRENS BOARD THE BOATS AS SOON AS THEY COME IN AFTER AN OPERATION, TO STRIP AND CLEAN THE LEWIS AND 0.5 VICKERS MACHINE GUNS. (A 12187) A QO Wren removing a 0.5 Vickers machine gun turret for servicing. Copyright: © IWM. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205145632

WOMEN’S ROYAL NAVAL SERVICE. MAINTENANCE WRENS MAINTAIN SMALL ARMS UP TO 3 POUNDER HOTCHKISS FOR ALL TYPES OF SMALL CRAFT – MTB, MGB, ML, MOS AND MASB. THESE GIRLS KNOWN AS QO (QUICK-FIRING ORDNANCE) WRENS BOARD THE BOATS AS SOON AS THEY COME IN AFTER AN OPERATION, TO STRIP AND CLEAN THE LEWIS AND 0.5 VICKERS MACHINE GUNS. (A 12193) A QO Wren stripping and cleaning a Lewis Gun on board a coastal craft. Copyright: © IWM. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205145638

WOMEN’S ROYAL NAVAL SERVICE. MAINTENANCE WRENS MAINTAIN SMALL ARMS UP TO 3 POUNDER HOTCHKISS FOR ALL TYPES OF SMALL CRAFT – MTB, MGB, ML, MOS AND MASB. THESE GIRLS KNOWN AS QO (QUICK-FIRING ORDNANCE) WRENS BOARD THE BOATS AS SOON AS THEY COME IN AFTER AN OPERATION, TO STRIP AND CLEAN THE LEWIS AND 0.5 VICKERS MACHINE GUNS. (A 12198) Installing the 0.5 Vickers machine gun into the gun turret after servicing it. Copyright: © IWM. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205145643

WOMEN’S ROYAL NAVAL SERVICE. MAINTENANCE WRENS MAINTAIN SMALL ARMS UP TO 3 POUNDER HOTCHKISS FOR ALL TYPES OF SMALL CRAFT – MTB, MGB, ML, MOS AND MASB. THESE GIRLS KNOWN AS QO (QUICK-FIRING ORDNANCE) WRENS BOARD THE BOATS AS SOON AS THEY COME IN AFTER AN OPERATION, TO STRIP AND CLEAN THE LEWIS AND 0.5 VICKERS MACHINE GUNS. (A 12189) A QO Wren stripping and cleaning Lewis Guns on board a coastal craft. Copyright: © IWM. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205145634

WRENS working a pom-pom, and not the cheerleading kind

A WREN serving on a harbor launch in Portsmouth during World War II. Photo by Cecil Beaton, via the Imperial War Museum. (click to big up)

Sadly, 102 lost their life during the conflict.

Curiously, the WRENS remained a separate corps of the RN until 1993 while comparative U.S. Navy (WAVES), USCG (SPAR), and Army (WAC) all-female units were integrated into the main force much earlier (1948, 1946, and 1978, respectively).

Of note, however, both the WAVES and SPARS had a minimum height requirement in 1943 of 5 feet (without shoes). The WACs, meanwhile, let ’em run a couple inches shorter, with the requirement of “standing at least fifty-eight inches tall, weighing at least 100 pounds, and possessing good vision.”

CMP Raises Gun Limits

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Official caption: “Group of men surround the last M1 .30-caliber rifles off the production line. Col. Hurlbut stands on the left. Lt. Col. Septfonds stands second from left. John C. Garand stands second from right and he holds the last rifle.” (Springfield Armory National Historic Site Photo 12808-SA.1)

Apparently, the CMP is either (A) not getting the same sort of demand for M1 Garands as they have been in the past or (B) is super flush with guns that fewer people want and is running out of space because they have just all but abandoned the rationing of rifles to its members.

I’m betting they are getting a lot of old Garands (along with smaller lots of Krags, M1917s, and M1903s) turned in by local VFW and similar units that are closing their doors. Today’s vets just don’t join those groups as their dads and granddads did in the 20th Century. Plus, in this economy, not a lot of folks have even the modest $1,150 for re-barreled Expert Grade and $900 for Navy 7.62 NATO M1s to spare.

Of note, the previous limit was 8 Garands per year– but that was back when Field and Service grade rifles were available for $650-$750 just a few years back.

Via CMP:

  • Effective January 7, 2025, customers are allowed to purchase up to twelve (12) surplus rifles (any type) per year. This limit excludes .22 rifles.
  • Surplus Ammo Limit: 2,000 rounds per caliber per year.
  • Commercial Ammo Limit: None
  • Please note: The CMP strictly enforces the limits referenced above. The CMP, at its discretion, reserves the right to ban from all future sales any attempts made by customers to circumvent these limits

Touring Germany with a Chopped Down M1 Carbine

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With personal space at a premium inside the tracked metal monsters of a World War II tank battalion, guns sometimes got unofficially smaller.

Check out this great image, snapped some 80 years ago this month, of two members of the 784th Tank Battalion at a railway marshaling yard in recently occupied Eschweiler, Germany on 23 January 1945, just after the Battle of the Bulge.

(Photo: W.C. Sanderson/ Signal Corps No. 111-SC-259409/ NARA NAID 276537211)

According to the official released wartime caption, the above shows Pfc. Floyd McMurthry (in the foreground) of Canton, Ohio, test-firing an M-3 Grease gun, while Pvt. Willie R. Gibbs (in the background) of Birmingham, Alabama, test-fires a sawed-off M-1 Carbine “which he shortened with his light tank to make it easier to handle.”

Let’s zoom in on that M1 a bit.

Judging by the size of the 8.5-inch handguard on the M1 Carbine, Pvt. Gibbs seems to have whittled this gun down to about 24 inches overall, with most of the 17.75-inch barrel abbreviated. The standard M1 Carbine went 35.6 inches overall.

No word on how the performance of the short-stroke piston action Carbine was affected in the above instance, although it is known that, some 20 years after the above image was captured, American advisors in Vietnam were often chopping down their M1s to more pistol length versions. Meanwhile, “Enforcer” pistols from Iver Johnson and Universal were marketed in the 1970s-90s with barrel lengths in the 9.5 to 10.25-inch range.

But that’s a different article.

For reference, the 784th Tank Battalion, a segregated unit equipped with a mix of M4 Sherman medium Tanks and M5A1 Stuart light tanks, entered combat in Europe in December 1944 and fought its way into Germany with the 104th “Timberwolf” Infantry Division.

Company B, 784th Tank Battalion at Sevelen, Germany on March 5, 1945. The two tanks to the left and right are M5 Stuarts while the vehicle in the center of the image is an M3 half-track. Note the extensive use of M3 Grease Guns, which remained prized by American armored vehicle crews through the 1990s. (U.S. Army Photo: SC 336785)

The 784th later linked up with advancing Soviet troops on the Elbe River and spent several months on occupation duty in Germany after the war. The 700-member battalion suffered nearly 200 casualties during its WWII service.

Carrier Gunnery

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How about these great shots, taken 7 August 1976 over NAS North Island, California, of the new class-leading big deck phib USS Tarawa (LHA 1), and the carriers USS Coral Sea (CV-43) and USS Constellation (CV-64).

An aerial view of ships moored at Naval Air Station, North Island. They are, from left to right, the amphibious assault ship USS TARAWA (LHA 1), the aircraft carrier US CORAL SEA (CV 43), and the aircraft carrier USS CONSTELLATION (CV 64). (Substandard image)

These show good details– to include a mix of guns– on the Midway-class Coral Sea and Tarawa. Constellation, as a circa 1960s Kitty Hawk class flattop, was the first class of American fleet carriers going back to USS Langley (CV-1) in 1920, to not mount a single 5-incher.

The Midway class was originally designed to carry 18 long-barreled 5″/54 Mk 16 guns— originally designed for the Montana class battleships– along with a slew of 40mm (21 quad) and 20mm (28 twin) guns.

Coral Sea was seen with her 1947-57 14-gun 5-inch fit, via USS Coral Sea assoc. https://www.usscoralsea.net/shipsweapons.php

They subsequently downgraded by 1960 to just 10 5″/54s, four on the port side and six on the starboard side, while their smaller guns had been replaced by 11 twin-3-inch mountings in place of the former quadruple 40 mm mountings. This was dropped to just six 5″/54s by January 1960 and only three after 1966. Coral Sea and Midway lost their last 5-inchers in 1979/80 to pick up CIWS while middle sister FDR had already been retired by then.

For the record, the first Langley carried four 5″/51s in open mounts during her “covered wagon” period of carrier ops, the mighty USS Lexington (CV-2) and Saratoga (CV-3) toted eight heavy cruiser-worthy 8″/55 guns along with dozen 5″/25s, Ranger (CV-4) had eight 5″/25s, the three Yorktowns and the one-off USS Wasp (CV-7) had eight 5″/38 DPs, and the 24 Essex class fleet carriers had eight 5″/38s in twin turrets and another four in single open mounts.

USS Lexington (CV-2) showing off just a portion of her impressive gun fit. Both Lex and Sara would land their 8-inchers in 1942, with the Army going on to use them for coastal defense around Hawaii

While the Independence and Saipan-class light carriers had to make do with smaller guns, every one of the assorted escort carrier classes (Long Island, Charger, Bogue, Sangamon, Casablanca, and Commencement Bay) carried at least one or two 5-inch guns, with USS Kalinin Bay and White Plains credited with scoring hits on pursuing Japanese heavy cruisers off Samar in October 1944.

Testing 5-inch guns on the escort carrier USS Manila Bay (CVE 61) 3 November 1943. Note fuzed ready shells. 80-G-372778

So it made sense in the 1950s that the new Forrestal-class supercarriers carried eight new style Mk.42 5″/54 caliber mounts, the same style guns as in the Navy’s new DD and FF classes throughout the Cold War.

McDonnell F3H Demon on Forrestal-class USS Saratoga. Not the Mk 42 5 inch gun and S-2 Tracker.

A-3B Skywarrior coming aboard USS Independence note 5-inch guns on carrier

USS Ranger (CVA-61) test firing two of her eight 5-inch 54 Mark 42 guns during a practice drill in 1961.

Check out these 1960 profiles of Midway and Forrestal:

Of course, the Forrestals later had their troublesome 5-inchers removed in later updates, as did Midway and Coral Sea.

Coupled with the retirement of the Essexes (Oriskany still had two 5″/38s aboard when she was decommissioned in 1976), Tarawa and her sisters, which carried three 5″/54 Mk 45s in bow and starboard aft sponsons, were the last American “flattops” to carry such heavy seagoing artillery.

USS Tarawa with her bow 5-inch MK45 guns.

Even these were removed by 1997 to allow for better topside aircraft operations.

It was a good 77-year run.

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