Feldgrau.net

Well, Corsairs never encountered aerial opposition over Europe, but the Hellcat and Wildcat did. Hellcats (F6F-3) of #800 Squadron, Fleet Air Arm (HMS Emperor ), had a furball with some Bf-109Gs and Fw-190s over Norway on May 8, 1944, and scored two 109s and one 190 destroyed without loss. This was ...

... I saw the motion picture Patton with George C. Scott. I was wondering if that scene in the film where he told Omar Bradley about attacking Russia ... Begging your pardon, Ferret, but in that scene, Patton wasn't talking to Bradley on the phone, but to Gen. Walter Beedle Smith, Ike's chief-of-st...

One thing, though--how difficult was it to aim the guns when using schräge Musik? Were tracers needed for this?

Yours,
Paul

How is "Rudel" pronounced?

Roo-DELL?

Rood'l?

Rudd'l?

I've never heard it spoken in conversation; that's why I'm asking.

Thanks in advance.

Yours,
Paul

Apparently not, Fred. Bicycles just aren't "sexy" compared to things like Tiger tanks and Me-262s!

Yours,
Paul

Yeah, where? Do they also have one with the 11th Panzer's "Galloping Ghost"?

Yours,
Paul

I've looked at the photo again and again since I downloaded it, Grunt, and I swear, it doesn't look a thing like the number 6--it's a capital "G".

Yours,
Paul

OK; thanks, Sid. I looked it up in Military Small Arms of the World; maybe it was a good gun, but boy, it looks ugly--especially with that bipod. The MP-40 is, by comparison, a beautiful gun in its utilitarian simplicity.

Yours,
Paul

As an aside, Rolf Stoves, in his History of the 1st Panzer Division, says that the staff of I/Pz. Rgt. 1 and cadres from the 3rd, 4th, and 6th companies were used to form the 16th (motorized) Infantry Division's Panzer Abteilung 116 in the early spring of 1942.

Yours,
Paul

Now, that strikes me as a bit odd, Roger. How come the second battalion of the artillery regiment was the one converted to self-propelled? I would've thought that, in a panzer division's artillery regiment, the first battalion would've been the one fitted out with self-propelled guns like the Wespe ...

Thank you, Karl, for the link. Hmmmm ... it's clearly a Panzer II light tank, but those turret markings don't look like anything German that I've ever seen. It could be some kind of recovery mark painted on by a tank-recovery outfit. But they sure don't look like normal German tactical markings to m...

Well, yes, it would have to be a tank of Guderian's XIX Panzer Korps. And the number might be the manufacturer's serial number.

What kind of tank is it, K-pp?

Yours,
Paul

Y'know, thinking about the defeat of the American 36th Division by the 15th Panzergrenadier Division at the Rapido River, I'd have to say that to the soldiers on both sides, it was a major river crossing. You've undoubtedly seen the Joe&Willie cartoon by Bill Mauldin, where Willie says to Joe, &...

Sid, I've seen a photo, dated to the 1940 French campaign, of camo-clad SS troopers identified as being in the Totenkopf , and they were using a Czech ZB-26 light machine gun; the 7.92mm ancestor of the Bren. BTW, what's an MP-38(t)? I've never heard of a submachine gun by that designation. Got a li...

Michael, that King Tiger book I mentioned in my earlier posting said that SS Tiger Battalion 501, while still numbered "101", received its first King Tigers (Henschel-turreted) in late July or early August 1944. All 14 of them were lost in the big retreat from France. As you suggest, perha...