Military Analysis

Black Lady.

2012-02-01T20:28:00.001-06:00

This is coolbert:

Thanks to the tip from intelNews.org, the United States military, after a twenty year hiatus, returns to the Philippines, at least on a temporary basis?

1. "UPDATE 2-Philippines studying U.S. offer to deploy spy planes"

"MANILA, Jan 27 (Reuters) - The Philippines is considering a U.S. proposal to deploy surveillance aircraft on a temporary, rotating basis to enhance its ability to guard disputed areas in the South China Sea"

. . .

"plans to deploy more littoral combat ships and spy aircraft"

. . .

"both countries grapple with the growing assertiveness of China"

Please note that this article is from the African edition of Reuters, the energy and oil section. It is obvious what is at concern here is the Spratly Islands and contiguous waters as claimed by five nations [China, Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia, Philippines]. Those islands, the contiguous waters and continental shelf under which is thought contain vast deposits of oil and natural gas. So we are told. Disputed waters the United States of which at the exact moment seems to be the one party able to guarantee at least for the time being a neutrality and safe-passage for international water-borne trade and commerce

2. "U.S. may rely on aging U-2 spy planes longer than expected"

Spy planes what they call em'. The Black Lady of espionage as what was referred to by the Soviets. The U-2 reconnaissance/intelligence gathering aircraft. First missions flown in 1955, thirty three remaining airplanes in the inventory, repeatedly rebuilt, refurbished and renovated and still going strong almost sixty years later!!

Drones having proven to be too expensive and perhaps not as reliable, we can predict the U-2 having temporary basing in the Philippines, flying recce missions to monitor the military activities of those nations in dispute over the South China Sea, the sovereignty issues complex and multiple, unresolved now and for the foreseeable future.

"The Pentagon has proposed delaying a plan to replace the U-2s with RQ-4 Global Hawk drones"

"Since 1994, the Air Force said, at least $1.7 billion has been invested to modernize the U-2 airframe. These upgrades also include new engines, new cockpits and, of course, new cameras and sensors."

"Today, the U-2 is flying more missions and is involved in more operations than ever . . . Since 2003, the Air Force has flown more than 95,000 hours in the U-2 providing intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance."

More missions and operations than EVER!! Yeoman work for the Black Lady! Remarkable.

coolbert.

Pennsylvania & Arizona.

2012-01-31T23:20:00.000-06:00

This is coolbert:

Let it not be thought that the German alone during the Second World War [WW2] was the ONLY combatant to salvage guns from sunken warships for use as coastal artillery.

In the aftermath of Pearl Harbor and the sinking of the USS Arizona, the two aft [rearward] turrets and guns [3 large-bore guns per turret] wee salvaged from the stricken warship and converted into coastal artillery.

One firing unit per turret, these positions referred to as: Battery Pennsylvania and Battery Arizona.

Turrets and guns both salvaged, em placed into firing positions, the commanding positions per turret a small fort unto itself. Large-bore naval guns turned over to the U.S. Army coastal artillery branch and put to good use.

Replete with powder room, projectile room, power room, tracking and control room, etc.

A massive enterprise the bulk of which was underground the guns and turret the only element of which was above ground and visible.

"The aft main gun turrets [two of them] were removed and reinstalled as United States Army Coast Artillery Corps Battery Arizona at Kahe Point on the west coast of Oahu and Battery Pennsylvania on the Mokapu Peninsula, covering Kaneohe Bay . . . Battery Pennsylvania, fired its guns for the first and last time on V-J Day in August 1945 while training, while the nearby Battery Arizona was never completed.

"Constructed between 1943 and 1945, this underground coastal battery is located in the sea cliffs at Ulupa’u. During World War II, the battery housed a 14-inch gun turret salvaged from the rear of the USS Arizona"

One hundred years ago big-bore naval guns were an excellent means by which to judge the engineering expertise and technological capability of a nation. Those countries able to manufacture and mount on their warships big-bore guns of significant caliber considered world-class, all other nations NOT!!

"General - - Naval Guns are usually classified by 'caliber' (diameter of the bore), 'calibers' (length of the barrel described in multiples of the diameter of the bore)"

Those turrets and guns at that stage of the war more of a symbolic gesture than having real military value?

Coastal artillery once an important branch of the military now an anachronism gone forever?

coolbert.

Big Willie!

2012-01-30T12:06:00.001-06:00

This is coolbert:

"defense is the stronger form of combat" - - Clausewitz.

This observation was made with regard originally to ground warfare, armies pitted against armies in the Napoleonic style.

Defense generally as a rule easier to do, you can accomplish more with less!

From the Second World War [WW2] we have another instance of where this particular observation of Clausewitz is demonstrably seen to be so!

From that web site dealing with the scuttling of the French fleet at Toulon:

"Two of the turrets from the scuttled battleship Provence were later removed and used in a fortification at Saint-Mandrier-sur-Mer, guarding the approaches to Toulon. Mounting four 340mm [13 inch] guns, in 1944 this fortification duelled with numerous Allied battleships for over a week before being silenced."

This sounds like "Guns of Navarone" type stuff!

Large bore naval guns taken off a scuttled and sunk battleship and used as coastal artillery. Formidable and difficult targets to eliminate!

"In World War II, Saint-Mandrier was fortified with two turrets, each mounting a pair of 340mm naval guns taken the French battleship Provence. This fortress controlled the approaches to Toulon, and the range and power of these guns was such that a considerable Allied naval force was required to destroy them . . .The Allies termed the battery 'Big Willie', and dedicated a battleship or heavy cruiser to shelling it every day."

Clausewitz was correct "defense is the stronger form of combat" and "Willie" proves that this is so?

"It was long held as a general rule of thumb, that one shore-based gun equalled three naval guns of the same caliber, due to the steadiness of the coastal gun which allowed for significantly higher accuracy than their sea-mounted counterparts. Land-based guns also benefited in most cases from the additional protection of walls or earth mounds."

It would be interesting to know if those recovered and salvaged guns were removed guns and turret both or merely the guns. That turret [if present] mounted to a concrete emplacement the bulk of which was underground. Perhaps even sections of unused railroad track cut to size and welded to the turret as additional reinforcement!

coolbert.

Scuttle!

2012-01-29T16:38:00.001-06:00

This is coolbert:

From the core.com headlines of today we have this item regarding the capsized [only partially so] cruise ship:

"Up to 10 months to remove capsized cruise ship"

"GIGLIO, Italy (AP) — The cruise ship that capsized off Italy's coast will take up to 10 months to remove"

"Removed" meaning either righted and re floated or broken into bits for scrap. There is a well-worked out methodology for all this? First plug the holes in the hull of the ship, pump out the water, inject air into those compartments still flooded and the ship can be "righted' and made sea-worthy, towed away to a more secure and convenient location!

[this is all predicated on that cruise ship not slipping into deeper waters. The cruise ship as we speak slowly but surely sliding into deeper waters! Someone has to act fast here!]

A methodology as worked out in detail from two previous incidents, scuttled warships in both cases raised from the bottom in a similar manner, sold for scrap.

1. The raising from the bottom and selling for scrap the German High Seas fleet as scuttled at Scapa Flow, in the aftermath of World War One.

"Cox's [Ernest Cox entrepreneur] company eventually raised 26 destroyers, two battlecruisers and five battleships."

2. The French fleet as scuttled at Toulon [World War Two] to some extent a number of ships raised from the bottom and made seaworthy again in some cases or sold for scrap!

"Most of the cruisers were salvaged by the Italians, either to restore them as fighting ships or for scrap."

The Marseillaise after scuttling.

The intuitive reaction is that such a ponderously large steel vessels such as they cruise liners and warships when sunk are irreparably gone but this is not the case. NOT ONLY NOT the case but there existing for some time now the means and methods to "right", make sea-worthy and bring back into business a sunken ship of such size. YES!

coolbert.

Codebooks!

2012-01-28T14:28:00.002-06:00

This is coolbert:

"Washington, July 15, 1863."

"To W. G. Fuller Memphis, Tenn.:

Clara McClellan applause query spare safe occupied for present sufficiently your forces prentiss if the world valley the render have caught bear line you to he hard chorus to all in zebras run if the can operate wafers lean towards on send wiley blubber up.

T. T. Eckert."

Code books have been found! After one hundred and fifty years!

This is noteworthy. Has a historical significance that cannot be denied.

From a recent edition of the Chicago Tribune:

"Union code books surface, bit too late for Johnny Reb"

"California institution acquires secret messages from Lincoln"

NOT ONLY the secret messages as sent by President Lincoln SECURE to his subordinates but the basic code book[s] used to encrypt/decrypt the messages!

From the family collection of Thomas Eckert: "a pioneering telegraph operator who ran the U.S. military's telegraph office at the War Department in Washington D.C. from 1863 to 1867."

"LOS ANGELES - - A long-unknown, 150-year-old trove of handwritten ledgers and calfskin-covered code books, which give a potentially revelatory glimpse in . . . the day-to-day exchanges between Abraham Lincoln and his generals . . . now belongs to a California research institution."

That American Civil War being considered to be the FIRST modern war, replete with the use of technology, including Morse telegraphy, allowing for the simultaneous and coordinated maneuver of troops at distance from one another. Messages secured on the Union side with an ad hoc system a route transposition cipher with embedded code, entire words transposed as opposed to the common practice of transposing ONLY individual letters. [thanks in all instances for the message traffic to the W.G. Barker and his editing of the book: "The History of Codes and Ciphers in the United States Prior to World War One"

See my prior blog entry regarding other long-lost secret messages from the American Civil War and their recent decryption.

And as for the secret message as sent by Eckert to Fuller the decryption reads:

"Washington, 10:30 A.M., July 15, 1863."

"For General S.A. Hurlbut, Memphis, Tenn.:

If General W. T. Sherman's movements have sufficiently occupied the enemy to render your line safe, send all the forces you can spare to Brig. General Prentiss to operate on Price's rear if he advances toward Missouri.

H. W. Halleck Major General"

Sophistication and security adequate for the purpose AS IT WAS AT THE TIME. Those Union cryptographers of the period able to frustrate and flummox adversaries totally impervious to the efforts of Confederate eavesdroppers!

coolbert.

Probability?

2012-01-27T23:30:00.000-06:00

This is coolbert:

Thanks to Mike through Colonel Craig I have some extracts from a recent briefing as given by retired American general officer Barry McCaffrey to "NBC Executives and Producers".

"IRAN, NUKES, & OIL: THE GULF CONFRONTATION"

That confrontation a result of embargoes and restrictive practices placed on the Iranian hoping to coerce the government in Tehran to abandon nuclear weapon ambitions. Confrontation resulting in tenseness with the threat of escalating violence and WAR a prospect!

With KEY points:

* "15% probability of major military action in the coming 90 days."

That Strait of Hormuz and key choke point, a very big percentage of world-wide exported oil passing though that exit/entrance to the Persian Gulf narrow BUT even more so the two main shipping channels as used by those super-tankers more congested and constricted in a way that is extremely hazardous.

* "21 miles wide through [the] narrowest part of Strait of Hormuz."

* "Two parallel shipping lanes each 2 miles wide in the Strait."

General McCaffrey of the opinion that the Iranian threat more potent and capable that generally thought.

* "Bottom Line: This Naval Force [Iranian] can close the Gulf. They could sink a US carrier in the Gulf narrow waterway."

* "Bottom Line: [American forces] Capable of destroying Iranian air and naval power and nuclear facilities in a six month campaign."

"The Gulf Confrontation: Conclusions"

* "Iran will not for any reason forsake its nuclear ambitions."

* "There is a significant chance of Iranian miscalculation resulting in major military confrontation in the Gulf in the coming 12 months."

And also:

"2012 National Security Challenges to America"

"#1 RISK -- WITHDRAWAL FROM AFGHANISTAN"

* 150,000 US/NATO forces 870 miles from the open sea.

* Pakistan transit essential to logistics survival of the force.

[at one time 70 % of all U.S./NATO logistics passing through the Karachi/Khyber Pass route. Dependence on that route by now has been ameliorated?]

Comments:

* Once you have told the Iranian they cannot have nuclear weapons you must be ready to act forcefully and with resolve if needed. And the more you tell the Iranian they CANNOT HAVE NUCLEAR WEAPONS YOU MAKE THEM EVEN MORE DESIROUS TO POSSESS SAME?

* A good general always plans for a line of retreat? And where exactly is that line of retreat in Afghan? American/NATO forces would have to fight their way out if the situation goes from bad to worse and doing so in the proverbial heartbeat. Recall the infamous retreat of the British army Christmas 1842. 18,000 English troops and camp followers attempting to make the ninety mile trek from Kabul to the Khyber Pass and safety - - ONLY ONE TROOP TOTAL ABLE TO SUCCESSFULLY EXTRICATE FROM PERIL!!

And thank you General McCaffrey!

coolbert.

Prophylaxis!

2012-01-27T22:31:00.000-06:00

This is coolbert:

The American military administering medical prophylactics to the troops. As is lawful, medical treatment that a soldier cannot legally refused.

From the Chicago Tribune today:

"Against war's backdrop, Army aims to strengthen minds"

Medical treatment, preventative care prior to combat and post-combat, given to prevent post traumatic stress syndrome. PTSD and prevent same.

This is the Comprehensive Soldier Fitness program [CSF].

"The $125 million comprehensive Soldier Fitness program requires soldiers to undergo the kind of mental predeployment tests and training that they have always have had to undergo physically.

Medical fitness now not limited merely to physical aches and pain but mental as well!!

A program most interestingly so being administered by a troop who we have last heard of from over twenty years ago now during the First Gulf War.

Brigadier General office Rhonda Cornum! A medical doctor, a physician by trade badly wounded and captured by the Iraqi, RAPED! Two broken arms, an injured eye, and then RAPE!

Continuing with her military career most successfully so, a soldier, a medical officer or repute and now accomplishment of which she can be most proud.

"Cornum has been deployed to lead the military's new mental fitness program. it is a designed to prepare soldiers for the psychic trauma of war and its aftermath"

Perhaps no person in the military is better qualified and suited to administer and head the CSF program? General Connum has my utmost respect and admiration. Good going Rhonda!

coolbert.

De-Housing!

2012-01-26T18:52:00.001-06:00

This is coolbert:

That strategic allied bombing offensive of the Second World War [WW2], controversial as it has become in hindsight, thought to have been NOT as effective as desired.

Area bombardment of the Royal Air Force [RAF], the obliteration by firestorm of significant portions of German cities, the intent with almost a malicious intent to deprive the German worker housing. De-housing disruptive to the industrial output and war munitions production vital to the Nazi war effort.

"Lord Cherwell's [Professor Frederick Lindemann] . . advocated attacking major industrial centres in order to destroy as many homes and houses as possible (dehousing). Working-class housing areas were to be targeted because they had a higher density and firestorms were more likely. This would displace the German workforce and disrupt and reduce their ability to work."

Indeed, such was the effort to destroy housing and the quarters of the German worker, special protocols and a malevolently wicked methodology was worked out to exacerbate the bombing, create conditions most conductive to the firestorm, escalating destruction to an unprecedented scale!!

"The bombers tried out what became the standard pattern for attacking a city: flares were dropped to mark the target, then 4,000 pound high-explosive 'cookies' were used to blast open doors and windows, accompanied by incendiaries to create huge fires."

De-housing without killing the workers evidently an effective technique, German workers, presumably highly skilled and important to industry, fleeing the cities for the countryside and relative safety in numbers!!

From the book: "The Storm of War: A New History of the Second World War By Andrew Roberts"

"De-housing certainly had an effect on Germany's industrial production because, as one study has concluded in many cases after a raid workers did not turn up for work as they were either looking after their families, or physically could not reach their workplaces. many left the devastated city for the countryside whee food was more available and stayed with relatives."

"In the BMW factory in Munich, for example, some 20 % of the workforce were absent in the summer of 1944, and in the same years absenteeism rose to 25 % in the Ford plant in Cologne and the Ruhr."

One person instrumental in developing the various techniques for night-time area bombing the much decorated and very brave RAF pilot and commander Leonard Cheshire VC. Leonard post-war noted for his philanthropic and charitable endeavors, Cheshire VOTED ONE OF THE FIFTY MOST ADMIRED ENGLISH OF ALL TIME!!

"Leonard Cheshire VC is one of the most outstanding of all RAF Bomber Pilots. He devised the master bomber technique - flying low over the target marking with flares, allowing the main force to pinpoint the target in the darkness."

That work force reduction of skilled labor being reduced by such percentages [20 % % 25 %] undoubtedly very damaging to war production! Factories even if unscathed not able to function as normal your laborers having taken "to their heels" and with good reason.

The Second World War [WW2] was the first instance of where civilian casualties outnumbered the number of battlefield dead and this being so in a conscious and overt effort carefully and coolly calculated !

The "Storm of War" is better entitled "The Fire-storm of War"?

coolbert.

Panacea.

2012-01-24T23:48:00.002-06:00

This is coolbert:

"pan·a·ce·a - - noun 1. a remedy for all disease or ills; cure-all.

2. an answer or solution for all problems or difficulties"

Here with my own listing of panacea targets. That name "panacea" as attributed to Sir Arthur "Bomber" Harris of the Royal Air Force [RAF]. A panacea target being an objective the destruction of which would either curtail or severely inhibit the war-making ability of a nation! Curtail or severely inhibit "war-making" to such an extent that the adversary would cry "uncle" and ask for negotiations or terms!

"un·cle Idiom 7. Informal . to concede defeat"

This listing not of course considered to be totally inclusive by any means. Merely scratching the surface.

From the Great War [WW1]:

* Scandinavian pit prop timbers.

Interdiction of Scandinavian pit prop timbers being a major mission for the German submarine force, if and when unrestricted submarine warfare had been declared and authorized. NO pit prop timbers for shoring the coal mines, NO steam coal for the British navy, the Grand Fleet rendered inactive and idle, English acquiescence to German authority and demands guaranteed.

From the Second World War [WW2]:

* The ball bearing factories of Schweinfurt.

* The Ploesti oil fields.

* The hydro-electric dams of the Italian Tyrol.

* The two main electric-generating power plants of the western Soviet Union.

Comments:

* These panacea targets even when struck the "bother" perhaps not even worth the effort? Within a short time, production for the most part restored, the enemy alerted, able to disperse production facilities in a manner ameliorating further attack.

* The German during the Second World War [WW2] was VERY GOOD at restoring capability even when targets extensively damaged? Those railroad marshaling yards at Dresden within a period of two days back up and in working order nearly 100 % restored.

* Those "hydro-electric dams of the Italian Tyrol" proposed as a target for the First Special Service Force ["Devil's Brigade"].

* A modified Fw-190 "Mistrel" glide-bomb carrying the LARGEST SHAPED CHARGE EVER DEVISED proposed for an attack on the two Soviet power plants supplying 75 % of the electricity to the war munitions plants of the western Soviet Union!

* Considerations regarding Ploesti meriting an entire blog entry unto itself!

Devoted and knowledgeable readers to the blog can suggest more panacea targets? From any conflict and any point in time. Please let me hear from you!

coolbert

"Annie".

2012-01-24T23:15:00.000-06:00

This is coolbert:

Thanks to the mamalisa web site we have the lyrics to the famous Japanese song "sakura sakura":

"noyama mo sato mo
mi-watasu kagiri
kasumi ka kumo ka
asahi ni niou
sakura sakura
hanazakari
sakura sakura
yayoi no sorawa
mi-watasu kagiri
kasumi ka kumo ka
nioi zo izuru
izaya izaya
mini yukan"

"Cherry blossoms, cherry blossoms,
On Meadow-hills and mountains
As far as you can see.
Is it a mist, or clouds?
Fragrant in the morning sun.
Cherry blossoms, cherry blossoms,
Flowers in full bloom.
Cherry blossoms, cherry blossoms,
Across the Spring sky,
As far as you can see.
Is it a mist, or clouds?
Fragrant in the air.
Come now, come now,
Let’s look, at last!"

Cherry Blossoms. The Cherry Blossom Squadron. The Japanese kamikaze! Young men of valor falling to their death at the very height of their beauty and splendor!! As with the cherry blossom so with the Japanese youth during the Second World War [WW2]!

During the early 1970's too that Japanese song, "Sakura Sakura" also the theme song for the "Sakura Hour" Japanese language Chicago area FM ethnic radio broadcast Sunday evenings. And as hosted by Iva D'Aquino. Better known to the world as Iva Toguri. Also known infamously as Tokyo Rose. Iva claiming she was coerced to make the propaganda broadcasts for the Japanese militarists, calling herself "Annie" at the time, her female taunting voice only one of several as heard by American servicemen in the Pacific theatre during WW2.

Iva repatriated to the United States in the aftermath of the war, serving a prison sentence [later pardoned by President Ford], "Annie" the voice of which once again heard on the radio, that Japanese import trinket shop as run by Iva doing quite well for decades, Iva leading your average-everyday middle class American life as if nothing out of the ordinary had ever happened.

That choice of theme song for the "Sakura" hour and as chosen by Iva [?] the significance of which was not mere coincidence? I leave the devoted reader to the blog to make their own judgement. I am seeing something that is not there?

coolbert.

Sacred!

2012-01-21T22:32:00.002-06:00

This is coolbert:

Indeed, most surprisingly so, the accounts and histories of the ancients are to be more preferred with regard to truthfulness and veracity when compared to the learned and scholarly "works" of the modern military historian?

Can this be so?

I am particularly thinking of Plutarch and his "Life of Pelopidas"! Describing the battlefield in the aftermath of Chaeronea [338 B.C.] that number of the Sacred Band of Thebes found slain vanquished in battle carefully enumerated with an exactness only many thousands of years later confirmed by an archaeological dig.

That Sacred Band of Thebes the most elite soldiers of the Theban city-state, devoted to one another, a shock troop battalion that could always be counted on in combat, having a code of honor that did not allow for retreat on the battlefield, defeated by the Macedonian army of Philip, every last man a casualty, killed or captured.

"Sacred Band of Thebes - - The Sacred Band of Thebes . . . was a troop of picked soldiers, consisting of 150 male couples which formed the elite force of the Theban army in the 4th century BC. . . . It was annihilated by Philip II of Macedon in the Battle of Chaeronea in 338 BC."

[in the ancient world there were two major cities named Thebes and not to be confused. One in Egypt and one in Greece. NOT one and the same!]

The Sacred Band three hundred men strong, standing their ground to the last, receiving proper burial with due honor, not stripped of armor and weaponry as was the normal case.

That mass grave containing the bodies of the Sacred Band, when exhumed, found to contain the remains and armor of those killed at Chaeronea, the total number of those buried very closely in accord with the account of Plutarch!

"Although Plutarch claims that all three hundred of the Band's warriors died that day, excavation of the burial site at the Lion Monument in 1890 turned up 254 skeletons, arranged in seven rows."

"it was only in 1881 that the archaeologist’s spade revealed it to modern eyes, a physical proof of the ancients’ accounts . . . there lay still the neatly arranged graves . . . [with] the shields of the Sacred Band, each inscribed with the name of the bearer . . . Not only do these shields identify their owners as Theban soldiers, but from this derives conclusive archaeological corroboration of the account of Plutarch."

Plutarch not 100 % correct but in large measure so, his history having been confirmed by modern archaeology! The example of the Sacred Band is just one many from ancient times many more existing "archaeological corroboration" only needed!

coolbert.

Cherry Blossoms.

2012-01-20T22:18:00.001-06:00

This is coolbert:

From the web site: "World War II: Eighth Air Force Raid on Schweinfurt"

"The punishment being meted out was not always one-sided, however. Fortress [B-17] gunners claimed 186 aircraft [German] shot down, although German documents reviewed after the war placed their losses at approximately 40. Some over claiming by gunners was inevitable, since several gunners within a combat 'box'of bombers would fire on the same plane."

Exaggerated claims of the American B-17 Flying Fortress gunners that should not however be thought of as lies, propaganda or outrageous falsehood. Everything happening so fast with multiple gunners engaging simultaneously the same aircraft from different angles and this occurring over and over the human mind not able to keep track of events in a manner conducive to tabulating a final accurate "tally"! American B-17 gunners at Schweinfurt NOT fabulists [tellers of tall tales!]

From an authority whose judgement I trust we have this response:

"If a German fighter sped through a B-17 or B-24 bomber 'box' formation from the top, at least a couple dozen bomber gunners would be firing at it. And maybe an American escort fighter was following it down when it passed through the formation. When and if it was hit and seen to be going down, there would be dozens of claims for the same "

Perceived and outrageous claims of enemy tanks destroyed, ships sunk, planes shot down during World War Two [WW2] were more the rule than the exception.

Indeed, the only instance [?] in modern warfare of where actual combat results exceeded claims was the Japanese kamikaze attacks on the American fleet as experienced in the latter months of WW2. Ships DAMAGED the total of which in reality was GREATER than that tally as claimed by the Japanese!! Important here to differentiate between ships DAMAGED as opposed to those ships SUNK!

From the web site: "Operation Iceberg - Okinawa Invasion"

"All kamikaze operations beginning with Leyte Gulf and ending at Okinawa had actually sunk 34 American ships, although official claims were made for 81; 288 had been damaged, claims were made for 195."

[that figure of 34 American ships sunk disputed even by American authorities, depending upon your definition of kamikaze attack and a careful understanding of that term and word "sunk"!]

Cherry blossoms of course those young Japanese men dedicated to the kamikaze mission, seen as persons in the prime of youth and beauty, falling from the sky and dying at the height of their perfection, as indeed for the cherry blossom as well!!

Understand it to be so and appreciate it!

coolbert.

Schweinfurt.

2012-01-18T19:11:00.002-06:00

This is coolbert:

From a comment to the blog by Steiner:

"the Soviet willingness to accept astonishing combat losses, that would have halted a British or American campaign, such as after the Schweinfurt raids."

Steiner is speaking of the American long-raid B-17 bombing missions against the ball-bearing factories of the Third Reich concentrated near the city of Schweinfurt. Massed formations of unescorted B-17 Flying Fortress bomber aircraft reliant upon their own organic weaponry shot down in enormous numbers, almost catastrophic in nature, AFTER THE TWO RAIDS ON SCHWEINFURT THE AMERICAN ARMY AIR CORPS HEAVY BOMBER FORCE UNABLE TO TAKE TO THE SKIES IN SUCH NUMBERS FOR A PERIOD OF FIVE MONTHS!!

Those ball-bearing factories at Schweinfurt felt to be a industrial key target the destruction of which would severely cripple German war munitions industry to such an extent that the Nazi adversary would be forced in short order to cry: "uncle" and surrender.

NO ball bearings, NO more war munitions, tanks, aircraft, any vehicle containing an internal combustion engine come to a stand-still. Such was the thought.

"1940s-era German machinery was believed to be more dependent on ball bearings than most. It was estimated, for example, that the German aviation industry consumed an average of 2.4 million bearings per month . . . Schweinfurt accounting for more than 40 percent of production, made . . . Schweinfurt in particular an obvious target."

Targets such as the ball-bearing factories dismissively described by the English commander Arthur Harris as "panacea targets"!

From the book by Andrew Roberts:

"The Storm of War: A New History of the Second World War" - - By Andrew Roberts

"Harris tended to decry precision attacks on individual industries such as ball-bearing or synthetic-oil factories as favored by the Americans dismissing them as 'panacea targets'"

That two day-light missions to Schweinfurt as flown by the massed heavy bomber formations sustaining heavy losses, unacceptable casualties the losses not producing a result commensurate with the damage done!!

German defenses, in particular the air interceptors/fighters and other assorted aircraft frenetic and almost overwhelming in nature, THE GERMAN USING TECHNIQUES AND METHODS PREVIOUSLY NEVER ENCOUNTERED SUCH WAS THE INTENSITY OF THE AIR BATTLE!!

That intensity of the German to protect that vital target [the ball-bearing factories] without precedent. Almost fevered by comparison with any other air-to-air battle up unto that point!!

"the Luftwaffe began to ferociously attack the bombers. Single-engine Focke-Wulf 190s and Messerschmitt 109s came directly at the formations, firing their 20-millimeter cannons and machine guns and twin-engine Messerschmitt 110s and 210s would stay beyond the range of the bomber’s guns and shoot crude rockets into the formations. Also in the fight were Junkers 88s, primarily used as night fighters by the Germans, and Junkers 87s, which were fixed-landing gear dive bombers that would climb above the Allied formations and drop time-fused bombs down among the B-17s."

“We were briefed to be met by about five hundred enemy fighters of various sorts. It turned out to be about seven hundred . . . Fighters, usually twin-engine, lined up at beyond our gun range and began launching rockets that appeared to be like a telephone pole as they passed by us and exploded. Some enemy aircraft flew above us towing bombs on long cables hoping to entangle the cable on a Flying Fortress."

More than anything else, those "time-fused bombs" and towed bombs were intended to cause the aircraft of the B-17 combat box to break formation? Bombs at the end of cables resembling a flying barrage balloon?

From an authority whose expertise in such matters we can trust we have this comment:

"I've heard of the plane with a bomb on cable, but don't know how you'd get that off the ground. No cable would be long enough to protect the plane from getting hit with its own bomb blast though. As for the Stuka story, I can't say whether it is true or not, but I think its altitude restrictions, coupled with its very slow speed, would severely limit its usefulness in such a role."

Again, the purpose of these means and methods was more or less to cause panic among those pilots of a B-17 combat box and have them break formation, susceptibility to subsequent shoot-down by German interceptors that much greater then?

Those Flying Fortresses too were attacked en route to the target and during the return too. Losses versus gains was found to be unsustainable, American commanders having to re-think their tactics and doctrine, AND MOST OF ALL WAIT FOR THE ARRIVAL OF THE LONG-RANGE ESCORT FIGHTER, THE P-51!

coolbert.

Timber & Shoring.

2012-01-15T22:15:00.000-06:00

This is coolbert:

First from a recent prior blog entry:

"Refueling the British fleet during WWI was a huge logistical headache. It demanded thousands of trainloads of coal be sent weekly to northernmost Scotland. From there it was transshipped to the Orkneys by barge and collier, where it once again it had to be laboriously bagged, shoveled, and lifted by cargo booms and cranes into the vessels of the Grand Fleet in its anchorage at Scapa Flow . . . Coal mining was a major sector of the economy in Britain and other industrial countries of the time. In just one mining area, South Wales -- home of Welsh steam coal, or anthracite --, there were 250,000 miners who produced 57 million tons of coal in 1913 . . ."

["steam coal" that fuel must suitable for coal-fired boilers of railroad locomotives and warships! NOT necessarily hard rock anthracite but a form of bituminous coal valued for the quality!]

That British Grand Fleet during the Great War even while at anchorage and idle requiring an enormous quantity of coal the production and transportation of which carried out by an industrial mass production assembly line operation of prodigious size, the beehive activity of an army of men [civilians] essential. Mining, railroad, ferrying, all labor intensive and time consuming but an ABSOLUTE MUST! NO COAL NO FLEET SAILING!!

[those coal-fired boilers of the warships again, even while at anchorage consuming coal on a continuous basis, the fires never extinguished, the boilers kept stoked at all times!!]

Also from a much prior Military Thoughts blog entry, German unrestricted submarine warfare as begun in 1917 based upon basic assumptions to include:

* "Second. 'A modern economy was a masterpiece of precision machinery; if it is once thrown into disorder, malfunctions, friction, and breakage will set in motion without end.'"

* "Sixth. 'the Germans were mesmerized with British coal production in general and reliance on Scandinavian pit-prop timber (Grubenholz) in particular.'"

[these are the timbers, cut to size, used to hold up the sides a coal mine. The tunnels and the pit caves themselves are held up by what is called "shoring". Timbers placed at intervals that prevent the mine from collapsing on itself. It seems England was dependent on Scandinavian timber for this purpose!!]

Impede by unrestricted submarine warfare that constant flow of Scandanavian pit-prop timbers and English industry slowly but surely would come to a halt? NO timbers - - NO coal - - NO fleet sailing!! Such was the thought among those most senior German naval commanders.

That absolute dependence upon imported pit-prop timber an assumption that WAS NOT valid:

"Sixth. 'Holtzendorff's and Ludendorff's curious calculations about Scandinavian pit-prop timber for British mines failed to hold.'"

[Timber was made more available for mining by restricting the use in other industries. Imported timber was not so crucial!!]

German assumptions not totally invalid, however there being indeed a "work-around" when imported timber denied! Measures and steps taken by the British to continue the mining process unabated, coal for the fleet and other essential industry still abundant, unrestricted submarine warfare notwithstanding!!

coolbert.

Futurist.

2012-01-14T20:27:00.000-06:00

This is coolbert:

Thanks to the BBC the predictions of a futurist from the year 1900 examined for correctness. How many predictions right, how many not!

"Ten 100-year predictions that came true"

"In 1900, an American civil engineer called John Elfreth Watkins made a number of predictions about what the world would be like in 2000. How did he do?"

"10 predictions that Watkins got right..."

ONLY ONE OF THE TEN PREDICTIONS HAVING A MILITARY DIMENSION!

8. Tanks.

"Huge forts on wheels will dash across open spaces at the speed of express trains of today."

"Leonardo da Vinci had talked about this, says Nilsson, but Watkins was taking it further. There weren't many people that far-sighted."

The automobile as powered by the internal combustion engine was not even invented until 1898. And the tank of course as understood was not invented until the time of the Great War [1914]. Those tanks of that era ponderous and cumbersome and subject to repeated and almost inevitable breakdown and that is not counting vehicles out-of-action due to enemy fire!

[each and every tank as deployed by the British had embedded among the crew a mechanic whose sole purpose was to maintain the engine and keep the vehicle in working order!]

It was not until the invention of the Christie suspension [1928?] that the tank as we know it today became a military combat vehicle of versatility, much greater reliability and deadliness.

Such is the wear and tear on a modern tank, moving cross-country in rugged terrain and having to operate under conditions much less than favorable, that even with modern technology, the tank is normally CARRIED to the battlefield on the back of a "low boy" type transporter.

As with almost all of these futurists, Watkins was right some of the time, wrong quite often too. This listing by the BBC is merely of those predictions correct and what is called the "top ten".

coolbert.

Four Square.

2012-01-13T22:23:00.000-06:00

This is coolbert:

That U.S. military use in Iraq of police forensic science techniques is not without precedent! Originally I had thought this to be an American invention and innovation - - applicable to the low-intensity conflict.

But I am wrong.

The use of a variety of police forensic techniques useful in ferreting out those insurgents and terrorists hiding among the civilian population. Techniques to include:

* Swab hands of suspects for gunshot residue [GSR].
* Examine clothes in a similar manner for explosive residue.
* Autopsies.
* Fingerprints and DNA samples.

Means, methods, techniques, forensics to combat the terrorist/insurgent threat as done over thirty years ago by the British military intelligence in Northern Ireland. Police forensics having a military application NOT an American invention!

This was called Four Square Laundry.

A conventional laundry van operating undercover at the behest of British army intelligence, collecting clothing for cleaning and wash at a discount rate - - that clothing examined for gunshot and explosive residue, blood, etc.

"One spying method was the Four Square Laundry, a van which toured west Belfast housing estates offering a discount washing service. Clothes were tested for traces of explosives and gun powder, while two soldiers in the van's false roof space took photographs of suspects."

"The laundry initially gathered clientele by offering 'discount vouchers' (colour-coded by street), which offered a significant discount on laundry services . . . "

"Clothes collected for washing were first analyzed by intelligence operatives. They were forensically checked for traces of explosives, as well as blood or firearms residue; they were also compared to previous laundry loads from the same residence—the sudden presence of different-sized clothes could indicate that the house was harboring an IRA member."

Four Square was a legitimate business with the "embedded" military intelligence laundry van operating undercover, perhaps even without the knowledge of those civilian employees of Four Square.

That use of discount vouchers offers the prey a bait that cannot be refused. WHO does not want and appreciate cut-rate service?

The English prefer and use with proficiency the subtle and clever approach to warfare, especially that type of low-intensity conflict, the insurgency/guerrilla type of combat as was seen in Northern Ireland. The British are master practitioners of this type of combat!

coolbert.

Coal III.

2012-01-13T19:08:00.001-06:00

This is coolbert:

Coal - - conclusion.

Black Gang!!

Here with extracts from the Internet web site: "The Engine Room". That "Black Gang", those men serving in the very interior of the warships of the time, shoveling coal to fed the fires of the boilers as powering the pre-Dreadnought and Dreadnought ships of the line in that period prior to and during the Great War.

Copied more or less with entirety, the eloquence as expressed far exceeding my inadequate and feeble capacity:

"For the coal-burning navies of the world, the management of the fuel below decks and the generating of steam would now revert to the 'Black Gang,' the coal-dust streaked stokers and trimmers who would manage the coal's storage, deliver it from bunker to stokehold and, with well-aimed shovel strokes, spread the fuel over the glowing aggregate in the ship's furnaces. In the lofty firerooms the great boilers loomed over infernally lit rows of furnace doors, an effect completely lost in early flash photos but nicely captured in this magazine illustration. Nor should we neglect mention of the water tenders, who kept an eagle eye on the water gauges of each boiler, feeding in just enough specially processed feedwater to optimize the production of steam while keeping the boiler temperature from reaching dangerous heights . . . The marine steam plant was a cooperative effort, an industrial operation of some complexity; but one that in the end rested on the brawn and brains of the firemen themselves."

A vision of Hades and Hell on earth with good reason referred to as "infernally lit" but absolutely essential to warships of the time!!

"Depending on the need for steam, the stokers were cued by annunciator bells set in the engine room; they were slaves to the signals of Kilroy's Patent Stoking Indicator as surely as the galley slaves had been to the timekeeper's drum. It was hellish, back-breaking work and the stokers, shunned by 'society' on shipboard and ashore, formed their own hard-bitten in-group. With the impressive physiques built up by their profession, they were renowned pugilists. A number became boxing champions in the Royal Navy and the Russian and Austrian fleets, known for their earthy approach . . ."

As with the galley slaves of yore so it was with the stoker. Men of "impressive physiques" more than twice as strong as a modern man pound for pound, persons of that era accustomed to hard physical labor, shoveling coal or chopping and sawing wood a daily backbreaking but necessary chore!!

"Yet without the strong backs and burly muscles of the stokers, none of the fleets of the day could have sailed. And in the hour of need, their efforts were apparent even above decks. At the Battle of Santiago, the flagship USS Brooklyn was described bounding through the billows at unprecedented speed, throwing up a triple bow wave and shooting jets of flame from her stacks. Nor is this the only example of the Black Gang making a signal contribution to military victory."

Black-gang not only feeding the fire but also tending the fire in a carefully measured manner for greatest efficiency, hot burning, maximum steam pressure, etc. Maintain that ships speed was as much an "art form" as a science and engineering task!!

"Refueling the British fleet during WWI was a huge logistical headache. It demanded thousands of trainloads of coal be sent weekly to northernmost Scotland. From there it was transshipped to the Orkneys by barge and collier, where it once again it had to be laboriously bagged, shoveled, and lifted by cargo booms and cranes into the vessels of the Grand Fleet in its anchorage at Scapa Flow. During the lengthy spells of enforced inactivity at the base, coaling fleet perversely became one of the breaks in the monotony. Coal mining was a major sector of the economy in Britain and other industrial countries of the time. In just one mining area, South Wales -- home of Welsh steam coal, or anthracite --, there were 250,000 miners who produced 57 million tons of coal in 1913 . . ."

That hard rock anthracite coal, the most precious and least abundant type of the mineral, highly sought after and in dire supply. Those rated speeds of the pre-Dreadnought and Dreadnought class of warships only possible when fueled on a continual basis by the highest quality of coal, hard rock anthracite [Welsh "anthracite" (actually a hard bituminous coal, rather than a true anthracite.]!!

No "Black Gang", no miners, no mass assembly line by-the-numbers industrialized operation both military and civilian working at all time with top efficiency and the Grand Fleet or any other fleet of the time just would not sail!!

coolbert.

Coal II.

2012-01-13T19:07:00.001-06:00

This is coolbert:

Coal - - USA!

Think NOT it was only the British that maintained a whole series of world-wide coaling stations during the era of the pre-Dreadnought and Dreadnought.

That parvenu [upstart] nation the United States, globally at least by the 1890's the leading economic power in the world, extending influence and beginning to participate militarily on the world stage in a big way, power projection through sea power, an essential element of which of course is a large and very strong pelagic [deep water] navy!!

In the Pacific Ocean alone, the wide expanses requiring the American fleet access to coaling stations, naval bases, concessions or friendly harbors and ports from which pre-positioned stockpiles of high-quality coal could be obtained.

Pacific Ocean coaling stations locations to include:

* Alaska.
* Hawaiian Islands.
* Guam.
* Pago Pago.

American naval vessels patrolling and operating in the Pacific Ocean NOT at the sufferance of foreign powers, friendly, neutral or hostile, independent and autonomous action possible, coaling stations an intrinsic and vital component of oceanic missions.

"sufferance - - consent or sanction implied by a lack of interference or failure."

The need for coal by the American two-ocean fleet exemplified most drastically during the Spanish-American War [1898] by the epic and legendary voyage of the battleship USS Oregon [BB-3]. The Panama Canal at the time not existing, the Oregon having to nearly circumnavigate the South American continent [14,000 mi (23,000 km)], repeatedly having to make stops for the replenishment of coal.

"Oregon departed San Francisco on 19 March"

Stops at friendly and neutral coaling stations to include:

* Callao, Peru, the first coaling stop on her trip.
* [bypassing] the coaling station at Valparaíso, Chile.
* Punta Arenas, where she was joined by [the USS] Marietta, Both ships coaled and departed on 21 April.
* Rio de Janiero 30 April. [coaled]
* Barbados for coal on 18 May.

Again from the archives of the New York Times [1891] the value and importance of coaling stations [secure] as discussed and made clear for the reader of the time in a manner that a modern might find somewhat amusing:

"A GREAT NEED OF THE NAVY"

"The importance of securing coaling stations for vessels for the United States was never so urgent as at the present moment. The majority of the new war ships have little or no sail power. They depend almost entirely for motive power on their machinery. Let one of these new cruisers run short of coal and have no means of obtaining a fresh supply and her condition is at once little short of helpless."

"But this is not all. The coal required by such cruisers as the Charleston, Baltimore, San Francisco and Philadelphia to say nothing of the Yorktown, must be of the very best quality. Anything short of the best Pocahontas, Lehigh egg, or first-rate Cardiff means a diminution in speed power."

Right! Modern warships as that term is understood. All-steel hull vessels dependent "for motive power on their machinery". AND that type of coal must be of the highest quality available. Pocahontas, Lehigh egg and first-rate Cardiff [Wales] high quality bituminous coal and not hard rock anthracite [nor brown lignite coal suitable as a fuel source].

Have ships - - got coal - - will travel!!

coolbert.

Coal I.

2012-01-11T18:27:00.000-06:00

This is coolbert:

Coaling stations!

From the period of over one hundred years ago now, the primary importance of the COALING STATION relative to sea power and naval warfare undeniable.

The coal-fired boilers of those triple-expansion steam engines as found on warships and commercial vessels of the pre-Dreadnought and Dreadnought era requiring an unending supply of fuel [coal] both in abundance and of the highest quality.

Coaling stations those naval bases, port and harbor facilities with prodigious amounts of pre-positioned coal on hand at all times, replenished and maintained as exhausted, naval and commercial vessels availing themselves of re-supply as needed.

Those imperial and colonial powers maintaining these coaling stations, foremost of which in number were those of the English. Voyages by vessels "steaming" to and fro to all parts of the empire, coal an absolute necessity, the British not relying on the sufferance of foreign powers, friendly, neutral or hostile!

"a voyage out to the Far East would or could involve the possible coaling at Gibraltar, Malta, Port Said, Aden and Ceylon."

"There were 14 main coaling stations in British possessions, at which vessels could refuel . . . the 14 were King George Sound and Thursday Island in Australia; Hong Kong and Singapore in the Far-East; Trincomalee and Colombo in Ceylon; Mauritius in the Indian Ocean and Aden at the mouth of the Red Sea; Simon’s Bay and Table Bay in South Africa; Sierra Leone in West Africa and St Helena in the South Atlantic; and, finally, Jamaica and Castries Bay, St Lucia in the Caribbean. There were of course smaller coaling stations, such as Esquimalt in British Columbia and Perim in the Red Sea."

"COALING STATIONS . Maritime"

"Great Britain obtained as a legacy from sailing days a large number of harbours admirably adapted for use as coaling stations . Since the dawn of the era of steam, she has acquired Aden, Perim, Hong-Kong, North Borneo, Fiji, part of New Guinea, Fanning Island, and many other islands in the Pacific, while the striking development of Australia and New Zealand has added to the long roll of British ports"

Coaling stations and the desire to acquire same indeed quite often a point of friction and conflict between nations. Thanks to the archives of the New York Times [1892]:

"BRITISH SEIZE PAGO-PAGO"

"AFTER THE COALING STATION CEDED TO THIS COUNTRY."

"The place selected is very suitable for a coaling station. As the water is very deep, with a wharf running out thirty feet, the men-of-war could haul alongside it and coal. it is land-locked and has every facility for a good coaling station."

Coaling stations a necessity during peace time, absolutely vital during war time, "the sufferance of foreign powers, friendly, neutral or hostile" NOT desirable!

coolbert.

Kidon?

2012-01-08T21:13:00.000-06:00

This is coolbert:

A recent successful cyber attack directed by anonymous hackers against Israeli web sites and servers has elicited a very strong and threatening remark from the Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon.

"Deputy FM threatens 'forceful response' to cyber attacks"

"Ayalon hints at aggressive Israeli reaction to online leak of credit card numbers belonging to thousands of Israelis. 'US announced that any attack on its cybernetic space would be considered a declaration of war,'"

" . . . Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon said Israel will view such cyber attacks as 'acts of terror' and will 'retaliate forcefully against hackers who undermine Israel's cybernetic sovereignty.'"

" . . . Ayalon said Israel must 'send a message to all those who have hurt or plan to hurt Israel – in cyberspace as well – that they would be hurting themselves. They will not be immune to Israeli retaliation.'"

Terrorist act! Retaliation! Israel!

And my instantaneous response was kidon or depth command or a combination of both! Kidon that section of the Mossad that is referred to as: "the long arm of Israeli justice"! Kidon best translated as BAYONET! The active strong-arm head-knocker group of Israelis that operates overseas against those that threaten Israel in some manner.

Force of course may be interpreted as retaliation in kind. Threaten our computers and we threaten yours.

If I was a hacker working as part of a group or even a "lone wolf" attempting to be anonymous and find such hacking to be a lark that is a power trip, a "rush", be very careful when attempting to "hack" an Israeli computer or server, router, or otherwise. That "long arm" can be very long and is very patient and has a memory that does not forget. I merely state facts.

When Danny speaks that is NOT mere rhetoric!

coolbert.

Top Ten!

2012-01-08T16:45:00.001-06:00

This is coolbert:

Here thanks to NewsMax and as reported by Arnaud De Borchgrave originally gleaned from the "The Preventive Action's annual report":

"The Preventive Action's annual report for 2012 . . . a wide selection of more than 300 government officials, policy analysts, academics and journalists for their confidential feedback."

Threats to the United States and the world order as send by a collection of persons-in-the-know. NOT a finished document as published by an intelligence agency but rather opinions, analysis, observations, and evaluations UNCLASSIFIED and presented for perusal to the general public!

"Top 10 Threats of 2012" By Arnaud De Borchgrave

"These are the top 10 that directly threaten the U.S. homeland and are likely to trigger U.S. military involvement":

* "A mass casualty attack on the U.S. homeland or on a treaty ally."

* "A severe North Korean crisis"

" A major military incident with China involving U.S. or allied forces."

* "An Iranian nuclear crisis"

* "A highly disruptive cyber-attack on U.S. critical infrastructure"

* "A significant increase in drug trafficking violence in Mexico that spills over into the United States."

* "Severe internal instability in Pakistan triggered by a civil-military crisis or terror attacks."

* "Political instability in Saudi Arabia that endangers global oil supplies."

* "A U.S.-Pakistan military confrontation, triggered by a terror attack or U.S. counter-terror."

* "Intensification of the European sovereign debt crisis that leads to the collapse of the euro, triggering a double-edged transatlantic crisis."

"Happy New Year!" And thank you Arnaud!

Mr. De Borchgrave originally a Belgian citizen of minor nobility, having to relinquish his title when assuming American citizenship!

Saudi Arabia and Pakistan number 1 and number 2 respectively on the list of nations that most concern the U.S.? Saudi instability triggering a global economic melt-down from a disruption to the world oil supply, atomic weapons falling into the hands of disreputables the result of Pakistani crisis, governmental neglect and disintegration, etc.

"You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come." - - Matthew 24:6

coolbert.

Cold & Bears.

2012-01-08T09:19:00.001-06:00

This is coolbert:

"The world's only military dogsled team."

The most recent edition of the National Geographic containing an article with a definite military dimension to it.

"The Cold Patrol".

The Danish military dogsled patrolling unit Sirius!

Danish military two-man buddy team conducting sovereignty patrol [SOVPAT] in the very northeastern corner of Greenland.

A mission of patrolling thousands of kilometers of coastline, establishing sovereignty by actually touching land and contiguous ice-covered waters once every five years as agreed upon by internationally agreed upon covenants.

SOVPAT as also currently done by the military units of:

* Canada.
* Australia.

Buddy teams performing hard and dangerous and very physically taxing duty under the most difficult of climatic conditions. Danger even in peacetime and a non-combat situation from factors such as the weather, terrain, and attack by the great white bear of the north, the polar bear. That buddy team armed at all times and constantly on alert - - aware of the danger as presented by an attacking polar bear!

Missions also commencing during that period of mid-winter WHEN THE CLIMATE IS AT THE WORST! Ease of transport across the frozen pack ice of the sea making for movement across normally impassable terrain possible!!

The selection process to become a member of the Sirius unit most meticulous and exacting, a training process of eight months required prior to deployment. Training to include the mastering of a whole range of esoteric skills:

* "Outdoor survival".
* "Meteorology".
* "Hunting skills".
* "Veterinary medicine".
* Memorize map features of importance.

Those outdoor survival skills I would assume not only being able to withstand the cold and function with vigor but able to forage off the land and sea if necessary. That land and sea provides for men and dogs both if one possesses the right amount of knowledge and skill. What appears to be a GOD-forsaken wasteland is actually alive with all manner of creature that can be eaten. Animals as a food source to include:

* Fish.
* Seal.
* Sea birds. [taste like fish]
* Sea bird eggs. [taste like fish too?]
* Musk ox.
* Polar bear. [the hunter becomes the hunted.]

[polar bears can be shot and eaten but not the liver. That liver contains excess amounts of vitamin A and is dangerous to the point of death if consumed!]

To the greatest extent possible, the Sirius unit relies upon the old ways? Natural materials, clothing, wooden sled, dogs for transport, etc. A Sirius buddy team is more or less totally autonomous and reliant upon themselves in a manner few other persons on the planet ever experience.

coolbert.

GRAW.

2012-01-06T19:36:00.000-06:00

This is coolbert:

Again from the DEBKAfile:

"Israeli drones over Turkish-Syrian border"

"04 Jan. Military tensions in Syria have spread to its borders. Wednesday, Jan. 4, Turkish military sources reported an Israeli Eitan drone hovering for four hours over the Turkish Hawk Brigade 14 stationed on the Syrian border at Kirikhan in the Hatay district – the expected jumping-off point for any foreign military intervention in Syria."

Israeli drone intelligence gathering UAV [unmanned aerial vehicle] active - - rebellion and uprising as occurring for almost a year now in Syria of intense interest to the Israeli.

That drone acting as a relay station in the sky [?], German manufactured radiosondes normally used for atmospheric research having been "modified to intercept radio communications"?

As originally reported recently by intelNews.org.

"Who is behind mystery spy devices dropped over Syria?"

"the devices [GRAW DFM-06] are aimed at eavesdropping on the communications of Syrian government troops and of Syrian Air Force planes, which are engaged in an increasingly bloody conflict against the opposition Syrian National Council"

Cheap, dirty, but effective, these modified GRAW devices dropped in profusion over a target allow for coverage of a wide area and carry an Israeli signature when considered in the context of this UAV flight? ONLY Tel Aviv knows for sure!

coolbert.

Mountaintop.

2012-01-06T19:05:00.001-06:00

This is coolbert:

"this too will come to pass"

As it was in Haiti two hundred years ago, as it is in Syria today.

The dictator digs in his heels, refuses to step down or relinquish power, prepares a mountain fortress, a bastion impregnable, the final show-down on hold!!

From the DEBKAfile:

"Assad will fight from mountain fortress if civil war engulfs Syria"

"02 Jan. . . . President Bashar Assad is digging in for a full-scale civil war: DEBKAfile reports exclusively that a fortress is under construction for the Syrian ruler, family, his loyal generals and ruling elite in the northwestern Alawite (Al-Ansariyyah) Mountains. From there the Assad clan will fight for survival should Damascus become too hot for them"

A mountain-top stronghold, impregnable, invulnerable to attack from which a prolonged defense can be conducted. At this very moment such a fortress being prepared, feverish effort, Assad seeing the hand-writing on the wall and taking appropriate measures the autocrat now deems absolutely necessary.

Also from DEBKAfile: 3 million gas masks having been recently emergency air-lifted into Syria from Russia, Assad intending to protect the entire Alawite population of Syria in case the use of poison gas resorted to?

"Last week, Russia airlifted to Syria 3 million face masks against chemical and biological weapons" - - DEBKAfile 16 Dec.

"3.5 million members . . . of this ruling Shiite Muslim faith, which numbers just over one-tenth of Syria’s total population" [Alawites their faith of which little is known about rule as a small minority].

coolbert.

Roots?

2012-01-04T22:17:00.000-06:00

This is coolbert:

From that previous B.R. Myers blog entry:

"North Korea under Kim Jong Il was guided by 'a paranoid, race-based nationalism with roots in Japanese fascism.'"

That race-based nationalism comes from where exactly? Japanese fascism?

Korea was ruled for forty year period [1905-1945] by the Japanese. At least in the case of South Korea [ROK] that original Korean War era cadre of career military officers had received a degree of military training and experience under Japanese tutelage.

In particular I am thinking of President Park Chung Hee. Strong-man ruler for a period of over a decade who is recognized as the "father" of ROK industrialization and development. Park was a graduate of a Japanese military academy and during Japanese occupation was known by his Japanese name of Takagi Masao.

Park too familiar with, influenced by and a confidant [?] of the Japanese famous/infamous Colonel Tsuji? Tsuji an advocate of and the most extreme example of the type of over-zealous and fevered nationalism characterizing Japanese policy toward "others" in that time prior to Pearl Harbor.

As for North Korea [DPRK] the situation is more complicated? In the case of the DPRK it is hard to discern where exactly such a strong racial nationalistic animus toward the "other" might have come from?

Kim Il Sung for instance was a Soviet citizen, a Red Army officer who actually fought at Stalingrad commanding Korean national contingents of the Red Army. So it is thought.

[Korean troops as part of the Red Army fought at Stalingrad, as well as during the Chinese Civil War on the communist side. Those American combat units of Task Force Smith ran into the most experienced and battle tested soldiers in the world in 1950!!]

Kim Jung Il too is thought to have been a Soviet-born citizen, too young to have lived in Korea during that time of Japanese occupation.

A nation motivated by a "paranoid, race-based nationalism" hardly makes for a reliable and stable negotiating partner. Efforts to ameliorate the situation on the Korean peninsula by the normal diplomatic method of "carrot and stick" are doomed to failure given the mentality and tenor of a leadership deemed "rabid"!

How to proceed?

coolbert.

Machinations!

2012-01-04T21:28:00.001-06:00

This is coolbert:

Thanks here to several sources NOT necessarily alarmist headlines but food for thought.

1. "China wants to set up bases in Pakistan, reveals intelligence report".

"China's desire for a military presence in Pakistan has been discussed by the political and military leadership of that country in the recent months. China's deepening strategic penetration of Pakistan and joint plans to set up... oil pipelines/rail/roads as well as naval and military bases are a matter of concern."

"According to the assessment report, Chinese presence in this area might enable People's Liberation Army (PLA) to counter the Muslims separatists operating from this part of Pakistan for terrorist activities in its Xinjiang province."

NOT necessarily a counter to Muslim separatists [Uighurs] but presumably more so as part of the so-called "String of Pearls" doctrine. South China Sea/Malacca/Kra/Burma/Pakistan and points further west. An Indian Ocean Chinese military presence guaranteeing future trans-shipment of vital resources [predominantly oil] and trading routes in a manner as NOT seen since the 1400's and the various voyages of the Treasure Fleet under the commander of the eunuch Admiral Zheng He.

A presence that catches the attention of and must be worrisome to the Indians? A hegemony over their sphere of influence now threatened?

2. "China’s Noisy Subs Get Busier — And Easier to Track"

Chinese submarines operating more frequently in pelagic [deep-blue] waters found to be very noisy, easy to track, vulnerable to counter-measures, American submarines NOW and for the foreseeable future having the upper hand.

"the Navy’s [American] just discovered that China’s homemade subs are even louder than 20-year-old Russian boats."

"Assuming the Chinese stay with their current sub designs, American submarines should be capable of swiftly defeating Chinese boats in any potential future shooting war"

During the 21st Century the Indian Ocean will be a flash-point [maybe it already is] for conflicts local/regional/global? If an when the world order as it current exists and is constituted breaks down naval power will play a vital if not absolutely essential role in deciding who wins and who loses!

coolbert.

PKK Women.

2012-01-02T22:30:00.000-06:00

This is coolbert:

Yet one more insurgent/guerrilla/terrorist organization the incorporation of women into fighting units being commonplace and pervasive.

The Kurdish PKK!

Kurdish fighters, insurgents/guerrillas/terrorists waging a decades long hit-and-run type form of warfare against the Turkish nation and government. An insurgency being strongly communist oriented, the PKK designated as a terrorist organization by the Turk, NATO and the United States.

"The Kurdistan Workers' Party . . . is a Kurdish organization which has since 1984 been fighting an armed struggle against the Turkish state . . . The PKK's ideology was originally a fusion of revolutionary socialism and Kurdish nationalism"

Read this multi-page Internet article from CNN - - the women fighters of the PKK most resolute and determined, SOME OF THOSE WOMEN LITERALLY SPENDING DECADES IN THE MOUNTAINS THE GUERRILLA DEDICATED TO THE CAUSE PERHAPS IN A WAY A MAN WOULD NOT EVEN BE!

"Female fighters: We won't stand for male dominance"

"The PKK has an idealistic philosophy, one that combines Kurdish nationalism with certain communist goals, such as equality and communal ownership of property. The fighters here say that their cause has evolved beyond a desire for a Kurdish state -- that they are now fighting to generate dramatic social change"

About one-third of the estimated 3,000 Kurdish PKK mountain fighters women! Political indoctrination an important factor for all guerrilla units, AN ABSOLUTE FORM OF CELIBACY ALSO PRACTICED! This is serious stuff, no hanky-panky.

PKK fighters also wearing a standard uniform, carry weapons openly, have some sort of command structure.

To the extent they still exist and are active, the modern communist inspired insurgency places great emphasis on the incorporation of women into fighting units? Those insurgencies world wide to include:

* Kurdish PKK.
* Colombian FARC.
* Nepalese Maoists.
* Indian Maoist forest guerrillas.

See at this YouTube web site portraits of some PKK women fighters. As is mentioned in some comments to the video, the Kurds are an Indo-European people speaking an Indo-European language in either case NOT related to the Turk or Arab! A distinct people whose national aspirations have gone unfulfilled ever since the time of T.E. Lawrence!

Regardless of political orientation I must admit I have a large degree of admiration for these women!

coolbert.

Radio Zeta.

2012-01-02T14:34:00.001-06:00

This is coolbert:

Thanks to DangerRoom here with not necessarily an indication of the escalating drug-narcotic violence in Mexico but surely an indication of the degree of sophistication and resources the drug gangsters now fighting it out with the Mexican military have at their disposal! For some time the violence out of control and only becoming more so. Quasi-military warfare escalating with even more advanced technology and weaponry now in play [since 2006!].

The Zeta drug cartel having for some time a functioning and well-working military style communications system that defies the authorities in a marked manner. Used for early warning and reconnaissance but still an achievement by a drug gang that is demonstrative of a remarkable degree of organizational ability and command control.

"Radio Zeta: How Mexico’s Drug Cartels Stay Networked"

"Since 2006, the cartels have maintained an encrypted DIY [do-it-yourself] radio network that stretches across nearly all 31 Mexican states, even down south into Guatemala. The communications infrastructure . . . consists of 'professional-grade' radio antennas, signal relays and simple handheld radios that cost 'millions of dollars'”

"the bosses only communicate through the Internet. The radio network is for lookouts and lower-level players."

The Zeta will almost unlimited resources [drug money] at their disposal able to purchase top-of-the-line gear and organized into a network of awesome proportions, rivaling and perhaps in some instance exceeding that as can be managed by the Mexican military. THIS IS NOT SPANKY AND OUR GANG!

Comments:

* These "bosses" and commanders of the Zeta use secure Internet Messenger or steganography to surreptitiously send messages to one another? In the same manner as is reputedly was employed by the 9/11 jihadi hijackers?

* If indeed the Zeta "commanders" use the Internet for communication, it is highly likely that their traffic at some point passes through an American router, meaning that for surveillance purposes, those "bosses" for legal become at that exact instant a U.S. person?

* This DIY network encompasses more or less all of Mexico and into Guatemala and I would surmise too even into the United States? Perhaps so!

coolbert.

Sleeping Beauty.

2011-12-31T17:09:00.000-06:00

This is coolbert:

That Russian DP-64 weapon designed with the intent to defeat the asymmetric naval attacker of the American SEAL or Russian naval spetsnaz variety, SEAL or spetsnaz divers. combat swimmers and demolition team members using specialized underwater vehicles to approach the military warship or civilian vessel at anchorage.

Underwater miniature submarines of the type Motorized Submersible Canoe:

"The Motorised Submersible Canoe (MSC), nicknamed 'Sleeping Beauty', was built by British Special Operations Executive (SOE) during World War II as an underwater vehicle for a single frogman to perform clandestine reconnaissance or attacks against enemy vessels."

Called a "canoe" but in reality a miniature submarine, a submersible vehicle able to carry a naval saboteur to within range of a target, that diver attaching to the enemy warship or civilian vessel a limpet mine! And do so in a stealthy manner, almost undetectable!!

"The pilot could leave the Sleeping Beauty to swim and plant limpet mines on enemy ships"

MSC as used by the Rimau raiders during the Second World War [WW2]. Thought also having been given to the MSC paddled or sailed [or a combination of both] in the conventional sense as a normal above-water canoe, just in case those batteries went dead.

"The canoe can also be paddled or moved by raising the mast and erecting a sail."

There is an obvious evolutionary process that can be seen with the World War Two era naval irregular warrior? 1. Frog-men in wet suits swimming underwater with SCUBA. 2. Frog-men riding a modified torpedo. 3. Naval commando units using canoes [fol-boats]. 4. Naval commando units using "wet' mini-submersibles.

The value of asymmetric warfare at sea is undeniable? One large and very expensive warship at anchorage rendered impotent and non-functional by an attack from one man, one small "canoe" and one limpet mine? YES, it is so!

coolbert.

DP-64.

2011-12-31T16:29:00.000-06:00

This is coolbert:

Here from the wiki we have a description of a Russian one-of-a-kind weapon the specific purpose is to defeat the attack of the "frog-man ", the underwater combat swimmer, the under-water demolition operative, the saboteur attempting to destroy enemy ships while at anchorage.

The DP-64.

"The DP-64 is a Russian special-purpose double-barreled over/under grenade launcher designed to protect ships, dockyards, water development works, and other coastal installations from combat swimmers and naval special forces."

"these grenades act much like small depth charges, attacking submerged swimmers like true depth charges attack submersibles"

And from the web site: "Open Joint Stock Company 'V.A.Degtyarev Plant'”

"DP-64 grenade launcher is designated for protection of submarines in the above-water position, ships at external roadsteads, anchor stops and bases, for protection of water-development works and other sea and coastal installations against attacks of underwater combat swimmers."

The round as fired from the DP-64 analogous to a depth charge. Used against that military underwater combat diver whose mission is sabotage. Unconventional, asymmetric naval warfare as waged by American SEAL or Russian naval spetsnaz!

Developed by the Soviet in response to a lot of bad experience from that Angolan mis-adventure of the mid-1970's. Soviet, Cuban, and other communist nation flagged ships, civilian and military both [?] while at anchorage subjected to repeated successful attack and sabotage by underwater combat swimmers of unknown nationality [South African combat divers??]!!

That DP-64 a solution to a problem for which there was at the time no easy and instantaneous fix?

coolbert.

B.R. Myers.

2011-12-29T22:13:00.001-06:00

This is coolbert:

The American professor, scholar, and observer of all things Korean B.R. Myers is being interviewed on National Public Radio [NPR] this evening.

Listen to the interview at the NPR web site:

"'A Look At North Korean Ideology' - - Robert Siegel talks to BR Myers, author of the book 'The Cleanest Race: How the North Koreans See Themselves and Why It Matters'"

At a time of upheaval [?], drastic [?] and unsettled change in North Korea [DPRK] the observations and comments of Myers are most germane? All American diplomats, general officers and persons concerned with the Korean scene should pay close attention to and heed the admonitions and teachings of B.R.?

B.R. iconoclastic but nonetheless enunciating well-thought-out positions that cannot be ignored.

"Brian Reynolds Myers . . . is an American associate professor of international studies at Dongseo University in Busan, South Korea, a contributing editor for the Atlantic, and an opinion columnist for the New York Times and Wall Street Journal."

As extracted from the wiki entry for B.R.:

"'The Cleanest Race: How North Koreans See Themselves and Why It Matters' is an examination of North Korean propaganda, arguing that North Korea under Kim Jong Il was guided by 'a paranoid, race-based nationalism with roots in Japanese fascism.' Myers argues that North Korea's political system is not based on Communism or Stalinism, and that the juche ideology [self-reliance] is not really an ideology at all but a sham to establish Kim Il-sung's credentials as a thinker. More provocatively, Myers argues that the more recent post Cold War attempts to understand North Korea as a Confucian patriarchy based on the filial piety of Kim Jong-Il, and the dynastic transfer of power from his father are equally misguided, and that the North Korean leadership is maternalist rather than paternalist."

That North Korean populace even more so than the population of South Korea [ROK] that most racially pure and isolated group of people on the planet with almost NO outside admixture? Possessing a "paranoid race-based nationalism" the hatred of the perceived foreign invader [America] most [overwhelmingly so] strong.

It is THUS that the DPRK can best be understood??

From that wiki again some additional links to items by B.R. Myers:

"To Beat a Dictator, Ignore Him"

"North Korea Will Never Disarm"

"Mother of All Mothers - - The leadership secrets of Kim Jong Il"

A nation "paranoid" and having a "race-based nationalism" and ALSO possessing nuclear weapons makes for a bad mix? Undeniably so, and especially in the case when the man at the controls is a callow youth of less than thirty years of age!! B.R. Myers better than most understands the predicament as faced by the outside world for which there is no easy fix or amelioration!

coolbert.

Armor?

2011-12-28T23:25:00.000-06:00

This is coolbert:

Back to the subject of spontaneous coal bunker fires - - such fires quite often causing it is believed explosions of a catastrophic nature as doomed HMS Vanguard, anchored and moored, sunk to the bottom with almost all hands, not under fire by the enemy.

My original intuitive thought that the Vanguard suffered from a design flaw. Those amidship turrets [Q & P one on either side of the ship] of big-bore naval guns meant a much increased risk of spontaneous magazine detonation, adjacent as the turrets were to the engine compartment and coal bunkers?

HMS Vanguard with the amidships turret port side visible.

This however does not seem to be the case. My intuition has again failed me? Even Bert can be wrong!

Placement of coal bunkers were an integral and important factor for additional armor protection? Those vital innards of the ship, the engine compartment, protected not only by steel armor but also by stores of coal? So it seems!!

From a web site devoted to the American pre-Dreadnought battleship USS Oregon [BB-3]:

"U.S.S. OREGON"

"As was typical for ships of this time period, coal bunkers were placed along the exterior hull of the ship to act as additional armor protecting the magazines. The proximity of the coal bunkers to the magazines created a danger that could result in the loss of the vessel. Spontaneous combustion of coal dust was not unusual, and a coal bunker fire could ignite an adjacent magazine"

USS Oregon no amidship turret.

"the practice of using coal bunkers as additional armor around the vital areas of a warship - engines, boiler rooms and magazines."

[during the epic voyage of the USS Oregon 1898 the Oregon did suffer a coal bunker fire that was extinguished!]

The danger of spontaneous coal bunker fire leading to possible and increased danger from spontaneous and catastrophic magazine detonation with a total loss of ship and crew was not only recognized from the get-go but was an accepted part of the design process?

Any devoted reader to the blog and expert on naval ships of the era care to comment on this?

coolbert.

Rules?

2011-12-27T18:02:00.000-06:00

This is coolbert:

"If 'a thirty thousand dollar airplane can sink a forty million dollar battleship,' why build battleships?"

From that web site devoted to: B17-B24-comparison we have this extract:

"Boeing company came up with a design - using 1932 technology - to take a 1 1/2 tonne load over 400 miles to a target and return. The extreme distance was necessitated by the oceans around the USA . . . The bombers were being built to fly out and sink enemy ships before they could get close to the USA."

That mission as originally envisioned by the military planners for the B-17 bomber aircraft WAS NOT for the saturation bombing of enemy cities and dropping the bomb int he pickle barrel from 30,000 feet. That mission rather was to attack and sink enemy warships of the capital ship class as they approached the west and east coasts of the continental United States, the forty-eight contiguous states!

That very anti-ship mission for the high-altitude level bomber dropping ordnance on enemy warships controversial from the very start. A concept thought to be valid based upon the: "The Naval Bombing Experiments Off the Virginia Capes" - - 1921.

Derelict German warships from the era of World War One [WW1], moored, not under steam, not taking evasive action, sunk after repeated attacks by Army Air Corps level bombers [Navy and Marine Corps war planes also involved].

A submarine, destroyer, light cruiser and finally a dreadnought class German battleship going to the bottom after repeated bombing, ALBEIT WITH THE RULES AND PROTOCOLS AS ESTABLISHED IN ADVANCE BEING IGNORED BY THE ARMY AIR CORPS AVIATORS AND COMMANDERS!

[it was not without great difficulty that the German dreadnought Ostfriesland finally went to the bottom, staying afloat for a long time beyond what was expected and absorbing a lot of damage along the way.]

The high-altitude level bomber anti-ship bombing mission of the B-17 found to less than effective during the Second World War [WW2], those instances of such air strikes against Japanese warships found to be wanting in the extreme, the results very poor on a number of occasions! Ships under steam, taking evasive action very hard to hit from high altitude.

"B-17s in the Pacific War"

Battle of the Philippines [1941], Battle of Midway [1942] American airmen flying the maritime strike mission claiming extraordinary results which were not justified!

My understanding is that direct hits of bombs as dropped on warships is not needed to cause damage of a severe nature. Underwater explosions of a "close" nature can break loose riveted hull and cause flooding. A direct impact is not necessarily needed. Warships too have good damage control which mitigates and allows for management of damage minor or severe.

coolbert.

Global Consequences?

2011-12-26T23:39:00.000-06:00

This is coolbert:

"Burning Questions with Global Consequences?"

These coal bunker spontaneous fires being more common than realized during that era of the steamship coal-fired boiler triple-expansion-engine both commercial and military also contributed in a major way to another ocean disaster that had GLOBAL CONSEQUENCES!

The sinking of the steam-ship Titanic! The Titanic on her maiden voyage going to the bottom, many aboard lost, the thing of legend!

From a variety of web sites:

1. "Coal Bunker Fire".

2. "Titanic Disaster: New Theory Fingers Coal Fire".

3. "COAL BUNKER FIRE -".

"The story regarding a fire in one of Titanic's massive coal bunkers is indeed true. The fire is believed to have burning when Titanic left Belfast, and it was not until two or three days later that it was finally extinguished, this being done by teams of firemen and trimmers digging out almost all of the coal to enable the seat of the fire to be doused. Some Titanic scholars believe that the intense heat of the fire could have led to some parts of the hull to be seriously weakened, and actually assisted in the break-up and sinking of the vessel."

That structure of the Titanic weakened to a degree by the expansion and contraction of the metal being first heated and then cooled in contact with the fire and the cold sea water both? Such a possibility cannot be dismissed?

Coal bunker fires of spontaneous in nature having global consequences - - The Spanish-American War and the sinking of the Titanic both having such an origin?

coolbert.

Spontaneous!

2011-12-26T23:01:00.000-06:00

This is coolbert:

Thanks to McTodd we have this comment to the blog:

"mctodd said...
The loss of HMS Vanguard due to spontaneously combusting ammunition or propellant was not only not unique but also not as rare an event as you would think during that period. Modern so-called smokeless propellants were still relatively new, and totally safe manufacturing and storage techniques had yet to be finalised. Several British (Bulwark, Natal, Vanguard), French (Iena, Liberte) and Japanese (Mikasa, Mutsu) warships suffered catastrophic ammunition explosions (it is also arguable that the USS Maine was lost for such reasons in 1898). Oddly enough, no German warships were lost in this way, some writers suggesting that different manufacturing techniques accounted for this."

Spontaneous explosions of this sort were NOT rare! Far from it! More common than we like to think, as McTodd has commented. Even a constant and understood and troublesome worry for which precautions were taken, albeit not even as effective as desired.

Spontaneous combustion of stored coal leading to spontaneous explosion of ammunition stores perhaps even leading to a WAR! The Spanish-American War, The War of 1898 in large measure due to the destruction of the USS Maine, speculation even at the time that the sinking of the Maine was due to a spontaneous eruption of the ammunition magazine being the cause, but mentioned only in closed circles and then in whispered and hushed tones.

Here with some extracts from the most recent PDF document entitled: "Destruction of the Maine (1898)"

"Many ships, including the Maine, had coal bunkers located next to magazines that stored ammunition, gun shells, and gunpowder. Only a bulkhead separated the bunkers from the magazines. If the coal, by spontaneous combustion, overheated, the magazines were at risk of exploding."

"Fires from coal bunkers were frequent occurrences. From 1894 to 1908, more than 20 coal bunker fires were reported on U.S. naval ships."

"from 1895 to 1898, 13 other American ships had fires associated with spontaneous combustion in coal bunkers."

"within four hours a fire in the Maine’s coal bunker 'could have raised the temperature of the nearest canister of gunpowder (a mere four inches away on the other side of a quarter-inch-thick steel plate) to more than 645˚ — hot enough to ignite the powder, triggering a chain reaction in the adjacent magazines.'”

Spontaneous combustion in a coal bunker caused an unrecognized fire, that bulkhead separating the coal bunker from the ADJACENT ammunition magazine becoming overheated to a dangerous degree, the "big bang" totally without warning and catastrophic!!

The conclusion both in 1898 and in 1911 that the Maine was sunk by EXTERNAL explosion too are not without foundation. Many possible culprits lurk! Cuban freedom fighters, American interventionists, Spanish dissident officers included.

As for the German warships NOT suffering from such catastrophic explosions - - the German just compartmented their warships better and in a manner peculiar and particular to their entire methodology of naval warfare and ship design?

The truth is out there, it is just hard to find with absolute 100 % certainty!

coolbert.

Thick & Thin.

2011-12-25T10:18:00.001-06:00

This is coolbert:

"Asking the detectives!"

In a recent episode of the PBS television program "History Detectives" Wes Cowan is researching and attempting to return to a living relative a World War Two [WW2] diary as written by an American combat aviator of that conflict.

That diary coming to an abrupt end the author Bill Moran, the co-pilot an American B-24 bomber during WW2 killed-in-action during a mission, Wes nonetheless using the investigative techniques of the history detective able to locate, and return the diary to the daughter of Bill Moran after a period of almost seventy years!!

"Investigations WWII Diary"

That American B-24 Liberator bomber having a formidable capability but referred to by the aircrews as THE FLYING COFFIN!!

"The liberator [B-24] earns itself another more ominous nickname – the flying coffin – due to the high casualty rate among B-24 pilots. Why were these missions so deadly [?]"

The B-24 a more able and capable bomber aircraft [than the B-17], able to carry a larger bomb load further and faster. Three times the bomb load of a B-17! [this is to be anticipated, aeronautical theory and design concepts just in seven years being more advanced, the engines available too more powerful!]

"A B-24 flew faster, farther, longer with a 3 ton larger load than the B-17s ever could"

The B-24, however, in contrast to the B-17 bomber MORE susceptible to shoot-down?

That B-17 as described in a previous blog entry being very robust and able to sustain a lot of combat damage while maintaining air-worthiness, continue the mission, return to base. ROBUST IN A WAY THE B-24 WAS NOT?

[this is not to say the B-17 could not be shot down, but rather was robust and was able to sustain a lot of damage. Prodigious number of the B-17 were shot-down during the war nonetheless, the consensus opinion however I would think being that that the B-17 was indeed a "tough bird"!]

The B-17 was robust and the B-24 WAS NOT?

And thanks to the web site: "The Great B-17 – B-24 Controversy" we have the answer!

The answer in a nutshell is thick versus thin. The B-17 having a "thick" wing as compared to the B-24.

"Boeing company came up with a design - using 1932 technology - to take a 1 1/2 tonne load over 400 miles to a target and return . . ."

"The B-17 design team then had to use a wing that would lift a LOT of weight on what horsepower available - and that mean a thick wing that generates a LOT of lift - ."

The B-17 wing is a pre-war era design and is THICK for heavy lift efficiency. The power of the engines available dictated this thick wing design.

"The design team [B-24] choose a wing - the 'Davis' wing - that is thinner when compared to the B-17 but generates more lift." [this original design as of January, 1939]

"That thin wing of the B-24 requiring less material support and shoring, that point of contact where the wing meets the fuselage being LESS robust than the similar construction of the B-17!"

"The thinner wing by 1930 design standards means a less strong wing. There is less need to cross-brace and you need thinner material when you do to achieve the same stress goals. The B-17 being a thicker wing needed more - stronger - material to support the wing and thus had to be designed stronger. So in combat this helped the B-17."

"a few shells in the smaller wing cross section would cause the wing to fail faster than the much longer chord, and thicker, B-17 wing"

The B-17 able to take more hits of a worse nature, survive, keep going, remain intact, not fall apart, absorb damage and continue to fight.

[again that is not to say the B-17 was impervious. Merely relatively impervious. Able to take more damage and continue with the mission!]

Thick and thin. Greater range, faster, more bomb load or more robustness. Take your pick. Aircraft design was then and is now and always will be a compromise.

coolbert.

Gunslinger.

2011-12-24T09:52:00.005-06:00

This is coolbert:

"An armed society is a polite society" - - Robert Heinlein.

Thanks to Gareth Brickman for the article and the title to the blog entry through the Mises Institute.

That figure from the American Old West, the gunslinger, a man-at-arms, as popularized by Hollywood, performing a vital and important function, finding a modern parallel, those private security concerns that go by the name of Blackwater, Sandline, Executive Outcomes. Too, during the Rhodesian Bush War, persons serving in the capacity of stock detective.

NOT government officials or law enforcement but private for-hire individuals and companies providing security and using quasi-military weaponry and tactics to do so.

Trained and quite often combat experienced military men whose skills and courage are needed, the archetype from the Old West in this regard being Tom Horn. Tracker/Translator/Stock Detective. Persons NOT operating outside of the law, but within, but willing to take risks for gain and do so fully aware of the danger involved.

From the Gareth Brickman article:

"Defending the Gunslinger"

"gunslinger" to refer to an armed man who offers the service of his presence and skills to protect a client's material interests."

"The gunslinger provides solutions to several problems":

* "First, he is willing to absorb the risks his employer would take"

* "Second, he is a specialist . . . more skilled and accurate with a firearm"

* "Finally, the gunslinger actually acts in part for the broader, law-abiding community."

The private security concerns ARE a growth business? I am not thinking of the unarmed security guard who merely observes and reports. I am thinking of armed men with military experience and training who function in the quasi-military role. Sandline, Blackwater, Executive Outcomes fill a void created by ineffectual or totally absent government!

Comments:

* The American Old West did contain a goodly amount of armed men, but if you stayed away from saloons, gambling dens and brothels you probably would lead a long peaceful life.

* The American cowboy generally carried a sidearm for three reasons, none of which had to deal with shoot-outs with other bands of cowboys. Those reasons being: 1. Shoot skunks on sight [rabid]. 2. Shoot a wild mustang horse out of control. 3. Shoot a wild and out of control Texas long horn steer.

* Almost all men of military age living in the Old West had some sort of American Civil War combat experience and were not to be trifled with armed or otherwise. Courtesy and politeness were A MUST! "An armed society is a polite society"

coolbert.

Face Masks.

2011-12-23T15:21:00.001-06:00

This is coolbert:

From the DEBKAfile news letter we have some interesting items:

1. That Israeli command for long-range operations, depth missions.

* Barak [Israeli Defense Minister] approved new IDF joint special operations force for multidisciplinary missions far from Israel's borders. Missions will include counter-terror, anti-smuggling, anti-proliferation.

* "The Corps' tasks will extend joint IDF operations into strategic depth."

"Anti-proliferation meaning anti-NUCLEAR PROLIFERATION. The strike against the Iraqi reactor of Saddam Hussein for instance. Anti-smuggling those operations I would think well outside the borders of Israel, aimed at stopping weapons shipments bound for Hamas and Hezbollah from reaching their destination.

2. "Syria deploys Russian shore-to-sea missiles on its coast, Scuds on Turkish border"

"Dec. 16, [the deployment of] 72 advanced Moscow-supplied Yakhont (SSN-26) shore-to-sea missiles along Syria's Mediterranean shore to fend off a potential invasion by sea. Last week, Russia airlifted to Syria 3 million face masks against chemical and biological weapons"

"US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta's arrival in Ankara Friday morning, to find Turkish armed forces on war preparedness"

That Syrian regime of Assad fearing intervention on a massive scale by outside powers. The U.S., Turkey, other NATO allies acting in concert to oust the long term governing elite, restore order, etc.

Three million gas masks [the text says face masks I assume these are what are generally referred to as gas masks] for the protection "against chemical and biological weapons" AS TO BE DELIVERED EXACTLY BY WHOM?

Assad is a brute and has such weapons at HIS disposal and will use HIS weapons of mass destruction against an invading force, if such an interventionist campaign actually occurs??

coolbert.

Dom the Don!

2011-12-23T00:12:00.000-06:00

This is coolbert:

Thanks to Time magazine for the reprint from way back when [1973] now.

As seen in a previous blog entry:

"Singapore, Aden, Cyprus, Malta, Gibraltar and no more a slow and steady return to the home islands, retrenchment and reality as mandated by BUDGETARY CONSTRAINTS!"

That British military beating a retreat from the world scene - - empire a thing of the past, for a period of two decades the English having to withdraw back to the home island, budget constraints mandating a retrenchment, those areas critical to the naval dominance of the Royal Navy [RN] in particular abandoned! To include those military bases and facilities found on the island of Malta!!

Dom Mintoff the Prime Minister of Malta most insistent that even a regimental sized contingent of English military be-gone, and with all due speed!!

"MALTA: Deadline Dom"

"A certain aura of predictability surrounded events last week on the tiny (122 sq. mi.) Mediterranean island of Malta. Britain's quarterly payment of $8,325,000 to cover the cost of garrisoning 2,800 troops on the island had been refused by Maltese Prime Minister Dom Mintoff. The fiery Mintoff, in rebuffing the routine payment from the Bank of England, 1) demanded higher rent from Britain; 2) intimated that he would evict the troops unless he received it; 3) flew to Tripoli seeking support from Libyan Leader Muammar Gaddafi; and 4) tried to con other NATO nations that share in the rent payments..."

That primary consideration being MONEY, Dom wanting more and more, a genial [?] but quite apparent extortion that was NOT complied with, the British evacuating "with all due speed"!

Here today, gone tomorrow, monetary considerations taking precedent over military concerns, the motivations of Dom being crass greed [?] not fulfilled!!

coolbert.

Mourning?

2011-12-22T23:27:00.000-06:00

This is coolbert:

It cannot help to impress outsiders and in a bad way!

That display of public spectacle, mourning of a public nature as engaged in by the populace of North Korea. Mass hysteria almost of a nature as not found anywhere else in the world. It DOES make you wonder what is going on here. Is this for real - - or is it faked and an act - - or a combination somewhere in between!

Spectacle in the pejorative sense of the word.

"Spectacle - - 2. a thing or person seen, esp an unusual or ridiculous one: he makes a spectacle of himself"

"Amid NKorea mourning, vows to support new leader"

"PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) — Mourning centers have been set up in towns and villages across North Korea in a stepped-up show of public grief Friday over the death of leader Kim Jong Il"

"Scenes of dramatic mass mourning have been a daily occurrence in Pyongyang since Kim's death was announced on Monday."

"By Friday, mourning stations had also been established in provincial, city and county seats, and at institutions and enterprises across the country."

Those persons NOT showing the necessary and obligatory degree of sadness and grief found to be suspect, their names placed on a list of those felt to be subversive, NOT dedicated to the cause, etc.?

And this in a nation with that enormous and well equipped 1 million army replete with nuclear weaponry! A nation where food shortages and famine are endemic, and now ruled by a roly-poly youngster with a well-developed double-chin. What is the rest of the world to think of all this?

"Dramatic mass mourning" of such a nature as was found in the Zulu kingdom during the time of Shaka Zulu? Shaka another military man perhaps mentally unstable also mandating enforced grieving "after the death of his mother Nandi"! An even cataclysmic event and hastening the assassination of Shaka, so terribly was the society as a whole traumatized!

"Shaka's erratic behavior after the death of his mother Nandi. According to Donald in this mourning period Shaka ordered that no crops should be planted during the following year, no milk (the basis of the Zulu diet at the time) was to be used, and any woman who became pregnant was to be killed along with her husband. At least 7,000 people who were deemed to be insufficiently grief-stricken were executed, though it wasn't restricted to humans, cows were slaughtered so that their calves would know what losing a mother felt like."

That North Korean "hermit kingdom" displaying a comportment NOT TO BE FOUND ANYWHERE ELSE IN THE WORLD? As it was during the time of Shaka so it is now during the time of Kim?

coolbert.

Mistake?

2011-12-20T21:18:00.000-06:00

This is coolbert:

I saw snippets of this interview Scott Pelly had with Secretary of Defense Panetta last night and was very surprised.

My instantaneous and intuitive response was that this was a terrible mistake that everyone is going to regret.

Undiplomatic and very uncharacteristic for a member of the U.S. National Command Authority [NCA] to speak in such a manner. This is big and in a way that is not good!

"Panetta: Iran will not be allowed nukes"

"Panetta: If they proceed and we get intelligence that they are proceeding with developing a nuclear weapon then we will take whatever steps necessary to stop it."

"Whatever steps necessary" means not merely sanctions, economic isolation, freezing bank accounts, virus unleashed and designed to destroy centrifuges, etc. MEANS MILITARY ACTION AS WELL!

A gauntlet has been thrown, a challenge made that is going to backfire? The Iranian reaction is going to forge ahead full throttle, undeterred and undiminished? The Iranian will not have second thoughts but rather is now even more determined to have in their possession and even test an atomic weapon!!

Wait and see. Some sort of clarification is going to be forthcoming? These comments of Leon Panetta were cleared in advance and should be considered as some sort of "war warning".

The zealous ideological hatred of the mullahs toward the "west' and the Great Satan is not diminished by words alone. Bluff will be called and the consequences will be?

coolbert.

Succession?

2011-12-19T18:59:00.001-06:00

This is coolbert:

Thanks to CNN we have some reports on the passing of Kim Jong Il and the assumption to power [alleged] of the third son, Kim Jong Un.

I have to assume that everyone is holding their breath here? President Obama has called personally the President of South Korea [ROK] and given his assurances!!

[communications of this sort are said to carry great significance?]

Secretary of State Clinton meeting with her Japanese counter-part also expressing concern and additional assurances both!!

America is staying the course and IS NOT GOING ANYWHERE!!

1. "Kim Jong Un: The 'great successor' remains an enigma"

"(CNN) -- As North Koreans face an uncertain future without Kim Jong Il, the world's attention now turns to his youngest son, Kim Jong Un, whom the ruling Workers' Party has dubbed the 'great successor.'"

The Great Successor a callow young man of less than thirty years of age [?] with a million man army and nuclear weapons at his beck and call!!

2. "North Korea mourns 'dear leader' as South Korea goes on alert"

"News of his death spurred South Korea, which remains technically at war with the North more than five decades after their 1950-53 conflict, to put its military on high alert."

There is going to be a very rough transition period here the various intelligence agencies of South Korea, Japan and the United States WILL MORE OR LESS BE IN THE DARK ABOUT?

It is not without reason that Korea has been referred to in the past as the "Hermit Kingdom"!

In the manner of the Oriental despot, the two elder brothers of the Great Successor will fight it out with Un for the "top dog" position? Either death or banishment the likely result of a power struggle. An unstable but heavily armed to include atomic weaponry North Korea is a worry to everyone and with good reason.

First son and second son will not be happy that they have been passed over in favor of third son. First son and second son have contingents loyal to them and third son is too biding his time and making alliances? We shall see!

A lot of persons in very high places are nervously biting their nails over this one? I fear so.

coolbert.

Goeben & Breslau.

2011-12-19T18:18:00.000-06:00

Thanks to the author Geoffrey Miller we have the full and entire story of:

"Superior Force - - the conspiracy behind the escape of Goeben and Breslau"

This is great stuff. Please read! I recommend it highly.

German naval vessels pursued by the warships of the Royal Navy [RN] during the Great War [WW1], as described in a chapter of the book: "The Guns of August" by Barbara Tuchmann.

NOT so much the pursuit and escape of the Goeben and Breslau of such consequence it turns out [and I was not aware of this] but rather THE AFTERMATH OF THE CHASE OF GREAT IMPORTANCE IN A WAY NOT APPRECIATED!!

From the wiki we have:

"The pursuit of Goeben and Breslau was a naval action that occurred in the Mediterranean Sea at the outbreak of the First World War . . . The German ships [Goeben and Breslau] evaded the British fleet and passed through the Dardanelles to reach Constantinople [Istanbul] where their arrival was a catalyst that contributed to the Ottoman Empire joining the Central Powers by issuing a declaration of war against the Triple Entente"

"a bloodless 'battle' . . . they brought 'more slaughter, more misery, and more ruin than has ever before been borne within the compass of a ship.'"

"Although not a widely known historical event now, the escape of Goeben [and Breslau] to Constantinople ultimately precipitated some of the most dramatic events of the 20th century."

To include:

* "the entry of the Turks into the war allowed the outnumbered Central powers to fight on for two years longer than they would have been able on their own.".

* "the closure of Russia′s only ice-free trade route through the Dardanelles effectively strangled the Russian economy. Unable to export grain nor import munitions, the Russian army was isolated from her allies and slowly began to collapse"

That British naval force in pursuit hesitant and acting in a half-hearted manner, those in command condemned and found lacking from a lack of initiative - - criticism probably not warranted!

Those great empires of the Old World collapsing as a result of the Great War, German, Austro-Hungarian, Russian and Ottoman breaking up into the various nation-states - - unresolved problems of WW1 only a prelude to much greater conflict to follow.

Thanks to Geoffrey Miller for this web site and a clarification of an episode of history not well known or understood.

coolbert.

Depth!

2011-12-17T23:05:00.001-06:00

This is coolbert:

According to the Israeli military historian Martin van Creveld, the Israeli at this exact moment: "has probably the second or third most powerful military in the world"!

That Israeli military, the IDF, Tzahal, NOW institutionalizing a capability that hitherto existed only on an ad hoc basis! So it would seem.

A military command designed to conduct long-range military operations far beyond the borders of Israel!

"Israel announces new 'depth' command for long-range military operations"

"New command to be headed by former chief of elite special forces squad Sayeret Matakl; unit to supervise operations away from Israel's borders."

"The Israel Defense Forces is forming a command to supervise 'depth' operations, actions undertaken by the military far from Israel's borders, the army announced on Thursday."

To some extent, the Israeli has had for some time an ad hoc long-range military capability! Think the raid on the PLO headquarters in Tunisia, the raid on Entebbe, the raid on the Iraqi nuclear reactor, etc.

This particular command will have a variety of military units on call and ready to go? Submarines, drones, aircraft with a mid-air refueling capability, special operations type ground forces, spy-in-the-sky satellites providing on-time real intelligence as an action proceeds, etc. Military action quite often to be facilitated by special action units of the Mossad?

Israel already has that "stuff" and has had so for some time now. NOW configured into a central command with GLOBAL REACH!

ccolbert.

Laser.

2011-12-17T22:40:00.002-06:00

This is coolbert:

The last time I had heard of something like this was about thirty-five years ago. Back when in the Carter Administration the Soviet at that time attempting to flex their muscles merely to see what the response would be the motivation as reported at the time.

NOW the Iranian is doing the same? Thanks to Ynet.

"Report: Iran 'blinded' CIA spy satellite"

"European intelligence source claims Iran stuns West by 'aiming a laser burst quite accurately' at US satellite in never before reported incident. US official: If Russians provided Iran with sophisticated jamming equipment it means a lot else is at risk too"

At the time [1976] it was described as powerful laser beams "blinding" those American satellites the purpose of which was to detect the launch of long-range missiles. The earliest warning possible, a MIDAS type satellite or similar and generally considered to be absolutely vital!

Carter also supposedly warning the Soviet NOT to repeat such a stunt, another incident would have considered to have been AN ACT OF WAR!! Further repetitions not observed, at least until NOW?

coolbert.

Der Tag!

2011-12-17T15:09:00.001-06:00

This is coolbert:

Thanks to National Review Online we have articles from Professor Victor Davis Hanson and Conrad Black, the subject in both cases being the emergence of Germany at least as the foremost European power and perhaps too as the one nation in the world that the rest now look toward for leadership during tough economic times!!

1. "The Hundred Years’ German War" - - VICTOR DAVIS HANSON

"Germany’s dominance was won by national character, not arms or handouts."

National characteristics to include: clean, order, work!

"The rise of a German Europe began in 1914, failed twice, and has now ended in the victory of German power almost a century later. The Europe that Kaiser Wilhelm lost in 1918, and that Adolf Hitler destroyed in 1945, has at last been won by Chancellor Angela Merkel without firing a shot"

2. "Germany Leads the World"

"And the U.S. is ‘the sick man of the West.’"

Embroiled with too much national debt, an inability to generate more taxes or revenue, a declining work force and again an inability to approach problems with gumption and moxie!! NOT able to do what is needed to solve the problems too hesitant and loathe to do so!

"Germany’s imposing a regime in which countries in default would admit the fact, make the best deal they could, and Eurobonds, essentially on Germany’s credit, would be used to alleviate their fate, as long as they took an economic-growth pledge, including work incentives, entitlement reform, and labor-market-flexibility measures."

The German now calling the shots, able to impose on "lesser" nations conditions that sometimes must seem humiliating and previously ONLY were part of a process involving war and surrender with terms dictated by the victor.

Der Tag! The German triumphant and the rest of the world acknowledging same. And this accomplished without war. The German twice in the previous century resorting to war and failing with all that meant.

Germany and Japan both too recipients of American largess in the aftermath of World War Two, rebuilt with democratic rule prosperous and FREE as that term is generally understood, the dictators and militarists of the past banished to the history books. And the world the better for it as well.

Who needs war when you have the economic power and the MONEY at your disposal?

coolbert.

Hooked!

2011-12-16T22:26:00.002-06:00

This is coolbert:

Thanks to USA Today a story from nearly one year ago now. Senior general US Army officer hooked on pain killing opiates coming clean and telling his story:

"General's story a warning about use of painkillers"

"Lt. Gen. David Fridovich talks about dependency on pain meds following injuries associated with his post in special forces, and his rehab and recovery."

"Standing before a packed hall of 700 military doctors and medics here, the deputy commander of the nation's elite special operations forces warned about an epidemic of chronic pain sweeping through the U.S. military after a decade of continuous war"

General Fridovich for a period of FIVE YEARS AN ABUSER OF OPIATES! Injury causing severe pain the relief of which can only be obtained through the use of the most powerful narcotics addiction being the result!

And too from the same article this very misleading and dangerous headline that has the potentiality to cause a lot of further damage!

"OFFICIALS: Up to 35% of wounded soldiers addicted to drugs"

"An internal Army investigation report released Tuesday revealed that 25% to 35% of about 10,000 soldiers assigned to special units for the wounded, ill or injured are addicted to or dependent on drugs"

A headline misleading in that it suggest [?] that about 1/3 of ALL wounded soldiers from the Iraq and Afghan wars are addicted to analgesic addictive drugs. NOT SO! One-third of those 10,000 soldiers assigned to a special unit treating the "wounded , ill or injured" having a problem with pain-killers and NOT 1/3 of all wounded soldiers across the board!

Comments:

* Surely General Fridovich as deputy commander of U.S. Army Special Operations possessed a very high level security clearance! Continued drug use at whatever level even if using prescription analgesics is normally a bar to having a security clearance NO MATTER WHO YOU ARE?

* By his own admission General Fridovich describes his mental faculties and personality as being changed for the adverse. Reason was clouded and his thought processes not clear, again by his own admission. This cannot be good!

* Doctors were aware of this problem, this addiction, this dependency, this difficulty and still approved General Fridovich to continue his duties in an unabated manner? Once every five years all career personnel must submit to a full physical exam to include a detailed questionnaire and also random yearly drug testing. Medical personnel cannot have been in the dark regarding General Fridovich and his condition?

* You CAN NEVER GET ENOUGH OPIATES! Relief from pain can be obtained only by greater and greater use of more increased dosages of whatever opiate drug is being taken. Where EXACTLY was General Fridovich obtaining these ever increasing amounts of the various drugs he was taking? I like to think NOT from the illegal drug market but I fear so! Continued use of pain-killers only too masking the pain - - MUCH WORSE INJURY AND LIFETIME DISABILITY A BECOMING A POSSIBILITY!

These special operations troops are especially susceptible to injury by the very nature of their duties. In particular, parachuting while carrying an excessive load is most dangerous, damage to the various joints of the body a terrible risk. Special forces and ranger personnel during training and a performance of duty also required to maintain a level of fitness and push their bodies way beyond the normal in a manner quite similar to that of the modern professional athlete!

coolbert.

Budget!

2011-12-14T21:09:00.001-06:00

This is coolbert:

From a comment to a previous blog entry:

"I never thought you would take this position. It is certainly mine and more . . . It would be good to learn your further thoughts on a post imperial defense posture."

And the reply is in the nutshell - - BUDGET CONSTRAINTS pure and simple.

The money does not exist NOW and for the foreseeable future to maintain the "imperial" presence, such a military posture being also neither desirable or needed.

Budgetary constraints foremost I would suggest is the primary consideration and well should be!

The Federal government presently BORROWS 40 % of what is needed for the yearly budget. That of itself is unsustainable in the long run.

Defense spending reductions will be mandated and absolutely necessary as part of a holistic solution to the budget problem. CUTS! Half a dozen aircraft carriers rather than twelve. A thousand F-35 rather 2,000! Troop strength reduced across the board at overseas bases, NATO, Japan, Korea. Etc.

Downsizing! An inability to pay your bills or gather the necessary revenues or taxes to meet expenditures meaning at some point unless drastic action taken NO ONE making future loans to you.

Understood within the context of American legislators currently unable and unwilling to take decisive and drastic measures as needed. The current debate only concerned with limiting further INCREASES in the deficit and not eliminating that deficit or paying off the national debt!

From over sixty years ago the Secretary of Defense sounding very similar to Mr. Gates:

"There's no reason for having a Navy and Marine Corps. General Bradley tells me that amphibious operations are a thing of the past. We'll never have any more amphibious operations. That does away with the Marine Corps. And the Air Force can do anything the Navy can do nowadays, so that does away with the Navy." - - Secretary of Defense Louis A. Johnson, December 1949. Revolt of the Admirals.

NOT necessarily eliminating the current Navy and Marine Corps, but merely downsizing, lean and mean, bare bones! Threats to the extent that they exist managed and thwarted using various degrees of power to include but not limited to the use of military force! And a realization that times have just changed!

Think of the British in the aftermath of World War Two as the down-sizing archetype!

Singapore, Aden, Cyprus, Malta, Gibraltar and no more a slow and steady return to the home islands, retrenchment and reality as mandated by BUDGETARY CONSTRAINTS!

That modern welfare state is not cheap. Trying to provide the combination of guns and butter is difficult if not impossible when the taxpayer/recipient ratio\ goes from 7:1 to 2:1! This is not going to be easy and it should not be suggested otherwise!

coolbert.

Grandeur!

2011-12-12T23:14:00.001-06:00

This is coolbert:

From the November 2011 edition of the National Geographic we have this account of war and battle as fought about 650 A.D., the Mercians [ancient kingdom in what is now England] in mortal combat with the Welsh!

The spoils of war carried away to number a head of cattle, an enormous herd, a prize of value and prestige. In the Indo-European tradition the wealth of the noble or lord measured by the number of "beeves on the hoof"!

[The] "Event and place are commemorated in the Welsh poem 'Marwnad Cynddylan . . . 'The Death Song of Cynddylan'":

"Grandeur in battle! Extensive spoils
Morial bore off from in front of Lichfield.
Fifteen hundred cattle from the front of battle;
four twenties [score] of stallions and equal harness.
The chief bishop wretched in his four-cornered
house, the book-keeping monks did not protect."

War in the ancient manner the man-at-arms a retainer adept and proficient at all types of weaponry whose role was to protect the cattle of the lord or noble from predation at the hands of adversaries, a manifestation of which was what we now call cattle rustling. As in the way of the kshatriya warrior of India, the hajduk [hey-duke] of eastern Europe, the stock detective of the Rhodesian Bush War.

And let is not of course forget the epic poem of the Irish people: "The Great Cattle Raid of Cooley". For those so interested, read the entire epic as found at: "The Cattle-Raid of Cooley (Táin Bó Cúalnge)". Or as an alternative, view and follow the continuing graphic novel [some prefer to call it a webcomic but much more than a comic!] dealing with the same subject as done by the outstanding artist Paddy Brown.

"The Cattle-Raid of Cooley (Táin Bó Cúalnge) is the central epic of the Ulster cycle. Queen Medb of Connaught gathers an army in order to gain possession of the most famous bull in Ireland"

Gain possession of! WAR!

coolbert.

Posse!

2011-12-12T11:41:00.000-06:00

This is coolbert:

This story gets your attention right away? Thanks to the Chicago Tribune from only today:

"Police employ Predator drone spy planes on home front"

"Unmanned aircraft from an Air Force base in North Dakota help local police with surveillance, raising questions that trouble privacy advocates."

A drone UAV, Predator version, as owned and operated by the U.S. Border Patrol, in this particular instance assisting in the apprehension of persons suspected of CATTLE RUSTLING!

That Border Patrol not military but quasi-military, understood as NOT part of the Armed forces of the United States but rather LAW ENFORCEMENT!

"The drones belong to U.S. Customs and Border Protection"

This episode raising questions in the minds of some [how many is some?] as to the legality of such measures. Drone spy-in-the-sky on-call when needed by LOCAL law enforcement provided by federal authorities said by some [again, how many is some?] to be in violation or possible violation of the Posse Comitatus Act!

Imagery from military space satellites banned for internal American law enforcement and terrorist investigations already. These drones however not under the control of the military!

"In 2008 and 2010, Harman [Jane D-CA] helped beat back efforts by Homeland Security officials to use imagery from military satellites to help domestic terrorism investigations. Congress blocked the proposal on grounds it would violate the Posse Comitatus Act, which bars the military from taking a police role on U.S. soil"

Posse Comitatus not allowing for the U.S. military to involve itself in local law enforcement - - an act dating from 1876 and felt by some [again the use of that word some!] to be anachronistic!

The six missing cows being recovered, those in pursuit following the ancient lineage of the military man, the man-at-arms on horseback or foot, trained in the use of a variety of weapons and fighting techniques, guarding the cattle of the lord or noble the highest priority!

That man-at-arms now equipped with the latest technology to include unmanned UAV with the most up-to-date surveillance cameras!

A violation too of Posse Comitatus? I think not but then some will disagree!

coolbert.

Light!

2011-12-11T13:42:00.000-06:00

This is coolbert:

"Let there be light and there was light" - - Genesis 1:3

Came across this quite serendipitously. An actual life instance, an occurrence of power being provided to a city from a ship docked and anchored, the power plant of a warship hooked to the electric grid in an emergency situation as deemed.

As could have been done in the aftermath of the recent Japanese earthquake, the level NINE [unprecedented] seismic event creating a calamity without parallel. Electric power being totally disrupted, the basic essentials of life missing in totality.

1. "U.S.S. Lexington provides electricity to Tacoma beginning about December 17, 1929."

"Beginning about December 17, 1929, the U.S. Navy aircraft carrier U.S.S. Lexington (CV-2) ties up to the Baker Dock and supplies electricity to Tacoma for a month to meet a power crisis."

2. "CV-2 Lexington Powers Tacoma"

"The U.S. Navy sent the Lexington up to a dock in Tacoma, Washington, and heavy electric lines were rigged into the power system for Tacoma and the Lexington's generators provided power for about a month"

3. "Popular Science Progress and Discovery"

"Easily equal to the task was the Lexington's electric power-plant; any one of its four-generators alone was capable of supplying the current needed by the city. At Full power the warship's plant could supply the power needs of a city twice the size of Washington. D.C., Navy officials estimate. it would carry the simultaneous load of fifty heavy electric trains, or would light more than 6,000,000 fifty watt electric lamps. Full power is used to drive the ship at it's high speed, which is estimated at approximately forty miles an hour - - almost as fast as the average railroad express train."

That American ANPP ship now mothballed, the nuclear reactor removed [?], no possibility of using that ship as an expedient or even more than an expedient. BUT the aircraft carrier George Washington on the scene immediately delivering needed supplies and also getting "dusted" with radioactive fallout during the mission MAKES ME WONDER IF POSSIBLY THE WASHINGTON COULD HAVE REPEATED THE YEOMAN WORK OF THE USS LEXINGTON - - 1929.

Was thought given to this? Are these American aircraft carriers "wired" in such a fashion so that the embedded nuclear reactors that propel the vessel in an instant or with a minimum of labor be hooked to an on-shore electrical grid, "juice" going from sea to land? Maybe someone should look into this!

coolbert.

Feu de Joie.

2011-12-10T10:40:00.000-06:00

This is coolbert:

"We looked down the river and see'd the British come. And there must have been a hundred of''em beatin' on the drum. They stepped so high and they made the bugles ring. We stood by our cotton bales and didn't say a thing." - - Johnny Horton

Here undoubtedly without question another military best.

The British Army the BEST in the world at military pageantry.

The marching, the beatin' of drums, the bugles, the high-stepping, the bands, horses, ostentatious display of pageantry without equal in the world.

As I just saw on a public television broadcast just less than an hour ago. From the Queen's birthday in 2008, special display with a lot of attention to detail, much more than normal, always cannot fail to impress.

In particular on this occasion the massed troops of the Welsh Guards firing a feu de joie! A special bit of pageantry done only on a very rare event and date or to commemorate a special occurrence of great significance. The feu de joie having to be carefully rehearsed and practiced, a discharge of weapons by a massed body of troops, ripple fire and not a concerted single volley. So rare is the feu de joie that an observer may see this only once in their lifetime?

"A feu de joie (French: "fire of joy") is a rifle salute, described as a 'running fire of guns', on occasions of public rejoicing of nation and/or ruling dynasty"

These various displays of pageantry such as Trooping the Colour very important to the English, the traditions and ceremony in some cases over five hundred years old, perhaps even more in some cases. Things of whatever nature having an ancient lineage so beloved by the British.

"Trooping the Colour is a ceremony performed by regiments of the British and the Commonwealth armies. It has been a tradition of British infantry regiments since the 17th century, although the roots go back much earlier."

"Since 1748 Trooping the Colour has also marked the official birthday of the British Sovereign."

And in the case of Queen Elizabeth all this devotion and display is well merited? Elizabeth has reigned for a very long time now, one of the longest serving monarch in the history of the world, still spry and active and having her wits about her even in advanced age and doing the job well.

Her devoted servants and subjects showing their admiration in a remarkable and BEST manner!

coolbert.

Zimbo.

2011-12-09T22:24:00.002-06:00

This is coolbert:

Before there was Israel there was Finland.

From a prior blog entry I ask the question:

"What is it about the Finns that allows them to excel as they do?"

That Finnish Air Force [FiAF] during the Second World War [WW2] even when qualitatively and quantitatively inferior in a marked manner to their adversary, able to perform in a fashion that was superlative, almost without peer, admirable!

And the answer in the proverbial nutshell is "Zimbo"!

Col Richard "Zimbo" Lorentz! Lorentz - "the creator of the Finnish Fighter Arm", a combat aviator during the twenty year period between the two World Wars, an outstanding and innovative military aviator!

The Finnish Air Force [FiAF] able to devise theories, doctrine, tactics, means and methods of aerial combat NOT IN SLAVISH IMITATION OF FOREIGN COUNTERPARTS. Theories, doctrine, tactics, means and methods well thought out in advance, appropriate and adapted to the peculiarities of the Finnish situation!

The FiAF also during World War Two [WW2] fighting primarily what I perceive as a defensive war, defense the stronger form of combat, easier to do with less and accomplish more!

The Finn also able and adept at modifying and employing in combat warplanes found previously to be lacking and somewhat antiquated, such as the Brewster Buffalo and M.S. 406.

Here with two more examples of combat warplanes "lacking and somewhat antiquated" BUT NOT WHEN FLOWN BY FiAF fighter pilots during WW2:

* Fokker D.XXI.

"The Fokker D.XXI, although much slower and more lightly armed than the Bf [Me] 109, performed surprisingly well in dogfights, due to its maneuverability." The Fokker not even having retractable landing gear!

"The Fokker D.XXI performed better and for much longer in the Finnish Air Force . . . its rugged design with a radial engine and fixed undercarriage made it very suitable for Finnish conditions"

* Fiat G.50.

"The Fiat G.50 . . . was a World War II Italian fighter aircraft. First flown in February 1937, the G.50 was Italy’s first single-seat, all-metal monoplane with an enclosed cockpit and retractable landing gear to go into production . . . they proved to be fast and, typical of most Italian designs, very manoeuvrable"

It is not so much the machine as the man behind the machine! Those superior Finnish airmen using correct and appropriate doctrine and tactics well thought in advance thanks to Zimbo AND with that goodly measure of sisu [courage but much more than courage] thrown in making for a formidable combination.

"Sisu is a Finnish term loosely translated into English as strength of will, determination, perseverance, and acting rationally in the face of adversity . . . Sisu has been described as being integral to understanding Finnish culture . . . sisu is defined by a long-term element in it; it is not momentary courage, but the ability to sustain an action against the odds."

Sisu!

coolbert.

Beast.

2011-12-09T18:40:00.000-06:00

This is coolbert:

"lost connectivity and disappeared"

Here from a variety of sources we have the fragmentary dope on the missing and presumably captured more or less intact American espionage and intelligence gathering drone, the RQ-170.

The RQ greatly resembling a miniature version of the B-2 stealth bomber. The RQ unmanned, fitted with a wide range of intelligence gathering equipment, NOW in the hands of the Iranians.

The RQ-170 referred to by those in the know as the "Beast of Kandahar".

1. "Iran’s captured RQ-170: How bad is the damage?"

2. "RQ-170: A primer on the ‘Beast of Kandahar’"

3. "US RQ-170 drone missing in Iran was part of CIA spy operation"

Lastly from our good friends at the DEBKAfile we have the usual very alarmist and disheartening headline and story.

It is alleged by DEBKA that the drone, the UAV, was captured intact, a victim of electronic and cyber warfare, the Iranian being able to remotely take control of the "Beast" and fly the UAV into their territory, to a safe landing!! the RQ-170 NEITHER SHOT DOWN OR MALFUNCTIONING AND CRASHING!!

4. "Iran exhibits captured US stealth drone undamaged. US and Israeli intelligence shocked"

"08 Dec. Iran exhibited the top-secret US stealth drone RQ-170 Sentinel captured on Sunday . . . Its almost perfect condition confirmed Teheran's claim that the UAV was downed by a cyber attack, meaning it was not shot down but brought in undamaged by an electronic warfare ambush."

"The state of the lost UAV refutes the US military contention that the Sentinel's systems malfunctioned. If this had happened, it would have crashed and either been wrecked or damaged."

Captured the most dangerous beast of them all? "Lost connectivity and disappeared"?

If indeed the alarmist DEBKA is correct, this is very major.Compromise of the drone and intelligence gathering instrumentation and done in a manner only prior thought to be in the realm of science-fiction!!

coolbert.

Hannibal.

2011-12-08T20:59:00.001-06:00

This is coolbert:

They even have a name for it. The Hannibal protocol.

From several sources we have the latest info regarding the instructions as given to Israeli military commanders and combat arms troops, the proper response to be followed if and when capture or abduction by the enemy becomes imminent.

1. "Hannibal protocol standardized"

2. "After Shalit, some IDF officers see a dead soldier as better than abducted"

"Return of abducted IDF soldier Gilad Shalit earlier this month, in exchange for 1,027 Palestinian prisoners, focuses IDF discussion on 'Hannibal Protocol,' designed to prevent soldier abduction."

NOT necessarily telling the individual troop to kill himself. But rather GO DOWN FIGHTING!! More than likely that soldier flinging a grenade at the approaching enemy at the last possible second, you kill or wound your adversary but also probably either being killed or severely wounded in the process.

[Jack Smith spoke of his being wounded at the Ia Drang battlefield and laying face down with a live and armed grenade under his body waiting to toss it at the NVA if they decided to shoot or dismember him!]

Israeli unit commanders or those in seniority at the scene and witnessing a capture or abduction being authorized to OPEN FIRE at their discretion, EVEN IF YOUR OWN MAN IS HIT AND KILLED!

Friendly fire with intent cold and calculating but thought to be necessary! NO BODY ever said war was easy!

coolbert.

Do's and Dont's.

2011-12-06T19:14:00.001-06:00

This is coolbert:

Back to the subject of Vietnam and my own listing of "things" that worked well during that conflict.

Items to include:

* AC-47 gunship.
* Phoenix Program.
* Riverine Task force.
* ACAV. [Armored Cavalry Regiment]

Now with additional listing of "things" that worked in Vietnam from an authority the judgment of which I assure you can be trusted and relied upon. If anyone would know, this man would know.

Items that worked to include:

* "laser guided and television guided bombs, [used] just during the last year of active US involvement, but enough to make a huge difference in the short time they were present."

* "jet drones rather than use RF4s to overfly N. Viet targets." [reconnaissance flights unmanned not endangering pilots.]

* "Gatling gun/Vulcan cannon" [7.62 mm and 20 mm calibers both. The former called mini-guns]

* "Hand held emergency radios--used for rescue but also as back-up radios for small units like Spec Ops"

Also from that very same authority at his suggestion and in his opinion also "a list of things that didn't work": To include:

1. "Gradual Escalation"
2. "Search and destroy"
3. "MacNamara Line"
4. "Civilian decisions running the military" [micro-management at a low level of battlefield decision making]
5. "M-60 machine gun"
6. "F-111" [out of the first six aircraft deployed to theatre, two crashed.]
7. "Missiles to the exclusion of guns on planes" [rapid fire Vulcan cannon added as an afterthought.]
8. "Multi-role aircraft (making the F4 into a jack of all trades, master of none) . . . It wasn't the right time yet to create multi-role aircraft,"

It was often suggested that the entire Vietnam escapade was often seen by the military as merely a chance to try out new weapons, doctrine, theory, tactics, etc. And see how well U.S. gear as in the inventory at the time measured up when compared to the Soviet brand. Vietnam portrayed more as a macro-scale shooting gallery allowing the American combat arms soldier and airman to test his mettle and weaponry under real-world conditions.

The results of which often found to be wanting, lacking in a manner that was disturbing and troublesome. If this "stuff" did not work against the North Vietnamese, how well would it fare against the Soviets? That must have been the question asked over and over!

Other devoted readers to the blog with Vietnam experience can add or subtract from these listings? Opinions and suggestions invited!

coolbert.

Professor Niall.

2011-12-05T13:35:00.000-06:00

This is coolbert:

From the op-ed section of the Chicago Tribune today as originally seen in Newsweek we have the comments of Professor Niall Ferguson!

"WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING"

"Many in Congress thirst to slash defense. Already this year it has been cut by approximately $ 465 billion. The president, too, is in a hurry to wind down American involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan. . . . (the supercommittee's failure to cut deficits will) reduce the regular defense budget - - excluding Iraq and Afghanistan. - - by at least $ 492 billion between 2012 and 2021. . . ."

"Now, it may be that we are entering a period of unprecedented peace and brotherly love, Maybe the Arabs will live happily ever after with new democratically elected leaders. And maybe the Chinese will always be our buddies. But I would not like to bet $ 492 billion on that. . . . I remember the old Latin adage: Si vis pacem, para bellum - - if you want peace, prepare for war." - - Niall Ferguson, Newsweek.

A total withdrawal of American military force sooner or later will be an absolute must? NO MORE American troops in Europe or in Asia. Guam, Hawaii will be military outposts in the Pacific as they have been in the past and troop strength for the NATO mission cut back nearly to zero? This will be mandated because of budget restraints, deficits not controllable and just a plain ordinary inability to pay bills anymore. And it will be understood that that continuing American world-wide military presence is neither needed or wanted NOR is desirable!

coolbert.

Daood Gilani II.

2011-12-05T13:17:00.000-06:00

This is coolbert:

Daood the conclusion.

"A Perfect Terrorist". The infamous saga of Daood Gilani, better known to the world as David Coleman Headley.

"PBS FRONTLINE will bring live online 'The Perfect Terrorist', the investigation into the mysterious rise of David Coleman Headley." [for those able to witness this program, I recommend it highly, without qualification!!]

This particular public broadcast as seen on Frontline in the USA not mentioning the connection to the Kinsman IL. USA halal goat/sheep ranch and slaughterhouse as owned by Rana and Gilani! [the property and facility according to my informants now back up and running with new ownership!]

Once more thanks to The Hindu from only a short time ago we have the allegations that during a reconnaissance as done during a visit to India - - the self-admitted and confessed terrorist Daood Gilani showing an interest in Indian nuclear facilities. Those assassins perpetrators of Mumbai not content with the mere murders of hundreds but also having intentions if possible for the GRAND EVENT! [attack on a nuclear facility with all that would mean!]

"Headley carried out surveillance at nuclear plant"

"David Coleman Headley, the Mumbai attacks accused, visited a nuclear power plant in India, at the direction of his handler in Pakistan, Major Iqbal in April 2008"

Nuclear facilities similar to those found near Kinsman IL. USA and described in my blog entry from almost two years ago now. Again I address my concerns.

That Grand Event of course an attack of an apocalyptic nature causing widespread devastation on an unprecedented scale the ultimate nightmare for those persons in Homeland Security who I hope are on the ball and doing their jobs!!

Even after Daood and Rana are now behind bars hopefully for the remainder of their lives, SOMEONE has taken notice of that goat/sheep ranch and taken the proper precautions? I am downwind almost directly from that triangle as formed by the MOST NUCLEAR SPOT IN THE USA!! My concerns and fears are not mere paranoia but are a real issue?

ONLY sseveral days ago the weather pattern was such and could be observed on the NEXRAD radar showing that absolutely WORST possible wind direction for a nuclear catastrophe, Braidwood/LaSalle/Dresden the prevailing winds carrying deadly nuclear radiation toward the Chicago metropolitan area [8 million persons].

You take it from there!

coolbert.

Daood Gilani I.

2011-12-03T08:08:00.002-06:00

This is coolbert:

"A Perfect Terrorist" The continuing and infamous saga of Daood Gilani. The self-confessed and admitted terrorist also known to the world as David Coleman Headley.

"PBS FRONTLINE will bring live online 'The Perfect Terrorist', the investigation into the mysterious rise of David Coleman Headley." [only this last weekend I have seen this public broadcast program and recommend it highly, without qualification!!]

Daood prior to the Mumbai attack purchasing bracelets having religious significance to the Hindu the use of which on the part of the terrorists indicative of a malevolent but very clever and diabolical mentality at work.

According to The Hindu as reported just recently:

"Headley brought red bracelets for Mumbai attackers: documents"

"In his last surveillance trip to India before 26/11, David C Headley, the Mumbai attacks terror accused, at the instruction of his Pakistani handler Major Iqbal bought 15 red bracelets to be worn by the attackers so that they can disguise as Hindus, according to released unsealed court documents."

An attempt ultimately not successful at disguise, to deceive and fool the Indian authorities, police and intelligence agencies both! Muslim attackers at Mumbai assuming the guise of a Hindu, in vain, but nonetheless, the thought was there and so was the action!!"

Those autopsies as done on the Mumbai attackers revealing NOT ONLY the presence of drugs but ALSO that each and every terrorist was CIRCUMCISED! Ritual circumcision obligatory for the Muslim but NOT for the Hindu. "Circumcision is NOT practiced in Hinduism."

Read from the Military Thoughts blog an entry of mine from a long time ago now, the ritual rite of circumcision having a military applicability, in both the ancient and modern sense!

That red bracelet of importance to the Hindu and worn when death or the possibility thereof is imminent!

"How do Hindus treat death?"

"A red or yellow string may be tied around the person's wrist. Please allow this if possible, as it's very important in the dying process."

The ruse as done by the Mumbai assassins to pass as Hindu futile, but again "the thought was there and so was the action"!

Daood too legally changed his name to David Coleman Headley. Headley the family name of his birth mother. This all an attempt at dissimulation on the part of Daood, the man now and has been for some time a fanatic Muslim, even a Salafist for that matter perhaps? Daood does have the appearance of white American male, adopting the name of David allowing him to that much easier evade profiling to the extent it is practiced.

Read here of taqiyya and kitman, Islam dissimulation as sanctioned by the ulema!

coolbert.

FISA.

2011-12-02T21:32:00.001-06:00

This is coolbert:

"America's Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act . . . is an Act of Congress, which prescribes procedures for the physical and electronic surveillance and collection of 'foreign intelligence information' between 'foreign powers' and 'agents of foreign powers' (which may include American citizens and permanent residents suspected of being engaged in espionage and violating U.S. law on territory under United States control). The law, of course, does not apply outside the US."

This particular entry from the intelNew.org web site stimulating some comment regarding the American FISA law.

"Comment: EU wants to intercept encrypted VOIP communications"

"Additionally, VOIP [Voice Over Internet Protocol] data packets often travel through Internet networks looking for unused lines, which may not necessarily be the shortest route to their destination. Consequently, a VOIP source signal from New York to Los Angeles could easily reach its destination through, say, Reykjavik or Bogota. What is more, binary data packets often split, with different parts following different routes to a given destination and only reuniting at a switch close to the end destination."

This is part of the problem with the law [FISA] that says the communications of a US person cannot be intercepted without a court order. Two terrorists both at locales in Pakistan can be in communication with Internet Messenger [IM] and their communication packets via the Internet may actually be traveling through a router located somewhere in the U.S. Those electronic packets, even if a minor amount of them [even one packet for that matter] travel through that U.S. router make those two Pakistani terrorists US persons for the purpose of law and their conversation becomes inviolate. That specific law when written during the Carter Administration was written with old technology in mind and not the technology of the Internet.

FISA written at a time [1978] when the Internet, VOIP, Skype, IM , and other means of communication via home computers was not even contemplated or thought possible. Archaic and no longer relevant laws still applicable - - regardless of obsolescence!

We live in a brave new world the laws of which must be scrutinized every twenty years or so? Let the legislators decide but let them decide!

coolbert.

Bobby.

2011-12-02T21:03:00.000-06:00

This is coolbert:

From several sources we have the latest efforts of Hezbollah to track down and neutralize informants. The former American Central Intelligence [CIA] case officer Bobby Baer commenting and thinking along the same lines as the one-time # 3 man at the FBI. Hezbollah is very good. NOT only possessing the BEST light infantry in the world, but also a formidable intelligence and counter-intelligence apparatus. BEST!

1. "Hezbollah, Iran uncover CIA informants"

"WASHINGTON (Reuters) - In an apparently serious setback for U.S. intelligence against a key adversary, Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shi'ite militia, has succeeded in identifying and arresting informants within its ranks within its ranks who were working for the CIA, current and former U.S. officials said.

"Some former U.S. officials said that the CIA informants, believed to be local recruits rather than U.S. citizens, were uncovered, at least in part, due to sloppy procedures - known in the espionage world as 'tradecraft' - used by the agency."

"But Bob Baer, a former CIA operations officer whose books inspired the Hollywood movie Syriana, said that Hezbollah's counterintelligence capabilities are formidable and should not be underestimated."

"Hezbollah's security is as good as any in the world's. It's the best. It's better than that of the KGB," the former Soviet spy agency, Baer said."

"Baer said one reason Hezbollah has been successful in rooting out spies is that it is so powerful it has forced Lebanese government security forces to hand over sensitive communications and spy gear supplied by the U.S. government. Hezbollah then used this U.S. equipment to identify and track down CIA informants."

2. From intelNews.org. "Analysis: How serious a blow did the CIA suffer in Lebanon?"

"But Baer says that the arrests were not necessarily caused by CIA errors; rather it may have been advanced counterintelligence analysis by Hezbollah that compromised the agents. . . . He [Baer] adds that the arrests should serve as a reminder of Hezbollah’s increasing technological prowess, which now extends to the domains of the Internet, cellular telecommunications, and even VOIP communications, such as Skype."

NOT only "identifying and arresting informants within its ranks" but you would have to presume also for a time prior passing on disinformation and misleading data to the CIA case officers! At a most important moment in the history of the Middle East, those American policy makers relying on the analysis of the CIA to make decisions fooled and stymied and done so in a very big way.

AND as well using American counter-espionage equipment to do so! This fiasco is the result of American gear being used against the CIA!

Shameful!!

coolbert.

Workshops?

2011-12-01T12:08:00.005-06:00

This is coolbert:

From the Kent Budge web site: "Strategic Bombing"

We have this instance of the United States Army Air Corps general officer Curtis LeMay congratulating and justifying himself - - in the aftermath of the saturation bombing of the Japanese city Yokohama - - the Second World War [WW2]!

"'We were going after military targets. No point in slaughtering civilians for the mere sake of slaughter. Of course there is a pretty thin veneer in Japan, but the veneer was there. It was their system of dispersal of industry.... I'll never forget Yokohama. That was what impressed me: drill presses. There they were, like a forest of scorched trees and stumps, growing up throughout the residential area. Flimsy construction all gone ... everything burned down, or up, and drill presses standing like skeletons.'" - - C. LeMay.

That saturation bombing of Japanese cities during WW2 by low-flying American B-29 bomber aircraft, dropping prodigious amounts of incendiary weaponry, the level of destruction and loss of life indeed apocalyptic in nature, horrendous devastation beyond that of a Hamburg or a Dresden! Casualties and property loss exceeding on occasion the ATOMIC ATTACKS ON HIROSHIMA AND NAGASAKI!!

In particular the rickety, wooden and papier-mâché style construction as was found in Japan at the time most susceptible to fire and fire-storm, entire whole portions of major cities and population burned to a crisp, again, the loss of life and devastation apocalyptic in nature, almost WITHOUT PARALLEL!

Those Japanese residential areas, however, NOT BEING SOLELY THE DWELLING PLACE OF CIVILIANS, BUT ALSO PART AND PARCEL OF THE MANUFACTURING EFFORT GEARED TO WARTIME PRODUCTION, COTTAGE INDUSTRIES PRODUCING NUTS, SCREWS, BOLTS, COILS, ETC.

"LeMay justified this campaign of mass destruction with the observation that Japanese industry, while concentrated in the largest cities, was fairly dispersed within those cities. Most Japanese factories relied on parts manufactured on what was nearly a cottage basis [cottage industry] in small neighborhood workshops."

President Truman too briefed on the cottage industry production system of Japan, in the aftermath of the war, perhaps to his consolation too:

"Standing in the ashes of a substantial portion of the burned homes [in Tokyo] are various types of machine tools like lathes, drill presses, etc. Here family groups were manufacturing repetitive parts like nuts, bolts, or coils which were delivered to the manufacturing centers for use in the assembly of military weapons. In the area we examined, approximately one fifth [1/5]of the homes showed evidence of such activities." - - Dr. Karl T. Compton [making] a similar observation to Truman in October 1945:

In this specific regard, the use of cottage industry to produce "repetitive parts" as used in the armaments and munitions industry was peculiar to the Japanese?

WW2 is also the first instance of where civilians vital to the war effort became deliberate targets subject to bombardment as was done to the German by the English Bomber Command or the American 20th Air Force in the Pacific, MORE CIVILIANS PERISHING DURING WW2 THAN MILITARY PERSONNEL!!

Curtis too would not have known those multitude of drill presses were present and in use - - until after the damage was done? Justification after the fact? You decide!

coolbert.

Taierzhuang.

2011-11-30T22:38:00.001-06:00

This is coolbert:

From the Military Thoughts blog we have from quite a long time ago now an entry regarding the Battle of Wuhan. An epic struggle from the Second Sino-Japanese War.

"A battle of the most momentous proportions. An epic fight on the scale of a Stalingrad?? NOW, forgotten?"

"The Battle of Wuhan . . . was a large-scale battle of the Second Sino-Japanese War. More than one million National Revolutionary Army [the Nationalists] troops were gathered, with Chiang Kai-shek himself in command, to defend Wuhan from the Imperial Japanese Army . . . It lasted four and half months, and was the longest, largest and one of the most significant battles of the entire Second Sino-Japanese War."

Wuhan - - those superlatives of "longest, largest and one of the most significant" all applying and characterized by myself as forgotten to history. Stalingrad in the east, not even as a footnote now!

Better characterized perhaps as a figurative and not a literal Stalingrad? Enormous masses of troops, protracted fighting of the most intense and decisive nature, apocalyptic in nature, brutal cave-man like warfare the use of poison gas by the Japanese being commonplace, Wuhan best seen only as a Pyrrhic victory for the Japanese.

[release from the highest echelons of the Japanese command [from the Emperor himself] being required over and over before the gas used. To that extent the Emperor guilty of war crimes as understood during the war and even now!!]

Wuhan again better understood as a figurative Stalingrad and not literal.

"FIGURATIVE - - 2. metaphorical b : characterized by figures of speech"

More correctly so, read Page 1, Page 2 and Interview from the Numistamp web site descriptions of a literal Stalingrad from that same Second Sino-Japanese War.

The Battle of Taierzhuang. A resounding defeat for the Imperial Japanese Army [IJA], until just recently the likes of which I had no knowledge of!

Taierzhuang seemingly the archetype upon which the Soviet in a purposeful and successful manner based the entire Stalingrad campaign?

"archetype - - classic exemplar, form, ideal, model, original, paradigm, pattern, perfect specimen, prime example, prototype, standard"

"ar·che·type - - noun 1. the original pattern or model from which all things of the same kind are copied or on which they are based; a model or first form; prototype."

That Taierzhuang is the archetype upon which the entire Stalingrad campaign was based is NOT wishful thinking. Both Zhukov and Chuikov would have more than familiar with the battle, the possibilities of forestalling an enemy attack with urban combat combined with the operational art of the double envelopment as exemplified by Taierzhuang! What occurred at Stalingrad did not develop in an organic manner but was part of an overall strategy planned?

Again, the Nationalist Chinese have been portrayed in the history books and are generally thought of as being less than spirited, lackadaisical, half-hearted, and not pursuing the war against the Japanese with vigor? The Nationalists are seen as having been corrupt, inefficient, NOT worthy of American support, more interested in fighting the communists under Mao rather than the Japanese. Far from true, the Nationalists hardly lacking in fighting spirit but rather inspired and formidable both on offense and defense!

coolbert.

Scientist?

2011-11-29T21:53:00.001-06:00

This is coolbert:

This from a previous blog entry:

"May there not be methods of using explosive energy incomparably more intense than anything heretofore discovered? Might not a bomb no bigger than an orange be found to possess a secret power to destroy a whole block of buildings—nay, to concentrate the force of a thousand tons of cordite and blast a township at a stroke?" - - Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill, 1924.

That quotation as attributed to Churchill as originally found in the article:

"'Shall We All Commit Suicide?'. Pall Mall (Sep 1924). Reprinted in Thoughts and Adventures (1932) — Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill"

Also I ask the question: "And how exactly was Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill able to have the vision of the atomic bomb - - in 1924 - - way before the discovery of nuclear fission was even discovered? Can someone tell me that?"

Discoveries of sub-atomic particles such as the proton [1919] the neutron [1932] and the fissionable reaction of uranium [1938] the significance of which would be not so readily apparent to a non-scientist such as Churchill.

"The neutron has been the key to nuclear power production. After the neutron was discovered in 1932, it was realized in 1933 that it might mediate a nuclear chain reaction . . . When nuclear fission was discovered in 1938, it was soon realized that this might be the mechanism to produce the neutrons for the chain reaction"

The BIG BOOM!

Winston Churchill however friendly with and in conservation with some of the top scientists of the time, to include Einstein. Churchill was indeed far ahead of the learning curve, much more than his political contemporaries:

From "'Churchill and the Jews: A Lifelong Friendship' By Martin Gilbert"

"Among Churchill's visitors in the spring of 1933 was German born Albert Einstein, who had been in the United States when Hitler came to power . . Einstein, who was five years younger than Churchill, visited him at Chartwell, where he asked Churchill's help in bringing Jewish scientists from Germany. Churchill responded at once, encouraging his friend Professor Frederick Lindemann - - who was at Chartwell during Einstein's visit - - to travel to Germany and seek out Jewish Scientists who could be found places at British universities."

This too from Churchill. Again, the man far head of his peers, beyond that of almost anyone else for that matter!

"New sources of power ... will surely be discovered. Nuclear energy is incomparably greater than the molecular energy we use today. The coal a man can get in a day can easily do five hundred times as much work as himself. Nuclear energy is at least one million times more powerful still. If the hydrogen atoms in a pound of water could be prevailed upon to combine and form helium, they would suffice to drive a thousand-horsepower engine for a whole year. If the electrons, those tiny planets of the atomic systems, were induced to combine with the nuclei in hydrogen, the horsepower would be 120 times greater still. There is no question among scientists that this gigantic source of energy exists. What is lacking is the match to set the bonfire alight, or it may be the detonator to cause the dynamite to explode. The scientists are looking for this." — Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill "'Fifty Years Hence'. Strand Magazine (Dec 1931). Reprinted in Popular Mechanics (Mar 1932)"

[In his last major speech to the House of Commons on 1 Mar 1955, Churchill quoted from his original printed article, nearly 25 years earlier. Churchill referring not only to the fissionable uranium reaction but also to thermonuclear fusion as well!]

A politician such as Churchill not needing to be a scientist himself but only be aware of the potentiality, on a friendly basis with the experts who ARE KNOWLEDGEABLE AND CONVERSANT IN SUCH MATTERS!

coolbert.

Mörkö-Morane.

2011-11-29T21:20:00.001-06:00

This is coolbert:

"it was under-powered and weakly armed when compared to its contemporaries.Most critically, it was out-performed by the Messerschmitt Bf 109E during the Battle of France."

The French Morane-Saulnier M.S.406 fighter interceptor. Found during the Battle of France [1940] to be less than adequate, deficient when compared to the German counter-part.

But that is not the end of the story.

That M.S. 406 when modified and improved upon by the Finnish Air Force [FAF], a much better warplane, used successfully by the Finns in combat with Soviet forces, IN A MANNER AS WAS ALSO THE CASE WITH THE AMERICAN BREWSTER BUFFALO! The Finnish designation for the M.S. 406 was the Mörkö-Morane!

Improvements and modifications, not that so excessive and extensive but enough to create an almost new war-bird with significant potentiality. And when used and flown by outstanding Finnish combat aviators in a way to maximize strengths while minimizing weakness, deemed more than sufficient!

Improvements and modifications to include but not totally limited to:

* New and more powerful engine.
* Improved aerodynamics.
* Improved and strengthened armaments.

"The aircraft designer Aarne Lakomaa turned the obsolete 'M-S' into a first rate fighter,"

"The first example of the modified fighter, MS-631, made its first flight on 25 January 1943, and the results were startling: the aircraft was 40 km/h (25 mph) faster than the original French version, and the service ceiling was increased from 10,000 to 12,000 m (32,800 to 39,360 ft)."

And again, when flown by determined and able Finnish combat pilots, impressive with the "kill-ratio"!

"Between November 1939 and 4 September 1944, Lv28 [FAF combat unit] scored 118 aerial victories flying the Morane M.S.406 . . . The unit lost 15 aircraft."

What is it about the Finns that allows them to excel as they do? Think modern Finland, a small nation [about 4 million persons tops] but with superior educational facilities and top-notch students, Nokia, Linux, superior and innovative designs, etc.

Think too of the Israeli and the American F-4 Phantom. That Israeli making no less than five hundred [500] changes to the basic F-4 upon arrival.

The Finn during the Second World War [WW2] comporting themselves with honor, John Keegan rating the Finn as the BEST soldier during that conflict. Apparently the ground troops and airmen both!

coolbert.

Promises!

2011-11-28T19:23:00.015-06:00

This is coolbert:

1. Those French assurances to the Poles, personally from Maurice Gamelin himself, French offensive action to be taken in case of war with Germany indeed to a degree acted upon, but only in a half-hearted and lackadaisical manner, NO punch, best described as a probing action on a massive scale without follow-up, this being the Saar Offensive [1939].

"The Saar Offensive was a French operation into Saarland on the German 1st Army defence sector in the early stages of World War II. The purpose of the attack was to assist Poland, which was then under attack. However, the assault was stopped and the French forces withdrew."

Assistance provided to the Poles, fulfilling the letter BUT NOT the spirit of the promise made by Gamelin. A second-front taking the pressure off the Poles, the German unwilling and perhaps even unable to fight a two-front war, French offensive action [1939] against Germany inexplicably halted, a hasty withdrawal made for reasons unclear!

2. The Western Wall [Siegfried Line] still under construction, the German holding force INSUFFICIENT TO STOP A FRENCH OFFENSIVE IF GAMELIN HAD MOVED FORWARD WITH VIGOR!!

This has been termed the Western Betrayal of Poland!!

From the wiki entry for the Phoney War:

"Both the pre-war reports of the Polish intelligence and the post-war testimonies of German generals (most notably of Wilhelm Keitel and Alfred Jodl) reported that there was an equivalent of less than 20 divisions facing France in 1939, as compared to roughly 90 French divisions. On the other hand, German orders of battle show 33 infantry divisions, plus eleven newly raised infantry divisions, plus the equivalent of six border guard divisions, all under command of Army Group C.

"After the war, General Alfred Jodl commented that the Germans survived 1939 'only because approximately 110 French and English divisions in the West, which during the campaign on Poland were facing 25 German divisions, remained completely inactive.'"

3. That French Air Force [Armée de l'Air] in 1939 both qualitatively and quantitatively inferior to the German. That one fighter/interceptor most relied upon by the French found to be wanting and generally speaking inferior the German Me-109.

"The M.S.406 was a French Armée de l'Air fighter aircraft built by Morane-Saulnier starting in 1938. Numerically it was France's most important fighter during the opening stages of World War II."

"it was under-powered and weakly armed when compared to its contemporaries. Most critically, it was out-performed by the Messerschmitt Bf 109E [Me-109] during the Battle of France . . . when the war restarted in earnest in 1940 [Battle of France], 387 were lost in combat or on the ground . . . for 183 kills in return."

Comments:

* That French Armée de l'Air did NOT exist in a vacuum. Did have considerable reinforcement from the British Royal Air Force [RAF]. That English Spitfire fighter/interceptor however not having quite the performance during the Battle of France as it did several months subsequent! At least not until the arrival of American high-octane aviation gasoline [AVGAS] boosted the performance of the Spitfire considerably.

* Please be very careful when comparing those statistics of German divisions available to Hitler opposite the French [1939]! When Jodl speaks of twenty to twenty-five divisions he means fully manned, fully trained, fully equipped divisional sized contingents organized into fully manned, fully trained units at a high degree of readiness - - combat ready - - fully capable of operations beyond corps and army level as an integrated force. Additional units of divisional size more than likely NOT combat ready. Present but NOT prepared for combat as per exacting German army standards. Such is the difficulty in making order-of-battle estimates and evaluations.

coolbert.

Sea Mines & Railroads.

2011-11-27T15:22:00.000-06:00

This is coolbert:

Once again, the mine as an offensive weapon, in this particular case sea-mines to be exact.

Most persons conversant with various aspects of the Second World War are aware of the strategic American submarine offensive directed against Japanese military warships and merchant shipping in those waters primarily EXTERNAL to Japanese home waters.

A very successful campaign, crippling the Japanese war effort significantly, perhaps even fatally.

Perhaps even more successful and significant than the strategic submarine offensive was the laying of sea-mines in Japanese coastal waters at the end of the war, as done by American B-29 bomber aircraft. This was Operation Starvation!

"Operation Starvation was an American naval mining operation conducted in World War II by the Army Air Force, in which vital water routes and ports of Japan were mined by air in order to disrupt enemy shipping."

An aerial offensive, the laying of sea-mines, denying to Japanese naval vessels and merchant shipping the use of Japanese INTERNAL home waters!

"This mining proved the most efficient means of destroying Japanese shipping during World War II. In terms of damage per unit of cost, it surpassed strategic bombing and the United States submarine campaign."

"Operation Starvation sank more ship tonnage in the last six months of the war than the efforts of all other sources combined."

Japanese naval commanders ordering their naval warships and too commercial vessels to run the gauntlet of sea mines, heedless of losses, in an effort to keep supplies and war munitions flowing. MERCHANT SHIPPING AS WELL NOT ABLE TO FREELY MOVE NEEDED RICE FOOD STOCKS FROM ONE AREA OF JAPAN TO ANOTHER!! VITAL NECESSITIES NO LONGER COULD FLOW, THE CIVILIAN POPULACE ON THE VERGE OF MASS STARVATION!!

"After the war, the commander of Japan's minesweeping operations noted that he thought this mining campaign could have directly led to the defeat of Japan on its own had it begun earlier."

And from comments to the National Review Online article: "The Blunders of Statesmen".

"or to destroy Japan's rail system with conventional bombing (already ijn the planning stages) at ehg cost of starving 8 million Japanese from the resulting disruption of rice distribution."

NOT ONLY a campaign of sea-mines denying the inland waterways of Japan to Empire naval and merchant vessels, but a planned campaign already underway to some extent - - the destruction of the Japanese railroad system - - would have further exacerbated an already dire situation, mass starvation of the Japanese populace a horrible and very really consequence.

"Had the war continued past August 1945, the next target for strategic bombing was to be Japan's rail system. Because of Japan's mountainous terrain, the rail system was unusually vulnerable to attack [tunnels I would presume], which would have made it impossible to move vital commodities such as rice. [it has been] argued that this would have led to widespread famine that would have forced a surrender without the nuclear attacks, but at the cost of perhaps as many as ten million deaths by starvation."

Again, a bombing campaign against the Japanese rail system already underway to some degree:

"Also of strategic importance was the sinking by carrier aircraft on 14-15 July 1945 of eight of the twelve railway ferries that carried traffic between Hokkaido and Honshu. This immediately halved deliveries of coal to Honshu."

Surrender today or famine tomorrow! Flippant yes, realistic also! No one ever said war was easy, did they!

coolbert.

Gamelin.

2011-11-27T09:12:00.000-06:00

This is coolbert:

"We in Poland do not know the conception of peace at any price. There is only one thing in the life of men, nations, and States which is above price - and that is honour." - - J. Beck

Here with some insight into the mental attitude of General Gamelin in those months prior to the start of World War Two [WW2]. Gamelin the overall commander of French forces, making assurances to the Poles that in case of war French military action of an OFFENSIVE nature would be initiated against Germany - - WITHOUT FAIL!

Offensive action that did not occur, Gamelin seemingly having given assurances that he thought were subject to INTERPRETATION! Interpretation to the detriment of the Poles so it seems.

The fate of Poland in 1939 a done deal, that French army possessing more men, more and better tanks, an air force about equal in size and capability to the German Luftwaffe NOT going on the offensive, NOT taking the war to the German as promised by Gamelin!

"Some days [5 May 1939] after the Beck's speech General Tadeusz Kasprzycki, Poland's war minister, went to Paris and during the talks with General Maurice Gamelin, designated for the French supreme commander in case of war, and tried to obtain a commitment that the French army would engage against Germany immediately after an expected attack. It was not until after the war, that Gamelin revealed his anti-Polish feelings. For short, he regarded the Poles for warmongers, who tried to drag France into unpopular war. He promised Kasprzycki, that the French air forces would undertake an action against Germany immediately, whereas land forces would undertake limited offensive operations on the third day of mobilization and would unfold them with bulk forces on the fifteenth day of mobilization. Seven years later he admitted: 'I had accepted a formula, which always could be logically interpreted.'" - - Maurice Gamelin.

Gamelin of which not a whole lot is written in the histories of the Second World War [WW2]. NOT even really a controversial figure, a non-entity really. Gamelin was of course beholden to and at the service of the French politicians, Maurice receiving his orders, instructions, and policy directives from the duly elected political apparatus.

And even when the German offensive [1940] in the Ardennes became apparent, Gamelin hesitant, indecisive and lacking almost totally in any degree of vigor and initiative as is needed by the successful senior commander.

Gamelin did not collaborate with Vichy in the those subsequent to the French surrender [1940] and is deservedly now an obscurity whose name is mentioned hardly even in passing.

coolbert.

Combat Box.

2011-11-26T15:51:00.000-06:00

This is coolbert:

Thanks to the wiki we have some info on the "combat box" as used by the B-17 bomber in missions over Germany during World War Two [WW2].

"The Combat box was a tactical formation used by heavy (strategic) bombers of the U.S. Army Air Forces during World War II. The combat box was also referred to as a "staggered formation". Its defensive purpose was in massing the firepower of the bombers' guns, while offensively it concentrated the release of bombs on a target."

The box having both an offensive and defensive nature:

1. Offensive - - "concentrated the release of bombs on a target"
2. Defensive - - "massing the firepower of the bombers' guns"

The B-17 referred to as the Flying Fortress from all the defensive armaments, the three turrets of dual fifty [.50] caliber machine guns and the two single fifty caliber waist gunners. Additional guns added with that chine turret belatedly.

Strategic bombers were felt capable of more than adequate defense, organic firepower [all those fifty caliber machine guns when organized in a combat box] deemed sufficient!

"massed bombers could attack and destroy targets in daylight without fighter escort, relying on interlocking fire from their defensive machine guns, almost exclusively the Browning M2 .50-calibre gun"

"The practice of referring to a concentrated formation as a 'box' was the result of diagramming formations in plan, profile and front elevation views, positioning each individual bomber in an invisible boxlike area."

And again thanks to the wiki here is an image of the box:

"Combat box of a 12-plane B-17 squadron developed in October 1943.

Three such boxes completed a 36-plane group box."

Each box consisting of a:

1. Lead Element
2. High Element
3. Low Element
4. Low Low Element

That image of the combat box a basic formation, variations on the same theme occurring from time to time. The basic still worthy of note.

One picture worth ten thousand words? That box also mitigating against mid-air collision? Massed aircraft in the same formation but having room for maneuver in emergency situations without the threat of running into another friendly?

coolbert.

R4M.

2011-11-26T14:41:00.000-06:00

This is coolbert:

Once more from that interview with the famous German combat aviator of the Second World War [WW2], Johannes Steinhoff:

WWII: From your wide experience, which aircraft was the most difficult to attack?

Steinhoff: "The B-17 Flying Fortress without a doubt. They flew in defensive boxes, a heavy defensive formation, and with all of their heavy .50-caliber machine guns they were dangerous to approach . . . Then you also had the long-range fighter escorts, which made life difficult, until we flew the Me-262 jets armed with four 30mm cannon and 24 R4M rockets. Then we could blast huge holes in even the tightest formation from outside the range of their defensive fire, inflict damage, then come around and finish off the cripples with cannon fire."

That R4M rocket Johannes mentions is an air-to-air rocket, an unguided missile the likes of which will probably NEVER AGAIN be used for aerial combat, the "dogfight" or otherwise.

The R4M specifically developed as a counter to the combat box formations of the B-17 bomber. Very difficult and dangerous to approach, the B-17 being also a very robust warplane, able to sustain considerable damage and remain airborne and airworthy. Conventional 20 mm cannon as carried by German fighter interceptors found to be less than adequate and NOT entirely suitable for engaging a B-17!

My intuition being correct, weapons of either considerable more destructive power [30 mm] cannon or additional lesser type cannon [20 mm] with ammo as added to existing German combat fighter planes augmenting existing firepower BUT at the same time compromising at least to some degree combat effectiveness and aerodynamics!

"The R4M . . . rocket, nicknamed the Hurricane . . . due to its distinctive smoke trail when fired, was an anti-aircraft rocket. It was developed by the German Luftwaffe during World War II."

The R4M fired as a salvo, OUTSIDE the defensive range of the B-17 combat box, proved to be an effective weapon, albeit almost field-expedient in nature.

"A single hit was all that was needed to bring down a four engined bomber."

One hit all that was needed in some circumstances to bring down one B-17, cripples also a result, damaged American aircraft having to fall out of formation, not comprising part of the combat box, more or less defenseless, to be taken on and shot down by Luftwaffe pilots at their leisure.

Again, these air-to-air rockets probably a weapon NEVER to be seen again in aerial combat, but at the time an expedient means very deadly!!

coolbert.

Statesmanship?

2011-11-25T14:01:00.001-06:00

This is coolbert:

"an unabashed, revisionist reexamination of the entire war"

Thanks to the National Review Online [NRO] we have extracts from an article entitled:

"The Blunders of Statesmen"

"EDITOR’S NOTE: This article is adapted from Freedom Betrayed: Herbert Hoover’s Secret History of the Second World War and Its Aftermath"

HERBERT HOOVER - - 31st President of the United States completing a self-described magnum opus work "a comprehensive, critical history of American diplomacy between the late 1930s and 1945, with emphasis on the misguided policies of President Roosevelt."

[not merely limited to the policies of President Roosevelt alone!]

Hoover having begun his magnum opus in 1944, and only finishing just prior to his death in 1964. The book never published and after almost seventy years the original version now becoming available to the public!

Those mistakes made by the political leadership of what became the western allied powers prior to, during, and in the aftermath of the Second World War [WW2]. Statesmen operating at the highest level of international diplomacy and in the opinion of Hoover much to the disadvantage of the United States as led by President Roosevelt at the time!

Eighteen mistakes, blunders, serious errors of judgment of magnitude as listed by Hoover and made available for your perusal, in the "nutshell"!

1. "The first time (of importance) that Roosevelt became lost in international statesmanship was his destruction of the 1933 World Economic Conference."

2. "Roosevelt’s second lost statesmanship was in recognition of Communist Russia in November 1933."

3. "MUNICH . . . by Munich Hitler opened the gates for consummation of his repeated determinations to invade Russia. Having gone that far in providing for the inevitable war between the dictators"

4. "The fourth abysmal loss of statesmanship was when the British and French guaranteed the independence of Poland and Rumania at the end of March 1939"

5. "The fifth major blunder in statesmanship was when Roosevelt, in the winter of 1941, threw the United States into undeclared war with Germany and Japan"

6. "In the weeks before lend-lease and its war powers were forced upon the American people, Roosevelt knew definitely of Hitler’s determination to attack Russia, and he informed the Russians of it."

7. "Indeed the greatest loss of statesmanship in all American history was the tacit American alliance and support of Communist Russia when Hitler made his attack in June 1941."

8. "The eighth gigantic error in Roosevelt's statesmanship was the total economic sanctions on Japan . . . at the end of July, 1941"

9. "The ninth time statesmanship was wholly lost was Roosevelt’s contemptuous refusal of Prime Minister [Fumimaro] Konoye’s proposals for peace in the Pacific of September, 1941"

10. "The tenth loss of statesmanship was the refusal to accept the proposals that his ambassador informed him came from the emperor of Japan for a three months’ stand-still agreement in November 1941."

11. "The eleventh gigantic error in Roosevelt’s statesmanship was demand for 'unconditional surrender' at Casablanca in January 1943"

12. "The twelfth error of lost statesmanship was the sacrifice of free nations (the Baltic States, East Poland, East Finland, Bessarabia, and Bukovina) at the foreign-ministers meeting at Moscow in October 1943."

13. "The thirteenth and possibly one of the greatest of all confused wanderings in Roosevelt’s and Churchill’s statesmanship was at Teheran in December 1943. Here was confirmation of the acquiescence at the Moscow Conference of the annexations; here was the acceptance of Stalin’s doctrine of a periphery 'of friendly border states' — the puppet Communist governments over seven nations"

14. "The fourteenth fatal loss of statesmanship was by Roosevelt and Churchill at Yalta in February 1945. Not only were all Stalin’s encroachments on the independence of a dozen nations ratified, but with a long series of secret agreements other malign forces were set in motion"

15. "The fifteenth time of lost statesmanship was in respect to Japan in May, June, and July 1945. Truman refused to take notice of the Japanese white flags."

16. "The sixteenth time of blind statesmanship was Truman at Potsdam . . . the Communists had their way at every consequential point. The whole Potsdam agreement was a series of ratifications and amplifications of the previous surrenders to Stalin."

17. "The seventeenth wandering of American statesmanship was Truman’s immoral order to drop the atomic bomb on the Japanese"

18. "The eighteenth series of steps in loss of statesmanship was by Truman, Marshall, and Acheson in respect to China."

Agree or disagree or unable to make up your mind is left to the devoted reader to the blog without further comment on my part.

Keep in mind too that since 1964 a considerable amount of highly classified archival material and such has been made available THE CONTENTS OF WHICH AND IMPORT WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN KNOWN TO HOOVER!

Hoover was indeed at the time of his election felt to be the one man most prepared and suited to be President of the United States. Served as President during the time of the Great Depression [1929] and is widely reviled in many circles for having done "nothing" to ameliorate suffering of the common man at the time. Is not remembered for having very ably organized and led relief and reconstruction efforts in the aftermath of both the First and Second World War.

Hoover was again indeed a controversial leader during his lifetime and now so many years after his death will be once again the subject of controversy? We shall see!

coolbert.

Numbers.

2011-11-25T08:51:00.000-06:00

This is coolbert:

From that previous Chicago Tribune article we have a map inset showing:

"East Asian and Pacific countries with at least 50 active-duty U.S.military personnel (As of June 30)"

Those numbers of U.S. military personnel on foreign territory are:

* Japan - - 40,378.
* South Korea - - 24,655.
* Philippines - - 182.
* China - - 82. (includes Hong Kong)
* Thailand - - 162.
* Singapore - - 157.
* Australia - - 178.
* Guam - - 4,337. (U.S. territory)
* At sea - - 12,856.

Perhaps the American military presence and now this new contingent of U.S. Marines to be permanently stationed in Darwin, Australia, is not so much meant to anger China as assuage the smaller nations of the area, SOME of which the U.S. is treaty obligated to?

coolbert.

Darwin.

2011-11-25T08:41:00.001-06:00

This is coolbert:

America moves south!

From a previous blog entry:

"What on Earth are we doing adding a military base in Australia to (anger) China?"

NATION & WORLD

"Obama says E. Asia now military focus"

"Exiting 2 wars and looking toward China, U.S. vows Marines in Australia, trade deals."

"CANBERRA, Australia - - President Barack Obama on Thursday sought to reassure Asian allies anxious about china's growing political and economic clout, announcing a strategic shift to reassert America's role in the Pacific as it pulls back from the post-Sept. 11 war."

. . . .

"Obama's decision comes after several decades in which the U.S. has closed bases and withdrawn from the region."

In particular, a contingent of 2,500 U.S. Marines will now have a permanent base in Australia. Such a large-scale deployment to the southern continent by the American military has not occurred at least since the end of the Second World War [WW2], almost seventy years ago now!!

"They [deployments] include stationing up to 2,500 Marines at an Australian military base . . . the first 200 to 250 Marines will arrive next year."

"Deploying the contingent in Darwin, on Australia's remote northern coast, gives U.S. planners a way to quickly project power into the crucial sea lanes of the South China Sea and the choke-hold straits near Singapore"

Singapore, Malacca, South China Sea, Spratly Islands, etc. As the demand for oil increases exponentially and the conflicting claims of nations in the area continues without resolution, there is the continued possibility of rising tensions, confrontation, show-down, conflict, WAR!!

The U.S. and others see the American presence in the immediate area as a stabilizing forces, preventing escalating events when they might occur from getting out of hand? A mere presence and a will-to-use creates deterrence! Better a dimes worth of prevention now rather than a dollar worth of cure later? So to speak!

Darwin is a small place and much closer to Asia than to the rest Australia. That presence of the U.S. Marines, even in relatively small numbers, represents a marked change the consequences of which for better or worse at this point cannot be foreseen. I hope this all goes well.

coolbert.

Smallpox.

2011-11-23T18:39:00.000-06:00

This is coolbert:

Here with a follow up to the previous bio-warfare blog entry.

Again, the topic that small-pox vaccine, to be given to the infected AFTER they have shown symptoms of smallpox. Persons NOT prior inoculated but with this particular anti-dote standing a much better chance of survival. So is the thought. Normally about one-third [1/3] of those contracting smallpox perishing!

Thanks in this case to the Chicago Daily Observer.

"Shocker! Obama Donor Received $443 Million No-Bid Contract to Provide Sketchy Smallpox Vaccine"

Please note carefully the image that accompanies this particular Daily Observer article. An image that only reinforces a terrible lie and calumny directed against the American nation as a whole.

"calumny - - noun 1. a false and malicious statement designed to injure the reputation of someone or something"

An image that purports to show British military officers presenting smallpox infected blankets to American Indians. The historical truth as generally presented being that such blankets infected with smallpox were used as a means of bio-warfare during colonial times, contaminating entire American Indian tribes, a genocidal extermination done with almost diabolical and malevolently evil fervor.

A calumny dispelled by the observations of the radio talk show host Michael Medved. From the web site of Michael:

“America Was Founded on Genocide Against Native Americans” - - Michael Medved

"The 10 Big Lies About America"

“Smallpox Blankets” and Biological Warfare"

"But didn’t British authorities, and later the Americans, show criminal intent when they deliberately infected innocent tribes with the deadliest of eighteenth-century diseases? Whenever callers to my radio show begin talking about the premeditated mass slaughter of Native Americans, it’s only a matter of seconds before they invoke the diabolical history of 'smallpox blankets' — the bedding and clothing cunningly provided to unsuspecting tribes in order to infect them with the variola major virus…"
. . . .

"The horribly misleading charges about germ warfare have achieved a monstrous life of their own, leaving many (if not most) Americans with the impression that diseases that decimated native populations resulted from a conscious, long-standing policy of the U.S. government. No such master plan for mass murder ever existed, of course, so that all efforts to scour abundant bureaucratic records have produced only a few nasty postscripts in letters from British — not American — officials in 1763, and the largely exculpatory evidence concerning an epidemic in Mandan territory in 1837…"

It seems to be true that in some letters as addressed to his subordinates, General Sir Jeffrey Amherst, commander of English troops in British North America during the French and Indian War, DID PROPOSE AND DID THINK ABOUT SUCH A BIO-WARFARE CAMPAIGN! Thought about it and proposed it but a campaign of eradication using smallpox NEVER OCCURRED.

Disease did decimate the American Indian population of North America on a massive scale, this is clear and undeniable. From a variety of illnesses to which they had no immunity at all, American Indians died in just catastrophic numbers. Smallpox, influenza, malaria, mumps, measles, the common cold in all manifestations, etc. As best as can be determined, however, WAS NOT part of a conscious plan or military policy.

coolbert.

Buffalo!

2011-11-22T23:09:00.001-06:00

This is coolbert:

Well, this just has to make you wonder!!

From a note to the wiki entry for the P-39 Airacobra:

"Notes"

"The P-39 has the highest total number of individual victories attributed to any U.S. fighter type, not kill ratio; Finnish modified Brewster Buffaloes had the highest kill ratio."

Kill ratio [loss exchange ratio] best defined as:

"Loss exchange ratio is a figure of merit in attrition warfare. It is usually relevant to a condition or state of war where one side depletes the resources of another through attrition. Specifically and most often used as a comparator in aerial combat, where it is known as a 'kill-ratio.'"

The Brewster Buffalo. American fighter aircraft of the years just prior to the outbreak of the Second World War [WW2] and FOUND TO BE INADEQUATE BY AMERICAN COMBAT AVIATORS, AN INFERIOR WARPLANE NOT LIKED!!

As noted in a much prior Military Thoughts blog entry of mine from way back when now!

"[Buffaloes] when used by American/British/Dutch aviators, fared poorly in combat, BUT, when used by Finnish pilots against Soviet air forces, fared very well."

A fighter aircraft that when significantly modified and used by the Finnish Air Force [FAF] during WW2 was MORE THAN ADEQUATE ESPECIALLY WHEN FLOWN BY SUPERIOR AND MOTIVATED PERSONNEL!

I am not exactly sure what this all suggests! American fighter jocks in reality are a pampered elite who are found to be wanting when compared to their foreign counterparts? I hate to think that it is so.

Indeed, so well was the Buffalo flown by the FAF pilots that unheard of and unbelievable "kill ratios" were the norm, the Finn demonstrating extreme military prowess both on the ground and in the air during WW2!

"Kill ratios" of 135:2 are bandied about? For every two FAF Buffalo shot down one hundred thirty five [135] Soviet aircraft bit the dust?

And thanks to the WarBirdForum we have some answers to all this:

"The quality of Soviet planes in 1941, when the best kill ratio 67.5 - 1) was achieved, was lower than Brewsters, most common types being used were SB-2, DB-3, I-16 and I-153."

I have my doubts this alone explains everything. John Keegan rates the Finnish soldier the BEST of all the combatants during the Second World War! Again, both on the ground and in the skies this was so? Can it be denied?

coolbert.

Op-Ed.

2011-11-22T18:48:00.001-06:00

This is coolbert:

From the Chicago Tribune as seen in the op-ed section yesterday - - "WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING".

In entirety two entries with a military dimension:

"Think of the U.S. military as the The Other 1 Percent - - some 2.4 million troops have fought in and around Afghanistan and Iraq since 9/11, exactly 1 percent of the 240 million American over 18 . . ."

"Being an army apart isn't a problem for the Pentagon; it has become part of the sales pitch. The U.S. military boasts of the ways in which it is better than society as a whole. And by many measures, it is right. If you remove those who are unlikely to serve because they are too fat or too criminal or are in college, only 15 percent of American ages 17 to 24 are eligible to sign up. 'Today's military is more educated and has a higher aptitude than the general population,' a Pentagon recruiting reports notes." - - Mark Thompson, Time.

"(Defense Secretary Leon) Panetta keeps talking about a much reduced military presence in the world as if that were a bad thing. But why should the U.S. with no serious state-enemy in the world like the U.S.S.R., be spending almost as much on 'defense' as we did in the Cold War? What on Earth are we doing adding a military base in Australia to (anger) China? Why shouldn't china have a sphere of influence in the Pacific? No-where has Obama challenged these neo-imperial assumptions, buttressed by what Eisenhower warned us about. We'd still have a permanent presence in Iraq if the Pentagon had its way. And why on earth do we have so many troops in Europe? It's absurd. Absurd." - - Andrew Sullivan, The Daily Beast.

Comments:

* It has been nearly forty years now since the U.S. adopted the policy of an all-volunteer military. And this concept has been an unqualified success? I would think most experts would agree that this all-volunteer military has worked well, perhaps exceedingly well, even with the stress and strain of wars in Iraq and Afghan simultaneously all the while maintaining treaty obligations to allies!

* My own perception is that in the years to come, and not too far off now, budget constraints will mandate further defense reductions, perhaps even drastic reductions, unpalatable to some as that may be. A consequence of federal deficits run amok and an unwillingness to face reality!

* "And why on earth do we have so many troops in Europe?" Well, why is this so? The American military maintains a NATO presence of 100,000 troops [?] or so in Europe! To defend against what exactly? This commitment guards against?

coolbert.

Airacobra.

2011-11-21T19:44:00.000-06:00

This is coolbert:

From the wiki entry for the American P-39 Airacobra we have this assertion:

"The P-39 was used with great success by the Soviet Air Force, who scored the highest number of individual kills attributed to any U.S. fighter type."

That means more "kills" than the:

* P-38 Lightning.
* P-40 Tomahawk.
* P-47 Thunderbolt.
* P-51 Mustang.

With regard to the P-51, about 8,000 "kills" total, half from aerial combat, half from enemy aircraft destroyed on the ground.

"The highest number of individual kills" surprises?

The P-39 used extensively during the war primarily by the Soviet Air Force, prodigious numbers of the aircraft [half of the U.S. manufacture total] send by Lend-Lease by a variety of routes.

"4,773 . . . were sent to the Soviet Union through the Lend-Lease program"

"Flying the Lend-Lease equipment, for which every bullet was imported from the United States. the Aircobras followed one of two long paths from upstate New York to the 9th GFD [9th Guards Fighter Division] in southern Russia. One, through Canada, along the Alcan Highway and then across Siberia. Or two, by ship to Iran, and over the Caucasus."

One route the Persian Corridor by ship, disassembled and then reassembled upon arriving at destination. The second route an aerial flight from the lower forty-eight states to Alaska, across the Bering Sea to the Soviet Union. [further shipment to the front after being dismantled and sent hence via the Trans-Siberian railway?]

The P-39 NOT favored by U.S. combat aviators. The P-39 not having superior performance ABOVE 8,000 feet altitude [2,500 meters]. More than adequate performance below that altitude and more than adequate for the type of aerial combat as encountered by Soviet fighter pilots on the Eastern Front of World War Two [WW2]!

"The tactical environment of the Eastern Front did not demand the extreme high-altitude operations RAF and Army Air Force did. The comparatively low-speed, low-altitude nature of most air combat on the Russian Front suited the P-39's strengths: sturdy construction, reliable radio gear, and adequate firepower."

In Russian the Airacobra is remembered with fondness? A recent movie from 2006 seems to suggest so? This is "Transit"!

"Transit is a story set on a secret military transit base in the remote Chukotka region, where planes from allied forces came in from Alaska" Those planes the P-39!

The Soviet combat fighter pilot during WW2 flying the P-39 know how to maximize the strengths of the Airacobra while minimizing the deficiencies! Do what you do best rather than what you cannot!

coolbert.

Medicine?

2011-11-20T16:52:00.000-06:00

This is coolbert:

Here with some bio-warfare items in the news recently.

Thanks to USA Today and the LA Times.

1. "Army curbs prescriptions of anti-malaria drug"

LOS ANGELES (AP) – Almost four decades after inventing a potent anti-malarial drug, the U.S. Army has pushed it to the back of its medicine cabinet.

For four decades the U.S. Army developed and patented anti-malaria drug used extensively up-to-now being quietly and with a degree of slowness being removed from usage. The drug effective BUT THOUGHT TO ALSO PRODUCE AS A SIDE-EFFECT DANGEROUS PSYCHOTIC TENDENCIES!! It need not be said that a soldier armed with an assault rifle and four hand grenades suffering from psychotic tendencies is a big danger to everyone!

"it works in areas where mosquitoes developed resistance to an earlier treatment, chloroquine, and requires just one tablet a week, not the daily dose needed with other medications."

"Some users complained the pill caused varying degrees of psychiatric symptoms ranging from nightmares, depression and paranoia to auditory hallucinations and complete mental breakdowns"

Personal note: Stationed in Korea over forty years now, during the summer we had to take a daily anti-malaria drug once per day. This may have been chloroquine a treatment as a prophylactic - - SUCH TREATMENTS IN THE MILITARY LEGALLY OBLIGATORY!!

Malaria is the greatest single scourge on the planet without question? About half of the human population during the last 200,000 years [that is about 100 billion persons] have died directly from malaria or the complications thereof!!

2. "Cost, need questioned in $433-million smallpox drug deal"

"A company controlled by a longtime political donor [Mr. Ronald O. Perelman a long-time massive donor to the Democratic party, USA] gets a no-bid contract to supply an experimental remedy for a threat that may not exist."

"Siga's drug, an antiviral pill called ST-246, would be used to treat people who were diagnosed with smallpox too late for the vaccine to help. Yet the new drug cannot be tested for effectiveness in people because of ethical constraints — and no one knows whether animal testing could prove it would work in humans."

This ST-246 is not the normal smallpox vaccine or an improved variant thereof, but is administered to those patients that have become infected and are in risk of death, already showing symptoms of the disease.

One-third [1/3 of those persons historically contracting smallpox perishing, the illness also until relatively recently another terrible scourge upon mankind.

Recall too the brouhaha that was the case in the immediate aftermath of 9/11. The thought was that the entire American population of 300 million persons should be immediately be vaccinated against smallpox, even those medical professionals knowing that such a massive vaccination program would result in the deaths of about 300 people. About one in 1 million souls dying merely from the vaccine itself, a heart attack the cause of death!

The threat of bio-attack by terrorist entities is now felt to be nil, or so negligible and diminished that measures such as inoculating the entire American populace is not necessary? I cannot say.

coolbert.

Chin.

2011-11-19T16:10:00.000-06:00

This is coolbert:

Again from a previous blog entry:

"The German fighters found that when attacking from the front, where fewer defensive guns were pointed, it only took four or five hits to bring a bomber down."

"The USAAF belatedly added a chin-turret to the B-17 to counter the head-on attack when it was realized that the bombers were vulnerable from this sort of encounter."

The B-17 bomber was susceptible to attack from the front. This was unanticipated? That nose of the warplane was normally where the navigator and bombardier sat, and WAS equipped with two front firing fifty [.50] single barrel machine guns [these were called chin guns?]. During an attack the duties of those two crewmen [navigator & bombardier] distracted them from dedicated defensive duties, and head-on attack by the most dedicated, brave, and skilled German combat aviators was then possible. The B-17 LESS well defended at the most critical moments?

A chin-turret belatedly fitted to the nose of the B-17, forward firing dual barrel fifty [.50] caliber machine guns being the solution to the danger from frontal attack.

Those guns in the turret operated remotely either by the bombardier or navigator, I do not think an additional crewman was needed or added to the original TO& E of the warplane. NO ROOM for another man either.

My intuition too tells me that that four or five hits FROM THE FRONT to bring a B-17 down were more from deaths and injury to the pilot and co-pilot rather than damage to the plane!

See here a YouTube video of a B-17 landing as seen from the nose section of a modern flying aircraft. The controls for the chin turret can be seen in the upper right, and what appears to the the cross-hairs of a "chin gun" in the upper left. Center is the Norden bomb sight.

coolbert.

Aftermath.

2011-11-19T09:46:00.000-06:00

This is coolbert:

Here with additional images of the Second World War:

As taken from the continuing series in the Atlantic Magazine. Thanks to the Atlantic in all cases and the tip from Ken!

In Focus with Alan Taylor

"World War II: After the War"

"(This entry is Part 20 of a weekly 20-part retrospective of World War II) [45 photos]"

Photographs, black and white predominantly, taken in the AFTERMATH of the war. NOT necessarily iconic images but each and everyone well worth viewing.

In general, when discussing war, think of what led up to the war, the fighting of the war itself, and the aftermath of the war, what was the outcome and what transpired at the conclusion of hostilities.

Three images in specific I have chosen from the collection for comment.

Sudeten Germans forced to flee Czechoslovakia and return to the German homeland. EXILED - - told to go and now! About 15 million such persons, ethnic Germans, told to leave locales all over eastern Europe and not return in the aftermath of WW2. About 1 to 2 million persons estimated to have perished along the way, AFTER THE WAR WAS OVER!

Chinese Communist troops of the Eighth Route Army. Rated by Evans Carlson prior to WW2 as the BEST military unit in the world for performing it's mission. This entire army defecting en masse to the communist side, men, officers and gear intact. NOTE the standard uniform, battle kit and weaponry. The communist military force under Mao to a large extent was not a rag-tag guerrilla motley crew!!

American housewife in 1945 with newly purchased television set. It can safely be said that there existed an America prior to WW2 and an America in the aftermath of WW2 and the two societies were radically different. The latter enjoying a general level of prosperity, security, ease and comfort that is not to be seen perhaps ever again! In 1939 only one in four [1/4] of the American adult male population could own an automobile and in contrast by 1947 nearly 100 % of American adult males were able to own an automobile. A marked change to the consumer society that has not abated since!

For some reason the black and white photography of the era has a certain appeal to me. Those photographers of the era were not only excellent technicians but had an artistic talent and an ability to tell a story, all rolled into one.

coolbert.

Tough!

2011-11-18T23:54:00.001-06:00

This is coolbert:

From a prior blog entry:

"the B-17 was also a very difficult plane to shoot-down. The plane had a lot of staying power and was able to sustain a lot of damage - - remain in the air and often return to base crew intact!!"

The B-17 WAS a very robust aircraft. Could sustain a lot of damage in combat and continue to function way beyond what was expected. Skilled pilots could maneuver and control the plane, return to base NOT unscathed, but an aircraft still controllable! The plane, upon inspection, however, found to have been damaged to such an extent that WAS NOT LONGER FLY-ABLE AND HAD TO BE SCRAPPED!!

Here thanks to Dave and his web site we have some images as gleaned and presented for your perusal and enjoyment:

"Battle-damaged B-17s"

This particular image shows a B-17 that suffered severe battle damage and yet was able to return to base. The entire nose section is shot away, that area of the plane ordinarily where the bombardier and navigator had their positions. You can only imagine what must have been the response of the surviving crew members when they saw what had occurred during that mission!!

coolbert.

Fever?

2011-11-18T23:11:00.000-06:00

This is coolbert:

Thanks to the DEBKAfile newsletter from only today we have many items which seem to indicate that events as occurring in the Middle East region are reaching a fever pitch, the concern with the Iranian nuclear threat now at a "boiling point" in a manner that is disturbing. You judge yourself from the headlines.

1. The BIG BANG!

"Iran loses its top missile expert in Guards base explosions"

"12 Nov. Brig. Hassan Moghadam, head of Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) missile development and sections of its nuclear program, was killed in the consecutive explosions that hit two IRGC bases 46 kilometers west of Tehran Saturday, Nov. 12 . . . Our [DEBKA] sources report increasing evidence that the first explosion was caused by a failed effort to mount a nuclear warhead on a missile. It was powerful enough to shatter windows and damage shops in Tehran.

2. Murder most terrible!

"Senior Iranian's son murdered by same method as Hamas' Mabhouh"

"13 Nov. Shortly after explosions rocked Iranian Revolutionary Guards bases near Tehran Saturday, Nov. 12, Ahmed Rezaie, 31, was found dead in Dubai's Gloria Hotel. He was the the son of a high-ranking Iranian official, Mohsen Rezaie, secretary of the powerful Expediency Council and former IRGC commander. The cause of his death strongly resembled the method by which Hamas' contact man with Tehran, Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, was slain on Jan. 19, 2010 in another Dubai hotel – injected with a muscle relaxant and smothered with a pillow."

3. Barak speaks - - you should listen.

"Barak: Iran is testing uranium- and plutonium-based bombs – not tactical nuclear arms"

"17 Nov. Defense Minister Ehud Barak told the PBS interviewer Charlie Rose Wednesday, Nov. 16 that none of the experiments Iran was conducting was based on a neutron source. "It's always simultaneous explosions on heavy metals and certain other activities which cannot be explained," he said. DEBKA's military sources note his stress on the lack of evidence that Iran was trying to develop tactical neutron bombs. Tehran, he said, was experimenting with uranium- and plutonium- based explosives, meaning large nuclear bombs rather than small, tactical warheads."

With regard to item # 3 I first thought that what was being referred to was the "dirty bomb", a missile warhead conventional in nature but showering the adversary when exploding with nuclear radioactive debris and NOT detonating as an atomic explosive, Hiroshima style. I am wrong?

The noted blogger Spengler describes DEBKA as being unreliable under all circumstances. I remain unconvinced this is totally true! Again, as with all things DEBKA you must judge for yourself and please do so!

coolbert.

Attack!

2011-11-17T21:56:00.001-06:00

This is coolbert:

Read this amazing stuff.

First from an interview with the great German aviator of World War Two [WW2] fame, Johannes Steinhoff:

I N T E R V I E W - - LUFTWAFFE EAGLE JOHANNES STEINHOFF - - By Colin D. Heaton

WWII: "From your wide experience, which aircraft was the most difficult to attack?"

Steinhoff: "The B-17 Flying Fortress without a doubt. They flew in defensive boxes, a heavy defensive formation, and with all of their heavy .50-caliber machine guns they were dangerous to approach. We finally adopted the head-on attack . . . but only a few experts could do this successfully, and it took nerves of steel."

And now from the wiki entry for the B-17:

"After examining wrecked B-17s and B-24s, Luftwaffe officers discovered that on average it took around 20 hits with 20 mm (0.79 in) shells fired from the rear to bring them down. Pilots of average ability hit the bombers with only about two percent of the rounds they fired, so to obtain 20 hits, the average pilot had to fire one thousand 20 mm (0.79 in) rounds at a bomber. Early versions of the Fw 190, one of the best German interceptor fighters, were equipped with two 20 mm (0.79 in) MG FF cannons, which carried only 500 rounds, and later with the better Mauser MG 151/20 cannons, which had a longer effective range than the MG FF weapon. The German fighters found that when attacking from the front, where fewer defensive guns were pointed, it only took four or five hits to bring a bomber down. To address the Fw 190's shortcomings, the number of cannons fitted was doubled to four with a corresponding increase in the amount of ammunition carried"

Comments:

* It was not so much that the Luftwaffe pilots were inept as it was more that the B-17 was also a very difficult plane to shoot-down. The plane had a lot of staying power and was able to sustain a lot of damage - - remain in the air and often return to base crew intact!!

* Head-on attack did produce good results but as Johannes states was for experts ONLY and then ONLY those with strong nerves. The USAAF belatedly added a chin-turret to the B-17 to counter the head-on attack when it was realized that the bombers were vulnerable from this sort of encounter.

* Doubling the number of 20 mm cannon on the Fw-190 and incorporating additional ammo only meant that the performance advantage of the super-fast interceptor to a degree was compromised? Perhaps not!

* Those figures of obtaining hits from only 2 % of the rounds fire should not surprise? In modern ground warfare, anti-tank guided-missile gunners who achieve a 95 % accuracy rate in training are only able to hit the target 20 % of the time in real live combat!! When the adrenaline is flowing, your hands are shaking, and you know someone is trying to kill you, it becomes complicated very fast!

coolbert.

Convoy VII.

2011-11-16T19:07:00.000-06:00

This is coolbert:

Arctic convoys - - miscellany.

Conclusion.

1. Those sailor in the water either their ship sunk awaiting rescue or already demised [floaters] subjected to attack by the Greenland shark? Normally a shark only living the deepest depths [600 meters or greater] but coming to the surface to scavenge and take advantage of a situation, a food source normally not obtainable. Greenland sharks known to attack warm blooded prey [seals most of the time, humans during the time of the convoys]. Those in the water at the risk drowning, freezing to death, OR BEING EATEN!

2. NAGS detachments [Naval Armed Guard Service] attached to American merchant marine vessels authorized if and when the necessity required, according to their own discretion, to break open a cargo and use what ever war munitions or armaments found to be present and suitable for defense.

3. Soviet light-bomber/heavy fighter Petlyakov Pe-3bis aircraft almost as an afterthought configured for the air defense mission, able to provide air cover for the convoys when in the vicinity and range of Soviet northern airfields and ports.

4. PQ is properly designated and notated as PQ. [Papa Quebec period]. PQ.13, PQ.17, etc. PQ outward bound, QP return.

5. From December 1942 until the end of the war the Arctic convoys referred to as JW [outward bound] and RA [return].

6. There is a certain appeal to naval warfare of the arctic convoy variety period? A clean fight, armed military men against other armed military men, civilians not in the line of fire or involved, damage to civilian property nil to negligible, etc. NO or minimal atrocity, NO shirking your duty, NO distinction between combatant soldier and rear-echelon support troops, etc. Duty of this sort regardless of hazard has a certain attraction for a great many?

coolbert.

Convoys VI.

2011-11-16T18:13:00.002-06:00

This is coolbert:

Arctic convoys - - cargo!

It cannot be said of the western allied powers they were stingy in their shipments of war munitions to the Soviets!

For merely the ill-fated PQ.17 convoy ALONE we have an idea of what quantities and types of armaments were sent via the arctic route, albeit a convoy of ships that for the most part did not complete the voyage, more than half sunk!

From the David Irving book: "The Destruction of PQ.17":

"What a cargo for the Russians! What a prize for the enemy! Seven hundred million dollars’ worth of armaments – 297 aircraft, 594 tanks, 4,246 lorries and gun carriers, and over 156,000 tons of general cargo besides – enough to equip an army of fifty thousand men if it ever arrived in Russian ports."

Considering that there were: "42 convoys totalling 813 ships" it would seem reasonable to assume that enough war munitions were shipped during the entire length of the war THROUGH THE ARCTIC ALONE TO EQUIP A SOVIET ARMY OF TWO MILLION MEN!!

Vital war munitions from this one route alone! Recall that two other routes [Persian Corridor and trans-Pacific] also existed and were in simultaneous use throughout the duration of the war.

Many of those merchant vessels also carrying very hazardous cargo, flammable or highly explosive. War munitions not merely gear but "stuff" that can go "bang" in a big way!

American merchant ships those crews paid: "extravagantly paid ($500 a month plus danger-money)" [for the time that was considerable money for a skilled or semi-skilled or even unskilled worker!]! And every penny earned!

coolbert.

Convoy V.

2011-11-15T21:02:00.000-06:00

This is coolbert:

Arctic convoys. Gauntlet!

Those allied convoys [PQ.17 the archetype in this particular instance] sailing that route from Icelandic and British ports to Murmansk and Archangel and return under continuous, remorseless, ceaseless and relentless German attack - - a gauntlet consisting of:

1. German U-boats forming a wolf pack [ Ice Devil pack]. Nine boats on station at the sailing of PQ.17, two additional boats " later attached to the for the attack".

* U-88 (Bohmann); * U-251 (Timm); * U-255 (Reche); * U-334 (Siemon); * U-355 (La Baume); * U-376 (Marks); U-408 (von Hymmen); * U-456 (Teichert); * U-457 (Brandenburg). * U-657 (Göllnitz) and * U-703 (Bielfeld).

Nine of those boats actually tallying a "kill" during the attack on PQ.17.

2. German Navy surface vessels, that combination of threat from capital ships in combination with flotillas of destroyers. A naval surface threat as posed to PQ.17 to include:

* Tirpitz. Battleship.
* Hipper. Heavy cruiser.
* "the Fifth and Sixth Destroyer Flotillas"
* Lützow [“pocket-battleship”]
* Scheer [“pocket-battleship”]
* "the Eighth Destroyer Flotilla"

3. German Air Force [Luftwaffe]. A strike force, that proper tactically tailored combination of horizontal bombers, dive bombers, torpedo bombers augmented by a large contingent of reconnaissance aircraft. This was designated by the German as the Fifth Air Force.

"By the time PQ.17 finally sailed, toward the end of June, the German Air Force had amassed a mighty attacking force of aircraft in the vicinity of North Cape under the commanding general of the Fifth Air Force, Colonel-General Stumpff." An air armada to include:

* "103 twin-engined Junkers 88 bombers"
* "fifteen Heinkel 115 torpedo-bombers on floats"
* "thirty Junkers 87 dive bombers [Stuka]"
* "seventy-four reconnaissance aircraft, including:
[four-engined Focke-Wulf 200– the “Condor” – the Junkers 88 and the Blohm & Voss 138.]
* "forty-two Heinkel 111 torpedo-bombers"

"Stumpff thus disposed of 264 operational combat aircraft for the strike."

4. Mine fields, friendly and foe. Thanks to the David Irving book: "The Destruction of PQ.17" we have a description of a RETURN convoy [QP.13] which suffered severe damage from AN ALLIED MINEFIELD!

[QP.13 westward bound at the same time PQ.17 eastward bound!]

"half of convoy QP.13 had continued to the United Kingdom, while the other half had just been rounding the 'home stretch' on the west coast of Iceland on 5 July, in a thick fog. Within three minutes the Senior
Officer’s ship and four merchantmen blew up, and two more were seriously damaged in explosions. The convoy had been guided into an Allied minefield off Iceland by mistake."

“At 2040 [5 July], QP.13 and British escorts struck the minefield off the North-West tip of Iceland. O-in-C unable to determine exact location of safe channel. Due to ‘thick’ weather . . . and faulty instruments convoy entered minefield. Ships sunk were: Hybert (US), Massmar (US), Heffron (US), John Randolph (US), Rodina (Rus.), and Niger (Bf.). Ships damaged were: Richard H. Lee (US), Exterminator(Pan.), and Capira (Pan.). All damaged ships were brought to port and repaired."

[PQ.17 did include as an integral part of the convoy mine-sweepers!]

Enemy attack in all cases exacerbated by the horrible and continually wretched climatic condition of the far Arctic north. NO surcease at any time, the strain on ships and crew extreme, those convoys a "cold bear" under all circumstances!! A gauntlet!

coolbert.

Convoys IV.

2011-11-14T20:25:00.004-06:00

This is coolbert:

Arctic convoys continued - - intelligence!

"When the chances on both sides are equal, it is

Intelligence that makes one able to look down on

one’s opponent, and which proceeds not by hoping

for the best (a method only valuable in desperate

situations) but by estimating what the facts are,

and thus obtaining a clearer vision of what to

expect." - - Pericles to the Athenians.

The British Royal Navy having access to Ultra intelligence throughout the war and able determine with regularity and accuracy the dispositions of the German naval detachments in Norway, threatening the Arctic convoys, communications intelligence of tremendous value when evaluating the threat as posed to the convoys by the German "gauntlet"!

AND also having access to in an informal manner to the high level message traffic of the German naval most senior command LAND LINE COMMUNICATIONS secured by a cryptographic machine of a higher level of security than Enigma!

German secure land line communications with those naval forces in Norway subject to intercept [wire tapping] by Swedish authorities, the "secure" teleprinter messages of importance "read" - - noteworthy intelligence gleaned and passed to the British as determined by word of mouth and informally!!

These supposedly secure land line encrypted message traffic "read" thanks to the amazing efforts of the famous Swedish cryptanalyst Arne Beurling!!

[Beurling accomplished what he did in two weeks, not having other than message traffic to deal with, NOT having a vast array of analytical machines, a team of analysts, or even having a "peek" at the machine itself!]

The German Geheimfernschreiber secret and supposedly secure on-line cryptographic machine not so secure. The Geheimfernschreiber called Sturgeon by the British!

As to Arne Beurling and his achievement, monumental in nature, we have this excerpt from the wiki:

"In the summer of 1940 he [Beurling] single-handedly deciphered and reverse-engineered an early version of the Siemens and Halske T52 also known as the Geheimfernschreiber (secret teletypewriter) used by Nazi Germany in World War II for sending ciphered messages. The T52 was one of the so-called 'Fish cyphers' and it took Beurling two weeks to solve the problem using paper and pen. Using Beurling's work, a device was created that enabled Sweden to decipher German teleprinter traffic passing through Sweden from Norway on a cable."

"While the Enigma machine was generally used by field units, the T52 was an online machine used by Luftwaffe and German Navy units, which could support the heavy machine, teletypewriter and attendant fixed circuits. It fulfilled a similar role to the Lorenz SZ40 and SZ42 machines in the German Army."

And for the Swedes to violate their neutrality as they did during the war even if informally to the advantage of the allies it was all altruistic and a big thank you is in order? Or the Swedes had more practical reasons for doing what they did? I cannot say for sure.

coolbert.

Convoys III.

2011-11-14T18:27:00.003-06:00

This is coolbert:

Sea power. The arctic convoys continued.

It cannot be said that the arctic convoys were sent forth from Icelandic and British ports unarmed, without combat support. Those allied military planners knowing full well in advance that the convoy would inevitably come under attack and be forced to run a gauntlet of German submarines, aerial attack, and perhaps even having to face the presence of large capital ships of the Tirpitz variety!

The danger to the convoys both from the elements and the enemy was extreme and everyone knew this from the start.

Indeed, the naval combat support was considerable just for the PQ 17 convoy alone. Naval combat support to include:

* "The close escort consisted of six destroyers, four corvettes, three minesweepers, four trawlers, two anti-aircraft ships and two submarines." ["defeat attacks by U-boats"]

* "Four cruisers of which two were the American Tuscaloosa and Wichita . . . comprised the close covering force." ["ward off attacks by the Germans' large destroyers and cruisers"]

* "Duke of York, with Washington and Victorious [British aircraft carrier], constituted the distant covering force." [counter to the Tirpitz and assorted pocket battleships]

* "Eight British, one Free French, and four Russian submarines were positioned off the North Cape [Norway] and special air patrols arranged."

"(initially, these [close covering force] also went right through to Russia, but repair facilities at Murmansk were so primitive, and Russian co-operation so grudging, that it was decided that is was not justifiable to risk these valuable ships . . so far to the east, and the covering [close] force was directed to turn back once the convoy had passed Bear Island)"

That close covering force unable to follow the convoys all the way to the destination, the Russian uncooperative and offering minimal and then grudging help when needed. Stalin wanted all that aid and insisted that the Arctic convoys be run all throughout the war, NOT ever at all being helpful to the allied sailors and merchant marine personnel, rather leaving the allies dangling and having to make their own appreciations and plans based upon the paranoia of the dictator.

AND according to David Irving American merchant vessels having an "embedded" NAGS contingent. Naval Armed Guards Service, naval ratings serving on a merchant ship and ready to fight at a moments notice and having at their disposal a four inch gun [100 mm] and various AAA [anti-aircraft-artillery] positions! NAGS personnel again thanks to David Irving at times carrying sidearms in case of a recalcitrant or mutinous crew!

coolbert.

Convoys II.

2011-11-14T11:54:00.002-06:00

This is coolbert:

The Arctic convoys - - success!

Those Arctic convoys sailing from Icelandic and British ports, carrying war munitions to the Soviet Union during the Second World War [WW2] are most remembered for the PQ 17 convoy? More than half of the ships in the convoy sunk, disastrous consequences - - defeat on this ONE occasion being remembered more than those many more instances where "goals met", not without pain, no gain without pain, but nonetheless, those number of convoys making the passage to Murmansk or Archangel relatively unscathed an achievement of marked proportions!

Surely when taken in totality the convoys must be considered a success?

Given the record of sailings, those numbers of ships running the German "gauntlet" and delivering their cargo unscathed is rather impressive. The allies did a good job of pushing the convoys through regardless of danger and peril, both during the OUTWARD BOUND VOYAGE AND THE RETURN VOYAGE!!

From Beesly and the book "Very Special Intelligence" we have these figures:

"From August 1941 to May 1945, 42 convoys totalling 813 ships set out for North Russia from Iceland or Great Britain. Three-three ships returned without completing the voyage due to stress of weather or other causes. Of the remaining 780, 60 were sunk by the enemy, but 720 arrived safely at their destinations. The remaining 36 returning convoys lost 27 ships."

Please note that merchant vessels lost both during outward bound missions and return voyages! A gauntlet having to be run regardless of direction!

The destruction of convoy PQ 17 ALONE resulting in the sinking of twenty-four merchant ships, a considerable percentage of those vessels total lost during the almost four full years of arctic convoy sailings!

For your free download of the David Irving book: "The Destruction of Convoy PQ.17" go here!

This book available for free download in either the original [1968] or updated [2009] version.

"WE HAVE uploaded two versions of this book. The original 1968 edition . . . and a more recent (2009) updated and revised edition, incorporating code breaking and other new materials"

Given the context of inclement weather combined with persistent and almost frenzied German attack [the gauntlet], that number of ships arriving safely at destination [but with one exception] compared to those lost indicates and suggests to me predominantly again success rather than failure. You the devoted reader to the blog make your own calculations.

coolbert.

Convoys I.

2011-11-13T21:56:00.002-06:00

This is coolbert:

Arctic convoys - - decision.

Here begins a series of blog entries regarding those arctic convoys of the Second World War [WW2]. Allied merchant marine vessels carrying vital war munitions to the Soviet ports of Murmansk and Archangel.

Extracts from the book by Patrick Beesly: "Very Special Intelligence" with of course my comments.

Those convoys fraught with great danger from that combination of the inclement elements and German attack. A gauntlet of attack from German submarines, aircraft, and surface capital ships of the Tirpitz variety.

Convoys the route of which, most dangerous, was the result of a decision predominantly political in nature on the part of Joseph Stalin. Allied military planners preferring other routes for the shipment of war munitions to the Soviet Union, the communist dictator insisting otherwise and being assuaged, danger and peril to those allied naval personnel and merchant marine sailors not a consideration!

"The decision to send supplies to Russian by the Northern route was a political one, dictated by Stalin's unwillingness to allow any extension of British influence in North Persia, which he feared would be the result if this longer but as was eventually proved far easier and more efficient route, had been used from the outset. The sea route to Murmansk and Archangel in North Russia was, from a naval point of view, completely unsound. Climatically the conditions sere appalling, quite the worst to be endured at any time by any regular succession of convoys anywhere: ferocious gales, ice, fog and for six months of the year, almost perpetual darkness. The chances of crews of sunken ships surviving were minimal. In summer the perpetual night of winter was succeeded by perpetual day; which if slightly better in one respect, meant that there would be no respite from enemy attack."

The Persian Corridor, "far easier and more efficient", and much to be preferred, LONGER and SLOWER but allowing for greater safety and again more efficient, required merchant vessels during the early stages of the war, up unto the middle of 1943, to sail all the way around Africa, the Cape of Good Hope. From the middle of 1943, the transit being made through the Mediterranean. Munitions unloaded at Persian [Iranian] ports and sent by truck to the Soviet Union.

The third route used during the duration of the war being across the northern Pacific, from American points of embarkation to Vladivostok in the Soviet Far East, munitions shipped to the front via the Trans-Siberian railroad. From 1942 onward only Soviet vessels making the voyage and never interfered with by the Japanese, Tokyo unwilling to violate Soviet neutrality in the Pacific war!

"About half of all the lend-lease aid to the USSR went by the Pacific route; by convoy from the U.S. west coast to the Soviet Far East, via Vladivostok and the Trans-Siberian railway"

The allied powers on so many occasions during WW2 giving in to the demands of Joseph Stalin even to the detriment of their own personnel. As is the case with the arctic convoys!

coolbert.

Fight!

2011-11-12T08:17:00.002-06:00

This is coolbert:

From this article in the LA Times, the long form as seen in the Chicago Tribune yesterday:

"Marines do about-face on injuries"

"Corps hires athletic trainers to help boot camp recruits"

The U.S. Marine Corps hiring sports trainers, persons knowledgeable in sports medicine, hoping to prevent and ameliorate injury to recruits during basic training. Marine basic training very intense and physically demanding in the extreme.

Damage in the majority of the cases, perhaps predominantly so, to the legs and feet. Running with combat boots on - - those not accustomed to do so suffering inordinate harm to the lower extremities:

"fractures of lower leg bones, mostly from running, marching and jumping . . . . shin splints, ankle sprains, stress fractures of the tibia and fibula"

In particular too, the Marines continuing with close-quarters combat training, a variety of fighting forms:

"The Marines do bayonet, knife fighting and martial arts training, Pugil-stick training is seen as particularly essential. 'A lot of these young men arrive in boot camp without ever having been in a fight, without ever balling up their fists and hitting another person,' 'Pugil-stick training develops the aggression, the blood lust that we want' 'They stop being afraid of hitting someone and of being hit.'" Sgt. Chris Woidt - - USMC drill instructor.

The merit of boxing, fencing, bayonet training having particular value with regard to military physical training as recognized almost one hundred years ago now by the Canadian Major Percy Erskine Nobbs.

And the difficulty this type of training represents for young men today the same as it was for young men of one hundred years ago!

"Major Percy E. Nobbs, of the Canadian Forces, says in the Infantry Journal for August":

"I have seen youngsters in khaki turn pale lilac with orange blotches on being told to put on the gloves, and give up cheerily at the end of the first round, notwithstanding the fact that they were daily going over the jumps and hitting the bags about; and I have seen the same boys six weeks later, in the strength of their youth and fitness, come up against skilled boxers in the regimental boxing finals, get a fourth round ordered and come up with a grin for a certain knock-out."

This Major Nobbs a Canadian solider of the most protean talents, exceedingly so. An architect of repute in civilian life, mobilized during that period of the Great War [WW1], a boxer, a fencer, a cross-country runner, a man in charge of physical training and teaching combative skills!

"Major Nobbs has had a great deal of experience as an athlete, boxed in the semifinals at his university, was a good cross-country runner and a champion swordsman [won a Silver medal at the 1908 Olympics as a fencer]. When the war broke out [in 1914] he was professor of architecture at McGill University and went to England to join the Imperial Army. His work was of such high order that he was sent out to the Canadian Forces to take charge of bayonet fighting and physical training. He is a worker and a fighter."

Read further of the skills, abilities, and talents of Major Nobbs: "6 A MAN OF MANY TALENTS".

Please recall that the fighting form Russian All-Around Fighting [RAF] begins with the novitiate at the most basic level first learning to fight with the bayonet on rifle, all other disciplines building upon the concepts as taught from combat with the "cold steel"!

coolbert.

Marcel.

2011-11-10T21:27:00.000-06:00

This is coolbert:

"very intelligent, charismatic, has a respected position, is into collecting antiques, interested in the arts"

"the nicest guy -- charming, intelligent, friendly"

Here thanks to Yahoo news with the story of Dr. Marcel .

A Frenchman residing in Paris during the Second World War [WW2], taking advantage of a situation - - offering succor to Jews wishing to escape the clutches of the Nazi, our good Dr. Marcel a heinous and unforgiving serial killer - - and all the while the most charming of men.

"Doctor turned serial killer in World War II Paris"

Dr. Marcel found guilty of twenty-six murders and meeting his deserved end - - his head lopped off by the guillotine! THAT FINAL TOTAL OF VICTIMS THOUGHT TO BE MUCH HIGHER, PERHAPS IN THE HUNDREDS!!

Extorting money from Jews with a false promise of safe passage, murdering those unfortunates and disposing of the body parts in a grisly manner. And only accidentally found out - - the situation in Paris at the end of the war chaotic, the authorities not so much concerned at the time with disappeared persons or even to deal with the circumstances in the normal manner!

We all have too an intuitive sense that during wartime a lot of "things" that would not ordinarily transpire during a time of peace occur with frequency! Dr. Marcel was surely not ALONE in taking advantage of a situation, a malevolent mentality cold and calculating being presented with opportunity for gain of an evil sort!

If you know how to heal you surely know how to kill. Dr. Marcel having also at his disposal with good reason chemicals and instruments to facilitate his dirty deeds, AND a "clientele" desperate under the circumstances most trusting of such a charming man. Those least you would suspect are the ones you must be most wary of? Seems so in the case of Dr. Marcel.

coolbert.

Turn!

2011-11-09T18:42:00.000-06:00

This is coolbert:

From a Q & A as posed by Bert on the War Times Journal forum:

"Twice at Jutland the German fleet was able to escape by doing a simultaneous turn in line 180 degrees. This was a maneuver they had practiced and were prepared for. My question is - - was this a maneuver unique to the German and had it ever been done in combat before Jutland?"

And thanks to Mitch the reply most authoritative and for your perusal almost in entirety:

"The Gefechtskehrtwendung."

"I did one of masters thesis on the dreadnought period and this is what I found out during my analysis"

"You have two possible answers here."

"The first deals with command and control; We know that the RN [British Royal Navy] signals book had many gaping holes and I could not find a signal that would execute the battle turn around like Scheer ordered at Jutland. So the maneuver may be unique to the HSF [German High Seas Fleet]."

"The second and perhaps more interesting answer is doctrinal in nature. The RN had a very rigid command structure and doctrine . . . so with this in mind why would the RN even develop such a tactic. Also bear in mind that for a century their would be no reason for a RN Admiral even think of a reason to do a battle turn around since it was their contention that no navy in the world would even pose a serious challenge in battle. The HSF was the Kaiser's 'baby' and Scheer knew that he could not risk losing his fleet against a RN fleet which he knew to be more powerful, so he needed a way to escape from a battle with his fleet intact."

"Since naval theory, battle doctrine and tactics were based upon RN in this period, I cannot see the USN or the IJN (I did a re-look of Evans' book Kaigun) developing such a tactic on their own."

"I do not recall it ever being done in combat before Jutland as well."

It is apparent that the German Gefechtskehrtwendung WAS indeed unique to the German HSF!

At the time of the turn [executed at least twice], Scheer instantly realizing the HSF was in extreme peril, utter and total obliteration at the hands of Jellicoe and the Grand Fleet not only a possible but almost a done deal unless drastic measures taken instantly. The HSF escaping relatively unscathed, the second Trafalgar as so greatly desired by the English NOT TO BE!

Thank you Mitch!

coolbert.

Accuracy!

2011-11-07T19:07:00.000-06:00

This is coolbert:

From the previous blog entry, thanks to the Daily Mail again we have this comment:

"Plus targeting has to be MUCH more accurate and in real-time compared to if using an high-explosive warhead (that can be programmed to detonate in proximity to the target...not needing a direct hit). If either or both the weapon and the target are moving, this becomes very problematical even with current generation computers and sensors when you start talking about high rates of fire. ------------------ WEREFEAT said, "Sooo, an automatic version could fire 1 round per second?"

Targeting with this railgun will be over the horizon [OTH] and at a far distant. Way beyond the range of current naval guns in existence or even in the past, by about a factor of TEN! And accuracy is important of course. Merely being able to fire at such an immense distance at such a high velocity means little IF YOU CANNOT HIT THE TARGET!! This is obvious and intuitive to even the most casual of observers?

This current railgun projective only is of seven pound weight [slightly over three kilograms] and will have to have some sort of GPS guidance, targeting info prior to firing, terminal guidance using electro-optical sensors, etc. Targeting and guidance onto target part of entire system, a scheme involving drones, satellites, radars, GPS, etc.

That high rate of fire, one round per second is pie-in-the-sky! But so once was the original concept of the railgun - - at least until now.

As from the Battle of Jutland we have too the gunnery accuracy of the fleets in action, Grand Fleet and High Seas both: "Damage to major ships at the Battle of Jutland"

The German was thought to possess for a variety of reasons the superior gunnery, but this is questionable? Those figures indicate that for BOTH fleets the number of hits per rounds fire was POOR to say the least! Or is that what might have been reasonably expected in the first place? Existing at Jutland was a literal "fog of war". Conditions of visibility far less than favorable, you can only hit what you can see and adjustments were difficult in the extreme!

And from this web site we have somewhat contradictory figures [?] regarding the gunnery as compared - - British and German:

"Battle of Jutland Outcome"

The German firing about 3,600 heavy rounds with 120 hits, the English firing about 4,600 heavy rounds with 100 hits!

You take it from there!

coolbert.

Rail Gun!

2011-11-06T22:47:00.000-06:00

This is coolbert:

Thanks to the British Daily Mail we have the latest news on the American Navy rail gun experimental apparatus. A gadget, a laboratory device that now for the 1,000th time has successfully fired a projectile, not using conventional chemical propellants to do so but relying upon "the effects of a strong magnetic field" - - achieving incredible and hitherto unimaginable velocities previously unobtainable!

"U.S. Navy fires the railgun that can shoot a missile 100 miles at eight times the speed the sound for the 1,000th time"

"The U.S. Navy has hit a major milestone with the 1,000th firing of its electromagnetic railgun."

"Commanders said the milestone means that the incredible state of the art weapon has moved closer to actual deployment on warships."

"It can accelerate a seven pound projectile to a speed of 5,600 miles." [the kinetic energy of such a round when fired has to be just immense!]

"Navy officials said that the range of a railgun is up to 20 times greater than that of conventional weapon systems."

"The aim is to potentially replace extremely expensive Tomahawk missiles."

The touted performance of the device, the apparatus, the lab bench experiment so far very impressive. A way off from a deploy-able system as of this moment. But the course has been set and progress has been made that seems to indicate that the future of surface naval warfare will include the rail gun?

I would have to assume that any projectile as fired from a deployed rail gun must possess a fancy and accurate system so as to be able to engage successfully those way OVER THE HORIZON [OTH] targets! Embedded GPS and some sort of electro-optical laser terminal guidance of very sophisticated design and able to withstand the extreme forces of acceleration!

And from a comment to the Daily Mail article we find that the eminent science-fiction writer Robert Heinlein is the originator of the rail gun concept? Robert with Isaac Asimov and L. Sprague de Camp employed at the Philadelphia Naval Yard during World War Two. Engaging in wartime weapons development and experimentation, a collaboration of minds and ideas of the most of the most profound nature?

"Robert A. Heinlein is believed to be the first science fiction author to write about the railgun."

Today science-fiction, tomorrow reality?

coolbert.

War Memorial?

2011-11-06T10:41:00.000-06:00

This is coolbert:

Crime of this sort at least in my mind was only strictly an American phenomenon? But evidently this is not the case. Miscreants behaving very badly in a way that is hurtful and indicative of a perverse and troubled mentality at work.

Scrap metal thieves pillaging war memorials in England! Behavior of the most unsavory and unseemly sort. Barbaric even, such a desecration and violation of all that is decent.

And the English too! Prior to the Second World War the British people had the reputation of being the most LAW ABIDING PERSONS ON THE PLANET!

A sterling reputation that has now gone the way of the dodo?

"War memorials hit by scrap metal thieves"

"Thieves are targeting plaques from the UK's estimated 100,000 war memorials to take advantage of soaring metal prices, according to a conservation group."

"The War Memorials Trust estimates one monument is vandalised per week for its bronze, copper or other metal, despite them having 'relatively little value'."

Persons described as scrap metal thieves but NOT STEALING IN THIS CASE SCRAP METAL! Stealing plaques and memorials to the war dead!

And the value of the "scrap metal" relatively small! What is stolen is not even having much value at all! More than anything else, this represents stealing for the sake of stealing. Those dealers buying the "scrap" OBVIOUSLY KNOWING FULL WELL THAT THIS MUST COME FROM A MONUMENT OR MEMORIAL TO THE WAR DEAD!!

coolbert.

Alfonso Cano.

2011-11-05T22:15:00.001-05:00

This is coolbert:

This was a somewhat major news item today? Was heralded on my Internet home page at least. Thanks in part to the New York Daily News.

The FARC, Colombian communist insurgents dealt another serious blow? Another top commander killed, his headquarters bombed, the identity of the dead insurrectionist confirmed by forensics.

"Alfonso Cano, top FARC leader, killed in combat with Colombian troops"

"Colombian president calls it 'hardest blow to this organization in its entire history'"

Indeed, the death of Alfonso Cano [real name Guillermo Leon Saenz] an indication that the FARC are on the ropes [?], in trouble, beset by government forces that seem to enjoy more and more major successes against a guerrilla group [FARC] that for many decades seemed to be hitherto invincible, or at least presenting the image thereof!

FARC senior leaders and commanders killed or dead, defections/captures/desertions to include:

* "The rebels' leadership has suffered a series of withering blows beginning in March 2008, when the FARC's foreign minister, Raul Reyes, was killed in a bombing raid on a rebel camp across the border in Ecuador."

* "That same month [March 2008], the FARC's revered co-founder, Manuel Marulanda, died in a mountain hideout of a heart attack."

* "Several other top commanders were subsequently killed and rebel desertions, including of midlevel cadres, reached record levels."

FARC in serious trouble? That remains to be seen.

The FARC has an amazing staying power. Guerrillas active in combat against the Colombian governmental forces for almost a period of FIFTY YEARS NOW! And most successfully so too! NOT a rag-tag insurgent force but very well organized [numbering as of this exact instant about 9,000 insurgents], FARC guerrillas having standard uniforms, battle kit and weaponry, a structure of a conventional military force with an irregular mission!

Comments regarding FARC:

* FARC is noted for the incorporation of women into fighting units. As is with the Nepalese and Indian Maoist guerrillas.

* American second-hand but refurbished weaponry as was used by U.S. forces in Vietnam continues to be employed by the Colombian government in the fight against the FARC. Weaponry to include the AC-47 gunship and riverine task force monitor warships.

* FARC does have a degree of foreign support and has had so for many decades? First from Fidel and now from Hugo Chavez. FARC rebels can also find privileged sanctuary in neighboring countries, Venezuela and Ecuador?

* FARC is hardly simon-pure. Deals in drugs, extortion of drug dealers, kidnappings, bombings of civilian targets, intimidation of a brutal nature? Guerrilla insurgencies rarely if ever succeed unless they possess the necessary ruthlessness?

FARC down but not out? Fifty years of survival seems to suggest that the rebellion will continue at some level - - Colombia as a nation no stranger to violence!

coolbert.