Submachine Gun Sounds

Posted on March 8, 2012 by Lone_Sentry_Admin

The original, authentic sounds of the U.S. M1928A1 Thompson, the U.S. M3 Grease Gun, and the German MP-40 “Schmeisser” taken from a WWII training film.

 


 

 

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Japanese Booby Traps

Posted on March 8, 2012 by Lone_Sentry_Admin

It’s a trap! A humorous cartoon with a serious message.

Japanese Use of Mines and Booby Traps in WWII

Source: Engineer Intelligence Bulletin No. 3, Engineer Section, HQ. Eighth Army, May 1945.

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German Winter Morale

Posted on March 7, 2012 by Lone_Sentry_Admin

The problems of German troop morale during the harsh winters of the Eastern Front — translation of German Taschenbuch für den Winterkrieg, August 1942 from the U.S. wartime publication German Winter Warfare, Special Series, No. 18, Military Intelligence Division, U.S. War Department, December 1943.

6. MORALE

a. General

The coming winter will again severely tax the spiritual stamina of the soldier. All suitable means commensurate with the situation and combat conditions will be employed to bolster his inner resilience. The example of the soldier, especially the officer who has proved himself in all situations, is a determining factor in maintaining the morale of the troops. Eagerness for action and good discipline must be maintained, especially behind the lines. Prerequisites in assuring morale are consideration for the welfare of troops, tolerable shelter, and adequate provisions. Winter equipment, lighting facilities, and fuel must be procured in advance or substitutes provided. Important! Stimulate the initiative of troops. Shows should be staged and soldiers encouraged to participate in them. Intelligent organization of spare time is the best means of preventing useless brooding, rumor-mongering, and disciplinary offenses.

The welfare of troops in the lines has priority. Morale-building supplies for the front must actually reach the front lines. There must be no pigeonholing in depots, railroad stations, headquarters, or orderly rooms. Checks against delay must be made continually. Commanders and headquarters must be in constant communication with field offices of the High Command of the Armed Forces.

b. Recreational Aids

(1) Reading material.–Do not leave newspapers lying around. Newspapers, bulletins, and magazines must reach the front fast. There the soldier is waiting for recent news. Papers of occupied territories should be sent forward because they do not have to be transported far. Front papers of field armies also serve the purpose of inculcating combat doctrine in troops.

Exchange of library kits between battalions and regiments should be encouraged. Field library kits of the Army Book Service (Heeresbücherei) are exclusively for front-line troops. Rear echelons and higher headquarters are normally equipped with Rosenberg libraries.

“Information for Troops” (Mitteilungen für die Truppe) continues to be distributed through the Army Postal Service (Feldpost) to divisions, two copies per unit. Report immediately any failure to receive copies. This also applies to “Information for the Officer Corps” (Mitteilungen für das Offizierkorps).

(2) Lectures.–Important lectures by speakers from the High Command of the Armed Forces are possible only under quiet conditions and after long preparation. Lectures by members of units on general cultural subjects (history, geography, travel, economics, engineering, fine arts) have been successful even in small units. The units themselves have good men for this purpose!

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Destruction of Artillery Ammunition

Posted on March 5, 2012 by Lone_Sentry_Admin

Instructions for destruction of artillery ammunition to prevent capture by the enemy — the methods will require imagination, initiative, and ingenuity. Source: TM 9-1901: Artillery Ammunition, U.S. War Department Technical Manual, June 1944.

DESTRUCTION OF AMMUNITION UPON IMMINENCE OF CAPTURE IN COMBAT ZONE

387. GENERAL.

a. When immediate capture of ammunition is threatened by a turn of events in the combat zone and when the ammunition cannot be evacuated, it will be as completely destroyed or damaged as available time, equipment, materials, and personnel will permit.

b. The destruction of ammunition will be accomplished only on authority delegated by the division or higher commander.

c. The methods used will require imagination, initiative, and ingenuity, and should be the simplest which will accomplish the desired purpose.

388. METHODS.

a. Ammunition can be destroyed most quickly by detonation or burning.

(1) DETONATION. Unpacked high-explosive rounds, separate-loading high-explosive shell, and high capacity items such as antitank mines, bangalore torpedoes, bursters or caps, packed or unpacked, may be destroyed by placing them in contact in piles and detonating them with a charge of TNT, using with blasting cap and sufficient safety fuse to permit reaching cover at 200 yards. About 1 pound of TNT per 100 pounds of ammunition as packed, should be sufficient,

(2) BURNING. All other types of ammunition such as packed high-explosive rounds and propelling charges, small-arms ammunition, grenades, pyrotechnics, etc., packed or unpacked, can most rapidly be destroyed by burning. The ammunition may be piled in the containers (except small-arms cartridges which should be broken out) with all available inflammable material as wood, rags, brush, and cans or drums of gasoline. The gasoline should be poured over the pile and ignited from cover. Rounds that come through the fire unexploded will be in the nature of duds, that is, in a condition dangerous to handle.

 

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Fw 190 D-9 Weapons

Posted on March 4, 2012 by Lone_Sentry_Admin

Weapons diagram from the German Fw 190 D-9 Flugzeug-Handbuch, November 1944:

 

I. Beschreibung der Schußwaffenanlage der Baureihe D-9 

A. Allgemeines

FW 190 D-9 Fighter Weapons -- Machine Guns and Cannon

Abb. 1: Gesamtbild der Schußwaffenanlage

 

 

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Third Army Antiaircraft Claims

Posted on March 3, 2012 by Lone_Sentry_Admin

Approved claims for U.S. Third Army antiaircraft units from Antiaircraft Artillery: A Brief History of Operations in Europe, 1 August 1944 to 8 May, 1945, Third United States Army.

ANNEX B: Approved claims for all enemy aircraft destroyed or damaged, 1 August 1944 to 8 May 1945, while units listed were serving with the Third US Army. This tabulation does not include a great many additional aircraft claimed, and earned, while units were detached from Third US Army and serving elsewhere. Units not listed made no claims under the Army.

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Eleven Navy Nurses Decorated

Posted on March 1, 2012 by Lone_Sentry_Admin

A brief article on U.S. Navy nurses in Manila during WWII from All Hands, Bureau of Naval Personnel Information Bulletin, October 1945.

Eleven Navy Nurses Decorated for Work During Jap Occupation of Philippines

Eleven Navy nurses who were in Manila when the Japs attacked Pearl Harbor and who worked there and in prison camps for over three years, making the most of inadequate medical supplies to care for wounded and diseased prisoners, have been decorated with the Bronze Star Medal by the Army and a gold star in lieu of a second by the Navy. Three civilian nurses who volunteered to help them received Bronze Star Medals from the Navy.

On 9 Dec 1941 the nurses, who were stationed at the Naval Hospital Canacao, evacuated all patients to a safe area beneath the concrete floor of the hospital and then to the Sternberg Hospital in Manila. Working tirelessly, they cared for the hundreds of badly wounded that streamed in from Cavite, Sangley Point and other installations. For two weeks they shuttled from one to another of the emergency units about Manila, tending the ever-increasing casualties until, on 6 January, the entire medical unit was captured.

Eleven Navy Nurses Decorated for Work During Jap Occupation of Philippines

LIBERATED NURSES, wearing dresses they made while interned in Jap prison camp, welcomed back to safety of U.S. base by Vice Admiral Kinkaid.

They continued their work until March when the unit was disbanded. Then the officers and men they cared for were moved to notorious Bilibid prison while the nurses entered Santo Tomas. In May 1943 they moved to Los Banos where the Navy nurses, with the help of the three civilian nurses, established a hospital.

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Painting the M4 Tank

Posted on February 27, 2012 by Lone_Sentry_Admin

Instructions for painting the M4 Sherman tank from the Technical Manual TM 9-731B: Medium Tank M4A2, January 1943.

Section XXV: PAINTING

145. PAINTING.

a. Ordnance materiel is painted before issue to the using arms. One maintenance coat per year will ordinarily be ample for protection. With but few exceptions, this materiel will be painted with ENAMEL, synthetic, olive drab, lusterless. The enamel may be applied over old coats of long oil enamel and oil paint previously issued by the Ordnance Department if the old coat is in satisfactory condition for repainting.

b. Paints and enamels, usually issued ready for use, are applied by brush or spray. They may be brushed on satisfactorily when used unthinned in the original package consistency or when thinned no more than 5 per cent by volume with THINNER. The enamel will spray satisfactorily when thinned with 15 per cent by volume of THINNER. (Linseed oil must not be used as a thinner in this enamel, since it will impart an undesirable luster.) If sprayed, enamel dries rapidly enough to permit repainting after one-half hour, and dries hard in 16 hours.

c. Certain exceptions to the regulations concerning painting exist. Fire-control instruments, sighting equipment, and other associated items will not be painted.

d. Complete information on painting is contained in TM 9-850.

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Words from the Wing Wise

Posted on February 17, 2012 by Lone_Sentry_Admin

Tips from bomber gunners to prevent guns and gunners from freezing during missions from a special edition of Army Talks, “Stars over the Reich,” published for the officers and men of the Eighth Air Force.

 

WORDS FROM THE WING WISE
 

These tips on preventing frozen guns and gunners come from gunners who were on operations last winter.

How to Keep Your Guns from Freezing

Thorough cleaning before and after every mission is point number one. Remove all moisture and powder deposits, especially from the bolt recesses. Firing pin port and receiver (especially extractor switch recess and front barrel bearing) should be thoroughly cleaned, dried and then properly oiled with AXS 777 (new specification number—2-120). Leave only a light film of oil. And keep oil cans tightly closed to keep out dust and foreign matter.

Keep your gun and gunner from freezing

A canvas bag will keep recoiling parts dry while they’re being carried to the plane.

Charge your gun just before or just after take-off (whichever is your Group’s policy). If your gun freezes when unloaded you’re stuck. If it’s loaded the recoil will loosen any frozen parts.

Test-fire at bombing altitude. If you can charge the gun but it won’t fire, hold the trigger back while the parts slam forward into battery—this sometimes loosens frosted parts. Only charge the gun when you have to; it lets cold moist air in to the recoiling parts. If the extractor switch is frozen, charging may result in an out-of-battery stoppage.

How to Keep Yourself from Freezing

Use the correct equipment and wear clothing as it says on the posters. Clothing should fit loosely, as air insulates, and your blood circulates better.

Keep dry. If your feet get wet, change your socks before take-off. Don’t Work around the plane in too heavy clothing before take-off, as sweat increases the danger of frostbite.

Pre-flight your heated suit. The connection in the plane may be out of order. Only turn your heated-suit rheostat up far enough so you are just warm enough to keep you from being miserable. Be sure to have fleece-lined clothing in case the suit goes permanently out of order. If it does, keep moving the parts of your body that don’t have heat, flexing the muscles, wiggling your fingers and toes. And it’s a good idea to have extra heated gloves and cords.

Wear mufflers or bath towels around your knees, neck and anywhere else that gets cold. Goggles and canvas or wool hoods are available, and they sure are handy if the plexiglass is broken near you.

If you have to take off your heated glove at altitude don’t remove the glove liner. Don’t leave any part of your body exposed for more than a few seconds. Remember, at 40 below zero you may freeze a hand badly enough to lose a finger before you feel any pain or realize anything’s wrong.

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U.S. 4th Infantry Division in WW2

Posted on February 13, 2012 by Lone_Sentry_Admin

The U.S. 4th Infantry Division (the “Famous Fourth” or the “Ivy Division”) in action in World War 2. The 4th Infantry Division fought prominently in Operation Overlord, the Battle of Hurtgen Forest, and the Battle of the Bulge. The 8th Infantry Regiment of the 4th Infantry Division was the first surface-borne Allied unit to land at Utah Beach on D-Day.

 

 

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