Small Arms
Königgrätz: Battle of Eagles
The Prussian military system had been thoroughly reformed after Napoleon had crushed it at Jena in 1806. The crucial development was the growth of a Great General Staff, embodied in law in 1814. Bright officers were selected to what was effectively a military brotherhood, charged with continuous study of the art of war and the drawing up and review of…
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LUFTFAUST
‘Lufthaus B’ The Luftfaus in a transport case with preloaded ammunition cartridges. ‘Lufthaus B’ The rounds were fired in two stages with a 0.2 second gap between salvos. ‘Lufthaus B’ In 1945 the Luftfaust was designed by ‘Hugo Schneider’ of Leipzig and by the end of that year the German…
THE DEVELOPMENT AND INFLUENCE OF FIREARMS
After countless unsuccessful experiments, lethal accidents and ineffective trials, firearms research and techniques gradually improved, and chroniclers report many types of guns—mainly used in siege warfare—with numerous names such as veuglaire, pot-de-fer, bombard, vasii, petara and so on. In the second half of the 14th century, firearms became more efficient,…
AK a St.G 44 Knockoff?
How the St.G44 weapons work When the trigger is pressed the hammer is released to strike the inertia firing pin. This is a wedge-shaped pin which does not have a conventional spring. It is primer retracted. As the bullet passes the gas port in the barrel it expands into the…
AKs against their Makers I
By the late 1970s, the Soviet Union was ramping up for what its leaders mistakenly thought would be a quick war in Afghanistan. At first the AK seemed to be one of the superpower’s main military assets, but the rifle later proved to be in part responsible for its defeat.…
AKs against their Makers II
Ak-74s Another tactic of the mujahideen was to exploit the Afghan topography. The country is crisscrossed by roads that wind through mountain passes, and the Soviets were bound by their vehicles to stay on these routes. In one particular instance, in October 1980, the mujahideen heard of a convoy heading…
Gatling Gun in (non) Use
British Gatling guns in action at the battle of Ulundi. In 1875, a group of Native American tribes left the reservations the government had designated for them in the western territories along the Rocky Mountains, and tensions between the American government and the region’s native populations soared. President Grant issued…