You Might Get A Feeling Of Deja Vu
Don't worry, Your Humble Scribe hasn't gone senile yet, this Intro is nothing to do with the Ruffians or oil and we shall only be mentioning the Britons, South Canadians, Teutons and French. Art!
This rather choleric-looking individual is General William Tecumseh Sherman, a Union general of their Civil Unpleasantness who rose to high command thanks to his ability in the field. It's unusual for someone to do so well at a profession which wages war when they are so dead set against it. To quote: "You cannot qualify war in harsher terms than I will" and "War is hell."
What is he doing here? Well, because his was the name to grace one of the most iconic South Canadian tanks of the Second Unpleasantness, the M4 Sherman. Art!
Very unwisely placed white star
During the war, and for decades afterwards, the Sherman has been castigated and spurned, as being grossly inferior to the Teuton tanks it was up against, especially the Tiger and Panther. SUDDENLY! John Delaney from the Imperial War Museum turned up in a flash of brimstone to try and put the record straighter than it has been for decades. Art!
The Myth, according to John, is that the Sherman was undergunned, caught fire if you looked at it sideways, and was at least a hundred years behind the state-of-the-art Teuton tank park*.
Let us now rebut.
For one thing, the Sherman was NOT designed nor intended to be a tank that fought other tanks when it eventually began production in February of 1942. The Teutons began the Second Unpleasantness with a similar philosophy, that changed over time, especially with the incessant meddling of Herr Schickelgruber. Art!
Detroit arsenal 1943
In keeping with South Canadian industrial production parameters, the Sherman was designed around 3 key concepts: 1) Ease of production; 2) Simplicity of production; 3) Rate of production. These were all seen as being more important than firepower or battlefield survivability, and were underpinned by a fourth and fifth factor: 4) Upgradeability and 5) Reliability.
This emphasis allowed the South Canadians to produce 49,347 Shermans during the war, which is why we have the plural 'Tanks' in the title. You can see a snapshot of this in the picture above, which totals 28 Shermans being assembled. Further back in the line are the hulls alone, then nearer the camera they have turrets added, and then closer still they now have tracks. One plant I've seen had a geared belt set into the floor that slowly moved the tank hull forward, where it was worked upon by the factory artisans. Art!
By contrast, this is a Tiger tank being assembled. They were essentially made by hand, were very complicated, expensive, difficult to maintain in the field and frequently broke down. Their total production run came to 1,347, or 1/36th of the Sherman. That's what you get for over-engineering a design. Plus, half of them would have been allocated to the Eastern Front, and a few to Italy, so the ratio in Western Europe might have been as low as 1/70th of the Sherman. Art!
This is a Teuton Panther tank having it's 'final drive' replaced, where you had to disassemble the front part of the tank to make the change before putting it all back together again, and it happened a lot. The final drive on a Panther was a horribly complex and delicate arrangement of transmission and gears that could be easily destroyed by a driver not moving into second gear smoothly enough. Art!
This is the location of the final drive on a Sherman. To replace it one simply undid the bolts, slid out the old unit, slid in a new one and put the bolts back on: what one would call a 'modular' design today. Easy-peasy lemon squeezy, because it was designed to be that way. Across all five variants of the M4, and across all the other vehicles that utilised the same chassis. This kind of universal applicability greatly simplifies the logistics of maintenance and repair.
One thing that John neglected to mention is something that both James Holland and The Chieftain have brought up: whereas the Teutons could simply transport their tanks across Europe by train, and then on a road network, the Shermans used in Europe had to be sent to a port, loaded on a ship, sent across the Atlantic and then unloaded at another port, before being sent across the Channel to France (or Italy). Art!
What you see here are the welded 'eyes' used by derricks and cranes to load the Sherman aboard freighters, a design feature notably absent from Teuton tanks. Art!
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| Eyeless in Bovvie |
Another Commentator on John's vlog pointed out the import of retaining control of the battlefield, which had begun to be an issue during the war in North Africa, because tanks frequently broke down or were immobilised without being destroyed. Said Commentator pointed out that the Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry lost 13 tanks on D-Day during the landings and afterwards. Since the Allies won the battle of the beach-head, 8 of those were rapidly repaired and returned to service before the end of the day. Even if they had not been, the regiment had a supply of several dozen tanks back in the UK it could have drawn upon - the benefits of having all that production capacity in South Canada churning them out like cars.
I'd better stop here or the whole of this evening's blog will be this Intro.
Gone And Done It
Because I am a serious blogger using Blogger, I've decided to take the plunge and purchase a digital camera, rather than relying on my temperamental and indigent phone. Not entirely sure what 'indigent' means but it sounds insulting enough to use here. Art!
No doubt there will be gun and fames about getting to use it and the old dog will have to pick up a new trick or two. Who knows, you might get to see that Almond and Orange Cake, or a recipe from that Diabetic Cookbook.
No "The War Illustrated" this time, enough matters martial already
A Subtle Inversion Of The Norm
As you ought to know by now, we here at BOOJUM! don't like to follow trends or expectations, which is why our titles are often at odds with the actual Intro - once we get around to it. Thus, many film reviewers were looking back at the best films on offer over 2024.
Not Jeremy Jahns, whom I'd not encountered before. No, he boldly listed the 'Top 10 Worst Movies 2024" which is the kind of list Conrad can get behind. Here is Number 10: "Mufasa", which is a live-action remake of "The Lion King", which was in turn a rip-off from a Japanese original, and proof that the South Canadians REALLY REALLY want to become part of the Commonwealth if not the British Empire. Nobody asked for this Disney remake but they seem furiously determined to destroy their animated legacy. Art!
Jezza tellingly describes this as a 'massive waste of time', stating that 1) It's not a live-action remake and 2) It's a prequel. It is also a musical, which is enough reason alone for Conrad to never, ever watch it.
If you want the cold hard facts, it had a budget of $200 million, to which you can add another $100 million for advertising and promotion. No distribution costs, Disney distribute themselves.
Using the Factor Of Two for box office returns, it would have made $325 million for the studio, so a modest $25 million profit.
HOWEVER - first time for that word today - we'll have to wait for later confirmation this year to see if there was any budget over-run, which seems to be a sadly consistent factor with Disney, and late 2025 or early 2026 to see if there was any UK filming involved, because if so then Disney will have to put out a complete breakdown of expenses. This is what proved "The Little Mermaid" to be a box office flop, completely disproving all the Disney hype about it immediately after release.
Thanks to Jezza for watching this cinematic slop so I don't have to.
"Fox Killed In The Open" By Don West
Don't worry, nothing about the Quorn Hunt here. No, this is the title of a book I bought ages ago from the Oxfam shop in Oldham, which has far too many tempting books on display for me to venture there once my big toe heals up and I can walk long distances again. Art!
It deals with the war in North Africa when it was a private little affair between the British & Commonwealth and the Italians. Conrad strongly suspects it's a vanity press publication because it appears exactly Nowhere on internet searches. The text suffers from a lack of maps, since there is only a single very large scale on at the beginning, and also from a distinct purpleness of prose. Also, it got a healthy soaking in beer when I knocked over a glass right next to it, which only increases the allure, correct?
Well, it's out of the way now. Time to start on "Official History Of Australia In The War 1914 - 1918" Volume III, which is two-and-a-half inches thick.
Finally -
Once I post this it will be time for pot of tea number 2, this time with lemon slices added. Chin chin!
* Poetic licence, pilgrims. n
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