Not A Typo
It's a title doing double duty, as Conrad continues to chart the course of Operation Countenance. the Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran in late 1941. 'Anglo-' is, once again, a misnomer, as most of the British side of the invasion force were Indian formations.
As for the 'fiends' appellation, don't forget that the Soviets had been responsible for starting the Second Unpleasantness, helping the Nazis in the invasion of Poland - they HATE being reminded about this - invading the Baltic states and taking part of Romania. Art!
Pay attention to their helmets
Then, on 22nd June 1941, Herr Schickelgruber proved what a faithless ally he was by invading the Sinister Union, and suddenly the Sinisters went from an enemy at but one remove to an ally. A bleating, entitled ally, but still an ally.
You can tell that Stavka, the Sinister's GHQ, felt the invasion of Persia was important by the evidence of three whole armies being involved, with a whole lot of kit, at a time when the Sinisters were getting a right shoeing from the ex-best friends. Art!
Can't find any photos of Alan Moorehead in Persia, so this will have to do. That's him to port, with best mate Alex Clifford, another journo.
What did I mean about helmets? Well, in the 'September In Persia' chapter, Al and his pack of war correspondents eventually catch up with the Ruffians, passing by a truck full of Ivans, whom Al eulogises rather. He had no idea who or what they were at first, Soviet infantry being very much rara avis in Europe at this time, but he did describe them as having 'German helmets', which is a fair comparison. Art!
Ruffian helmet. Just so we're clear. Al, with a journo's eye for detail, noticed that this first truckload of Sergeis were all carrying automatic rifles, and yes the Sinisters did have such a weapon. Art!
This is the SVT-40, which, being automatic, means the soldier firing it doesn't have to cock a bolt to load a round after each shot. He keeps better aim and can fire a lot quicker than a manual bolt-action model, at the cost of being more complex, which means more expensive and harder to maintain. Interesting to see that the Sinisters were issuing these to their invasion forces, perhaps to impress their British chums? or is that an ignoble thought?*
Art!
We covered this yesteryon, it being a Sinister armoured car. Al was impressed with the size of these things, which is a bit of a double-edged sword, as they are intended to act in the reconnaissance role, which typically means sneaking around spying on the enemy without them being able to see you. A 5-ton monster ten feet tall kind of militates against that. Art!
The other end of the spectrum: a British Dingo Scout Car, designed to be as low-profile as possible, for all your essential sneaky-peeky work. You can bet they were present in Persia at the head of any vehicle column. Art!
Al also mentions a plethora - a word in danger of being over-used here - of small scout tanks, which I am guessing were the model above, the T-60, which had been rushed into production in the Sinister Union as an interim measure. They weren't able to take on Teuton tanks on an equal footing, which wasn't a drawback in Persia as I didn't read anything in Al's account of Iranian tanks. Art!
This, ladies and gentlemen and those unsure, is a Sinister T-26 helping to occupy Tabriz. Bear in mind that this very numerous tank was an unauthorised, unlicenced and thus uncompensated knock-off of the Vickers design. Art!
Curious British officers having a nosy, probably to the muted horror of the onlooking Sinister officers, who would much rather have their tank's interior remain secret secret secret.
"All these weapons were in spotless condition" mentions Al, triggering Conrad's ignoble thoughts about trying to impress.
We will be coming back to this, because if Al spent the whole of September in Persia, Conrad can certainly squeeze out a week's worth of content from it.
Next Up!
Next in that series of zombie films that 'Metro' recommended, and we're at Number 3, Conrad already having seen Numbers 1 and 2. Art!
Believe me, her gifts are not something you want, not at all. Yes, Conrad has seen this one as well, and it's an excellent British take on the zombie genre, and I've read the novel as well, which I may have loaned to someone and not gotten back because it's not on the fiction shelves of my Sekrit Layr. The film does excise the novel's 'Junkers', who make things out of junk and are not to be confused with Prussian aristocracy, probably on the grounds of budget. A very bleak ending tinged with a ray of hope.
More Of Merry Manglement
I shall keep this one quite short, as I've nearly finished my lunch and have a 1-2-1 with Alex the Team Lead at 13:00.
From the "Have You Seen A Company Ruined Because The Guy That Did ______ Left?", this one concerns a company where their Most Valuable Player negotiated a $22 million contract with the <drum roll> Ford Motor Company. This was the biggest contract and biggest company they'd ever landed, all thanks to MVP. Art!
As a gesture to show how much the corporate manglement appreciated this achievement, they fired him before the ink was dry on the contract, in order to avoid paying him his percentage of the deal.
The Karma Krokodile came and bit them on the glutes, as they never landed another big contract again, and the $22 million was burned through in a matter of months thanks to gross inefficiency. 6 months after MVP firing they were laying people off thanks to no income and subsequently went bust. MVP didn't even bother to sue as they had nothing to pay with. Art!
Think I'll go put a laundry load on. The excitement of my lifestyle continues to escalate.
Here's One I Can Get Behind
Perusing the news feed, what did Conrad espy but this. Art!
Rogue is one of the most stalwart characters from the pages of "2000AD" from <shudders> 40 years ago, when the series was drawn by Dave Gibbons, yes that Dave Gibbons. It's one of their most popular future-war serials ever, going through a series of different artists and retconning variously to chop and change his backstory. Art!
My favourite Rogue artist, Cam Kennedy. You can see his style evolve over time across the years, which is where I will stop lest this becomes a verrry long series of images.
With Bunker Busting In The News -
I thought it moot to turn the clock back and bring in the daddy of all bunker-busters, the Grand Slam as beloved of Perfidious Albion. Not the grandaddy, that would have been the Tallboy, which was a mere 6-ton stripling compared to it's progeny. Art!
Early stages of GS assembly and one of the monsters with puny human for scale. It's hard to tell here, thanks to perspective, yet those tail fins are curved, making the bomb spin whilst falling, aiding accuracy. The TNT filling took months to 'cure' because there was so much of it, and a GS was so expensive that, were a mission to be aborted, they had to be brought back aboard the aircraft. That must have been fun, making a three-point landing with a bomb big enough to vapourise your Lancaster bomber and anything within a half-mile radius. No pressure, then. Art!
One of the beasts being loaded aboard a specially tricked-out Lanc - in that everything bar crew, engines and bombsights had been removed. This one was sent to see off the Beilefeld Bridge, a critical Teuton rail link that had been missed over years of bombing. Art!
O noes! Granny missed.
Which, at that range, is the same as a direct hit. Art!
The Granny's subterranean explosion created a huge 'camouflet', or underground chamber, and everything above collapsed into it, including half a dozen bridge piers. Bielefeld Viaduct became Bielefeld Viaf
AND WE'LL END IT THERE!
* This is BOOJUM! ignoble is baked in.
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