Positively Seething, In Fact
Not so much at the untrammelled insolence of the Codeword compilers - we'll get to them eventually - as at another9-hour day on the work schedule. Some plunker (like a plonker except worse) in Planning has been given a pat on the back for making our schedules ridiculous. Just wait. When I take over there will be retribution and it won't be divine, either.
ANYWAY since I don't have any detailed plan for this Intro, let us resort to BOVINGTON TANK MUSEUM once again, because we have a heck of a lot of photos to work through. Art!
This, gentle reader, is the Sherman tank, as made in South Canada and which the British were desperately grateful to acquire three hundred of in time for the battle of El Alamein, as it outclassed all the Teuton armour there present. Critics, notably the Wehraboos, disliked the relatively high profile, the flat side armour and the 'mere' 75 mm gun. HOWEVER they were churned out by the arsenals in Detroit in vast numbers - 50,000 in total. Art!
This is what the Teutons had to content with
More of the HOWEVER: it had to be transported across the Atlantic Ocean, meaning it had to fit inside a freighter, meaning there were design limits it faced that Teuton designs did not experience. On the plus side, it was verrrry reliable, again a design feature lacking in Teuton designs. More plus: it was easy to maintain, a design feature lacking in Teuton designs. An experienced crew could swap a Sherman tank engine in a few hours; to swap a Panther engine meant having to practically dismantle the entire tank as engine maintenance and access had been completely ignored in the design process. Ooops!
This is one of the finest accounts of a Sherman tank in action that I've read, explaining the tactics and practicalities of tank warfare in the Second Unpleasantness. Art!
Another expression of South Canadian material superiority, the M3 half-track. The half-track was a peculiarity popular in the Thirties and Forties which died out pretty much instantly once the Second Unpleasantness was over. The idea was that the tracks gave it far better cross-country performance than a truck, which was fair enough at the time. Once again, the M3 was produced in immense numbers: 53,000. Note that it really is a half-track, as opposed to the Teuton seven-eighths tracks which were typically over-engineered. Art!
This is actually the Teutons operating a captured M3 in Tunisia, which they seem to like. Canny rascals. Art!
The humble Sturmgeschutz III - you can tell by the 3 return rollers supporting the tracks. These were obsolete Panzer III tanks that had their turret removed and a much larger gun added. Originally it was a short-barrelled 75 mm, which was up-gunned to the long version you see above, giving it a very handy anti-tank ability. Thus the Teutons were able to upcycle an obsolete tank to the tune of 10,000.
The Stug was a very successful AFV, being a lot cheaper to produce than a tank, thanks to no turret, and having a low profile, making it harder to spot and hit. In fact the Teutons would have been far better off producing another 10,000 Stugs rather than lavishing time and resources on the Tiger and Panther tanks. Sorry, Wehraboos. Art!
Gentle reader, meet the AEC armoured car. To be honest, it was more of a wheeled tank than a lightly-armed and armoured reconnaissance vehicle, mounting a 75 mm gun and capable of duking it out with Teuton tanks if need be. Also, it used a Matador truck chassis rather than anything carlike, so armoured truck is more accurate. They were rather large and obvious for a vehicle intended for sneaking and peeking and Conrad suspects they were used as heavier metal to back up genuine armoured cars that were having a shufti. Art!
Nothing to do with Bovvie but autumn is definitely here, as my earphone headset is noticeably cold when I put it on. Brrrrr!
Another Sherman, this time kitted out as a 'Crab', the minesweeping version. This is unusual in itself, as the Churchill was usually the vehicle of choice for adapted AFVs. Conrad suspects that the Churchill's 'horns' made this impractical. The idea of the Crab was that the flails would thresh the ground ahead, detonating any mines in the way. This process could only be carried so many times, as each mine detonated would destroy an individual chain.
Enough of TANK! for today. More tomorrow. I bet you can hardly wait.
Another You What? Moment
Conrad has no idea why such bizarre recommendations crop up on his news feed and on Youtube. Take this as an example. Art!
Who knew that Conrad was in the market for 'Jaw Crushers', let alone portable ones?
First of all, we need a bit of definition. What are jaw crushers? O I thought you'd never ask! Art?
Sorry, no puny humans for scale. You can judge how large these jaws are by the size of that digger in the background; they are large. So, they are used to crush rocks, turning boulders into gravel, because the world can never get enough gravel. Now for the portable Meka version. Art!
Hmmmm portable maybe, big undoubtedly. Not sure if it would fit into any parking spaces on Rochdale Road.
Sadly, Conrad, has quite enough gravel to hand and must regretfully decline Meka's services. It will remain a secret sorrow.
Conrad Drones On
This info comes straight from the mouth of Prez Zed, who was commenting on the Mordorvian drone threat from Shaheds. Ruffia intends to saturate Ukrainian defences with hundreds of these drones. Art!
Shahed with Hom. Sap. for scale. Warhead has been removed. Originally these were powered by a lawnmower engine and flew low, which led to Ukraine shooting lots down with 4 x 4 vehicles mounting heavy machine guns. This led to an evolution from the original $20,000 drone; they now have a jet engine, armour protection and electronic countermeasures. This makes them more capable BUT also a lot more expensive. Your Humble Scribe has been using $50,000 as a guesstimate.
HOWEVER! a word you were expecting at some point today again, Prez Zed confirmed the new price for one of these enhanced drones: $120,000 or six times the original cost. Art!
Justin Bronk has said in the past that when you add all these bells and whistles to a drone you end up with something costing as much as a cheap cruise missile. The efficacy of a drone is supposed to be that it's cheap. Bad orcs! Naughty orcs! No biscuit for you!
Someone Is So, So Sad
Tee hee! chortled Conrad maliciously, for the sad person is Bunker Grandad. Art!
You see, there was supposed to be an Arab Summit held in Barad Dur with 32 leaders requested to attend as of 15th October. By last weekend only two leaders had accepted, those of Syria and Iraq, the former possibly to try and track down Bashar Al-Assad before he gets 'accidentally' poisoned again. So, the whole Summit has been quietly cancelled, with the official line being that it will be re-scheduled in November. They didn't say November of which year, though.
At Last!
Conrad is pretty certain his trusty and aged Cake Tester is a victim of the narrow gap between worktop and over hob, which means it's gone for good <sad face>.
I did pester Darling Daughter about her making a replacement one, possibly last year, and because both of us have terrible memories, nothing happened until her visit with Quiet Tom the past weekend. Art!
Behold! No more having to make do with the wooden or metal skewers that make noticeable holes in whatever's being tested.
Now, of course - obviously! - I have to make a cake to test the tester. What a first world problem to have.
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