Interesting....Russians considering 7.62x39mm again?

[barman]

At times I thought perhaps Germany should have won WWI as there were really no true bad guys in WWI, except for the Ottomans.

I disagree, the Germans were already savage brutes in WW1, pioneering the use of chemical bombs and flame throwers. They also poisonned wells during their retreats, burning entire towns. They had an official policy of terror on the populations living on the lands they occupied and were already commiting plenty of war crimes in WW1 (especially towards the Belgian people), deliberatly attacking civilian targets (see submarine warfare). In my opinion they fully deserved the Versailles treaty. The infrastructure of their country was intact, they had to pay.

 

[Quickill]

I thought a .50 would chew up even a reinforced concrete wall, but those guys behind the chest high wall were still popping up and shooting.

Belive me it will, I have seen .50's chew through a barrier I personaly built, staggered logs about 1 foot thick, sandbags behind about 4 layers, and more staggerd logs. In about 15 mins an old sergent i knew had the barrier completely destroyed with nothing but splinters and sand left. I heard that same story and the only thing I can think of is that the gunner was not concentrating his fire and just spraying the area. My Father also tells stories of driving target tanks and having .50 AP leave two inch divits on the inside of the M48 he was driving.

The battle last 4 hours, they had to use multiple TOW missiles and air support to demolish the house.

One thing you must know about the TOW it is primaraly a anti-armor weapon and as such uses a shape charge to generate a stream of molten copper to penatrate armor and not sheer explosive force. So it is not unheard of for them not to do extensive damage to a structure.