If1HitU
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Good read thanks for sharing.
My Father's use of a Colt's Model of 1911 in WW1
- Thread starter Doug Bowser
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Great story; while we admire the actions of our current military heroes, let's not forget those of past wars. But just a note that the Marlin version of the Colt-Browning had a straight drive piston rather than the swinging arm of the original 1895 "potato digger" which gave that gun its nickname.
Jim
Jim
Jim Watson
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W.H.B. Smith said most of the Colt-Marlins were aircraft guns, some for tanks.
Gas was a nasty weapon. I wonder that the Germans did not bring it back out in WWII, at least after they were being pushed back. They had nerve agents and were wedded to the Secret Weapon mystique. I have heard they believed we had more and worse and were deterred. That does not sound in character, but for whatever reason they held back and only gassed penned Jews.
Gas was a nasty weapon. I wonder that the Germans did not bring it back out in WWII, at least after they were being pushed back. They had nerve agents and were wedded to the Secret Weapon mystique. I have heard they believed we had more and worse and were deterred. That does not sound in character, but for whatever reason they held back and only gassed penned Jews.
The US stockpiled thousands of tons of gas shells and the gas for tons more, but they would have used it only if an enemy country used it first. Most was stored in Utah (unknown to the citizens of that state). After the war, it cost millions to safely destroy the stuff. Gas masks were issued to all military personnel who served in combat; most were eventually thrown away.
Jim
Jim
Col. Cornelius
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Great Story, Thanks for sharing!
kBob
Member
OK, let us talk about gas a moment.
The Nazi's mainly did not use gas for one reason......in World War I a certain young corporal was a dispatch rider after he was promoted from his machine gun squad. He and his horse were gassed and the horse did not make it. He almost did not make it, but unfortunately young Adolf Hitler as he later called himself fought back bravely in the hospital. Hitler was not of a mind to see that sort of war again, even as horrific as some of the other things he did were.
The US did have large stock piles, mostly of mustard agent. On the off chance the Nazi menace might begin using gas as they lost, a ship load was sent to Italy after the landings there. The ship was bombed and mustard agents were released at Anzio. Folks studying that event came up with the Hydrogen Mustard Chemo therapy treatments, so it was not all bad.
Meanwhile un known to the west in the late 1930's, before the second world war the Germans had invented a new fumigant they used first on a ship. Two clearing crews were killed trying to open the ship after fumigation. This was the origin of nerve agents and the Nazis quickly began to weaponize the stuff. They did studies and stock piled and made proposals....and Hitler fortunately said not no but hell no.
The masks issued to US troops in WWII worked mainly on absorbtion and the small size of nerve agent poisons would have easily defeated those masks. When the filters down in Berchesgarten in the bunker under the hotel just up from Hitler's house were studied they were found to be odd to allied thinking. When a captured German Officer explained what was going on folks went ga-ga. Of course the Russians got most of the labs and materials.
Want to check your personal gas mask to se if there is a remote chance of it stopping Nerve agents? Put it on and crack open a bottle of old Champhophinic. Nerve agent particles tend to be about the same size as molecules of that stuff. Bannana oil is used in training but the particles are larger I am told. Thus the Soviet lead in nerve agent development early on. The SCUD and Scaleboard warheads filled with a semi persistant type of VX were THE bugaboo in Europe in the'80's. Non military folks might survive a few little tactical nukes (hee-hee little like their 180KT and our 50 to 300KT on theater missiles) being tossed about. My landlord had a hardened basement with filtered air for instance. What would a civilian do to survive an attack by VX in gel droplets that covered a one K circle that continued to out gas for three to six days? How far down wind of a 122 mm rocket barrage of VX can one safely breathe?
Oh and I have seen movies where atropine is mentioned as an antidote.......actually it is only half the antidote. It is issued to troops so they can survive long enough for the medics to administer the other half Oxime solution and yes the dosages matter.
Ian Hoag once wrote that he thought gas was in many ways a more humane weapon than say HE artillery or bayonets, interesting thought.
-kBob
The Nazi's mainly did not use gas for one reason......in World War I a certain young corporal was a dispatch rider after he was promoted from his machine gun squad. He and his horse were gassed and the horse did not make it. He almost did not make it, but unfortunately young Adolf Hitler as he later called himself fought back bravely in the hospital. Hitler was not of a mind to see that sort of war again, even as horrific as some of the other things he did were.
The US did have large stock piles, mostly of mustard agent. On the off chance the Nazi menace might begin using gas as they lost, a ship load was sent to Italy after the landings there. The ship was bombed and mustard agents were released at Anzio. Folks studying that event came up with the Hydrogen Mustard Chemo therapy treatments, so it was not all bad.
Meanwhile un known to the west in the late 1930's, before the second world war the Germans had invented a new fumigant they used first on a ship. Two clearing crews were killed trying to open the ship after fumigation. This was the origin of nerve agents and the Nazis quickly began to weaponize the stuff. They did studies and stock piled and made proposals....and Hitler fortunately said not no but hell no.
The masks issued to US troops in WWII worked mainly on absorbtion and the small size of nerve agent poisons would have easily defeated those masks. When the filters down in Berchesgarten in the bunker under the hotel just up from Hitler's house were studied they were found to be odd to allied thinking. When a captured German Officer explained what was going on folks went ga-ga. Of course the Russians got most of the labs and materials.
Want to check your personal gas mask to se if there is a remote chance of it stopping Nerve agents? Put it on and crack open a bottle of old Champhophinic. Nerve agent particles tend to be about the same size as molecules of that stuff. Bannana oil is used in training but the particles are larger I am told. Thus the Soviet lead in nerve agent development early on. The SCUD and Scaleboard warheads filled with a semi persistant type of VX were THE bugaboo in Europe in the'80's. Non military folks might survive a few little tactical nukes (hee-hee little like their 180KT and our 50 to 300KT on theater missiles) being tossed about. My landlord had a hardened basement with filtered air for instance. What would a civilian do to survive an attack by VX in gel droplets that covered a one K circle that continued to out gas for three to six days? How far down wind of a 122 mm rocket barrage of VX can one safely breathe?
Oh and I have seen movies where atropine is mentioned as an antidote.......actually it is only half the antidote. It is issued to troops so they can survive long enough for the medics to administer the other half Oxime solution and yes the dosages matter.
Ian Hoag once wrote that he thought gas was in many ways a more humane weapon than say HE artillery or bayonets, interesting thought.
-kBob
dfariswheel
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Reportedly the reason the Nazis didn't use gas, was because the British had a huge stockpile of all sorts of the stuff, and Churchill made sure Hitler knew that if he used it, the British would literally saturate Germany with highly persistent and long lasting types.
Hitler well knew that you can't build tanks and aircraft, train troops, farm, and generally support a country when every one had to wear a gas mask and chemical suit for days or weeks at a time.
Hitler well knew that you can't build tanks and aircraft, train troops, farm, and generally support a country when every one had to wear a gas mask and chemical suit for days or weeks at a time.
OP
OP
Doug Bowser
member
I had an Uncle who was with Pershing in Mexico. He was a Cavalryman. He was Killed in 1937 when he was struck by a train, in Scranton, PA. His name was Michael McLaughlin. He also served in WW1.
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