Military History Photo Friday: The L3/35 Tankette

I was digging through some old photos the other day and came across this one of yours truly at a military museum in Rome. I'm standing beside an Italian L3/35 tankette. Tankettes were a popular idea for some nations in the Interwar period. As the name implies, they were miniature tanks, smaller and faster than the behemoths of the First World War.

The L3/35 was first mass produced in 1936 and measured 3.17 x 1.4 x 1.3 m (10.4 × 4.59 × 4.27 ft). It had a top speed of 42 km/h (26 mph), weighed 3.2 tons, and had a crew of two--a driver and gunner. Armament was a pair of machine guns. At its thickest, the armor was only 12 mm (.47 inches).

The tankette served in the Italian invasion of Abyssinia (Ethiopia) and large numbers of them were sent to help the fascists during the Spanish Civil War. Their thin armor made them vulnerable, and having the guns fixed to the front meant the tankette had to be turned to bring the weapons to bear. Abyssinian warriors would rush up behind the tank and stuck their swords into the tracks, which was often enough to disable them! In the Spanish Civil War they had to face tanks sent to the Republican army by the Soviet Union like the BT-5 and T-26. These were real tanks with cannons and turrets and everything. You can guess how well the little Italian models fared.

By World War Two, the L3/35 was obsolete, but that didn't stop the Italians from fielding large numbers of them in North Africa. The British made short work of them. It's amazing any survived to end up in this museum!

Military History Photo Friday: The Volkshandgranate 45, A Grenade Made Out Of Concrete:

I've been reading Antony Beevor's excellent history book Berlin: The Downfall 1945 as part of my research for my Volkssturm novel. The Volkssturm were a German civilian militia formed in October 1944 in a last desperate bid to stop the Allied advance. The Volkssturm called up all able-bodied men aged 16 to 60 who weren’t already in uniform. It also called up some women.

A passing mention in Beevor's book told me of a weapon I didn't know about--the Volkshandgranate 45, or the "people's hand grenade 1945". This crude grenade was developed in the last months of the war and was the product of a chronic shortage of raw material. By this time most of the Third Reich's industrial base had been taken by the Russians, and the Germans resorted to making hand grenades out of concrete. These would be filled with bits of scrap metal, gravel, and nuggets of cement. The whole thing was fitted with a fuse and some explosive. Beevor says the Volkshandgranate 45 was more dangerous to the user than the target, and yet hundreds of thousands of them were produced in the last months of the war and distributed to the Volkssturm, Wehrmacht, and even some elite SS units.

It just goes to show how desperate the Third Reich had become in the last months of its existence. As the Nobel Prize winning author Heinrich Böll, who was drafted in to the army during the war, put it, the men were fighting not for their country, but for survival, and their only hope was that they would somehow survive after they were defeated.

Book Review: Hitler's Home Guard: Volkssturmmann: Western Front, 1944-45

Hitler's Home Guard: Volkssturmmann: Western Front, 1944-45 by David Yelton
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Full disclosure: I have written seven books for Osprey Publishing so I can't really be called an unbiased reviewer. On the other hand, I don't know the author or artist and WW2 is a bit out of my specialty. I read this as research for a novel I'm writing.
This is a look at a little-covered aspect of the war, Germany's desperate formation of a militia to supplement the exhausted and depleted Wehrmacht. These teenagers, old men, and men taken from essential services were given little training, insufficient weapons, and were sent against the full force of the Allied assaults in late 1944 and early 1945. No prizes for figuring out what happened.
The author goes through the formation of the Volkssturm, and how individuals were recruited and trained, using a fictional character in a real unit as an example. Other reviewers have criticized using a fictional character, but given the paucity of sources for the Volkssturm I didn't see this as a problem. One limitation, however, is that it only covers the Western Front. The author notes that the Volkssturm on the Eastern Front were better armed and motivated, and I was hoping that a second book would be written about their story. Since it's been 10 years since this book's publication I guess that's not going to happen.
Another missed opportunity is that the Volksgewehr, a series of cheap gun designs introduced late in the war, are not really described. There isn't much written on these guns and it would have been appropriate to add something here.
Despite these shortcomings, I found this book a gripping read. It goes into detail about the civilian experience and the terror these half-soldiers must have felt when a helmet was plunked on their head, a rifle thrust into their hands, and they were sent against thundering columns of tanks. A large section is dedicated to the process of surrendering, internment, and repatriation. That was the main war experience for a lot of these guys!
All in all, a good overview of a little-known aspect of the war.

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Book Review: US Infantryman vs German Infantryman: European Theater of Operations 1944

US Infantryman vs German Infantryman: European Theater of Operations 1944 by Steven J. Zaloga
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Full disclosure: I have written seven books for Osprey Publishing so I can't really be called an unbiased reviewer. On the other hand, I don't know the author or artist and WW2 is a bit out of my specialty. I read this as research for a novel I'm ghostwriting for a client.
This is part of Osprey's Combat series, a grunt's eye view of the fight between two opposing sides. Each book looks at the training, equipment, and motivation of a regular soldier on both sides of the battle, with three small-scale fights to illustrate what their experience was like.
I found the detail in this book quite good, and especially appreciated the information on radio communications, something that many authors overlook. The text gives the reader a brief but detailed look at how units were trained, organized, and deployed. The three combat situations were well chosen and clearly illustrate the German army's deteriorating situation in the last half of 1944, as well as the US Army's steep learning curve.
The art is up to Osprey's usual high standard and the maps were clear and easy to read.
My only quibbles were that the text was a bit dry at times and that we never get a good description of a pole charge, even though it is mentioned as an important weapon for taking out German bunkers. Of course I can imagine what a pole charge was, but a photo and some specs would seem appropriate here, especially considering the detailed coverage other weapons get.
All in all, a solid addition to the Combat series.

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Military History Photo Friday: The Volkssturm

An often-reproduced photo of the Volkssturm on parade. In reality they weren't this well armed. They had been given the weapons for the parade and had to return them afterwards!

As I mentioned last Friday, I'm researching my next Trench Raiders book, which will focus on the tunnelers of World War One. I'm also in the beginning stages of researching a book set in the waning days of World War Two titled Volkssturm.

The Volkssturm was a German national militia started in October 1944, which called up all able-bodied Germans, both men and women, aged 16 to 60.

A female member of the Volkssturm learning how to use a Panzerfaust.

By this late in the war the Germans were getting pretty desperate. The Red Army was crushing them in the east; the Americans, British, and Canadians were rolling through France; and the Allies dominated the skies. The fall of Nazi Germany has always been an epic subject, and it will be interesting to write characters stuck in this backdrop. War stories tend to focus on soldiers or, less often, civilians. This novel will focus on civilians forced to be soldiers. The characters are still forming in my mind. So far they're both men and women from a range of ages, most with only lukewarm and waning support for the ideology that has led their nation to disaster. Being civilians, they are far more concerned with their homes, families, and future than the strategy and tactics of war. Now that the war has come to them they each have to make a choice of what to do about it.

As I said, I'm only just beginning to research this topic so I won't start writing for a while. I have a few other projects lined up first. Stay tuned!

At the front in East Prussia, January 1945.

 

Building an anti-tank barrier in Cologne in February 1945. Note the wagons. By this point the Germans had a critical shortage of gasoline. Advancing Allied armies would often find perfectly usable vehicles abandoned by the side of the road because the retreating Germans had run out of gas.

The Volkssturm had no uniform. Some members got castoff uniforms from various units, including a lot of uniforms from the mostly grounded Luftwaffe. Many of the civilians soldiers had no other identification than this armband.

Photos courtesy Bundesarchiv.

Military History Photo Friday: The Technical, a Marriage of Economy and Firepower

Ah, the good old days, when you were allowed to have a machine gun on the back of your automobile without a permit! Actually, you weren't, but it wasn't long after the invention of the car before people decided to turn it into a weapon because, well, that's what people do.
This obviously posed shot is from the Easter Uprising of 1916, when Irish nationalists launched a failed bid to overthrow English rule while the British Empire was distracted by events in Europe.
It's significant because it is perhaps the earliest photo of what we now call a "technical", a normal civilian vehicle on which is mounted a large weapon such as a machine gun, recoilless rifle, or even a missile launcher. Technicals provide a good combination of speed and maneuverability for rebel groups and cash-strapped governments of the developing world.
They've also been used by commando missions such as in World War Two, and can now be found all over the developing world. Once when I was traveling in Somaliland, our car got stopped by a technical mounted with a huge recoilless rifle (basically a cannon). The troops inside informed us that the road were were going on was now off limits, even though it hadn't been the day before. We didn't argue, and no, I didn't take a photo. There's a difference between being an adventure traveler and being an idiot!

This technical used by the Libyan rebels carries a Grad missile launcher. Photo courtesy Al Jazeera English. Fortunately for the driver, there isn't much kick from this weapon. The Sahara is perfectly made for technical use, and some of the pioneers in tactics involving them include the Saharawi in their fight against the Moroccans, and the Chadians in their fight against the Libyans. The people of Chad used so many technicals to repulse Colonel Gaddafi's invasion in the 1980s that it has been dubbed "The Toyota War".

A technical in Mogadishu, Somalia, taken by a braver (or stupider) photographer than I am. I think the guy sitting in the back with the white shirt just noticed his picture is being taken. Photo courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

Military History Photo Friday: Hitler Youth Prisoners of War

Near the end of the Second World War, seventy years ago, the Third Reich had a serious manpower shortage. Most of the men of fighting age had been killed, wounded, or captured. Older men were conscripted to fill the ranks, and the boys of the Hitler Youth were also called to fight the Allies.

Some of these kids weren't even in their teens. Allied soldiers felt terrible shooting at them, but also had to admit that the young troops often fought very well, having been brainwashed by their upbringing and being too young to fear death. The Allies tried to capture these kids when they could, and there are numerous photographs showing just how young some of them were.

One of the worst things the Third Reich did was to corrupt children with the Nazi ideology. For the Black Gate blog, I recently reviewed a German film from the era titled Hitlerjunge Quex, about a famous member of the Hitler Youth. Originally intended as fascist propaganda, it has strangely morphed in its meaning for modern viewers to have an anti-fascist message.

Military History Photo Friday: The Last Nazi Government Surrenders

Happy VE Day! On this day in 1945, the last organized Nazi forces surrendered to the Allies.

The process actually began on May 4, when the Flensburg government, the successor government appointed by Hitler in his last will and testament shortly before shooting himself on April 30, surrendered to the British. They had controlled Denmark, Netherlands, and northwestern Germany.

This photo shows British officers leading away three of its leaders. President Karl Dönitz (center, in long, dark coat) is followed by Albert Speer (bareheaded) and Alfred Jodl. They prolonged surrender negotiations as long as they could to help surviving German forces flee west so they could surrender to the Allies instead of the Soviets. After what the Nazis had done to Russia in the past few years, they didn't want to end up at the mercy of the Russians.

Soon the Allies told them to stop stalling, and in the early hours of May 7, Dönitz made the announcement, "All forces under German control to cease active operations at 23:01 hours Central European Time on 8 May 1945."

Dönitz spent ten years in prison for war crimes and then lived a quiet life in Germany until his death in 1980.

Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

An excellent World War Two novel

Last month I had the pleasure to be a beta reader for Operation Dervish, Book 4 of Jack Badelaire's series of action novels on World War Two Commandos. I've readn and nejoyed all of his novels, and this series keeps getting better. If you like good military fiction, grab this. There's a blurb below:

North Africa, November 1941. Days before the British launch Operation Crusader, Corporal Lynch and the other Commandos are given the task of accompanying a makeshift strike force of British tanks and armoured cars deep into the Libyan Desert. Their mission: carry out a series of lightning-fast raids against Axis bases, creating a diversion to confuse the enemy commanders in the critical hours before the British Eighth Army pours over the border into Libya. Meanwhile, Afrika Korps Captain Karl Steiner guides a squadron of German panzers into the deep desert in order to provide warning against any British advances. The two forces, German and British, are on a collision course than can only end in blood and flames, littering the desert sands with slaughtered men and shattered tanks.

Operation Dervish is the fourth book in a series of military action - adventure novels written in the spirit of classic war movies and wartime adventure pulp fiction.

Military History Photo Friday: Nazi Red Cross Flag

Here's something you don't see every day. This is a flag from the World War Two German Army medical unit. You can see the red cross, but what's that white patch on the eagle's chest? That's covering up a swastika. The museum that displays this in Belgium decided against a public display of the emblem. Interesting to see two diametrically opposed different symbols on the same flag!

For more on my trip through Belgium's military history, check out my latest article, Tales of War and Humanity in Belgium.

Post-Apocalyptic A to Z: Tyranny

One theme that's common in post-apocalyptic fiction is the rise of petty tyrants. You see this in books as diverse as Wool and Out of the Mouth of the Dragon. If anything's going to lead us to the path of global ruin, it's probably going to be our tendency to blindly follow destructive dictators, and forget the lessons that we should learn from them.

Today is Holocaust Remembrance Day. When you hear those words you immediately think of the six million Jews exterminated by the Nazis. It was one of the worst crimes against humanity in history, but it's often forgotten that millions more perished in the Nazi death camps. Hitler did away with any group he found disagreeable. The first people put in concentration camps were communists and labor union leaders. The Nazis also killed off at least 10,000 homosexuals and at least 200,000 Roma (Gypsies). Actually no one knows how many Roma were killed because nobody bothered to count. They barely got a mention during the Nuremberg Trials and as far as I know there's still no monument for them.

It's important to remember that our received history is often selective, and that in our ignorance we can often step on some very sensitive toes. My fellow travel writer Pam Mandel has a great post on the dangers of traveling ignorantly.

Photo of Hitler Youth courtesy Bundesarchiv.

Military History Photo Friday: The Valentine Tank

Happy Valentine's Day! To celebrate the day where lovers are supposed to swoon over one another while gorging on chocolate, I'm giving you a photo of a tank. But not just any tank, the Valentine tank! Aren't I romantic?

The Valentine tank was produced in the United Kingdom at the start of World War Two. The story is that it got its name because the plans were submitted on Valentine's Day. There are several more prosaic explanations, such as the fact that a leading tank designer was named Valentine.

Anyway, these tanks were hugely popular, accounting for about a quarter of all tanks produced during the war in the UK. They were also the first tanks produced in Canada and saw service in the Soviet Red Army thanks to the Lend Lease program.

The Valentine tank owed its popularity to its good armor and durability and performed especially well in the North Africa campaign. Early models were armed with an underpowered 2-pounder cannon and the turret was cramped. The cannon was later replaced with a better six-pounder but by 1944 the Valentine was getting outclassed in the tank arms race. Heavier, tougher models became necessary, but the Valentine was still used as a backup.


Photo of Valentine Mark III with Scottish infantry in North Africa courtesy Wikimedia Commons.