Weapons Update From The Pentagon
Thought you might be interested in this update from the Pentagon about new weapons. Enjoy, Jim
Miscellany Of Exciting Royal Navy Authors
For several months now I have been reading about the Royal Navy usually from the years just prior to our Revolution ( 1776) to around 1818 after Napoleon’s defeat. The authors that I have read are Patrick O’Brian and his fictional heroes: Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin; Douglas Reeman,writing under the pseudo-name of Alexander Kent and his heroes : Richard and Adam Bolitho; Dewey Lambdin and his hero, Alan Lewrie; and C. Northcote Parkinson with his hero: Richard Delancy. If you haven’t read any of these authors I encourage you to do so. There stories are authentic and filled with thundering ship to ship combat. Much safer to read about that then take a trip to Iraq and see it first hand.
Any good bookseller worth his salt will stock those authors and many more. I finished up my Royal Navy reading by completing Nicholas Monsarrat’s The Cruel Sea, Three Corvettes and HMS Marlborough Will Enter Harbour. I had purchased the books from Amazon at a very decent price and when through gave them to our local library. If you haven’t begun to read this series and the other in the preceding paragraph I encourage you to do so. All these are great reads and are worthy for a place in your own library or bookshelf like mine. Let me know if you enjoyed the various authors and whether their descriptions of the Royal Navy from the early days to modern times kept you engrossed. Thanks for stopping and reading this Post. All the best, Jim
Trench Life, Combat And Death in WW1
[eBay]
Trench Life, Combat and Death in World War 1. A very personal account of WW1 from the standpoint of a WW1 Combat Engineer. Most of the 35 pictures here along with the narrative came from the Engineer Officer, my Great Uncle. He survived from 1917 as a rookie Officer to 1920 and then home for demobilization. It is not wrong to say that he was forever scarred by his experiences.
I had originally set this up as a PDF but frankly it would be easier for me to burn copies onto CDs. My great Uncle ( he was married to my grandmother’s Sister) first served in the US Navy and left after 4 years as a Second Class Petty Officer. He was an Electrician trained by the navy. He worked for several years and then in 1917 used his qualifications to join the US Army as a Second Lieutenant with the Pennsylvania National Guard. He was in the first draft of men sent to Europe and served there until 1919 or 1920, I am not sure of that date.
He always talked freely to me when I lived with him in 1945 about his time in the navy. But he would not or could not talk about his experiences in France as a soldier. His enthusiasm for the navy took root in me and I subsequently served 46 months as aUS Navy Hospital Corpsman in 1960. I have many if not all of his pictures from his time in France and those are what I used to put together his experiences as a sort of memorial and of course to make a little money. If you are interested the PayPal Button is on the left side of the front page. All the best, Jim
The Road To Kandahar
The Second Afghan War, 1879 to 1880, between Imperial Britain and the Afghan tribes and their army. As a matter of interest, we are now in the third cycle of Britain’s interests in Afghanistan. Starting in 1830 with the disastrous loss of a British army by Lord Elphinstone. The second war in 1879-1880 with Lord Roberts invasion which was a success for awhile and of course a more recent one with American and British troops. History tells us that this part of the world is just as quick to give invading forces a very black eye; remember Russia’s abortive invasion and ignominious withdrawal and just recently as we have seen with the IED’s and continuing tribal fighting on Pakistan’s borders. It seems we never remember our history and not remembering it we are doomed to repeat it.
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John Wilcox wrote a really interesting paperback called, The Road To Kandahar. In this book, He continues the saga of two ex-soldiers one who had resigned his commission from the 24th Regiment of Foot and bought out his servant, called 352 Jenkins. If you have any interest in the British Army,a rousing good story, and some interest in what our own troops are facing, this is one of the books that I can personally recommend. Actually I haven’t found one of his books that wasn’t interesting and full of relevant facts about the time and about the British Army.
There was a barrack-room Ballad written by Rudyard Kipling around this time about Afghanistan as follows: “Wounded and left on Afghanistan’s plains. ” The quote is one of the best known from Rudyard Kipling’s poems and is the last stanza from, The Young British Soldier. The stanza goes as follows: “When yiu’re wounded and left on Afghanistan’s plains, And the women come out to cut up what remains, Jest roll to your rifle and blow out your brains, An go to your Gawd like a soldier. Go, go go like a soldier, Soldier of the Queen.” The song, Soldier of the Queen was a popular one during this time and Here is a video with the music: Soldier of the Queen.
If you want to read a ripping good story read this one. The Road To Kandahar. It will grip you and you will find it hard to put it down.
Grandmother’s Story Of The Battle Of Bunker Hill
I just ran across a free ebook from Project Gutenberg. It was written by the eminent jurist, Oliver Wendell Holmes and is entitled: Grandmother’s Story of Bunker Hill Battle. The illustrations are from Howard Pyle. I think that this is worth reading and if you like it and want a copy you can get it from the source, Project Gutenberg or you can get it for free from me. Send me an email to jimclay1153@gmail.com. Since I have several books that I am giving away from several websites. please add in the subject line: grandmother and I will know which one to send. Enjoy.
Civil War Weapons And Other Reenactor Items
1853 3 Band Enfield Rifle Musket
This is the black powder version of the well known 3 Band Enfield. This weapon was number two in use throughout the American Civil War. Used I might add by both sides. It was thought by Civil War Historians that about 900,000. were bought from the all the Enfield locations such as the Enfield Company, The London Armory Company, and the factories of Liege, St. Etienne and Windsor, Vermont. The Federals purchased 500,000 and the Confederates about 900,000 from early in 1862 through March 1865 just prior to Lee’s capitulation at Appomattox Court House, Virginia on April 9,1865.
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The P53, 3 Band Enfield had an effective range of 1000 to 1100 yards. The length overall was 53inches from butt plate to muzzle tip. Barrel length was 30 inches and was known as a rifle-musket .The barrel was 39 inches so that the tip of the muzzle projected beyond the shoulder of the soldier in the kneeling front rank first to keep any blast from hitting him and so that the length would favor it being used when the bayonet was attached .
This weapon had a life time from 1853 to 1867 when it was superseded by the more modern cartridge-loaded Snider-Enfield Rifle. I believe this was the first of the more modern rifles that was a breech-loader. The Snider variation was invented by an American by name Jacob Snider and applied by the British to their existing P 53 Enfields.
3 BAND ENFIELD, .58 Caliber Black Powder Rifle – $ 695.00
Retail Price: 820.10
You Save: $125.10
From: NetLink Enterprises, Inc.
