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Anniversaries for today :
Welcome to Clash of Steel!
Featured battle : Aire-sur-l'Adour
Part of The French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars
Date : 02 March 1814
French morale was very low, many of the best troops who had fought through Spain had been withdrawn to defend northern France. Portugese losses were heavier than they ought to have been due to the stupidity of their commander. A frontal assault was ordered against an intact brigade in a strong position. The French withdrew to the southeast.
Featured image :
British Saracen Armoured Personnel Carrier
Built on the same basic chassis as the Saladin Armoured Car (see entry), this 6 wheel drive APC was designed in 1952 and has served with the British army until the 1990's, latterly in an urban role in Northern Ireland, and with many other countries until very recently. The engine is mounted forward of the centrally positioned driver, and a squad of 10 troops could be carried in the armoured crew compartment, accessible by the twin rear doors. A hand-operated turret could contain a 7.62mm machine gun such as the bren and ports down the flanks and in the rear doors permitted the occupants to fire their personal weapons. It had the same performance as the Saladin, a speed of 45mph, good cross-country performance and the ability to operate on 5 wheels to cope with mine damage.
Gallery updated : 2022-04-04 08:33:43
Featured review :
Artillery Warfare 1939-1945
Simon and Jonathon Forty
This book is about big guns and their use from 1939 to 1945. As with their book on Tank Warfare Simon and Jonathan Forty [book reviewed on this site] have given us a super insight into that period. Both theory and practice are covered using original reports on actions, training documents and technical instructions for a wide range of topics. There are useful comparisons, many shown diagrammatically, between weapons and ammunition of different nations. Included also, as very long range artillery, are the V1 and V2 rockets.
A superb eight page Abbreviations and Glossary section at the beginning of the book clarifies all the technical terms and delivers a basic understanding of the fundamentals of artillery.
There are hundreds of photographs and an extensive bibliography.
This book is made special because it is almost encyclopaedic in scope and because of the amount of contemporary material reproduced here without the clutter of ‘wisdom after the event’. From mountain warfare with guns on mules to V2 rockets and everything between makes it well worth a place on anyone's reference shelf.
We highly recommend this work to all levels of readers.
Pen & Sword Military, 2020
Reviewed : 2020-11-30 12:15:58
