The FReeper Foxhole Remembers John Kline & The Bulge (Dec. 16-19, 1944) - July 23rd, 2003

http://home01.wxs.nl/~wijer037/JohnKl.html ^ | John Kline

[Victoria Delsoul]

I have that game!

You do? I wanted to surprise you with something new, LOL.

[SAMWolf]

LOL! Good luck when it comes to WWII and the Bulge in particular.

[snippy_about_it]

Good night SAM

[SAMWolf]

Good Night Snippy. See ya tomorrow, we visit Korea again.

[Colonel_Flagg]

How many people are you planning on nailing with it?

Well, once word gets around, I think one's the limit. :)

[U S Army EOD]

We usually got them out of 2.75" rockets. We would also take the igniters out of the rocket motors and rig loop switches with the ignition wires then set them in the crawl ways for the rats.

Most people just don't know how to have fun.

[U S Army EOD]

Sorry to hear about the last one crashing. I got to see it in Greenville, SC in 2002.

An interesting thing about the bomb load in the HE111 is that the bombs were hung vertically by the nose and equiped with many different types of electric fuzes. Note some of the photograpths where the bombs appear to be tumbling out of the bomb bay.

[SAMWolf]

We found all kind of fun things you could do with the cheese charges and powder bags left over after firing the mortars.

Detcord can be fun too. The Army has such neat toys

[SAMWolf]

Yeah that was a strange arrangement of the bombs. Makes you wonder how they hit anything the way they tumbled out of the bomb bay.

[PhilDragoo]

81mm Mortar

30-cal water cooled machine gun

60mm mortar

.30 Caliber M1919 air-cooled machine gun on bipod mount

Browning Cal .50 on M3 tripod. Began service in 1936

Interesting weapon used by soldier at right above.

M3A1 Grease Gun with 30 Round Magazine
The weapon's compact size makes it ideal for use inside tanks, and it remains an issue weapon even today

Operation Fully Automatic, Blowback
Caliber .45 (11.4 mm)
Muzzle velocity 280 mps (920 fps)
Ammunition .45 ACP, 230 gr bullet, 5 gr charge
Capacity 30-round detachable box magazine
Weight 8 lbs
Overall length 2ft 5.8in, stock extended
1ft 10.8in, stock retracted
Rate of fire 350-450 rpm
Effective range 50m (55yds)

Adoption of the M3/M3A1 relegated the Thompson submachine gun to "Limited Standard" or "Substitute Standard."

The widespread use of the Thompson was due mainly to the fact that it was the only allied submachine gun in mass production at the beginning of WWII. It had several weaknesses; e.g. weight and control. The Sten, for example, which was of stamped and welded metal construction and finished with a paint-like coating, scored higher than the Thompson when such things as simplicity, accuracy, weight and reliability were measured.

The .45 caliber M3/M3A1 are far easier to manufacture than the Thompson, and have a number of excellent design features in addition. The low cyclical rate of fire makes the gun easier to control than most submachine guns, not only the Thompson. The weapon's straight line of recoil thrust also adds substantially in controlling the gun in automatic fire. The gun's loose tolerances allow for reliable operation even if very dirty and, with its bolt and guide rod design make it more reliable than the Thompson under adverse conditions.

The M3/M3A1 is only capable of fully automatic operation; however, with its slow rate of fire, an experienced shooter can squeeze off single rounds.

The following additional information is courtesy of Bob Caulkins

"I carried a grease gun in Vietnam while I served with the First Marine Division (66-68). There are a several of neat things about the gun that don't appear in the description and I'd like to tell you about them. The gun had a built-in oiler in the base of the grip. After turning the gun over, the knob seen in the illustration is unscrewed revealing an oil reservoir and an oil applicator. The wire stock was a masterpiece of American ingenuity. It was a wrench for removing the barrel, the barrel had two grooves machined into it into which the wire stock was placed and then turned to loosen the barrel. One of the stock rods was threaded at the forward end to take a bore brush and drilled out to take a cleaning patch, and finally, there was a small "L" shaped piece of steel welded to the butt of the stock, as seen in the illustration, that functioned as a magazine loader. Trying to thumb load 30 rounds into the mag was a chore. This twenty-eight dollar, or so, piece of stamped, welded and machined metal was a beauty, on the several occasions when I needed it, it never failed me. "

Among the different types of submachine guns used by the Chinese Communist forces during the first year of the Korea War was their .45 cal Type 36 copy of the M3A1

The M3A1 is still in use in our armed forces today. Not a bad record for a gun that hasn't been manufactured for over 40 years!

The Battle of the Bulge (1965)

STARRING

Henry FONDA ... Lt. Col. Kiley

Robert SHAW ... Col. Hessler

Robert RYAN ... Gen. Grey

Dana ANDREWS... Col. Pritchard

James MacARTHUR ... Lt. Weaver

George MONTGOMERY ... Sgt. Duquesne

Ty HARDIN ... Schumacher

Produced by Milton Sperling

Directed by Ken Annakin

Written by Philip Yordan

[SAMWolf]

Evening PhilDragoo.

Great pics of the weapons used. The first weapon I was issued in Nam was the Grease Gun. I was at the Repo Depot awaiting picup by my unit and was assigned to "guard" a bunch of Vietnamese filling sandbags. Surprised the hell out of me when they gave me a grease gun. Wish I could have had the chance to fire it, but I can at least say I had a loaded on in my hot little hands.

Battle of Bulge had to be one of the worst war movies ever made. It is sooooooooo historically inaccurate that you can't help but laugh through most of it. The best thing about the movie was that you got to see some Chaffee's in action.

[Darksheare]

Unless someone actually acquires a taste for it.
That's a rare deal, apparently.
How many have been "gotcha'd" with it so far?

[Colonel_Flagg]

None as yet. After I drank the last stuff, no one will go near me until I stop climbing the walls. :)

[Darksheare]

Sounds about right.
How many people crossed themselves at the sight?
(I've had people cross themselves after drinking my coffee. A few say such nice things as "there's death in the pot." and "It's possessed!" *harrumph* Unbelievers!)
*chuckle*

[snippy_about_it]

I'm late getting back here. Thanks Phil, I've been reading about mortars lately, going to have a thread on the four deuce Friday.