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Brécourt Manor Assault
The Brécourt Manor Assault (6 June 1944) during the U.S. parachute assault of the Normandy Invasion of World War II is often cited as a classic example of small-unit tactics and leadership in overcoming a larger enemy force. Objective Command of Company E, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division had temporarily fallen to its executive officer, First Lieutenant Richard Winters. After linking up with his parent unit at the hamlet of Le Grand Chemin on the morning of 6 June 1944, Winters was ordered away from his company. With minimal instructions of "There's fire along that hedgerow there. Take care of it," and no briefing, Winters found himself given the task of destroying a German artillery battery. The battery, initially reported to have been 10.5 cm leFH 18 howitzers, was firing onto causeway exit #2 leading off Utah Beach, disrupting landing forces of the U.S. 4th Infantry Division. It was located at Brécourt Manor, southwest of U ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
American Airborne Landings In Normandy
The U.S. airborne landings in Normandy were the first U.S. combat operations during Operation Overlord, the invasion of Normandy by the Western Allies on June 6, 1944, during World War II. Around 13,100 American paratroopers of the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions made night parachute drops early on D-Day, June 6, followed by 3,937 glider troops flown in by day. Includes pathfinders. All statistics, except where otherwise noted, are derived from this source, which referenced Warren. As the opening maneuver of Operation Neptune (the assault operation for Overlord) the two American airborne divisions were delivered to the continent in two parachute and six glider missions. The divisions were part of the U.S. VII Corps and provided it with support in its mission of capturing Cherbourg as soon as possible to provide the Allies with a port of supply. The specific missions of the two airborne divisions were to block approaches into the vicinity of the amphibious landing at Utah Beac ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
MG42
The MG 42 (shortened from German: ''Maschinengewehr 42'', or "machine gun 42") is a German recoil-operated air-cooled general-purpose machine gun used extensively by the Wehrmacht and the Waffen-SS during the second half of World War II. Entering production in 1942, it was intended to supplement and replace the earlier MG 34, which was more expensive and took much longer to produce, but both weapons were produced until the end of World War II. Designed to use the standard German 7.92×57mm Mauser rifle round, be low-cost and easier to mass-produce, the MG 42 proved to be highly reliable and easy to operate. It is most notable for its very high cyclic rate for a gun using full-power service cartridges, averaging about 1,200 rounds per minute compared to around 850 for the MG 34, and 450 to 600 for other common machine guns like the M1919 Browning, FM 24/29 or Bren gun. This ability made it extremely effective in providing suppressive fire, and its unique sound led to it being nick ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gun Barrel
A gun barrel is a crucial part of gun-type weapons such as small firearms, artillery pieces, and air guns. It is the straight shooting tube, usually made of rigid high-strength metal, through which a contained rapid expansion of high-pressure gas(es) is used to propel a projectile out of the front end ( muzzle) at a high velocity. The hollow interior of the barrel is called the bore, and the diameter of the bore is called its caliber, usually measured in inches or millimetres. The first firearms were made at a time when metallurgy was not advanced enough to cast tubes capable of withstanding the explosive forces of early cannons, so the pipe (often built from staves of metal) needed to be braced periodically along its length for structural reinforcement, producing an appearance somewhat reminiscent of storage barrels being stacked together, hence the English name.''A History of Warfare'' - Keegan, John, Vintage 1993. History Gun barrels are usually metal. However, the e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Grenade
A grenade is an explosive weapon typically thrown by hand (also called hand grenade), but can also refer to a shell (explosive projectile) shot from the muzzle of a rifle (as a rifle grenade) or a grenade launcher. A modern hand grenade generally consists of an explosive charge ("filler"), a detonator mechanism, an internal striker to trigger the detonator, and a safety lever secured by a cotter pin. The user removes the safety pin before throwing, and once the grenade leaves the hand the safety lever gets released, allowing the striker to trigger a primer that ignites a fuze (sometimes called the delay element), which burns down to the detonator and explodes the main charge. Grenades work by dispersing fragments (fragmentation grenades), shockwaves (high-explosive, anti-tank and stun grenades), chemical aerosols (smoke and gas grenades) or fire ( incendiary grenades). Fragmentation grenades ("frags") are probably the most common in modern armies, and when the word ''gren ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Flanking Maneuver
In military tactics, a flanking maneuver is a movement of an armed force around an enemy force's side, or flank, to achieve an advantageous position over it. Flanking is useful because a force's fighting strength is typically concentrated in its front, therefore, to circumvent an opposing force's front and attack its flank is to concentrate one's own offense in the area where the enemy is least able to concentrate defense. Flanking can also occur at the operational and strategic levels of warfare. Tactical flanking The flanking maneuver is a basic military tactic with several variations. Flanking an enemy entails attacking from one or more sides, at an angle to the enemy's direction of engagement. There are three standard flanking maneuvers. The first maneuver is the ambush, where a unit performs a surprise attack from a concealed position. Units friendly to the ambushing unit may be hidden to the sides of the ambush site to surround the enemy, but care must be taken in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Guarnere
William J. Guarnere Sr. (April 28, 1923 – March 8, 2014) was a United States Army paratrooper who fought in World War II as a non-commissioned officer with Easy Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, in the 101st Airborne Division. Guarnere wrote ''Brothers in Battle, Best of Friends: Two WWII Paratroopers from the Original Band of Brothers Tell Their Story'' with long-time friend Edward Heffron, Edward "Babe" Heffron and journalist Robyn Post in 2007. Guarnere was portrayed in the 2001 HBO miniseries ''Band of Brothers (TV miniseries), Band of Brothers'' by Frank John Hughes. Early life and education Guarnere was born in South Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on April 28, 1923. He was the youngest of 10 children born to Joseph and Augusta Guarnere, who were of Italian origin. He joined the Citizens Military Training Camp (CMTC) program during the Great Depression, gaining entrance at age 15 because his mother told the government her son was two years older. He spe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Donald Malarkey
Donald George Malarkey (July 31, 1921 – September 30, 2017) was a non-commissioned officer with Easy Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, in the 101st Airborne Division of the United States Army during World War II. Malarkey was portrayed in the HBO miniseries '' Band of Brothers'' by Scott Grimes. Early life Donald Malarkey was born in Astoria, Oregon, on July 31, 1921, to Leo and Helen (née Trask) Malarkey, married in 1918. He graduated from Astoria High School in 1939 and was of Irish descent. As a youth, he worked on a purse seiner crew on the Columbia River. He was a volunteer firefighter during the destructive Tillamook Burn forest fire, which destroyed thousands of acres of Oregon timber. He was in his first semester at the University of Oregon in the fall of 1941 when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. Military service After Pearl Harbor, Malarkey tried enlisting in the Marines, but was rejected because of dental problems. He then tried the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lynn "Buck" Compton
Lynn Davis Compton (December 31, 1921 – February 25, 2012), known as Buck Compton, was an American jurist, police officer, and soldier. In his legal career, he served as a prosecutor and California Court of Appeal judge, and is most notable as having been the lead prosecutor in Sirhan Sirhan's trial for the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy. Previously, he served with the Los Angeles Police Department. During World War II, he was a commissioned officer with E Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, in the 101st Airborne Division of the United States Army. Compton was portrayed in the HBO miniseries '' Band of Brothers'' by Neal McDonough. Early life Compton was born in Los Angeles, California. Early on, he gave himself the nickname "Buck" due to feeling that Lynn was a name better suited to a girl. His mother Ethel worked for movie studios and a young Compton worked as an extra in films. He was thrown off the set of '' Modern Times'' after angering th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
M1919 Browning Machine Gun
The M1919 Browning is a .30 caliber medium machine gun that was widely used during the 20th century, especially during World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. The M1919 saw service as a light infantry, coaxial, mounted, aircraft, and anti-aircraft machine gun by the U.S. and many other countries. The M1919 was an air-cooled development of the standard US machine gun of World War I, the John M. Browning-designed water-cooled M1917. The emergence of general-purpose machine guns in the 1950s pushed the M1919 into secondary roles in many cases, especially after the arrival of the M60 in US Army service. The United States Navy also converted many to 7.62 mm NATO, and designated them Mk 21 Mod 0; they were commonly used on riverine craft in the 1960s and 1970s in Vietnam. Many NATO countries also converted their examples to 7.62 mm caliber, and these remained in service well into the 1990s, as well as up to the present day in some countries. Operation Loading The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Friedrich August Freiherr Von Der Heydte
Friedrich August Freiherr von der Heydte (30 March 1907 – 7 July 1994) was a German paratroop officer during World War II who later served in the armed forces of West Germany, achieving the rank of General. Following the war, Heydte pursued academic, political and military careers, as a Catholic-conservative professor of political science, a member of the Christian Social Union political party, and as a Bundeswehr reservist. In 1962, Heydte was involved in the Spiegel affair. Early life Friedrich August Freiherr von der Heydte joined the Reichswehr in April 1925. In 1927, he was released from military service to attend Innsbruck University, receiving a degree in economics. In 1927, Heydte was awarded his degree in law at Graz University. He joined the NSDAP on 1 May 1933, obtaining membership number 2.134.193. He entered the Sturm Abteilung the same year. In 1935 Heydte re-joined the Reichswehr where he attended staff training. World War II Heydte took part in the invasion ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oberstleutnant
() is a senior field officer rank in several German-speaking and Scandinavian countries, equivalent to Lieutenant colonel. It is currently used by both the ground and air forces of Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Denmark, and Norway. The Swedish rank is a direct translation, as is the Finnish rank . Austria Austria's armed forces, the ''Bundesheer'', uses the rank Oberstleutnant as its sixth-highest officer rank. Like in Germany and Switzerland, Oberstleutnants are above Majors and below Obersts. The term also finds usage with the Austrian Bundespolizei (federal police force) and Justizwache (prison guards corps). These two organizations are civilian in nature, but their ranks are nonetheless structured in a military fashion. Belgium File:Army-BEL-OF-04.svg, nl-BE, Luitenant-kolonelgerman: Oberstleutnant Denmark The Danish rank of is based around the German term. Ranked OF-4 within NATO and having the paygrade of M401, it is used in the Royal Danish Army and the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
German Army (Wehrmacht)
The German Army (, "army") is the land component of the armed forces of Federal Republic of Germany, Germany. The present-day German Army was founded in 1955 as part of the newly formed West German ''Bundeswehr'' together with the German Navy, ''Marine'' (German Navy) and the German Air Force, ''Luftwaffe'' (German Air Force). , the German Army had a strength of 62,766 soldiers. History Overview A German army equipped, organized, and trained following a single doctrine and permanently unified under one command in 1871 during the unification of Germany under the leadership of Prussia. From 1871 to 1919, the title ''German Army (German Empire), Deutsches Heer'' (German Army) was the official name of the German land forces. Following the German defeat in World War I and the end of the German Empire, the main army was dissolved. From 1921 to 1935 the name of the German land forces was the ''Reichswehr, Reichsheer'' (Army of the Empire) and from 1935 to 1945 the name ''German Army (We ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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