Escape to the Legion

[javaguru]

They're running a marathon on the Military Channel....3:00 EST.

"Grylls filmed a four-part documentary in 2005 called Escape to the Legion which followed Grylls and 11 other UK recruits in the French Foreign Legion as they endured the month-long basic desert training in the Sahara. The show was broadcast in the UK on Channel 4,[8] and in the USA on the Military Channel.[9] In 2008 it was repeated in the UK on the History Channel[10][11][12]"

 

[puddlemonkey]

M*A*S*H

 

[javaguru]

 

[puddlemonkey]

lol

 

[gotmilk]

Lionheart?

 

[Scotsman]

The military channel is a reason I may decide to get cable/satellite. Too bad I'm going to miss it this round.

Cheers,
Scotsman

 

[javaguru]

The military channel is a reason I may decide to get cable/satellite. Too bad I'm going to miss it this round.

Cheers,
Scotsman

They have some interesting programming. Last night I watched a show where they restore WWII tanks. The first episode they restored a Centurion and in the second they were restoring a Panther.

 

[Scotsman]

They have some interesting programming. Last night I watched a show where they restore WWII tanks. The first episode they restored a Centurion and in the second they were restoring a Panther.

I think I've seen that show, they were rebuilding a bradley APT.

Cheers,
Scotsman

 

[javaguru]

Found a clip of the episode...

 

[javaguru]

BTW, I think that will be a Spartacus approved video clip.

 

[PICK3]

Is "Legion" Mo code for b/f's crib?

 

[javaguru]

Is "Legion" Mo code for b/f's crib?

No, I understand you're AF and don't understand proper training for a soldier....

 

[javaguru]

Where is the Pick3 response...he's been all over this board like dollar drink night at the "Greasy Pole."

 

[PICK3]

Where is the Pick3 response...he's been all over this board like dollar drink night at the "Greasy Pole."

quit e-stalking me

 

[javaguru]

quit e-stalking me

I thought that was Cal 21's job?

 

[javaguru]

 

[javaguru]

Video 2 should be viewed by any man considering marriage...

 

[needtogetarmy]

They have some interesting programming. Last night I watched a show where they restore WWII tanks. The first episode they restored a Centurion and in the second they were restoring a Panther.

I think it was one of those men's mags but I read an article where one reporter when to the Czech Republic and had an opportunity to buy a T-72.

I missed the Legion show...I'll need to check the schedule to see when they are playing it again.

 

[javaguru]

I think it was one of those men's mags but I read an article where one reporter when to the Czech Republic and had an opportunity to buy a T-72.

I missed the Legion show...I'll need to check the schedule to see when they are playing it again.

The camaraderie is one thing I miss about the army. In the documentary they interviewed ex legionaries and they admitted what everyone that has served knows, they fought for the guy next to him and not some abstract political view; They didn't fight for France but the guy next to them.

 

[Spartacus]

They have some interesting programming. Last night I watched a show where they restore WWII tanks. The first episode they restored a Centurion and in the second they were restoring a Panther.

 

[javaguru]

Panthers are very rare in the community. You can generally recognize German WWII vehicles by the road wheels.

 

[Spartacus]

I did some renachment stuff with a unit headquartered in atlanta
modeled after the 44th Austrian Infantry division (one that got annihilated in stalingrad)
the 134the regiment
http://www.ir134.proboards62.com/index.cgi

that german stuff is very expensive averaging around 5 times as much as GI shit
it's a hobby I put on hold until I get married

 

[javaguru]

I did some renachment stuff with a unit headquartered in atlanta
modeled after the 44th Austrian Infantry division (one that got annihilated in stalingrad)
the 134the regiment
that german stuff is very expensive averaging around 5 times as much as GI shit
it's a hobby I put on hold until I get married

Your future wife will not be pleased...wiminz tend to be more concerned about their immediate needs and not preservation of history.

 

[PICK3]

You can generally recognize German WWII vehicles by the road wheels.

You can indeed ... yet I don't have wood

 

[javaguru]

You can indeed ... yet I don't have wood

I support your right to choose your lifestyle but I don't swing your way...just sayin'.

 

[Spartacus]

Your future wife will not be pleased...wiminz tend to be more concerned about their immediate needs and not preservation of history.

if I give her keys to a new Porsche I'll have a decent amount of authority over our discretionary income
and I can use the event weekends to get away

 

[Spartacus]

 

[Spartacus]

if you're going to do it right you need proper period uniforms/kit

you dont just have a "german uniform"
there's all kinds of stuff for the krauts
weather gear matched to year
the fronts differed in many ways
autumn '44 on the west front was different than autumn '44 in Ukraine
and of course the SS had their camo

 

[javaguru]

if I give her keys to a new Porsche I'll have a decent amount of authority over our discretionary income
and I can use the event weekends to get away

Touche but you starting a WWII Werhmacht equipment museum may not go over well... Wiminz are not generally history buffs...

 

[Spartacus]

You can indeed ... yet I don't have wood

I found a Pick34

 

[javaguru]

I found a Pick34

I knew I had a problem when I identified a T-34 by the road wheels as it was engulfed in flames in the Panther video I posted.

 

[PICK3]

I found a Pick34

wtf???

 

[javaguru]

wtf???

 

[Spartacus]

Touche but you starting a WWII Werhmacht equipment museum may not go over well... Wiminz are not generally history buffs...

In my case it'll likely be a "great patriotic war" museum
when I went to a museum in ukraine with a gal and my intepretor they were amazed at my knowledge of 20th century russian/ukranian history

"you know more about our country than we do"

the museum was sectioned up and I was naming off eqp types in the WWII section (76mm howitzer,maxim hmg,antitank rifle PTRD-1941 etc.)

what was interesting is there was one whole section closed off darkened and abandoned
that was the post WWII soviet era section that they just shut down
I have some good pics and only managed to post one in the museum in my
back in the ussr pic thread

 

[javaguru]

In my case it'll likely be a "great patriotic war" museum
when I went to a museum in ukraine with a gal and my intepretor they were amazed at my knowledge of 20th century russian/ukranian history

"you know more about our country than we do"

the museum was sectioned up and I was naming off eqp types in the WWII section (76mm howitzer,maxim hmg,antitank rifle PTRD-1941 etc.)

what was interesting is there was one whole section closed off darkened and abandoned
that was the post WWII soviet era section that they just shut down
I have some good pics and only managed to post one in the museum in my
back in the ussr pic thread

Hitler should have invaded the Soviet Union as a national independence movement. Had they entered the Ukraine as liberators as opposed to conquerors the war might have turned out differently.

 

[javaguru]

I'll take that back....had the US not entered WWI then the course of history would have been totally changed.

 

[Spartacus]

Found a clip of the episode...

did you see the history channel episode on richard?

 

[javaguru]

did you see the history channel episode on richard?

Richard?

 

[heatherrae]

shut up, java.



ps -- you smell like grass clippings and butane.

 

[javaguru]

shut up, java.



ps -- you smell like grass clippings and butane.

I wish you would escape to the legion...

 

[AAP]

why didn't they add armor cover to the back to protect the troops from aireal fire and lobbed grenades?

 

[Spartacus]

Richard?

a czech mine that the germans converted into a panther production facility
underneath a mountain
it was featured on a 'cities of the underworld' special

it's difficult to google and find it
after the program I found some sites that had pics and commentary
but I can't find it again
I'll get them today

 

[javaguru]

a czech mine that the germans converted into a panther production facility
underneath a mountain
it was featured on a 'cities of the underworld' special

it's difficult to google and find it
after the program I found some sites that had pics and commentary
but I can't find it again
I'll get them today

I did watch a special on the V-2 production facility that was built in an old mine.

 

[Spartacus]

the thing was huge
deeply catacombed into the mountian
I still cant find anything on it other than some discussion on a goth board

http://www.gothicbeauty.com/forum/u...84&PHPSESSID=6b10f822460554287dea3b57eef9e395

found a link on that site to a gothic cruise on carnival lines
I might do that
being a mortician I'd be a hit

 

[javaguru]

the thing was huge
deeply catacombed into the mountian
I still cant find anything on it other than some discussion on a goth board

http://www.gothicbeauty.com/forum/u...84&PHPSESSID=6b10f822460554287dea3b57eef9e395

found a link on that site to a gothic cruise on carnival lines
I might do that
being a mortician I'd be a hit

I bet you would. I did see part of that episode but I'll have to watch it again, they re-broadcast those all the time.

 

[javaguru]

why didn't they add armor cover to the back to protect the troops from aireal fire and lobbed grenades?

There is an advantage to the open topped design, battlefield awareness and the ability to quickly dismount.

 

[Spartacus]

why didn't they add armor cover to the back to protect the troops from aireal fire and lobbed grenades?

armored personnel carriers weren't meant to actually be involved in heavy combat
they have modest protection as they're meant to ferry troops to the front lines
if you start adding extra armor you weigh down the vehicle and this impairs it's maneuverability and speed
might as well build a tank then

the US is experiencing this dilemma in Iraq
they're callin for up armored humvees by adding armor protection,especially underneath as we're suffering mostly IUD-mine casualties
but this compromises the vehicle

the humvee wasn't designed to be a combat vehicle per 'se
sure some of them are equiped with machine gun mounts etc.
like the german half tracks above
so you can deal out a reply if you encounter the enemy

our problem in Iraq is we have to have a presence in so many areas and it's not cost effective to have an M1 abrams platoon everywhere to shuttle soldiers around
you just have to accept some losses to these mines


we're probably working on/designing a new APC with more armor protection underneath
as with most wars what you learn in one you use to prepare and improve for the next

 

[Spartacus]

There is an advantage to the open topped design, battlefield awareness and the ability to quickly dismount.

and the germans had about 17 variations on their basic halftrack
mounting everything from a 75mm antitank gun to anti-aircraft guns (AAA)

the germans were hard pressed economically fighting the US-USSR and the british commonwealth so they started doing a bunch of quik fix shit to what they had

 

[Spartacus]

 

[javaguru]

 

[Spartacus]

http://www.2ndpanzerdivision.com/Track Page 1.htm

that pic is from the 2nd panzer division renachment unit
there's a hetzer behinfd the half track
and that fat fuck 2nd in line is obviously an american

the caption to the photo:

Schutzenpanzerwagen 251
'Hanomag' Sd Kfz 251/1 Ausf. D

The Sd Kfz 251 Ausf D was the backbone of the panzergrenadier and 10,602 were produced from September 1943 to March 1945. It has a crew of two (driver and assistant) and can carry ten fully loaded troops. It weighs 8 tons (metric), has a length of 5.98m, a width of 2.1m and a height of 2.16m. It has a top speed of 53 kph, and a maximum range of 300 km. Its armament includes two 7.92mm MG34 or MG42 machine guns. It carries a total of 2,010 rounds of ammunition for the MG's.

The Sd Kfz 251 Ausf D model was a simplified production version of the earlier models. The "Hanomag" came in many versions, the most common being the 251/1, which was the troop carrier. Its main purpose was to carry troops into battle protected by its (somewhat light) armor. The panzergrenadiers were trained to fight from both inside and outside of the "Hanomag".

 

[Spartacus]

here's a model of the 75mm anti-tank gun wielding half track

these were basically 'emergency' vehicles

 

[Spartacus]

the striker was needed about 4 years ago
all those variations of it remind me of the kraut halftracks

 

[Spartacus]

During the early years of panzer development, the German Army recognized the importance of providing mobility to its infantry components. Since a fully tracked vehicle was deemed too expensive, a cross between a road vehicle and a tracked vehicle was a logical step to achieve this requirement. Thus, the birth of the ³half-track." The vehicle that became the standard mount of the German infantry was officially called the Schützenpanzerwagen Sd.Kfz 251, "Gepanzerte Manschafts Transportwagen." Beginning with the Polish campaign in September 1939, German Panzer Divisions equipped with the new SdKfz-251 validated the concept of mobile infantry supporting tanks while being transported in their own armored vehicles.

Throughout WWII, the German Army used this vehicle extensively, and as the war wore on, more and more variants of it came into service to meet the expanding mission requirements (a great description of all of the vehicle¹s variants is available on the web at Hanomag Sd.Kfz. 251). In the last stages of the war, the Germans put every available gun on any available mount to create self-propelled weapons. The result of this emphasis was the evolution of the SdKfz 251/22, mounting the 7.5 cm Pak 40 (L/46) anti-tank weapon. By the time this version of the SdKfz 251 was being produced, the Germans also produced the towed version of the Pak 40 with a trimmed shield so it could be mounted directly to the SdKfz 251. Unfortunately, the vehicle¹s chassis and structure were not designed for the strain of the gun¹s recoil, resulting in many mechanical breakdowns in the field.

The Pak 40 gun was mounted to the vehicle on two H-shaped beams, which were welded to the floor at roughly the halfway point of the vehicle¹s fighting compartment and then run diagonally forward to the armor above the driver, where they were again welded. A platform consisting of flat triangular plates holding a piece of H-beam laterally welded to these beams carried the Pak 40¹s original undercarriage. Other modifications to the vehicle included a half moon-shaped section trimmed from the upper armor plate over the driver¹s position. When mounted, the gun¹s left and right traverse was limited to 18 and 19 degrees respectively, and its elevation ranged from -3 to +22 degrees. The gunner sat on a folding wooden seat installed to the left of the gun. The forward troop seats were removed, and ammunition storage boxes were mounted underneath the gun mount to accommodate up to 22 rounds of HE or AP shells. A rear mounted MG42 provided additional firepower for the crew of 4 or 5.

 

[javaguru]

the striker was needed about 4 years ago
all those variations of it remind me of the kraut halftracks

After Desert storm everybody realized low intensity conflicts were going to be the most likely mission for the US Army but our equipment was designed with a European war in mind. This is the guy that finally got it done...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Shinseki

General Eric Ken Shinseki (born November 28, 1942) was the 34th Chief of Staff of the United States Army (1999 - 2003). He is the first Asian American in U.S. history to be a four-star general, and the first to lead one of the four U.S. military services. During his tenure, Shinseki initiated an innovative but controversial plan to make the Army more strategically deployable and mobile in urban terrain by creating Stryker Interim-Force Brigade Combat Teams. His long-term initiative was called Objective Force and the main long-term weapons program he pushed was the Future Combat Systems.

Shinseki is famous for his remarks to the U.S. Senate Armed Services committee before the war in Iraq in which he said "something in the order of several hundred thousand soldiers" would probably be required for post-war Iraq. Then Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz publicly disagreed with his estimate.[1]

When the insurgency took hold in post-war Iraq, Shinseki's comments and their public rejection by the civilian leadership were often cited by those who felt the Bush administration deployed too few troops to Iraq. On November 15, 2006, in testimony before Congress, CENTCOM Commander Gen. John Abizaid said that General Shinseki's estimate had proved correct.[2]

 

[Spartacus]

here's page with about a 100 pics of "hanomag" restorations

we should join a unit and have an EF meetup at an event

 

[Spartacus]

ever since I was about 8 years old I thought the german half tracks were the coolest looking vehicles
christmas 1971 I got a german 'army men' set
except for christmas '72 when I got a microscope and chemistry set it was the best christmas
christmas '73 I got avalon hill's panzer leader and luftwaffe

 

[javaguru]

here's a model of the 75mm anti-tank gun wielding half track

these were basically 'emergency' vehicles

Look at some of the early tanks they were "acquired" Czech tanks.

 

[javaguru]

ever since I was about 8 years old I thought the german half tracks were the coolest looking vehicles
christmas 1971 I got a german 'army men' set
except for christmas '72 when I got a microscope and chemistry set it was the best christmas
christmas '73 I got avalon hill's panzer leader and luftwaffe

Basic concepts of infantry operations haven't changed much since WWII.

http://www.lonesentry.com/articles/assault_artillery/index.html

 

[Spartacus]

Look at some of the early tanks they were "acquired" Czech tanks.

they also used a lot of french armor
they took the chasis and made self-propelled AT guns
the marder series for example
actually this is a czech 38T chasis

 

[javaguru]

they also used a lot of french armor
they took the chasis and made self-propelled AT guns
the marder series for example
actually this is a czech 38T chasis

The Germans and Soviets turned destroyed German tanks into assault guns and tank destroyers.

 

[javaguru]

they also used a lot of french armor
they took the chasis and made self-propelled AT guns
the marder series for example
actually this is a czech 38T chasis

The Werhmacht pwning the Char B1 bis just shows that tactics, training and morale are more important than equipment.

 

[Spartacus]

I dont get the military channel
I would be interested in buying the Legionaires episode
after WWII quite a few German Waffen SS went into the French Foreign Legion

they kicked ass in French Indo-China having had the experience dealing with Russian and Yugoslavian partisans
and guerrilla warfare
ruthless too

 

[javaguru]

I dont get the military channel
I would be interested in buying the Legionaires episode
after WWII quite a few German Waffen SS went into the French Foreign Legion

they kicked ass in French Indo-China having had the experience dealing with Russian and Yugoslavian partisans
and guerrilla warfare
ruthless too

They interviewed some ex-members in Escape to teh Legion and one of the older guys commented on German being the most common language in the 1950's and all of the NCO's had done their time in the SS.

 

[Spartacus]

The Werhmacht pwning the Char B1 bis just shows that tactics, training and morale are more important than equipment.

I'm playing a platoon level Fall of France campaign game currently
my armor is getting mauled by the superior French tanks
I've won two outstanding victories and take most of the objectives
but the scale is too high to really use the tactics necessary to get at the French armor w/o incurring heavy losses