Recent content by DJP

With the mk VII bullet developed post Boer War (Wikipedia gives 1910) it was a stop gap that lasted two world wars. I'm not sure if this is serendipity, or a warning for the British soldier to be wary of the phrase "it's only a temporary measure until the kit you want is ready!"

I think you have pretty much hit the nail on the head yourself! As defence reviews go it certainly wasn't the worst. The B.E.F would have benefited from better artillery and more machine guns. If the 1914 B.E.F was transferred to 1900 and had to fight the Boer War it would have acquitted itself...

:) This has one flaw, the Army has to recognise what it has acquired! From a previous search in Hesketh-Pritchard's book there is this revealing the military mind.

The notion of the Chosen Man as a scout sniper is interesting, paid as a corporeal but a position earned by superior field craft and marksmanship. The S.M.L.E is probably up to the job if the best of any batch are earmarked for the scouts. (In sniping in France H. Hesketh-Pritchard describes the...

A more detailed breakdown of the respective strengths of the attacking forces and the defenders would be helpful. The Wikipedia source you quote indicates the 1st Parachute Division was known as the 7th Air Division in 1940 with a strength of two regiments. The 22nd Air Landing Division had...

Thanks for the information and the photograph and realty check. Growing up with John Noakes (Children's T.V presenter, ) jumping with the Red Devils, and images of matchballs being parachuted into sports stadiums it's far too easy to attribute a precision that just didn't exist. Ignoring the...

I'm not sure of the Manchester United squad at the time, but being part of the squad with the "class of 92" could have been beneficial . The need to fight for a place with Butt, Beckham, Giggs, Scholes might have been an incredible boost. I half remember from reading Gary Neville's autobiography...

Yes, your right the total peace time requirement for horses will be roughly the same regardless of who breeds them. A military breeding program might improve the quality but at the expense of breeders producing horses for the wider economy. It might help with bean counting but once a war starts...

If as seems likely the horse is going to play a significant role for both transport and cavalry. The Boer war highlighted the shortcomings of the Army remount service. How feas / cost effective would An army stud have been? a series of Army run farms producing horses of the type and quality...

I don't want to hijack this thread but would welcome any thoughts on a treaty I'm in the process of drafting to conclude the Russio-Japanese war in my own timelines. As Russia stands ready to drive Japan from Korea having achieved total military superiority at sea and on land. You can find the...

As with many things, if you build A.P.C's something else doesn't get built. Did the Soviets have spare capacity or would they rather have more T-34 and let the pbi ride on the tank?

The devil as they say is in the detail, written as a paragraph it looks rather implausible, the drivers for a second U.S civil war are far from clear. A detailed timeline that takes the reader on a journey might work but be read for challenges and suggestions that it verges on A.S.B. Good luck...

It's an older timeline, and so you won't find it unless you look. If you haven't already it's well worth filtering by replies or views and exploring not guaranteed but if a thread has made it near the top its been well received and supported by it's author. As for Korea, in any alternative...

another commonplace item was the Finnish Knife or Puukko. In her account of her war Russian sniper Lyudmila Pavlichenko lists a Finnish knife as part of her equipment. How widespread the issue was isn't clear but it would seem the Russians encountered the Puukko and chose to copy it and issue it...

Imitation is said to be the sincerest form of flattery. The mg 42 is widely lauded but I haven't heard of it being reverse engineered (at least during the war) and used by the allies. The Germans reportedly valued the PpSh-41 highly enough to convert captured pieces to 9mm . The most obvious...