Stupid Luck and Happenstance, Thread III

ferdi254

Banned
Army equipment can be stubborn as the MG3 shows. 60 plus years in service as of today.

And for mediavel thinking... more like Christian thinking. In that particular case meaning the same.
 
Army equipment can be stubborn as the MG3 shows. 60 plus years in service as of today.

And for mediavel thinking... more like Christian thinking. In that particular case meaning the same.
Many non-Christian religions and many non-european/usa cultures have the same thinking, unfortunately. It stems more from conservatism than religion or culture; bigots are usually conservative in nature and tend to fear what they do not or cannot understand. Fear leads to hatred and, as a result, they tend to lash out at those who are different. Things then get worse when unscrupulous power hungry people decide to harness those fears for their own use resulting in pogroms, purges, discriminatory laws and other abuse of those who differ.

Edit: as for the MG3, if they still do the job as well as their 'successors' and are cheaper, why replace them?
 
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Part 111, Chapter 1833
Chapter One Thousand Eight Hundred Thirty-Three



9th February 1968

Mitte, Germany

Perhaps it was inevitable because there were several exhibits that featured members of his family, but Manny found himself appointed to be one of Generaloberst Helmut Lent’s many aides at the Imperial War Museum on Fischer Island after six months of classroom instruction. That meant that he was wearing his dress uniform while leading tour groups through the museum every afternoon. All the aides were encouraged to continue their formal education while they were posted here, and Manny had found that he was no exception.

When Manny had first met Lent, the museum’s present Commandant, the Luftwaffe General had looked at the US Army Expert Marksman’s badge that he had earned during the cooperative mission the prior year and had said that Manny was likely to already have a few interesting stories to tell. Then he had asked how Manny’s mother was doing, if she was still living with a dozen cats and how her diet plan really must have been something. That had confused him and later when he asked his mother about it, she had just laughed. It seemed that during the Soviet War when she was directing night intercept missions, then Oberlieutenant, later Hauptmann, Lent had been one of the pilots she was constantly in contact with. A joke between them was that the pilots just loved her voice and had no idea what she really looked like, she had told them that she was massively overweight and had a dozen cats. Of course, every single one of the pilots knew full well what Helene von Richthofen actually looked like but had gone along with it because it was part of the fun. According to Lent, his entire Air Wing had gone into deep mourning when word reached them that Manny’s mother had gotten engaged to his father.

It was strange to learn about how his parents had had entire lives before he had been born, but they must have. All the stories that he had heard about his father in the Soviet War and his mother talking about living and working in the castle, the vast Flak tower that had been imploded after the war. His parents had only known each other tangentially at that point, Manny’s mother being a close friend of Aunt Kat’s.

“Of course, this is one of our more impressive displays” Manny said as the group walked through the museum. They were a group of school children who were looking in wide-eyed wonder at everything as they went from hall to hall being led by Manny with their teacher keeping an eye on them from behind. The display was a Tiger II that guarded the entrance of the Hall of the Panzer Corps. The long barreled 8.8-centimeter gun with the multi-chambered muzzle brake high over the heads of those who entered. Only the variants of the Lynx and Leopard Panzers were comparable. However, those were at the far end of the hall and their presentation lacked the same gravitas as the King Tiger. Manny knew full well that the Tiger series of Panzers were eventually cancelled because they lacked the sort of mobility that was critical for use in warfare, it was impressive though. The only Panzer in the Imperial War Museum that exceeded it was Lucifer, the Raupe Panzer of First World War vintage in the Entrance Hall that had a staggering weight of history about it.



Krakow, Poland

They were doubtlessly screwed unless a miracle happened.

Poor weather had prevented what Olli knew was inevitable retaliation for stopping the columns that had been approaching Krakow. Unfortunately, that had given time for a wider revolt to kick off and he found himself in the vanguard. The problem was that few of his men had modern weapons, mostly old bolt-action Mauser G98 rifles that were used for hunting. They had a few machine guns and light mortars from the Krakow City Armory that had been seized on the first day, but almost everything heaver had been moved north months earlier. That was because the Polish authorities in the city had not been stupid, they had seen Bachmann swanning about and knew full well how untenable their position was. Olli added it to the ever-growing list of problems that Bachmann was still causing him. At this point, the Poles wouldn’t need to kill Bachmann, Olli would be perfectly happy to do it for them.

On the other side of the ledger, Olli had found that he had excellent operational intelligence. The Poles couldn’t make a move without him knowing about it. If most of those under his command knew the source of that information, they might have found it questionable but right now Olli was taking all the help he could get. If they were willing to throw their lot with him, then he wasn’t about to turn them away and it seemed that they had people everywhere.

“Sir, you got to see this” One of the men who came into the warehouse that he had been using as a headquarters said. Following the man out, Olli wondered what new Hell awaited him as they walked down the street to the railyard that was nearest to the city center. Some of his men were standing around a boxcar with the doors opened and were looking at a crate. Olli saw that whatever had been stenciled on the top of the crate had been burned off and that the men were pulling submachine guns from the crate. He recognized them as the SA 25 machine pistols which the Bohemian Army had been sending to the foundry having come up with something better.

“Mind telling me what is going on here?” Olli asked.

“This train arrived Sir” One of the men said, “There was this fellow who told us it was a gift to you from an old friend, then he took off.”

Olli looked at the box car which was full of similar crates.

“This is helpful” Olli said, “Just a drop in the bucket though.”

“An entire train?” The man asked.

“You are saying that this entire train is more of the same?” Olli asked in reply.

“This just happens to be the first car we opened Sir” One of the other men said.

Olli looked down the line of rail cars. He had needed a miracle and it looked like he had just gotten one.
 
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This is where things get very, very messy and there will be consequences.

If it's only the one trainload, then it can be explained away - corrupt quartermasters in the Bohemian Army, dear me, we need to stamp this kind of thing out, a few scapegoats are tried for corruption (in return for quiet payments to their families), things simmer down. More than that...
 
If it's only the one trainload, then it can be explained away - corrupt quartermasters in the Bohemian Army, dear me, we need to stamp this kind of thing out, a few scapegoats are tried for corruption (in return for quiet payments to their families), things simmer down. More than that...
Or perhaps a simple mistake, surly the polish government should be able to send the train back to them, after all they are in control of the situation, right?
 
Young Manfred is definitely being groomed for higher purposes in his stint at the museum.
He is basically the living embodiment of the stereotype of what the world sees as the "typical" German soldier and no doubt that the museum is going to get an increase in the number of young women who wants a guided tour by a certain young officer.
It is always amazing to hear from other people stories about your parents lives before you were born and it puts a whole new perspective that your parents actually existed with lives of their own.

The Empire is going to have to intervene sooner or later as the situation in Poland spirals out of control.
The anti-Semitic riot that happened with the full support of the Polish government is going to spread to other cities and isolated farms owned by non-Polish settlers could have been confiscated and/or burned to the ground with the government's approval.
The "misshipped" weapons that Ollie got is going to keep the independence movement in the game longer with the main goal of trying to survive until help arrives from the Empire if it comes at all...
 
Well, I was close. No warehouse fire or new weapons, but there is an entire train.

The Bohemians will blame this on:

a) a paperwork error that somehow resulted in an entire train load of surplus and scrapped weapons ending up in Poland. Apparently the foundry that was expecting the surplussed weapons for disposal was VERY surprised to open the train that arrived there to discover several tonnes of wood chips, fertilizer and, for some reason, a large consignment of yellow rubber ducks. Heads will roll over at the state railway... once a full investigation has been carried out to determine JUST what went wrong.

b) a corrupt member of the Bohemian Army quartermaster corps. Rest assured that an investigation is under way in order to determine how far the rot extends, although it appears that there may also be evidence of 3rd party black market involvement, possibly even linked to that gun running syndicate that has been causing so much trouble around the world over the years...

c) a little of both. Stolen surplus arms shipment, forged papers, re-directed train, yada-yada-yada. Turns out the only persons that we could prove had anything to do with it are the drivers. Problem is we can also conclusively prove that they thought the paperwork was genuine and that they were transporting the aforementioned wood chips, fertilizer and yellow rubber ducks. In other words, innocent dupes in the whole mess. Investigations are still ongoing...

d) the Polish government. Because 1) the Polish government are attempting to frame poor little Bohemia, or 2) the Polish government are supplying their own little group of provocateurs in order to carry out their 'ethnic cleansing' policies while claiming self-defence, or 3) Fuck the Polish government, they're fucking murdering people in the streets, what are we supposed to do? Let them die?
 
Imagine coming around the corner and this is what you see. Really impressive. Who cares that it couldn't go more than a few clicks before breaking down.
800px-Tiger_II_mg_7800.jpg
 
Imagine coming around the corner and this is what you see. Really impressive. Who cares that it couldn't go more than a few clicks before breaking down.
View attachment 578692

You see that on or near a battlefield, you assume the damn thing works and act accordingly. Bonus points for using 15" naval guns as AT weapons.

What Salamander says.

Though it does remind me...crossposted from another thread:

He sat on the rock and stared at the horizon. Somewhere artillery was thundering away. Tommies, by the sound of it, with those damned belt-fed 25-lbers again. Then he looked up again. No Jabos. Not yet, anyway.

Hearing the sound of swearing diminish a little he walked over to the side of the Landkreuzer and then peered into the hatch. “Well?”

“Sorry sir, the engine should be repaired in a moment or two.” The sergeant wiped his hands on a bit of rag and then looked at him worriedly. “They haven’t changed their minds about taking the flak guns off the top of this thing have they?”

“No.”

“Damn it.” He sighed. “Right. We’re ready sir.”

He nodded wearily and then walked around to the front of the wretched thing. “Start him up Kranz.”

“Yes sir.” A giant red button was pushed and after a moment the huge engine roared into life. “It’s working sir!”

“Get him into gear!”

“Um… yes sir.” There was a groaning noise and then the Landkreuzer crept forward three inches, before there was an almighty bang underneath.

“Damn it, what now?” He walked back to the hatch and then peered in. The sergeant could be seen opening an inspection hatch on the floor. He looked in, swore violently and then closed it again. “It’s buggered sir. Clutch exploded again.”

“What again?

“Yes sir.”

“How long to repair it?”

“Two days at the factory.”

“Right.” He sighed and then walked to the other end of the Landkreuzer, where a bored looking man was standing with a clipboard. “We’re returning this thing to the factory.”

The man sighed. “You signed for it earlier, you can’t send it back again.”

“I signed for a functioning vehicle. We’ve travelled six feet in six days, during which time we’ve blown two clutches, a drive shaft and three sets of tracks. All to go six feet. And it’s not left the bloody factory.”

“The front of the vehicle is outside the doors, so you’re out of the factory!”

“No it’s not, it’s still in!”

“Strictly speaking it's out, as-”

“Oh shut up and repair it again.” He paused and sniffed. Smoke was pouring out of one of the hatches and he saw the sergeant hurriedly get out of the Landcreuzer. “What’s wrong now?”

“It’s on fire again sir.”

“Bugger – well, put it out again. That’s the third time today.”

“Yes sir.”

He looked back at the man with the clipboard. “Well?”

“Well what?”

“It keeps breaking down and catching fire!”

“Yes, but it’s a war-winning weapon. Have the Amis got anything like it? Have the Reds?”

“No, but it’s useless if it doesn’t bloody work!”

“We’ll patch it up, you’ll be in Paris in a week!”

“It took us a week to get the nose of the damn thing out the door!”

He rubbed at the bridge of his nose for a long moment. At which point there was a ‘schonk’ noise and something groaned inside the giant vehicle. “What now?”

“Secondary backup main gun just fell off again sir.”

“Well, stick it back on again.”

“Can’t, we’ve run out of string sir.”

He looked up at the heavens. And then he sighed and finally gave up. He turned and trudged over to the knot of fascinated men in khaki who had been there all morning. “Alright. I give up. We surrender.”

“Are you sure? We could give you a little more time,” said the British Major.

“No, you’ve been more than fair. It was a bloody silly idea from the start anyway. Takes hours to load the main gun for a start. And as it’s currently pointing towards Hamburg there’s no point in firing it even if it was loaded. You have to turn the entire bloody thing to aim it.” He paused. “What are you going to do with it?”

“I think that someone said that there’s a plan to drop it on Tokyo and end the war.”

He thought about it. “Yes, that should probably do the job.”
 
Imagine coming around the corner and this is what you see. Really impressive. Who cares that it couldn't go more than a few clicks before breaking down.
View attachment 578692
I see my usual rant as to why the armor was stepped. So much more protection would be had by sloping directly from the top of the hull, to the far edge of the overhang above the tracks. German armor was rife with forgetting what could simply be improved by angling between corners.
 
I see my usual rant as to why the armor was stepped. So much more protection would be had by sloping directly from the top of the hull, to the far edge of the overhang above the tracks. German armor was rife with forgetting what could simply be improved by angling between corners.

Um, what? The armor is not stepped. There is a bolted on track skirt attached to the sponson armor. This page shows both the armor scheme and pictures with parts of the track skirt removed.
 
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