New answers tagged military
1
The apparent boldness of the diplomatic solution was in fact the only chance at getting the first foothold in the Great game( with the Russian empire). At the time of Maharaja Ranjit Singh's zenith the British as well as the Sikhs did not go into conflict (the Sikhs had a well oiled army and a stable administration governing), so the question of placating ...
4
It seems to be Polish.
https://dobroni.pl/fotka-historyczna/14000
This drawing I found shows a uniform that has more accessories, and this may lead to confusion. I assume your photo pictures a young private with low or no grades.
Another picture of a Polish soldier clearly shows similar numbers on the collar:
https://ar.pinterest.com/pin/...
0
I have not been able to find any reliable source for this, but at least a source that mentions a primary source:
In the siege of Stockholm during the conflict between King Albert of Sweden and Queen Margaret of Denmark in 1393/94, several ships from Albert's side were stuck in the frozen Baltic Sea and built palisades covered with ice in order to (...
-2
As with any historical judgment, consider the context of the event.
By 1945, the war was obviously drawing to a conclusion. A lot of commanders saw little point in getting more soldiers killed for a foregone conclusion.
So if the commanders were cautious and slow late in the war, a desire not to lose soldiers for no appreciable alteration of the outcome ...
3
Since you already have a confirmed WW1 US uniform for this individual, there is little reason to suspect this uniform is not also US Army. Unfortunatly, this image seems horribly overexposed, so details which might help us identify unit or rank are not distinguisable (to my eye at least).
Trying first to confirm the hat style as occurring on late 19th or ...
4
Circumstances more then lack of talent
Allied troops and commanders were mostly "green". Vast majority of commanders in France of 1944 never had opportunity to lead large formations (armies, corps, divisions) in the field. Some had experience from Northern Africa and Italy (Omar Bradley, Bernard Montgomery ...) but even that was on different terrain, ...
13
The American and British army commanders made some mistakes that are clear in retrospect (and Mark Clark's error, with respect to winning the war, in going for Rome rather than cutting off and destroying the Germans retreating from Monte Cassino was obvious at the time). They tend to look less competent than the German generals, and there are historical ...
0
From a U.S. perspective alone, I would conclude that the observation is self-evidently true - just noting how many of its WW2 generals came from the class the stars fell on (Westpoint 1915). Of the 164 graduates that year 59 attained the rank of Brigadier General or higher. From the exigencies of rapid buildup starting in 1940 falling hard on the previous 20 ...
5
Recent authors of books about WWII that cover mostly allied point of view, like Anthony Beevor or Rick Atkinson, are quite critic of Allied commanders (like Patton, Montgomery or Clark), specially because they were interested on looking good, get fame or solve personal issues. For example:
Mark Clark forced his army to reach Rome before D-Day, because he ...
1
One point which has not been mentioned yet... it has been alleged that Soviet industry provided export versions of hardware (tanks, etc) referred to as 'monkey models' which were inferior to the variants issued to Soviet troops proper.
The first use of the term is credited to Vladimir Bogdanovich Rezun (pen name 'Viktor Suvorov'), a Soviet intelligence ...
7
Soviets were generally tactically inept in WW2, but wanted rapid advance
First, let's quickly look at Red Army situation before WW2 and in early months of the conflict in the East. Red Army was expanding in late 1930's and early 1940's as were practically all European (and even world) armies, preparing for conflict that seemed inevitable. Rapid expansion ...
2
No, no bayonets. They wouldn't have had a spot to put them, as they had a special uniform type for off-duty, the 'walking-out' uniform. The primary difference with this uniform was the fact that it had a plain white belt -no weapon sheaths. From the Victorian Uniform Guide for one particular unit(all emphasis mine):
Walking Out Belt - A P71 buff leather ...
52
There are a few recorded instances of Soviet penal troops being intentionally sent over mines, at least according to survivors:
It is hard to judge
whether there was a deliberate sacrifice of penal soldiers, but Pyl’tsyn describes how
Batov, commander of the army to which his penal battalion was attached,
deliberately sent its soldiers—all of them ...
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