Saturday, November 24, 2018

Explosives WW1

Explosives - Bangalore Torpedo - WW1 Uncut - BBC > .

A Bangalore torpedo is an explosive charge placed within one or several connected tubes. It is used by combat engineers to clear obstacles that would otherwise require them to approach directly, possibly under fire. It is sometimes colloquially referred to as a "Bangalore mine", "banger" or simply "Bangalore". The primary use of the torpedo is clearing paths through wire obstacles and heavy undergrowth. It will clear a 3- to 4-metre wide path through wire obstacles.

The Bangalore torpedo was first devised by Captain R. L. McClintock, of the Royal Engineers while attached to the Madras Sappers and Miners unit of the Indian Army at Bangalore, India, in 1912. He invented it as a means of blowing up booby traps and barricades left over from the Second Boer War and the Russo-Japanese War. The Bangalore torpedo could be exploded over a mine without a sapper having to approach closer than about 3 m (10 ft).

By the time of WW1 the Bangalore torpedo was primarily used for clearing barbed wire before an attack. It could be used while under fire, from a protected position in a trench. The torpedo was standardized to consist of a number of externally identical 1.5 m (5 ft) lengths of threaded pipe, one of which contained the explosive charge. The pipes would be screwed together using connecting sleeves to make a longer pipe of the required length, somewhat like a chimney brush or drain clearing rod.

A smooth nose cone would be screwed on the end to prevent snagging on the ground. It would then be pushed forward from a protected position and detonated, to clear a 1.5 m (5 ft) wide hole through barbed wire. During the 1917 Battle of Cambrai, British Royal Engineers used them as diversions to distract the enemy from where the real battle was to be fought.

Thursday, November 22, 2018

Germany Bombed


Lübeck was the first German city to be attacked in substantial numbers by the Royal Air Force. The attack on the night of 28 March 1942 created a firestorm that caused severe damage to the historic centre, with bombs destroying three of the main churches and large parts of the built-up area. It led to the retaliatory "Baedeker" raids on historic British cities.

Although a port, and home to several shipyards, including the Lübecker Flender-Werke, Lübeck was also a cultural centre and only lightly defended. The bombing on 28 March 1942 was the first major destructive attack by RAF Bomber Command on a German city, and followed the Area Bombing Directive issued to the RAF on 14 February 1942 which authorised the targeting of civilian areas.

Wednesday, November 21, 2018

Harwich Blitz

40-11-11 Italian bombers attack Harwich > .

Heilbronn bombing


During World War II, the German city of Heilbronn was bombed numerous times by the British Royal Air Force and the United States Army Air Forces.

On July 28, 1935, the port was opened in a canal off the Neckar, and 1936 saw the Autobahn between Heilbronn and Stuttgart completed. Economy and infrastructure were booming in Württemberg, and Heilbronn was at the logistic centre of it all. The previously independent communities of Böckingen, Sontheim, and Neckargartach were annexed, and with 72,000 residents Heilbronn then was the second largest city in Württemberg. The port turned into an important transfer station on the Neckar and one of the ten largest interior ports in the country.

The largest air-raid occurred on December 4, 1944, but Heilbronn was targeted several times before and after until the end of World War II. Altogether, an estimated 7,000 inhabitants of the city lost their lives during bombings.

On 12 April 1945, the U.S. military took control of the city after a ten-day battle, ending bombings of the city. In 2015, Heilbronn had a population of 123,000.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombings_of_Heilbronn_in_World_War_II#December_Raid
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombings_of_Heilbronn_in_World_War_II#/media/File:Heilbronn_19450331.jpg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heilbronn#1900%E2%80%931945

(14 Dec 1944) Film of the RAF attack on Heilbronn which took place on the 4th December. The town was an important communications centre 40 miles east of Karlsruhe, which was attacked in the same operation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KhtKLyHxSSs

Hull Blitz

41-5 - Blitz crescendo - Liverpool, Belfast, Nottingham, Hull, London - WW2 > .
York Blitz 1942 Baedeker Raid - York > .

Hull
http://www.iwm.org.uk/history/the-blitz-around-britain#entry10

sī vīs pācem, parā bellum

igitur quī dēsīderat pācem praeparet bellum    therefore, he who desires peace, let him prepare for war sī vīs pācem, parā bellum if you wan...