I friend of mine sent me this link and I liked it so much I though I should share it with all of you. I really like information to be presented in a visual format so this was really neat to me. It would be pretty difficult for those of us of the "intarwebnetz generation" to find the time or place to get this type of info from the sources, so I am always very pleased when someone does the work for me.
http://www.mapsofwar.com/index.html
For me the most interesting one was the map of the Battle of Iwo Jima. It also lists the names of Medal of Honor recipients on Iwo Jima, with links to their citations. ( I also watched Letters from Iwo Jima this weekend. It is one of the greatest war movies ever made. You should check it out.)
The map of Coalition casualties in Iraq is quite powerful as well.
Showing posts with label Military History. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Military History. Show all posts
Monday, January 17, 2011
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
The Vietnam War
I found some statistics on the Vietnam War a few days ago and thought I would share them with all of you. The information comes from the Veterans Administration.
Source: U.S. Government (VA Web Site Stats)
Vietnam Vets: 9.7% of their generation
9,087,000 Military personnel served on active duty during the Vietnam Era. Aug. 5, 1964 - May 7, 1975.
8,744,000 GIs Were on active duty during the war. Aug. 5, 1964 - March 28, 1973
3,403,100 (Including 514,300 Offshore) Personnel served in the Southeast Asia Theater (Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Flight Crews based in Thailand, and sailors in adjacent South China Sea Waters.)
2,594,000 Personnel served within the borders of South Vietnam. Jan. 1, 1965 - Mar. 28, 1973
Another 50,000 men served in Vietnam between 1960 and 1964.
Of the 2.6 million, between 1 - 1.6 million (40-60%) either fought in combat, provided close support or were at least fairly regularly exposed to enemy attack.
7,484 Women (6,250 or 83.5% were nurses) served in Vietnam.
Peak troop strength in Vietnam: 543,482 (April 30, 1969)
Hostile deaths: 47,378
Non-hostile deaths: 10,800
Total: 58,202 (Includes men formerly classified as MIA and Mayaguez Casualties.) Men who have subsequently died of wounds account for the changing total.
8 Nurses died - 1 was KIA
Married men killed: 17,539
61% of the men killed were 21 or younger..
Highest state death rate: West Virginia - 84.1 (National Average 58.9 for every 100,000 males in 1970.
Wounded: 303,704 --- 153,329 Hospitalized + 150,375 Injured requiring no hospital care
Severely disabled: 75,000-----23,214 100% Disabled; 5,283 Lost limb; 1,081 Sustained multiple amputations.
Amputation or crippling wounds to the lower extremities were 300% higher than in WW II and 70% higher than Korea. Multiple amputations occurred at the rate of 18.4% compared to 5.7% in WW II.
Missing in action: 2,338.
POWs: 766 (114 Died in captivity.)
25% (648,500) Of total forces in country were draftees.
Draftees accounted for 30.4% (17,725) of combat deaths in Vietnam.
Reservist killed: 5,977
National Guard: 6,140 Served; 101 Died
Total draftees (1965-73): 1,728,344.
Actually served in Vietnam 38%.
Marine Corps Draft: 42,633
Last man drafted June 30, 1973.
76% Of the men sent to Vietnam were from lower middle/working class backgrounds
Three fourths had family incomes above the poverty level; 50% were from middle income backgrounds..
Some 23% Of Vietnam Vets had fathers with professional, managerial, or technical occupations.
79% Of the men who served Vietnam had a high school education or better when they entered the military service. (63% Of Korean War Vets and only 45% of WW II Vets had completed high school upon separation).
Deaths by region per 100,000 of population: South-31;
West-29.9; Midwest-28.4; Northeast-23.5.
88.4% Of the men who actually served in Vietnam were Caucasian; 10.6% (275,000) were Black; 1% belonged to other races.
86.3% Of the men who died in Vietnam were Caucasian (Includes Hispanics); 12.5% (7,241) Were Black; 1.2% Belonged to other races.
170,000 Hispanics served in Vietnam; 3,070 (5.2% Of total) died there.
70% Of enlisted men killed were of Northwest European Descent.
86.8% Of the men who were killed as a result of hostile action were Caucasian; 12.1% (5,711) were Black; 1.1% belonged to other races.
14.6% (1,530) Of Non-Combat deaths were among Blacks.
34% Of Blacks who enlisted volunteered for the combat arms.
Overall , Blacks suffered 12.5% of the deaths in Vietnam at a time when the percentage of Blacks of military age was 13.5% of the total population.
Religion of dead; Protestant -- 64.4%; Catholic -- 28.9%; Other/None 6.7%
82% Of Veterans who saw heavy combat strongly believe the war was lost because of lack of political will.
Nearly 75% Of the public agrees it was a failure of political will not of arms.
97% Of Vietnam Era Veterans were honorably discharged.
91% Of actual Vietnam War Veterans and 90% of those who saw heavy combat are proud to have served their country.
66% Of Vietnam Vets say they would serve again if called upon.
87% Of the public now holds Vietnam Veterans in high esteem.
All told, some fairly surprising information. I believe that it dispels a great deal of what we have been told about the Vietnam War. One of the most interesting myths that it shatters is the Civil Rights-era idea that the government sent black soldiers to the front line specifically to get black men killed and save the lives of whites. As you can see, the numbers simply do not bear out this theory. In fact, it quite clearly shows that the opposite was true. The numbers prove that African Americans served in Vietnam, served in combat and were killed in action at much lower rates than Caucasians and served in smaller numbers than their proportion of the population. This is not meant to cast any disparagement on anyone who did serve, but merely to disprove a vicious and divisive lie that has pretty much been accepted as the truth for the last 40 years. and Anyways, food for thought.
For those of you who wish to know more, visit the site that I got the info from:
http://www.veteranshour.com/vietnam_war_statistics.htm
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Less Known Weapons of the Civil War
The "Late Unpleasantness", as it is known around here, was fought at the intersection of modern and incredibly effective weapons technology and the inflexible and Napoleonic tactics. This resulted in the wholesale slaughter of thousands of soldiers in both sides trying to fight an old war with new weapons or fight a new war with old weapons. I recently visited the Museum of History in Augusta, Georgia and got to see some of the less well known weapons of the War of Northern Aggression.
Sorry about the quality of the pictures, the light was low and flash not allowed, so we will have to make do with what we have.
First off we have the Rains Grenade, designed by Confederate Colonel George Washington Rains. It is certainly not the first hand grenade, and most are familiar with the old style, iron orb black powder grenade with a fuse, although we mainly see it in cartoons.
(Damn moose and squirrel!)
There were two problems with the orb grenades. Firstly, an exposed burning fuse was not really appropriate for the task. It was unlikely to go out, but could burn too slow, allowing the enemy to get away, or worse, throw it back, or it could burn too fast, and that probably wouldn't bother you more than once. Secondly, the orb grenades were pretty close to the size and heft of a shot put, and consequently, were difficult to throw very far. This meant you had to get well within the range of other weapons to use it in an attack and you were pretty close to the blast radius of the grenade itself. Something better was needed.
The Rains Grenade was equipped with a pressure fuse, which caused the grenade to explode on contact when primed and thrown. Also, the stick that the explosive was attached to allowed a soldier to really get a good throw, increasing the chance of hitting the enemy and surviving to tell the tale. This idea was also used in the famous "potato masher" grenades of Germany in WWI and WWII. While the smaller grenade did not have as large a blast radius, their light weight allowed more to be carried and them to be thrown a longer distance.
These weapons were more useful in a defense situation, as the user would likely be behind cover and/or higher up than the attacker, giving the defender a big advantage.
There were large shortages of appropriate weapons on both sides in the first months of the war. Confederate authorities ordered a large number of polearms, pikes and halberds and such produced as a stop gap measure. They were as cheap and easy to produce as they were next to useless. A generation or two before, many soldiers could probably only fire 2 rounds a minute and would have difficulty hitting a man sized target from 100 yards away. But the technology of war is never idle, and by the beginning of the war, range and rate of fire were much improved, making pikemen and bayonet charges into suicidal jobs.
Here we have on the left a Clover Leaf pike, (which to me is a Partisan or Ranseur, but hey) and on the right, a rather neat, if pointless, retractable pike. Why a pike would need to retract, I'm not really sure. But the mechanism was pretty interesting. Other than guarding prisoners, there would be no use whatsoever for these weapons and after the Summer of 1861, they were quickly discarded. Today they are pretty rare.
The middle gun is a Burnside Carbine, designed in 1856 by Union General Ambrose Burnside. I've always liked ol' Ambrose, even though he is a Yankee, because I used to wear big sideburns and it is said we get the term from him. Google him if you want, he had some pretty impressive facial hair.
Anyway, the Burnside Carbine was a breech loading .54 caliber rifle. Breech loading is infinitely easier and faster than muzzle loading a weapon. The main innovation of the Burnside is that the cartridge and breech block eliminated the problem of hot gasses escaping the chamber during firing. This is an uncomfortable and distracting problem at best, and anyone who has gotten gas in the eye knows it is no fun.
Less well known than the Spencer (the rifle on the bottom) and Sharps Carbines, about 55,000 of the Burnside Carbine were produced, and many were captured and used by Confederate Cavalry units. The Burnside Carbine suffered from complaints that the specially designed and strange, cone-shaped brass cartridge would get stuck in the chamber after firing. The Burnside propelled the bullet at about 950 feet per second and had a range of at least 200 yards. Like its better known cousins, its short length and light weight made it a popular weapon for the cavalry of the day.
Sorry about the quality of the pictures, the light was low and flash not allowed, so we will have to make do with what we have.
First off we have the Rains Grenade, designed by Confederate Colonel George Washington Rains. It is certainly not the first hand grenade, and most are familiar with the old style, iron orb black powder grenade with a fuse, although we mainly see it in cartoons.(Damn moose and squirrel!)
There were two problems with the orb grenades. Firstly, an exposed burning fuse was not really appropriate for the task. It was unlikely to go out, but could burn too slow, allowing the enemy to get away, or worse, throw it back, or it could burn too fast, and that probably wouldn't bother you more than once. Secondly, the orb grenades were pretty close to the size and heft of a shot put, and consequently, were difficult to throw very far. This meant you had to get well within the range of other weapons to use it in an attack and you were pretty close to the blast radius of the grenade itself. Something better was needed.
The Rains Grenade was equipped with a pressure fuse, which caused the grenade to explode on contact when primed and thrown. Also, the stick that the explosive was attached to allowed a soldier to really get a good throw, increasing the chance of hitting the enemy and surviving to tell the tale. This idea was also used in the famous "potato masher" grenades of Germany in WWI and WWII. While the smaller grenade did not have as large a blast radius, their light weight allowed more to be carried and them to be thrown a longer distance.
These weapons were more useful in a defense situation, as the user would likely be behind cover and/or higher up than the attacker, giving the defender a big advantage.
There were large shortages of appropriate weapons on both sides in the first months of the war. Confederate authorities ordered a large number of polearms, pikes and halberds and such produced as a stop gap measure. They were as cheap and easy to produce as they were next to useless. A generation or two before, many soldiers could probably only fire 2 rounds a minute and would have difficulty hitting a man sized target from 100 yards away. But the technology of war is never idle, and by the beginning of the war, range and rate of fire were much improved, making pikemen and bayonet charges into suicidal jobs.Here we have on the left a Clover Leaf pike, (which to me is a Partisan or Ranseur, but hey) and on the right, a rather neat, if pointless, retractable pike. Why a pike would need to retract, I'm not really sure. But the mechanism was pretty interesting. Other than guarding prisoners, there would be no use whatsoever for these weapons and after the Summer of 1861, they were quickly discarded. Today they are pretty rare.
The middle gun is a Burnside Carbine, designed in 1856 by Union General Ambrose Burnside. I've always liked ol' Ambrose, even though he is a Yankee, because I used to wear big sideburns and it is said we get the term from him. Google him if you want, he had some pretty impressive facial hair.Anyway, the Burnside Carbine was a breech loading .54 caliber rifle. Breech loading is infinitely easier and faster than muzzle loading a weapon. The main innovation of the Burnside is that the cartridge and breech block eliminated the problem of hot gasses escaping the chamber during firing. This is an uncomfortable and distracting problem at best, and anyone who has gotten gas in the eye knows it is no fun.
Less well known than the Spencer (the rifle on the bottom) and Sharps Carbines, about 55,000 of the Burnside Carbine were produced, and many were captured and used by Confederate Cavalry units. The Burnside Carbine suffered from complaints that the specially designed and strange, cone-shaped brass cartridge would get stuck in the chamber after firing. The Burnside propelled the bullet at about 950 feet per second and had a range of at least 200 yards. Like its better known cousins, its short length and light weight made it a popular weapon for the cavalry of the day.
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Lost Army of Persia
In 525 B.C., a massive and well equipped Persian army 50,000 strong set off across a remote Egyptian desert. They had supplies ,weapons and soldiers. They were led by King Cambyses II, son of the powerful Cyrus the Great.
They were never seen again.
Photo by Alfredo and Angelo Castiglioni
Until now that is.
Italian archaeologists Alfredo and Angelo Castiglioni have discovered their fate after more than 2000 years. The most famed and wide reaching of ancient historians, Herodotus, mentions the army in his Histories. He states that they were beset by a terrible sandstorm and utterly lost. For years some historians have postulated that the incident never took place, as no evidence could be found.
Many historians and archaeologists have searched for the lost army and have never found any trace of them because, like Belloq and the Nazis, they were digging in the wrong place. It has long been assumed that the army took the established caravan route from Thebes to the desert Oasis of Siwa, on a mission to destroy the Temple of Amun there and kill the priests who rejected his claim of kingship over Egypt. The cause of death for these soldiers was the Egyptian khamsin -- a hot, strong, unpredictable southeasterly wind that blows from the Sahara desert over Egypt. It was capable of rendering any navigation impossible and distorting landmarks. When it gets to its worse point it could scour skin and suck the moisture from the very air.
The Castiglioni brothers have uncovered bronze Achaemenid Persian weaponry, jewelry, and a horse bit that matches relief carvings from the time in the Persian capital of Persepolis. These and other finds go a long way in positively identifying the remains as those of the army of Cambyses II. Pottery sherds recovered from the site have been dated to 2,500 years ago, which is the period of Cambyses. The remains and artifacts were found near a large stone outcropping that would have been a perfect place to try to find shelter from a sandstorm. Archaeology is a slow moving science and we may have to wait even longer for the full and final confirmation that this is, in fact the lost army.
They were never seen again.
Photo by Alfredo and Angelo CastiglioniItalian archaeologists Alfredo and Angelo Castiglioni have discovered their fate after more than 2000 years. The most famed and wide reaching of ancient historians, Herodotus, mentions the army in his Histories. He states that they were beset by a terrible sandstorm and utterly lost. For years some historians have postulated that the incident never took place, as no evidence could be found.
Many historians and archaeologists have searched for the lost army and have never found any trace of them because, like Belloq and the Nazis, they were digging in the wrong place. It has long been assumed that the army took the established caravan route from Thebes to the desert Oasis of Siwa, on a mission to destroy the Temple of Amun there and kill the priests who rejected his claim of kingship over Egypt. The cause of death for these soldiers was the Egyptian khamsin -- a hot, strong, unpredictable southeasterly wind that blows from the Sahara desert over Egypt. It was capable of rendering any navigation impossible and distorting landmarks. When it gets to its worse point it could scour skin and suck the moisture from the very air.
The Castiglioni brothers have uncovered bronze Achaemenid Persian weaponry, jewelry, and a horse bit that matches relief carvings from the time in the Persian capital of Persepolis. These and other finds go a long way in positively identifying the remains as those of the army of Cambyses II. Pottery sherds recovered from the site have been dated to 2,500 years ago, which is the period of Cambyses. The remains and artifacts were found near a large stone outcropping that would have been a perfect place to try to find shelter from a sandstorm. Archaeology is a slow moving science and we may have to wait even longer for the full and final confirmation that this is, in fact the lost army.
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