Weird guns- Device "D"

I seem to have a special liking for the Cold War- era equipment of the Soviet Spetsnaz. The items are all rugged, simple, and effective. They usually don't win any points for aesthetics, but hey, they don't make them for sitting around and looking pretty.


On to Device "D". The basic plan in the event of a conventional WWIII was that many highly trained and fairly independent Spetsnaz teams would infiltrate NATO lines and do as much damage as possible, preferably to high value targets. Fuel and ammunition dumps, Command and Control sites, Radar installations and aircraft on the ground were high on the list. Above all, missile sites, whether they be anti-air, tactical, or medium range nuclear weapons would be the target of the Spetsnaz teams. As all of those targets are lightly armored, Soviet planners decided that a 30mm grenade would be sufficient to destroy or severely damage them. A combined high explosive and incendiary warhead would be able to destroy or disable a large variety of targets.

Device "D" without grenade cup launcher, bipod, and butt stock

To maximize the tactical surprise of the attack and increase the chances of success (and escape), it was decided the new grenade launcher would be sound and flash suppressed. To make the weapon more versatile, It was also given an armor piercing, internally silenced 9mm round to be used against enemy personnel. The firearm itself is a fairly crude, single shot, bolt action pistol. To achieve the maximum range and accuracy, the user needs to use the bipod and and the holster can be attached to use as a butt stock in the manner of the Mauser C96. When in grenade launch mode, a cup is attached to the muzzle and the grenade is loaded from the front. There is a manual extractor for unloading any unfired grenades and the grenade sight is attached to the left side of the weapon. Range is stated to be about 300m. The 9mm AP round is said to be able to penetrate 5mm of mild steel at 100 meters but the bullet is very heavy and slow at about about 430 grains and 830 FPS. It achieves its penetrative power by virtue of its dense steel construction. The (9x93mm) noiseless cartridge is similar to the 7.62x63mm noiseless cartridge we have already discussed. It has a thick steel case with a small charge of powder and a piston which pushes the projectile out of the case and then captures the excess gases, which is the cause of most the gunshot report and muzzle flash. The PMAM "Mundshtuck" cartridge has a push rod which transfers the energy of the piston to the muzzle-loaded grenade, seen below.

PMAM 30mm HE/Incindiary grenade and noiseless cartridge

PFAM 9x93mm AP cartridge

This Day in History- October 22

Cuban Missile Crisis

On October 22, 1962, President Kennedy announced that Soviet Nuclear Missiles had been discovered in Cuba. These were medium range missile capable of hitting most of the cities on the Eastern seaboard, including Washington. Kennedy stated that he was ordering a naval "quarantine" of Cuba to prevent Soviet ships from transporting any more offensive weapons to the island and explained that the United States would not tolerate the existence of the missile sites currently in place. Kennedy made it clear that America would not stop short of military action to end what he called a "clandestine, reckless, and provocative threat to world peace."

The Cuban Missile Crisis actually began on October 15, 1962--the day that U.S. intelligence personnel analyzing U-2 spy plane data discovered that the Soviets were building medium-range missile sites in Cuba. The next day, President Kennedy secretly convened an emergency meeting of his senior military, political, and diplomatic advisers to discuss the ominous development. The group became known as ExCom, short for Executive Committee. After rejecting a surgical air strike against the missile sites, ExCom decided on a naval quarantine and a demand that the bases be dismantled and missiles removed. At the direction of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, U.S. military forces went to DEFCON 2, the highest military alert ever reached in the postwar era, as military commanders prepared for full-scale war with the Soviet Union.

The next day, however, Khrushchev upped the ante by publicly calling for the dismantling of U.S. missile bases in Turkey under pressure from Soviet military commanders. Later that day, a U-2 spy plane was shot down over Cuba, and its pilot, Major Rudolf Anderson, was killed. Waffling, Kennedy forbid a military retaliation unless any more surveillance planes were fired upon over Cuba. Kennedy's advisers convinces him to agree to dismantle the U.S. missile sites in Turkey but at a later date, in order to prevent the protest of Turkey, a key NATO member.

On October 28, Khrushchev announced that he would dismantle and remove all offensive Soviet weapons in Cuba. With the airing of the public message on Radio Moscow, the USSR confirmed its willingness to proceed with the solution secretly proposed by the Americans the day before. The world stepped back from the brink of nuclear war and what became known as the Cuban Missile Crisis was over. By the end of 1962 all the Nuclear missiles had been removed. Soon after, the United States quietly removed its missiles from Turkey.

The removal of obsolete Jupiter missiles from Turkey had no detrimental effect on U.S. nuclear strategy, but the Cuban Missile Crisis convinced a humiliated USSR to commence a massive nuclear buildup. In the 1970s, the Soviet Union reached nuclear parity with the United States and built intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of striking any city in the United States. However, later review of Soviet technology leads many to believe that the design and manufacturing flaws in Soviet ICBM would result in many being unable to launch, and most unable to hit within 50 miles of their targets.

Military Technology- Atomic Cannon

Here we go. The M65 "Atomic Annie"



The Department of Defense decided that they wanted an atomic capable artillery piece in 1949 and chose a engineer named Robert Schwartz to design it. The Atomic Annie was created by Picatinny Arsenal and was designed by essentially scaling up the largest cannon in the arsenal, the 240mm, and using the German K5 Railroad gun as a basis for its carriage.
First fielded in 1953, eventually 20 of these monsters were manufactured and they were deployed to bases in Germany and Korea to threaten the commie hordes. The gun sites were reportedly moved often to avoid being targeted by enemy forces.


The M65 was rendered obsolete fairly quickly as the DoD soon created nuclear artillery shells that were compatible with standard 155mm and 203mm cannon, and later the invention of heavier rockets, and eventually the ICBM. But since it was so sweet and military planning in that era was very conservative and fully expecting Ivan to sweep into Western Europe with thousands of tanks it remained in service until 1963.


The M65 was transported by two specially designed 375 horsepower tractors, with independent steering like some very long fire engines. The result did not look very graceful, but it could get up to 35mph and make turns on a 28 foot wide road. The Atomic Annie could be unlimbered in 15 minutes and then returned to traveling configuration in 15 minutes more. The name "Atomic Annie" is said to be related to "Anzio Annie" the name of a K5 gun that was used against the US Army landings in Anzio, Italy during WWII.

On May 25, 1953 at 8:30am local time, the Atomic Cannon was tested at the Frenchman Flat of the Nevada Test Site as part of the Upshot-Knothole series of nuclear tests. The test--codenamed Grable-- resulted in the successful detonation of a 15 kt shell (warhead W9) at a range of 7 miles. This was the first and only nuclear shell to be fired from a cannon.