This is my stack of currently reading/going to read/reference books.
There are many like it. but this one is mine.
I must master them as I must master my life.
My book stack without me, is useless. Without my book stack, I am useless.
I must fire my intellect true.
Workshop of the Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft in Berlin-Marienfelde. In the foreground is the main part of a Storm-Tank A7V with transmission,two centrally mounted Daimler 4-cylinder petrol engines and fuel tanks. Between the suspensions of the front and the middle roller carriage is the night silencer of the exhaust system of the right motor.
Engine Repair in a tiger with the tactical number 141 of the schwere-Panzer-Abteilung 501 in North Africa. Next to the tank, the two “Feifel” purifiers, the flexible tubes and the lining of the mufflers are awaiting to be prepped for storage. A captured Dodge WC52 (4x4) LKW0.75 t (4x4) serving the armored-maintenance as a tool truck.
October 14, 1066: William the Conqueror defeats Harold Godwinson at the Battle of Hastings.
The relatively short Norman conquest of England began in September of 1066, was (more or less) decided at Hastings, and ended in December of that same year, when William I, Duke of Normandy and descendant of Viking vassals to the king of France, was crowned king of England. The previous king of England (and last Anglo-Saxon king) Edward the Confessor was childless and heir-less upon his death; according to William, Edward had promised him the throne, but Edward’s brother-in-law Harold, son of the powerful earl Godwin of Wessex (hence “Godwinson”), took the throne instead, which he claimed had been promised to him by Edward on his deathbed.
The decisive Battle of Hastings was fought around 10 km from Hastings, atop Senlac Hill. Harold’s force, though claiming the higher ground, was made up mostly of infantry versus the Norman cavalry, archers, and crossbowmen. With the advantage of elevation, the English shield wall tactic proved fairly successful - at first; however, when the Normans fled and the English gave chase, the tides of battle began to turn. Seeing that the shield wall was broken, William had his archers fire again, and, according to the Bayeux Tapestry, an arrow struck the Anglo-Saxon king through the eye. Harold was the first of three English kings to die in battle. The Battle of Hastings ended soon after - a decisive Norman victory, and essentially the beginning of Norman England.
With Harold dead, a new king was hastily proclaimed - Edgar the Ætheling, a Hungarian-born grandson of Edmund Ironside. Edgar was only fifteen and, having no significant military or leadership experience, was forced to submit to William’s forces as they advanced on London. William’s descendants took on the name Plantagenet, and they ruled England for over 300 years.
DEMONS Military History Blog inspired you to start a Military History blog or kept you inspired to stick it out with yours.
A Panzerkampfwagen V Ausf.G “Early” (Sd.Kfz.171) 1./Pz.Regt.26
This poorly exposed shot was taken by a serviceman shows tracks and ammunition for the 7.5cm Kampfwagenkanone 42 L/70 strewn around the crater. The New Zealand soldier is standing with a Sprenggranate 42 HE round. Just visible in the background is a Bergepanther Ausf.A armored-recovery vehicle captured intact.
Another crater, another Panther of 1./Pz.Rgt.26, this time in the area of Massa Lombarda, April 1945. The open engine hatch shows the large square air-filter missing from the Maybach HL230. Of note on this Panther Ausf.G is its early production mantlet, lack of a Kampfraumhelzung (crew compartment heater) and the fitting of two spaced armored plates on the top of the turret.
I keep hearing about keeping hope in the world, that people will eventually come around. Today I heard the two following statements:
Exhibit 1a) “People who spend too much time reading don’t have proper intelligence”
Exhibit 2a) “Why would you waste time reading about the past?”
A GI of the 75th Infantry Division peers into the hatch of a Hotchkiss H39 in Ostheim France, 30 January 1945.
The diminutive tank was known to the Wehrmacht as Pz.Kpfw.38 H 735(f) and has a cut down cupola; a standard German modification to give the commander better vision, but lacked the distinctive aerial-base at the rear of the fender. The trench spur is just visible on the rear.
A Sd.Kfz.250 ‘NEU’ Funkwagen belonging to Stabskp./Korps Pz.A.A.FHH passes in front of the camera while surrendering in Netolice, Czechoslovakia, March 1945.
A Sd.Kfz.251/3 Ausf.D Funkwagen belonging to Stabskp./Korps-Pz.A.A. Feldherrnhalle, license WH 1738794, tows a Type 82 Kübelwagen along the road as American trucks, moving in the opposite direction, carry fuel to stranded German units, near Sušice Czechoslovakia, March 1945.
A Panzerkampfwagen IV Ausf.F2(G) belonging to II./Pz.Rgt.15, 11.Panzer-Division now used for a photo-backdrop for some local civvies thanks to the US 90th Infantry Division near Všeruby, Czechoslovakia, April, 1945.
Two Panzerkampfwagen V Ausf.G Panthers belonging to I./Pz.Rgt.26, Sesto Imolese, just over the Sillaro River, 16 April, 1945.
Tank ‘434’ in the foreground was commanded by Lieutenant Drobnik and ‘424’ in the background by Oberlieutenant Hinz.
One of my first posts on this blog was about famous death masks from museums around the world. But what I really want to know is where I can find the largest collection of death masks in, I don’t know, the Ukraine? Well, I’m in luck. At the One Street Museum in Kiev there is a fascinating and extensive death mask collection. For over ten years, museum director Dmitry Shlyonsky has been collecting authentic wax and plaster face masks of prominent Ukrainian writers, politicians and artists, including figures such as Malevich, Bulgakov, Paustovsky and Petlyura. The museum now displays sixty casts (here’s a slideshow of the exhibit), as well as the work of master of post-mortem masks, famed Soviet sculptor Sergey Merkurov. In Armenia one can visit his house-turned museum where 59 Soviet leader death molds are on display, including the only original one of Lenin.
Word Portraits by John Sokol
1. Dante Alighieri’s Inferno
2. James Joyce’s Ulysses
3. Charles Darwin’s The Voyage of the Beagle
4. Ezra Pound’s The Cantos
Lot 13 comes out on Halloween Day. Seriously, it’s worth it for Glenn Fabry’s work alone. Beautiful and macabre.
