This Day In History: The Gun

[Selena]

Angered by indian raids on the frontier, Nathaniel Bacon led a thousand Virginians to convince a friendly tribe of indians to capture unfriendly indians. When the friendly's returned, Bacon's Virginians slaughtered the prisoners.

Due to the rebellion the governor of Virginia was recalled to England. The first of many armed conflicts brought on by discontented frontiersmen acting without the blessing of colonial authority.

Bacon's_Rebellion

[Johnny Dollar]

May 10,1818. Paul Revere,American Patriot and a legend of the American Revolutionary War,dies in Boston,Massachusetts at age 83.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Revere

Paul Revere (December 21, 1734 – May 10, 1818)[N 1] was an American silversmith, early industrialist, and a patriot in the American Revolution. He is most famous for alerting Colonial militia of approaching British forces before the battles of Lexington and Concord, as dramatized in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem, "Paul Revere's Ride."

Revere was a prosperous and prominent Boston silversmith, who helped organize an intelligence and alarm system to keep watch on the British military. Revere later served as a Massachusetts militia officer, though his service culminated after the Penobscot Expedition, one of the most disastrous campaigns of the American Revolutionary War, for which he was absolved of blame.

Following the war, Revere returned to his silversmith trade and used the profits from his expanding business to finance his work in iron casting, bronze bell and cannon casting, and the forging of copper bolts and spikes. Finally in 1800 he became the first American to successfully roll copper into sheets for use as sheathing on naval vessels.

[KodiakBeer]

May 10,1940. The "Phony War" ends, as Germany invades Belgium and the Netherlands

I'm currently reading: http://www.amazon.com/Grenadiers-Gen.../ref=pd_ybh_24

This is one of the best WWII books I've ever read. Meyer (Waffen SS) was in the forefront of the battles in Poland, then Belgium, Holland and France and then on to Greece and the Balkans followed by Russia, then back to Normandy for the American/British invasion. This is a good clear translation that is well written and sticks with the war as Meyer actually saw it. This is one of the guys who truly understood and embraced Blitzkreig, and gloried in punching through the enemy line and wreaking havoc in the rear. He's quite gracious and complimentary when speaking of units and commanders who gave him a good fight, and equally harsh and dismissive of those who folded and broke before his various assaults. Meyer was always on the attack - find the weak point and use it as the "Schwerpunkt" (the focal point of an attack), break through and destroy the rear - the artillery positions and supply points, then turn and attack the fighting units as they withdrew in disarray when their supply and artillery have been destroyed. In this early part of the book, he's actually commanding a motorcycle assault battalion. Imagine breaking through fortified positions with little more than a couple hundred motorcycles (with MG's mounted on the side cars) and a few light armored cars along with a few towed 88's to break fortified position. Mostly though, he's using nothing but speed to counter enemy guns and units. Before the artillery can pinpoint him, he's already inside the lines destroying everything they encounter with MG 42's and 20mm guns. "Shock and Awe!"

Meyer is a warrior in all respects. There are no politics in this story, just warfare and how to win no matter the odds, using speed and surprise as their only defense. If you wanted to read one book about what war was like for the other side, this would be the one to pick up. I can't recommend it highly enough for any student of WWII.

I'm only halfway through the book, but I've learned more about WWII German tactics, logistics and military theory in this story than in everything else I've read combined.

[Johnny Dollar]

An excellent review,KB. I'm sold. Meyer sounds like the real non political warrior deal. And very little,if any action in military history, comes close to that German Blitzkrieg of May 10 to June 19,1940.

All of Rommel's lessons learned in WWI came to the fore here. Absolutely an amazing feat!

I'll grab this one within a week. Here is some info on his life. Died at the age of 51 in 1961.

[Johnny Dollar]

May 11,1945. Off the coast of Okinawa, The USS Bunker Hill is hit by two kamikaze's killing 346 aboard. 43 more were missing and never found.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Bun...ll_%28CV-17%29

On the morning of 11 May 1945, while supporting the invasion of Okinawa, the Bunker Hill was struck and severely damaged by two Japanese kamikaze planes. An A6M Zero fighter plane emerged from low cloud cover, dove toward the flight deck and dropped a 550-pound (250 kilogram) bomb that penetrated the flight deck and exited from the side of the ship at gallery deck level before exploding in the ocean.[3]

The Zero next crashed onto the carrier's flight deck, destroying parked warplanes full of aviation fuel and ammunition, causing a huge fire. The remains of the Zero went over the deck and dropped into the sea. Then, a short 30 seconds later, a second Zero, piloted by Ensign Kiyoshi Ogawa, plunged into its suicide dive. The Zero went through the antiaircraft fire, dropped a 550-pound bomb, and then crashed into the flight deck near the carrier's "island", as kamikazes were trained to aim for the island superstructure.

The bomb penetrated the Bunker Hill's flight deck and exploded. Gasoline fires flamed up and several explosions took place. The crew of the Bunker Hill suffered from the loss of 346 sailors and airmen killed, 43 more missing (and never found), and 264 wounded. She was heavily damaged, and the Bunker Hill was sent all the way back to the Bremerton Naval Shipyard via Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, for months of very heavy repair work. The Bunker Hill was still in the shipyard when the War in the Pacific ended in mid-August 1945.

[Johnny Dollar]

May 12,1780. The Americans suffer their worst defeat of the Revolutionary War at Charleston,South Carolina.

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-h...-at-charleston

After a siege that began on April 2, 1780, Americans suffer their worst defeat of the revolution on this day in 1780, with the unconditional surrender of Major General Benjamin Lincoln to British Lieutenant General Sir Henry Clinton and his army of 10,000 at Charleston, South Carolina.

With the victory, the British captured more than 3,000 Patriots and a great quantity of munitions and equipment, losing only 250 killed and wounded in the process. Confident of British control in the South, Lieutenant General Clinton sailed north to New York after the victory, having learned of an impending French expedition to the British-occupied northern state. He left General Charles Cornwallis in command of 8,300 British forces in the South.

[Johnny Dollar]

May 12,1864. The Battle of Spotsylvania,Virginia. Thousands of Union and Confederate troops die in "the Bloody Angle".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_...ia_Court_House

Grant used Upton's assault technique on a much larger scale on May 12 when he ordered the 15,000 men of Maj. Gen. Winfield S. Hancock's corps to assault the Mule Shoe. Hancock was initially successful, but the Confederate leadership rallied and repulsed his incursion. Attacks by Maj. Gen. Horatio G. Wright on the western edge of the Mule Shoe, which became known as the "Bloody Angle", involved almost 24 hours of desperate hand-to-hand fighting, some of the most intense of the Civil War. Supporting attacks by Warren and by Maj. Gen. Ambrose Burnside were unsuccessful.

Grant repositioned his lines in another attempt to engage Lee under more favorable conditions and launched a final attack by Hancock on May 18, which made no progress. A reconnaissance in force by Confederate Lt. Gen. Richard S. Ewell at Harris farm on May 19 was a costly and pointless failure. On May 21, Grant disengaged from the Confederate Army and started southeast on another maneuver to turn Lee's right flank, as the Overland Campaign continued toward the Battle of North Anna.

From this,we can easily see that William Tecumseh Sherman's, "War is Hell" comment, is the most succinct and prescient that can ever be made about this type of carnage,IMO.

[Johnny Dollar]

May 13,1846. The United States Congress declares war on Mexico, beginning on the Mexican-American War.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexican-American_War

Although the U.S. declared war against Mexico on May 13, 1846, it took over a month (until the middle of June 1846) for definite word of war to get to California. American consul Thomas O. Larkin, stationed in Monterey, on hearing rumors of war tried to maintain the peace between the States and the small Mexican military garrison commanded by José Castro. U.S. Army captain John C. Frémont, with about 60 well-armed men, had entered California in December, 1845, and was slowly marching to Oregon when he received word that war between Mexico and the U.S. was imminent. So began his chapter of the war, the "Bear Flag Revolt."[37]

On June 15, 1846, some thirty settlers, mostly American citizens, staged a revolt and seized the small Mexican garrison in Sonoma. They raised the "Bear Flag" of the California Republic over Sonoma. The republic was in existence scarcely more than a week before the U.S. Army, led by Frémont, took over on June 23. The California state flag today is based on this original Bear Flag and still contains the words, "California Republic".

[KodiakBeer]

Meyer sounds like the real non political warrior deal. And very little,if any action in military history, comes close to that German Blitzkrieg of May 10 to June 19,1940.

I'm not so sure he was "non-political" since he was Waffen SS, after all. Yet, the book is about warfare and on that subject he's worth reading no matter the ideology he may have held. I'm only about 60% of the way through the book, but so far he's avoided politics and ideology. The battle feats he describes are amazing and all verified elsewhere by others - he was the real deal.

Most interestingly, he was not a soldier prior to the Waffen SS. He was a cop when the police forces were transferred to supplement the Waffen SS in the 1930's. He learned his business under the new theories promulgated by Guderian/Rommel and had no prior experience to keep him from fully embracing the lightning war concepts.

[Johnny Dollar]

I'm not so sure he was "non-political" since he was Waffen SS, after all.

Not all Waffen SS officers were hard core Nazis as you indicate.
British writer Philip Kerr has a fine series about Berlin Detective Bernie Gunther,a Philip Marlowe like wise guy. Bernie loves being a cop and hates the Nazi's.

We follow his career from 1929 Berlin to 1959 Havana in 8 fine novels. In between he's in Vienna,Bueno Aires and other hot spots.

I've read them all and recommend them highly. Like the real life Meyer,Bernie was a good cop in Kripo, the Berlin Police, until circumstances beyond his control have him ending up in the Waffen SS on the eastern front.

Switching back and forth in time between the '30's and the '50's makes for some fascinating reads.

A cop with a heart, and a sense of humor, but overall, just another human being trying to stay alive one day at time,during history's most violent era.

Here is a look at the novels.

Warning:Bernie will quickly become an addiction! And reading them in their order of publication is recommended.

[Johnny Dollar]

May 14,1607. A historic day. Jamestown, Virginia becomes the first permanent English settlement in what is now the United States.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamestown,_Virginia

Jamestown (or James Towne or Jamestowne) was a settlement in the Colony of Virginia. Established by the Virginia Company of London as "James Fort" on May 14, 1607 (O.S., May 24, 1607 N.S.),[1] it was the first permanent English settlement in what is now the United States, following several earlier failed attempts, including the Lost Colony of Roanoke. It would serve as capital of the colony for 83 years (from 1616 until 1699).

Within a year of its founding, the Virginia Company brought Polish and Dutch colonists to help improve the settlement.[2] In 1619, the first documented Africans were brought to Jamestown, though the modern conception of slavery in the future United States did not begin in Virginia until 1660.[3] When the colony was subdivided into the original eight shires of Virginia in 1634, the town became located in the eponymous James City Shire.[4]

As a side note,only St.Augustine,Florida,founded in 1565 and Santa Fe,New Mexico,founded in 1606 are older in the present day 50 states.

When we use the term ,"founded",we are speaking in European terms.
JFTR!

[KodiakBeer]

Not all Waffen SS officers were hard core Nazis as you indicate.

Late in the war some officers were transferred from the Wehrmacht (and even the Luftwaffe and Kreigsmarine) as replacements and weren't even party members. But trust me, any officer in the Waffen SS prior to say, 1942/3, was a hard core NAZI.

[paramedic70002]

I live in Isle of Wight County, one of the eight original shires, just south of Jamestown across the James River. It is still an active archaeological site. For years they thought the site of the original fort was lost, but it was recently discovered mostly in the river. I was there just last year with a school field trip. This is a great area for kids and history. Williamsburg, Yorktown, Norfolk, Portsmouth, etc. Lots of Colonial, Revolutionary and Civil War attractions. You can pretty much cover half of an American history textbook if you stay long enough.

Jamestown et al is a great place to visit. I recommend avoiding mid and late summer though. A lot of outdoor attractions, oppressive humidity and skeeters.

[Johnny Dollar]

Jamestown et al is a great place to visit. I recommend avoiding mid and late summer though. A lot of outdoor attractions, oppressive humidity and skeeters.

I copy this. Go in the off sason. Also take the pedestrian ferry,no cars, to Tangier Island, a trip back to the past,in the middle of Chesapeake Bay. They still speak English with a Shakespearean accent there!

Also St. Marys,Maryland is a wonderful place to visit. You can easily spend 10 days or even 2 weeks in this wonderful area of Virginia and southern Maryland.. Don't forget the tiny ponies on Asseteague Island!

[Johnny Dollar]

May 14,1954. Heinz Guderian,legendary German Tank Commander of World War II,dies in Schwangau,Bavaria,Germany at age 65.

He was a military marvel.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinz_Guderian

Heinz Wilhelm Guderian (17 June 1888 – 14 May 1954) was a German general during World War II. He was a pioneer in the development of armored warfare, and was the leading proponent of tanks and mechanization in the Wehrmacht (German Armed Forces).

Germany's panzer (armored) forces were raised and organized under his direction as Chief of Mobile Forces. During the war, he was a highly successful commander of panzer forces in several campaigns, became Inspector-General of Armored Troops, rose to the rank of Generaloberst, and was Chief of the General Staff of the Heer in the last year of the war.

[pmeisel]

Guderian's book is must-read for the student of maneuver warfare and the problems of command in combat.... I am away from my library tonight and don't recall the title.......

[Johnny Dollar]

Guderian's book is must-read for the student of maneuver warfare and the problems of command in combat.... I am away from my library tonight and don't recall the title.......

Lots of his good stuff here,Paul:

http://www.alibris.com/booksearch?au...sid=1068699387

3. Achtung-Panzer!: The Development of Armoured Forces, Their Tactics and Operational Potential

[Johnny Dollar]

May 15,1701. The War of Spanish Succession begins. It ends a turbulent 13 years later, embroiling most of Europe.

As usual,the French don't do so well.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_of_...ish_Succession

The War of the Spanish Succession (1701–1714) was fought among several European powers, including a divided Spain, over the possible unification of the Kingdoms of Spain and France under one Bourbon monarch. As France and Spain were among the most powerful states of Europe, such a unification would have drastically altered the European balance of power. The war was fought primarily by forces supporting the unification, the Spanish loyal to Philip V, France and the Electorate of Bavaria, against those opposing unification, the Spanish loyal to Archduke Charles, the Holy Roman Empire, Great Britain, the Dutch Republic, Portugal and the Duchy of Savoy. The forces were known as the Two Crowns and Grand Alliance, respectively.

The war was fought mostly in Europe but included Queen Anne's War in North America and it was marked by the military leadership of notable generals including the Duc de Villars, the Jacobite Duke of Berwick, the Duke of Marlborough and Prince Eugene of Savoy.

It is also marked by several battles that are considered classics in history, notably the overwhelming Grand Alliance victories at Blenheim (1704) and Ramillies (1706) which drove the French forces from Germany and the Netherlands. Inconclusive fighting and skirmishing followed in Spain with little result, and the action turned to France.

After considerable maneuvering and inconclusive action, the French were once again decisively defeated at the Battle of Oudenarde (1708). This string of losses prompted Louis XIV to start negotiations, but the terms were humiliating and he decided to press the war to its end.

[KodiakBeer]

Guderian got a few things wrong in his early theories. Most notably, he advocated that armor only move with the infantry (as an infantry screen), thus in Poland they only made 20 miles a day since that was the speed infantry could move. The huge pincer drives of later campaigns only happened because they abandoned that tactic.
He also strongly advocated the light tank and that proved a mistake since the Poles took out about half the Mark II and III Panzers in that invasion. Had the Poles been fully mobilized, or even well equipped with light anti-tank guns the Germans might have walked into a disaster.

Guderian and the other young members of the German army were quick learners. In the western campaign through Belgium, Holland and France they allowed the Panzers much more flexibility and even though those nations were mobilized and heavily outnumbered the German forces, they cut through them much easier and with much lower losses.

By the time they invaded Russia they had changed the order of battle into what we recognize today - independent Panzer units with their own infantry support in armored personnel carriers, specialized "kradschutzen" units consisting of hundreds of MG armed motorcycles to unleash in rear areas and even the famous Stuka's which were now controlled directly by the Panzer units instead of some distant rear headquarters.

I think (and this is just my opinion come to recently since I began studying this) is that it is Hitler's disdain for his general staff that allowed this metamorphosis to take place. Hitler was a former corporal who (understandably after WWI) had little regard for the old school Wehrmacht generals. He listened to the young Majors and Colonels who actually commanded units in battle, and fully adopted their recommendations. And he had to override his own senior staff to do that.

Guderian and Rommel may have started the ball rolling, but it was actual battlefield experience that transformed the army into something new. There's an old saw about every nation beginning a war by fighting the last war (with the old weapons, the old tactics and strategies) and it's true because the leadership has always learned their trade in the last war. Well, WWII Germany is the exception - it was the young theorists with little or no battle experience who dictated the order of battle. And it was only the bizarre political situation which allowed that to happen.

[pmeisel]

Agreed, KB, that experience on the battlefield was a great teacher. Later in WW2 Allied armor used similar tactics.

One of Guderian's writings, IIRC, addressed to some degree his changes of thought regarding employment of armor. I think it was his memoir... but it's been awhile since I read it so I could be wrong.

Excellent reading, if you haven't yet, is Rommel's treatise on infantry combat, Infantry Attacks! He intersperses descriptions of infantry combat of his unit in WW1 with his commentary on the principles of tactics that he took away from the action.

(Cue George C. Scott as Patton: "Rommel, you magnificent bastard! I read your book!")

[Johnny Dollar]

May 15,1972. Governor George Wallace is shot and permanently paralyzed by 21 year old Arthur Bremer in Laurel,Maryland.
40 years ago today.

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-h...e-wallace-shot

During an outdoor rally in Laurel, Maryland, George Wallace, the governor of Alabama and a presidential candidate, is shot by 21-year-old Arthur Bremer. Three others were wounded, and Wallace was permanently paralyzed from the waist down.

The next day, while fighting for his life in a hospital, he won major primary victories in Michigan and Maryland. However, Wallace remained in the hospital for several months, bringing his third presidential campaign to an irrevocable end.

[swgunner]

34,300 views, is that a record?

[Johnny Dollar]

34,300 views, is that a record?

Thank you. But not even a record on this forum! Zipperhead's "Gunwalker" thread in Legal has 40,666 views as of this moment, in 3 less months!

Truly a remarkable thread and still active every day.

BTW,poster Full Metal at THR may have the all time record on a gun forum.

His thread, What is the last gun that you bought? ,has 463,978 views and 6,158 responses since its inception on June 23,2007! Truly Amazing.

[Johnny Dollar]

May 16,1968. Donald E. Ballard, Navy Corpsman receives the Medal of Honor for his selfless action in Viet-Nam.

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-h...nor-for-action

Donald E. Ballard, Corpsman U.S. Navy, is awarded the Medal of Honor for action this date in Quang Tri Province. Ballard, from Kansas City, Missouri, was a corpsman with Company M, 3rd Battalion, 4th Marines, 3rd Marine Division. He had just finished evacuating two Marines with heatstroke when his unit was surprised by a Viet Cong ambush.

Immediately racing to the aid of a casualty, Ballard applied a field dressing and was directing four Marines in the removal of the wounded man when an enemy soldier tossed a grenade into the group. With a warning shout of, "Grenade!" Ballard vaulted over the stretcher and pulled the grenade under his body. The grenade did not go off. Nevertheless, he received the Medal of Honor for his selfless act of courage.

Ballard was only the second man whose valor was rewarded despite the fact that the deadly missile did not actually explode.

[Dr. Detroit]

May 16, 1994: Val A. Browning, son of John M. Browning, dies at age 99.

--Dr. Detroit