The lighter side of war – German soldiers in a halftrack playing with a kitten and their MG34 mount (note the periscope optic. Photo from WarAlbum.ru.
Vintage Saturday: Everyone Likes Kittens
Bolt Action Rifles
RIA: Gewehr 1898 – Germany’s Standard WWI Rifle
The Gewehr 1898 was the product of a decade of bolt action repeating rifle improvements by the Mauser company, and would be the standard German infantry rifle through both World Wars. Today we are looking […]
Slow motion
Walther MPL (Video)
The Walther MP was an all-stamped submachine gun developed in the late 1950s, and available in long (MPL) and short (MPK) versions. It is an open-bolt, blowback design, but uses a somewhat innovative bolt in […]
Light MGs
Pre-Production FG-42 (Type C)
Thanks to the generosity of a collector in the Association of Maltese Arms Collectors and Shooters, we have a chance today to take a look at a pre-production FG-42, serial number 015. This is one […]
Cry Havoc, and release the kittens of cuteness.
That doesn’t sound as threatening. My bad.
Lucky it’s so many years after (and there is different enemy). Just before and during the war it would be impossible to show that enemy has also ‘human’ face.
You are so right, Denny. A most unfortunate concommitant of the human condition, human pstche and political correctness complicated by circumstances of the moment. Even today, it is difficult in many quarters to realistically acknowledge the humanity of the enemy ( both good and bad ) so many decades after the Second World War.
I cannot help it Earls, as usual with me – it just struck me flat. Well psy-ops are well rehearsed and work every time. I just wonder, what progress we humans made in last hundred years. Yes my friend, it is 100 years this summer when Great war started. People in Britain were told that Kaiser “eats children” a that was enough.
Those ‘knaben’ in picture were just as the British ‘lads’ or French ‘garsons’. Well, the kitty stands out, true enough.
Hi Denny and Earl,
The world looks very different since we each swallowed that red pill, ay?
It seems that the truth continues to suffer for many, many decades after it became the first casualty.
As a current example, away from the Riechstag fires, Gleiwitz incidents and shellings of Mainila going on in the Ukraine right now,
the dear leader on airstrip one intends to plow OPM (other people’s money – a far more addictive and corrupting drug than opium ever was) into British people spending the next 4 years “celebrating” the centenary of act i of the most pointless and murderous war of many deeply pointless, murderous and impoverishing wars in our blood soaked history.
Those young lads in the halftrack appear to be normal, decent human beings, very unlike the critters who put them into that situation.
The following quote is from Andzrej Lobaczewski:
“When I was a student, a story reached Poland to the effect that an eminent German professor, who had written an analysis of Hitler’s psychopathic personality, came to an unhappy end. He apparently tried to warn the Germans that such a fuehrer would lead Germany to a terrible calamity. He was taken to a concentration camp where he died while being beaten. It was said that his last words were “Ich habe das deutlich benachwiesen!” (I proved it evidently)”.
The acts of terror bombing, including fire bombing of Hamburg and Dresden, and nuking of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, place Churchill and FDR into exactly the same category of psychopathic personalities.
Act ii of that war, which began on the pretext of defending Poland and (very belatedly) Czechoslovakia from the imperial ambitions of Hitler, ended with both populations(and many others)being placed into the brutal empire of a different psychopath, for the next 44 years.
Very few seem to experience any cognitive dissonance at all from the glaring contradiction between the pretext and the conclusion of act ii of that continuing war.
I forgot to add,
It took until the time of the Thatcher regime, for the war bonds of the Napoleonic wars, and WWi to be paid off fully.
Such is the longer term cost (after the short term cost of death, destruction and suffering)of not having to say that it was a huge mistake.
As usual Keith, you are very pertinent with your remarks. Oh yeah, I was just reading… the A-stan incursion (and that’s what it was) cost Britain 448 lives and Canada ‘only’ 158, good part of it by friendly fire. Hmm, not such a bad deal I guess considering that (accidentally again) heroin is freely available in quantity and quality across United States (allegedly from Mexico, but who knows for sure). I hate to go into politics, but that crap sticks (and stinks) to anything you dare to touch. Just to be clear, I am NOT entirely against a war; if there is solid case for just one. Sorry guys, I shut up now.
Just one historical reference to tie to yours. Germany’s paid off war reparations they were assigned to by international court for her lose in WWI (no intentional error) just about 2-3 years ago! How they managed thru all the tough economical times plus cost of unification, is beyond me. About second one and consequences…. I have no clue.
Hi Denny,
With regard to the Afghan cash crop, you’re probably right on target.
There was a congressional inquiry in the united state which put the dirty washing up on the line by showing where the sudden influx of a south American cash crop to California during the Reagan regime was coming from and why.
It was brought in under official cover, by the Nicaraguan “contras” with funds going to arm them.
The congressional confirmation of the story was too late for the journalist who had uncovered the story. he [was] apparently suicided, by shooting himself in the head – twice.
Will Grigg covers some of the background of that and a later north eastern case too, in this piece http://freedominourtime.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/damned-from-memory-when-drug-war-turns.html
Very much so, Keith, very much so. Who was it who said that “The first casualty of war is the truth”?
A natural concommitant to that would be Plato’s “Only the dead have seen the end of war”.
“People in Britain were told that Kaiser “eats children” a that was enough.”
Which is kind of funny given that King George V was Kaiser Wilhelm II’s first cousin.
Yes it is, isn’t it? It is also known that one big reason for war was ‘royal feud’ between both Imperial houses. The result was less funny, for sure.
“Psyche’ — sorry about the typographical error.
Right Keith!
When I said “accidentally again” I obviously meant infamous SE Asia war and its ends. What followed was huge social decline in America by great deal thru two things from which most prominent was veteran’s anti-war movement AND widespread use of illicit substances brought up from that region.
Here is nice pictorial display of how it played in the second of the two: http://totallycoolpix.com/2012/04/the-82nd-airborne-in-afghanistan/
An Afgani person told me that before invasion growing of poppies was prosecuted. What will be after remains to be seen.
Nice kitty, good kitty… At least the kitten isn’t near a lanyard-fired mine-thrower (imagine what would happen if the kitten fired the minenwerfer and hit something). I would guess that this is a Sd.kfz. 250 or 251. Why is the gunner’s shield absent on this vehicle?
Probably because the periscope allows firing from cover — same concept as the present remote operated weapons stations like CROWS, which is digital, and the one fitted in the SPZ Marder some 40 years ago, which was optical. Of course, while you’re protected from direct fire whilst firing, you’d have to expose yourself to change belts.
I was about to post something to the same effect. Good ( and timely ) call, Kevin — thanks.
Looks as if the MG has been set up to be fired from within the hull. note the periscope sight.
Now that set up would make an awesome addition to anyone’s collection!! Preferably mine!
Just before and during the war it would be impossible to show that enemy has also ‘human’ face.
Later the Germans remembered they were the bad guys, and tortured and starved the kitten for not being of a pure race.
Vas is dis? Yah, 8mmJS.
Great picture thanks for posting.
On more subject related note (and I hope Ed will keep up with my numerous posts this time too), there is quite a meaningful sub-text to this picture. It shows natural inclination of people to build their temporary state of ‘comfort’ in the most harsh of circumstances.
Many years ago I read a book on destinies of Czech&Slovak warplane crews in Britain during WWII – quite revealing as to what human priorities are. Likely, they will remain to be same and I feel that was intent of the article at first place.
The invaluable contributions of the Czechoslovakian airmen to the Allied cause in World War Two in the face of great adversity are to this day still grossly under-rated and under-acknowledged, as is so with the efforts of their countrymen in other branches of the armed services. The Czech Air Force’s contributions might have been considered relatively small against the backdrop of the far larger overall Allied effort, but they were nonetheless very significant relative to the size of the available force, and still played a vital role in stemming the Luftwaffe’s onslaught in the Battle Of Britain. The same applies to the Polish, Belgian, Free French, Norwegian, Danish, Dutch, Malayan, Rhodesian, South African, Canadian, New Zealand, Australian, Indian, and numerous other forces who fought, bled and died for the same end throughout the war in all battlefield theaters.
While the politics of the governments and generals are certainly open to question in the context of hard truths that are now surfacing in the historical milieu, the efforts and sacrifices of the common soldiers, sailors and airmen are not.
@ Denny & Keith :
You have both spoken a lot of the hard, and often unpalatable, truths behind the headlines and general unquestioning acceptance of the media stories and historical myths we seem to subscribe to as a whole. The list of such myth-making in the course of human history is seemingly endless, but if there is one common thread that runs through it all, it is that the victors usually feel an overwhelming need to reinforce their positions as the so-called “good guys”, and we know that it is the victors who usually end up writing the history of what was supposed to have happened. The problem that compounds this issue is that more often than not, many elements of what the victors write about are actually true, while some others contain half-truths mixed in with outright propaganda. And the worst part of it is that the losers also frequently practice the same deceits to bolster their own positions.
In the end, we still do not get an entirely fair, balanced or objective picture of what really happened except via due diligence and careful, skeptical and painstaking research on our part.
Such are the parameters of politics, and the impact they have on truth and history, with all the implications they often have for ordinary humanity.
I am with you on that one, Earl.
If I may, I’d summarize it this way: people often fall into wrong allegiances and wrong loyalties while standing 100% of time unquestionably behind their (thru money) elected governments. Acting in this manner they will end up paying dearly with suffering and loss of life and property. I am NOT saying not to trust government under any circumstance, but to question it at ask for feed-back; that is the way of participation. This is our civic duty, so much so in democratic societies.
Loyalty is still and I hope will continue to be a major virtue. BUT, it is important to know, to who and under what circumstance we invest it into. We can definitely identify with ourselves (in first person), with families, friends and like-minded people inside of society or even in world scale – into whole new movement. This is our unalienable right.
Hi, Denny :
Once again, I think you’ve hit the nail right on the head — thanks for sharing.
You are most welcome Earl!
As you can tell, while this comes out as an impromptu expression of my sincere beliefs; I do not plan to make such comments a habit, since it is obviously not purpose of this web. In any case, thanks to all for positive reflections and to Editor for his patience. We all live one day at the time.
That little kitten is the epitome of the sort of innocence that seems to have no place in wartime, yet is always there to constantly remind us of our humanity, if only we could — and would — take the time to see it. He / she has the same “orange tiger” markings and looks a lot like a Maine Coon ( a very large breed of North American domestic cat known for its sweet temperament, amiability and calm outlook on life coupled with a certain adventurous outdoor / hunting instinct ) I once had many years ago. He was one of the nicest cats I have ever had the privilege to raise and know, yet could hold his own against anything if he chose to. I still miss him terribly.
Absolutely true, it is very symbolical of controversies embodied within it. Good talk, I appreciate!
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