T-34 Owner’s Workshop Manual

Back in what my wife likes to call ‘eighteen hundred and frozen stiff‘* (in other words, a long time ago) when I could still fix my old cars with some spanners, a couple of screwdrivers, and some swearing, I used to own copies of the relevant workshop manuals published by Haynes.

Over the past few years they have begun to publish a range of workshop manuals about a wide range of types of transport, including the RMS Titanic, the AVRO Lancaster bomber, and Saturn V rocket. One of this series that I had not come across before was the manual for the T-34 tank, but as I saw it on sale for only £4.00 in a local branch of THE WORKS, I just had to buy a copy.

The book is subtitled ‘1940 to date (all models)’ … and it certainly seems to do exactly that. Its chapters include:

The T-34 story
T-34 at war 1941-45
Operating the T-34
T-34s in post-war foreign service
Anatomy of the T-34/76
T-34 weaponry and firepower
Appendices

T-34 variants including SPGs
The T-44
T-34 turrets

I have several books about the T-34, but this one seemed to cover the technical aspects of the design and its variants better than the rest … and at the price being charged, it was a bargain.

T-34 TANK: OWNER’S WORKSHOP MANUAL was written by Mark Healy and published by Haynes Publishing in 2018 (ISBN 978 1 78521 094 5).

* This expression was used in an episode of DAD’S ARMY by Private Walker when referring to Corporal Jones’s service in the Sudan Campaign.

An even older Paraguayan River Gunboat!

Posted: April 6, 2018 | Author: Robert (Bob) Cordery | Filed under: Chaco War, Early 20th Century, Late 20th Century, Warships | 4 Comments

The Paraguayan Navy’s Humaitá-class river gunboats may well be regarded as ancient by most modern standards, but their longevity pales into insignificance when compared to that Navy’s Capitán Cabral (ex-Triunfo, ex-Adolfo Riquelme), which was first launched in 1907!

She began life as a river tug, and was purchased and converted into a river gunboat soon after she was launched. She was originally armed with a single 3″ gun, but in the late 1980s this was replaced by a 40mm Bofors automatic cannon, two 20mm Oerlikon automatic cannons, and two 0.5″ machine guns.

At the same time as she was re-armed, the ship was modernised. Her original steam engines were replaced with new diesel ones, and her superstructure was completely re-modelled. She was certainly still in service in 2016 … one hundred and eleven years after she was launched!

Small Wars: New Perspectives on Wargaming Counter Insurgency on the Tabletop

Posted: February 11, 2018 | Author: Robert (Bob) Cordery | Filed under: Book Review, Early 20th Century, Late 20th Century, Wargames publications | 22 Comments

It seems to be my week for acquiring new books. On Friday the latest addition to John Curry’s ‘History of Wargaming’ Project arrived … David Wayne Thomas’s SMALL WARS: NEW PERSPECTIVES ON WARGAMING COUNTER INSURGENCY ON THE TABLETOP.

I have known the author ever since he joined Wargame Developments many years ago, and he is a regular attendee (and session provider) at the annual Conference of Wargamers. As a result I have seen in operation (and taken part in) some the games featured in this book, and I can assure anyone who buys and uses the rules therein that they will enjoy some thought-provoking and well-designed games.

Besides a Foreword written by Brian Train (who is probably the foremost designer of counter insurgency board wargames), the books has six separate rules for COIN games:

Company Level Actions in the Early 21st Century: Boots on the Ground (by John Armatys)
An Isolated Outpost: Six Months in the Sahara
Soviet involvement in Afghanistan: Eight Years in a Distant Country
Counter-Insurgency in South West Africa
The Irish Troubles 1920-21: Flying Column
LBJ’s War 1965-68: Good Morning Vietnam!

The book also contains an extensive list of COIN games and rules as well as a five-page bibliography.

The book is published by the ‘History of Wargaming’ Project, and costs £12,95 plus postage and packing (ISBN 978 0 244 65183 1).

The Soldier

Posted: January 7, 2018 | Author: Robert (Bob) Cordery | Filed under: 18th Century, Book Review, Early 20th Century, Late 19th Century, Late 20th Century | 2 Comments

During a short visit to a local discount bookshop, I bought a copy of Chris McNab’s book entitled THE SOLDIER for £5.00. The book was published in 2016 by Parragon, and was originally priced at £16.00.

The book is split into three sections, and each section is divided into three chapters.

Section One: Global Conflict and Revolution

The Seven Year’s War
The American Revolution
The Napoleonic Wars

Section Two: The Age of Empire and Statehood

The American Civil War
Colonial Wars
Wars of Empire and Unification

Section Three: The World Wars and Modern Conflict

World War I
World War II
The Modern Era

Whilst this might not be the most definitive study of what it was like to be a soldier over the past two hundred and sixty years, it has some interesting illustrations. It is certainly worth £5.00 of anyone’s money … although personally I wouldn’t have paid full price for it.

Other people’s Portable Wargame battle reports: Romans vs. Gauls and a mid twentieth century battle

Posted: October 30, 2017 | Author: Robert (Bob) Cordery | Filed under: Battle Report, Early 20th Century, Late 20th Century, The Portable Wargame | 8 Comments

Ross Macfarlane and his long-time wargaming friend Ron recently fought an Ancients battles using the rules from DEVELOPING THE PORTABLE WARGAME … and his battle report can be read here.

It would appear to have been a very enjoyable battle for them to fight, and I was interested to read both the House Rules they devised and the discussion in the Comments section.

Subsequently Ross fought a solo skirmish battle using some of his 54mm figures and models. The battle was set during the mid twentieth century and saw the forces of two imagi-nations battling it out for control of a village.

His battle report includes some interesting observations and house rules, and is very well worth reading.

Please note that the photograph featured above is © Ross Macfarlane.

The Historic Dockyard, Chatham, Kent: The Royal Engineers heavy vehicle display

Posted: September 27, 2015 | Author: Robert (Bob) Cordery | Filed under: Late 20th Century, MIscellaneous musings | 4 Comments

The Royal Engineers have a museum at Gillingham, Kent but it is not large enough for all the heavy vehicles in its collection to be displayed on site. To make them accessible to the general public, these heavy vehicles are currently on display inside on of the covered slipway buildings at The Historic Dockyard, Chatham, Kent.

The vehicles and equipment on show included …

Chieftain (Willich) AVRE (Armoured Vehicle Royal Engineers)
In 1986, when the planned Chieftain AVRE did not materialise, the Engineer Workshops of 40 Army Engineer Support Group based in Willich, Germany, converted 12 Chieftain gun tanks into Chieftain AVREs for use by the Royal Engineers of BAOR (British Army Of the Rhine). They were an interim design, and were later replaced by vehicles that were converted by Vickers Defence Systems at Newcastle-upon-Tyne from 1991 to 1994.

Giant Viper Mine Clearance System
Giant Viper was a trailer-mounted, mine clearance system, that was designed to clear areas that containing land mines. The system used rockets to launch a 250-metre-long hose, packed with plastic explosive, across a minefield. The explosive was then detonated, and the resultant explosion cleared a 200-metre-long, 6-metre-wide path through the minefield using sympathetic detonation.

Motor Tug Mk.VII and Trailer
The Motor Tug Mk.VII was used as a motor tug during bridging and rafting operations. This steel hulled boat was powered by a Rolls Royce marine B80 petrol engine, and was capable of reaching just over 10 knots.

M2D Amphibious Vehicle
The M2D was developed in Germany and used by BAOR. Individual vehicles could be used as ferries and several vehicles could be joined together to form a bridge capable of handling the heaviest armoured fighting vehicles.

Caterpillar D8 Crawler Tractor
The Caterpillar D8 Crawler Tractor was developed during World War II and used by the Royal Engineers during and after the war. It could be used for all sorts of engineering tasks such as repairing or building roads and airfield runways, removing debris, or pushing pontoons. This example has some armour plate to protect the driver and a push plate for pushing bridging pontoons into a river.

HMS Ocelot

Posted: September 23, 2015 | Author: Robert (Bob) Cordery | Filed under: Late 20th Century, MIscellaneous musings | 6 Comments

One of the warships preserved at The Historic Dockyard, Chatham, Kent, is HMS Ocelot. She was the last conventionally-powered submarine to be built in Chatham for the Royal Navy.

HMS Ocelot (S17) is also the last-surviving example of the Royal Navy’s Oberon-class diesel-electric submarines that is preserved in the UK. (Her sister-ship HMS Onyx was preserved in a museum in Birkenhead, Merseyside, but when the museum closed she was towed away and eventually scrapped. Other examples of the class are preserved in Germany, Australia, Canada, Brazil, and Chile.)

When built, HMS Ocelot‘s characteristics were as follows:

Displacement: Surfaced: 2,000 tons; Submerged: 2,450 tons
Length: 295.2 ft (90.0 m)
Beam: 26.5 ft (8.1 m)
Draught: 18 ft (5.5 m)
Propulsion: 2 × 3,680 hp Admiralty Standard Range V16 diesels driving two shafts; these also powered 2 × 1280 kW generators, whose output could be stored to drive the 2 × 3,000 hp electric motors that were used when the submarine was submerged
Speed: Surfaced: 12 knots; Submerged: 16 knots
Range: 10,350 nautical miles at surface cruising speed
Diving depth: 650 ft (200 m)
Complement: 7 officers and 62 men
Sensors: Type 1002 surface search and navigation radar; Type 187 Active-Passive attack sonar; Type 2007 long range passive sonar
Armament: 8 × 21 in (533.4 mm) torpedo tubes (6 bow and 2 stern torpedo tubes); 20 torpedoes

The Oberon-class submarines were a development of the preceding Porpoise-class, and proved to be very quiet. Although originally designed to be attack/hunter-killer submarines, they were often used for clandestine operations. The design proved to be very popular, and examples were used by the Royal Navy, the Royal Australian Navy, the Brazilian Navy, the Royal Canadian Navy, and the Chilean Navy.

United Kingdom

Oberon
Ocelot
Odin
Olympus
Onslaught
Onyx
Opportune
Opossum
Oracle
Orpheus
Osiris
Otter
Otus

Australia

Onslow
Orion
Otama
Otway
Ovens
Oxley

Brazil

Humaitá
Tonelero
Riachuelo

Canada

Ojibwa
Okanagan
Onondaga

Chile

O’Brien
Hyatt

HMS Cavalier

Posted: September 21, 2015 | Author: Robert (Bob) Cordery | Filed under: Early 20th Century, Late 20th Century | 6 Comments

In the years leading up to the Second World War the Royal Navy began ordering a number of new destroyer classes, and some of these became the forerunners of the War Emergency Programme destroyers. HMS Cavalier was one of the last of these War Emergency Programme ships to be constructed.

The first of the destroyers that formed the basis of the War Emergency Programme destroyers were the O-class destroyers. Their hull design was based on the pre-war J-class destroyers. The latter were notable because their design incorporated several significant changes, including the introduction of extra strong longitudinals and weaker transverse frames rather than the more traditional strong transverse frames with weak longitudinals. The wisdom of this decision was born out by the survival of HMS Kelly when she was badly damaged in May 1940. Whereas a traditionally designed destroyer would have probably broken in two and sunk, the strong longitudinals held the ship together whilst she was towed back to port for repair.

The design also saw the adoption of a two boiler room layout. This reduced hull length and allowed for a single funnel, both of which reduced the ship’s profile and increased the arcs-of-fire of the ship’s light anti-aircraft armament.

The War Emergency Programme (and their immediate predecessor) destroyer classes were:

O-class or 1st Emergency Flotilla (8 built)
P-class or 2nd Emergency Flotilla (8 built)
Q-class or 3rd Emergency Flotilla (8 built)
R-class or 4th Emergency Flotilla (8 built)
S-class or 5th Emergency Flotilla (8 built)
T-class or 6th Emergency Flotilla (8 built)
U-class or 7th Emergency Flotilla (8 built)
V-class or 8th Emergency Flotilla (8 built)
W-class or 9th Emergency Flotilla (8 built)
Z-class or 10th Emergency Flotilla (8 built)
Ca-class or 11th Emergency Flotilla (8 built)
Ch-class or 12th Emergency Flotilla (8 built)
Co-class or 13th Emergency Flotilla (8 built)
Cr-class or 14th Emergency Flotilla (8 built)
Ce-class or 15th Emergency Flotilla (8 planned but never built)

HMS Cavalier was a member of the Ca-class, and when built her characteristics were as follows:

Displacement: 1,710 tons (Standard); 2,530 tons (Full Load)
Length: 362 ft 9 in (110.57 m) (o/a); 339 ft 6 in (103.48 m) (pp)
Beam: 35 ft 9 in (10.90 m)
Draught: 10 ft (3.05 m)
Propulsion: 2 Admiralty 3-drum boilers providing steam for 2 x Parsons single-reduction geared steam turbines (40,000 shp) each driving a separate propeller shaft
Speed: 36 knots
Range: 4,675 nautical miles at 20 knots; 1,400 nautical miles at 32 knots
Complement: 186
Armament: 4 x QF 4.5-inch L/45 Mk IV guns on mounts CP Mk.V; 2 x Bofors 40mm L/60 guns on a twin “Hazemeyer” Mk.IV mount; 4 x QF 2-pounder Mk.XV on single mounts; 8 (2 x 4) 21-inch Mk.IX torpedo tubes; 80 depth charges

After serving as an escort for Arctic convoys, HMS Cavalier was sent to the Far East to join the British Pacific Fleet, where she provided naval gunfire support during the Battle of Surabaya. She then spent time in India before being sent back to the UK. She was paid off in May 1946 and was placed in reserve at Portsmouth.

HMS Cavalier was modernised during the late 1950s, and was re-commissioned in 1957. She was again sent to the Far East, where she joined the 8th Destroyer Squadron based at Singapore.

After modernisation HMS Cavalier’s characteristics were as follows:

Displacement: 1,710 tons (Standard); 2,530 tons (Full Load)
Length: 362 ft 9 in (110.57 m) (o/a); 339 ft 6 in (103.48 m) (pp)
Beam: 35 ft 9 in (10.90 m)
Draught: 10 ft (3.05 m)
Propulsion: 2 Admiralty 3-drum boilers providing steam for 2 x Parsons single-reduction geared steam turbines (40,000 shp) each driving a separate propeller shaft
Speed: 36 knots
Range: 4,675 nautical miles at 20 knots; 1,400 nautical miles at 32 knots
Complement: 186
Armament: 3 x QF 4.5-inch L/45 Mk IV guns on mounts CP Mk.V; 2 x Bofors 40mm L/60 guns on a twin “Hazemeyer” Mk.IV mount; 4 x Bofors 40mm L/60 guns on single Mk.III mounts; 2 x 20mm Oerlikon guns on twin Mk.V mount; 1 x 20mm Oerlikon gun on single Mk.III mount; 2 x triple Squid anti-submarine mortars; 4 throwers and 2 depth charge racks (96 depth charges), 1 x quadruple GWS20 ‘Seacat’ surface-to-air missile launcher (This was added in September 1964)

HMS Cavalier was finally decommissioned in 1972. After spending time laid-up in reserve, she was sold in 1977 to the Cavalier Trust for £65,000. She was then moved to Southampton, where she became a museum and memorial ship in August 1982. This ventured proved to be unprofitable, and in October 1983 she was moved to Brighton.

The ship remained in Brighton marina until she was moved yet again, this time to the River Tyne. It was planned to use HMS Cavalier as the centrepiece of a national shipbuilding exhibition centre and museum, but the plans for the museum came to nothing, and she remained there until the Cavalier Trust was reformed in 1998. The Trust arranged for HMS Cavalier to be moved to The Historic Dockyard, Chatham, Kent, where she now resides permanently in No. 2 dry-dock.

HMS Cavalier’s quadruple GWS20 ‘Seacat’ surface-to-air missile launcher.

A QF 4.5-inch L/45 Mk IV gun on mount CP Mk.V. It is similar to those carried aboard HMS Cavalier.

Just another couple of books …

Posted: August 24, 2015 | Author: Robert (Bob) Cordery | Filed under: Book Review, Early 20th Century, Late 20th Century | 4 Comments

On Saturday morning I paid one of my irregular visits to Falconwood Transport and Military Bookshop (5 Falconwood Parade, The Green, Welling, Kent, DA16 2PL). The shop was even more packed than usual, but despite this I did manage to find a couple of real bargains!

The first was an ex-library copy of F M von Senger und Etterlin’s TANKS OF THE WORLD 1983, which was published by Arms and Armour Press (ISBN 0 85368 585 1). The book has 828 pages(!) with 731 drawings and 603 photographs, and covers pretty well all the armoured fighting vehicles in production and/or service across the world.

Examples of some of the book’s pages are shown below:

The second book was an edition of JAPANESE NAVAL VESSELS AT THE END OF WORLD WAR II, published in 1992 by Greenhill Books (ISBN 1 85367 125 8). The original book was compiled by Shizuo Fukui and published on 25th April 1947 by the Administrative Division, Second Demobilization Bureau. It was intended to ‘present in a very simple form a record of all the important vessels of the ex-Imperial Japanese Navy at the termination of the war‘. The original book was hand-written and contained numerous hand-drawn and annotated side views of the vessels included in the record.

What particularly interested me was the information about the lesser-known vessels used by the Japanese, including such oddities as the Maru-Yu transport submarines built and operated by the Japanese Army!

I have been to … Tøjhusmuseet (The Royal Danish Arsenal Museum), Copenhagen, Denmark

Posted: January 4, 2015 | Author: Robert (Bob) Cordery | Filed under: 18th Century, Early 19th Century, Early 20th Century, I have been to ..., Late 19th Century, Late 20th Century | 14 Comments

Sue and I visited Tøjhusmuseet (The Royal Danish Arsenal Museum), Copenhagen, Denmark some years ago, but at the time of our earlier visit the Museum was undergoing a lot of building work and reorganisation. By the time of this visit, most the work had been completed, and the display area had more than doubled in size.

Rather than repeat the coverage of the exhibits that were included in my earlier blog entry, I am going to concentrate on the new exhibits … although I could not resist photographing some of my favourites, which include a model of the building that houses the Museum as it was when it was used as an arsenal, …

… a Carden-Lloyd Tankette, …

… and a mobile armoured pillbox … which bears a striking resemblance to a Dalek on wheels!

1864
Denmark did not take part in the First World War and 2014 marks a very different anniversary for the Danes; it is the 150th anniversary of the war with Prussia that ended with the area of Europe controlled by the Danish monarchy being reduced to almost half of its former size. As a result, the Museum has mounted a small display to mark this anniversary.

The Danish Armed Forces in Afghanistan
This exhibit was undergoing revision and expansion the last time we visited the Museum. It is now open, and gives a very realistic idea about the conditions under which members of the Danish Armed Forces operated in Afghanistan. It combines photographs, recreations, and sound to do this … and both Sue and I were very impressed by it.

(Please note that the lighting inside the exhibit was designed for dramatic effect and not for photography, hence some of the odd colours that appear in some of the following images.)

Arriving at Camp Bastion

Front-line Accommodation

Leaving Camp Bastion to go out on patrol

Afghan house

Patrolling the countryside

The impact of an IED (Improvised Explosive Device)

An Afghan polling station

An Afghan Market

Denmark’s Wars
On our previous visit the upper floor of the Museum had been close for renovation, but on this occasion it was open and housed a gallery entitled ‘Denmark’s Wars’.

To the right of the entrance to the upper floor was a collection of modern helmets displayed in the way that ancient armour is often displayed …

… as were a number of modern automatic rifles.

The exhibits included a number of sets of armour for horses …

… and men, …

… including some Japanese armour.

There were several display cases full of early weapons …

… and nineteenth century Russian uniforms.

There were also collections of military headgear, …

… examples of uniforms that were worn by various Norwegian monarchs, …

… military medals, …

… and models of artillery pieces.

The middle of the nineteenth century was also featured, and included two cabinets containing typical military uniforms of the period as worn by ordinary US soldiers.