Tag Archives: WWII

Movie Reviews, WWII

Movie Review: Fury

Fury [Blu-ray]
Directed: David Ayer
Starring: Brad Pitt
The story of World War Two is one that has seen more than a few movies and books produced about it. One by-product of that is that is it not often that a new take is seen on the big screen for sure. Fury is a movie that is new, but also oh so familiar in dealing with the subject matter.
The film takes place in the last month or so of WWII. Germany is on the ropes and the hard fighting tankers have seen their share of combat through France and Belgium and now into Germany. These men are war-weary veterans that have seen so much death and destruction that they are almost immune to it, almost. In the dirt and grime of their routine a new crew member is introduced who is seeing it all for the first time.  Is he the hero or are the men that make up the tank crew the hero? Honestly, are there any heroes left that close to the end of a war.
I don’t want to say that this is an anti-war movie but it sure is not pro-war. It is just a war movie. Dirty, bloody, horrible, terrible and at the same time glorious and honorable and full of bravery and sacrifice. Yes, the Germans are nameless faceless constructs out of a video game but in flashes you see that they too just want to go home. And to be totally honest the tank battles are top-notch, the best and are the highlight of the movie. The strange interlude in the middle probably wasn’t needed, but it fleshed out the two leads in away that may have been missed otherwise.
I can not recommend this enough, especially if you are a WWII fan. Actually here is my suggestion. Watch Saving Private Ryan, watch the Battle of the Bulge episodes of Band of Brothers, then finish off the war with Fury. That is the Machete Order for WWII.
Hardware

Grease Gun Is The Word

Grease Gun

Grease Gun Is The Word

 

M3 .45 Caliber machine gun entered the service of the US Army in December 1942 with the idea that it would eventually replace the Thompson sub-machine gun on the front lines of WWII. Picking up the nickname “Grease Gun” from the similarities to the actual Grease Gun used by mechanics. The design was based on the very effective German MP40 and British Sten.

With a fairly long service record, 1942 up till 1992 in the United States, the M3 and the revised version the M3A1. The design was such that it was meant to be disposable, if it jammed or broke, it was tossed. In fact when it was first put into service there were no provisions made for spare parts at the depots, no specific tools for work on the unit and eventually this became in issue as production could not keep up with the demand. Finally in 1944 a number of replacement parts were produced to keep the grease gun greasing.

Even with approximately 700,000 were produced during WWII it was never able to actually replace the Thompson which topped over 1.5 million.  While the US was still using it until the Gulf War the M3 and its variants have seen service with a number of countries and a fair number of conflicts, among the highlights were the Chinese Civil War, Korean War, The Bay of Pigs Invasion, Vietnam, The Falklands and then the Gulf War.  In fact as late as 2004 the Philippine military brought the M3 out of reserve due to the inexpensive nature of the unit.

Interwar Years, WWII

CV-1 USS Langley First of Her Kind

USS Langley

CV-1 USS Langley First of Her Kind

The above is commemorative print of the USS Langley or as the picture shows, the U.S. Aeroplane Carrier. Yep, the Langley was our first official aircraft carrier.

In 1920 she was converted from the USS Jupiter, a collier and was one of several planned conversions. These took a different path as the Washington Naval Treaty (Hey! Didn’t we talk about that?) lead to several partial constructed battle cruisers becoming carriers instead, the Lexington and the Saratoga.

She had a carrier pigeon-house built on her stern. While this was not highly unusual as pigeons were used by seaplanes at the time. Of course things did not go as planned. If the pigeons were released one or two at a time, they would always come back as they were supposed to, but once the entire flock was released they went home to Norfolk and never came back to the ship. The coop was eventually turned into the Executive Officers quarters. (Please commence jokes now.)

Early on in WWII she ferried airplanes around the Southeast Asia theater and served as part of anti-submarine patrols.  She was not going to be able to avoid danger forever though. In February 27, 1942 the Japanese had their way with her, causing so much damage that she had to be scuttled. A twenty-two year career and she went out with a bang.

In a tragic foot note, after being scuttled most of her surviving crew was put aboard the USS Pecos for the trip back to Australia. Unfortunately the ship sunk on the journey back.