Katyn: a guilt of many, not just Stalin

The publication on Internet sites of the American National Archives of the documents on Katyn killings, with archive materials from the State Department, CIA and FBI carefully collected and put together, led to a long forgotten debate in Poland.

If the American and the British leaders knew the truth about the summary execution of the Polish officers by Stalin’s secret police in 1940, why didn’t they reveal the truth as soon as they could? Why did they have to wait until the cold war reaches its zenith in the early 1950s to make their accusations formal? It was only in 1953 that congressman Ray Madden’s Commission, charged with investigating the matter, came out with an official statement putting the blame on the Soviet side on the basis of the materials available in the US.

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Soviet T-34 medium tank vs American M4A2 Sherman

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The Nazi War Machine of WWII X 6 [English]

This is the story of the creation of the Nazi war machine. We trace its origins from the Freikorps and street thugs battling in the German streets after the great war, to the secret German army that was trained in Soviet Union to hide from the prying eyes of the victorius Allies. We show the growth of the Panzer Corps, the mighty Luftwaffe and the feared SS. This is the most comprehensive look at the military force that took Europe by storm during WWII.

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The Story of Lise Meitner and Otto Hahn

There is an intriguing story to tell about the lives and times of Lise Meitner and Otto Hahn, two remarkable scientists whose extraordinary collaboration culminated in the discovery of nuclear fission in 1938, turning Einstein's "theory" into atomic science. Not only did these two revolutionize the history of science and the role of women in physics and chemistry, their tale also parallels the social changes and turbulent history of their times. It involves the war against memory, Nazi intimidation, forced exile, betrayal, and a Nobel Prize awarded only in chemistry that to this day distorts science history.

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Dambusters: Building the Bouncing Bomb

What better way to round off a Bank Holiday weekend than some stirring military history mixed with pop-science? That’s the payload delivered by this two-hour special, which sees a team of infectiously enthusiastic scientists try to recreate the iconic Dambusters bombing raid.

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Tank Overhaul: The Sherman

The American M4 Sherman is the best known, most widely used tank of the Second World War. It is also the most controversial. Was it the all-American tank that won the war or a completely under-designed death trap?

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The Battle of Hood and Bismarck

These two battleships were the largest that ever sailed the seas for their countries. They were also engaged in a naval battle that decided the ate of the Bismark and condemned the HMS Hood to the bottom of the North Atlantic where it still lies to this day.

Bismarck in 1940

HMS Hood, 17 March 1924

 

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Forgotten GUN Blum

by Simon Fedoseev

System of a machine gun was designed by Mikhail Nikolayevich Blum (1907-1970) - later known developer of various samples of weapons and ammunition - in the very beginning of his path as a designer-gunsmith, in 1929. At this time, Blum served as a gunsmith in parts of the Far East Special Red Banner Army, but in early 1930 was directed at the disposal of the Chief Artillery Directorate of the Red Army to carry out their inventions.

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"Your victory - this is our achievement"

 

by Vadim Levashko

Russian Broken Translation; made understandable by GarryB

"Supplies of arms and military equipment under Lend-Lease were not decisive for the victory of the Soviet Army and Navy in the Great Patriotic War and the war with Japan"

The interrelations of the participating countries of the anti-Hitler coalition, until now, cause by no means academic disputes. Anglo-Saxon and German historians often substantially exaggerate the value of that aid, which the western allies rendered the USSR. But how was matter in actuality? Answer can be found on the pages of history, including dedicated to the deliveries of armament and technology to Naval fleet.

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Forgotten Ally

by Michael Vovk

It is widely known that the Second World War won the three powers - the USSR, Britain and the United States. It was they who made the most significant contribution to the victory. Nevertheless, apart from them with the troops of the Wehrmacht in the ranks of the Allies fought and hundreds of thousands of other nationalities. The most numerous of them were Poles who had fought not only in the pro-Soviet Polish troops, known to our citizens in the film "Four tanker and a dog", and numerous guerrilla groups operating in occupied Poland, but also in the armed forces of the Western powers. On this last fact in our country for many years, chose not to speak. The reason for this - big-time politics and the Cold War.

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Tales Of The Gun - Japanese Guns of WWII

 

When Japan entered World War II, their soldiers were armed with pride, a sense of invincibility and an arsenal of clumsy and outdated weapons. JAPANESE GUNS OF WWII visits weapons collections and museums for an up-close look at the arsenal that contributed to the empire's ultimate defeat. Compared to those wielded by the Allies, the Japanese firearms were underpowered, unreliable and over-complicated. As experts reveal, they were just one example of Japan's arrogant belief that the tools and tactics that had taken them to victory against colonial enemies would reprise their success in this far greater conflict. They could not have been more wrong.

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Do not forget about the "twenty-sixth"

by  Michael Baryatinskiy

Russian Broken Translation; made understandable by GarryB

The story of Soviet tanks of World would be incomplete without mentioning the war machines of the prewar period, formed the basis of the Red Army tank fleet in 1941.The most massive of them was a light tank T-26.

28 May 1930 the Soviet Purchasing Commission, headed by IA Halepskim, head of the newly established Office of mechanization and motorization (UMM) Red Army, which signed a contract with the British firm Vickers on production for the Soviet Union in 1915 two-towered tanks Vickers Mk.E mod.A. Their assembly was attended by our experts.

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Weapon Races: Race to Build Atomic Bomb

Nuclear science and World War II collided at the same time in history. In 1938, a few scientist were changing the molecular structure of atoms by bombarding them with neutrons. Leo Szilard was the first to realize that if an atom splits and sends out more than one neutron, the result could be a chain reaction. A massive energy release based on Albert Einstein's famous theory of relativity could come from an atom.

So who would be the first to make this super-bomb? Would it be Hitler's Germany, Japan or the United States?

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Hitler's Last Deadly Secret: The Hunt For U-864

Deep in the icy waters off Norway lies one of the last great secrets of the Second World War. In February 1945, the German submarine U-864 disappeared without trace during its clandestine journey to Japan. On board: eighteen of the Reich’s leading aeronautical scientists, two of Japan’s leading experts on aerodynamics, stacks of blueprints for the Nazi’s Me 262 fighter jet as well as some of the latest Messerschmitt jet engine parts and missile guidance systems. Had the German submarine arrived at its destination, the Nazi’s revolutionary jet technology might have changed the course of the Second World War, tipping the balance in favour of the Japanese Air Force in its desperate struggle against the U.S. Navy.

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Weapons Races: The Race for the Battle Tank

The most fearsome tank on today’s battlefield is the US M-1A2 Abrams, virtually impregnable, fast, and capable of destroying an opponent many miles away. It is the most perfect example of a weapons race which began over 90 years ago to find a fighting machine capable of breaking the stalemate of the World War 1 trenches. The programme looks at how these behemoths were shaped in combat; how the competing requirements of protection, cross-country ability and firepower were refined; and how tactics such as Blitzkrieg were developed to make the Battletank King of the Battlefield.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Weapons Races: The Race For Radar And Stealth

As soon as the idea of strategic bombing was conceived, men began to look at ways of detecting them – or at evading this detection. Today’s stealth technology as exemplified in the Lockheed Martin F-117A Nighthawk seems to have won a race which began in the 1930s with the possibility of developing a death ray! The radar weapons race hotted up when the British showed how vital it was in the Battle of Britain. This programme looks at developments ever since, with ever-more extraordinary ways of spotting all sorts of military and civil machines or of evading detection.

click to enlarge>>

 

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The Grant M3 Tank - America's Answer

Reports from Europe in 1940 convinced the US that the M2A1 medium tank was obsolete - their answer was the M3, a medium tank with a 75mm weapon. An astonishing frenzy of building that included co-opting the car industry meant that the US were able to produce more than 6,000 M3s in little more than 15 months.This product is manufactured on demand using DVD-R recordable media. Amazon.com's standard return policy will apply.

Grant M3 never was not able to absolutely outweigh its German counterpart [Panzers & Tigers] in many terms like:

• it was out-gunned
• it had inferior armour
• its main 75mm gun was placed to the right & cannot be directed over top the left without traversing
• the high interior temperature after firing 2-3 shots becomes unbearable
• it was too tall & provided a nice shot to the enemy anti-tank weapons & were a nice treat for the Germans who opted for a sword & shield tactic
• the suspensions were too squeaky & the arrival of tanks can be heard from miles away & gave away the infantry positions to enemy

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Secret Russian Aircraft of WWII

Enter the World of Russian aviation industry of 1930s & 40s. The not very often advances about the Russian aviation is exhibited in this documentary. The remarkable flying-wing designs coupled with the massive rocket power is mostly attributed to the Nazi/German aviation industry but not so fast this ain’t the case. The Russians had already designed the Jet engine; had tested beforehand rocket powered aeroplanes plus had been able to theoretically explain the significance of swept wings!!

MiG-15 as is projected a captured copy of German designs was rather the brain-child of domestic Russian scientists & had proven their worth against the Western planes in the Korean conflict. Gradual advancement in the infrastructure & freedom of speech [both attributed to the death of Stalin] had iconized many Soviet names in the history books namely Tupolev, Sukhoi, Yakovlev…

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Maxim Machine Gun 3D Model

Invented by Hiram S. Maxim in the U.S. in 1884, the Maxim Gun comprised the world's first automatic machine gun.

The Maxim Gun was water-cooled (via a jacket around the barrel which held approximately one gallon) and fed from fabric belts; the German version of the gun, the Maschinengewehr, utilised 250-round belts.  The whole was mounted on a sledge which, although heavy - 1914 machine guns weighed from 40-60kg - did enable the gun to be carried in the manner of a stretcher.  The Maxim was usually operator by a four to six man team.

In designing his machine gun, Hiram Maxim utilised a simple if ingenious concept. The gas produced by the explosion of the powder in each cartridge itself generated a recoil which served to continuously operate the gun's mechanism.  No external power was needed.  His initial design allowed for a theoretical rate of fire of up to 600 rounds per minute (half that number in practice).

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Soviet Famous Weaponry Timeline [1941-45]

This is a 3D animation by most post popular Russian News Source namely Ria Novosti describing in a beautiful way the evolution of technology in Soviet sphere & how the resulting military machines helped the comrades in their War against Nazis. This timeline entails all the military aspects starting from personal infantry Rifles up to the giant Submarines!!

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