And what country can preserve its liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.
Tuesday, March 11, 2025
Tail gunner SSgt.Charles Haywood of the 96th Bomb Group stands with a giant hole punched into the tail of his B-17 by a German 3cm cannon shell.
Just to be pedantic here, most, if not all, German calibres are referred to in millimeter sizes, ie. 20, 30, 37, 50, 75, 88mm etc. Lots of Allied too, 75mm on a Sherman, while a lot of British guns went by nominal weight of shot, based on a standard ball of that calibre, hence 2 pounder, 6, 17 and 32, or roughly 37, 55, 76 and 105mm.
Read some 1st person German accounts of WW2, the dudes that were there invariably referred to their large caliber stuff in centimeters. 8.8 cm, 2 cm, etc. I'll take the word of the guys firing them.
Before or after he changed his undershorts.
ReplyDeleteJust to be pedantic here, most, if not all, German calibres are referred to in millimeter sizes, ie. 20, 30, 37, 50, 75, 88mm etc. Lots of Allied too, 75mm on a Sherman, while a lot of British guns went by nominal weight of shot, based on a standard ball of that calibre, hence 2 pounder, 6, 17 and 32, or roughly 37, 55, 76 and 105mm.
ReplyDeleteRead some 1st person German accounts of WW2, the dudes that were there invariably referred to their large caliber stuff in centimeters. 8.8 cm, 2 cm, etc. I'll take the word of the guys firing them.
DeleteSo just say 30 mm. Jeez.
ReplyDeleteBack in a time when it could truly be said, "If it ain't Boeing, I ain't going!"
ReplyDeleteWhether metric or not that shell could ruin your day. Lucky man.
ReplyDelete