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Anniversaries for today :
Welcome to Clash of Steel!
Featured battle : Wörth (Fröschwiller)
Part of Franco-Prussian War
Date : 06 August 1870
On the same day as the battle at Spichern, the German 3rd Army making a reconnaissance-in-force stumbled upon the French right wing under McMahon ( 1st Corps) in a strong defensive position on the slopes above Wörth. The Prussian Crown Prince, commanding the 3rd Army gradually built up his strength around the French position, overlapping on both flanks. Although McMahon held out all day with no reinforcement from Bazaine, and hurled his gallant cavalry in a suicidal attempt to prevent the encirclement the position was doomed and they withdrew through Fröchwiller and towards Châlons-sur-Marne.
Featured image :
Sopwith Camel 2F1 World War 1 fighter
The Sopwith Camel (so called because of the hump in the forward fuselage between the pilot and the propeller) arrived late in the First World War, entering service on the western front on 4th July 1917, to late to prevent the 'happy time' in April that year when the German Jagdstaffel wrought such havoc on allied aircraft. Even with it's late entry to the war, it proved such a successful 'fighting scout' that it downed more enemy aircraft than any other single type during the whole war, and only the German Fokker Dr.1 could match it's manoeuverability. The over-land version, the F1 mounted a pair of synchronised .303in Vickers machine-guns in the hump just over the engine, firing through the propeller. This version, the naval 2F1 mounted a pair of Lewis .303 MG (or often one Lewis and One Vickers) on top of the upper wing, firing above the propeller disc. This particular aircraft was flown by Flight Sub-Lieutenant Stuart D Culley, from a lighter towed by the destroyer HMS Redoubt on 11th August 1918 when he shot down the last German airship (L.53 under Kapitänleutnant Prölss) to fall during the war.
Gallery updated : 2022-04-04 08:33:43
Featured review :
United States Marine Corps in the Korean War
Michael Green
As with all of this series of ‘Images of War’ the pictures with their appropriate annotations are the story. However the supporting text places the sets of photographs in their context. All aspects of the marines involvement in the war are covered and this clearly spells out their special role. In addition to the photographs of the marines in action there are pictures of their equipment from carbines to aircraft. There also many photographs of the weapons used by their opponents. Michael Green has done a superb job in pulling these together from many disparate sources.
The final impression of the Korean conflict is that the fighting was tough and at times the weather was tougher. But the real ‘grit’ of the book comes in the final paragraph. Although there were rarely as many as 20,000 marines in Korea at any one time there were over 30,000 casualties in the course of the conflict among which were 436 aircraft of the marines airwing.
We warmly recommend this book to all our readers and especially those unfamiliar with this ‘sideshow’ of a war. Having read this you will want to go on and read more about this conflict.
Pen & Sword Military, 2021
Reviewed : 2021-05-20 11:20:31
