Philip Whitehouse

But they were. The L/54.6 version was still potent enough to cause US flyers grief in the skies over Hanoi, two-three decades after the end of WW2.

Many recognised authorities rate the T34/85 the very best tank of WW2:-very powerful gun, heavy and well-shaped armour, and an excellent engine and drive-train. What's more, where sheer numbers mattered ,over 53,000 of all models were produced,more than any other tank:- including the Sherman.

Not a "castigation" surely, just a reminder. When studying for my degrees in Modern History you can be sure I was well-and-truly castigated for smaller lapses than yours: on a regular basis. So it was hammered into me that precision is everything. It's regrettable that you find such correction objectionable. Please accept it in the spirit it was given.

What's with the axe grinding ? I'm only telling it as it is. Don't the think your Grandfather's memoirs deserve the utmost respect ? And you don't need to hold a seance to discover the details of his participation Actually the Mesopotamian Campaign 1915-1918 ("Mespot" to the British Army) is of abiding interest, and it's generally overlooked compared with (say) the Syrian and Gallipoli campaigns Townshend's advance up the Tigris, the seige and shattering defeat at Kut-el-Amara , General Maude's eventual capture of Baghdad on 10 March,1917, and so it goes.

A minor issue ? sorry, but it isn't, and it's just not a matter of "picking faults". Surely the recording and reporting of history is a DISCIPLINE. and if the very name of the theatre is incorrect how much confidence can be placed in the legitimacy of the rest of the material ?

Well, for a start, isn't the name of the place Mesopotamia ?

I ,for one, would find it of great interest, thank you. (but please check your spelling first).

A most interesting posting. For those interested in trench Warfare on the Western Front, the significance of the Acme Whistle is readily apparant.

In trials of the Owen, the operator went to the end of a mud-bog,thrust the gun deeply into the mud and held it there.Then he pulled it out,turned it over and submerged it again, ensuring that mud was pushed into all surfaces. The gun was then retrieved and, without cleaning or adjustment ,proceeded to fire perfectly. THe now empty magazine was then replaced and the weapon continued firing. "Almost unbelievable ,isn't it ?" said the newreel commentator. Because it was an Australian weapon,of course, few outsders have every heard of it. The Owen Machine-Carbine continued in use by the Australian army in Korea and the early years of the Vietnam conflict. (vide Arms of Destruction: Ranking the World's Best Land Weapons of WW2. Robert A Slayton, among other sources)

But not all; witness the heroic White Rose Group.

Your courage is admirable.

Ü-571 is a total travesty of a film. Although the film was based on a exploit by the Royal Navy, Bletchley Park possessed Enigma machines prior to 1941, when it actually occured,anyway.

Doubtful, I would say,with the advent of Chobham-type ceramic ,composite armour

Don't you think that the Panzer Mark VI as compared with,say, the T34/85 was slow, short-ranged and prone to mechanical breakdown ?

Yes, I get that. I merely added another reason why the Proclamation was promulgated when it was.