Kategoria BISAC: History >> Military - Weapons

For nearly fifty years the hard-hitting, mobile Browning Automatic Rifle, or BAR, served in US infantry units as a light squad automatic "base of fire" weapon, providing quick bursts of concentrated fire. It was developed in response to the central dilemma of infantry combat in World War I - the need for a squad-level weapon that could suppress emplaced machine-gun positions. Designed by the renowned firearms manufacturer John M. Browning, the BAR could be fired from the shoulder or the hip while on the move. Unfortunately, initial production difficulties and commanders' reluctance to feed...

The Lee-Enfield is one of the 20th century's most recognizable and longest-serving military rifles. It was adopted by the British Army in 1895 and only replaced by the L1A1 SLR in 1957; even then a sniper variant, the L42A1, was used until 1989, giving a service life of nearly a century. It saw combat from the Boer War onwards, and thousands are still in use today, notably by the Taliban in Afghanistan; it is estimated that 17 million have been produced.

The Lee-Enfield featured an innovative detachable ten-round magazine; this large capacity, together with the weapon's...

The Webley .455in service revolver is among the most powerful top-break revolvers ever produced and has a claim to be the first 'tactical fighting pistol'. First adopted in 1887, in various marques it was the standard-issue service pistol for British and Commonwealth armed forces for nearly fifty years; later versions in .38in calibre went on to see further service in World War II and beyond, as well as in a host of law-enforcement roles around the world into the 1970s.
Developed to give British service personnel the ability to incapacitate their opponents in 'small wars' around the...

The US M60 Machine Gun, known as "the Pig," was developed in the years after World War II from two revolutionary German designs, combining the effective belt-feed system of the MG 42 machine gun with the bolt-operating design of the FG 42 rifle. Chambered for the standard NATO 7.62mm round, the M60 was the first US-issue machine gun to have a true quick-change barrel; it was capable of firing 100 rounds per minute in a sustained-fire role, with the gun team only having to change barrels every few minutes.

Adopted in 1957, the M60 came into its own in the jungles, hamlets, and city...

The T43 design represented the pinnacle of U.S. Army tank engineering of the late 1940s, with its cast elliptical hull and turret, Continental AV-1790 engine, cross-drive transmission, and torsion bar suspension. A range-finder and mechanical computer directed a powerful 120mm main gun in a novel electro-hydraulic turret, among other features. The heavy tank proved fairly popular with its crews, who above all respected the powerful armament it carried. Many challenges to the crewmen were taken on with a sense of pride. Typical was the job of the second loader to hand-ram both the...

Entering service in 1931, the 9x19mm Suomi KP/-31 submachine gun saw extensive combat with Finnish troops during their fight against Soviet forces in 1939-44. It was also manufactured under licence in Switzerland, Denmark and Sweden, and remained in Finnish service until the 1980s, an indication of its durability.

Rugged and accurate, the Suomi was a favourite with Finnish ski troops who would strike from ambush, cutting down Soviet troops, then skiing away into the woods. Initially used by the Finns as a light machine gun at infantry squad level, it eventually became a dedicated...

In 1974, renowned Belgian arms company Fabrique Nationale brought out a groundbreaking new light machine gun, the Minimi. Its success has been meteoric, arming more than forty-five countries around the world.

The Minimi offers the ultimate in portable squad firepower. Firing the high-velocity 5.56-by-45-millimeter round, the Minimi is a gas-fired, lightweight, open-bolt weapon, able to burn through cartridges at a cyclical rate of up to 1,150 rounds per minute, making it the weapon of choice for tactical support at squad or platoon level.

This study uses gripping firsthand...

This comprehensive entry in R. P. Hunnicutt's 10-volume compendium of American tank history details the development of the T20 series of American tank prototypes ending with the standardized M26 Pershing. Although M4 Medium Tank Sherman proved itself by contributing mightily to U.S. Armored divisions in WWII, it was eventually outclassed by some later German armored vehicles. Furthermore, due to its prewar development, the Sherman was designed using components developed on a shoestring budget. In an effort to address these shortcomings and to take advantage of lessons learned on the...

This comprehensive entry in R. P. Hunnicutt's 10-volume compendium of American tank history details the development of the T20 series of American tank prototypes ending with the standardized M26 Pershing. Although M4 Medium Tank Sherman proved itself by contributing mightily to U.S. Armored divisions in WWII, it was eventually outclassed by some later German armored vehicles. Furthermore, due to its prewar development, the Sherman was designed using components developed on a shoestring budget. In an effort to address these shortcomings and to take advantage of lessons learned on the...

Drawing on his legendary firearms knowledge and combat experience, U.S. Navy SEAL and #1 bestselling author of American Sniper Chris Kyle dramatically chronicles the story of America--from the Revolution to the present--through the lens of ten iconic guns and the remarkable heroes who used them to shape history: the American long rifle, Spencer repeater, Colt .45 revolver, Winchester 1873 rifle, Springfield M1903 rifle, M1911 pistol, Thompson submachine gun, M1 Garand, .38 Special police revolver, and the M16 rifle platform Kyle himself used. American Gun is a sweeping epic of bravery,...

In this fascinating account of the battle tanks that saw combat in the European Theater of World War II, Mary R. Habeck traces the strategies developed between the wars for the use of armored vehicles in battle. Only in Germany and the Soviet Union were truly original armor doctrines (generally known as "blitzkreig" and "deep battle") fully implemented. Storm of Steel relates how the German and Soviet armies formulated and chose to put into practice doctrines that were innovative for the time, yet in many respects identical to one another.

As part of her extensive archival...