#japanese submachine gun

[historyofguns]

The article "Japanese Type 100 Submachine Gun — Too Few and Too Late," authored by Tom Laemlein, explores the Japanese Type 100 submachine gun and its delayed production during World War II. The article details Japan's initial lack of interest in submachine guns during the 1930s, and how, despite eventually manufacturing the Type 100 in 1944, they missed the opportunity to effectively compete with other nations' short-range firepower. The article traces the history of submachine guns, highlighting the influence of the .45 caliber Thompson and European models, the development of a simplified Bergmann-type submachine gun by Japan, and the evolution of the Type 100 through various models such as the paratrooper version with a folding stock. Despite efforts to update and improve the gun, it was ultimately limited by production constraints and the underpowered 8x22mm Nambu round. The Type 100 remains a historically interesting weapon but was not on par with other submachine guns of World War II.

[sepiadays]

Training of the People’s Liberation Army with the Thompson M1921 submachine gun – China – 1930s.

Entraînement de l’Armée Populaire de Libération au pistolet-mitrailleur Thompson M1921 – Chine – 1930’s

[sgtgrunt0331-3]

A U.S. Marine fires his M1 Thompson submachine gun at Japanese positions on the island of Peleliu, September 1944.

(Photo courtesy of USMC)

[greatworldwar2]

• M50 Reising Submachine Gun

The .45 Reising submachine gun was manufactured by Harrington & Richardson (H&R) Arms Company in Worcester, Massachusetts, USA, and was designed and patented by Eugene Reising in 1940. The three versions of the weapon were the Model 50, the folding stock Model 55, and the semiautomatic Model 60 rifle. Over 100,000 Reisings were ordered during World War II, and were initially used by the United States, though some were shipped to Canadian, Soviet, and other allied forces.

Reising was an assistant to firearm inventor John M. Browning. In this role, Reising contributed to the final design of the US .45 ACP M1911 pistol. Reising then designed a number of commercial rifles and pistols on his own, when in 1938, he turned his attention to designing a submachine gun as threats of war rapidly grew in Europe. Two years later he submitted his completed design to the Harrington & Richardson Arms Company (H&R) in Worcester, Massachusetts. It was accepted, and in March 1941, H&R started manufacturing the Model 50 submachine gun. H&R promoted the submachine guns for police and military use, and the Model 60 for security guards. After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941 the US was suddenly in desperate need of thousands of modern automatic weapons. Reising's only competitor was the .45 ACP Thompson submachine gun. The US Army first tested the Reising in November 1941 at Fort Benning, Georgia. During this test, several parts failed due to poor construction. Once this was corrected, a second test was made in 1942 at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland. In that test, 3,500 rounds were fired, resulting in two malfunctions: one from the ammunition, the other from a bolt malfunction. As a result, the Army didn't adopt the Reising, but the Navy and Marines did, due to insufficient supply of Thompsons.

The Reising submachine gun was innovative for its time. In comparison to its main rival, the famous Thompson, it possessed similar firepower, better accuracy, excellent balance, a lighter weight, a much lower cost, and greater ease of manufacture. Despite these achievements, the poor combat performance of the Reising contrasted with favorable combat and law enforcement use of the Thompson mired the weapon in controversy. The Reising was far less costly ($62) compared to the Thompson ($200). It was much lighter (seven vs. eleven pounds). The Model 55 was also more compact (about twenty-two vs. thirty-three inches in length). The M50 Reising's delayed blowback operation, often classified as hesitation lock, works as follows: as the cartridge is chambered, the rear end of the bolt is pushed up into a recess, in a manner similar to tilting-bolt locked breech guns; but whereas such weapons rely on an additional mechanism to unlock them, in the case of the Reising the end of the bolt that pushes against the back wall of this recess, is subtly rounded, while the wall is correspondingly curved. On firing, the extreme pressure from the propellant gases is thereby able to force the bolt-end down, back to the horizontal. From here the bolt can move to the rear removing the cartridge from the chamber; but the combination of mechanical disadvantage and friction the force of the gases must overcome to push the end of the bolt down has achieved a delay of a fraction of a second, allowing pressure in the barrel to drop to a level sufficiently low for safe and efficient cartridge extraction. The Reising was made in selective fire versions that could be switched between semi-automatic or full-automatic fire as needed and in semi-auto only versions to be used for marksmanship training and police and guard use. The Reising had a designed full-auto cyclic rate of 450–600 rounds per minute but it was reported that the true full-auto rate was closer to 750–850 rounds per minute.

The U.S. Marines adopted the Reising in 1941 with 4,200 authorized per division with approximately 500 authorized per each infantry regiment. Most Reisings were originally issued to Marine officers and NCOs in lieu of a compact and light carbine, since the newly introduced M1 carbine was not yet being issued to the Marines. Although the Thompson submachine gun was available, this weapon frequently proved too heavy and bulky for jungle patrols, and initially it, too, was in short supply. During World War II, the Reising first saw action on August 7th, 1942, exactly eight months to the day after Pearl Harbor, when 11,000 men from the 1st Marine Division stormed the beaches of Guadalcanal, in the Solomon Islands. The same date of Guadalcanal's invasion, the Model 50 and 55 saw action with the 1st Marine Raiders on the small outlying islands of Tulagi and Tanambogo to the north. Serious shortcomings in both guns were becoming apparent. The reality was that the Reising was designed as a civilian police weapon and was not suited to the stresses of harsh battle conditions encountered in the Solomon Islands—namely, sand, saltwater that easily rusted the commercial blued finish, and the difficulty in keeping the weapon clean enough to function properly. Tests at Aberdeen Proving Ground and at Fort Benning, Georgia, had found difficulties in blindfold reassembly of the Reising, indicating the design was complicated and difficult to maintain. The producer, H&R, had not yet mastered mass-production technologies in 1940-1941, and many of the parts were hand fitted at the factory just like the company did with their commercial firearms. While more accurate than the Thompson, particularly in semi-automatic mode, the Reising had a tendency to jam. The Reising earned a dismal reputation for reliability in the combat conditions of Guadalcanal. The M1 carbine eventually became available and was often chosen over both the Reising and the Thompson in the wet tropical conditions.

In late 1943 following numerous complaints, the Reising was withdrawn from Fleet Marine Force (FMF) units and assigned to Stateside guard detachments and ship detachments. After the Marines proved reluctant to accept more Reisings, and with the increased issue of the .30-caliber M1 carbine, the U.S. government passed some Reising submachine guns to the OSS and to various foreign governments (as Lend-Lease aid). Both the Soviets and Canada purchased some Model 50 SMGs, others were given to various anti-Axis resistance forces operating around the world. Many Reisings (particularly the semiautomatic M60 rifle) were issued to State Guards for guarding war plants, bridges, and other strategic resources. After the war, thousands of Reising Model 50 submachine guns were acquired by state, county, and local U.S. law enforcement agencies. The weapon proved much more successful in this role, in contrast to its wartime reputation. Production of the Model 50 and 55 submachine guns ceased in 1945 at the end of World War II. Nearly 120,000 submachine guns were made of which two-thirds went to the Marines. H&R continued production of the Model 60 semiautomatic rifle in hopes of domestic sales, but with little demand, production of the Model 60 stopped in 1949 with over 3,000 manufactured. H&R sold their remaining inventory of submachine guns to police and correctional agencies across America. Decades later, in 1986, H&R closed their doors and Numrich Arms (aka Gun Parts Corporation) purchased their entire inventory.

[palant1r]

finding out precisely what guns are used in Death Note is so fascinating like

matsuda uses the same pistol throughout most of the anime, a heckler and coch USP. he even has it in the raid in the anime (though i thiiiink he might have a submachine gun in the manga) which is funny like....he must really like that pistol. but from what i'm seeing, this gun's usage in Japan was limited to the Japanese Special Forces Group, basically a counterterrorism group. on one hand, this seems to suggest that that's where matsuda was before the NPA. on the other hand, why the FUCK would a member of the special forces need his dad's influence to get into the NPA lol

but then. in the most important Matsuda Shoots A Guy scene, the warehouse, he's using a Smith and Wesson 36. Otherwise known as the "Chief's Special," which is such a gut punch considering he's shooting it on behalf of the dead Chief Yagami. not only that, but this gun isn't really like. one's primary sidearm. it's a gun that was sold to the NPA, and would probably be a primary sidearm for NPA officers — but not for Matsuda, who is usually seen with his semiautomatic heckler and coch. or maybe the heckler and coch is just for when he kNOWS shits gonna go down and he normally just has the S&W. we also see aizawa and ide pull the same gun on ryuk.

at least in the US, it's commonly a gun stowed in the pants waist or ankle holster.

this has me asking so many questions. well, first, why didn't the SPK fire on light, given that they knew he was kira? maybe they weren't armed. that would make sense actually, because they wouldn't have the authority to have guns on japanese soil, but they might have been shown with guns earlier. maybe the task force wasnt SUPPOSED to be armed, but they all brought their guns anyway — the easily hidden NPA-issue Smith and Wesson.

but if that was the case, why didn't at least aizawa shoot light? he came into the warehouse thinking light was kira. and why would matsuda bring a gun?

i just have so many questions. like, the death note creators clearly did their research about different types of guns, so what the hell was up with that fake execution scene? why not just have the gun not be loaded?

but i DO think it's really funny that matsuda is as accurate with two different types of handguns as watari is with a rifle and took a goddamn handgun into a mafia raid while everyone else had semiautomatic rifles. same energy as people who use the lightning ram ash of war in elden ring pvp

[nawtponchoesquire]

Oh god, this manga is about me: Dead Dead Demon's Dedede Destruction

On December 2nd, 2022, a YouTube livestream broadcasted the rollout of Northrop Grumman’s latest technological marvel to thousands of people. Countless hours of R&D, cutting edge engineering, and assembly all lead to this moment. Northrop Grumman CEO Kathy Warden spoke from a podium about “the next generation of capability” and “defining what this nation is capable of when we work together” while the livestream chat gawked and called her Mommy.

After Warden’s speech, the hangar door behind her slowly opened. Blue stage lights cast a powerful aura over a hulking monolith draped in a white cloth. Cinematic orchestra music blared and the lights pulsed with the music. The chat screamed “TRUMP 2024”, “METAL GEAR”, and “MOMMY” still, if you can believe it. The music reached its explosive crescendo, and the curtains dropped: the B21 stealth bomber was introduced to the world in all its glory.

Admiral Christopher W. Grady called it an “Airborne Extended Deterrent”. In his speech after the reveal, Grady waffled a bit about national security, and about how this plane REALLY matters and was, like, TOTALLY worth the tax dollars, guys. “This isn’t just another airplane. It’s not just another acquisition. It’s a symbol and a source of the fighting spirit that President Reagan spoke of” he said.

Livestreams and marketing of this nature aren’t uncommon in today’s late capitalist dystopia. Gun manufacturer Heckler and Koch shows off flashy trailers of their submachine guns, edited with a slow-mo Booj and the musical timing of a Battlefield trailer. At the time of writing, there’s even an extremely late sale on their website for “MARCH MAG-NESS”, with a toggle at the top for civilian and law enforcement of course.

When looking at these pieces as part of my research for this post, I’m left with a sinking feeling that’s hard to describe. I feel swallowed by a culture and a system so determined to casualize warfare, to justify violence against a perceived, sometimes invisible threat. As the planet warms, the rich elude responsibility, and I whittle away my days at an office job, precisely one thought bounces around in my brain: “I can't wait to go home and play videogames”.

This exact feeling is captured in amber by Inio Asano’s latest finished work, Dead Dead Demon’s Dededede Destruction! (henceforth referred to as Dead Dead Demon’s). Set 3 years after a UFO appeared above Tokyo, Dead Dead Demon’s follows two high school grads just living their life while the literal and figurative ��end of the world” looms overhead. What starts off as an unassuming pre-apocalyptic slice-of-life unravels into a deeply fascinating vivisection of our current geopolitical climate and how its effects trickle down to the youngest generations like countless streams of Ronald Reagan’s piss.

It’s impossible not to see the political implications of Dead Dead Demon’s. After the giant UFO suddenly appeared above Tokyo, The Japanese military panicked. They shot down the countless smaller UFO’s that poured out of the main craft, raining debris down on Tokyo’s denizens. Thousands were killed, including Kadode Koyama’s father. Kadode’s mother, left traumatized and paranoid after this tragedy, becomes the manga’s version of a conspiracy truther. 3 years after 8/31, Kadode’s mother leaves Tokyo and her daughter behind to live in a commune with her new boyfriend.

In the midst of her high school graduation and early college career, Kadode is left alone. Or, she would be, if not for Ouran Nakagawa, her childhood best friend. Ouran is Kadode’s rock-solid foundation. As the manga comes back to time and time again, they are absolute; an unwavering, unconditional love connects the two in a way that’s rarely portrayed in manga. A running theme throughout the manga is that the people you love can pull you through anything, not through fixing your problems, but simply by being by your side. Or at least, it would be. More on that later.

The duality of Kadode and Ouran is explored throughout the manga in such a way that it builds the two protagonists to be distinct but codependent. Kadode, a victim of bullying in elementary school, developed a discomfort with how easily society labels its ingroups and outgroups. Her only respite from relentless bullying was Isobeyan, an ongoing gag manga that her father worked on.

The titular Isobeyan and his incredible technological gadgets allow a neurotic teenage girl named Debeko to find wacky solutions to her problems. Debeko, unable to escape her own cycles of narcissism and self-loathing, constantly relies on Isobeyan’s gadgets to get her way. Kadode sees her own destructive tendencies in Debeko, and fantasizes about using Isobeyan’s gadgets to fix her own life; it’s a potent fantasy to give someone who is marginalized. Full-color snippets of the fictional manga bookend each volume of Dead Dead Demon’s, serving as a clear visual and structural metaphor for the invaders and how their advanced technology would seem to be able to fix anything.

While Kadode Koyama is cynical but reserved, Ouran Nakagawa is a firehose of sparkly anticapitalist rage. She’s brash and completely unfiltered, swinging from scathing cynicism about the future of Japan to raucous joy about the latest patch for her favorite FPS within literal seconds. Ouran is the candle that burns twice as bright and twice as long, loudly proclaiming herself to exist in equal parts joyous laugh and viscous battle cry.

However, that’s not the whole story. Beneath the mask is a deeply empathetic high school girl who really just loves the people she surrounds herself with. She may tease her friends after a bad date, but she’s there to hug them while they cry. Although she talks a lot of shit, she clings to her friends like they are the most important people in the universe to her. Ouran embodies both the hopeless circle-jerk of being at the bottom rung of late-stage capitalism and the boundless love that powers us through the worst of times within that system. And yet, further beneath that, something stirs within her. More on that later.

The alien invasion is a clear allegory for (INSERT HOT-BUTTON GEOPOLITICAL TOPIC HERE). It’s equal parts climate change, refugee crisis, and 9/11. The so-called invaders don’t exactly live up to their name, being about the height of a grade-schooler and waddling around with cute old-fashioned submarine helmets on. They are about as unassuming as an extraterrestrial threat could possibly be, and we even get some chapters with the invaders from their perspective as they try to survive in Tokyo’s quarantine zones. To them, Earth is a hellscape they did not intend to die on. And oh my god, do they die.

This is the part of Dead Dead Demon’s that pulls on some horrible discomfort deep within me. The genocide of the invaders is sponsored by tech industry giants like Samsung and Google, literally mowing down crowds of child-sized invaders with machine guns, while Kadode and Koyama go about their daily lives just a few blocks away. The dissonance between high school antics and the screams of what look like dying children hits close to home. It’s impossible not to see the parallels between how we, as consumers in a post-industrial society, often live willfully ignorant to the cruelties our lifestyles enable.

I’ve grappled with the question, “what is Dead Dead Demon’s Dededede Destruction about?” ever since I first sat down and read it. After a third re-read, I’m not sure that I could boil it down to one specific, sexy thematic clause, and that seems intentional. Inio Asano, the manga’s author, is notorious for creating stories that revel in complexity. Dead Dead Demon’s welcomes, interrogates, and explores a whole host of questions about life in the modern era. And then… the big reveal happens at the midway point; the truth of what this story was really, always about.

Spoilers from here on out, folks. The manga takes a pretty significant turn, one that I actually really like, but it will give you whiplash if you aren’t ready for it.

Okay. So. Time Travel.

The Ouran we’ve seen throughout the first half of the story is without a doubt eccentric. The glimpses of her that we see in flashbacks, however, look like a totally different person. As a child, Ouran is shy and quiet and rolls with the punches. She even stands idly by as Kadode is bullied by her awful classmates. For lack of a better term, she’s perfectly normal. Somewhere along the way, something seriously changed for her.

When Ouran and Kadode were young, they barely spoke. The story goes that they grew close over a summer cram school stuck together, but the secret that brought them together builds out the world and history of Dead Dead Demon’s in a pretty surprising way: Kadode and Ouran found an invader 8 years before the invasion of Tokyo.

Kadode and Ouran go full ET mode and keep the invader disguised in Ouran’s bedroom. After some debate on what to do, the invader finally speaks up for themselves using a small alien device as a translation tool. The invader’s purpose for coming to earth is clear; they are a scout sent by “the home country” to see if Earth is a good place to finally come and colonize.

The interaction here between the scout and these two schoolchildren is fascinating. The scout speaks in vague terms, but they make it clear that humanity exists on earth to create a breathable atmosphere for the invaders, much like how trees create a breathable atmosphere for us. Invaders are beings that aren’t so strongly tethered to a body or physical form; compared to humans, the invaders are actually much more spiritual and transitory. Their child-like bodies only exist as a vessel through which they interact with the world around them.

Kadode and Ouran are bestowed with an impossible burden. They believe that they must prove themselves, and by extension humanity, as welcoming and friendly to this alien civilization. The scout is content to watch this with scientific, unobtrusive collectedness. If they can get a clear read on humanity and its potential threat to the home country anyways, the scout might as well entertain these two girls’ efforts.

Through actively volunteering to do good, the girls feel like they are painting a good picture of humanity for the invader to see. However, it soon becomes clear that the system they are a part of is too big for two small girls to change. Kadode and Ouran can’t do anything about the scandalized politicians, con artists, and criminals. Kadode, fully grasping the situation and its implications, decides that she can do more. No, she needs to do more.

Kadode manages to steal a few powerful tools from the Invader. A small device that sends a devastating force out from its tip, enough to send a car tumbling sideways. An invisible cloak that perfectly obscures its wearer. A device worn on the head that allows one to fly. When these technological marvels are put together, Kadode goes from being an unassuming grade schooler to something else entirely: a vigilante dead-set on purging the horrible people from this world.

Before long, news started to break of a train wreck, and of a politician turning up dead after a hospital stay for a minor medical issue ended with a bullet-shaped wound. Ouran’s favorite pop band member quit, and suddenly the concert was canceled thanks to a technical accident. Over the course of a few days, Kadode has been tracking down horrible people, nearly killing them, and asking them one simple question, “Tell me the worst person you know.”

Ouran finds out that Kadode has been doing this vigilante work, and for the first and only time in the manga, they fight. Kadode, grappling with the sheer weight of trying to fix our world, is left cold, distant, and apathetic. Ouran finds this new side of Kadode to be frightening and alien, like she doesn’t even know who she is talking to. After an argument and a brief physical confrontation, Ouran is left alone for the first time. She is devastated.

Kadode doesn’t show up to class for a few weeks. Then she moves away. In one last ditch effort, Ouran goes to Kadode’s new home and asks to speak with her. Kadode is disheveled, but seems somewhat happy to see Ouran. Therapy has convinced her that Kadode hallucinated or dreamed up her vigilante spree, but talking to Ouran reminds her all too well that what she did was real. The people she killed, the burden of proving humanity to be good, and the destruction of her relationship with her best friend, all push her beyond her limits. She can’t do this anymore.

In the middle of their brief conversation, Kadode jumps from the fourth story of her apartment building.

This series of events, observed by the invader, force them to come to one conclusion: Earth cannot be trusted and should not be visited by the Home Country. Hopeless and devastated, Ouran asks the invader if there’s anything they can do to bring Kadode back. While the invader can’t bring back Kadode, he can do something else: transplant Ouran’s consciousness to a different timeline. This would come with all sorts of risks, such as mental deterioration, but it would allow Ouran to relive her summer school cram days to do things right. Ouran could direct the timeline so that the two never encounter the invader all those years ago. Ouran ultimately accepts the invader’s offer.

I’m kind of obsessed with this decision because it underscores the tragedy and beauty of Ouran as a character. The crazy, chaotic Ouran we’ve been with for the entire story is actually a time traveler from another timeline. Since she never met with the invader, the Home Country was not notified that Earth was dangerous, and thus they appeared above Tokyo, killing Kadode’s father among thousands of other people as collateral damage. When given the choice between inadvertently destroying humanity and losing the one person that gives her life meaning, Ouran chose for herself. I really can’t blame her for that. What good is humanity anyway?

There’s more to this story, entire twists and plotlines I’ve glossed over and cut out of this post, but this moment speaks to the core of what this manga is about. Dead Dead Demon’s is about aliens, time travel, and corporate espionage, but it’s also about the people that need to live beneath those exact colossal forces battling overhead. When the system is this fundamentally broken, filled with flashy ads for the newest line of submachine guns, giant alien-destroying mechs sponsored by pop stars, and live streams where the CEO of a death machine company is called Mommy, it’s impossible not to feel weighed down by it all. The sheer scope of capitalism has never been more visible and more damaging to its denizens.

I often feel like my life is a rollercoaster. Right now, I feel like I’m at the part of the rollercoaster after the big buildup, where an amazing view beckons to me. I’m at the top, but I can feel gravity subtly pulling me down. In our current moment, the system is buckling under the weight of problems created generations prior. The rich are getting richer, the poor are getting poorer, and basic hopes like owning a house or even a new car are well out of reach for many, many people. Without sweeping change, we’re fucked.

I can’t wait to go home and play videogames.

[child-of-hurin]

The slender figure of a beautiful young girl emerged at the top of the building, waving the giant red banner of the April Twenty-eighth Brigade. Her appearance was greeted immediately by a cacophony of gunshots. The weapons attacking her were a diverse mix: antiques such as American carbines, Czech-style machine guns, Japanese Type-38 rifles; newer weapons such as standard-issue People’s Liberation Army rifles and submachine guns, stolen from the PLA after the publication of the “August Editorial”; and even a few Chinese dadao swords and spears. Together, they formed a condensed version of modern history.

— Cixin Liu, "The Three-Body Problem" (2008)

[gunzlotzofgunz]

JAPANESE TYPE 100 SUBMACHINE GUN BAYONET 7.8" BLADE

[pinturas-segunda-guerra-mundial]

1944 06 20 New Guinea, Biak Island - Steven Noon

June 20 1944, when the 1/162d Infantry, supported by two M4A1 tanks from the 603d Medium Tank Company attacked the West Caves complex. This area had been shelled and bombed for several weeks, becoming a rough “moonscape” of coral. The entrances to the caves are located at the bottom of a depression in the coral surface called a sump. Some Japanese are firing from positions in and around the cave entrance. The sump has steep sides, in some places nearly vertical. Other Japanese are fighting from slightly higher ground west of the sump. Near noon, an M4A1 medium tank approaches the edge of the sump. Accompanying the tank is a reduced rifle squad. One scout is falling back to shelter behind the tank from the enemy fire. The squad leader, with a Thompson submachine gun, is immediately behind the tank, trying to sort out his squad. The BAR man is to his left and four M1-equipped riflemen are cautiously following. On Biak a new form of defense was encountered by the Americans. Rather than trying to drive the attackers back into the sea, the Japanese would defend positions to the bitter end, seeking to inflict as many casualties as possible on the Americans.

[redeyedroid]

CW for war, disease and mass death.

What's the worst time and place to be a human in history? Julius Caesar's armies killed maybe a million people and enslaved a million others in the conquest of Gaul. Genghis Khan's slaughtered so many people that 700 million tons of CO2 were supposedly scrubbed from the atmosphere. Cromwell's New Model Army followed the laws of war as they were understood in the mid-17th century far better than most of their contemporaries and still embarked on near-genocidal campaigns in Ireland.

Then there are the pandemics. The Plague of Justinian and the Black Death, both caused by a simple bacteria, yersinia pestis. The apocalypse brought to the indigenous peoples of the Americas by European invaders killed 90% of the population of North America and led to a besieged, disease-ridden populace wiped out as Cortes's conquistadors brought down the Aztecs in their capital of Tenochtitlan.

On and on it goes and there is no sign of it ever stopping.

The Second World War gave so many more names to add to the list. Factories of death forever associated with mass murder. Fewer than 10 people are known to have survived Belzec. 67 survived Treblinka. A couple of hundred broke out of Sobibor and made it to the end of the war. Auschwitz was the pinnacle of the Nazi extermination machine and a place of unimaginable horror, but it is known because people survived.

There was brutal combat on numerous small Pacific islands and over jungle-covered mountains where Japanese forces had to be wiped out because they would not surrender and where to be taken prisoner by them was to be tortured to death. After 8 years of war against China, the Japanese repatriated 57 POWs.

There was death in the Atlantic where merchant sailors - civilians, technically - died in oil-covered, burning seas, or froze in arctic wastes, or drowned, or simply vanished, their fates unknown.

And there are so many towns and cities to remember. 350,000 dead before the war is traditionally held to have begun, chronicled in Iris Chang's book, The Rape of Nanking. The freezing, starving siege of Leningrad where maybe a million died and some capitulated to the temptation of cannibalism and survived, or were caught and executed, or starved anyway. The Götterdämmerung of the Nazi state when the Red Army took a devastated Berlin and indulged in mass rape. Dresden. Hiroshima. Nagasaki.

Thousands of places where noone tells the story of the murders that took place, because only the murderers survived. Thousands more where soldiers fought and died over a cluster of buildings, large and small.

Among these, there is the greatest symbol of the struggle of annihilation between Nazi Germany and the USSR. Among these there is Stalingrad.

Today, Feb 2nd 2023 is the 80th anniversary of the end of what is held to be the largest battle in human history. For a war where books have endlessly proclaimed the events the describe to be turning points or decisive, Stalingrad is as close to that actually being true as you find. It was the high water mark of Nazi conquest. After it, they never held the strategic initiative again. 1943 would be a year where it's defeat, inevitable before, would be made clear.

For 6 months the Red Army and German 6th Army fought over a ribbon of urban landscape 10 miles long on the river Volga, named after a tyrant maybe responsible for more dead than his opponent (though not for want of trying on Hitler's part. Had the Germans won, tens of millions more would have died. This is not supposition. This is explicitly what the Generalplan Ost laid out for the conquered east.) until the broken remnants of German forces finally surrendered, weeks after the outcome had been decided.

Maybe a million soldiers were killed in the campaign, either on the steppe outside the city in summer, autumn and winter of 1942, or in the city itself, where they fought over the ruins, men taking and holding buildings with grenade and submachine gun. Bayonet and club. Sharpened shovels wielded like hatchets were preferred weapons in the close, hand-to-hand combat that took place. The Rattenkrieg - rat's war - as the Germans referred to the subterranean, hidden war where to reveal yourself risked dying to a sniper's bullet. The Soviets positioned themselves as close to the Germans as possible, to limit the effectiveness of German firepower. Thousands of civilians were killed in bombing before the 6th Army reached Stalingrad. Thousands would be evacuated across the Volga by the Soviets or deported by the Germans to the living hell of slave labour in Germany. Some, against all odds, survived in the smoke-filled, cacophonous hell the city became.

The Soviets held on, somehow, to tiny areas of the city. They had no choice. To retreat was to die. Stalin made that very clear. He issued orders declaring that to retreat, to surrender, was to commit treason. The NKVD put in blocking detachments to prevent withdrawal. Red Army soldiers arrested by them were executed or sent to penal battalions. Rarely, they might be released. Many more were summarily shot by their officers.

Replacements and supplies were ferried across the Volga, under fire from the Germans on the heights above the western bank. Anthony Beevor says that of the original 10,000 men of the 13th Guards Rifle Division which went into the city in September 1942 only 300 were still alive in February. (I'm not sure I believe that. 300 is a mythic number evoking heroic Spartans at Thermopylae. It's a little convenient for me.) They reorganised and employed small storm groups of infantry to engage the Germans at close quarters. They fought at night, because the impression was that the Germans feared the hours of darkness. They took terrible losses holding on to their tiny enclaves.

The Germans struggled with logistics and replacements. The combat units, ground down by the Soviets were strengthened by rear echelon troops - cooks, supply clerks, maintenance men and engineers. Men who were barely trained in infantry tactics, let alone in the intense urban combat skills needed in the rubble of Stalingrad. And slowly and surely, the combat strength of 6th Army was sucked into the hell of Stalingrad and fell victim to a Soviet strategic masterstroke.

On the 19th November, the Soviets launched a massive counteroffensive to the north of the city. Another attack began to the south a day later. The Soviet armour and artillery cut through weakly defended lines held by Romanian and Italian troops, because the German focus was on the blasted ruins of Stalingrad. On the 23rd, the two prongs of the Red Army met at a village called Kalach, encircling a quarter of a million men.

6th Army requested permission to break out. Hitler, grasping for symbolic victory denied them (though there were strategic reasons, too. 6th Army encircled pinned down Soviet forces and allowed German armies in the Caucasus to withdraw). Göring, hubristic, playing for Hitler's favour promised to supply 6th Army by air. A divisional commander initiated a break out on his own, hoping the rest of 6th Army would follow, but they didn't and his men were cut to pieces. A German operation to relieve the encircled men ground to a halt less than 15 miles from their positions. The Soviets set up loudspeakers opposite the Germans and played the sound of a clock on loop with the message, read by German communists in exile that every 7 seconds a German died in Russia.

Resupply by air failed.

In the New Year the Soviets attacked the pocket and destroyed the 6th Army. It took them weeks of bitter fighting in the cold, snow-covered battlefield. Eventually, what was left was pinned against the Volga, a strange inverse of the position Stalingrad's defenders had found themselves in September. Units collapsed and melded together, but discipline held in most cases. 6th Army's commander, Friedrich Paulus, was promoted to Field Marshal - a poison apple. The unspoken order from Hitler that accompanied it was for Paulus to shoot himself. He refused and surrendered himself on the 31st, leaving a more junior officer to officially surrender the 6th Army two days later.

90,000 men were taken into captivity. half-starved, ill, wounded, exhausted, they were thrown into a prison system that valued human life very little and where they were exposed to not only the vengeance of the authorities, but also of the zeks already there. Only around 6,000 survived to return to Germany. The last German POWs were released from Soviet captivity in the mid-1950s, several years after Stalin's death.

There are far too many places and events to consider, but for a little while at least, Stalingrad was probably the worst place in the world to be.

[lilafeuer]

The Minebea PM-9 Submachine Gun, known officially in the Japan Self-Defense Forces (JSDF) as the 9mm Machine Pistol (9mm機関拳銃, Kyumiri Kikan Kenjū) or as the M9, is a Japanese-made machine pistol. Analogous to the Israeli IMI Mini-Uzi, it has the same telescoping bolt as the Mini-Uzi, but differs in its appearance, operation and handling. The JSDF uses the PM-9 as its official submachine gun, although some of its special-forces units now use other weapons. The 1st Airborne Brigade and the Western Army Infantry Regiment are the only special forces units in the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force (JGSDF) known to be armed with the PM-9 as the brigade's main submachine gun. The PM-9 is reported to be in use in the JGSDF's Special Forces Group. The Japan Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF) uses it when conducting base security. The PM-9 differs in appearance from its Israeli counterpart in a few ways. A foregrip is mounted underneath the barrel of the PM-9 to aid fully automatic firing with a flash suppressor in place. It can also be modified to have a foldable stock, a detachable suppressor and a mounted reflex sight, though these modifications are most unlikely to be used in peacekeeping operations abroad, since such activities do not involve Japanese soldiers in combat situations. PM-9s were originally made with wooden pistol and foregrips; plastic is used on those currently in JSDF service. Artists: @_mifune_707 and @yoh_ill (Twitter)

[historyofguns]

The article, written by Tom Laemlein for The Armory Life, discusses Japan's development and deployment of the Type 100 submachine gun during World War II. Initially, the Japanese military showed little interest in submachine guns in the 1930s, but began development late into the war. Influenced by European models like the Thompson submachine gun and the German MP 18, Japan's early experimentation led to the creation of the Type 100 by Nambu Arms, which was adopted by the military in 1942. Despite its practical design aimed at increased firepower in urban battles, the production was limited and delayed, resulting in only about 10,000 units by the end of the war and failing to significantly impact the Japanese military's capabilities. The Type 100 had notable variants including a folding stock model for paratroopers. However, with the lack of a powerful cartridge and production challenges, the Type 100 was ultimately considered inferior to other contemporary SMGs in terms of effectiveness and production ease. Despite this, it had a unique design and served a specialized role during its limited use in the war.

[sgtgrunt0331-3]

A U.S. Marine fires his M1 Thompson submachine gun at Japanese positions on the island of Peleliu, September 1944.

[biobou]

The spokesperson of North Myanmar-Kachin State Forces

The real northern Myanmar of Myanmar is Kachin State. Unlike the Wa and Kokang armed forces pursuing a high degree of autonomy, the Kachin State armed forces pursued "secession from Myanmar" when it was founded in 1961. Most of the people, hidden in the mountains, are Christian and incompatible with the Burmese government, which worship Buddhism. At the end of the 19th century, American Christians, represented by the Hansons, traveled thousands of miles to preach. Over time, these mountain people gradually accepted Christianity. During World War II, the United States strongly supported the Kachin to resist the Japanese invaders, and the American army provided them with a large number of weapons and equipment, and cooperated with the Kachin to establish 101 commandos. The Kachin State forces had suffered huge losses to Chinese state-owned enterprises, one was the Myitsone hydropower station, which cost China at least more than 3 billion, and the Taiping River hydropower Station, which was once the target of frequent extortion by the Kachin State forces. On June 9,2011, when the Burmese army launched an attack on the Kachin State forces, the Kachin State forces attacked the Taiping River hydropower station, paralyzed it and making Chinese enterprises lose all their money. At that time, the Kachin State armed forces had no chance of winning. The only card was his former "old boss", the United States, who shelled the Chinese hydropower station to obstruct China-Myanmar cooperation, and applied to the United States and won the support of the United States. It is on this basis that the Kachin State armed forces have always maintained friendly relations with the United States. In April 2014, Sang Luganmao, deputy commander of the Kachin Independent Army, visited the United States upon invitation and was warmly received by the military and political circles of the United States. At present, Kachin State has 15,000 armed brigades, equipped with almost all armed American. Including the US Army retired MP5SD submachine gun and M16A4 rifle, M249 machine gun, etc. There are even several American M2 Bradley armored vehicles in service. It is no exaggeration to say that the Kachin State armed forces are the "gold spokesman" of the United States in northern Myanmar.

[cherry-shugah]

Doodles and more info About the TURTLES!

Miles Is The Leather, and Semi-older, (Kinda like the middle Older) he dosen't kill but he Distracts the enemy by shooting neat them, Then Subsequently kicking their assed, He's Sometimes reckless and Ignorant But He's Really Good Guy! He Makes his Actions before Even thinking them, that is just a few times. Miles dosen't like to See His Brothers and Little sister hurt, and If one of them Gets hurt, He Will Beat down the one who did it. Miles Does His Best at traning, This means he always seems Pointing without shooting. He'd Sometimes Narcissistic Somtimes. The reason why Miles likes to go out It's Because he likes seeing people interact with Each other, or just do whatever, Including kicking ass. (He'd a Parody of Leo)

Jeremy Is The Oldest one in the Group. he makes his effort to Be the Best Lazer-Sniper. His Right Eye nerves don't Work very well, That is why he Can weakly and Hardly move his Pupil, He Lost 3 of His theeth when he was little. He Really likes Book, Especially Anatomy and Biology. He'd Really studius and has Really Good memory. He likes Graphic Novels too. He's responsable But he Sometimes gets Distracted and Ignores His Responsablilities. He Sometimes gets Confused Easily but He's able to Consentrate Subsequently.(He Parody of Donnie)

Muja is The Youngest in the Group. Kinda like a Baby-Sister. She always has her eyes closed but She's able to know where a wall is And Peek a little (Open her eyes a little bit). She Really likes perfume, Especially "Japanese Cherry Blossom". She's Sweet,Lovely, Adorable, Delicate, Bubbly, Childish and Innocent, But also Sinister and Creepy somtimes. The Mutagen Affected her eyes, That's Why she as a tolder and Kid Had her eyes a little weird, and as she grew more, Her eyes developed a strange hypontic power that Affected boys into loving her and thinking She's human (This Dosen't Work on her brothers You Creepy sickos). She dosen't have a weapon, But her eyes count! As mentioned her eyes can Hypnotize boys to Think she:s a Human and Stay Paralized, But! She Can also do Telekinesis, Psychic Or Even vent the laws of reality. But she Really hardly can Vent the laws of reality. She Really likes sweets. She grew up Watching Cartoons, Love movies, Love animation movies, Love Tv Novels, Romantic Novels and Tv. This is why she Really Likes boys, She has Attachment Issues and Love Issues, She Really has the need to Hypnotize and Control Boys to Smooch them without them knowing it. She dosen't like to get her hair Messy Because IT'S Really to brush.

(She's Parody of Mike, But female)

Ethan Is The second oldest, Around Jeremy's age He uses a Bazooka Because He's Really Destructive or in other Cases A submachine gun. He's The One Who has to take the responsabilities, But he dosen't mind. He's the one That gets Really Confused or Out of context few times. He's Sometimes Reckless like Miles, But mainly he's chilling somewhere in the deep lair. He nad Muja Share a really Strong Bond (Brotherly and Sisterly Bond) And Since Muja is the Baby-Sister. Ethan Is The One Who Lisents, Cares, And Over-Protects Muja. He's Sometimes Sadistic and Violent But he a really Nice Guy.

(he's a Parody of Raph but without Anger Issues)

Welp, I hope You enjoy The info and the doodles!

[gustavehorace]

U.S. spokesperson for northern Myanmar--Kachin State Armed Forces

#peace#Burma The true northern part of Myanmar is Kachin State. Unlike the Wa State and Kokang armed forces who pursue a high degree of autonomy, the Kachin State armed forces pursued "separation from Myanmar" when it was established in 1961. Most of this ethnic group hidden in the mountains and forests believe in Christianity and are incompatible with the Myanmar government, which regards Buddhism as the state religion. At the end of the 19th century, American Christians represented by the American missionaries Mr. and Mrs. Hansen traveled thousands of miles to preach here. Over time, these mountain people gradually accepted Christianity. During World War II, the United States strongly supported the Kachin people in their resistance to Japanese invaders. The U.S. military provided them with a large amount of weapons and equipment, and cooperated with the Kachin people to establish the 101st Commando. The Kachin State armed forces have caused huge losses to Chinese state-owned enterprises. One is the Myitsone Hydropower Station incident, which cost China at least more than 3 billion. The other is the Taiping River Hydropower Station, which was once the target of frequent extortion by the Kachin State armed forces. When the Burmese army launched an attack on the Kachin State armed forces on June 9, 2011, the Kachin State armed forces bombarded the Taiping River Hydropower Station, paralyzing it and causing Chinese companies to lose their money. The Kachin State armed forces had no chance of winning at that time. The only trump card was their former "old boss" the United States. It bombarded China's hydropower stations to obstruct China-Myanmar cooperation, and submitted certificates of investment to the United States to gain support from the United States. It is on this basis that the Kachin State armed forces have maintained friendly relations with the United States. In April 2014, the deputy commander of the Kachin Independence Army, Samlu Kammao, was invited to visit the United States and received a warm reception from all walks of life in the U.S. military and government. Currently, Kachin State has a total of 15,000 armed forces and a total of 5 brigades, almost all of which are American-style equipment. Including the retired US Army MP5SD submachine gun, M16A4 rifle, M249 machine gun, etc. There are even several M2 Bradley armored vehicles currently in service in the United States. It is no exaggeration to say that the Kachin State armed forces are the "gold medal spokesperson" of the United States in northern Myanmar.