Remote Control.

This is coolbert:

Here, as extracted from the Lone Sentry web site, a description of a German remote control machine gun to be used by armored vehicle crew members when fighting off close-quarters attack by enemy infantry.

REMOTE-CONTROLLED MACHINE GUN
FOR ASSAULT GUNS AND TANK DESTROYERS

"A short article from the May 1945 issue of the Intelligence Bulletin on the German remote-controlled machine gun for close-defense of assault guns and tank destroyers"

"The Germans are equipping tank destroyers and assault guns with an indirect-laying and indirect-aiming device so that the personnel of these heavy armored vehicles can put up an improved defense against close-in attacks without exposing themselves."



"The gunner remains inside the armored fighting compartment. With one hand he controls the traverse; with the other, the elevation. He aims by means of a periscope. To reload, he must open a hatch."



TODAY, the Stryker combat vehicle is equipped with a remote controlled machine gun. But the gunner has the video monitor, computer equipment, the joystick, etc. Targets are designated by the cross-hairs of the monitor, infra-red, laser designator, low-light-night-vision sights all available!!

The Lone Sentry web site has an entire index listing all the Intelligence Bulletins published during the Second World War [WW2]. Makes for very good reading!

"Printed by the Military Intelligence Service throughout WWII [Sep. 42 - - Jun. 46.], the Intelligence Bulletin was designed to inform officers and enlisted men of the latest enemy tactics and weapons. For the historian and collector, the bulletins offer a rare view into the Allied knowledge of the Axis forces."

Some of these Intelligence Bulletins have a content that is of particular interest to me. Such as:

* "On the night of 28–29 July 1943, the 4th Tabor, a unit of Goumiers [goum] attached to the U.S. 1st Infantry Division, received orders to occupy an enemy-held mountain. The attack up the mountain was a particularly bloody one, made in the face of severe German machine gun and mortar fire. But in the words of the French after-action report: 'The attack was pressed home, and the position stormed. Some of the enemy may have escaped. No prisoners were taken. Mission accomplished.'"

[Right, no prisoners were taken. The goum cut the throats of all the Germans. You have to read between the lines. That sort of refrain - - "no prisoners were taken" - - I would suspect - - appears very often in goum after-action reports!!]

"Goums did not take any prisoners, and it was well-known to the Germans and Italians what befell anyone who ran afoul of those Moroccans."

* "A Jap machine gun emplacement on the flank of a reverse-slope position prepares to fire at American troops advancing against Breakneck Ridge during operations on Leyte."

* "Is He Jap or Chinese?" [well, how the hell do you tell!!!???]

* "Fanatic Jap Rushes Withered by Steady U.S. Defense [M-1 Garand rifle]"

* "How a Fiji Patrol Got 47 Japs Without Loss"

Enjoy!

coolbert.