The Special Boat Service is a special operations unit of the United Kingdom’s Royal Navy. Although little known in comparison to its famous cousin, the Special Air Service, the SBS also has its origin in World War II. After the Fall of France in 1940, an isolated Britain marshalled its forces to defend the far-flung corners of its empire, but …
Notwithstanding that the Wehrmacht, the united armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935-1946, commited some of the worst large-scale atrocities the world has ever seen, many people today are fascinated with this military machine on account alone of its technological accomplishments. After all, Germany’s engineers and designers during that period paved the way to the future with innovations in infrared …
World War II’s ashes were still warm when the Cold War began, and it began in a world that had been fundamentally changed by the former conflict. Warfare would never be the same, especially after the events of Aug. 6 and 9, 1945, but on account of other developments as well. For instance, most major powers were still using biplanes …
Germany’s Grenzschutzgruppe 9, or Border Protection Group 9, is the premier counterterrorist unit on the European continent. Like many similar units, GSG 9 was formed in the wake of tragedy. On September 5, 1972, in what is now known as the Munich massacre, members of the Palestinian terrorist group Black September murdered 11 Israeli athletes in the fallout of an …
Unfortunately for Luger, the 9×19-chambered pistols he sent to the 1907 U.S. field trials did not impress the reviewers enough to be selected, although neither did the ones chambered in .45 ACP. It was not so much an issue of caliber as pistol design that kept the Luger, and thus the 9×19, out of U.S. inventory at that time, and …
In the 1970s, Heckler & Koch began licensing companies worldwide to produce various models of its legendary roller-delayed blowback firearms: MP5, G3, HK33, HK21 and others. In addition to manufacturing these guns for their host-country military and police forces, most licensees also have or at least had a healthy export business. Examples include MKE in Turkey (has), POF in Pakistan …
The 9×19 is the most popular handgun cartridge of our era, serving military, law enforcement, and civilians worldwide. And unlike other handgun cartridges of the same general time period, such as the .38 Special and the .45 ACP, the 9×19 — officially 9x19mm Parabellum, 9mm Luger, or 9 mm NATO (I will explain each of these and what they mean …
Although the British SAS, or Special Air Service, was not the first unit to adopt the MP5, it can certainly lay claim to being the unit that made the MP5 internationally famous. The SAS enjoys notoriety in the modern world for its counterterrorism exploits, but it also has just about the longest and most contiguous history of any currently active …
Roller-delayed blowback firearms are legendary for their quality, endurance, reliability, and accuracy. Quite honestly, they have few rivals. But in a world dominated by plug-and-play AR-15s, the undersupported and more mechanically complex roller-delayed system can be intimidating. Where can you turn if you want to clean up the trigger on your Z-5RS or MP5? And if you don’t want to …
On May 29, 1453, Constantinople fell to Mehmed the Conqueror, the leader of the Ottoman Turks. Byzantium’s 1,500-year history came to a thunderous end as Ottoman bombards — massive siege cannons firing enormous projectiles weighing as much as a ton — battered the ancient walls to rubble. The Ottoman bombards were cast and crewed by a man known as Orban …
