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Czech vzor 77 Dana SP Gun-Howitzer
In the late 1970s, Czechoslovakia began development of a wheeled 152mm self-propelled gun-howitzer. The result was the vzor 77 Dana, which entered service with the Czech army in 1981. It had an...
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The Swedish Strv 103 (S-Tank)
Development of the Stridsvagn 103 began in 1958, led by Bofors. A contract was awarded in 1959 for two prototypes, followed by a pre-production order from the Swedish army for 10 vehicles in mid 1960....
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M65 “Atomic Annie” Was Not The Only Nuclear Gun
Recently, I saw a link to an Atlas Obscura article about the M65 “Atomic Annie”. The M65 was a US 280mm artillery gun that could fire nuclear ammunition. The article claims that it was the world’s...
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Soviet 100mm T-12 & MT-12 Anti-Tank Gun
The T-12 was developed as a replacement for the D-48 85mm anti-tank gun, and was the first smoothbore anti-tank gun to enter service, in 1961. The decision to adopt a smoothbore barrel led to improved...
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Transporting The Bear: Vehicles In The Bear’s Claws
Rakovich’s Ride: The BMP-2 Infantry Fighting Vehicle In The Bear’s Claws, the main character, Praporshchik Vladislav Rakovich, rides in a BMP-2 infantry fighting vehicle. Like an armoured personnel...
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Soviet 73mm SPG-9 Kopye Recoilless Gun
Introduced in the late 1960s, the SPG-9 was a light anti-tank gun mounted on a tripod, with a four-man crew. When first seen by the West in 1969, it was given the provisional designation B-1968. By...
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Project Prodigal and the British Army’s Flying Cars
On a visit to the National Archives, I ordered document AVIA 65/1540, “Project PRODIGAL: army vehicle with limited airborne capability”. I was expecting it to be about FV4401 Contentious, a possible...
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The Iranian Embassy Siege: The Myth of the Wall
On 30th April 1980, terrorists stormed the Iranian Embassy in London and took twenty-six hostages. A six-day siege ensued, during which the embassy’s press attaché, Abbas Lavasani, was murdered. Forty...
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The Soviet BREM-1 Armoured Recovery Vehicle
In contrast to the German army during the Second World War, the Soviet army did not have specialised recovery vehicles or tactics for using them. They started to experiment with their use at the end...
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Myth: British government wouldn’t confirm or deny existence of Special Air...
Much of what the British Special Air Service (SAS) does is top secret. This naturally leads to rumours and myths growing up around them. One myth is that the British government refused to confirm or...
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