Military Dogs: From Warrior to Specialist

War Dog Photo Album

U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Jorge Davila and working dog Kibo at a traffic control point in Tikrit, Iraq in 2006 while attached to the 101st Airborne Division. Photo by U.S. Army Spc. Teddy Wade.

Throughout history, dogs have been used as front-line attackers, scouts, sentries, trackers, messengers, unit mascots, and much more. Whereas some were once bred for fighting – the now extinct Molossus dog may have been specifically trained for battle – modern weapons have relegated canines to support roles where their keen senses can assist accompanying troops.

Destroying Fort Schmerzen: Freeing The Prisoners

Mission Photo Album

The captain of Lt. Mike Powell’s Ranger squad kills a German guard as the boxcar doors open inside Fort Schmerzen before the soldiers begin their assault on the fictional fort.

The “Schmerzen Express” grinds to a halt inside the fort’s gates, a Trojan Horse with boxcars full of U.S. Army Rangers ready to ambush the unsuspecting German soldiers outside. The doors open and Lt. Mike Powell and his squad engage enemy snipers in towers overlooking the tracks in a deadly firefight.

Once the train platform is clear, Powell makes his way inside to free some Allied prisoners held in cells on Fort Schmerzen‘s top floor before heading deeper into the facility to plant his explosives.

Destroying Fort Schmerzen: The Schmerzen Express

Mission Photo Album

The last train station before Fort Schmerzen with one of its many guard towers.

Having blacked out communications in the area, Lt. Mike Powell sneaks through a snow-blanketed public park as German alarms fade into the distance.

He’s on his way to fictional Fort Schmerzen, which he’ll destroy with help from a team of U.S. Army Rangers he’s meeting at a nearby train station. While the soldiers in the park offer little resistance, the station is better-defended.

Powell’s objective: cut power to the electrified perimeter fence so his team can sneak through, then send a false order for a train to stop at his location. I’m not sure how his transmission is heard since he just destroyed the nearby radio post, but I digress.

Like the last one, most of this mission isn’t based in history, so I had to find something specific to focus on: trains.

HTG’s Year In Review: 2014

It’s 2015 and people are making grand plans for the upcoming year, but before I share any goals, I’d like to take a look back at History Through Gaming’s 2014.

On July 7, I posted “Getting the (St.) Lo-down on the King Tiger,” my first post in more than two years (and a headline that I’m still far too proud of), and made a commitment to keep the blog up and running. I ended up publishing 28 posts (including blog updates) over the rest of the year, passing the 50-post milestone with “The 20 mm FlaK and the Flakvierling” on Dec. 1.

I’m still amazed I got more than 50 posts out of Medal of Honor: Allied Assault, and now that I’m nearly finished with the game, I’m looking forward to diving into the next game. If all goes as planned, I should hit 100 posts sometime next year.

Destroying Fort Schmerzen: The Communications Blackout

Mission Photo Album

The German communications post Lt. Mike Powell must destroy on his way to Fort Schmerzen.

Even though he’s escaped the StG 44 production facility, Lt. Mike Powell isn’t out of the woods yet, literally or figuratively.

He’s still making his way through the forest along the Siegfried Line towards the fictional Fort Schmerzen, but he’s got a few more stops to make before rendezvousing with his squad to make the final assault.

Blog Updates: Dec. 19, 2014

 

Good evening!

If you haven’t seen this week’s post about the bombing of Germany’s Ruhr Valley, follow this link to check it out.

As usual, I’ve added a mission photo album and the following photos to their specific galleries:

• High Standard HDM gallery: Six new photos.
• MG42 gallery: Five new photos.
• Type IXC/40 U-boat gallery: Three new photos.
• Thompson submachine gun gallery: Two new photos.
• M1903 Springfield sniper rifle gallery: One new photo.

That’s it for this week, but make sure to come back Monday as I get closer to finishing Medal of Honor: Allied Assault!

Bombing the Ruhr Valley: “The Smithy of the German Reich”

Mission Photo Album

The “secret assembly plant” Powell finds along the Siegfried Line.

As Lt. Mike Powell heads towards the fictional Fort Schmerzen, he’s asked to infiltrate a “secret assembly plant and weapons stockpile” inside a Siegfried Line fortification and disrupt the production and resupply of the StG 44.

Col. Stanley Hargrove tells Powell that Allied bombing of the Ruhr Valley has hurt the German military, but that production of certain weapons had been moved to unknown locations. Now that Powell has found one, he needs to sneak in, steal some blueprints and the latest version of the assault rifle, then blow up the rest and escape to continue his main mission.

While the Ruhr Valley was certainly the most important industrial center in Germany during World War II, it was not the center of production for the StG 44, and even if the factories building the weapon had been bombed, it wouldn’t have made sense to move production to the Siegfried Line.

The StG 44: The First Modern Assault Rifle

StG 44 Photo Album

A real Sturmgewehr 44.

Widely considered the first modern assault rifle, the StG 44 was developed by Germany during World War II to fill the need for a weapon to serve in an intermediate role between rifles and submachine guns

According to David Westwood’s book “Rifles: An Illustrated History of their Impact,” the Germans had found that most infantry engagements took place within 400 meters, close enough that a high-powered rifle cartridge was excessive (though still desirable for snipers and machine guns), but too far for the small-caliber rounds fired by submachine guns to be effective.

The 20 mm FlaK and the Flakvierling

20 mm FlaK Photo Album

A German soldier fires a FlaK 38 during World War II. Photo from the German Federal Archive.

The most common German artillery piece of World War II was not the well-known FlaK 88, but its much smaller sibling, the 20 mm FlaK.

Blog Updates: Nov. 28, 2014

Good evening!

If you celebrated Thanksgiving yesterday, I hope you’re making good progress through all those leftovers. If you didn’t, well, it’s just a normal Friday, unless you also had a celebration yesterday. If you did, great! Party on.

I’m closing in on the end of Medal of Honor: Allied Assault, and I quickly remembered how hard the last mission can be. If you haven’t read it yet, check out this week’s post on the Siegfried Line and the Western Air Defense Zone. It’s not a tough mission to play, but it was slow moving. The real action starts now that Lt. Mike Powell is out of the woods, though figuratively, he’s still deep in the woods.

Here’s what’s new on the blog this week:

• Updated the High Standard HDM post to reflect the weapon’s usage in the Siegfried Forest.

I also added some new photos to the Facebook photo albums:

• MG42 machine gun gallery: Eight new photos.
• Thompson submachine gun gallery: Four new photos.
• M1903 Springfield sniper rifle gallery: Three new photos.
• High Standard HDM gallery: Two new photos.
• Kar98k bolt-action rifle gallery: Two new photos.

That’s it for this week, and I hope to see you back here Monday for a post about the target of Powell’s sabotage in this week’s mission: the 20 mm FlaK anti-aircraft gun.