The Tankgewehr M1918

The Tankgewehr M1918, also known as the Mauser 13mm anti-tank rifle, was first produced in January 1918 for the sole purpose of destroying armoured vehicles. 170cm long and weighing 19kg the rifle was the only anti-tank rifle to see service in




 World War I. Although a limited number saw active service, approximately 16,900 were produced, with some ending up in British hands.

You can see this incredible weapon at the Hooge Crater museum in Belgium. 

For school tours to the museum (including a excellent living history experience in recreated German and British trenches) book with Zeitgeist Tours for Schools.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

On this day, 15 May 1948, the British mandate in Palestine ended on the date which is now

Image
On this day, 15 May 1948, the British mandate in Palestine ended on the date which is now  commemorated as Nakba Day - meaning “catastrophe”. Israel declared independence a few hours beforehand, and British forces withdrew that day. The Nakba refers to the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians to make way for the establishment of the state of Israel as a Jewish ethnostate. The United Nations had approved a plan to partition Palestine into separate Jewish and Arab states. According to that plan, the 30% of the population which was Jewish would be given 70% of the land. But around 42% of the population of this land would still be Palestinian Arabs.  To ensure a bigger demographic majority, in December 1947 Zionist militias began a programme of ethnic cleansing, to expel the Palestinian Arab population. One early operation was an attack by the Irgun against the village of al-Tira, which killed 12 Palestinians and injured six others. Albert Einstein and other Jewish intellectuals descr...
Read more

Shock of the nude: Femen's fight for women's rights comes to London

Image
Shock of the nude: Femen's fight for women's rights comes to London Activist group Femen caused anarchy in the Ukraine when a male co-founder suggested they bare their breasts to make a bigger impact. But in an age of outrage at Page 3, can such tactics bring about long-lasting change — or are they little more than topless stunts? Viv Groksop is briefed on their next battleground: London Walking down a grungy street in the 18th arrondissement, not far from Montmartre, it’s fairly obvious which building is the headquarters of the Ukrainian-born women’s movement Femen. Emanating from what looks like a disused cinema come ear-piercing Amazonian battle cries. Inside are piles of clothes topped with discarded bras. There’s a brush and a palette of war paint on the table. There are slogans daubed on the walls: ‘Muslim women, let’s get naked’; ‘Femen is the name of the new woman’; ‘Women, spring is coming’; ‘Our mission is protest. Our weapon is bare breasts.’ And one in Russian: ‘Put...
Read more

Vince Speranza’s Epic Beer Run During the Siege of Bastogne

Image
Vince Speranza’s Epic Beer Run During the Siege of Bastogne The Siege of Bastogne was one of the most crucial fights of World War II, and it came amid the largest battle the U.S. Army has ever fought – the Battle of the Bulge. The Germans caught the Americans by  surprise on Dec. 16, 1944, mustering more than 400,000 men, 550 tanks, and hundreds of other vehicles for one last offensive. The goal was to push the Allies back toward the sea and recapture the critical port of Antwerp.  The Siege of Bastogne: Defending Against the German Forces    German forces overwhelmed American defenses as they poured through the Ardennes Forest, forcing the retreat of tens of thousands of shocked American soldiers. Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower knew his supply lines were already thin, a blizzard negated Allied air superiority and the Ardennes area was full of green and exhausted troops – some who had been fighting since D-Day. Eisenhower declared that holding the Belgian city of Bastogne...
Read more

From family to factory: women's lives during the Industrial Revolution

Image
From family to factory: women's lives during the Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution saw thousands of women enter the workplace alongside men – but it was far from emancipatory, writes Elinor Evans The Industrial Revolution caused a dramatic shift in women’s roles in society. Before industrialisation, the household would have been the centre of production, and women’s work largely confined to the domestic sphere, but no less physical for it. Tasks such as fetching water, and tending livestock would have kept women as busy as clothing and feeding a family, while many also took other work into their home such as hand-spinning or weaving. Cottage industry, as it was called, didn’t entirely end with the arrival of large- scale manufacturing, but the advent of machinery had an irreversible impact on women’s lives. As machines replaced individual labour and burgeoning industries needed coal, women became part of the growing working classes that laboured in mines and mills. In...
Read more

The circus year in review is an annual review published on this website by the end of each year. You can find link to the previous year's reviews at the bottom of the circus news page.

Image
The circus year in review is an annual review published on this website by the end of each year. You can find link to the previous year's reviews at the bottom of the circus news page. The quality of the performances in the Danish circuses was like previous years very high. For the seventh year in row the Danish circuses got competition from DR television’s Big Band’s and the Muscular Dystrophy Foundation’s Circus Summarum. The Summarum-performances are not circus, but children's theatre that takes place in a circus environment.  The tent used by Circus Summarum is rented from Circus Arena which due to this is less annoyed with the competition than other circuses. The Summarum tent has 2,350 seats and thus room for more spectators than any circus tent in the Nordic countries. Unlike other art forms the Danish circuses does not get any sort of public subsidy. Some municipalities permit circuses to use the local circus lots free of charge. This applies for example in Copenhagen. ...
Read more