The Most Amazing Tank Destroyer Ever

 

Which tank destroyer can be called the most effective? We could probably debate that forever. However, I find one tank destroyer a bit more fascinating than the rest. Not least because after 76 years it is still in service. There is now a brilliant book in English about it.

 

Both the Third Reich and the Soviet Union produced some larger and deadlier tank destroyers than the Soviet SU-100. But in the Red Army the SU-100 was the most powerful medium tank destroyer. At medium ranges it could take out both Panthers and Tigers, even King Tigers. So, why has not that much been written about the SU-100 in English? Well one reason is that it entered service only in the fall of 1944. Another being that you basically have to be Russian and work in Russia many years to produce a book like this. Well, half of the pair behind SU-100 Self-Propelled Gun is Nikolai Polikarpov, chief editor of M-Hobby, a Russian modelling magazine which has been in publication since 1993. I read several of the first issues and still have them. Mr. Polikarpov´s research is one reason this new book is a dream come true for Soviet era AFV modellers. But it is also rich in details for military vehicle buffs. There is no detail of the SU-100 that is not featured, also in splendid colour photographs. The other author of the book, James Kinnear, has brought with him long experience of writing on military subjects, e.g. for IHS Jane´s defence yearbooks and Osprey Vanguard. In addition, the Swedish publisher, Canfora, has done a splendid job presenting the work of the authors. 

 

The combat debut of the SU-100 took place in Hungary in the first days of 1945. Here one of the few problems with the vehicle instantly became obvious, it lacked secondary armament, i.e. machine guns. This of course meant that to defend the vehicle against German infantry the crew would largely have to rely on personal small arms (SMGs) and hand grenades. The passage about the German documents about SU-100 employment in Hungary is sobering, evidently both combatants misidentified each others AFVs. 

 

The pages about SU-100s in post-1945 service are amazing if one is also a Cold War history buff. In Soviet service the type was formally taken out of service in 1968. But that was not the end, as it then entered “strategic reserve storage” and was at least returned to some active service during the 1980s. The Soviet forces in Afghanistan used SU-100s to knock out resistance fortifications. 

 

There are amazing sections about the SU-100 in Czechoslovak and Cuban service. In 1961 both SU-100s and T-34-85s were in combat against the American sponsored landings on Cuba. The photos from Cuba should also inspire any Cold War modeler, a great deal.

 

Then there is the story of the SD-100 (Czech-made SU-100) on display in the UKs fabulous Tank Museum at Bovington. I had no idea that it is one of several SD-100s knocked out by British paras in Egypt during the 1956 Suez Crisis. In general, the info and photos about preserved SU-100s and SD-100s is one of my favourite parts of the book.

 

The most remarkable thing, in my view, is the fact that several SU-100 again entered combat in 2014, when several companies of SU-100s were employed in the Yemeni Civil War. Accordingly, the last of the excellent colour profiles in the book shows a SU-100 in 2017, captured by Houthi rebels from government forces. During the Yemeni Civil War a number of SU-100s have of course been destroyed, but in 2020 at least one SU-100 remained in operation.  

 

The photographs in the book showing the SU-100 in operational WWII service are not that many, but on the other hand they are mostly of very high quality. I am especially fascinated by the image from Berlin April 1945 with two officers in British or Polish uniforms – the perfect subject for a small diorama. 

 

This book is so new it even contains photographs from the 75^thanniversary Victory Parade in Moscow 2020, when no less than seven working SU-100s paraded across Red Square. SU-100 Self-Propelled Gun is the second in the series “Red Machines” from Canfora. The first was T-60 Small Tank & Variants. 

 

To sum things up, this is the way.

Afghanistan War Ended 25 Years Ago

A photo I took of my fellow tankers reading about the end of the war in Afghanistan.

Today my mind is wandering back to my tanker days 1988-89, at the start of which the Soviet Army was still very much present in Afghanistan. Today it is exactly 25 years since the last Soviet tankers left that country.

I thought it was something special to read about the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan during one of our last exercises in Arctic Sweden, and therefore I took the above photo. The main headline on the front page of our conscript magazine simply reads "Slutet" i.e. "The End" with a Soviet soldier and flag. Since then I have read quite a few books about war in Afghanistan and the strongest ones I have described in this post, save one. I´d like to add Afgantsy, The Russians in Afghanistan 1979-89 by Rodric Braithwaite, a book that I mention and recommend in my latest book (so far only available in Swedish).

Swedish Marines, Who Are They?

Swedish marines conquering the world without a shot being fired.

The "Grease Lightning" video made by Swedish marines in Afghanistan has within a few days been watched by millions around the globe. But are there really marines in Sweden? Well, sort of. I have written about them in two of my books, one of them available in English.

Strictly speaking, Sweden has no marines. But it does have amphibious soldiers belonging to the now (sadly) only 1-battalion strong Amphibious Corps. In Swedish this type of soldier is called an amfibiesoldat and we have become rather used to this expression - it came about in the year 2000 when the Amphibious Corps was created from the Coastal Artillery.

But saying "amphibious soldier" sounds a bit strange as there are already two designations in the English language for this type of soldier, i.e. marine and naval infantryman. Thus the unofficial and more practical "Swedish marines".

I have written a book explaining the history and traditions of all Nordic elite units (Elitförband i Norden) including of course the Amphibious Corps, but it is not yet available in English. However, Swedes at War, available in English since 2010, does include some spectacular Swedish marines, such as Maths Holmström, decorated with the Order of the French Legion of Honour. Another extraordinary person in our book is Kurt Björklund, who as a Swedish volunteer in No. 6 Commando, Royal Marines, stepped ashore in Normandy on June 6, 1944.

One of the largest photos in Swedes at War actually shows three Swedish marines not unlike the now world-famous dancing Swedish marines. These marines are in the chapter "Sequels and Successors" and are shown on patrol in Chad in 2008. These kind of UN/NATO/EU-missions have largely replaced the wars in which Swedes volunteered in 1914-1945.

Nordic Band of Brothers

A tribute both to the Band of Brother-series and the Swedish and Finnish soldiers in Afghanistan.

No, I did not create this amazingly well-made tribute, I just found it. If anyone who took part in the making of this film reads this: please tell us how much time it took to make.

Osama's Nordic Hunters

Getting closer to Osama bin Laden's last hometown, Abbottabad. Photo taken a couple of weeks ago by para/marine Bo Sunnefeldt. This gentleman, Ashgar, was Bo's guide.

My friend Bo Sunnefeldt was in Abbottabad for the first time in 2004, on holiday. He then noted in his diary that the place seemed natural for bin Laden to hide in. Bo has just returned from another visit there, but that is not the only Swedish connection to the end of OBL.

Osama bin Laden did not yet reside in Abbottabad when my friend made his note. Well, at least a pretty good prediction then. Some weeks ago, after some serious mountaineering in Pakistan, Bo thought he might try to examine OBLs former compound. Here are some photos from his trip.

Inside Abbottabad and rather obviously getting closer to the compound.

Alas, a couple of hundred meters from the goal, armed guards stopped Bo and his guide and rather harshly informed them that OBL-tourism is not yet allowed.

My globetrotting friend close to the spot where he had to turn around.

Coincidentally, I recently picked up a book that I now realize takes place ten years ago, Horse Soldiers by Doug Stanton. This gripping book is about the fall of Taliban-held Mazar-i-Sharif, made possible by the combined forces of Afghan rebels, laser pointing Special Forces and the USAF. Here is video about the book:



In less than a month's time it will be exactly ten years since Mazar-i-Sharif fell, which since has become home for the main Swedish military contingent in Afghanistan. Furthermore, it was during the drive of the "horse soldiers" towards Mazar that John Walker Lindh, Osama's American volunteer, was captured.

Lindh I knew about and Swedish reporters have confirmed that his father is a Swedish American. But what really came as a surprise to me was to read in Horse Soldiers the name of one of John Walker Lindh's two original captors, CIA paramilitary officer Dave Olson. In other words the name strongly suggests that Lindh was captured by another Swedish American. Olson might possibly mean roots from another Nordic country than Sweden, but usually Danish and Norwegian surnames end with -sen, not -son.

There was at least one more Olson, Eric Thor Olson, who was very much part of the hunt for OBL. In his case not only the surname indicates Swedish or at least Nordic roots. Does someone out there know more about his roots?

Two Wars and Blade Runner

It is the first day of 2011. Many will ponder the fact that this year it will be exactly ten years since the September 11 attacks. Many remember exactly what they were doing on that 9-11. I remember too, although I am Swedish and was not in the United States at the time. However, in 2011 there are also good reasons to remember events of 70 years ago and to watch a prediction from 1981.

This photograph taken in Afghanistan in 2010 would not have been taken had it not been for what happened ten years ago. The soldier is from the Australian Special Operations Task Group and the photo was taken during the Shah Wali Kot offensive. PHOTO: Corporal Raymond Vance

The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, 70 years ago on the coming December 7, deserves to be widely remembered this year, and not just by Americans - the attack brought the United States not only directly into war against Japan but also against Hitler, through his declaration of war on the United States on December 11, 1941.

The Japanese attack was big news also in German-oocupied Eastern Europe, where a Russian boy was eagerly following world events. The boy, Roman Kravchenko-Berezhnoy, wrote in his secret diary on December 9, 1941, about Japan´s dim chance of success: "The navies of England, America, Australia and Holland are on one side, while Japan is on the other. Furthermore, hostile naval bases surround Japan. Besides, it is deeply involved in its war in China."

The secret wartime diary of Roman Kravchenko-Berezhnoy forms a major part of a book written by him some years ago: Victims, Victors: From Nazi Occupation to the Conquest of Germany as Seen by a Red Army Soldier. I am not neutral in relation to that book as I was one of its editors. Still, I believe it can be said quite objectively that Victims, Victors is a valuable book in any quest to understand the Russian WWII experience. Here is the book´s cover:

The sitting Red Army soldier on the cover is the author, who began the war as a news-hungry schoolboy, the son of a Tsarist officer, and who ended it as a submachinegunner and military interpreter.

How can I write "objectively"? Well, for example Walter Dunn wrote in Journal of Military History about it: "A remarkable document, casting light on events little understood. . . . Required reading for students of World War II and modern Russian history."

The monumental German-Soviet clash of 1941-45 - that on 22 June started exactly 70 years ago - is just a lot of places and dates for most people in the west. In the former Soviet Union, on the other hand, it is the defining moment of the previous century. Virtually everyone in what once was the Soviet Union has a personal relationship to WWII through the staggering Soviet losses, something like 27 million lives (both civilians and military).

Yes, the current estimate is about 27 million dead, which is exactly three times the total current population of my country, Sweden.

To somewhat understand Russia (or other states on former Soviet territory), studying WWII is simply essential. I also believe that especially the Red Army has long been a mystery to westerners for the lack of i.a. translated auto-biographies by Russian soldiers. Therefore I warmly recommend to those who have not read Victims, Victors to check out some more reviews.

Personally, one of the most fascinating things with Roman´s book I found to be how he tried to predict the future, and often succeeded. I guess this might have to do with my interest in movies about our near future. As you might already have guessed, "Terminator" is one of my favourites (the first and second, not the two latest). However, my number one is "Blade Runner". The year that has just begun happens to also be a special year for fans of that movie. On March 9 this year (2011) it will be 30 years since the principal photography of "Blade Runner" started. It ended four months later but was released only the following year (1982). In other words, watching "Blade Runner" this spring is watching a thirty year old vision of 2019.

I will not here compare what the movie is about with what we now almost know about the world in seven years. I just want to encourage you to see the movie (again). I especially recommend the 2007 version of the film, Ridley Scott's "final cut" version. Not least because of the documentaries on the DVD. It was while recently watching this DVD that I realized that there is a German Stahlhelm (steel helmet) also in "Blade Runner", in the home of J.F. Sebastian. It is worn by a small robot. I reckon it is a WWII helmet, made to look like it is from WWI. If you are into Stahlhelms in movies you might want to read my previous posts about this phenomenon.

P.S.
One of the most read posts I wrote during 2010 was this one about the Franciscan Waffen-SS soldier Gereon Goldmann. If you are wondering why I have since not written about that man and his story, you can be sure I will return to him in 2011. I read his book in German about a month ago and was so moved I decided to read it in English and Swedish too. Just the other day I got these books and I will soon start to read them and then do some research of my own. So, I reckon I will write about Goldmann again in March.

Stahlhelms in Space

As I wrote some months ago, Darth Vader´s helmet was not as inspired by the classic German Stahlhelm (steel helmet) as one might think. But next year a movie will appear featuring totally WWII-style Stahlhelms in space. On planet earth the Stahlhelm is still serving in at least one country.

This post about the lasting influence of the most classic steel helmet is a sequel to "From Dürer To Darth". If you have not read that one you might want to do so before reading what follows.

Without any inspiration from yours truly my wife recently purchased something for our son that proves just how universal Darth Vader´s helmet has become:

Yes, Darth Vader´s reach now extends to the the socks of our children.

Now I must correct myself, in my previous Stahlhelm-post I wrote "During the final years of East Germany the basic Stahlhelm design was adopted by the US Armed Forces. The result was the PASGT". As an American reader kindly has pointed out to me, that sentence made it sound almost as if the US Armed Forces developed the PASGT-helmet from the Stahlhelm. I was expressing myself carelessly - sorry about that. I think the resemblance of the PASGT-helmet with Stahlhelms was unintentional. The resemblance did, however, lead to the PASGT-helmet being called the "Fritz-helmet".

A helmet similar to the "Fritz" was adopted by the Swedish Armed Forces in 1990, the m/90 helmet. Here is a photo of a guy training for United Nations service wearing a m/90 with a blue helmet cover.

The "Swedish Fritz", the m/90 helmet. I reckon this photo is from 1999.

Swedish firefighters had adopted an even more German-style helmet long before the m/90, but I am not sure when they started using these:

Old Swedish firefighter helmet, in the Piteå Museum. Does someone know when it was intoduced?

But the PASGT-helmet and m/90 can hardly compare with Finnish postwar helmets. For one thing, original German WWII-issued Stahlhelms continued to see service in the Finnish Armed Forces well after WWII and the "new" steel helmet introduced in 1955, the M55 (or m/55), was a copy of the the German WWII M40.

In the field the Finnish Armed Forces used the M55 well into the 1980s and I believe they retained it for ceremonial use a bit longer, does someone know exactly when they stopped using them?

I am not sure which year the armed forces of Afghanistan stopped using original German M16/18 helmets. But there is a photograph from US President Eisenhower's visit to Afghanistan in 1959 where they are still being worn.

There is at least one country that still to this day is using Stahlhelms, Chile:

Chilean military guards of honour still use a Chilean variant of the German M35 helmet. This photo was taken in 2009 in Santiago, Chile. PHOTO: Master Sgt. Adam M. Stump, USAF

From Peter Suciu´s really amazing helmet site I also understand that these Chilean helmets were introduced in the 1930s. The shape is closest to the German M35 helmet. The last (?) batch was produced in the 1980s.

A final question to you, dear reader, exactly which helmet model is featured in the coming movie "Iron Sky"? In the trailer for this dark science-fiction comedy you can see both Stahlhelms and MP 40s on the moon:



So, which is it? Are the storm troopers on the moon wearing repro/original M35s, M40s, M42s or perhaps Finnish M55s? The latter would be most suitable considering it is mainly a Finnish production. Interestingly, the cast of "Iron Sky" includes some internationally rather well-known actors such as Götz Otto, who played Otto Günsche in "The Downfall". The premiere of "Iron Sky" is now more or less exactly one year away (December 2011).

Will "Iron Sky" cement the Stahlhelm as a symbol of Nazism and evil? Possibly, but I find it quite interesting that not only in Finland and Chile the Stahlhelm is not automatically associated with Nazism, and not even with German soldiers. Where do you think the below hero monument stands?

The Warsaw insurgents monument. PHOTO: Cezary Piwowarski

Yes, in Warsaw. The soldiers are Polish guerrillas, resistance fighters. They often wore German helmets as can be seen in numerous wartime photographs.

Well, that was my concluding take on the influence and significance of the Stahlhelm, from sock icon to "Iron Sky".

P.S.
Thanks to a blog reader and helmet collector I am now aware of this almost-too-good-to-be-true Iraqi helmet actually inspired by Darth Vader´s helmet. No kidding!

Waiting for the Taliban

Since the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 I have had a strong interest in what is going on in that country. These are the books about Afghanistan at war that I value most.

The order of the following books does not correspond with how valuable the books are in my opinion. But I can say without a doubt that the one that is most explosive and adrenaline-filled, is this one:


Briefly put, this must be the ultimate book about life and death at an American outpost in Afghanistan. Reading this book is simultaneously addictive and painful. "Very hard to put down" is such a cliché, but for me, in this case, it was true.

I believe that the author, Sebastian Junger, has done more research in Afghanistan for this book than anyone could demand. But then he was at the same time making the documentary "Restrepo" together with Tim Hetherington.

Having a special interest in soldiers from Swedish American families I was amazed by how many Swedish names pop up at the featured remote US Army positions.

There is one thing I do not like about this book. War gives the impression that the book could be about war in general. It is not even about the current war in Afghanistan in general, it is a book specifically about the fighting in the Korengal Valley, seen almost exclusively from an American perspective. On the other hand, Junger in War goes to impressive lengths to understand what war in general does to man. But I still think Combat in the Korengal (or something like that) would have been a better title.

Before moving on to the next book I must ask if anyone out there knows if Sebastian Junger had read the German WWI stormtrooper Ernst Jünger before writing War (could they even be distant relatives?)? In some respects I would say Junger compares to Jünger, I am especially thinking of the latter´s Storm of Steel. For clarity, I do not mean this in any negative way (re. Ernst Jünger there is this brilliant companion to Storm of Steel, written by the Swede Nils Fabiansson).

There is a book about the Soviet war in Afghanistan that I would compare to War, this one:


I read The Hidden War when it came out in 1990 and can say that it really made a lasting impression on me. In contrast to War it is not limited to one valley or one unit but is about the whole Soviet war in Afghanistan. I believe the author, a young Russian reporter, probably wrote the best Russian civilian account of that war.

I have not read many accounts written by Soviet soldiers who served in Afghanistan. I only have two such books. The most recent one I can absolutely recommend:


This is the 2010 Swedish edition of the book. The title translates as "The Soviet Union Invades Afghanistan: an Airborne Soldier´s Account". This book provides a very detailed and critical view of how Soviet airborne units operated in Afghanistan. Aside from a unique text it contains a number of very interesting photos.

At the time of writing it is only available in Swedish and Lithuanian - it was first written in that language. Hopefully it will be translated to English.

Now I have come to the final two books and I would say that they are the best I have found so far about the general situation in today´s Afghanistan. The first one is entitled I väntan på talibanerna ("Waiting for the Taliban") by Swedish reporter Jesper Huor. Here is the cover:


To date the book is only available in Swedish. There is a new book in English with the same title, but that is a book I have not yet read and can say nothing about.

About Huor´s book I will say this: it is one superb read and gives insights not only about the fighting in today´s Afghanistan but also about the country itself and its many peoples. Jesper Huor has been able to experience more than most western reporters because he blends in quite easily in Afghanistan - he is half Cambodian and thus can pass as an Afghan.

Jesper Huor has really talked with all sides, even the Russian ambassador to Kabul. The interview with him is just one of several really amazing ones.

Finally we come to a book as recent as Huor´s and somewhat similar to it, but so far only available in German: Eine Nacht in Kabul ("A Night in Kabul") by the Austrian reporter Ulrich Ladurner:


Quouting from the preface by the former Chancellor of West Germany Helmut Schmidt (in my translation from German): "Nine years ago the NATO intervention in Afghanistan began. The operation thus has lasted longer than WWII, longer than the Vietnam War, longer than the Korean War. There is still no end in sight". Schmidt then concludes that regardless of what one thinks about how to best tackle the issues ahead we will have to deal with Afghanistan also in the future, one way or the other.

In addition, as Helmut Schmidt also writes, the current situation in Afghanistan speaks not only of Afghanistan, but also a great deal about how the world of today functions.

The author Ulrich Ladurner´s method for trying to explain to us what Afghanistan is and what is going on in Afghanistan consists both of reporting about his own many travels in Afghanistan and the visits of other foreigners, not least British ones in the 19th century and the German adventurer and officer ("German Lawrence of Arabia") Oskar von Niedermayer in the early 20th century.

Importantly, Ladurner has spent time not only in Kabul (in spite of the title), but has also been to Taliban-rich areas in the south and to the area where Germany and Sweden has most of its troops.

Eine Nacht in Kabul does not have the adrenaline of War but I believe it is one of the most important and well-written books ever about Afghanistan and today´s NATO in action. Hopefully someone will have it translated to English. Like real soon.