Serial numbers intelligence

[Tomasz Rola]

On Sun, Jan 31, 2021 at 03:59:27PM -0800, Fred Cisin via cctalk wrote:
[...]
> I know nothing of any actual details about tanks.
> But, "Oddball" (Donald Sutherland) in "Kelly's Heroes" said that the
> only way that they could take on a Tiger, "Yeah. Look, a Tiger has
> only one weak point. That's its ass. You got to hit it point blank
> and you've got to hit it from behind."

Heh. I half-liked the movie. Action moments seemed ok to me, but the
overall theme of "let's make some money of this", not so much.

I do not have extensive knowledge about equipment, but in my younger
years I was an avid strategy gamer. Turn-based strategy rather than
real-time one. I wanted to make educated choices, so I started to read
from various places, watching documentaries etc. So, not an expert,
just a somehow educated gamer. So, yes, if the armageddon happens, I
might know what to pick from one of those military storages... But I
would rather pick an amateur telescope.

Comparing tank performance is a broad subject, of course. And off
topic. I have learned few shocking things about those beasts. I do not
remember all the details I used to, but I was not amazed from what I
learned about US and British tanks... Stuff like a round from 88mm
German gun could penetrate both side walls of the best opposing
tank. With poor fellows sitting inside. As I do not play anymore (lack
of time), I still read an article or two on the military history. I
came to thinking that war is totally unglorious business, each side
makes errors and the winner is, whoever makes smaller number of
catastrophic ones. Or can survive on his legs while the opponent
cannot, even if he made less errors. Etc.

A bit closer to interests of this list, there was a vast field of
information services supporting the high command. Punch cards, trucks
with sorters and card punches landing on shores of Normandy... Not as
a part of assault forces, of course. A subject (almost) completely
lost from war movies. I have barely scratched it.

-- 
Regards,
Tomasz Rola

--
** A C programmer asked whether computer had Buddha's nature.      **
** As the answer, master did "rm -rif" on the programmer's home    **
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**                                                                 **
** Tomasz Rola          mailto:tomasz_rola at bigfoot.com             **