Comments by "mpetersen6" (@mpetersen6) on "Doughboy Bringback MP-18,I on the Range" video.

I remember a section from James Jones history of WWII in which he describes interviews of German POWs about their opponents. They said the the English shouted, the French sang. But when the Americans attacked they were grimly silent. The Germans said that scarred them more. Jones said it was so the krauts couldn't hear their teeth chattering
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@jettz8571 Looking at VietNam strictly from a military aspect the VC and NVA got kicked six ways to Sunday. After Tet the VC were never really a factor. The NVA had the staying power. Afganistan, the place they say empires go to die. Again the Taliban got there collective asses kicked. But staying power and a tribal mentality do mean a lot. Someday, maybe around the time humanity launches its first starship the Afghans will climb out of the Dark Ages.
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Sir, you have just invented an internet meme. All it needs is Monty Python jumping out and yelling "Let's all ignore the Italians!"
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@dakkadakka9189 Not all German cars are excersises in excessive engineering. The original VWs are good example. A simple and very well built vehicle to move you from point A to point B. But then Germans also built the Trabant. A simple poorly built vehicle that might move you from point A to somewhere short of point B. If people think the Germans are maniacal about designing overly complex pieces of machinery they haven't thought about the Swiss. The Swiss build excellent watches", firearms and machine tools. Just pray you never have to work on them "One of the dirty little secrets about the Swiss watch industry is a lot of the parts are made just over the border in France.
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@eizol568 Well, technically at least 1945. That's also the last time they lost a war too.
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@VRichardsn It seems a lot of people dismiss the Italians as much as the French. On an individual level they can be just as good as any other nations soldiers. But in WWII the Italians and the French in 1940 suffered from poor leadership and morale. Plus the Italians never should have gotten involved to start with. They simply did not have the resources to fight a major war with Britian and France. Bennie the Bozo smelled blood in the water with France on the ropes. I think he expected the Brits to cut their losses. But th hey gave the British a hard time in North Africa for a while. North Africa was a place that if you were kicked out of Benghazi and Tobruk as the British were by the Italians eventually the other side would outrun their supply lines.
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@dakkadakka9189 Until that German investor stepped forward BMW would either have been bought out by Mercedes, Rover or AMC. Or gone under. Yah, AMC. Actually at the time AMC was lightyears ahead of BMW and Rover in terms of body technology. Engine technology they were a pretty average US manufacture. AMC at the time was looking for European partner for assembly to break into the European market. Producing cars that were smaller than the average American car IMO they would have been well placed to be a major factor in the European taxi market. The reason that BMW was in such deep trouble was their insistence on being upscale. Such an arrangement would have been beneficial to both parties. BMW would have benefited from production technology. AMC from BMWs engineering expertise. This would have gained BMW an established US dealer network and AMC access to the European market. Remember this was at the time that AMC was developing their aluminum block inline six". They had tested OHC versions of the 196 and would test OHC versions of the later big bore short stroke 199/232. These were rejected for further development for cost reasons. OHC engines may or may not have fewer parts. Plus they may or may not be less expensive to manufacture. "The ultimate failure of the aluminum block engine in the market place had more to do with owner neglect than poor engineering. The engine required the head to be re-torqued every 6 or 8 thousand miles due to thermal expansion issues that nobody really had a handle on at the time. Plus due to the aluminum block it required proper coolant mixes. Typically most owners never read the owner's manual.
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@Khan.WrathOf It's not just the krauts. I had a Renault 18i wagon that you had to take the splash panel off to access just about anything from underneath. Other than that it was comfortable and actually drove really nice.
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@ZOMBYMARIO Plus all the parts are made to an insanely tight tolerance. Which doesnt mean they don't work. It means they just cost more to make. An old saying in tool rooms and machine shops is for every decimal place the price goes up*. Especially considering the state of machine tools at the time. In reality it took the British to show the world just how simple a sub-gun could be. *If a feature on the part is specified as 8mm +/- .1mm you can spit them out like popcorn. Especially if there is no milling or shaping involved. Just turning operations. It's what screw machines are really good at. But change that to 8mm +/- .01mm or even +/- .05 mm things get dicier. Tool wear shows its effects that much faster. These were the days of high carbon or maybe high speed steel cutting tools.
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@Khan.WrathOf Yah, the French do things their own way. But the few French cars I've been in were very comfortable. Aside from a Dalphine I got a ride in once.
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One again Ian accesses his ultra superdooper top secret time machine in the basement (do they have basements in Arizona?) to head to the local gun store to buy 9mm Parabelum in 2019. Of course the magazine is overly complex. 1) its German 2) its originally a Luger design. On would think somebody would of said "Hans, the Army wants some fancy pistol cartridge carbine. Well way don't we take the Carbine model and just make a 20 or 25 round magazine that sticks straight out of the hand grip" "Fritz, where is your pride. That would only have ten or so parts. Your wife would hang her head in shame. She would not be able to go out in public. No, so we must design a device that requires at least 30 parts. Plus it will need a special device just to put in the cartridges."
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