Brian Wolfe

Hello Rick, Thank you for your reply, it certainly supports the belief of si vis pacem para bellum. Sometimes it seems that the only thing diplomacy achieves, when it works, is to buy time to prepare for the inevitable war to follow. History shows that the nation that prepares for war seldom finds itself engaged in an exercise in futility. Inevitably they seem to find uses for their military build up, be it defence or aggression. We look back now and think that surely the German people must had thought it odd that their leader saw a need for a massive military when things were going well economically and the enemies of the last great war were now non-aggressive. The event that propelled the Nazi party to power was the Great Depression, as early on they were experiencing the same boom as the rest of the world, in spite of the war reparations imposed on them by the Treaty of Versailles. I can't help but wonder if there would have been a "Dunkirk" had Chamberlain been alone in his belief that he was doing the correct thing and the British Government and their military been thinking along the lines of si vis passum para bellum. These are simply musing and not an argument; you make some very good points. Regards Brian

Neville Chamberlain a Maligned Hero Not too long ago a close friend, a man I both respect and admire, offered the suggestion that politeness was the most acceptable hypocrisy. Following our friendly debate on this point of view I thanked him for providing such a provocative subject upon which to ponder; later that evening I removed him from my Christmas card list. It occurred to me, as I later revisited the subject of politeness and hypocrisy in my mind, that politeness and diplomacy are conjoined twins of the same philosophy, interchangeable and indistinguishable one from the other. Not to digress too far; I do believe that if I were to be able to choose any profession in another time period it would be the Diplomatic Corps in the Victorian era as I am not unfamiliar with diplomacy (a.k.a. hypocrisy). As is often the case one line of thought triggers another and this was no different as I soon started to consider the subject of how popular history has treated Neville Chamberlain and his attempts to avoid what turned out to be the unavoidable Second World War. I have used the term popular history to indicate that history can be divided into several categories. These being, propaganda; history manipulated for the masses in order to shape their opinions to match the current powers, popular history; history that may or may not be accurate but is held as true due to past propaganda (see the first example) and remains accepted until someone delves into the facts and reports them, and lastly, the true historical facts. This following recitation is both opinionated and derivative and therefore freely open to debate, so, as they say, lets have at it. I wont bother to reference the work of others in regard to quotes with a citation because these are easily found in biographies and on the internet. I think it best to look first, not at the times when Mr. Chamberlain has undeservingly gained his negative reputation but rather take a moment to review the powers of a Prime Minister. To think that the Prime Minister on his own has the sole power to declare war on another sovereign nation and thereby commit his countrys population to invade another nation is naive, to say the least. While the Prime Minister is the leader of the political party in power he is still bound by procedure. If the PM were to table a motion so outrageous as to be against the will of his party and the motion was defeated then the opposition party could, and probably would, demand a vote of no-confidence. If the vote passed in favour of the opposition the government would fall and an election would be held. I must assume, due to lack of knowledge, that the American Government is structured in much the same way. I do stand to be corrected on this or any point of view I hold. This fact of Parliamentary procedure alone dictates that a PM should not be held solely responsible for the actions of the governing party or majority of the publics will and wishes. Next we need to look at the time period itself. Much has been written about the economic and personal devastation brought on by the Great War. The desire for peace at any cost was a commonly held desire, even for the vast majority of the German people during the early years of the Nazi Party and I would hazard to say even through the build up to the outbreak of hostilities between Germany and what would become known as the allies. Certainly there was a feeling of euphoria in Germany as Hitler regained lost territories, rejuvenated the economy and generated a fanatical level of national pride. In other words the majority of the population on either side was not prepared to enter into another worldwide conflict as had been experienced a mere twenty five years prior. Into this atmosphere of avoidance of conflict Mr. Chamberlain was tasked to carry out the will of the people. Following the will of the people in those times Mr. Chamberlain was driven to assure that the youth of Britain and her Empire would never again be led like sheep to the slaughter of the battlefield. I would challenge anyone, without the benefit of hindsight, to find fault in that conviction. If we are to hold Mr. Chamberlain solely responsible for the failure of diplomacy and therefore the outbreak of WWII then we need to look at other examples from the same time period. On February 24, 1933 the League of Nations adopted a report blaming the Government of Imperial Japan for events in Manchuria (Manchukuo). In response to this action the Japanese representative, Yosuke Matsuoka, delivered a speech claiming that Manchuria belonged to Japan and they would not entertain any motion that they withdraw from what was, in their view, territory that was theirs by right; then walked out never to return. What was the action taken by the League of Nations to Mr. Matsuokas rejection of the report? Virtually nothing. Their lack of action, possibly a result of their failure to foresee any such actions by a fellow member nation and insufficient plans for a military intervention, caused hundreds of thousands of Chinese men, women and childrens death. Perhaps it was felt by the Western delegates that it was on the other side of the world and it didnt really affect their own people. However, there were British, Canadian, Australian, New Zealanders, Indian and Americans who would be caught up in the onslaught of Imperial Japanese aggression. A good number, far too many, would lose their lives both in the battles and afterwards during their imprisonment as Prisoners of War. January 3, 1935, Abyssinia (Ethiopia) appealed to the League of Nations to intervene between Abyssinia and Italy, who had invaded Abyssinia. Article X of the Leagues charter forbids any member nation from invading the territories of another member. The Leagues response was to place an arms trade embargo on both countries. Italy had built up her armed forces in the years leading up to this crises and therefore was unaffected by the embargo. Abyssinia, on the other hand, was ill equipped to carry on a modern armed conflict and was therefore greatly handicapped by the Leagues actions. On May 2 1936 Haile Selassie was forced into exile and on May 5, after the capture of the capital of Addis Ababa by Italy, the sanctions placed on the two countries were withdrawn. Emperor Haile Selassie himself appeared before the League to plead their nations case on June 7, 1937, after Italy defeated the forces of Abyssinia. Even without the Leagues help Italy was only able to control three quarters of Abyssinia due to the continued guerrilla campaign carried on against the invaders. These are two examples of the avoidance of war at any costs that permeated the thinking of the time. Yet the image that is often portrayed is that of Mr. Chamberlain holding up a white piece of paper and assuring the people of England that I believe it is peace for our time is the one used to express his and only his failure and ineptitude at preventing war. If we look at the failure of the League of Nations in the two examples noted as compared to Mr. Chamberlains attempts to prevent war it reveals an interesting statistic. Very few people had lost their lives in Europe up to the time of the outbreak of WWII. True people had died, there is no doubt about that, however, the real cost in lives of civilians up to that time was unknown. The impending horrors of the extermination camps was still not a known fact, though in hindsight we can say that it should have , and perhaps was, suspected by all of the leaders of free Europe. What was known to the League of Nations was the murder of thousands of Chinese civilians as well as the slaughter of the Abyssinian troops using primitive weapons to combat modern military hardware and a nation, Italy, equipped with an effective air force, Abyssinia having none. Yet time and time again we are shown that photo of Mr. Chamberlain and the white sheet of paper as an example of failed diplomacy. I would put it to you, the reader, that 63 members of the League of Nations (42 nations founded the League in 1920) plus the number of human casualties caused by their failure to maintain peace is miniscule when compared to the one man blamed for the failure to placate Germany. It is much easier to cheer on and lead a dedicated and enraged crowd bound and bent on wreaking havoc on an enemy than it is to stand up in front of a potential protagonist and attempt to calm the situation and work toward for peace. This is not to diminish the achievements of Mr. Winston Churchill in any way as he was a great war leader and was and is respected throughout the whole world, and well he should be. Having said that it is a lot easier to wave the flag, make stirring speeches to a nation, and even to the world as a whole when your audience is on the same page as you. I doubt Mr. Churchill ever missed a photo opportunity in his life (carefully staged as they may have been), while Mr. Chamberlain will forever be remembered for holding up that white piece of paper not unlike a flag of surrender. In one of his last addresses to Parliament Mr. Chamberlain said, Everything that I have worked for, everything that I have hoped for, everything that I have believed in during my public life has crashed into ruins. There is only one thing left for me to do; that is to devote what strength and power I have to forward the victory of the cause for which we have sacrificed so much. Neville Chamberlain passed away on the 9th of November, 1940 never to know whether the evil he had attempted to protect his nation from would ultimately be stopped or not. On November 12th Mr. Winston Churchill stated in his eulogy of Mr. Chamberlain, Whatever else history may or may not say about these terrible, tremendous years, we can be sure that Neville Chamberlain acted with perfect sincerity according to his lights and strove to the utmost of his capability and authority, which were powerful, to save the world from the awful, devastating struggle in which we are now engaged. This alone will stand him in good stead as far as what is called the verdict of history is concerned. Neville Chamberlain March 18, 1869 November 9, 1940 1 Other than quotes this blog consists of my opinions 2 Quotations have been freely borrowed from different sources easily verified by the reader. 3 Citation = a clever way to make my article appear to be much more scholarly than it warrants on its own merits. Besides a citation is only a reference to someone elses work which may or may not be either original or accurate. 4 The term his is to be taken as meaning either male or female and is not meant to be gender specific. 5 There are exceptions to this and an election is not necessarily a foregone conclusion 6 I use the term Great War as at that time we had not yet started numbering our World Wars, fortunately after number 2 it was decided that perhaps world wars were not that great an idea after all and dropped the numbering system.

I'm in agreement with Frank and Larry so would that be, ditto ditto. Your works are always amazing, thank you so very much for posting them. Regards Brian

if it's a old sword blade then don't. Regards Brian

Thanks for the most interesting photos. I wonder if the brass "truncheon" with the ball top is actually a tipstaff denoting the persons authority from the Crown. I hope Mervyn will render his opinion on this. The use of the mirror by the police in your story makes me wonder if one of these might be handy the next time I visit the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa. There is no way, at my age, I can crawl under the displayed equipment to see the under carrige of the tanks and other hidden details on the artillery pieces etc. There was a day when I could, would and did... of course they hadn't even invented tanks back that far. Regards Brian

I'm always amazed at the size of the MG08/15 LMG, especially when it is classed as a Light Machine Gun, of course everything is relative. One would be hard pressed to carry the heavy machine gun in the same manner. Great photo with lots of action and equipment, thanks for posting it Jock. Regards Brian

Smart move by the three fellows sitting in front, "It's a group photo you idiots they might want to see your faces!". Looks like the older gentleman on the right is not amused. Interesting photo, thanks for posting it Jock. Regards Brian

Thank you for posting this interesting and historic group. The gentleman certainly had an intertesting career. Regards Brian

I agree with the above, wonderful work and congratulations. Regards Brian

I'm impressed, even the hat is named, very well done. If the medals and watch get in the way..... Well done, Stuart. Regards from Upper Canada (as opposed to Down Under). Brian

Mike, That's 24ct. Canadian historical gold! Finds like this come along only rarely, well done Mike. Regards Brian

Hi IrishGunner, My son was born in 1977, the year Star Wars first came out (and the year Elvis died), years later my son became a die-hard SW fan as well and even has some "original" scripts. Quotes from the movies MUST be accurate otherwise you are in for a loooong lecture. The phrase from the movie is actually just "I am your father", but using "Luke" just makes it sound better and irritates him at the same time, so it's a win, win situation. Regards Brian

In the past, movies always made you think that the knight in full armour was much like an army tank of today, nearly invincible. In a way they were correct except they were anything but invincible. The halberd could peirce armour with the "beak" on the back of the head, spear the knight in less protected areas between the armour plate and used to pull him from his steed to be finished off by squires with long pointed daggers. So much like today's army tank they could be sitting ducks for the RPGs, land mines and HEAT rounds of their day. I like that we have taken this topic farther and hope others will add to it. Regards Brian

Hi |<ris, I should have mentioned that many authentic war hammers with wooden handles had side, or cheek, pieces attached to the head and running along two sides of the handle. I've read that these were to prevent the head from being detached by a sword cut. However, that is highly unlikely and the true purpose was to strengthen the area where the socket met the handle as that area, upon the weapon's impact against armour, was prone to breakage. I'll relocate your post now. Regards Brian

Hi Stuka f, I'd say you are correct about this not being an authentic piece however, being a First Class Non-expert, my opinion may not be worth a lot. I've seen a few of these war hammers in books and museums and the shapes of the heads vary a great deal. From what I know these were used by men in armour against other men in armour so they were weapons of blunt force trauma weapons. The area that I would question is in the attachment to the handle. The method of attachment seems to be a socket and I would think this would be prone to allowing the head to fly off in battle. Also I don't like the way the handle tapers as all the ones I've seen were straight from the pommel to the head. Could this have been used as a decorative piece to top a flag standard, such as might have been used inside a hall or club? When I say "I don't like" the handle I actually really do like the whole weapon, authentic or not. I think it is a very nice piece. Don't you think this would fit under the "Swords and Edged Weapons Section"? I would be happy to move it there once it has some exposure in this section, in fact I would really like to see it take up residency in that area. Regards Brian

The one soldier was using what looked like a small Chinese flag in a coulple of shots to signal the soldiers to "fire" and the language sounded like Mandaran (my sister-in-law speaks that dialect). Regards Brian

I've never ventured farther than the GMIC, never had the need. Some of the most knowledable people are right here; I'm not one of them...yet. Regards Brian

Spicy if you have a Latin accent. That's not meant to be racist by the way. Regards Brian

I am speechless, and that is no mean feat. Well done. Regards Brian .

Thanks Mervyn - Just following your good example. We have lots of old questions that could possibly now be answered either by new members or older members who have now run across the information. Regards Brian

I am reviving this post with the hope that one of the members can help. Sorry but that's about all the help I can be with your question Bill. Regards Brian

A great find, thnks for sharing these photos with us. Regards Brian

Hi Mervyn, I'm glad I was able to make a positive difference to you day. Regards Brian

I've moved this post from the Firearms Section to this section as it is one of the best retoration projects I've seen in a long, long time. Thanks Dan for posting your work. A beautiful restoration. Regards Brian

The Perfect Darth Vader Voice After a year of retirement and after more landscaping projects completed than any one person of any age could expect to be done in one summer I am ready for a rest. I’m looking forward to the first frost and then the first heavy snowfall. With my snow blower back from the maintenance shop and binoculars in hand I await that first snowflake’s appearance like a cat ready to pounce on an unsuspecting mouse, or a WWII British Costal Defense Watcher scanning the skies for enemy planes. One task, now taken care of, was the packing up of the patio umbrella back into its case in which it was stored when we purchased it. The case is made of a very tough Nylon mesh with a large reinforced loop from which it can be hung up for storage in the garage or shed. Taking into account the price we paid for this giant bumbershoot we should proudly display it on the living room wall. Considering how my dear wife vetoed my plans for a rather large moose head in that same area I don’t suppose there is much chance of the umbrella being displayed there either. That was not really the perplexing issue with the umbrella as it turned out. The problem was one of displacement, or that is how I saw it. The case was a lot smaller than the umbrella, for some reason. It came out of this mesh “sock” so it seemed a matter of simple physics that it should be able to be returned as the volume of both the space and the object had not changed since we made the purchase in the spring. Having come to the end of my patience I decided to apply the following formula for displacement as a function of velocity and time: X=½(V +Vo)t Where: X=displacement V= velocity Vo=initial velocity The above is just another way to say I lost my temper and tried to give the umbrella the “bum’s rush” into the bag. It didn’t work. Starting over again and more slowly and calmly working the bag over the umbrella an inch at a time I managed to learn two things. First that slow and steady usually prevails over the Attila the Hun approach. Secondly I have learned to appreciate the dining difficulties of the Giant Anaconda (Eunectes murinus) especially if it were attempting to ingest a Volks Wagon Beetle (Das Auto insectus). Perhaps the one activity that I look forward most to, when the weather places me on virtual “house arrest”, is returning to writing more informative articles and posts for the forum. Over the spring/summer season I have managed to acquire several nice additions to the collection some with a good deal of rarity associated to them. Writing blogs is an enjoyable pastime that I fit into my day piecemeal, as time permits, but they tend to lack much in the way of informative material. My series, “Collecting the Periphery” , which I intend to continue with, was an attempt to inform and educate the reader in regard to items that were associated to the military aspect of collecting, yet slightly on the fringe. Other blogs were simply my observations and peculiar slant on the world in which I live both in reality and in my imagination (such as News from the Home Office). Therefore in an attempt to both inform and educate the reader and at the same time keep this issue of the “News from the Home Office” as trivial as possible I’ll now discuss the title of this blog. The Perfect Darth Vader Voice James Earl Jones made the voice of the Star Wars antagonist, Darth Vader, iconic not only to the movie itself but to the very essence of Sci-Fi villainy. As a bit of Star War trivia, “Luke, I am your father”, was never in any of the movies, but has become acceptable as such by many of the uninitiated into the world of the science fiction aficionado. You may lack the deep voice of Mr. Jones but here are a few tricks that may amuse some, ok, maybe one of your friends or at least get puzzled looks from your grand daughters if they are under 8 years old such as mine. Find a Pringles Potato Chip tube or a mailing tube with one end, or bottom, still on. Place the open end over the open end, and breathe heavily through your mouth into the tube. Don’t forget that the inhale and exhale are equally as important here. Exhale forcefully and inhale more forcefully but not as long in duration as you exhale. Now in your deepest voice say the erroneous phrase, “Luke I am your father” into the tube. Use this phrase as it is the most recognized and will also irritate the die-hard Star Wars fans within ear-shot. Here’s the most important part, a trade secret of the annoying nerds who love to imitate Darth Vader. Pronounce each word as if the individual word was on a pedestal. Also emphasize the vowels. For example (note the letters in bold), “Luke...I...am...your...father”. Note: If you are a single male this probably won’t help you find a woman. If on the other hand it does...marry that gal; she’s perfect. Never let it be said that you can’t learn something and get dating advice at the same time on the GMIC. In your face “Match.com”! Regards Brian