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• WWarCollege2026-10-13✓ Read

  How do the outcomes of modern COIN operations actually compare to historical operations?

  Occasionally I will see discussion online about how counter insurgency doctrine has advanced over time. Obviously the tools are completely different in the 2020s even compared to the 2000s not to mention the 1960s or earlier. But does modern doctrine and equipment really result in better outcomes against insurgents? Or is it a question of political will and resource dedication more so than the specific tactics and equipment? submitted by /u/Phantrum [link] [comments]

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• WWarCollege2026-10-13✓ Read

  Were there any notable proposals, plans or attempts to employ military jet-skis?

  Do note this is not a question of the feasibility of military jet-skis. The issues with jet-skis in a military setting are many and if they were effective then we'd be seeing their deployment as good ideas spread as quickly as bad ones. However as fans of military history, we all know that a bad idea has never stopped military theorists before.

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• WWarCollege2026-10-13✓ Read

  Illustrated positions/diagrams for Defense of Duffer's Drift?

  Basically what the title says, anyone have them or know where I can find them? The original book has a very high level map for each dream but the copies I can find are fairly blurry and indistinct, not that there is a ton of detail to begin with. I'm hoping that at some point in the last *century* since it's been written someone has actually taken the time to illustrate the various entrenchments and positions described in the text! submitted by /u/rmzgrimes [link] [comments]

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• WWarCollege2026-10-12✓ Read

  The Lebel 1886 is a personal fascination of mine; what was the context of French military thinking at the time?

  So it’s the first smokeless powder rifle, with a tube capacity of 10 rounds. What were French generals/logisticians expecting with this? Why did they adopt it and why was smokeless powder so important in their doing so? Also: It has a really complex and weird loading process. Did this affect their decisions in any way? submitted by /u/GloriousOctagon [link] [comments]

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• WWarCollege2026-10-11✓ Read

  Unguided rocket AA, what were they thinking?

  I came across several anti-air rocket systems from WW2 recently. No, not guided by any means. Fliegerfaust (dude), unrotated projectile and the z-battery. Perhaps there was more too. I struggle to find more information on this, especially the fliegerfaust-system.... Did it actually work out in any way at all? submitted by /u/Thermawrench [link] [comments]

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• WWarCollege2026-10-11✓ Read

  Honest question, what exactly is the role of a sniper?

  (this is a follow-up to my previous question) The pop-culture depiction of a sniper (which is the one I primarily know of) is usually that of an uber-elite operator who hunts down and kills high-ranking enemy targets; outside of this exaggerated depiction, the role of a sniper becomes much more murkier and generally unknown to the public outside of "kill bad people from long range".

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• WWarCollege2026-10-10✓ Read

  John B George published his memoir "Shots fired in anger" in 1947 about sniping Japanese soldiers on Guadalcanal and then becoming an intelligence officer in the Merrill Marauders in Burma

  I wanted to share this here because this is one of the few memoirs written by an American Army soldier that fought in the Pacific theater soon after the war. Also, he brought his own personal rifle to combat, a model 70 Winchester attached with an Alaskan rifle scope and even went on sniping trips in his free time. Later in 1982 he published an extended and revised edition of "shots fired in anger" about his time in the Merrill Marauders.

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