The Download Munkey : Finder of Things …

An regularly updated military history blog with a knack for posting articles on interesting yet little-known topics from both major and minor military conflicts.

Reached this site not once but twice while researching the facts behind historical accounts of Polish cavalry charging German panzers during WWII for this post on Japanese military artist Motofumi Kobayashi and again on Sturmgruppen fighter tactics after encountering John Wallin Liberto’s richly detailed artwork of Sturmgruppen Dahl (More in a future post ).

All images below taken from War and Game and are copyright of the respective artists involved.

There’s a lot of little gems if you take the time to trawl though the massive military history archives of War and Game. Topics on helicopters, flying boats and horse cavalry seem to be especially well represented at this site. While I’m not an avid enthusiast of ancient and medieval cavalry, articles on seemingly obsolete horse cavalry units in WWII are quite an eye-opener, like the article on the notorious 8. SS-Kavallerie-Division Florian Geyer and of the infamous myth of the Polish cavalry’s valiant charge against German armour.

Other interesting reads include obscure topics often briefly mentioned in WWII history books like the air war in China, the Battle for Kufra, Libya 1941, a summarized combat history of the 12th Guards Heavy Tank Regiment (above), German U-boats operating in the Far East in WWII, hunting the Japanese heavy cruiser Haguro, No.148 (Special Duties) Squadron and Operation Lusty to famous operations like the audacious German raid to rescue Mussolini from imprisonment at Hotel Albergo Rlfuglo. For WWII topics closer to home - read up on the Japanese invasion of Malaya and the Japanese 5th Infantry Division which was assigned to invade Malaya.

There’s also a ton of military weapon and equipment articles dealing with commonly-seen equipment like British WWII military transport and German armoured vehicles (above) to rarely seen vehicles like the Canal Defence Light - tanks with their turret replaced with a powerful searchlight as well as posts on tactics such as Tank vs plane.

Post-WWII events of interest include the tense standoff between American and Soviet armor at Checkpoint Charlie between East and West Berlin (Oct 1961) , a detailed list of US Navy aircraft involved in Cold War incidents, the CIA-sponsored Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba (Cuban FAR Sea Fury above), the Salvador–Honduras War of 1969 and the combat history of the Mil Mi-24 ‘Hind’ in the Soviet-Afghan War.

While I have highlighted most articles related to WWII, there’s plenty more to be read at War and Game spanning ancient (Roman Army of Augustus Caesar), medieval (see Mongol Siege of Baghdad in 1258) and modern day conflicts.

Get your daily military history fix @ War and Game.

MORE @ THE DOWNLOAD MUNKEY:
The Book of Tanks
John Wallin Liberto’s WWII Military Aviation Art
Motofumi Kobayashi - Japanese Military Artist
Free Military History Books @ Focal Point Publications