"All of Vlad's forces and all of Vlad's men, are out to put Humpty together again." (3 Viewers)

[Greg Boeser]

Hey! They held up their bargain. Remember the Saarland Offensive of 1939?

The Saar Offensive 1939: When France invaded Germany

The French Saar Offensive in September 1939 got off to a bad start. Could it have have changed the course of World War 2?

historyguild.org

 

[Jabberwocky]

Artillery update -

Deliveries of artillery shells from the US had passed 4.2 million shells as of late October. This includes:

• 3,000,000+ 155mm artillery rounds, including more than 7,000 precision-guided and more than 70,000 Remote Anti-Armor Mine (RAAM) Systems;
• 800,000+ 105mm artillery rounds;
• 10,000 203mm artillery rounds;
• 400,000+ 152mm artillery rounds;
• Approximately 40,000 130mm artillery rounds;
• 40,000 122mm artillery rounds;
• 60,000 122mm GRAD rockets;
• 700,000+ mortar rounds;

US production has reached 50,000 155mm per month and is reportedly due to go to 55,000 per month by the end of the year. Goal is 85,000 per month before summer 2025 and maybe 100,000 per month by the end of the year. For reference, pre-invasion production was 14,400 per month. There's a new plant being built in Texas (capacity for 40,000 per month) and the first new TNT production facility in the US for 40+ years is being built as well.

Looks like the EU handed over its 1 millionth 155mm artillery shell to Ukraine some time last week. The bloc is (rather ambitiously) planning to deliver another 1/2 million by the end of the year, almost all of that through the Czech Republic's shell purchasing initiative.

EU 155mm shell production 2025 is expected to be somewhere in the 1.5-2 million shells range, provided new plants for explosive filler go into operation when planned. There are some hold-ups with fuses as well.

Ukraine is also getting 155mm shell production into gear. Aim is for the country to produce "more than 100,000" shells in 2025. That's in addition to the 82mm, 122mm and 152mm production lines which went in operation in 2023. Production estimates are scarce, but it looks like Ukraine.

'Indirectly acquired' 155mm from India, South Africa, Turkey, Pakistan and all sort of other interesting parts of the world keep on showing up as well.