Nahuel DL-43 - When Argentina Made Their Own Better M4 Sherman

Snipers in Argentina

Part 1

SNIPERS

Although Snipers are not necessarily members of the Special Operations Forces, members of ForOpEsp can be trained as snipers. Units such as the British SAS, the American Delta Force, the French GIGN, and countless others, increasingly depend on the specific function of the sniper for success in their operations. They are the ones who have the basic function of neutralizing human obstacles so that attack units can invade defended places, or eliminate threats to hostages or strategic installations.

The word sniper comes from the snipe bird that was very difficult to hunt and that designation came to be given to skilled hunters. The word sniper was registered in 1824 in the sense of elite marksman or “sharpshooter”. The verb sniper originated in 1770 among British soldiers in the British Indies in the sense of "shooting from a hidden place", alluding to the hunting of the snipe, a bird that is difficult to hunt. Those who were skilled at hunting the bird were called "snipers." In the American Civil War the term was "skirmisher." They didn't use the term sniper in the US at the time. It was the Germans who began to call their shooters snipers. In Brazil, the translation of snipe is Narceja ó Maçarico. The literal translation is not convenient to use and that is why it is used as the word hunter in the EB. Here it will be called sniper.

The sniper (sniper, elite marksman, chosen marksman, hunter) has always occupied an unparalleled position, whether within the Military Forces or in the popular imagination. The mere mention of his name, sniper, carries with it an air of menace. His capabilities were always much greater than his limitations, generally related to material such as weapon range, blind spot and weather.

The main mission of the sniper is to support combat operations by carrying out precise, long-distance shots against selected, opportunity or planned targets, without being perceived, with the least amount of ammunition possible. Generally the target is a soldier, criminal or terrorist and low ammunition means a single shot. The target distance varies from 100m for police to more than 1km for military snipers. Beyond hitting targets, the sniper slows movements, generating confusion and decreasing morale. As a secondary result, the sniper brings terror and demoralization to the opponent, by silently eliminating its members. These missions can be carried out with more expensive conventional weapons such as artillery and armor.

Target identification is crucial with the sniper having to distinguish officers, messengers, radio operators, heavy weapons operator and crew. Enemy snipers are the most important, as well as other threats such as dogs and their handlers, always used to hunt snipers. Ordinary soldiers are at the bottom of the priority list. Officers are identified by behavior or symbols of hierarchy, talk to radio operators, seat passengers in vehicles, have assistants, or talk and move frequently.

In the US Army, the functions of the sniper supporting commanders are:

- real-time combat information collection
- reconnaisance
- fire support
- precision shooting
- threat removal
- force protection
- fast coordination
- increases the area of ​​influence
- reduction of collateral risk

His main weapon is the long-range rifle, but he is also trained to call in artillery and handle machine guns or plant explosives in ambushes. American special operations troop snipers also receive training to act as forward air controllers, calling in tactical aviation to provide air support.

The Russian World War II manual cites the functions of the sniper as:



- Destroy enemy weapons that may interfere with the platoon's advance (sniper)
- Destroy the enemy command component to interfere in the chain of command (officers and sergeants)
- Find and destroy enemy that is conducting fire and interfering with the advance of troops (machine gun, mortar)

The secondary mission of the sniper, during the period of inactivity, is the collection of information, intelligence, observation and reconnaissance of the battlefield, reporting to the higher echelon on the enemy's situation, terrain and meteorology. It consists of penetrating the RIPI (Region of Interest for Intelligence), carrying out reconnaissance of points and small areas and monitoring a sector, access or exit route. Must be within radio range. With the majority of kills in modern warfare being by collective weapons, reconnaissance and surveillance missions became one of the most effective uses of snipers and only combat high-value targets of opportunity. The camera is now part of the arsenal. Digital models made the job easier with ease of developing and number of photos. With proper equipment a photo can be sent by radio.

The sniper should be good at observation and orientation with the ability to read maps and aerial photographs. Snipers must know how to collect information in quantity and quality. Already in the First World War, snipers became the ears of the headquarters.


The definition of a sniper is a soldier capable of hiding, reaching high-value targets, collecting information and retreating without being detected.

The sniper is considered a cheap precision weapon that requires little support and maintenance. An example of economy of force is being able to stop an enemy advance with a much smaller force.

Snipers usually spend one or two shots per target and can still give a mercy shot on some targets. The "one shot, one kill" motto is more for marketing.

Studies show that in the First World War seven thousand shots were expended due to enemy casualties, in the Second World War 25 thousand and in Vietnam 50 thousand shots. Even then, a sniper expended an average of 1.3 shots. The cost in ammunition is low, but it is difficult to calculate the costs of moral and psychological damage to the enemy. Operating in an area where there are elite marksmen means having to think carefully before making any movement which reduces the speed of movement.

Finnish sniper teams hunted entire Russian companies for days in World War II and used rifles without optical sights. A German machine gun operator decided to volunteer after realizing that he was a priority target for Russian snipers. He was the only way to survive.

There are three types of sniper: military, police and special purposes. The military sniper can now be separated into the sniper itself and the DM (Designated Marksman) for precise fire support for infantry troops.

Some armies choose the best marksmen who are distributed at the platoon or combat group level with weapons equipped with optical sights. In the US Army they are called Designated Marksman (DM). A DM does not have all the skills of snipers and they just hit more distant targets by functioning as fire support.

The Russians always gave a lot of importance to DMs. A DM is distributed to each platoon as a function similar to that of the US Army. They accompany the troop or patrol and the majority are not trained as a professional sniper.

Police snipers have certain peculiarities. The scenario is generally one of hostage rescue and shooting is only a last resort, with a direct threat to the lives of the hostages. In the case it is more to kill than to incapacitate. If the target does not die, it leads to the death of the hostages. The police sniper must be able to hit parts of the body to cause instant death without spasmodic contraction to pull the trigger, such as the "T of death", the area between the eyes and base of the nose where a shot causes instant death, without motor reflexes. , or reach the target hidden behind hostages. The police sniper must be very precise at close range, where combat rarely exceeds 300m and most occurs at less than 100m. Generally there are few shots per action, there is no limitation on the size of the caliber or ammunition, they do not need to worry about environmental damage to the weapon (they are stored and are removed only for use), and they do not worry about their own safety during and After the action, it has no problems infiltrating or exfiltrating. In one episode, an American SWAT sniper shot the revolver into the target's hand to prevent a suicide attempt. In subsequent tests the result was not consistent and there is a risk of injury from splinters. The weapon may fire and may fail to disable. In some places this shot would be illegal.

Special purpose snipers use large-caliber weapons to hit targets at ultra-long range or detonate explosives, or use silenced rifles for covert operations.

Several countries have their own military doctrine in terms of use of the sniper in units, placement and tactics. In Russian doctrine and followers, the sniper acts in infantry platoons, called elite shooters “sharpshooters” or “designated riflemen” in other doctrines. They came to have this name because the troops' shooting capacity was lost with the introduction of the assault rifle and submachine guns, optimized for rapid fighting at close range.

British and American snipers, beyond other countries, adopt the sniper pair doctrine, with a shooter and an observer with different functions.

The importance of snipers can be proven with the new changes in the US Army and experiences in recent conflicts and combating terror. Currently there are three teams in the command companies and one team in each infantry company. The US Army's Stryker BCT Brigade will have 48 sniper squads, acting in teams of 2-3 snipers, in 3,600 troops in total, but they will be used more as DM and not as true snipers. In Iraq, BCT snipers are used to protect infantry patrols sweeping through cities, and to kill guerrilla leaders and disrupt their attacks. For comparison, the air assault and parachute brigades have 18 casualties for snipers. The Rangers will increase the number of snipers per battalion from 14 to 40.


A USMC scout-sniper duo in Iraq. They are armed with the SR25 rifle that has now been officially chosen to equip all American armed forces. The US Army and the United Kingdom use the sniper assigned to the unit and not as a part, giving more freedom to movements. Other countries such as France, Israel and Russia use their snipers as part of the USMC Scout Sniper unit. They are now part of the Surveillance Target and Acquisition platoon. They are also used in small times attached to the infantry battalion, providing protection. US conventional troops use the sniper in pairs, with mutual support, with line-of-sight radios on short-duration missions. SOF use teams of two to four snipers, may have external support, long-range radios and long-duration missions.

Canadian snipers in operation in the mountains of Afghanistan. In each of the nine active infantry battalions there is a group of snipers made up of two shooters and their assistant. The upper team is armed with a 7.62mm caliber rifle, a 12.7mm TAC-50 long-range rifle and the auxiliary is armed with an M-16 rifle (local version) with a grenade launcher. The MacMillan TAC-50 Tactical Anti-Materiel Sniper Rifle Systen was purchased by Canada to arm their snipers and later by several European countries. The Canadians achieved the long-range shooting record with the TAC-50 in Afghanistan in 2002 with their special forces. The event was during Operation Anaconda in the advance in the Shah-i-Kot valley where they were supporting the American 101st Division when the American troops became the target of Taliban snipers, machine guns and mortars. Canadian snipers fought at distances mostly between 780-1,500m. The most distant kill was at 2,430 meters, breaking the record of Carlos Hatchcock in Vietnam who hit a target at 2,215m with an M2 machine gun with an optical sight. The flight time of the projectile was about 4.5 seconds. The low air density in the mountains (about 2,400m altitude) increased the effective range of the weapon. The TAC-50 was equipped with a Leopold optical sight with 16x zoom and AMAX Match .50 ammunition.

Sniper x Designated Marksman

The translation of Marksman and sharpshooter is elite shooter. In Brazil he is called selected shooter. In the USMC he is called Designated Marksman (DM) and in the US Army Squad Designated Marksman (SDM). In Russia he is called a sniper. In Israel he is called a squad sniper. Sharpshooter is another term used in the US. In the US, the shooting skill sequence is marksman-sharpshooter-expert and is given for military and civilian shooting competitors.

The DM function is to shoot quickly and accurately at enemy targets at 800m with a precision semi-automatic rifle with optical sight. It is trained for precision and fast shooting, but also high cadence shooting.

Some doctrines distinguish the DM from the sniper and there are many differences. The sniper has intensive training in survival, camouflage, concealment, stealth, infiltration and reconnaissance that are not necessary for the DM. The difference in training and role affects doctrine and equipment.

The snipers are used for reconnaissance and psychological damage on the enemy while the DM is for long range fire support for the attached platoon.

The sniper has a more strategic function than the DM, with a reconnaissance and surveillance function and is attached to a higher level such as a battalion, generally operating independently of the unit. The exception is US Army Rangers and USMC who use snipers at the company level. The DMs are organic from the infantry platoon or combat group as well as the riflemen, machine gun operators and grenadiers. The DMs of the police now have the role of eyes and ears of the situation.

The DM rarely operates individually as a regular member of an attached unit and is used as necessary to increase the range of the unit's weapons. The sniper rarely shoots alone and is always used on specific targets in sniper and observed times. The sniper uses fixed stance and camouflage while the DM changes position with the squad, and does not use camouflage other than the infantry.

The sniper uses a weapon with greater precision and range while the DM uses adapted semi-automatic weapons and not necessarily a dedicated sniper, which may just be a common rifle. The sniper's weapon is usually bolt-action while the DM's is a custom semi-automatic rifle. The sniper's combat distance reaches 1,500m or more with a heavy rifle while the DM's range is 800m at most. The sniper usually trains in several types of weapons while the DM only to operate one weapon. The DM shoots at shorter distances, in quick succession and against moving targets, not using stealth or surprise.

The DM's weapons are called Designated Marksman Rifles (DMR) in the USMC. A DMR must have greater range than a standard infantry rifle, but does not need to have as much range as a sniper rifle. It is generally a modified rifle with a telescope, bipod and adjustable sight. Most are 7.62 x 51 caliber rifles from the 60s such as the M-14, FN FAL and G3. Examples are the M21 of the M14, DMR of the USMC M14 and the G3SG/1 of the G3. The Israeli Gallil has a more dedicated version called the Galatz Sniper Rifle as well as the SR-25 based on the Stoner AR-10. The Russian SVD was designed from the beginning for the DMs.

The ammunition is usually the caliber 7.62 x 51mm Western and 7.62 x 54mm R in Russia which are also used by medium machine guns (M-240, MAG and PKM for example) and rarely use special ammunition.

Smaller calibers are worse at long range, but there are also versions of the 5.56 x 45 mm caliber such as the Squad Designated Marksman Rifle (SDM-R) of the M16 of the US Army, Squad Advanced Marksman Rifle (SAM-R) of the M16 used by the USMC , Mark 12 Mod


A Russian sniper accompanying an infantry platoon on a patrol in the mountains of Chechnya. In Russia, snipers act as DMs and are not real snipers.


An SDM from the US Army's BCT brigade in Iraq armed with an M-14 rifle. SDMs are used for fire support covering infantry movements, especially in urban areas. In the US DM is used as force multipliers. The first snipers before the 19th century were more DM than snipers.

Sharpshooters in Argentina

Just last year, the first Special Shooter Course of the Argentine Army was held, under the direction of the Group of Special Operations Forces with the participation of the personnel of the 601st Commando Company, from Campo de Mayo, Buenos Aires. Unfortunately there is no strong tradition in the EA (Argentine Army) or IMARA (Argentine Marine Corps) of training and equipping the subunits of this special troop independently.


Special RIM 22 shooters with Remington 700 and FAP with scope




FAL Sniper designed at FM Fray Luis Beltrán (a single prototype)


Member of the 602nd Commando Company (Ca Cdo(s) 602) with jungle camouflage and Remington 700 M-24 Special Marksman rifle

Recent maneuvers in the VI Brigade, an EA sniper and the view from his sights are observed.


Argentine Marines with FAMAS and Barret 12.7 (neither of which are standard for the force)

Another photo of the CZ 750 S1M1 in service in the Argentine National Gendarmerie



Sistema de Armas
Translation by Iñaki Etchegaray with additions by Esteban McLaren

Argentine Army Deploys State-of-the-Art TAM2C A2 MBTs into Service!

Malvinas: The Commando That Was "Dead" and Killed His Enemies

A bullet, a rosary and a miracle: the story of a man from Tucuman in the Malvinas War

Historias de la guerra

Lieutenant Jorge Vizoso Posse was the victim of an British ambush along with his partner, Sergeant Mario Antonio Cisnero, who ended up dead after a rocket hit his chest. “I did not surrender to the English,” says the major who was awarded the Cross for Heroic Valor in Combat.

Vizoso Posse (above left) and his CC601 comrades. Photo Infobae.-

Not everyone knows the war stories that Argentine soldiers went through between April 2 and June 14, 1982, the time that the Malvinas conflict between Argentina and England lasted.

One of the great protagonists of these stories was the lieutenant of the Argentine Army, Jorge Vizoso Posse - an elite soldier, parachutist, mountaineer and diver - a man from Tucumán who on May 24, in the middle of the war, set foot on the islands to join the 602 Commando Company (CC602), led by Major Aldo Rico and created especially to repel, through carefully planned special operations, different nuclei in the British outpost.

Argentine Army Lieutenant Jorge Vizoso Posse.-

According to journalist Loreley Gaffoglio for Infobae, the company, hit by numerous casualties, was planning to set up an ambush near the Murrell River, between the Kent and Dos Hermanas mountains.

During this time, Vizoso Posse established a friendship with Catamarca sergeant Mario Antonio Cisnero. Nicknamed El Perro, for his loyalty to his principles and his comrades, he was loved and respected as one of the most outstanding cadres within the force. But he was also praised for his moral and supportive conduct.

On June 10, under the command of Rico, the patrol of 18 commandos was divided into four strategic groups: support, assault, security and reception.

In the first of them were Vizoso Posse and Cisnero. Around 1 in the morning, the sergeant saw that a patrol of about 8 English marines had managed to penetrate the area guarded by the support group, so they opened fire without hesitation. The response was a 66mm Law rocket that hit Cisnero squarely in the chest. The shock wave flung Vizoso Posse through the air and he fell on the rocks meters away from him.

Wounded and stunned, the man from Tucumán managed to make sure that his companion had died. Without thinking he settled next to the corpse, pretending to be dead before the imminent arrival of his foreign aggressors.

Upon arriving at the site of the explosion, the men who served the Queen decided to verify that their enemies had died by finishing off the bodies. The automatic shots from the English weapons riddled the lieutenant.

Contrary to military strategy, instead of continuing at the vanguard, the enemies descended through the same place where they had come, something that was taken advantage of by the Tucumán soldier who miraculously was still breathing. Dazed, with some difficulty breathing and in disbelief that he was alive, Vizoso Posse looked for his rifle and fired a first magazine at his retreating executioners. He pulled another one out of his fallen companion's vest and emptied it furiously as well. Only at that moment did a trickle of blood warn him that he was injured.

The counteroffensive remained silent from that sector. Although he could not corroborate with his eyes the effectiveness of their shots, due to the absence of fire he thought that he had finished off, or at least bruised, some of them.

Without cover, clinging to his Fal, El Yanqui, as his companions called him, trotted to where his boss was. He told him that his favorite sergeant was dead, that he was wounded and that he had to change position.

After verifying that his wounds were large but not lethal, Vizoso Posee returned to combat, which lasted about 30 minutes until enemy resistance ceased. From the Argentine platoon, in addition to El Perro, Sergeant Ramón Gumersindo Acosta succumbed and a splinter injured gendarme Pablo Daniel Parada, from the Alacrán group.

The wound and the miracle

After walking for six hours, already in the field hospital in Puerto Argentino, the doctor, upon undressing him, found, tangled in his clothes, the rosary he was carrying, detached from his neck. No one noticed at that moment that an account was missing.

When examining him, the doctor, with no other instruments than his hand, removed a 2cm long projectile near his collarbone. As the ammunition was tracer when entering through the right shoulder blade, it cauterized the flesh in an ascending and oblique path until it was lodged at the height of the neck, on the left side. It was there, when upon observing the projectile, the doctor literally spoke of a miracle.

The ammunition had first hit one of the plastic rosary beads and was still molten and attached to the steel. That obstacle, at close range, not only cushioned the impact; It also slowed down and diverted the route. The rosary—the doctors assured—saved his life or, at least, from becoming a quadriplegic.

Vizoso Posse was evacuated from Malvinas to the mainland on the last Hercules on June 13, one day before the fall of Puerto Argentino. That is why he assures that he never surrendered to the English.

Argentine Air Force: Operation TRANSANTAR

FIRST TRICONTINENTAL TRANSANTARCTIC FLIGHT

Operation TRANSANTAR

Carried out between December 4 and 10, 1973 with a Hercules C-130 aircraft, registration TC-66.



It was carried out on an experimental basis, since it was about connecting Buenos Aires with Australia and New Zealand passing through the South Pole, with a stopover at the Marambio Base.



Facing a very near future, which we are already experiencing, the first tricontinental transantarctic flight carried out with a Hercules C-130 aircraft, opened up a new possibility for the country, that the Argentine Republic, now a terminal for so many airlines, abandons its marginal situation. to become an important air communications center.



Our airfields became transit airfields, instead of terminal airfields, meaning that the world now "does not end down there"; Australia, New Zealand and Oceania are our neighbors via Antarctica.

PREPARATIONS AND DEPARTURE

The flight over the South Pole was achieved after careful planning in which all the
experience that the Air Force has on operations in Antarctica.
Long years of flights carried out by navy and aviation planes provided the necessary data so that nothing was left to chance, that terrible factor that the Antarctic eliminates from all its projects.

“Chance is the door through which so many tragedies entered Antarctica,” the brigadier Fautario was able to recall, while commenting on the completion of the transpolar flight.

As soon as the assault on the Pole had been decided, with extreme urgency the solution to three problems was proposed: that of the necessary autonomy to cover the projected route, strictly determining the possible weights with which the plane could operate and the feasibility of touching the different airfields available for the trip.



Initially, the need to increase the autonomy of the Hercules to twenty hours was recognized, which has the capacity to fly thirteen hours without the need to refuel.

The technical group of the I Air Brigade assumed the task of modifying the fuel systems of the device and equipping it with two extra fuel tanks, which was achieved in an extremely short period of time and at such a low cost that it justified the interruption of a initial contact with the aircraft construction company.

This firm considered that the modifications would require 45 days of work and, in addition, they spent a very high budget to carry it out.



The flight tests of the new equipment - including changes to the aircraft's electronic installations - confirmed the capacity and ingenuity of the civil and military personnel of the I Air Brigade.
Precisely, in the course of one of the verification flights - having already verified the goodness of the fuel and navigation systems - a radial link was established with the Marambio base, during which the personnel stationed on this small Antarctic island reported that the The condition of the track was excellent and the temperature in the area was -2ºC, that is, a “spring” mark for that base.

The prevailing weather at our main air station in Antarctica introduced a variant in the flight calculations since it had been estimated that takeoff from Marambio would take place at about five degrees below zero. With low temperatures, the takeoff operation of a turboprop airplane is simplified. The air is denser and ensures that the engines reach their maximum power in a few seconds, shortening the necessary distance for the plane to achieve the lift necessary to take off.

Given the 1,200 m runway at the Marambio base, a relatively low temperature was required for a plane to achieve lift of 75 tons.

For this reason, it was agreed to use auxiliary rockets, called “JATOS”, which in number of eight represent an additional power equivalent to two more engines for a few seconds.

In any case, that radio conversation with Marambio expedited the events and then the time of departure was set for the night of Tuesday, December 4, 1973.

AT THE MARAMBIO BASE

On a flight without special alternatives, the Hercules arrived in Marambio at 02:51 on December 5.
Another Hercules was waiting on the runway, configured as a tanker plane that provided 17,000 liters of fuel in a minimum of time.

At that time, there was a total absence of wind on the island and the temperature reached 6ºC, unfavorable circumstances that made it necessary to use rockets to take off.

At 06:50 we were ready to head to the South Pole and face the most critical stage of the operation:
travel 1,200 m of the runway with the engines at maximum power and the rockets on to begin the great jump over the frozen continent. And the takeoff was done; Fourteen people aboard the Hercules breathed a sigh of relief when the plane jumped into the clouds to soar to 8,000 m, the optimal level for flight.

ON THE POLAR PLATEAU

The flight between Marambio and Canberra lasted 17:54 hours. A dense layer of clouds hid the Antarctic ice cap from the eyes of sailors. In the immensity of space, surrounded by the impressive silent calm of the heights, the plane maintained radial contact with Argentine territory. From El Palomar or Río Gallegos came voices from a familiar world; Behind each technical communication or meteorological report was hidden the word of encouragement from those who, although on the ground, made this 12,300 km flight that stretched between Australia and Argentina their own.

With favorable winds and an extreme temperature of -50ºC, the Hercules reached 80º South latitude, where the dense layer of clouds opened to offer the aeronauts the grandiose vision of the polar plateau extending its dazzling whiteness across the entire horizon. .

Near the South Pole, when the radar received the echo of the constructions of the Amundsen-Scott base, everyone on board felt like they were protagonists of a special moment: they were truly launched towards distant Australia; They participated in the opening of a new path whose political and economic perspectives are still unpredictable.

UNFAVORABLE WINDS

Shortly after flying over the South Pole, the intensity of the wind began to grow and already near McMurdo, the US base on the Ross Sea, gusts reached 155 km/h.

From that moment on, the wind began to be an obstacle to the plane's movement. Due to this, the Hercules made landfall in the capital of Australia almost two hours late, which involved dangerous fuel consumption.

For this last part of the trip, meteorological information was available from the World Meteorological Center in Melbourne, but it was not accurate enough. The actual high winds far exceeded the calculated winds.

After the passage of Hercules over Antarctica, we can affirm that in the future meteorological data will be of fundamental value to prevent commercial flights from suffering dangerous delays due to bow winds over the Drake Passage or over the Pacific.

On the circumpolar weather charts prepared daily by the National Meteorological Service, pilots must look for a “gap” between the cyclone trains that circumvent the Antarctic continent to have the help of tailwinds and reach their destination with an acceptable margin of security.

Furthermore, the insufficiency of weather data available in the Pacific Ocean west of Argentina, or in the Indian Ocean west of Australia, recommends the use of automatic buoys to close the meteorological network around the Sixth Continent.

THE RETURN

The Hercules took off on Saturday, December 8, from Canberra airport heading to Christchurch, in New Zealand, to depart from there on the 9th at 11:54 p.m. back to Argentina.

Flying in a straight line, the Hercules headed towards Marambio, leaving aside the route to the South Pole. Given the unfavorable weather conditions in the Marambio base area, the device continued its direct flight to Río Gallegos, where it made landfall that same day at 11:43 p.m., apparently eleven minutes before leaving New Zealand.

Paradoxical deception of astronomy and time zones... When the Hercules descended in Buenos Aires, nothing in its structure indicated that it had put an end to a daring voyage that united three continents through a dangerous route like few others: South America, Antarctica and
Australia.

The magnitude of the flight organized by the Air Force appears hidden by the normality that surrounded the operation; but currently flights through Antarctica have become part of everyday life, the regular news of this century in which men lost their capacity for wonder.

Although the world of Antarctic ice is still full of dangers, although the cold and wind create almost insurmountable walls to human activity, the Hercules C-130 opened a new stage in a world where the geography is increasingly smaller.

General Commander of the FAA Brigadier General Héctor Luis FAUTARIO
Aircraft Commander Vicecommodore José Apolo GONZÁLEZ
First Pilot Captain Juan Daniel PAULIK
Second Pilot Captain Héctor CID
First Navigator Captain Adrián José SPERANZA
Second Navigator Captain Hugo César MEISNER
Navigator/Survival Specialist First Lieutenant Jorge VALDECANTOS
Senior Meteorologist Salvado ALAIMO
First Chief Non-Commissioned Officer Pedro BESSERO
Second Deputy Assistant Mechanic Juan Bautista MEDERO
Air Delivery System Operator Senior Warrant Officer Jorge R. LINDER
Photographer Non-Commissioned Officer Major Juan BUENO

Also participated in this flight:

Commodore Julio C. PORCILE
Major Manuel M. MIR

Argentine Weapons: Bersa SA

Bersa SA

Bersa S.A. is an Argentine portable weapons manufacturing company, located in the city of Ramos Mejía, La Matanza District, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina.1 Initially founded under the name of Tecnofres in 1958 and changing its name to BERSA S.R.L. in 1962 (although the years of the company's life are counted from the founding of Tecnofres) with the acronym BERSA being the result of the union of the letters of the names of the founding partners, Benso Bonadimani, Ercole Montini and Savino Caselli. Currently the company focuses on the production of pistols, with an annual production that reaches 60,000 copies, reaching 6,500 units per month. In its entire history, 725,000 weapons have been manufactured, of which 345,000 have been exported.

History
The company was born with the association of a group of Italian immigrants who arrived in Argentina during the 1950s, they were Benso Bonadimani from Cologna Veneto, Ercole Montini, arrived from Brescia and Savino Caselli born in a town near Ivrea. Savino studied in Ivrea and in 1940 began working for the Olivetti company, which manufactured typewriters. In 1952, the management of Olivetti decided to install a manufacturing plant for its products in Argentina and carried out a selection of personnel, among whom Savino was selected and traveled to Argentina a year later where he obtained the position of Head of the Workshop. Die-casting, which was the most important sector of the plant. Ercole Montini, who had worked for some years at Beretta with his brother, arrived in Argentina as an immigrant in 1953 and once in the country he set up a small workshop, with a milling cutter and a lathe to do work in his free time. Given his Beretta background, most of the orders were related to weapons, such as the manufacture of spare parts that were difficult to obtain in the country. Savino was in the habit of designing various devices, but he needed a workshop where he could materialize them. This is how Ercole made contact, who allowed him to use his workshop when he was away from the factory.
Around 1958, Ercole was asked to manufacture a large number of parts for a weapon. But the quantity required by the client exceeded the capabilities of the small workshop, so he asked Savino for help. In addition to personnel and machinery, they would need a trusted man to control the process while both were away. For this reason, they contacted Benso, who was only 20 years old, for the task. The three formed a company that they named Tecnofres, the seedbed of what would later become BERSA.

First weapons 
Tecnofres was active without problems for a year and dedicated itself to manufacturing parts for the most important Argentine weapons factory of those times, Ballester Molina. However, after that period, they found that they could not sustain the workshop and pay the salaries and loans for the machinery.
If the young company wanted to stay alive, it had to find a new profitable business to keep it afloat and it was at that moment that Savino came up with the possibility of redesigning and manufacturing his own weapon.
Savino was sent back to Italy by Olivetti, Savino acquired a .22 caliber Beretta pistol (probably a Beretta M34), which he disassembled and studied carefully to understand its operation. Later he redesigned it to adapt it to the means of production that he and his partners had. To his original design he added stylistic details inspired by the Beretta 70 pistol, whose design plans he was able to see at the Brescia plant.
The prototype of the new pistol was completed in just forty days, thanks to the collaboration of other Olivetti workers who were on strike.
The result was the BERSA Model 60 pistol, which had excellent acceptance due to the lack of competition within the Argentine market for that class of weapons made in the European style. This initial success led to increased production and the design of new models such as the Model 62 and Model 64.
Around 1962 the company changed its name to BERSA S.R.L.

Pistols 

Bersa 83 

Bersa Thunder 22 

Bersa Thunder 22-6 

Bersa Thunder 32

Bersa Thunder 380 

Bersa Thunder 380 Concealed Carry 

Bersa Thunder 9 

Bersa Thunder 40 

Bersa Thunder 9 Ultra Compact 

Bersa Thunder 40 Ultra Compact 

Bersa Thunder 45 Ultra Compact 

Official Website

Argentina-Chile Naval Race: Chile Buys Ironclads (4/13)

The Purchasing of the Almirante Cochrane and Blanco Encalada Ironclads

By Eddie Cerda Grollmus



Part 1 || Part 2 || Part 3 || Part 4


The idea of providing Chile with armored ships dates back to 1864. It has its genesis in the events that led to the war between the allied side (Peru and Chile) against Spain, as a result of the occupation by the squadron of the latter. of the Chinchas Islands, at that time the main source of foreign exchange in the Peruvian economy (exploitation of the Guano). The first promoters of this idea were Messrs. Manuel José Irarrázaval (Former Minister of the Interior), Federico Errázuriz (Minister of Justice, Worship and Public Instruction), and Alejandro Reyes (Minister of Finance), they advocated the acquisition of two monitors or armored vehicles that were powerful enough to counter the Spanish squadron at that time in the Pacific 1.

Then the Interior and Foreign Relations portfolio was occupied by Abdón Cifuentes, who continued with the idea of such an acquisition, but given the poverty of the national treasury and the opposition of the then president José Joaquín Pérez Mascayo, Abdón Cifuentes' attempts were in vain. These were maintained throughout the decade in which Pérez governed (1861-1871).

The main consequence of this refusal was the bombing of the port of Valparaíso (March 31, 1866), by the Spanish fleet. The president's lack of vision resulted in the almost disappearance of the national merchant marine 2, and only the destruction . of the port cost close to 15,000,000 pesos 3.

After the war with Spain (1864-1866) ended, Chile could not take out the O'Higgins and Chacabuco corvettes from the English shipyards given the blockade imposed by England claiming neutrality in the conflict. In the same way, England had blocked the delivery of the Armored Frigates. “Victoria” and “Arapiles” to Spain, before this Spain reached an agreement with Chile (1868), which stipulated that for Chile to be able to take out its corvettes it had to commit to acquiring war supplies in England or any other state until the sum was equal. invested by Spain in its two frigates, the difference amounted to 403,000 pounds (540,000 pounds had cost the Spanish frigates and 137,000 the Chilean corvettes). Given the status of allies between Chile and Peru, the Chilean ministers in Europe, Maximiano Errázuriz and Alberto Blest Gana, informed their counterpart from Peru, Jara Almonte, who gave his approval, so on February 18, 1868, the agreement reached was submitted to the public. of the English government, but on March 5, 1868, Alberto Blest Gana was surprised by a note from his Peruvian colleague Jara Almonte in which he vetoed the agreement and indicated (verbally to Lord Stanley) that a state of war existed between Chile and Peru. , it happened at that time that President Mariano Ignacio Prado (1865-1868), had been replaced by Pedro Díez Canseco (1868), and the latter by José Balta (1868-1872), who took a turn in their foreign policy regarding to his former ally 4.

In 1871 5, Federico Errázuriz Zañartú won the presidency of Chile, and sent to Congress the bill that authorized the executive to acquire two armored vehicles, the project was approved with only one vote of rejection (that of the previous president José Joaquín Pérez Mascayo) , it was agreed that these armored vehicles would be of medium size (Second Class Armored), both ships were commissioned in 1872, at a cost of 2,000,000 pesos, this amount was approved by the congress authorized the president of the republic to hire a loan abroad for the total and allocate it only for the acquisition of said ships, in reality the total amount approved corresponds to $2,200,000 of which the 200,000 would be used for the construction of the Magallanes Gunboat, I will not go into more detail about this vessel since it is not relevant to topic 6.

Minister Alberto Blest Gana was commissioned to carry out all the arrangements in this regard. Blest Gana contracted the designer of the ships (E.J. Reed, former Naval Architect of the Admiralty), as Technical Advisor, who recommended lining the interior with Teak and Zinc wood in order to To improve its stability and protection, it also contracted the Earle's Shipbuilding Co shipyard, in Hull, Yorkshire, England for its construction, as well as other equipment for the ships (weapons, machines, etc.).

The Armored would be called Cochrane and Valparaíso, the first of them was commissioned in April and the second in June 1872, then to make the supervision of their construction closer, Captain Leoncio Señoret Montagne was sent to England, even so the construction Both suffered delays for different reasons, including worker strikes, unfit personnel, rain, and price increases in coal and iron 6.


Almirante Cochrane Armored Frigate

The previously mentioned situation (the delay) was aggravated given the new tensions between Chile and its neighbors Bolivia and Argentina due to treaty and boundary issues, the demonstration of force carried out by Peru in mussels as a result of Quevedo's expedition to the Bolivian coast. (1872), in which the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Peru, José de La Riva Agüero, had expressed the surprise with which Peru viewed the purchase of two Armored Vehicles and that Chile did not need them for its defense 7.

In 1873, the Treaty of Defensive Alliance was signed between Peru and Bolivia (obviously this was secret and Chile was not aware of it), and Peru's attempt to extend this alliance to Argentina, given the above, the president ordered that work be done day and night. night in the armored Cochrane (at the time the most advanced), and to set out for Chile as soon as possible, the Cochrane arrived in Valparaíso on December 25, 1874, without the wooden and zinc lining and other details that would not prevent its use. as a war unit.

It was known, and this is demonstrated by the correspondence between President Errázuriz and his minister in Europe Alberto Blest Gana, that if a conflict broke out in the region, Chile would not be able to remove its ships from the shipyards, given the blockade that England would impose8




At that time, Chile was in talks with Bolivia that would result in the treaty of 1874, which was finally ratified by the Bolivian Congress. Argentina ultimately did not adhere to the treaty with Peru and Bolivia. The history of Chile indicates that there are two reasons for this: presence of Cochrane (the one that is most often referred to), and the territorial dispute with Bolivia over Tarija and a sector of the Chaco, I do not know which of the two weighed more in the decision, but I tend to think that it was more the second, given the details exposed in the negotiations of said treaty 9.

On January 24, 1876, the “Valparaíso” arrived in Chile, which unlike her sister ship (Cochrane) was completed and with all her rigs. On September 5, 1876, Admiral Blanco Encalada died (one of the heroes of the independence of Chile, who in 1818, in command of the squadron, captured a convoy and the Spanish frigate María Isabel that escorted it, and was also the commander in chief of the first expedition against Santa Cruz in the War Against the Peru-Bolivian Confederation with meager results), at the age of 86 and in recognition of his military merits, the name “Valparaíso” was changed to “Blanco Encalada”.


Blanco Encalada (former Valparaíso) Armored Frigate

In January 1877 the armored Cochrane was sent to England for completion and fairing, arriving in Chile again in 1878.

The armored vehicles had brigantine rigs, they displaced 3,560 tons, the power of their two engines (which moved two propellers) gave them 2,960 HP of power, their dimensions were: 210 feet in length (64 meters), 45 feet and 9 inches in height. beam (14 meters), draft 19 feet and 8 inches (6 meters), bunker capacity of 254 tons, speed 12 knots, and 300 men crew 10

The armament consisted of 6 9-inch (230 mm approx.) Armstrong muzzle-loaders, housed in a central casemate distributed three per side, capable of launching a 250-pound (113.5 kilo) grenade, each piece weighing 12 tons, and They were mounted on a Scout gun carriage with a central pivot. These pieces are installed in a central casemate and allow the bow gun to fire from the front to the beam, the central piece fired with an angle of 70º to the bow and 35º to the stern and the third from from the beam to the stern, her armament was completed by a 20-pounder cannon, one 9-pounder and one 7-pounder. The Blanco Encalada was equipped, in addition to the cannons, with 2 Noldenfeldt machine guns, the Cochrane only had one installed on the “apostle.” from the bow, its caliber was one inch (2.54 cm), and it fired a bullet weighing one pound (454 grams), 10.


Armstrong 9-inch gun, Blanco Encalada Ironclad.

The ships had a double hull and 7 watertight compartments, the armor was composed of a 9-inch (approximately 230 mm) shell in the central strip that was reduced to 4.5 (114.3 mm) in the bow and stern, The teak covering was 10 inches thick 10.

The Ram was shaped like a ram with a length of 7 feet (2.1 meters), submerged at 6 feet and 9 inches (2.06 meters), below waterline 10.

In January 1878, and faced with the economic problems, President Aníbal Pinto commissioned the Minister in Europe, Alberto Blest Gana, to put the ships up for sale as soon as the dispute with Argentina was resolved, commissioned by the Minister, the designer of the ships (E.J. Reed), offered Cochrane to England for 220,000 pounds sterling, the country was not interested, then an attempt was made to sell the two armored vehicles to Russia, obtaining the same result, in this way an attempt was made to alleviate the economic crisis that had prevailed in the country for some time. years 11..




Fortunately for Chile, the sale of the armored vehicles was frustrated, a situation that would have been critical in the event of a war, in some way these ships acted as a deterrent element, even so for the start of the Pacific War they required deep maintenance, their bottoms were dirty (accumulation of mollusks and other marine living beings), the boilers needed to change tubes and their machinery had to be completely serviced, the speed of the ships was limited to 9 knots, there was no dock in Chile for these ships and given the economic crisis It was impossible to send them to Europe to be faired. Of the two armored vehicles, the Cochrane was in better condition, in terms of its bottom cleaning, but not the machinery and boilers. This situation was the same in all units of the squadron except the Magallanes Gunboat.

Both armored vehicles were the fundamental axis of the squadron in the Pacific War (1879-1884) and strictly speaking the only ones truly of war and for 13 years they were the backbone of the Chilean Navy.

Notes

1. Historia de la relaciones Internacionales de Chile, Don Adolfo Ibáñez Su gestión con Perú y Bolivia, Ximena Rojas Valdés, Editorial Andrés Bello, 1971, Santiago, página 72.

2. La Armada de Chile: Desde la Alborada al Sesquicentenario (1813-1968), Rodrigo Fuenzalida Bade. Santiago, Chile: 1978, Empresa Periodística Aquí Está, Tomo III página 681. In 1861 there were 267 Chilean vessels totaling 60,847 tons, in 1864 there were 232 vessels, in 1867 there were 19 sailboats (2,7580 tons) and 2 steamers with 644 tons, in 1871 there were 75 vessels (14 steamers), totaling 15,870 tons.

3. $14,773,700, which was distributed as follows: private buildings $633,000; fiscal buildings $550,700; furniture and merchandise in private buildings $1,500,000; merchandise set on fire at customs $12,000,000; miscellaneous damages $30,000; Of the destroyed merchandise, $8,300.00 belonged to Foreigners and $3,700,000 belonged to Chileans. La Guerra Entre España y las Republicas del Pacífico, Alfonso Cerda Catalán, Editorial Puerto de Palos, Chile páginas 252-253.

4. See Historia de la relaciones Internacionales de Chile, Don Adolfo Ibáñez Su gestión con Perú y Bolivia, Ximena Rojas Valdés, Editorial Andrés Bello, 1971, Santiago, página 73 y La Armada de Chile: Desde la Alborada al Sesquicentenario (1813-1968), Rodrigo Fuenzalida Bade. Santiago, Chile: 1978, Empresa Periodística Aquí Está, Tomo III páginas 682-683.

5. By then, Peru had in its naval inventory the armored frigate “Independencia” (1866), monitor “Huascar” (1866) and the river monitors “Manco Capac” and “Atahualpa” (both arrived in 1870).

Independencia was commissioned in 1864, in anticipation of the events of the Chichas Islands, built in England by J.A. Samuda for 176,600 Pounds Sterling, displaced 2,004 tons, armored 4.5 inches, had a ram and was armed by 1 Vavasseur of 250 pounds in the bow, 1 Armstrong of 150 pounds in the stern and 12 Armstrongs of 70 pounds, or 6.4 inches, displaced in the central battery, all scratched.

Sources:
Peru Sovereign
Guerra del Pacífico

The Huáscar had its origin in the same events of the Chinchas Islands, it was commissioned to the Laird Brothers shipyard, Birkenhead, Poplar on Thames, England, designed by Captain Cowper Coles of the Royal Navy, under the "Ericsson" model.

The case had a double bottom and was divided into five watertight compartments, it displaced 1,130 tons, it had two engines that gave it a power of 1,500 horsepower and that moved a single propeller, it was protected by 4.5 (11.43 cm), inches of armor in the center that decreased to 2.5 fore and aft (6.35 cm), its main armament was a pair of 10-inch (254mm) muzzle-loading rifled Armstrongs, capable of launching a 300 lb grenade ( 136.2 kilos), mounted on a circular rotating tower installed in the bay, (Coles Tower), 30 feet in diameter (9.1 meters), manually moved, whose armor was 5.5 inches (14 cm), completed Its armament is 2 Armstrong of 40 pounds (18.6 kilos) on the port and starboard sides and 1 of 12 pounds (5.5 kilos) on the stern, coal capacity 300 tons, speed 11 knots.

Sources:
Armada Chile
Peru Sovereign

The river monitors Manco Capac and Atahualpa belonged to the Canonicus class built at the Niles & Rivers Works shipyard in Cincinnati, Ohio, by the Union Navy of the United States of North America, at the time of the Civil War, the first It was named Oneota and the second Catawaba, both were acquired by Peru in 1868.

Both displaced 2,100 tons; power 350 horsepower; speed 8 knots, shell 3 inches and 5 in the vital parts; Armament 2 15-inch (381 mm) Rodmans, muzzle-loading smooth, capable of launching a 500-pound (227 kilo) spherical bullet, mounted in a 10-inch (25.4 cm) armored turret

Fuente: http://members.tripod.com/~Guerra_del_Pacifico/monitores.html

6. Historia de la relaciones Internacionales de Chile, Don Adolfo Ibáñez Su gestión con Perú y Bolivia, Ximena Rojas Valdés, Editorial Andrés Bello, 1971, Santiago, páginas 74-75.

The project in question established the following:

Article No. 1: The President of the Republic is authorized to acquire one or two armored warships.
Article No. 2: You are also authorized to acquire a steamship capable of arming itself for war and assigning it to the service of the colony of Magallanes.
Article No. 3: You are finally authorized to raise a loan that produces two million two hundred thousand pesos, which will be used exclusively for the payment of the aforementioned ships.
Article No. 4: This authorization will last two years.

7. La Guerra del Pacifico, Gonzalo Bulnes, Tomo I “De Antofagasta a Tarapacá, Sociedad Imprenta y Litografía Universo, Valparaíso, 1911, página 36.

8. Historia de la relaciones Internacionales de Chile, Don Adolfo Ibáñez Su gestión con Perú y Bolivia, Ximena Rojas Valdés, Editorial Andrés Bello, 1971, Santiago, páginas 76-78.

9. In the book of Gonzalo Bulnes, Guerra del Pacifico, Tomo I “De Antofagasta a Tarapacá”, Capitulo II, emerge the details of the negotiations of said treaty appear.

10. La Armada de Chile: Desde la Alborada al Sesquicentenario (1813-1968), Rodrigo Fuenzalida Bade. Santiago, Chile: 1978, Empresa Periodística Aquí Está, Tomo III página 721. y La Guerra en el Pacifico Sur, Theodorus B.M. Mason, Editorial francisco de Aguirre, 1971, Argentina, páginas 33-36.

11. La Armada de Chile: Desde la Alborada al Sesquicentenario (1813-1968), Rodrigo Fuenzalida Bade. Santiago, Chile: 1978, Empresa Periodística Aquí Está, Tomo III, página 705.

12. Artículo Escuadra Chilena, 1879, A. Silva Palma.

Bibliography and Other Sources Consulted.

I. Historia de la relaciones Internacionales de Chile, Don Adolfo Ibáñez Su gestión con Perú y Bolivia, Ximena Rojas Valdés, Editorial Andrés Bello, 1971, Santiago.

II. La Guerra Entre España y las Republicas del Pacífico, Alfonso Cerda Catalán, Editorial Puerto de Palos, Chile.

III. La Armada de Chile: Desde la Alborada al Sesquicentenario (1813-1968), Rodrigo Fuenzalida Bade. Santiago, Chile: 1978, Empresa Periodística Aquí Está, Tomo III.

IV. La Guerra del Pacifico, Gonzalo Bulnes, Tomo I “De Antofagasta a Tarapacá, Sociedad Imprenta y Litografía Universo, Valparaíso, 1911.

V. La Guerra en el Pacifico Sur, Theodorus B.M. Mason, Editorial francisco de Aguirre , 1971, Argentina.

VI. Influencia del poder Naval en la historia de Chile, desde 1810 a 1910, Luís Langlois. Valparaíso, Imprenta de la Armada, 1911.

VII. Enciclopedia Monitor, Editorial Salvat, España 1972, Tomo XII página 4.806.

IX. Chilean Navy website.
http://www.armada.cl/p4_tradicion_historia/site/edic/base/port/tradicion_historia.html
http://www.armada.cl/site/unidades_navales/156.htm
http://www.armada.cl/site/unidades_navales/155.htm
http://www.armada.cl/site/unidades_navales/163.htm

X. Foro Fach-Extraoficial.
http://www.fach-extraoficial.com/portal/modules/news/

XI. Big Ships of the Peruvian Navy
http://es.geocities.com/peruwarships/index.htm

XII. Some Historical Ships of the Marina de Guerra del Perú
http://www.geocities.com/perusovereign/buques.html

XIII. Peruvian Historian Juan del Campo Rodríguez Webpage
http://members.tripod.com.pe/~guerra_pacifico/index.html
http://members.tripod.com/~Guerra_del_Pacifico/guerra_pac.html
http://members.tripod.com/~Guerra_del_Pacifico/monitores.html