War links

[erudito]

On longbows. On arrowheads. On bows.

Performance tests of a Japanese WWII tank.

Wondering why victory in the Cold War is not talked about more. (The 20th anniversary of the 1989 revolutions is coming up.)

What do you get for winning a quiz in Somalia?
The winners -- a team from Farjano district -- were given a first prize consisting of one AK-

Comments

[anonymous]

English archers didn't think that arrows could penetrate padded jacks which were the cheapest form of armour available. The French crown has left us specific details of arrow proof jacks to be worn by troops. There is no surviving evidence than any longbow arrow ever penetrated plate armour. There is evidence that mail provided pretty good protection against arrows. There is plenty of evidence that padded jacks, gambesons and akertons were, while not arrow proof, pretty effective at stopping arrows. When nobles are killed, like Lord Dacres before Towton, we often read things like "removed his bevor that he may drink" in the description of his death. Horses were well protected over the frontal arc by mid 14th. Knights were more or less invulnerable over the frontal arc by the mid 14th. I've handled period arrows and period Hundsklugels and bascinets, there are no holes of sufficient size to let an arrow through.

Dominic Mancini records the use of bills and archers, 100 years beforehand Villani describes the use of lances and archers, "the English taking one lance between two"

It is all there in the period texts.