Military Weapons

The Military Weapons section of Olive-Drab.com covers all types of military firearms -- rifles, pistols, submachine guns -- as well as military knives and bayonets, crew served weapons, and heavier firepower. Follow the links below to the individual pages and sub-sections.

J.D. Estes tries out .30 cal. machine gun at the Naval Air Base, Corpus Christi, TX, August 1942
J.D. Estes tries out .30 cal. machine gun at the Naval Air Base, Corpus Christi, TX, August 1942.

Today in WW II: 16 Jun 1940 Armistice advocate, 84-year-old Marshal Henri Philippe Pétain becomes Prime Minister of France, requests peace terms from Germany, forms Vichy France government.  More ↓
16 Jun 1941 On orders from the US Department of State, all consulates, travel and other agencies of Nazi Germany in the US are closed.
16 Jun 1942 RAF and US planes sink Italian cruiser and 2 destroyers that attacked Allied convoys in Mediterranean.
16 Jun 1943 Last Jewish residents of Berlin are deported to Theresienstadt concentration camp, reducing to zero the pre-Nazi Jewish population estimated at 186,000.
16 Jun 1943 Over Guadalcanal in the Solomons, 77 Japanese fighters and bombers downed by Allied pilots with 17 more destroyed by ships and antiaircraft guns. US lost only six planes.
Visit the Olive-Drab.com World War II Timeline for day-by-day events 1939-1945! See also WW2 Books.

Military Weapons Directory

This section provides information about military weapons ranging from the rifle or pistol of the individual soldier, through crew served infantry weapons like mortars or machine guns, up to military firepower like artillery, naval and air systems, as well as chemical, biological and nuclear weapons.