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What are our twenty most popular blog posts (based upon the most number of hits on the blog):

1. U.S. Tank Losses and Crew Casualties in World War II – The Dupuy Institute

2. The Russian Artillery Strike That Spooked The U.S. Army – The Dupuy Institute

3. Wounded-To-Killed Ratios – The Dupuy Institute

4. Population over Time (US vs USSR) – The Dupuy Institute

5. New WWII German Maps At The National Archives – The Dupuy Institute

6. How Does the U.S. Army Calculate Combat Power? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ – The Dupuy Institute

7. A story about planning for Desert Storm (1991) – The Dupuy Institute

8. Tank Loss Rates in Combat: Then and Now – The Dupuy Institute

9. Wounded-to-killed ratios in Ukraine in 2022 – The Dupuy Institute

10. Panzer Aces Wittmann and Staudegger at Kursk – part 1 – The Dupuy Institute

11. Counting Holes in Tanks in Tunisia – The Dupuy Institute

12. What Is The Relationship Between Rate of Fire and Military Effectiveness? – The Dupuy Institute

13. German versus Soviet Artillery at Kursk – The Dupuy Institute

14. Artillery Effectiveness vs. Armor (Part 1) – The Dupuy Institute

15. Artillery Survivability In Modern Combat – The Dupuy Institute

16. Where Did Japan Go? – The Dupuy Institute

17. Was Kursk the Largest Tank Battle in History? – The Dupuy Institute

18. Assessing the 1990-1991 Gulf War Forecasts – The Dupuy Institute

19. Some initial observations on the Russian Army Battalion Tactical Group (BTG) concept – The Dupuy Institute

20. How many brigades did Ukraine start with war with? – The Dupuy Institute

You are welcome to list in the comments any other blog posts that you think are worthy. 

The first post on this blog was made December 27, 2015. See: Welcome to Mystics & Statistics – The Dupuy Institute.

This was done at the instigation of Dr. Shawn Woodford. He came up with the idea, sold it to me, designed the blog and did most of the really popular posts on the blog in those first four years. The first five posts (and the only posts in 2015) were:

Welcome to Mystics & Statistics – The Dupuy Institute

President Obama’s Casualty Estimates – The Dupuy Institute

Iraq/Syria Intervention Scenarios – The Dupuy Institute

Defeating an Insurgency by Air – The Dupuy Institute

Is Your Washroom Breeding Bolsheviks? – The Dupuy Institute

As of 27 December, the blog has had 1,909 posts, or over 200 a year. We also have had at least 3,168 comments made to the blog. We did early on cross post the blog to Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. We are currently cross posting to Twitter (now known as X), Blue Sky and Threads. See: We are on Blue Sky and Threads – The Dupuy Institute

Before there was the blog we did have an active forum: The Dupuy Institute Forum – powered by Infopop. We started it in March 2001 and it was very active for a few years. It was fueled primarily with postings by Richard Anderson, Niklas Zetterling, me and others.  It was through the forum that we met Shawn Woodford. Over time it became less active, people moved on, and it was being spammed. As I was busy writing books and maintaining The Dupuy Institute, I no longer had the time to regularly patrol it and maintain it, so I locked out any new sign-ins (to stop the spamming). It has been inactive since then. We have considered re-establishing it, except there really needs to be someone to watch over and maintain a forum. That really cannot be me. 

In addition to re-posting on Twitter (now known as X), we are on Blue Sky and Threads.

Our social media outreach includes:

X: The Dupuy Institute (TDI) (@dupuyinstitute) / X

Bluesky: @dupuyinstitute.bsky.social — Bluesky

Threads: (2) Christopher Alan Lawrence (@dupuyinstitute) • Threads, Say more

Facebook: (20+) Facebook

LinkedIn: The Dupuy Institute | LinkedIn

Right now, we are regularly cross posting to X, Bluesky and Threads. We may expand that.

We have typically only cross-posted this blog to Twitter (now X). We sometimes cross posted to Facebook and Linkedin, but have not been able to do that regularly.

We are trying to expand out media outreach, especially as it is clear that there is not a single central town square. So our social media outreach includes:

X: The Dupuy Institute (TDI) (@dupuyinstitute) / X

Bluesky: @dupuyinstitute.bsky.social — Bluesky

Threads: (2) Christopher Alan Lawrence (@dupuyinstitute) • Threads, Say more

Facebook: (20+) Facebook

LinkedIn: The Dupuy Institute | LinkedIn

Right now, we are regularly cross posting to X, Bluesky and Threads. We may expand that.

At last, Aces at Kursk is available in the UK. I am guessing it will be in the U.S. by 25 July.

Pen and Sword Books: Aces at Kursk – Hardback (pen-and-sword.co.uk)

I will be over in York (U.K.) for the HADSS Symposium in July (see Schedule for HADSS 2024 – The Dupuy Institute) and then heading over to Liverpool. My grandfather was a sailor from Liverpool. I have blogged about him before: Murmansk – The Dupuy Institute

He did end up in Murmansk in 1919. There was a mutiny on his ship the S. S. Nigeria. Below are the ship records describing the mutiny:

Crew list is here:

The discussion of activities on the ship leading up to the mutiny:

Note that three men refused to load coal. They did not consider it their work but would perform this work if paid one shilling per ton.

Note that the deck hands refused to discharge fifty empty coal bags to S. S. Competitor. They also used “threatening language.” “We are on deck but it is damned little we intend doing.”

And then: “Sailors & firemen, combined not to allow the Competitors crew to bunker S. S. Nigeria, thereby endangering the frozen meat supply for the whole of the Northern Russian Forces at Murmansk.”

And finally:

“An armed guard from HMS Glory arrive on board and arrested mutinous crew and took them away.”

Events after the mutiny:

It notes that “On going into Sailors and firemens forcastles we found a quantity of stones which were apparently pilfered from the British and American storerooms in the Nigeria. Also a sum of Russian money (3728 Rubles)”

Nine members of the crew “has this day been convicted and sentenced to various periods of imprisonment for continuing to refuse duty. One crew was “discharged fron the ship and pay a share of the expenses of the court. Three crew were to “pay share of expenese of the court and return to ship.”

Ten crew “has been payed off Articles. Wages deposited with H.B.M. Consul.”

“This day E. J Fox was drunk and was totaly incapable of performing his duties and using insolent language to the other ship’s officers and master…and will proceed to the U.K at his own expense. Wages in full have been handed to him in presence of H.B.M Consul.”

Anyhow, for better or worse, this is one of our family “war story” (from the Russian Civil War 1917-1923).

There were 34 men listed on the ship. Of those, 11 they “declined to report” on their “general conduct.” The other 23 men were rated “V.G.,” including my grandfather. One other man was discharged for medical reason. So, I am guessing that the S.S. Nigeria lost over 1/3rd of its crew during the voyage.

We are in the process of updating the look of our blog and our website. We welcome any comments or criticisms.

There is no button right now going back to our original website (it is also going to be updated). It is here: Home Page (dupuyinstitute.org)

Advocacy is not our business, but there a $61 billion aid bill for Ukraine that is coming up in the House perhaps early next week. If you have an opinion on the subject, now is the time to call your congressman and let them know. The links are here: Ukraine – Call Congress. To have an impact, now or early this week is the time to call. In the end, almost no one is there without over 50% of the votes of the voters in their district. We do get the government we deserve. Please let your congressmen know where you stand on the subject.