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LAHTI-SALORANTA M26 REVIEW, WITH FINNTROLL 1984 (MERCURY MAP BATTLEFIELD V) Name: Lahti-Saloranta M/26 (short LS-26) Designed: 1925 by Aimo Lahti & Arvo Saloranta Produced: 1930-1950 Number built: 6,200 Firing range: effective 400m Fire rate: 450-550 rpm The man who invented the KP/31 was also the creator of the LS-26: Aimo Lahti. He was helped by Arvo Saloranta for the LS-26 but this LMG was far from popular with the Finnish Army. Even though it was a reliable gun for decent gunmen, it was nicknamed 'kootut virheet', which means assorted mistakes. The gun was very heavy on the battlefield, was built from 188 parts and was therefor hard to clean but with a bit of oiling adapted to Winter, the gun was very reliable and accurate. Most guns used a 20-round box mag but also the LS-26-31 was invented and that one came with a 75-round drum magazine. The gun was used by the Finnish Army in the Winter War and the Lapland War but it also saw combat in the Second Sino-Japanese War. During the Winter War there were 2 squads in each platoon that provided covering fire for two 10-man rifle squads. Every squad had one LS-26 gunner plus assistant, while the rest all carried regular rifles. During both wars in Finloand between 1939 and 1945, the Finnish Army prefered the confiscated Fedorov-Degtyarev models from the Soviets to the LS-26. In Summer 1944, there were 9,000 Degtyarevs on the battlefield compared to 3,400 LS-26 machine guns.

BATTLE OF CRETE, WITH FINNTROLL 1984 (MERCURY MAP BATTLEFIELD V) Benito Mussolini's Italian army invaded Greece in October 1940 from their colonised base of Albania but failed to get control of the country that counts numerous islands. Italy was losing the fight with Great Britain in Libya and also saw British troops join Greece for the Greco-Italian War. It resulted in a large loss of Albanian territory by April 1941, at which point Hitler decided to take over command to invade both Yugoslavia and Greece during Operation 25. The ruptured country of Yugoslavia was captured in 2 weeks during April of 1941 because only the east posed a threat, while the fascist west cooperated with the Axis and the Serbian nationalist south supported neither the Axis nor the Yugoslav Partizans. It took another week to conquer the Greek mainland but the islands were a bigger problem. Thanks to the British tactic of island hopping, the Axis members were forced to make numerous landings by either naval or airborne attacks. On 20 May 1941, the Battle of Crete began with heavy bombings followed by massive paratrooper missions. The Allied forces prevailed on day one where the Germans suffered heavy casualties but on day two the Axis forces managed to sack the western airbase of Malmete. The airfield was drowned with reinforcements immediately and that would lead in the end of British control over Crete, after the defenses in the north fell and the British were pushed to the south. More than half of the combatants were evacuated by June and the Royal Navy took a big blow too, resulting in the destruction of all but 3 Cruisers and 2 battleships. The commander of the airborne mission was Kurt Student, who had also carried out the glider mission at Fort Eben-Emael to commence the invasion of the Benelux and France. 22,000 paratroopers and mountain troops were used in Crete by Germany alongside 2,700 Italians. 280 bombers, 150 dive bombers, 180 fighter planes and 80 glider planes were involved in the Battle of Crete as a magnificient display of German airborne intelligence. From the 42,547 Allied combatants there were around 18,000 who became POWs, while 4,000-6,000 were killed.