Mystics & Statistics

French Air Power: Battle of France

The last of a series of eight presentations on French Air Power 1918 – 1940 by Dr. James Slaughter is this Wednesday, 24 June, 7:00 PM (EST) via Zoom.

The Zoom link is here:

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/85640643737?pwd=LNPVDrX9gtwOJIGWCDGB1zRq83m7GO.1

We will be posting the entire series to our YouTube channel.

Ms-406 Fighters, Syria July 1941 (Australian troops in picture)

The call for presentations for the Fifth HAAC is here: Call for Presentations for the Fifth HAAC, 20 – 22 October 2026 – The Dupuy Institute

The schedule for the Fifth HAAC is rapidly filling in. Now is a good time to commit: HAAC 2026: Fifth Historical Analysis Annual Conference (HAAC) – The Dupuy Institute

Just email me at LawrenceTDI@aol.com if you want to sign up for a presentation.

The sign-up for Fifth HAAC is here: Fifth Historical Analysis Annual Conference (HAAC) Tickets, Tuesday, October 20  •  8 AM – 6 PM | Eventbrite

More news articles on Hans Buddecke

The Indianapolis News, 12 April 1913:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Indianapolis News, 9 October 1913:

 

 

 

 

\The Indianapolis News, 31 January 1914: In the “Rooms, Houses, Flats Wanted” section:

 

 

Also see The Indianapolis Star, 22 February 1914 “Ring of Fencing Foils Soon May Resound in Homes of Indianapolis Society”. It is a longer article that is discussed in our book.

The Indianapolis News, 6 March 1914:

 

 

 

 

The Indianapolis News, 25 May 1914:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Also see The Indianapolis Star, 22 July 1914, “Amateurs in Weak Machines Principal Toll of Aviation, Declares German Flyng Here.” This is a longer article that is discussed in our book.

The Indianapolis Star, 23 July 1914:

 

 

 

The Indianapolis News, 4 August 1914:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Indianapolis Star, 4 August 1914:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Two paragraphs from that article:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More AI on Kurt Vonnegut

Jay Karamales, the co-author of The Hunting Falcon, asked Copilot AI the same question. I pick up his narrative here:

“It replied (in its long-winded way, which I excerpt here):

“No—they could not have known each other.

Buddecke died in 1918, and Vonnegut wasn’t born until 1922.”

Fair enough. Then, with hopes soaring, I asked:
 
“So their lives were not contiguous and they didn’t know each other; but were they related?”
 
Sadly, its answer:
 
“No—they were not related.
They belonged to entirely different families, countries, and social contexts, with no known genealogical or historical connection.”
 
Oh well. I guess, like all but about 15 of the Earth’s population, it has not read our book. I will ask Grok the same questions when I get home tonight.”
 
Anyhow, he (Jay Karamales) posted his comments to the previous blog post, but I (Chris Lawrence) choose to report in a separate blog post, seeing how AI is supposed to replace us all and take over the world.
 
Part of its (Copilot) confusion is that it assumed Kurt Vonnegut Jr. Almost certainly Hans Buddecke knew Kurt Vonnegut, Sr. He was a regular visitor to the Albert Lieber household and came to the United States according to his account with the encouragement of tall beauty Edith Lieber. She married Kurt Vonnegut in November 1913 and had their first child (the famous scientist, but not as famous as his younger brother) Bernard Vonnegut on 29 August 1914. Hans Buddecke never met Bernard Vonnegut, having started in trip back to Germany in early August, but he certainly knew of him.
 
That is the problem. AI does not read books. Books are protected in the U.S. by a 70-year copyright law. So anything that has been written about in the last 70 years is not available to AI unless it has been reposted in some form on the internet. Most authors have other things to do with their time (other than service AI).
 
AI also does not go to the archives either. Apparently does not search the on-line newspaper files, which would show that Lieber and Buddecke are related and working together in 1914. In particular is the article in The Indianapolis News, Friday 31 July 1914 “Birdman Flies over Western Part of City”, which identified “Johann Buddecke” and “…his uncle, Albert Lieber.”
 
 

The Hunting Falcon and Kurt Vonnegut and AI

One of our discoveries in researching for the book The Hunting Falcon was that Hans Buddecke’s uncle-by-marriage that he was working with in Indianapolis in 1913/1914 was Indianapolis businessman and brewer Albert Lieber. Albert Lieber was the grandfather of Kurt Vonnegut Jr. (i.e. Slaughterhouse Five, Cat’s Cradle, etc.).

Now in a discussion with my co-author Jay Karamales over the 6.65 pounds in royalties we have made from the book from July 2025 – December 2025, I decided to check if AI had picked up on our findings. After all, while the financial reimbursement for writing is not overwhelming, the emotional rewards more than compensate, especially as our work on the Hunting Falcon was new and original research. We could make more money working at McDonalds (“would you like fries with that”) than we do from writing 

So I asked Yahoo AI: “Did Hans Buddecke know Kurt Vonnegut?” It’s  response:

“Hans Buddecke and Kurt Vonnegut are connected through family. Buddecke was the grandfather of Kurt Vonnegut Jr. This familial link suggests that while they did not know each other personally (as Buddecke died in 1918 and Vonnegut was born in 1922), their lives are intertwined through family history.”

No…. he was not Kurt Vonnegut’s grandfather. Do not know how AI determined that. They, of course, reference a blog post from this site: WWI Air – The Dupuy Institute

Now, suspect they had some problem with my wording, which was: 

“Hans-Joachim Buddecke’s story starts before the war in Indianapolis, working for his American uncle (later the grandfather of author Kurt Vonnegut Jr.)….”

Anyhow, one must cross-check everything you get from AI. I have not asked this question to other AI (probably should, but Yahoo AI is the one I used for data quieries).

As far as I know, we are the only source that connects German ace Hans Buddecke with Kurt Vonnegut. 

On the other hand, I did have fun asking Yahoo AI who was the leader in historical analysis. But it also makes a factual error in that response.

Four Russo-Ukrainian War Books

Below is a picture of my three (four) books on the Russo-Ukrainian War. It includes The Battle for Kyiv, the paperback Kyiv, The Siege Mariupol, and Operation Spider’s Web. We have a fourth book in work (2026?), plans for a fifth book (2027?) and have discussed a sixth and seventh book (maybe 2028). Sort of depends what else I am doing with my time.



Anyhow, do have a picture of their bindings so you can see their relative size difference. Not all my books are really thick.

Operation Spider’s Web is my most recent release:

 

 

French Air Power 1918-1940: Politics

The seventh of a series of eight presentations on French Air Power 1918 – 1940 by Dr. James Slaughter is this Wednesday, 10 June, 7:00 PM (EST) via Zoom.

The Zoom link is here:

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/82312904908?pwd=hThCR8854TXLDessozm3w8MrUNydYW.1

The whole series is here: French Air Power 1918-1940 – The Dupuy Institute

 

The call for presentations for the Fifth HAAC is here: Call for Presentations for the Fifth HAAC, 20 – 22 October 2026 – The Dupuy Institute

The schedule for the Fifth HAAC is rapidly filling in. Now is a good time to commit: HAAC 2026: Fifth Historical Analysis Annual Conference (HAAC) – The Dupuy Institute

Just email me at LawrenceTDI@aol.com is you want to sign up for a presentation.

The sign-up for Fifth HAAC is here: Fifth Historical Analysis Annual Conference (HAAC) Tickets, Tuesday, October 20  •  8 AM – 6 PM | Eventbrite

I have received my copies of Operation Spider’s Web

I have received my six author copies of Operation Spider’s Web. The book is available in the UK at bookstores and on Amazon.com (UK). It will be available in the U.S. at bookstores and on Amazon.com come 30 July.

Got a few pictures of it:

 

With the exception of America’s Modern Wars (my most significant book), we do not sell any of my books directly. We do sell several of Trevor Dupuy books directly: Understanding War (his most significant book), Elusive Victory (still the best book on the Arab-Israeli Wars), Brave Men and Great Captains, Understanding Defeat, Future Wars, Harper Encyclopedia of Military Biography, Military Heritage of America (volume 2), If War Comes, Hitler’s Last Gamble (in Japanese) and A Genius for War. We are out of Attrition and Numbers, Predictions and War. See: Books – The Dupuy Institute

Elon Musk on The Encyclopedia of Military History

It has just come to my attention that Elon Musk has referenced the Encyclopedia of Military History in one of his posts two years ago. See: Elon Musk on The Encyclopedia of Military History by Richard Ernest Dupuy and Elon Musk on X: “Some audiobook recommendations: The Story of Civilization by Durant Iliad (Penguin Edition) The Road to Serfdom by Hayek American Caesar by Manchester Masters of Doom by Kushner The Wages of Destruction by Tooze The Storm of Steel by Junger The Guns of August by Tuchman The” / X

He does comment that:

I hope someone makes an audiobook of The Encyclopedia of Military History by Dupuy and The Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World by Creasy.

Anyhow, if he is reading the Encyclopedia, I would also recommend Understanding War by Trevor Dupuy and possibly War by Numbers by Christopher A. Lawrence. 

A new board has been stood up for The Dupuy Institute

We have stood up a new board of nine members for The Dupuy Institute, Inc. They are listed below along with a brief online bio.

Chairman: Rear-Admiral Jeffrey Harley – Rear-Admiral-Jeffrey-A-Harleye265.pdf
Vice-Chairman: Dr. Alexander Kott – Alexander Kott – Silver Spring, Maryland, USA | Yrkesprofil | LinkedIn
Secretary/Treasurer: Col. Joseph Follansbee – JOE FOLLANSBEE – Combat Weapons Development LLC | LinkedIn
Dr. Christopher Davis – Christopher Davis, Ph.D. – US Army | LinkedIn
Dr. Arnold Dupuy – Arnold C. Dupuy – Atlantic Council
Jacob Friend – PolyForge Industries, LLC | LinkedIn
Christopher A. Lawrence – Director – Christopher A. Lawrence – The Dupuy Institute
LtC. Michael McCarthy – Michael McCarthy – At home | LinkedIn
Major General David San Clemente – National Guard Biography

The Dupuy Institute was founded in 1992 by Trevor Dupuy as a continuation of the historically-based analysis his organizations had been doing since 1962. De facto, we have roots going back 64 years. It was a non-profit 501(c)(3) company from 1992 to 2014. The new TDI, Inc. is also planned to be a non-profit corporation. Want to take a moment to thank all of our new board members for volunteering and for their commitment to development of historically-based (meaning real world) analysis of modern defense issues.

More data on Port of Salerno engagements

Now…. the engagement in the last post was from the Combat Data Subscription Service published in 1975. These were the engagements used to create the QJM (@1977) and validate the QJM. They were later assembled into something called the Land Warfare Data Base (LWDB) which was used as the basis of CBD90. It was also used as the basis for a lot of what became our DuWar series of databases, and this engagement is in the DLEDB (Division-Level Engagement Data Base). It has been reviewed and revised. The current database shows:

  1. Engagement: 23003
  2. Port of Salerno Beachhead
  3. 9/9/43
  4. Br 46th Div 
  5. Ger KG Doernemann, 16th PzD
  6. Strength: 12917
  7. Strength: 2,995
  8. Armor: 0
  9. Armor: 0
  10. Artillery: 90
  11. Artillery: 18
  12. Suprise level: Minor
  13. Casualties: 350 (2.71%)
  14. Casualties: 70 (2.34%)
  15. Created 30 October 1998 for EPW study by Richard Anderson

 

 

  1. Engagement: 23004
  2. Port of Slaerno (rev)
  3. 9/10/43 – 9/11/43
  4. Br 46th Div
  5. Ger KG Schmalz, HG Division
  6. Strength: 16,837
  7. Strength: 11,955
  8. Armor: 48
  9. Armor: 72
  10. Artillery: 119
  11. Artillery: 36
  12. Casualties: 1180 (3.50% a day)
  13. Casualties: 300 (1.25% a day)
  14. Extensively revised 30 October 1998 for EPW study by Richard Anderson. Original engagement no. 3950 deleted.

 

Anyhow, there two engagements replaced the original engagement in the QJM validation database and the CBD90. In the DLEDB there are actually 96 fields that describe an engagement. This is an abbreviated list.