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A Conversation with Augie about his guns, the Cuban missile crisis, Moscow and his favorite book.
M: How long have you been making these? A: Since I first got them - when I was about 3 or 4 years old. M: How old are you now? A: Seven. For four years I've been making them. Soon five. M: Is your birthday soon? A: August 18th. M: Are you going to have a party? A: Yes, I'll probably get to carry around and demonstrate these weapons. Some of them can actually be demonstrated. Let me show you. There are only a few that can. Let me get the bullets. A: This is the bullet I use for snake practice. It's snake bait. It's a very powerful bullet. Where did it land? M: I dunno - I think it went off the porch. Oh you have water balloons too, you need a sling shot. A: I never make sling shots. [Back to the demonstration] I do it with the motion instead of pulling the trigger. OK I'm using a longer and more powerful bullet that is actually a rifle bullet. There are even tinier ones. A: Now I will show you the positions to hold every weapon.
A: OK now the ground positions. Let me get some soldiers. A: I'm looking for the other bonus features. Oh I have a tiny bazooka here. Like the one they used in WW2. A: And now for another bonus feature. How the Cuban missile crises went. M: Oh really, you know about that? A: Yes, I know how it went. M: Please tell me! A: OK. The Cuban missile crisis started when the Cuban leader who was communist, started receiving missiles in range of the US. The US immediately blockaded Cuba. Then the Russians started sending troops there. And the US started sending troops there. Everyone was bracing and preparing for a nuclear world war. Gorbachev, who I think was leader at the time, nearly availed - took away war. They were down in this bunker when he sent a cable to Cuba withdrawing the Soviet forces and taking with them the missiles. War had been avoided. M: Is there anything else you want to tell me about? A: OK. Moscow. Moscow. Two things about Moscow. The battle there in WW2 that grew from a small town to the capital of being a super power, and the capital of the federation today. Lets start with what happened first. How it grew. Lenin was leader at the time. Lenin was leader for a tiny bit after the Russian revolution, the Bolshevik revolution I mean. Then Stalin was in control. Stalin didn't want the capital to be St Petersburg because it sounded too much like a king. Like a king owned it. So St Petersburg was renamed Leningrad and they moved to the overgrown village named Moscow. Soon Moscow was a communist super power. And is still the capital city today of the Russian federation. And if it turns back into the Soviet Union they will probably still use it as the capital. A: Now what happened at Moscow. Here's what happened. In operation Barbarosa the German's sent in soldiers but they weren't equipped for what was coming for them, the cold. For a long time they were winning but when fall turned to winter in Russia the Germans were tortured by frostbite. Their boots too porous so freezing cold ice and water leaked in. They got lots of frostbite, and their boots were also too thick to wear layers of socks inside. Once there the Germans started running out of ammunition. When almost out, they had about nine rounds for each soldier. They were not very well equipped and most soldiers were kicked out of the war. Trying to take on tanks, the standard Russian tank was the T-34. And it was invincible to one thing the small cannon. But they were out of ammunition and they didn't know what was there. The anti tank gun that they used wasn't put into Russia until a few years later. Then the Russians counter attacked with lots of ammunition and lots of tanks. The Germans often used up ammunition trying to at a sniper that was trying to shoot them. It's hard to get snipers so you have to shoot in all directions, high, lower and the middle. So soon they wasted ammo shooting at snipers. Then the Russians counter attacked again. Kicking the Germans out of the city. But it wasn't exactly the Russians that defeated the Germans. The Germans were defeated by the cold. No one knew why it got so cold around there because it was in very early winter and it started getting so cold. The main reason they got defeated was that the Russians resisted the German attack. The Russians wouldn't surrender. They just wouldn't surrender. And it ended up that the German's surrendered instead. Except in the first battle of Barbarosa. Soon Germany was kicked out of the war. This marked a turning point in the war.
A: And that's it that's all I have. I've been making these for a long time. A: Wait, you need to see my favorite book.
- Augie
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