Andreas

Ah yes. I completely forgot about amalgation. Scandalous, really. Almost as bad as giving up on the numbers and abandoning buying commissions. I wonder what Monty would have said had he... oh wait, we do know, and he hated it. Anyway, where are my slippers and pipe. Now, as your link shows, they were still not the 'Royal Buffs' in 1942, just 'The Buffs', which is quite sufficient really. Toodlepips.

Ah I missed that. There are no 'Royal Buffs'. There is the Royal Kent Regiment, which is called 'The Queen's Own Buffs' for whatever weird reason that escapes me, and that would probably make me raise an eyebrow and have a sip of tea, if it was explained to me. I believe their museum is in Canterbury. One day I have to go. More info than you could care for Jon, thanks for correcting me on the AT guns. I mixed up my troops and platoons again. Bah.

Shouldn't that be 12 guns to a troop in the AT Rgt RA? Working from memory here, can't find it in the British Army Handbook.

Kingfish The Axishistory Forum has a thread on obscure combat formation of the CW here, which has this info on Gore Force:

It may well be that Molotovs are not efficient enough. That is a slightly different story though.

You do know that the throwing of grenades simulates a close assault, it is not actually that they throw grenades in the hope of damaging the tank? Using stand-off weapons before clambering on the tank with a can opener makes sense to me.

Err, why would diaries of an allied be in German? Sharing them will be impossible, since my server is broken, and they are paper copies. May also be against the copyright agreement. I can give you some info in email though.

PC - I expect to get the war diary pages of the allied unit involved in the Fey fight covering that fight sometime next week.

Yes, I guess that has become clear by now. I am not sure I understand - I guess I did not make myself clear enough. What I meant was that the only case I can think of where your numerical analysis would give you the wrong result was if the armoured Panzergrenadiers actually were not used (that would be an explanation for low SPW losses, not?). Since I don't think that is the case, it follows that breaking down the level of analysis to lower units will not tell you much, if anything. So I agree with you.

Harharhar - but you can post it, since I would not look. Where would the fun be?

Ohhh - that's fighting talk.

The girls actually wear something on yourbeach. Mate, you should come over to mine.

Stuff

Michael If you (IMO reasonably) assume that the German Panzerdivisions were split as normal, into an armoured element (Panzerregiment, armoured Panzergrenadiers, armoured SP guns, armoured Pioniere, armoured Recce elms), and a non-armoured element with all the rest, and if you then (IMO reasonably) assume that the armoured element attacked together, then Jason's numerical analysis makes sense. I would find it hard to believe that the armoured Panzergrenadiers saw less action than their non-armoured counter-parts, and that would be a main reason for his explanation not to hold water.

are you sure about the placing and timing? The Val in the background looks like it has a 6-pdr gun, which would maybe be too early for the Rzhev area. The same picture is in 'SS Steel Storm', and there is attributed to the 1943 Ukraine battles.

I have heard people comment that Kurowski is not that reliable as a source. I believe he is a former PK Man. 'Vielschreiber' was the term used. The title of the book you mention sounds like he continued to use the terminology that he learned as a PK journo. I believe Michael's map may not be of much help, because by early August the sectors may have shifted considerably. I am quite sure that the town of Vire itself was in the sector of the British 21st Army Group.

Bah, spoiler warning next time, if you may.

Well, you did not say a lot about what you had, so it could have been that you just did not type in the info. Sorry for trying to help. Anyway, it was almost certainly not a US battalion but a UK regiment.

Haven't read the book, but I am absolutely certain that is not correct. British decorations such as the MC, the MM, the GC and the VC were only given for solid reasons of bravery, and were not easily earned. the DSO and OBE could be given for leadership skills, instead of personal bravery, I believe, although it is possible it was awarded for both. I believe the US Congressional Medal of Honor again is a bravery only award. My grandfather received the EK II for general service, the EK I for (sort of) bravery. Numerours German generals received the Ritterkreuz zum Eisernen Kreuz for leadership skills, it had nothing to do with them being personally brave or not. Please elaborate what you mean by 'good reasons', and how the German system differs.

More importantly, do you know which Allied unit lost the 26 tanks?

Look at his sig. The PK men were soldiers. Of course they did not lie.

12. PD was never committed at Kursk, it went to Orel. I can check if they really had a battalion by then. I would have thought it was still one company only, but my memory may play tricks on me.

Would that not depend on the kind of war you want to fight?

Dosenoeffner - Versorgungsnummer 123456. Nur auf dem Nachschubweg zu beziehen.

http://www.wssob.com/102abtssp.html This link says they were.... As I pointed out in my email, Steve, I think that Steel Inferno might have some info on them? </font>