IPA

Add ".org" after ww2. Nice site.

Miss Russia won Miss Universe 2002. Sadly, they just don't make 'em like they used to. (Yeh, I know you qualified that some of them are of extraordinary beauty, but what the heck ). [ August 24, 2002, 05:03 AM: Message edited by: IPA ]

I thought you were in Taiwan? I managed to pick up a copy in Borders Singapore. Do they have one over there? Peter

Yep, Arnhem was liberated by 49th (West Riding) Division as part I Canadian Corps on the said dates, after launching a river crossing of the Ijssel to the East of Arnhem and some fierce fighting. IPA

As Simon stated. 5 men per gun. No.s 1 and 2 on gun, no.s 3,4,5 ammo supply. The ammo carriers would be armed with rifles meant for localised defence. MMG Platoons would be used as conventional infantry only as an absolute last resort. Airborne MMG Platoons were not drawn from a Divisional MMG Battalion but were organic to the Infantry Battalion Support Coys(1 Pl Per Parachute Bn and 2 Per Airlanding Bn) TO&E is as follows. Total 25 Men, in two sections, two guns per section. Plus 2 Jeeps (with trailers)and Drivers attached from HQ company. Platoon Commander 1 Platoon Runner 1 Platoon Sergeant 1 Section Leaders 2 ORs 20. For what it's worth. Peter

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Commissar: Actually, one more question: How does this book correspond with other Western works like Ryan's <u>A Bridge Too Far</u>? Are the "facts" in both tend to back up each other or are there major disagreements?<hr></blockquote> I wrote a post similar to this some months ago. I haven't read ABTF for many years now, but as superb a piece of literature as it is, it has been surpassed in terms of accuracy by many authorities since its first publication. It would generally tie back with INSIS, but Ryan's summary of events is not really detailed enough for it to disagree. IMHO the authority and most detailed account of the Arnhem battle is Martin Middlebrook's "Arnhem 1944 the Airborne Battle". He provides a concise description of events and movements of the 1st Airborne Division, hour by hour, often down to platoon level. His account collaborates well with Kershaw's which he mentions in his acknowledgments. Read this in conjunction with John Waddy's "Tour of Arnhem battlefields" (which includes a 1944 1:25000 scale map of Arnhem/Oosterbeek). Peter

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Commissar: This sounds like an interesting book. Is it written in German or English or both?<hr></blockquote> It Never Snows in September is a wonderful piece of work. Probably the only readily available detailed account of Market Garden From the German perspective. The Author Robert Kershaw was a British Paratrooper who served in the German Army on exchange for several years during the 80's. Hence his ability to access extensive German documentation on the operation. Off the top of my head a few interesting ranks would be: 1/ Spindler, commander of the largest 9th SS Kg at Arnhem was the equivalent of a Lieutenant Colonel,but was actually the CO of the division's Artillery regiment. 2/ More well known, would be Captain Grabner, commander of the ill fated charge of the 9SS recon battalion over Arnhem Bridge (Total Battalion strength was about 40 AFVs). 3/ A few others KG Gropp, Moeller(Sp?) were also commanded by Captains and Majors, if I'm not wrong. For any one looking to put together a KG for an Arnhem scenario, look no further. To compliment this, another recent publication "German Armoured units at Arnhem" (or something similar to that), provides detailed armour types and quantities present at the battle. Cheers Peter [ 01-15-2002: Message edited by: IPA ] [ 01-15-2002: Message edited by: IPA ]</p>

Ipswich boy? I'm originally from Sudbury. If you need any assistance putting some historical forces together, give us a shout. The OOB for 3rd Parachute Battalion is pretty straight forward, but German forces are a bit more difficult. A couple of recommendations for sources on the German forces present (which you may already have). "It Never Snows in September" R Kershaw. "German Armoured Units at Arnhem" Marcel Zwarts. Kraft's 16th Battalion account of the Battle at Arnhem (should be available at the PRO). For maps, the 1:25000 scale 1944 map of the Arnhem/Oosterbeek area is available at the Airborne forces museum Aldershot and can be purchased from their site online. Also if you can get hold of a copy of "Remember Arnhem" by John Fairley, it contains some superb 1:10000 scale street maps along the Utrechtseweg. Peter

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by vskalex: Well, as someone pointed out, Market Garden was really two operations. One was the airborne drop, Garden I seem to remember, and the other the armoured drive, would be Market then. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> It was the other way round. Peter

I'm pretty certain that in the field, at least one Bren "ammunition" box was carried by the number 2 in addition to the spare ammunition distributed to the rest of the section. In their basic chest pouches, the three members of the Bren group would carry 4 mags each, the other members of the section would carry 2-4 magazines each (as well as 2" mortar bombs and grenades). So number crunching, the average 10 man section would probably carry around 26 Bren magazines plus an ammo box of 10-12 magazines. For sustained fire a large pool of ammunition would have had to remain with the Bren, which also had to remain mobile. As has been discussed, a lot of the posters advocate that the Bren was used as a separate fire group within the section, meaning that the two fire groups at times operated at distance from each other. In such a situation the Bren would run low on ammunition pretty fast if the ammo box was absent (the 12 mags carried by the Bren Group in their basic pouches would not last long).

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Username: PS Were the Lewis guns ever used in WWII?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Sorry, not really up on the Lewis. AFAIK by WWII they had been downgraded to vehicle support MGs as well as anti-aircraft MGs on merchant shipping (my Grandfather, used to man one). Again IIRC they were sometimes used by the SAS for their long range desert jeeps, but they preferred double mounted Vickers K Guns (as did British Airborne Recce) which were also drum magazine LMGs. Peter [ 08-25-2001: Message edited by: IPA ]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Slapdragon: I suspect this is coming down to a more political issue. People want the Bren to be given the firepower and use of a MG42, so anyone who points out that it is just a rather heavy AR acting as a squad automatic weapon is throwing some mud on that image. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Absolutely not. No one here AFAIK has as yet claimed that the Bren had suppressive qualities on par with say an MG42. It's a tactical issue not a technical one. British infantry section tactics, did and AFAIK still do, split the rifle group and LMG group into two separate tactical entities (criticised as archaic on the other thread). One to support while one moves forward (frog hopping?). The original request was for squads to be separated into these historical groupings when using the split command, so that historical tactics could be simulated in CM. I for one do not want separately purchaseable bren teams, as IMHO that is ahistoric. Peter (Edited because wrong part of quote was posted) [ 08-25-2001: Message edited by: IPA ]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Slapdragon: I think that the Bren was the best AR made, allowing it to fill many roles that it was clearly not designed to fill. However, it lacked magazine capacity to be an LMG. Do like the Lewis, and pop a 90 round feed device on top, and you would have had it right in the LMG camp. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Well how about this? A Mark I Bren with a 100 round drum magazine. Admittedly it was only used in an Anti-Aircraft role and SAS Desert Jeeps, but does that drum magazine transform it into an LMG in your view? (Posted just for the eye candy). Peter

Life was tough as a No.2....

Here's a scan of a 2nd Oxf Bucks LI cap badge. It would make a nice victory flag if placed on a maroon background. Peter

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by AndrewTF: * bump * Any more feedback? <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Very nice indeed. Great touch of accuracy adding the toggle rope. Would you consider changing the light colour on the denison to a light khaki instead (Although this may make the webbing less defined). Thanks Peter

IIRC the Bren group was commanded by the section second in command, either a lance corporal or corporal for airborne units. This and the fact that the bren team was trained to operate as a separate fire group (point in dispute) would theoretically reduce the moral penalty. Peter

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Richard Morgan: While we are on the subject of the Ox & Bucks L.I., I had a quick look at one of the Pegasus Bridge scenarios, and the Ox & Bucks were depicted as wearing maroon berets. Now to my knowledge, they were never part of "The maroon machine" but air landing and would have worn dark green berets. HOWEVER, and this is my major nit pick, neither Ox & Bucks nor Para would have worn berets in action, but would have worn helmets. Is there any mod for this? This is a slight digression from your original point about victory flags - sorry Richard.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> By 1944, all British airlanding troops wore maroon berets to denote their Airborne status. I agree with the nit pick. Peter

British Infantry Division 1944 (War Establishment TO&E) according to George Forty's "British Army Handbook 1939-1945". Total Personnel - 18,347 all ranks 3,347 total vehicles including track carriers (armoured) - 595 armoured cars - 63 trucks and lorries - 1937 Transport for an Infantry Battalion excluding jeeps and cars (Seems low): 15 cwt - 28 3 ton GS Lorries - 13 Loyd Carriers - 12 Universal carriers - 19 Universal carriers fitted with 3" mortars - 7 Hope this helps. Peter

Additional note: are you referring to the 4.5 in Howitzer Mk 2? This was withdrawn from service by 1944. Its replacement was the BL 4.5 in Gun Mark Mk 2. It saw service until shortly after the end of the war. Peter [ 08-15-2001: Message edited by: IPA ]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Brian: By 1944 all 4.5's had been basicaly replaced by 5.5in's as it had been found that the 4.5in round was too light for its calibre, compared to the much more effective 5.5in. Ian V. Hogg makes that pretty clear in his "British and American Artillery of WWII."<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> 64th Medium Regiment in support of 1st Airborne at Arnhem still contained one battery of 4.5in guns. I don't know whether this was an isolated case. Peter

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Germanboy: Commonwealth 3" mortars came in batteries of 6/battalion, don't know if they were fired as a group though. I suspect they were.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> For what it's worth (No sources). This really depended on the disposition of the infantry companies or whether the battalion was in attack or defense. For instance if the companies were widely dispersed it was common practise to package support weapons out in ones or twos to provide local support. Peter

Just a minor point. A battery was sub-divided into two troops of 4 guns. So abstractly an F.O. represents a "Troop" F.O. There was no such thing, but having two F.O.s solves the number of tubes problem. The original contention is that the ROF per tube is too low. Peter

A few notes on ATGs with the British Airborne Divisions: Airborne 17 Pounder ATGs were not towed by jeep, but the Morris Commercial C8/AT ('Quad'). The 17 Pdr being landed complete with tow in a Hamilcar glider. By 1944 Each Airlanding (Glider infantry) Battalion contained eight 6 pounder AT guns divided into two platoons as part of their organic support company. Parachute Battalions did not have organic AT guns, but in the field were usually allocated one troop of four 6 pdrs from the "Brigade" AT Battery. I say "brigade" because by 1944 British Airborne Divisions contained two AT batteries which were allocated one apiece to the two Parachute Brigades. Airlanding Anti Tank Batteries each contained 4 to 5 troops of 4 ATGs. At Arnhem for example, 1st Airlanding AT Battery contained 3 troops of four 6 pdrs and 2 troops of four 17 pounders. I believe the AT strength was increased for 6th Airborne during Varsity due to lessons learn at Arnhem. Both airlanding and parachute battalions (excluding seaborne tail) were allocated two universal carriers each (landed in one Hamilcar Glider). Their principle function was to carry mortar bombs and reserve ammunition. Only the 6th Airborne Division contained an Armoured Reconnaisance Regiment. Off the top of my head it contained 8 Tetrarch Light Tanks during D-Day. Their landings were disastrous and only two were able to be brought into action. During Varsity the regiment used Locust tanks, but they were equally unsuccessful. The 1st Airborne Division's Reconnaisance Squadron was non-armoured, being entirely comprised of jeeps armed with Vickers "K" guns. Peter [ 08-15-2001: Message edited by: IPA ]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Leta: Of course. Frost's men aren't stupids.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Mate, my point was that when the heavies started coming in, getting the hell out wasn't always an option. Peter