boyrecon

Saw this thread but can't locate it now. Yep, definitely ex-Waffen SS personnel ended up in Indo-China in the late 40's/early 50's as part of the Legion Etrange. No big surprise, as "La Legion" does not ask questions. Bear in mind that in '45 Japanese POW's were re-armed and saw duty in that area for the allies. There is a biography available in English of a Waffen SS Officer who saw service on the Eastern and Western fronts, and later in Indo-China for the Frogs. Can't remember what its called/who its by, but it was available in the 70's in paperback.

we (the Brits) entered wwII still not quite sure it wasn't wwI. We spent the '20's and '30's fighting colonial wars in Iraq and elsewhere, which only justified our faith in C19th combat tactics. By 1944 we had finally realised the age of cavalry was over. However, we never got (at least during wwII) over the infantry/cavalry thing. Carriers are best employed as mobile infantry. They obviously cannot stand up to any significant AT capability. Use them as mobile MG teams/taxis for spotters and f/throwers. Against infantry they're handy; against anything else forget it. The British army during wwII is an Infantry army. Our tanks are mediocre at at best. Personally I think all British squads should be rated no lower than regular, to reflect the professionalism of he NCO's and the high quality of the training. After all, we were in it from '39, not '41.