Affentitten

I'd say it's definitely subliminal messages from the Reptiloids. They've got us all hooked into staring at the screen for some many hours, it's how they flash up the control commands without us realising it. Kettles has just seen the fnords.

Yes once they lost access to Turkey and the Crimea there was no supply of several metals, chromium being one of the most important for AP rounds. Speer makes much of that in his book, saying that he knew from the moment the Balkan corridor was lost, so was the war. He says something like they had a 6 month stockpile (assuming no further damage/disruption to industry) but after deliveries of chromium ceased, that would be the end of armament production.

Number 4: "Wiki says HEAT-T, sorry". (As in, not APDS)

Kettles, it's not a vexed question. I was mistaken and said so a post or so later using the same Wiki link. They used HEAT-T rounds in the 75mm pack and destroyed at least two AFVs in the Arnhem perimeter that I know of. No sabot though.

Wasn''t that what I said? That the 6 pounders in the vanilla inf battalions were not RA?

There's a possibility that Airborne units got the cream, but I doubt the difference would be huge enough for you to keep splitting hairs over. Certainly in the absence of proof to the contrary, I would use that as a rough guide to the ideal load out. I couldn't tell you if the AT platoons organic to each UK infantry battalion (and hence not RA) would have different ammo.

It's a pretty good book and I have corresponded with the author years ago in search of some further details. There is a bit of wasted time at the start describing the purpose of Market Garden etc. Good lots of personnel details in the appendices including a break down of every gun crew in every troop. Another one on this topic is Winged Gunners, but it's long out of print and I have been looking for a copy for years. By the time I had tracked down the author he had died.

OK, this is for British Airborne AT units: "Both types were well provided with the new and still secret “Sabot” (APDS) ammunition which could penetrate any German armour then known and, thus equipped, the 6-pounder with its lower profile was claimed to be the most effective anti-tank gun in service at the time. The 6-pounder traveled in a Horsa glider with its jeep, gun detachment and ammunition. The long barrel of the gun did not permit space for a trailer so the ammunition had to be accommodated in and around the towing jeep. Forty two rounds per gun were carried of which fifteen were normal armour piercing shot (APCBC) and twenty seven were Sabot (APDS). The 17-pounder, being longer and heavier, was carried in the larger Hamilcar glider along with its towing vehicle, a specially adapted Morris Commercial which carried the gun detachment and the ammunition consisting of twenty armour piercing (APCBC) and ten Sabot (APDS) rounds per gun. I found this here but it's quoting the same book I was going to use anyway.

I'm off to the cricket tonight, but if I get a chance tomorrow I will have a look in some of my books and can probably get a number on the 6 and 17 pounder nominal loadouts. However as JonS says, what these loads might be spread out over a month of action in the field and re-supply would vary. The AP rounds of any sort were in limited supply and became scarcer as the war went on because of they were being depleted at a more rapid rate after Tiger phobia rampant.

Likewise a 6 pounder at <100 yards against more than one Tiger.

I can check when I am at home, but they definitely had rounds they referred to as "Tungsten" and they had a loadout of 2-3 per gun from memory. Again though, if you're using your 75 as an AT weapon, which did happen at Arnhem, the close range made MV not as relevant. They managed to knock out at least one Tiger with a 75mm pack, but we're talking at ranges of around 100 yards over open sights. EDIT" Wiki says they were HEAT-T, sorry.

I can't say for US AT guns, but I know the 1st Airborne 6-pounder AT guns that went to Arnhem only had 3-5 rounds of APDS per gun and similar was issued to the 75mm pack howizters of the 1st Airlanding Light Regt. It was very scarce at that time and besides which, the HE shot was generally effective at the extreme close ranges they were using it.

Slowest dogfight ever!

There is more than one meaning of reconnaissance though. Maritime reconnaissance was the Sunderland's forte because of its long range. Flying over the Atlantic and looking for subs and E-boats is quite different from taking low level shots of enemy fortifications. And don't underestimate the survivability of the Sunderland. Over Norway a single Sunderland came up against 6 Ju-88s and won.

And I always respect the fact that Australian diggers managed to souvenir an entire German tank. Takes more planning than a Luger or a Pickelhaube.

I got this late last year Beevor's D-Day. But I wouldn't reccommend it. It's pretty much Normandy for beginners and you can recognise a lot of stuff that is just paraphrased out of earlier treatments by Ryan, Hastings, Keegan and Ambrose. Contrary to the title, it's more about the whole Normandy campaign up to the liberation of Paris.

My main thought was how much I'd like to have a threesome with those twin sisters.

In Australia, railway station announcements etc are made in any language but English. Personnel are hard pressed to explain anything in any language.

As a Southern Hemisphere resident, I'm for calling it Co-ordinated Universal Northern Time. That would at least point out the northern hemisphere chauvanism inherent in the concept.

Time to die, Nazi! AAARRRGGGHHHHHHH!!!!

...Gathering data for the Reptiloid masters.

Oh, missed that. Still, enabled me to expound on a favourite topic! And of course the RAN did hunt down subs outside the Pacific. Like in the Indian and Med.

I should also add that many of these men served attached to the RN throughout the war, including a handful who commanded landing ships for D-Day. So desperate was the RN for officers for its ever expanding fleet that one of the guys I spoke to described his promotion board hearing for being commissioned as a Lieutenant. He fronted a panel of three crusty old dockyard warriors too old for active service: "Midshipman, what bearing is due East?" The Aussie guy, thinking it a trick question, thought for a while but then said "Two seven zero degrees, sir." "Right. I see your surname is Nelson. You'll do. NEXT!"

At the start of the war, really before Australia had geared itself up, the RAN was quite pro-active about establishing a cadre of officers, especially ones trained in the new technical branches. They called for volunteers, particularly from civilians who had some maritime experience. It became known as the "Yachtsmen's Scheme", because a lot of these volunteer officers came from sailing clubs. They were given shake and bake training in technical disciplines like ASDIC and then, because the RN needed so many people, they were shipped off to the UK to be seeded onto ships in the Atlantic, Med etc. This helped the RN fill its gaps and gave the RAN a bunch of men who came home with operational experience. Kind of the like the Canloan program and the EATS. This was all done and dusted long before the Japs were even in the war. One of the guys I interviewed volunteered at the end of December 1939 and was shooting at German destroyers at Narvik in April 1940. He had a letter from the Australian War Memorial saying that as far as they could ascertain, he was the first Australian man (in an Australian service) to have fired a shot in anger in WW2.