SMLE
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Posts posted by SMLE
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Looking more closely at the record he was a 36 tear old tea blender with 2 kids when he enlisted and was actually wounded in 1917, GSW left thigh, and was evacuated home before returning to France in May 1918 for the last time.
16 Pages of records including correspondence with his widow about his medals and effects.
Found them on Ancestry.co.uk, quite rare to find a complete set as most were destroyed in the blitz.
Regards.
Carl
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Affentitten,
I have found his service record for you. You are lucky his was one of the few to survive the blitz, if a bit singed.
Looks like he landed in France on 23rd May 1918 and was killed on 20th August.
Let me have your email and I'll forward you a copy.
Carl
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We used to sit on the aircrew ceramic chest plates while in Bosnia, they were curved and more comfortable to sit on than helmets. I've got some pictures somewhere that demonstrate the need for something to sit on as well! :eek:
Anyway dragging the topic back to my original post. I'm glad I'm not the only one to think that the British soldier models are not very good. There seems to be some sort of myth that the basic pouches could be adjusted between the chest and the waist. I remember buying a model kit when I was a kid and the instructions said you could fit them wherever you wanted as they were adjustable and the picture on the front of the box showed them on the chest IIRC.
I just don't understand it, almost every picture of British troops you will ever see shows how the equipment should be worn, baring some wierd modification. It's almost as if they didn't check at all.
Anyway I hope it changes as I almost exclusivley play Brits in CM and was looking forward to TOW.
I'm sure I'll still play Brits they just won't look like Brits!
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I don't want to nit pick or anything and I know that there are other, more important, things in the game that are being tweaked at the moment. But I do hope that one of the things that is changed before the game is released is the depiction of British troops personal equipment.
This is from the Russian site:
As far as I am aware the basic poches were never worn on the chest as depicted. Certainly for the 1937 pattern webbing it is impossible to wear the pouches in the manner shown. The bottom of the pouches attach to the web belt and the shoulder straps attach to the top of the pouch. So the pouches are used to connect the shoulder straps to the belt. Hope that makes some sort of sense. I'm pretty sure that the 1944 pattern webbing was the same.
Perhaps someone with more knowledge than me can confirm. Michael Dorosh?
I know it is probably seen as a very minor thing but, to me, they do not look very much like British troops at the moment and it wouldn't have taken much to get it right, just look at any picture taken during the war!
I hope it is one of the things that is corrected before release.
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Royal Air Force Medic 1986 - 98.
Attached to 845 Naval Air Squadron for casualty evacuation Bosnia and Croatia 1994.
Bosnia and Croatia again in 1995 with 24 Airmobile Brigade.
Also had a fun 6 weeks in 1996 with the USMC at New River, North Carolina during Exercise Purple Star. And not so fun 4 months on a mountain top on West Falkland in 1991/2!
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Gordon
Thanks for that. I had looked at the scenario last week and read the article this morning but hadn't put two and two together. I'll have to play it this weekend.
MAUS_TD
I know Tigers weren't uber tanks I was just using the expression to illustrate a point. For instance there is a thread at the moment asking how the allies ever managed to knock out heavy German tanks. (I don't normally use the expression but I must admit to being impressed at this one. A total of 2 Piat hits and 20 from a Sherman, at least 10 of which were AP or APHE, most from only 50yds, and only one penetration. I suppose some could have missed, even at that range, but still not bad.)
HeinzBaby
Exactly what I thought! Sounds just like a CM battle. Thats why I thought I'd post it so people could see that a lot of the things they wonder about in CM are not that far from the truth.
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Gordon
Thanks for that. I had looked at the scenario last week and read the article this morning but hadn't put two and two together. I'll have to play it this weekend.
MAUS_TD
I know Tigers weren't uber tanks I was just using the expression to illustrate a point. For instance there is a thread at the moment asking how the allies ever managed to knock out heavy German tanks. (I don't normally use the expression but I must admit to being impressed at this one. A total of 2 Piat hits and 20 from a Sherman, at least 10 of which were AP or APHE, most from only 50yds, and only one penetration. I suppose some could have missed, even at that range, but still not bad.)
HeinzBaby
Exactly what I thought! Sounds just like a CM battle. Thats why I thought I'd post it so people could see that a lot of the things they wonder about in CM are not that far from the truth.
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I have just read the above article in November’s issue of After The Battle magazine.
It recounts the battle of Massa Lombarda in northern Italy, in April 1945, between the infantry of the 26th New Zealand Battalion, supported by Sherman tanks of the 20th NZ Armoured Regiment, and the Tiger tanks of Panzer-Abteilung 504.
It’s a very interesting read and I think parts of it are worth quoting as they provide examples of some of the topics discussed here lately. Specifically: the use of smoke rounds by allied tanks to knock out superior German tanks, the probability and causes of “gun damage”, crews abandoning due to non-penetrating hits and how the allies managed to defeat the more heavily armed and armoured German tanks.
The following covers nearly everything, the Tiger had already been hit by a Piat round that failed to penetrate before being engaged by a Sherman 75.
Apparently while in hospital after capture one of the crew was called “Fritz with the electric green hair” as a result of exposure to the hexachloroethane used in the smoke shells.The first round of “Yank smoke” burst on the front of the Tiger in an intense white ball. The second round, an armour-piercing high explosive (APHE), struck the ventilator above the driver, was deflected through the superstructure and burst in the transmission, thus bringing the Tiger to a halt. The tank, which had been going flat out, came to a halt about 50 yards from them. Hodson then emptied his ammunition rack ring, which contained seven rounds of smoke, two AP and seven APHE, while McCully sprayed the Tiger with his Browning. None of these rounds penetrated the tank.Cramped inside Tiger 211 were eight men (the tank had picked up members of crew from an abandoned Tiger). Huhle recalled how the sweet-tasting smoke permeated the inside of the tank, literally covering the men and taking their breath away, and how the tank rocked when round after round smashed into it, damaging the gun, mantlet and turret ring. Eventually they could take no more and when the fire slackened they bailed out. McCully saw the hatches fly open and immediately turned his attention to them, as did Hodson with the co-axial……..With more ammunition, Hodson fired off two more shells and then finally ceased fire. Their supporting infantry then closed in on the Tiger, firing as they went.
The article mentions 7 Tigers, this is what happened to each of them:
200 – Abandoned after suffering transmission problems.
211 – Knocked out by Piat and Sherman 75 fire as above.
212 – Gun damaged after driving into ditch then knocked out from behind by Sherman Firefly.
213 – Escaped.
3?? – Set on fire by artillery and abandoned.
32? – Disabled by crew for unknown reasons.
331 – Lost track due to artillery fire and then abandoned after coming under Sherman fire.
I think this article shows really well how the German ubertanks were defeated by a mixture of combined arms, tactics learned by Sherman crews and mechanical unreliability.
If anyone is interested I can give you more info.
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I have just read the above article in November’s issue of After The Battle magazine.
It recounts the battle of Massa Lombarda in northern Italy, in April 1945, between the infantry of the 26th New Zealand Battalion, supported by Sherman tanks of the 20th NZ Armoured Regiment, and the Tiger tanks of Panzer-Abteilung 504.
It’s a very interesting read and I think parts of it are worth quoting as they provide examples of some of the topics discussed here lately. Specifically: the use of smoke rounds by allied tanks to knock out superior German tanks, the probability and causes of “gun damage”, crews abandoning due to non-penetrating hits and how the allies managed to defeat the more heavily armed and armoured German tanks.
The following covers nearly everything, the Tiger had already been hit by a Piat round that failed to penetrate before being engaged by a Sherman 75.
Apparently while in hospital after capture one of the crew was called “Fritz with the electric green hair” as a result of exposure to the hexachloroethane used in the smoke shells.The first round of “Yank smoke” burst on the front of the Tiger in an intense white ball. The second round, an armour-piercing high explosive (APHE), struck the ventilator above the driver, was deflected through the superstructure and burst in the transmission, thus bringing the Tiger to a halt. The tank, which had been going flat out, came to a halt about 50 yards from them. Hodson then emptied his ammunition rack ring, which contained seven rounds of smoke, two AP and seven APHE, while McCully sprayed the Tiger with his Browning. None of these rounds penetrated the tank.Cramped inside Tiger 211 were eight men (the tank had picked up members of crew from an abandoned Tiger). Huhle recalled how the sweet-tasting smoke permeated the inside of the tank, literally covering the men and taking their breath away, and how the tank rocked when round after round smashed into it, damaging the gun, mantlet and turret ring. Eventually they could take no more and when the fire slackened they bailed out. McCully saw the hatches fly open and immediately turned his attention to them, as did Hodson with the co-axial……..With more ammunition, Hodson fired off two more shells and then finally ceased fire. Their supporting infantry then closed in on the Tiger, firing as they went.
The article mentions 7 Tigers, this is what happened to each of them:
200 – Abandoned after suffering transmission problems.
211 – Knocked out by Piat and Sherman 75 fire as above.
212 – Gun damaged after driving into ditch then knocked out from behind by Sherman Firefly.
213 – Escaped.
3?? – Set on fire by artillery and abandoned.
32? – Disabled by crew for unknown reasons.
331 – Lost track due to artillery fire and then abandoned after coming under Sherman fire.
I think this article shows really well how the German ubertanks were defeated by a mixture of combined arms, tactics learned by Sherman crews and mechanical unreliability.
If anyone is interested I can give you more info.
Seeking Brit WW1 casualty
in General Discussion Forum
Posted
I'm out all day tomorrow so won't have a chance to have a proper read but I've sent Affentitten the file by email so he perhaps he can answer any queries.