TrailApe

And hope your troops aren't a nervy bunch of noobs!

I think the problem is that the real bocage was not just a dense hedge, it was a dense hedge on a highish 'berm' which may have, over the years, been added to with the stones and rocks picked out of the field. Givern that this was all bound together by the hedge and tree roots they were quite a formidable obstacle. What calibre is the HE?

Just looking at the weight - the 17lber on Wiki is 6,720 pounds. Now that IS heavy, however nothing that a gun crew shouldn't be able to shift. We used to have races with our L118 light guns - they were 4,100lbs, a bit lighter but we could get up a canny clip with the whole crew in on the job. There's a quote floating about by a Victorian (or earlier) senoir officer. "If a goat can get there, a man can get there. And if a man can get there, he can drag a gun"

Are they movable by hand? Mebbes you need a gun tractor. In real life a bunch of gun bunnies (or trail apes) would have it moving as long as the ground was firm and level, perhaps BF is buying into the '17lb is too heavy to move camp' or possibly because action is imminent, the 17lb should be in the position it's going to fight the battle in?

With reference to Medium Machine Guns – they were not organic to the Battalion or Company, however that doesn’t mean an attack has to go in without any MG support. In the late 1930’s certain existing infantry battalions were converted into Machine gun battalions. The battalion associated with my neck of the woods – the Northumberland Fusiliers (previously the 5th Regiment of Foot - Bunker Hill etc ) became such a battalion – which is why you’ll not see them as rifle company in the 50 (Northumbrian) Division during WW2. Bung into Wiki “List of Royal Northumberland Fusiliers battalions in World War II” and you’ll see how these units were attached to different divisions then sub-allocated to companies. For our purposes the 7th Battalion was assigned to the 59th (Staffordshire) Infantry Division and fought at Caen and Mount Pincon. So just because you obtain an infantry battalion/company and there are no MMG’s doesn’t mean that you can’t have a couple of Vickers blatting out .303 at a considerable volume.

The Allies came away from North Africa with the lesson learned that a medium velocity gun with a good HE shell was the way forward, so a lot of tanks were given the 75mm gun in its various guises. Normandy taught 21st AG a whole new set of lessons and the 6lbers came back into fashion quite quickly.

Private/Trooper/Gunner/Fusilier/Rifleman/Guardsman etc etc Lance Jack Full Screw Sarn't Colour/Staff Sargeant Various Sargeant Majors (Company/Troop/Battery etc) Regimental Sergeant Major Ruperts and Rodneys

It's obviously French.

Battalion commander reads the situation, considers his options then gets onto the radio and calls up tons of arty and CAS. 2 hours later the Shermans are trundling past the battered mission-killed Tigers. (although I'll not mention the 88's in the treeline just waiting.........)

That'll just make it worse. Like showing the kids a chocalate bar wrapper during Lent.

The infantry stopped using it, but the support arms kept it for some time. For example a jimpy is a bit too much kit to carry around for an artillery crew, however an LMG just suits the bill. From what I can gather, units handed over their LMGs when they switched from SLR/SMG to the SA80, as the LSW version of the SA80 took over the role (allegedly). And whilst I never fired the Bren - just the 7.62 LMG, I totally agree with you on the speed in which mags can be changes, with a switched on No.2 the empty mag could be off and the new one fitted in a blink. Now filling the mags up with loose rounds is another matter - that could take forever, especially if your hands were cold and wet.

AND - its not really a carrying handle. Its only really meant to be used when changing barrels. Although it was used as a carrying handle - and if a stupid gunner had not ensured that the barrel was properly seated after cleaning it and then took it on patrol, that stupid gunner was faced with an anxious 10 minutes rummaging around the bottom of a german hedge looking for LMG bits when the main part of the weapon responded to the urgings of gravity and took leave of the barrel. In the dark. In the rain. And just the vaguest idea of where the rest of the patrol was. Ahhh - those were the days.

Us Brits had Airfix. Amazing what battles can be fought with 1/72 figures in a cactus pot on the window ledge.

NO BAGPIPES! or If bagpipes are included, Battlefront MUST allow the non bagpipe lovers (mainly the Northern English) to buy a sniper whose role it is to shoot the bleedin cat stranglers on the merest hint of even starting to play.

Zane, best wait a bit and see if there are 'bundle' offers when the Commonwealth module comes out. I must admit that the 'play it a few times to see where the enemy is' approach is that which I first used. However it doesn't always work with the campaigns and scenarios that come with the full game, I reckon on some of them there must be about 5 or 6 different IA scripts, so that pesky pair of A/T guns or Stug or inf gun pop up in more locations that an unwelcome fart. I learned that the best way to approach this game is not 'learn the setup' but 'learn the drill' and there's plenty of advice on this forum of the best way to use your assets. Get the full game and get stuck in - Razorback ridge is waiting for you.....

The Archer was the quick fix solution to get a 17lb deployed on tracks. I'll agree the Archer wasn't something you would go actively stalking tanks (driving backwards with the driver worried about a splattered head when the gun recoils), it was definetly an ambush weapon, but I can't remember reading anywhere that indicates the TD's used by the Brits solely to support infantry. I'll agree they were used more in an overwatch position and didn't go swanning about on their own, but the Firefly's were used in the same manner - more to do with the limited field of view in Normandy than actual doctrine (although doctrine is something the Brits didn't go a great bundle on). Are there any examples in Normandy of the US TD doctrine actually being used? (as opposed to slogging along supporting the infantry through the heges and fields)

Its not a North South thing. It's an East/West thing. West coast is warmer and wetter - East coast is colder and drier. (Except if there's a NorEasterley blowing in the winter months, then the East coast is colder and under loads of snow)

April last year Fascinating bloke - I'm reading his 'Tommies' book about yer average squaddie in WW1, digs really deep into primary sources and has some eye opening material about attitudes in those days. I've been brought up in the Brainwashed-Patriotic-Lions-Lead-By-Donkeys view and his is another good book that blows large caliber sized holes in this scenario. I've got his 'Redcoats' lined up (both 'borrowed' off my 16 year old son, who takes his military history VERY seriously) next. Richard will be missed - - used to really appreciate anything done by him on the TV as he never had a hand in any lazy continuation of stereotypes, but would dig into the subject and discard many urban myths.

That would be correct if the gun batteries were directly behind you – but often what happens is that the Observer is off to one side of the line of gun to target. The unfortunate observer then gets the effect of Probable Error in Range (PeR) as a right/left correction, which it definetly is not. Nightmare! Woe betide the FOO who forgets the effect of zone and try’s to adjust it. At the Gun End, as the adjusting gun goes through its fifth apparently minor adjustment, conversation will start up in the CP and gunlines (all chafing to get a FFE order and get in on the action) on the topic of “Chasing Rabbits”. Not too far off the truth. Yes there is some mega whizzy kit out at the minute, but if you are operating for a few days away from your wheels/tracks and the opportunity to recharge power devices, the type of kit an OP party will carry is not that different from their forbearers in WW2. The best bit nowadays would be the GPS, it’s light and can run on easily portable power cells, however anything more space age (Thermal Imagers, Battlefield Radar and Laser Target Markers) and the amount of batteries required to power them for any reasonable amount time becomes prohibitive. ‘Steam Gunnery’ (Map, Bino’s, Compass and GPS) becomes the order of the day. Caveat being GPS was a novelty just coming in as I was going out, so power packs might be a lot lighter nowadays.

high? - I'd say it was fever pitch!

Save the picture onto your drive and you can inflate it to quite a high resolution From wiki (my bold) The Sten used simple stamped metal components and minor welding, which required a minimum of machining and manufacturing. Much of the production could be performed by small workshops, with the firearms assembled at the Enfield site. Over the period of manufacture the Sten design was further simplified: the most basic model, the Mark III, could be produced from five man-hours work. Some of the cheapest versions were made from only 47 different parts. It was distinctive for its bare appearance (just a pipe with a metal loop for a stock), and its horizontal magazine. The Mark I was a more finely finished weapon with a wooden foregrip and handle; later versions were generally more spartan, although the final version, the Mark V, which was produced after the threat of invasion had died down, was produced to a higher standard.

I can't imagine any other nation swearing more than a British squaddie - copulative verb expletives are used as punctuation, a simple request being something like "Hoi - eff-wit, effing pass me the effing rifle effing sling will yer?" And none of that would have been meant in an agressive manner, just asking his mate to pass over a rifle sling.

There's always one isn't there? Bet the troopies had a giggle and the HeadSheads would have been furious.

With ref to the turtle helmets, you have got to have at least a couple of pixeltruppen having them on the wrong way around. Easy way to spot the 'accident-waiting-to-happen' sort of squaddy.

Claymores? I thought they more of the Viet Nam era and afterwards. And if you are cat strangling, you ain't gonna be running anywhere. I'll get me coat