MikeO Posted June 11, 2000 Share Posted June 11, 2000 Following on from a thread about Commonwealth forces, here's three recent books I've got my hands on which follow the popular current style of showing colour photos of human models dressed in original uniforms and equipment: 'The World War II Tommy in Colour Photographs' - Martin Bradley & Richard Ingram, ISBN 1 86126 190 X Almost 300 excellent photos showing all manner of uniform and weaponry. Done 're-enactor' style with models posed in the field and alongside museum vehicles and even inside a D-Day landing craft. Some amusing moments including a guy sitting on the latrine in the fatigues he'd probably wear for taking a morning crap . Virtually every piece of personal kit you can think of is illustrated including some weaponry I'd never heard of before. Eg. the British rifle grenade cup-discharger which enabled the No36 Grenade to be fired from the SMLE rifle (Don't worry, BTS, it was fairly rare by 1944; being reserved for certain assault troops and Commandos). Also of note is a sequence showing a Vickers MMG team going into action (note: this definitely WASN'T charged into battle at the point ). According to the book each Vickers required 2 Universal Carriers to carry the gun, crew and reserve ammo although they would stay to the rear in action. Of most interest to me was the INDIRECT fire capability of the Vickers: 'For indirect fire the gun was aimed using the dial sight - the tangent sight being folded flat. The dial sight, used with aiming posts during the day and aiming lamps at night, allowed the gunner to engage targets that were out of sight such as those in dead ground. The aiming posts were normally placed to the front left of the gun....The Vickers in its sustained fire role (aided by water coolant) was capable of putting down devastating indirect fire, creating a 'beaten zone' at ranges out to two miles...' For Sosabowski(sp) there's even a Polish para in grey beret 'The British Soldier, 1944-45. Volume 1, Uniforms, Insignia and Equipment' ISBN 782908 182446 'Volume 2, Organisation, Armament and Vehicles' ISBN 2 908 182 742 by Jean Bouchery Excellent pair of books on the late war British army that could almost be the standard work (and written by a Frenchie ) Volume 2 is by far my favourite with loads of TOE charts from the breakdown of a Brit section to detailed divisional structure right down to the theoretical number of Stens carried. Loads of photos and paintings together with vehicle data. Spotted a couple of errors - the standard colour scheme for Brit manufactured vehicles in ETO 1944 was Shade 15 Olive Drab not Bronze Greene as stated. Latter only came in at the end of the war. Hope this was of interest... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guachi Posted June 11, 2000 Share Posted June 11, 2000 You read my mind. I thank you for the book info. My wallet does not. Jason ------------------ Betas available to everyone are just publicity stunts anyways. -FK [This message has been edited by guachi (edited 06-11-2000).] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Formerly Babra Posted June 11, 2000 Share Posted June 11, 2000 Indirect fire with the Vickers was first tried at Vimy Ridge and it was amazingly successful. Thousands of rounds dropping like rain on the far side of the ridge were able to seriously interdict German reinforcement of the battle area. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Durruti Posted June 13, 2000 Share Posted June 13, 2000 Anyone know if this indirect fire capability of the Vickers (and others?) is modelled in CM? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Germanboy Posted June 13, 2000 Share Posted June 13, 2000 <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Durruti: Anyone know if this indirect fire capability of the Vickers (and others?) is modelled in CM?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> I would think it is a bit outside the game's scope - I have only read of it being used for indirect fire as part of the pre-attack bombardment, and also as part of the moving barrage. Are those modelled? According to the Commonwealth OOB, the MMGs were concentrated in a divisional unit, the MG Batallion - if they were used as part of the barrage, I think they used the batallion as a unit. When they were distributed, I can not see that indirect fire would be very helpful. Any other opinions - accounts? ------------------ Andreas The powers of accurate perception are often called cynicism by those who do not possess them. (forgot who said it) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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