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March 20, 2023 at 11:04 pm #188923
Alan Hamilton
ParticipantDecals from Warlord Games https://store.warlordgames.com/products/british-79th-armoured-division-hobart-s-funnies-decal-sheet The AVRE markings are the blue squares with four digits.
79 Armd Div Markings described https://tank-markings.blogspot.com/p/79th-armoured-division.html
As the crews were RE not Royal Armoured Corps (RAC) they would probably wear the RE headdress including Khaki berets – the material used for berets varied in shade but from photos appears darker than the battle dress and certainly much darker than the Pixie suits. The dark blue beret is post war. There may well have been RAC crew on loan as drivers and other crew who would retain the black RAC beret.
Cap comforter
RAC Crew (left) Royal Tank Regiment (RTR) Badge black beret, RE crew (right) khaki side cap
Shockproof helmet (left) Khaki beret (right)
So plenty of variation!
The Churchill was an entirely British design by Vauxhall of Luton, England and is iconic as the main Allied heavy tank in the West. Thus it was not Lend Lease.
October 22, 2022 at 9:45 am #188376Alan Hamilton
ParticipantI have not tried to use the tool you mention. I suspect the reason actually is that the Scots Guards did not and do not have Highlander platoons. The Highland Regiments were and are Line Regiments that nominally recruit locally. The Scots Guards nominally recruit from the whole of Scotland – Lowlands, Highlands and Islands.
If you want “Highlanders” I suggest that you choose one of the Highland Regiments. If you want Guards then unfortunately none qualify as “highlanders” though the Scots Guards may have a piper!
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This reply was modified 1 year, 9 months ago by
Alan Hamilton. Reason: spelling correction
July 28, 2022 at 10:51 am #188017Alan Hamilton
ParticipantExaggeration it may be but then the exaggeration was made by the German users and also manufacturers who printed “Nur Für Gewehr” on the boxes. Steel cases were difficult to get right. The label “Für Gewehr” or “Nur Für Gewehr” basically means that function firing of this lot showed problems (usually stuck cases in the chamber; Hülsenklemmer in German and melted lacquer attracting dirt or clogging working parts) in MG34, especially when the barrel was hot. In peacetime conditions it would have been rejected. On the other hand “Für MG” means that this lot showed no problems during function firing in MG34. It basically told the troops: set aside this lot for use in machine guns, because it works well. Do not waste it by issuing it to rifle carrying soldiers
But then other major exaggerations are permitted – extra die roll for all German MGs not just the MG42.
Please do not try to equate modern peacetime produced ammunition with mass produced ammunition from resource starved wartime factories staffed by starving slave labour. The “acceptable” quality standard of ammunition is quite different in war. Especially so in Nazi Germany in 1944-45.
July 23, 2022 at 7:24 pm #187988Alan Hamilton
ParticipantI would very much like a bit more emphasis on rule writing. At the moment “rules” and “fluff” are jumbled together making it difficult to find a “rule”. Could we please have the book divided into a Historical section(s) with all the “fluff” and “Hollywoodisms” in there and a section just devoted to the core rules in a logical way.
On the subject of poor ammunition it is recorded in many places that German manufactured small arms ammunition of the late war had steel cases. These were lacquered to resist rust. Unfortunately for the shooters this lacquer melted when the rounds were fired leading to frequent jams. There are reports that a 1944/45 rifleman had a rate of fire similar to a Landwehr musketeer of 1815 and of soldiers using entrenching tools and mallets to free jammed breeches. So a Rule inflicting jams late war would be realistic. The MG42 with its high rate of fire being particularly prone this and any other defect in the cartridges. So some sort of rule reflecting this.
June 19, 2022 at 4:53 pm #187828Alan Hamilton
ParticipantNot sure how to attach pictures.
The kurzer 8 cm Granatwerfer 42 Team – figures from the German Heer Grenadiers and maybe Blitzkrieg sets. Mortar is a 1/76 Matchbox mortar shortened and slightly detailed. The Mortar bomb might be a British PIAT round (it was in the bits box.
Matchbox Dingo scout cars and Dinky Daimlers
Pound shop jeeps
Project Z female survivors rearmed as part of my “Last Defenders of the Reich”
Not WW2 but some Fantasy bodies with Russian heads rearmed with German weapons to be survivors in Zombie games
Some Romans given WW2 German gas mask cases and various WW2 packs and pouches to become Capsarii (battlefield medics)
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This reply was modified 2 years, 1 month ago by
Alan Hamilton. Reason: Correcting photos so you can see them!
June 18, 2022 at 5:54 pm #187818Alan Hamilton
ParticipantQUOTE – 4 + 5) in comon use English IE & EG are interchanageable, basically used as the same thing – heres a non-exahustive list of examples… however both your examples are outliers & I’d need to check their rules….
For clarity – The two terms are not “commonly” used interchangeably they are “incorrectly” used interchangeably. In a set of rules the interpretation should be the correct English usage otherwise we have no idea what is actually meant and confusion results. Just do a Google search for – “i.e. and e.g. difference” or “ie and eg difference” and you will see what I mean.
The Latin abbreviations e.g. and i.e. are not interchangeable as they mean entirely different things – i.e. (id est) translates as “that is” and refers to qualify exactly something already mentioned (they used assault rifles i.e. AK-47 and M-16 – meaning only these two) : e.g. (exempli gratia) translates as “for example” and gives a non-exhaustive list (they used assault rifles e.g. AK-47 and M-16 – meaning weapons like these two and any others of a similar type including SA-80, AK-74 and others).
So in this case it depends, as indicated in another post, what the definitions of each category are in the rules.
Incidentally the 20mm guns commonly fitted to the AS42 Sahariana were the Breda 20/65 mod 35 Anti-aircraft gun and the Solothurn S-18/1000 Anti-tank Rifle.
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This reply was modified 2 years, 1 month ago by
Alan Hamilton. Reason: spelling correction
June 2, 2022 at 5:00 pm #187757Alan Hamilton
ParticipantI have converted (kitbashed) models ever since I started wargaming in the 1960s. In those days there was only Airfix readily available. So if I wanted anything not on the Woolwoths Airfix shelf I had to convert or scratch build it. Fortunately the Airfix magazine had monthly conversion articles.
So even now I convert if I need something. For Bolt Action I carried out the following conversions often just before the actual models were released: Heer flamethrower, sniper and Kz 8cm GrW 42 team, a complete Georgian Legion section, British Assault Pioneers, various specialists and personality figures (including my father). Project Z survivors have become various “Last Defenders of the Reich” I have also modified and detailed Poundland Jeeps, Matchbox Scout cars and Dinky Daimler Armoured Cars into passable wargames models as they all scale out close to 1/56. In addition some die cast light trucks and several toys also fit in for size and, with a bit of work, make passable and useful models.
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This reply was modified 2 years, 2 months ago by
Alan Hamilton.
December 29, 2021 at 4:26 pm #186973Alan Hamilton
ParticipantThank you so much. This confirms some information I have and adds more details. Very helpful.
I had identified the 22cm Morser as the most likely and found several photos on this thread
https://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?f=70&t=140184
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This reply was modified 2 years, 7 months ago by
Alan Hamilton. Reason: adding link
December 28, 2021 at 2:27 pm #186964Alan Hamilton
ParticipantExcellent, thanks. I said it was my colleague’s great-grandfather in fact it was his grandfather who had worked in Siemens as a pattern maker and had also served in WW1 in the artillery. In the battalion he was a section leader armed with an Italian rifle, 15 rounds of ammunition and two hand grenades. At the start of the fighting he had been with the artillerymen manning a Russian 15cm (sic) howitzer with no tractor or horse team and only a few rounds of ammunition. According to other notes there were 4 of these guns (I have seen references to two different types but both 152mm) and a French 220mm Mortar with half a dozen rounds. All the artillery was destroyed by the Russians or blown up by crews. The crews were army artillerymen who had been wounded.
Thanks again
December 27, 2021 at 7:32 pm #186954Alan Hamilton
ParticipantInteresting information about the flamethrowers. May I ask your source? I am researching 3/115 battalion for a former colleague whose great grandfather served in it.
December 21, 2021 at 4:23 pm #186918Alan Hamilton
ParticipantThe Volksgrenadier Divisions were organized around small cadres of veteran soldiers, non-commissioned officers and officers mainly from shattered or other Infantry Divisions. Their ranks were then filled out with whoever the Replacement Army could find. Naval and Air Force personnel made redundant through losses and fuel shortages, recovered wounded soldiers discharged from hospitals, older men who would have been considered too old or too unfit in peacetime and young men from the latest conscription classes were all posted into the ranks. They were brought as close to establishment as possible. Arming them was a different matter!
In addition to the Divisional Engineer Battalion each of the Volksgrenadier Regiments also had a strong platoon of engineers established as (again I do not have a detailed breakdown):
1 officer, 7 NCOs, 65 Privates, 53 Rifles/Carbines, 7 Pistols, 13 SMG, 6 LMG, 6 Horse drawn vehicles, 13 horses, 2 bicycles.
December 20, 2021 at 5:35 pm #186908Alan Hamilton
ParticipantThe best I can do is: Pioneer Battalion (organization as of 1 April 1944). I don’t have the company, platoon, section breakdown. Of course, the figures are what the unit was supposed to have. Reality was almost certainly different.
UNIT Offs NCOs Pvts Rifles Cbns
Pistols SMGs LMGs Hv MGs 81-mm Morts
Flame Thr
Mtr Vehs
Mtrcls H-Dr Vehs
Trls Hs Bcls Bn Hq 9[1] 14 61 60 17 7 10 8 3 1 10 37 Engr Co (Bcl) 3 26 150 128 49 2 9 2 2 6 1 3 16 8 29 130 Engr Co (Bcl) 3 26 150 128 49 2 9 2 2 6 1 3 16 8 29 130 Total 15[1] 66 361 316 115 11 18 4 4 12 12 14 35 17 68 297 -
This reply was modified 2 years, 7 months ago by
Alan Hamilton.
December 18, 2021 at 8:15 pm #186897Alan Hamilton
ParticipantOn paper the organisation was a battalion of 642 men based on the standard Heer (Army) triangular system – 3 sections to a platoon, 3 platoons to a company and 3 companies to a battalion with associated support platoons for engineer, medical, transport (bicycles were authorised), communication (civilian telephones), administration etc. The engineer platoon, when it existed, was often drawn from the Technische Nothilfe (Technical Emergency Aid) organisation that provided rescue services after air raids. Each company of 150 men came from a small locality and the heavy weapons that would normally be in an army battalion’s Heavy Company were shared out to each of the companies. This was because the battalions frequently had several companies from different locations and each company had a “slice” of any heavy weapons. Units were mostly composed of members of the Hitler Youth, invalids, the elderly, or men who had previously been considered unfit for military service.
The Volkssturm of Levy I and Levy II was supposed to be equipped with German Weapons but because this interfered with the availability of weapons for the forming and replacement regular army this frequently was not possible. As a result many units were largely equipped with foreign, often Italian, small arms with very little ammunition despite the intention to allocate a relatively generous number of weapons and even this was seldom achieved. Levy III and IV had no specified allocation of weapons.
I know of one battalion with a Pionier Platoon, 3/115 (Siemensstadt) Battalion, which was one of the best equipped and it even had one flamethrower though I do not know if it had any fuel!
So yes there were Pionier Platoons in at least a few Volkssturm battalions. In Bolt Action terms a section of 7 or 8 old men, Technische Nothilfe or Hitler Jugend would be appropriate as a reinforcement to your Volkssturm Platoon. They may be armed with pistols or as the rest of the unit but possibly with a number of satchel charges, geballte ladung or similar engineer stores. If you do deploy a flamethrower it may well be the <i>Abwehrflammenwerfer</i> 42 static defensive type.
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This reply was modified 2 years, 8 months ago by
Alan Hamilton. Reason: spellin correction
September 24, 2021 at 5:52 pm #186321Alan Hamilton
ParticipantThere were many WW1 artillery limber. Virtually every gun and howitzer type had its own specific limber. That said most were externally similar and most served in both world wars either unmodified or with new ammunition racks, new wheels and suspension for new guns etc. I suppose it depends on how accurate you need your model to be.
Have look here:
September 11, 2021 at 7:12 pm #186224Alan Hamilton
ParticipantIf it is a late war light mortar then why not buy the SdKfz 251 mortar upgrade sprue and convert the 8cm mortar to the short version? It should not be too difficult.
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This reply was modified 1 year, 9 months ago by
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