So you're a platoon commander in Normandy, you've got your three infantry sections, and you need to quickly confer with your company commander. You're wireless op is ready with his WS No. 38.

Easy right?

Well... read on. /1
#WW2 #SWW #History

So how easy was it for British & Canadian soldiers to keep clean and healthy in Normandy?

Couldn't be too hard, right? /1
#WW2 #SWW #History

You're an front line infantryman in a two man covered slit trench. Maybe 100m from the enemy

From dawn to dusk you're hunched underground, making the best of things in a covered trench 6' long, 3' deep and 2 1/2' wide or so.

With your mate crammed in there with you. /2

You know you're under constant observation by enemy observers and marksmen, who scan the ground looking to punish any foolish or unlucky opportunity target.

They may not get you, but their rounds may well kill or maim your friends. /3

Night offers a modicum of respite.

In darkness fresh, hot grub is bought up in large thermos flasks from the cooks in B Echelon. It's good hearty stuff.

The problem is the closer you are to the enemy, the more likely it'll be delayed or obliterated by an errant 155mm shell. /4

You can always tuck into food from your compo crates, which is fine, or 24 hour ration pack... or the famed emergency ration in a sticky spot.

The latter is really nice.

Chocolate laced with amphetamine or high dose of caffeine.

Yum. /5

So when it first appeared in Normandy, the Sherman Firefly and it's meaty 17 pounder represented an ideal combo of reliable chassis, great gun and devastating firepower right?

Ummm...

Truth is a bit more complex. /1
#WW2 #SWW #History

Deliveries of Firefly to units only commenced in April 1944,
just a few weeks before Overlord & left minimal time for familiarisation.

Armoured Regiments mostly utilised Fireflies on a basis of 1 per troop of 4 tanks. /2

Finally each armoured regiment troop had access to integral, meaty, anti-tank firepower capable of dealing serious damage to any German AFV likely to be encountered. /3

The dual purpose 75mm gun was quite capable of laying down a reasonable HE shell or AP round for dealing with Panzer III or IV.

Firefly's 17 Pounder had.... problems with HE, but excelled at tank killing. So Tigers and Panthers would need to be wary. /4

Firefly's design history dated back to March 1943 when the General Staff published "Policy on Tanks" which effectively stated the majority of tanks should have a good HE weapon and...

[See image below] /5

Rhino Barges

One of the dullest, coolest, more bizarre and fascinating pieces of kit used in Normandy.

Which NO ONE REALLY CARES ABOUT.

BUT I DO AND YOU SHOULD TOO.
/1

#WW2 #SWW #History

Planning for Overlord and Neptune had a serious snag, how to get troops from LSTs onto the beach as simply ramming them onto the beaches and dropping the ramp was known to damage the exceptionally vulnerable LSTs and felt to be unsustainable in the mid to long term. /2

LSTs were essential in sustaining Overlord's progress and were a subject of major headaches in the planning phase, and a real subject of friction when it came to launching additional amphibious operations such as Dragoon.

A single LSTs loss represented a capability nick. /3

So, logic dictated, we don't really want these remarkable but rare and highly valuable vessels constantly doing beach landings, we want something to act as a medium between ship to shore, and in came the (mostly) American designed Rhino. /4

I fucking love Rhinos.

Seriously.

Graceful lines of pure industrial pedigree.

Modular.

LOOK AT IT. /5

So you're a company commander in Normandy, trying to coordinate your three platoons in action, & liase w supporting tanks & some arty, & keep battalion headquarters appraised, & adapt as needed.

You know your platoons' sets are a bit crap.

What do you do? /1
#WW2 #SWW #History

The whole thing is a bit of a juggling act.

The core set at Company HQ was the WS No. 18 set, linking in with WS No. 38 sets used by platoons & back to Battalion HQ.
0.25 Watts
6-9Mhz
2.5 miles range with R/T and 4 miles with W/T
Interference in woodlands/around armour /2

The 18 set was more durable than the WS No. 38, but much less powerful than the popular WS No. 19 and 22 sets... then again you can carry it about and not worry about a vehicle or cart for it in action. /3

Much like the WS No. 38 set, the No. 18 set also relies on a rather conspicuous aerial - 10' (3m) high.

The Army knew such height wasn't desirable and trials of ground trailing aerials for the 18 and 38 sets were underway in theatre but there were problems... /4

It performed poorly on wet ground, and Normandy was... frequently soggy, whilst movement through thick undergrowth could damage the copper wire which also had the habit of snapping if stepped on.

So signallers, and those around them, had to be pretty considerate in action. /5

The Churchill Tank in Normandy: Part One 40-44

Ratty Relic or Bocage Buster?

How did it go from a hated, atrocious POS tank worthy only of the scrapheap to a reliable, trustworthy, survivable and popular gun tank in action?

Another pertinent tale. /1
#WW2 #SWW #History

At 38 tons the Churchill was clearly a beast but a manageable one, given concerns about railway loading gauge had informed development (even then you still had to remove the side air louvres for rail tpt).

As always, compromise & industrial limitations underpinned design. /2

Early Mk I and Mk II were respectively armed with a 2 Pounder with coaxial Besa in the turret but with differing hull armament, I - 3" howitzer, II - Besa machine gun.

88.9mm of front armour provided excellent protection for the five man crew, and WS No. 19 provided comms. /3

Other than being undergunned another problem was, they didn't work very well.

But why?

It call comes back to, you guessed it, June 1940 - at the height of that invasion-scare summer.

AFV cupboards were bare so the initial models were raced into production in June 1940... /4

there wasn't time for proper prototyping or accompanying development as the imperative to have ANY gun tank pushed Vauxhall to the limit in the race to get SOMETHING, ANYTHING into the field.

9 RTR probably enjoyed the dubious honour of the first Churchill deliveries. /5

The recent act of terrorism against the Hazaras has raised questions. Which terrorist groups carried out the attack? Is the state appeasing terrorists or fighting them?

In this thread, I would give a factual account of what has happened in the last two decades in Balochistan.

In 1998, Riaz Basra who was then a member of Sipah e Sahaba Pakistan (SSP) arrived in Baluchistan along with six fighters; Zahid Multani, Saifullah, Najmus Saqib, Bashir and two others. Riaz Basra met Farooq Bangalzai of Baloch Liberation Army and Habibullah Zehri.

[1]

The meeting was followed by the formation of Lashkar e Jhangvi's Balochistan wing under the command of Zahid Multani. Riaz Basra returned to Jhang while Zahid Multani was given the task of training a force for Lashkar e Jhangvi (LeJ) Balochistan.

[2]

The first sectarian attack by LeJ in Baluchistan was carried out six days prior to the coup in Oct 1999 when the provincial education minister Sardar Nisar Ali Hazara was attacked along with his driver and bodyguard at point-blank range. Though the minister survived but...

[3]

..it marked the beginning of a targeted killing spree against Hazaras. When General Musharraf came to power, he banned five organizations under the Anti Terrorism Act of 1997, Lashkar e Tayeba (LeT), Jash e Muhammad (JeM), Sipah e Sahaba Pakistan (SSP), TNSM and TJP.

[4]

The army is doing a better job of fighting Boko Haram in the northeast, especially Borno state. The Islamic terrorists continue disrupting commerce in Borno state by attacking road traffic and occasionally even army bases. The army has set up a convoy system and even these

escorted convoys are attacked. Boko Haram continues to raid rural towns and villages for supplies and prisoners. The captured civilians are either convinced (if they are teenage boys) to join the fight or used as slaves. This was especially the case when Boko Haram took large

numbers of teenagers from rural boarding schools. Criminal gangs are now trying mass kidnapping and demanding ransoms.

Despite the heavy losses, the two major Boko Haram factions continue to operate, raise money and attract new recruits.

The larger faction is also called ISWAP and it is the cause of most of the violence near Lake Chad. The two factions have fought each other in the past but in the last two years appear to have established some form of ceasefire and an effort to stay out of each other’s way.

But there seem to be growing competition between various criminal groups. Boko Haram released a video showing some kidnapped boys and offered to negotiate. It turned out that Boko Haram was not involved but was trying to benefit from the incident before it was resolved.

THREAD

1)
U.S. to designate #Iran-backed Houthis in #Yemen as a foreign terrorist org (FTO)
https://t.co/ILBCg3Pfvs

Iran’s IRGC is funding/arming/provided & ... for the Houthis.

Dec 30—Missile attack on Aden airport. Yemen gov holds Houthis

I keep thinking about the parallels between terror groups like Al-Queda, the Taliban, etc and the recent domestic insurrection.

Both start with people who feel they have been wronged. It doesn't matter if it's true or not, it doesn't matter if it's devastating or a slight.

Add to that, their religious leaders driving into them thru rhetoric that gives them someone to blame. Their religious leaders (Pastor, Minister, Imam, Cleric etc) focus on one or two things, and forsake all the rest of the teachings of their faith.

They then explain how their deity expects them to go and make it right in the name of [deity]. It's not remotely relevant if it's Jesus, God or Allah. They find the people they want torn down and have sent them off.

Add to that, their false idols like Donald Trump, Osama bin Laden, or whoever, who never stops telling them "the truth" (well, as they see it). They tell them to ignore the [mainstream media, infidels, etc] and isolate them from any kind of semblance influence that disagrees

It's a constant barrage of preaching, and false idols telling them that they are somehow chosen, and that what they do is "right".