10FM68

8 hours ago, Chris Hall said:

PP and PPK were standard arms rather than specific to NI but I suppose you could say they were used in a role possibly they were not intended for.

To which you can add the, then out-of-service .38" Enfield revolver - the one with the shaven hammer comb intended for crews of AFVs.  There was a shortage of Browning 9mm pistols in the 70s due to the increase in demand for pistols in NI.  So, in 1977 some troops who were required to carry arms in civilian clothes were issued  with .38 Enfields which had been held in war reserve.  The only problem was that the ammunition was imported for the Far East and of poor quality.  On initial issue there was too little ammunition available for it to be used for training.  Once sufficient stocks were available, a bit of practice in the pipe range soon revealed that not every round could be guaranteed to go off! 

Also issued at that time were hideous black plastic shoulder holsters with very thin straps and a snap buckle which would have been impossible to open in an emergency, but, which were so slippery and unyielding that, if the weapon wasn't secured, it could be guaranteed to fall out when least welcome and most embarrassing!  I don't think many people wore them, preferring to stuff their pistol in the trouser belt- also a recipe for potential disaster as trousers in those days had rather wide, flared legs and, if it slipped down, the pistol would soon fall out the bottom and bounce noisily across the floor!

10 68

A really interesting article, thanks for that, Clive - my evening reading tonight!  It is a shame that articles like this don't get published - as you say, most magazines want a two or three page article with 10 - 14 photos, which leaves little space for anything in depth.  Again, this should be archived on this forum somewhere.

Best

10 68

     I have just finished reading "Big Week" by James Holland.  In a nutshell, it tells the story of the contribution made to defeating Nazi Germany by the USAAF flying from their bases in the UK.  Quite honestly, it is humbling.  Mention is made of the finest B17 navigator in one of the squadrons.  He was just 17 years old.  Most of the bomber pilots were 20 or so; they held the lives of nine other airmen in their youthful and inexperienced hands. 

     It is difficult to imagine just how these young men were able to keep going when faced repeatedly with the ordeal of flying in the face of the flak, the Luftwaffe and, quite simply, the generally atrocious European weather to carry out missions, often at the very limits of their aircraft's range, knowing that the chances of completing the required 25 combat sorties was remote.  And to come "home" after each flight to nothing more than a damp, chilly Nissen hut on a muddy, windswept field in East Anglia where it was a half-hour walk just to get fed.   Extraordinary men, extraordinary times.  

10 68

Some of these survived in service until at least 1980.  I was at Gibraltar Bks then and we received a small number of them for issue to RE(V) units deploying to BAOR on Ex CRUSADER.  I remember looking at the vehicle docs of one and seeing that it had been in storage pretty much since build - with only flashing indicators having been fitted at some time.  In the event, they remained at Minley and the Volunteers deployed with Militants taken from our own stock while we used the Hippos in their place - the Hippos were thought to be simply too slow.  As I recall they were accompanied by some fixed-fork motorcycles (Triumphs, perhaps?) but, not being interested then in motorcycles, I didn't pay enough attention.  Incidentally, at the same time there were Lister towed generators dated 1937 issued to the Movement Light Squadron which still retained "Micky Mouse Ear" camouflage - though faded - on their tilts.  They were at Minley for the RE Musical Extravaganza of that year for which the finale was either the 1812 or The Royal Fireworks (I can't remember which now) and they provided the lighting.  Those were the days when the Sappers still had two staff bands - Aldershot and Chatham!

10 68

I have looked at all the old pamphlets and so I which I have and, again, can't find anything written down - though there are references to shellscrapes in some of them - which then go on to describe how to construct fire and shelter trenches.  I can remember making them in the 70s.  Their purpose was to provide basic cover from shell  bursts in temporary field positions where fire trenches were not going to be constructed.  They were built to protect just one man rather than two and were in the "stand-to" positions around, for example, a platoon harbour area.  The dimensions were, as you say, large enough to hold a man wearing full kit - and perhaps 9" deep with a parapet at the front of about 12".  While some may well have been constructed with a camouflaged poncho over the top, they weren't all - the idea being, of course, that, if you came under shell fire you could dive into them rather than have to crawl in from the bottom.  Their advantage being their speed of construction over proper trenches  and their lack of a requirement for defence stores or tools larger than the small shovels or picks carried on the webbing.

10 68

Well, the photos look to be of two different vehicles anyway or are they one vehicle taken at different periods after some restoration?  The glacis plates are certainly different in different photos.  Under the British post-war markings there seem to be markings of the 1st US Armd Div.  An interesting project, but not cheap!

10 68

They were simply called "models"

10 68

The trouble with trying to make a list such as this is that it is so variable - over time, from unit to unit and in degree of popularity.  In the 70s, for example, there was still some second world war slang among, for example, old veterans in the TA or cadet instructors, while the young were inventing their own from their own experiences in Northern Ireland and elsewhere.  And not all of it was either polite or appropriate for modern ears.  And it comes in and out of fashion - much doesn't endure at all, while, here and there, expressions linger on or become reinvented. 

Bundook (spelling varies), was certainly used by my elderly cadet instructors in the early 70s, for a rifle while "gat" was then more common in the Regular Army.  The cuds, was a generic term used by some for what the Americans called the boondocks - or the countryside, as in, "out in the cuds". 

The Falklands conflict produced its own vocabulary which enjoyed popularity for a while - it saw the rise of tabbing among Paras and yomping among the Marines, for example.  Both these terms lingered and are sometimes still used.  Ally hadn't appeared and, as far as I can remember, didn't until the Gulf War of 1991.  Gucci was more common.  KFS were gobbling rods, or fighting irons.  Ladies lingerie, particularly if it included suspenders, would have been webbing or fighting order, of course, while, if coupled with a corset, it became full marching order!  Kilometres were clicks, and probably still are and binoculars binos, rather than bins which is what they are to birdwatchers!  With food there were babies heads - steak and kidney pudding and abortions - tinned tomatoes - while Jack enjoyed chicken on a raft (fried egg on fried bread).  Lance Corporals were Lance Jacks and corporals full screws.  Boots CWW were hobbly cobblies, DMS boots - dem's ma shoes.  There were hairy Marys - shirts KF and woolly pullies.  Crap hats were both No1 Dress caps and a generic for non-Paras.  And, of course, there were the slang terms for the various regiments and corps which were always used, but which change over time.  In books written between the wars and earlier, these terms are usually included, but I don't think any of the old ones remain apart from Sappers and Gunners.  In the 70s we talked of Scaleys for Royal Signals, Reems, for the REME, Dropshorts for the Gunners,  and, in salute to It ain't 'Arf 'Ot Mum, the Ladidah Gunner Grahams - for the HAC!  But I don't think that stuck!  There were Devon and Doughnuts, the Duke of Boots and so on.  And, of course, there was the extensive collection of nicknames for people - the Dusty Millers, Dinger Bells and so on some of which have very traditional roots.

But, to make a full list would be impossible and, to be honest, rather contrived, as some slang just didn't endure while some has been in circulation for decades and longer and will remain so.  My favourite, though, is from Kipling's era and rarely still heard: "Pick up your parrots and monkeys and turn to face the boat".

10 68

On 3/21/2019 at 3:44 PM, MatchFuzee said:

Just looked at the petition, only 277 signatures.

Has the petition had national coverage in the press or are there any famous people supporting it?

I don't know what the arrangement is with the petition, it was passed to me by a friend.  But, I grant you, it does seem to need a bit of an additional impetus if it is to make the cut.  Need to find these "Russian Bots" which seem to do so well with petitions!

10 68

Again, my thanks to you all - for the signatures, for the forwarding elsewhere and for your kind thoughts.  I'm sorry the petition can be signed only by UK-residents: but it is comforting to know that, at least the original evacuation - Operation DYNAMO - didn't recognise such national limitations.  For example, the Polish warship, ORP BLYSKAWICA, (Lightning) which is now the Polish Navy's museum ship, was one of many Allied vessels involved and was working in concert with HMS GREYHOUND  the ship which brought my own grandfather off the beach at La Panne. 

As an aside, the BLYSKAWICA's name was so difficult for the RN to pronounce (it's something like Bweeskaveetza) that she was generally referred to as the "Bottle of Whisky".  She was built at Cowes.  (A further aside, the Estonian submarine LEMBIT, now in their maritime museum in Tallinn, was also British-built, by Vickers Armstrong, in 1936).  Both vessels are well worth a visit if your in that part of the world.

10 68

Many thanks, I'm most grateful.

10 68

Thank you gentlemen, The more we have the better!

10 68

Please do sign if you can - the numbers are needed.

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/242090

The numbers who survive are very small and all will be in their late nineties at least and this would be a nice gesture of gratitude to those who gave so much.

Thanks

10 68

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/242090

The link above is to a petition being raised with the Government to specifically recognise service with the British Expeditionary Force in France and Belgium from Sep 39 to Jun 40 with the award of a clasp to the 1938-45 Star.  If you are a UK resident or citizen, you are eligible to add your name to the petition should you so wish.  

10 68

39 minutes ago, Richard Farrant said:

Hi  10 68,

Latterly it was actually South East District,

Richard,

I really am losing it!  Of course it was SEDIST!  Glad one of us still has all his faculties!  Now... I must try and remember... pants THEN trousers!

10 68

3 hours ago, Richard Farrant said:

Ruxy

a correction, it was Rowcroft Barracks, which was 44 District Workshop REME at that time. 

Sorry Richard, the mistake was mine.  I meant Rowcroft!  It was late at night.  We've talked about this before - I knew it well from running my BFT round the place some years back!  And, as you know, EC was Eastern Command, latterly Eastern District.  Now, of course, it is all gone, though the manor remains among a lot of new houses.

10 68

I believe they were the Directorate Support Systems (Combat Support Vehicles) - now something entirely different in DE&S MoD possibly Director Land Support, (Vehicle Support), (OSVs) Operational Support Vehicles or somesuch.

Here's another one, of similar design, on a Land Rover 2286cc engine refurbished at Rycroft Bks, Ashford, Kent (EC02) in the mid-80s

It's the reconditioning plate. When an MoD engine is reconditioned a data plate is affixed stating the code of the workshop where it was reconditioned, the date and the details of the work undertaken.  Then the whole engine is put back together and sprayed duck-egg blue - as yours is.  In your case it seems that the cylinder bores are still standard while the main bearings and the big ends have been honed by 10 thou.

10 68

I have for sale a pair of books on German WWII transport and artillery:  "German Military Transport of WWII Lorries and Cars of the German Army 1939-1945" by John Milsom and "German Artillery of World War Two" by Ian Hogg.  Both are in good condition with slight scuffing to the dust jackets.  The artillery book is easily found, but, at the moment, the John Milsom book is hard to come by.  I'm looking for £45.00 for the pair including P&P.  If anyone is interested, please PM me.

10 68 

19 hours ago, Degsy said:

Sorry, I have put that very badly, Post War vehicles are very welcome. No SS vehicles or uniforms.

Ah!  That's a bit better!  After all, there was a Land Rover in "Ice Cold in Alex"!

10 68

33 minutes ago, Degsy said:

Blind Veterans UK are hosting a D-Day 75th commemoration. Allied and Axis  except SS and post war vehicles are acceptable. 

How nice to see our Post War vehicles considered in the same category as those of the SS!

1068

33 minutes ago, Degsy said:

 

Spoons are traditional prizes for shooting competitions.  I suspect that is what these are.

10 68

When I had my Uaz 469, I had a couple of ex-Servicemen come up to me and tell me they used to drive one just like it when they were in the Army.  I could only agree, "great little trucks, Champs!

Central Mediterranean Forces, I believe.

10 68

There was and will be.  The Royal Engineers Pocket Book.  RSME always included an exercise in doing precisely that on the various combat engineer courses.  You would have to do it for a selection of bridges and it involved various measurements and calculations.  Interestingly, some of the strongest are the oldest - I recall one stone bridge dating from medieval times working out at about Class 120 and even then, its only limiting factor was its width!  But, to modern engineers this was shocking of course - building a bridge to carry a horse and cart which was so clearly over-designed!

Perhaps some forum members will remember their days in BAOR where every bridge, culvert and sharp bend was faithfully recorded on "Road and Bridge" maps held by RE, RMP, RCT and so on to enable easy planning of convoy routes.  Such obstacles were themselves marked with bridge circles showing limits for both single and double traffic. By and large, most vehicles, apart from heavy armour, could cope with most public roads, but I do recall that the 35-tonne Crusaders and the Coles MkV cranes were restricted - the latter due to its height - just over the standard 4m - the general minimum clearance for bridges on German roads.  

10 68