Paras - Uniform, Kit and other Particulars

Pegasus Militaria MK2 Para Helmet with Leather Chincup ordered.

On another note - what was the challenge and password for the Paras on D Day.

I believe for 6th Airborne they were Punch and Judy, but that may have been battalion specific and not for the whole division.

Cheers
Martin

I think it was division wide, battalion specific passwords would have been fatal on airborne operations?

Perhaps this had something to do with the lack of reply from Pegasus:-

PLEASE NOTE
"Due to a family bereavement pegasus militaria will be closed untill 28 august 2012 thank you for your understanding at this difficult time "

Although from August last year to June this year would have one thinkin comms would have been re-establised by now as pointed out by Poacher's post below!

Nice to see he keeps up to date? 'August 2012' Well done Steve.

I have since got in contact with him and ordered a Mk2 Helmet with Leather Chin cup.

Were paras ever issued any sort of glove like their American counterparts?

I can't say I've ever read about any, although I assume they were given something for Winter operations. I prefer to have some protection for my hands, and right now I'm thinking about using some bog standard green knitted affairs (they'll look slightly less out of place than my hyper-streamlined-ultra-tacticool-opearator-as-fook Mechanix gloves).

Yeah, Green/Brown knitted gloves were fairly standard in the British Army. There were full 5 fingered versions and trigger finger versions.

Personally I prefer to use khaki rather than dark green ones as you get in the surplus shops these days as they look more period.

Music to my ears. Cheers, Yith.

Purchased Sten Gun with Sten Bandolier for an excellent price!

I believe for 6th Airborne they were Punch and Judy, but that may have been battalion specific and not for the whole division.

Cheers
Martin

It's just come up in one of the books I'm reading. The passwords for June 5th were Punch and Judy. June 6th they were Fish and Chips.

Correct way to hold a Sten - holding the magazine with the forearm? OR supporting the gun using the front of the lower receiver, the part which houses the trigger mechanism. I always thought the magazine might get quite hot!

This is discussed here:
viewtopic.php?f=46&t=5957&start=405

Is there anywhere that makes resin/fibreglass para lids besides SnS? My Google-fu failed me.

I thought about that when I was looking but no there isn't. Why don't you get a Pegasus Militaria proper one?

Steve has no shells at the moment.
SoF do them but they ain't all that for £80.

Ah, that's disappointing.

What's up with the SoF lids? Keeping in mind it'll strictly be for airsoft use.

Tentatively poking my nose into the idea of getting some kind of basic para/commando type kit, I think the main draw is the flexibility when it comes to weapons, and also things like missing parts of webbing being explainable by lost in drop or whatever.

The basic, commando and staffs guides in the kit section are wonderful and it's really just a case of setting my budget and sourcing stuff but there was one thing I had a question on.

When it came to days when the weather was unusually hot, or indeed cold/wet, how much room was there for removing or adding elements of the uniform. I assume if a soldier or small group were split off on their own from a bad drop or something they'd just go with whatever made things easier and more effective in the situation but would things be more strict under a more organised situation?

Taking heat as an example, would they be allowed to remove their denison, or clothing underneath it, would they just push through, are the basic uniforms actually a lot more capable of putting up with adverse conditions than I am thinking?

Bit of a ramble but the last couple of times I went out for a skirmish the weather, for the north of Scotland, has been rediculously hot, It'll probably not happen again by the time I get a basic set of kit sorted but it got me thinking both about reenactors and real life as there must have been days when it was a choice between heat stroke or not wearing the full kit at all times.

When it came to days when the weather was unusually hot, or indeed cold/wet, how much room was there for removing or adding elements of the uniform. I assume if a soldier or small group were split off on their own from a bad drop or something they'd just go with whatever made things easier and more effective in the situation but would things be more strict under a more organised situation?

Taking heat as an example, would they be allowed to remove their denison, or clothing underneath it, would they just push through, are the basic uniforms actually a lot more capable of putting up with adverse conditions than I am thinking?

Bit of a ramble but the last couple of times I went out for a skirmish the weather, for the north of Scotland, has been rediculously hot, It'll probably not happen again by the time I get a basic set of kit sorted but it got me thinking both about reenactors and real life as there must have been days when it was a choice between heat stroke or not wearing the full kit at all times.

It's an odd situation, as a generational thing, the soldiers fighting were used to wearing a vest, shirt and at least a tank top at all times pre-call up, it's just what people did back then.

As a soldier, you'd have a vest, shirt, wool uniform and a denison on when you were dropped/landed. The problem with leaving any kit behind is that effectively, this was also what you used for sleeping in to keep you warm at night, along with a rather crap blanket, so if you couldn't get back to your drop point, you were stuffed. And cold.

Airborne soldiers frequently took off their wool blouse and stuffed it into the poacher's pocket in the back of their denison, though, to help keep cool, but they were best off keeping hold of it for the above reasons.

Personally, if I'm gaming, I tend to not wear the blouse under the denison, as you can't really tell anyway. In Italy, where there it was very warm, and there wasn't a fluid front like with air-dropped troops, shirt sleeves and KD kit kept over from Africa wasn't unusual, but in NWE, you'd want to keep your warm gear as you'd need it sooner or later.

Thanks that's basically exactly what I was wanting to know.

I think partly I also don't help myself in the heat cause I sprint about like a nutter being a medic and flanker ... really felt the weight of my Stg44 that's for sure so a nice light Sten will help no end and I could do with slowing down a little when its not critical.

And if it's a really hot day I can just throw on a thin shirt and be a member of a resistance.