Well for Operation Husky we should really go in a uniform fashion... no point all turning up in different stuff...
But what should we do...
I guess South Staffs may be ideal, but what little changes could make our uniforms more authentic for Sicily?
Well its one of the south staffords biggest battle honours.
a single platoon of staffords fought off battalions of Germans for days until relieved.
I suggest south staffords kit but with denim or KD trousers if we have them.
"I think we are in rats' alley - Where the dead men lost their bones."
I'll be commanding the British forces and be badging as S Staffs. Hope we don't ditch in the briney!
It's not prescriptive though - if anyone wanted to be Royal Engineers or XXX Corps or Royal Scot Fusiliers! or generic airborne, that's fine.
Sounds fine to me... want to borrow my insignia?
BTW, I found out at the Staffs Museum that the cap badge for officers should be bronze... 
(I think I did... Gadge, you were there... lol)
Yep, it should be, now i've got some spares i'll bronze one.
I'll prob badge up as sgt for this one if thats ok with CiA dave, just saves be cutting the stripes off my BD and denny....
"I think we are in rats' alley - Where the dead men lost their bones."
No worries - I'll be using my usual Major status.
K.. I think Gadge has the Major tabs.
BTW... looking through my new book it looks like unblancoed webbing is the order of the day for Sicily... lol
BTW... looking through my new book it looks like unblancoed webbing is the order of the day for Sicily... lol
Some things you just don't joke about!
You've got nothing to ein, zwei, drei, vier
Hi
I will collect a couple of spare S Staffs cab badges tomorrow so we can have for anyone who needs one.
I have just been watching Tunisian Victory/German mines in Tunisia?Africa Freed. Firstly I highly recommend a copy. Most scenes in show Commonwealth troops with very pale looking webbing so I would agree that scrubbed or pale blancoed equipment was used. However I will still be wearing my KG3 coloured equipment.
As I understand from the War diary nearly half the battalion landed in the sea so if we have more than one glider full of Brits we should toss up for who has to go swimming. If you are thinking that more than a Horsa full of Brits for this game is unlikely remember that most of the battalion was carried in by Waco's with around 12 troops per glider.
Thats all correct, to my knowledge only 15 platoon c company landed in a fit state to fight.
"I think we are in rats' alley - Where the dead men lost their bones."
From wiki
"Sicily
The 2nd South Staffords took part in the Sicily Landings, the first full-scale invasion to take place in German occupied Europe, in an air-landing role. The 2nd Staffords were to be flown in by gliders, a technique still in its infancy. Approximately 130 gliders were intended to land in Sicily, but due to extremely bad conditions, only 87 managed to do, many crashing into the sea. Unfortunately, many of the crew and troops onboard these aircraft drowned before naval vessels could reach them, though many were saved.
The troops that were now on Sicily were scattered across the Italian island, and many were only in small units, with a seemingly impossible task before them: to capture and hold all their objectives. Ponte Grande Bridge, a key objective for the Allied invasion, was tasked to C Company of the South Staffords to capture before the enemy could blow it up. Two gliders had survived to land near the objective, but one blew up on landing, leaving just 15 Platoon to assault the German positions at the bridge.
The Staffords, along with elements from other companies of the regiment, as well as glider pilots and Royal Engineers, succeeded in overwhelming the Germans there, capturing the bridge intact. They succeeded in withholding numerous attempts to retake the bridge, lasting for over 15 hours, until finally their ammunition had been expended and they were forced back by German troops. Luckily though, elements from The Royal Scots Fusiliers managed to arrive in time to relieve the exhausted Staffords, recapturing the bridge before it could be destroyed by the retreating German forces."
When i say that I'm proud to have been a member of this regiment it's not something i say lightly 
Very few line infantry regiments have such a high count of vc winners and impressive battle honours.
"I think we are in rats' alley - Where the dead men lost their bones."
BTW... looking through my new book it looks like unblancoed webbing is the order of the day for Sicily... lol
Lets just say he'd jolly well BETTER be joking.
I dont think we need to change webbing for one game....
"I think we are in rats' alley - Where the dead men lost their bones."
The S. Staffs haven't been issued with new webbing for this operation - suspect the combination of sea water drenching and sun bleaching will lead to naturally blond webbing
Heh... yup, don't worry guys!
Personally I think I will be in un-blancoed webbing as I'll have it by then, actually it may be blancoed in sand colour if I'm lucky, gotta try some more shoe cream colours... lol.
I'll also have a wide variety of KD stuff to try: KD shirt, KD Bush shirt and KD shorts...
Apparently the KD bush shirt and KD shirt were worn instead of a Denison and BDs in some cases as it was cooler... Though really I need to get more info on that.
For the sake of uniformity of the game thuogh it may be better if we all still wear dennys and berets.
Vary leg wear and undershirts by all means but we're just going to look shite and ultra wrong if everyone is in a totally different dress order.
"I think we are in rats' alley - Where the dead men lost their bones."
To clarify, what i mean is when i was at the museum at whittington the lads appear to have dropped for Huskey in denisons as one was on display next to a diorama of the bridge being taken.
Everyone would have boarded the gliders in pretty much the same kit, maybe abandoning stuff later on but otherwise whatever the dress order of the day was.
Unlike leg infantry who are in combat for ages and aquire, lose or swap kit, airborne are in for two days so tend to look pretty standard.
"I think we are in rats' alley - Where the dead men lost their bones."
Actually as far as I can see it wasn't that rare for units to have a mix of equipment in Sicily, even within a section. I'm not sure about airborne, but certainly regular army...
I need to do more investigation... If I do decide to wear the KD bush shirt it wouldn't be all the time anyway!
I know the S.Staffs went in as glider-borne troops, but all of them? Some must have gone in on the sea landings surely - the total airlift of all men was only 1,500.
All glider borne.
The 2nd battalion never fought as leg infantry in sicily or europe to my knowledge.
The whole battalion would only number about 850 men but that inccludes non drop roles like cobblers, QMS, Admin etc.
So you're looking at about 500 fighting men in total.
I could be wrong but i'm pretty sure the 2nd bat deployed entirely by glider.
Its unusual to use airborne troops in a leg role unless you really have to its just a massive resource of highly trained specialist infantry more or less wasted.
"I think we are in rats' alley - Where the dead men lost their bones."
