dear friends of armorama,
im doing my first dio of the battle of the bulge, i have many questions for my dio i would really appreciate it if u guys could help me out.
first of all what kind of machine guns did the u.s and the germans use in the battle; water cool .30 cal? or aircooled? And second of all what tanks did both sides use? Did the u.s use m4a1s in the battle???

thanks,calvin ng

there were a few Easy 8 Shermans.

thanks alot. Do u know anything about the machine guns???
thanks, calvin ng

and one more thing, were there any other sherman variants other than the easy eights????
thanks, calvin ng

yes there were other varients however I only know about the Easy 8's.

thanks again, but what about the machine guns cuz i need one for my dio

large numbers of Nebelwerfer's and MG42's

and also what color uniform did the germans wear ?????

thanks these are the last couple of things i need help with; the color of the german uniforms throughout the battle, the machine guns used by americans , if it was watercooled or aircooled, and where i could find a 1/48 scale u.s mortar gun.

thanks alot, calvin ng

about the mortar gun you could find them probablyy in a Tamiya set.
For the German colors, German Gray or camos
Here is a website on camo during WWII
http://www.kamouflage.net/

hope this helps and goodluck on your dio.

thxs,
John

thanks, but i couldnt find any 1/48 scale mortars

were the water cooled .30 brownings used in the battle of the bulge???

Which division? There were a great many German units represented during this battle.

Perhaps if you show us your plan, sketched layout, etc we could help you further. At the moment it is sounding like you're planning HUGE dio...

sorrry im not a expert at types of german divisions, but i think panzer, or normal infantry division, i would choose volksgrenadiers but i cant find any in 1/48 scale, and by the way its just a small dio , i just want to make it as accurate as possible. Do u know if there were .30 watercoolled mgs in the battle???ONe more thing, if i am going to make elevations what should i use so the terrain material wont spill out???

thanks calvin ng

It's possible and I've seen a few photos of water cooled .30's somewhere snowy.
But the BotB was fought during December 1944/January 1945 and the weather was quite cold in N.W. Europe and temperatures were at or below freezing.
Water cooled MG's would be difficult to keep working as the MG's water containers and the water cooling jackets would be hard to keep thawed unless there was some kind of Anti-Freeze available.
Any water cooled MG like the .30 M1917A1 Browning or the British .303 Vickers would be more difficult to keep working in freezing temperatures and air cooled MG's like the .30 1919A4 Browning. .303 Bren or the German MG34's and MG42's would probably be preferred.
Mind you, the Red Army used water cooled Maxim PM1910's on the Eastern Front and the weather there was a lot colder than on the Western Front.
Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
Cheers

jjumbo

I kind of doubt airborne troops (which is what the American's in Bastogne were) would have many water cooled machine guns - i'd bet they were more likely to have the air cooled ones, which were significantly lighter (something like 41 lbs vs. 93 lbs)

Other US troops might well of had them. I may be wrong, but i think water cooled machine guns tended to be mounted on vehicles more often than carried by foot soldiers.

yeah there was anti freeze for it , thats why it was preffered b4 the much more bettr ones came out

You need to hit the library, as you've asked enough questions to fill several volumes. There are plenty of illustrated books on the Battle of the Bulge, and any public library will stock at least one. You can also pick up inexpensive photo books from hobby publishers like Concord and Squadron. The US relief operation involved the entire Third Army, so pretty much every US armored vehicle issued in the preceding two years would be present in one unit or another.
Short answers: US used aircooled .30 caliber and .50 caliber Browning machine guns, as well as Browning Automatic Rifles (BARs). Water cooled guns were pretty rare. Germans used MG42 and MG34 machine guns.
US medium tanks: M4 and M4A1 (dry stowage, 75 mm), M4A1 76 wet stowage, M4A3 wet stowage 75 mm, M4A3 76 mm wet stowage, M4A3E2 Jumbo, M4A3 76 mm with HVSS suspension(so-called M4A3E8), M4 105mm howitzer, M4A3 105mm howitzer. US light tanks: M5A1 Stuart and M24 Chaffee. US tank destroyers: M18, M10, M36.
German tanks: Panzer IV Ausf. H and J, Panther Ausf. A and G, Tiger I and King Tiger, Sturmgeschutz III and IV assault guns, Jagdpanther, Panzer IV 70, both V and A versions, Hetzer, Nashorn, Flakpanzer IV antiaircraft tanks. The British attacked the Bulge from the north, so they also used M4, M4A1, M4A2 and M4A4 Shermans, and some Sherman IC and VC Fireflies, as well as Cromwells, Churchills, and M3A1 and M3A3 Stuarts.
German troops wore reversible winter uniforms, which were (dirty) white on one side, and either mouse gray or splinter pattern camouflage on the other. Field Gray greatcoats were also seen. As said, the winter of 1944 was the coldest winter in Belgium in thirty years.

i think you are getting a little too picky with your .30 cal... with scale models as small and 1/48th i dont think you can tell the difference if it is air cooled or water cooled.

may i suggest buying the academy U.S machine gun set. comes with about x3 30's and x3 50's.

by the way, try actually doing some research first.
i find that this is a helpful site.
www.wikipedia.com

thanks academy had no 1/48 scale machine guns

Lets see here the u.s. used m3's, m4's ,m10's halftracks, jeeps, the 30 cal air cooled was flavored along with the 50 cal however the 30 cal water cooled used also and the Germans used tiger II's, panthers, mark Iv's, 251 halftracks, swimwagons, the dreaded 88 and then mg 42's and mg 34's . You have to remember they were a couple panzers divisions involved, plus it was a last chance drive, so they throw allot into that push.

Standard U.S. Infantry weapons were used including the :

M1917A1 Heavy Machinegun, cal. 30( Heavy Weapons Company -{Dog, How, King } co's in each Battalion had 8 guns)

M1919A4 Light Machinegun, Cal. 30 (2 per Rifle Company)

M1919A6 Light Machinegun, Cal.30(same allotment as Rifle Company)

Wehrmacht Machineguns would be the

MG34

MG42

Just a quick comment, the Battle of the Bulge was much more than the fight at Bastogne, and many more troops were involved than the 101st and 4th Armored. In fact, there were other troops in Bastogne itself. Just about all weapons were deployed in the Battle, the largest ever fought by the American Army.

John