Hi chaps, I'm new to warwheels, so hope you don't mind me launching straight in with a question.

I'm just about to start building the SKP Humber Scout Car. One of the decal options is for a British vehicle in Iran 1946 finished in light stone, carrying what appears to be a 30 cal mg. I know that we (the Brits) did indeed occupy parts of Iran during WW2, but I have been unable to find any pictures or accounts of soldiers or equipment out there. So can anyone confirm that the SC would have been there in light stone and the mg it carried, or even better point me to some photos?

Many thanks,

Ken

Welcome Ken.

Sorry I can't help you with your question, but I wanted to say "hello" and welcome.

Thanks Patrick, I think we may have met over on Track-Link. Did we trade some figures or something a coupla years ago?

Not sure Ken. Unfortunately, I have bought and traded more things than I can ever remember.

Ok, well here she is ready for painting. One of the reasons I chose the SKP kit was because the exterior update set was so cheap. Came out quite nicely I think. The worst fitting areas were the upper hull and the rear hull plate, you can see quite a bit of putty in these areas. The resin Bren gun mount is awesome. Hopefully I'll get round to painting it over the next few days, I'll be going for the Light Stone option.

Sorry if pics are a bit blurry, still getting to grip with my camera.

Hi Ken.

Nice job on the SKP Humber. I built the first release kit and it isn't the easiest plastic kit to construct (although not too hard).

BTW, I posted your AVGP Cougar photos on WarWheels. Thanks again for providing your pics.

Mr Adolphe.
The photos of the Humber SC are of interest.

First may I say I don't really know why the manufacturer put a pair of Bren Light Machine Guns on the mount (and by the butt shape appear to be Mark I variants, by 1946 long gone), it was standard by the end of WWII to have British Army SC irrespective of the type to have the Vickers K (the Vickers Gas Operated Machine Gun, originally a RAF aircraft mounted .303in MG) with the drum magazine on each gun. Using a Bren Gun with a 30 round magazine was not very good for the commanders health when changing them in an exposed position under fire! So the Bren Anti-Aircraft High Speed Magazine would have been used. The Vickers K was however a much superior weapon when used on the SC mount, its weight and structure being more suitable for the mount, a greater rate of fire, and a larger capacity magazine.

The British 10th Army /PAIFORCE (Persia and Iraq Force) left the then Persia in early 1946, with much of its equipment being handed over to the Persian Gendarmerie, the Army and the Imperial Guard. But, having had very hard service much of it would have been clapped out. The 10th's role being to keep an eye on the Persian Government, that had returned to power after the AUG 1941 BRIT/SOVIET invasion, and to protect the rail and road links for Lend-Lease Aid to get through to the Soviet Union from the port of Bandar Shahpour on the Persian Gulf to the port of Bandar Shah on the Caspian Sea, with a direct road link through to the Soviet Union in the West.

The British and Indian armies saw much small scale fighting against the Kurds, bandit groups, the "armies" of splinter groups of the Persian heirachy. Whilst a lot was in the plains/deserts where the stone colour was in use, the bulk was in the mountains of Zagros and Elburz, both areas larger than Britain and Ireland. There various shades of green was applied to military equipment.

A recent TV series 'Churchills Detective' in the episode dealing with the Teheran Conference showed Mk III Marmon-Herrington Dingo and White SCs in (it black and white) a splinter pattern camouflage pattern similar to the "Malta Pattern" (Teheran is in the Elburz Mountains).

The period of British and Indian 'Occupation' (and the use of the country as the base for the Polish 'Anders Army') is well worth a decent book, the American "Green Book" - Army Official History makes very little mention of 10th Army, even though it protected the US facilities, its men and their convoys (rail and road). At least 813 British and Indian soldiers and airmen died in the small scale war in Persia, with 115 gallantry awards being granted.
Yours,
G/
G.A.MACKINLAY Country New South Wales, Australia.

Thankyou very much for you v informative response. It seems that we British are unable to stop ourselves from meddling in the affairs of Middle Eastern countries!

I completed my model a few weeks ago now, in Light Stone with the twin Brens. Can you clarify whether the Brens with drum magazines would have been incorrect for any time and location during WW2? They are only secured to the PLM mount with the tiniest amount of superglue, so it wouldn't be a huge problem to replace them with Vickers Ks if need be.

Thanks again for taking the time to respond.

Mr Adolphe,
I persume you meant that the use of the Bren Gun with the Hi-Speed magazine would have been used, if so, yes it was.

But, this 'drum' type magazine was not intended for use on a mobile mounting, but, with the Bren tripod in its Anti-Aircraft static role. Putting the magazine on gun mounted on a vehicle roaring around the countryside, very quickly put the rounds within the drum out of syn, so when it fired the rounds would not feed in. They stopped making the magazines in 1942, as they were expensive to make, and there were much better anti-aircraft weapons (such as the Polsten) available by then. But, you can actually see them in photographs in such as Soldier Magazine up to the 1950's in parades/ceremonial, the 'drum' looked better, and when the paint scraped off shone wonderfully when Brassoed!

"It seems that we British are unable to stop ourselves from meddling in the affairs of Middle Eastern countries!" If Winston Churchill had not ordered the invasion of Persia in the August, the war could have been lost by the October. The Shah, Reza was extremely pro-German and Italian, there being some six thousand males of each in country. The Persian Government was launching a major anti-Soviet propoganda campaign into the Caucasus and Central Asian Republics, while the Germans had moved so much munitions through from Turkey, via Persia into Afghanistan, it kept the "Red Flag" and others fighting on the NW Frontier right up to 1949, when Pakistan abandoned the PRovince - the Brits had throughout the war the equivelent of three infantry divisions up on the Frontier.

The day after the small British force invaded, the Soviet Army in huge numbers invaded Persia in the North by land, sea and air - the reason of its importance, Persia was at that time the main supplier of oil to Britain and the Commonwealth Nations, and by the begining of the next year the oilfields in Burma (mostly blown up in retreat) and the Netherlands East Indies were captured by the Japanese.

So not "meddling in the affairs" but stop us from speaking German, and such as my wife from not being put into a gas chamber!
Yours,
G/.
G.A.MACKINLAY Country New South Wales, Australia

I don't have the knowledge of the modern history of Iran/Persia that you have. However, as I understand it the British and Russians had pretty agrresive expansionist policies in the Middle East during the late 19th/early 20th Cs and Persia was one of the few countries that managed to resist becoming part of another's empire.

I've no doubt at all that ensuring that Iran's oil was protected for use by the Allies had a major contribution to us defeating the nazis and ensuring that my Grandad and you wife were saved from the gas chambers, however had Russia and Britain not been so agressive in their empire building, they may well have found that Iran sided with them naturally without force being required.