Jerry,

I believe both regiments (part of 31 Tk Bde) were Churchill equipped regiments.

Brian

Jerry,

Whilst some of the Independent Brigades had Shermans and some Churchills, there was no "mix & match" that I'm aware of (save 79 Armd Div which is a whole different ball game). As the campaign in NW Europe went on of course there was some extensive reorganization and even re-equipment but the composite Regiments (of the Brigades) were either one or the other. Both had of course a Recce Troop (Platoon) of Stuarts and say a couple of other anomalies such as AA tanks etc; when you think about it this makes sense considering the logistic difficulties of such an organization were the tanks to be of differing types within the Brigade, the Stores Company alone would have been creaking at the seams let alone the REME expertise required.

Brian

Any Shermans around Hill 112 would probably have been from 4 Armd Bde; re the battles for the Odon the Armd Bdes would have been allocated as 2nd Army saw fit to accompany the Infantry divisions involved (I admit I haven't studied the order of battle for these in depth) - which after all, is what they were for.

Brian

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Any Shermans around Hill 112 would probably have been from 4 Armd Bde; re the battles for the Odon the Armd Bdes would have been allocated as 2nd Army saw fit to accompany the Infantry divisions involved (I admit I haven't studied the order of battle for these in depth) - which after all, is what they were for.

Brian

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The more I learn about the vagueries of the British Army the more I realize how clueless I am.

How to make ones life as a modeler difficult ....

I need a good idea of the standard type of Shermy used by the 7th and 9th RTR during late June,early July in Normandy. The standard gun tank and also the Firefly.
Any tips?
TIA guys,
J

27 AB was the same as 8 and disbanded early Aug 44 wiht some regiments going to other AB such as 8 and 33.

For Sherman Units of the British In Normandy
4AB - M4A1 - Sher II
8 AB - M4A2 plus M4A1 DD
27AB - As above
Fireflies were all initially Vc in the Independant Bdes but later (mid July) replacements could be 1c Hydrid or Welded

Al

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27 AB was the same as 8 and disbanded early Aug 44 wiht some regiments going to other AB such as 8 and 33.

For Sherman Units of the British In Normandy
4AB - M4A1 - Sher II
8 AB - M4A2 plus M4A1 DD
27AB - As above
Fireflies were all initially Vc in the Independant Bdes but later (mid July) replacements could be 1c Hydrid or Welded

Al

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Just for clarity, unlike 8th Armoured Brigade, 27th Armd Bde only had one DD-equipped regiment (13/18 Hussars). Both Staffs Yeomanry and East Riding Yeomanry landed on D-Day with standard Sherman III/Sherman Vc combos.

After the Brigade was disbanded, Staffs Yeo returned to the UK in August 1944 to commence their DD training.

With regards to DDs, 13/18 Hussars were equipped with Sherman V DDs rather than Sherman II DDs.

John

Hi BRian,

Correct - only two Sqns in each regt had DD tanks.

In 13/18 Hussars, A and B Sqns were DD-equipped. C Sqn operated Sherman III that came ashore from LCTs. However in other regiments the allocation was different. In the Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry (8th AB) for example, it was B and C Sqns that had the DDs whilst A Sqn retained the Sherman III.

13/18 Hussars is a curious case. A and B Sqns were both organised into the 'old' 5 Troops of 3 tanks (plus an HQ Troop) structure. C Sqn however was organised into the 'new' 4 Troops of 4 Tanks (plus the HQ Troop) structure. Both Staffs Yeo and East Riding Yeo in the same brigade had already transferred fully to the new four Troop structure.

Within 13/18H, C Sqn had four Fireflies (which they chose to assign as the fourth tank in each Troop) whereas A and B Sqns had only one Firefly each for much of June and into July.

Even more confusing is that the two A and B Sqn Fieflies were not listed in the regimental War Establishment for D-Day but were crewed by 'First Reinforcement' personnel from 13/18H. They actually landed just behind the DD tanks. They were 'concrete buster' units assigned to the Royal Navy (I kid you not) and their role was to snipe at specific concrete bunkers from their landing craft as they were approaching the beaches. As soon as they came ashore they reverted to 13/18 Hussars control.

On Juno Beach, each of the Canadian DD Regts also had a pair of concrete buster Fireflies but no such assets were assigned to Gold Beach (Gold was under the contol of a different Corps and was a late addition to the D-Day plans).

John