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Do you remember how many of each? Sounds a bit like the infantry bn a mate of mine served with in the Belgian Army in the late 70s, it had two platoons of Jagdpanzer Kanone (4 guns each plt), plus Milan and 90mm rocket launchers. BTW the army here (in South Africa) still has the 106, in...

So was 3 Mech Cdo a full-size infantry battalion or the same size as the other (Airborne) Commandos at the time?

The Carl Gustav is strictly speaking a recoilless rifle not a rocket launcher (though I think it is rocket assisted), so I don't think they're related.

The red hackle is also worn by the Transvaal Scottish www.jocks.co.za

I read Rowe's book many years ago and my memory may be wrong but this all sounds a bit strange to me. How would the anti-war group have known what Rowe's assignment was? IIRC his name wasn't on any lists of POWs, he was being carried as MIA. He never in fact was in North Vietnam, being moved...

What vehicles would the Recce Troop have used? Ferrets?

Don't know if this is the right place to ask, but I've wondered for a while, looking at photos taken in Iraq, Afghanistan etc. , why do some forces (British/Canadian, others) issue the PRR (or equivalent) to every soldier in a rifle platoon, while others (US Army/USMC) only give it to officers...

" The Infantry, the Infantry,   With dirt behind their ears   they can lick their weight in wildcats   And drink their weight in beers   The Cavalry, the Artillery,   The lousy Engineers,   They couldn't lick the Infantry   In a hunderd thousand years." - 1st Ranger Infantry Battalion marching...

Hadn't read that one before! Interesting quote from a book I just read (Decision in Normandy, by Carlo D'este): " Although I am an infantryman, in my opinion, the arm of the service which did the most to win the last war was the Royal Regiment of Artillery" - Lt.Gen. Sir Brian Horrocks...

Re the M72- the USMC is actually reintroducing it into service for use in Iraq. No armour threat there but it's great for taking out bunkers and buildings, and much lighter/portable than the AT4. There are also some interesting new M72 rounds, including thermobaric, look on the www.talleyds.com...

Band of Brothers was excellent. Cross of Iron is one of my favourites and I think has some of the best dialogue of any war movie. I can't believe how many people on this site liked Tears of the Sun- I thought it was really bad. other films- Full Metal Jacket, MASH (the movie), Men in War...

This loadout could be varied quite a lot. Certainly in the Italian theatre I think I'm correct in saying the Sten was not used by Commonwealth troops, the M1A1 Thompson being subsituted. In a book I read about the 6th SA Armoured Division (Neil Orpen's "Victory in Italy") rifle companies in the...

Fraser also wrote a book about his experiences as a young NCO in the Border Regiment, during the Burma campaign, 1944-45. It's called "Quartered Safe Out Here", pretty good stuff. I also remember reading a book by him which showed the history of the world as Hollywood has presented it, very funny.

I went to a talk given by the President of the SA Special Forces League on Thursday, at the War Museum in Johannesburg, on the Battles of Cuito Cuinivale, the final phase of the South African involvement in Angola. Pretty interesting.

291er the only VC credited to the SAS is Major Anders Lassen (of Denmark) at Lake Commachio, Italy, on 9 april 1945.

Max Hastings' Overlord is a pretty good history of the Normandy campaign.

Absolutely right. This reminds me of a story related about Lt Col Mike Calvert in Charles Allen's book the Savage Wars of Peace. Calvert was commanding the Malayan Scouts (later 22SAS) in the early 1950s. A policeman visiting the SAS mess was regailing some of the officers with stories of how he...

I would recommend Max Hastings' book Bomber Command to anyone who is interested in this subject, it shows both sides (especially the bomber crews) at a human level, not just a dry operational history.

According to Mark Adkin's book about Goose Green, 2 Para's mortar platoon took two 81mm with, the rest of the platoon carried ammo. Most of the rest of the battalion did too- 500 bombs altogether. B and D Coys took their platoon 2inch mortars (1 tube per platoon), A Coy did not. There were no HE...

All I can say is- I loved his books when i was 15. Now i 'm 29 and I think they're a bit silly. i feel like I've growen up and he hasn't.