The Night Mail

[J. S. Bach]

Back after two days of not feeling much like doing anything due to a cough and sore throat. All I can say is staying in bed most of the day is not my favorite thing! Anyway:

 

Night Owl from the Piedmont.

[J. S. Bach]

5 hours ago, TheQ said:

Exactly, their tanks were very poor,  as was much of their equipment, also the average conscript was treated very badly compared to their officers. So they often had no choice but to surrender.

Maybe more like no desire to fight for someone that treats them like cattle?

[AndyID]

19 hours ago, jamie92208 said:

Does that mean that the Roseville Rotaries are getting ready for action. 

 

Jamie

 

If they can find them 😂

[jamie92208]

7 hours ago, Winslow Boy said:

I seem to recall that there was a tank battle where the French gave the Germans a battering due in part to the tanks they were equipped with were equal to the German ones.

That would have been the Char B's which I think we're commanded by a certain Charles de Gaulle.  This was at about the same time as the British Matildas caused Havoc near Arras.  

 

Jamie

[Happy Hippo]

We woke to a shock this morning.

We are in Margam and the sun was out!

[Winslow Boy]

4 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

We woke to a shock this morning.

We are in Margam and the sun was out!

Sssh keep it to yourself otherwise there'll be a stampede and the island will tip over.

[Hroth]

There's rain on the windows here....

 

[Winslow Boy]

No rain on the windows here- it's on the floor, gutters, roads, pavements and gardens.

[Oldddudders]

I hear there has been snowfall - not just a few flakes - in both Gloucester and Bristol, so we have been very lucky. Bright, sunny morning in Torquay, so we headed off back to the pub for breakfast. £6.95 for a sizzling FEB, or two of everything for only £2 more, at the Babbacombe Inn. Views across to Teignmouth and Exmouth while you dine. Few days start as well as this!

 

Sherry now has her appointment letter for seeing a specialist about her scan result, and the TIA it shows. I shall be back in France by that time, until after Easter. 

 

At home, Alison is in deep despair about the daily dousing which is reducing everywhere to marshland, to use her phrase. 10 times the usual Feb rainfall had arrived in the first three weeks, and few days since have been dry, evidently. When you grow most of your family's food this matters. 

 

 

[Tony_S]

10 minutes ago, Oldddudders said:

about the daily dousing which is reducing everywhere to marshland, to use her phrase.

We have been driving out to the RHS gardens at Hyde Hall near us for many years now. Yesterday was the wettest I have ever seen the local countryside. The ditches were full and water was flowing off fields across roads. I know this is not unusual elsewhere but it is here. 
Up on the hill at the gardens it was quite windy. I had my new “big coat” on. It is windproof, waterproof and keeps me warm. I found out another useful property yesterday. It seems to be blood resistant too. I had another nosebleed and the blood just wiped off the coat. 
Tony

[Oldddudders]

30 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

We have been driving out to the RHS gardens at Hyde Hall near us for many years now. Yesterday was the wettest I have ever seen the local countryside. The ditches were full and water was flowing off fields across roads. I know this is not unusual elsewhere but it is here. 

I had a quickie day-trip to London on Tuesday, and there is a lot of waterlogging. Not long after Southcote Junction on the return trip I observed an entire allotment zone under water. It seems unlikely that is a regular occurrence in the Reading area. 

[jamie92208]

The rain is causing problems for the farmers round us. Apparently they are struggling g to get the fields prepared to plant maize due to muddy conditions.  The normally dry Valley near us has water along at least 3miles of it's length. 

 

Jamie

[Happy Hippo]

Jamie's comment about Char B and Matilda tanks is an example of how tank development differed between countries in the between war era.  Both the aforementioned were 'infantry tanks'. Well armoured but very slow. In both actions had the tanks been able to manoeuvre quickly, they could have wreaked havoc with the German blitzkrieg by cutting the logistic chain and destroying it with a follow on force attack.

 

Sadly, although the advance was stopped and pushed back, the allies were unable to exploit this as they lacked the same manoeuvre speed enjoyed by the Germans, who were able to move off to the flanks and push on.

 

The British went down a number of routes with their tank design, with higher speed 'cruisers', but at the expense of armour and firepower.

 

We also persisted with the very slow infantry tank which reached its zenith with the Churchill.  Slow, and cumbersome and woefully armed with a 6 pounder gun, but with front armour capable of withstanding fire from a German 88mm gun.

 

[Happy Hippo]

For some reason the post above duplicated, so I edited it down to this instead🤣

Edited March 2 by Happy Hippo

[TheQ]

The Matilda 2 only had a 2 pounder gun and due to a small turret it couldn't be upgraded.

Granddad was there as Company Sergeant Major at Arras with 4th RTR .

 

The roads round here are surrounded by fields of water, in some places it's flowing off the fields onto the roads.

 

On the way back from the show there was a huge downpour, cars on the dual carriageway were down to 40 mph.

As for the show itself, a little disappointing though not the organisers fault.. I'd seen several of the layouts before..

 

 

[Happy Hippo]

2 hours ago, TheQ said:

Granddad was there as Company Sergeant Major at Arras with 4th RTR .

My Grandfather was in Arras during the previous bust up.

[jamie92208]

23 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

My Grandfather was in Arras during the previous bust up.

I know it reasonably well. My Uncle is buried just south of Arras. He was killed there in April 1917.

 

Jamie

[J. S. Bach]

Night owl from the Piedmont.

[Happy Hippo]

Another sunny start to the day, so we are off for a walk along Aberafon sea front after breakfast

[Northmoor]

21 hours ago, Oldddudders said:

I hear there has been snowfall - not just a few flakes - in both Gloucester and Bristol, so we have been very lucky. Bright, sunny morning in Torquay, so we headed off back to the pub for breakfast. £6.95 for a sizzling FEB, or two of everything for only £2 more, at the Babbacombe Inn. Views across to Teignmouth and Exmouth while you dine. Few days start as well as this!

 

Sherry now has her appointment letter for seeing a specialist about her scan result, and the TIA it shows. I shall be back in France by that time, until after Easter. 

 

At home, Alison is in deep despair about the daily dousing which is reducing everywhere to marshland, to use her phrase. 10 times the usual Feb rainfall had arrived in the first three weeks, and few days since have been dry, evidently. When you grow most of your family's food this matters. 

 

 

We visited our son in Bath yesterday and the snow suddenly appeared by the side of the M4* about ten miles West of Swindon.  The A46 had clearly been treacherous and a couple of inches of snow lying on the verges, with a lot of meltwater running over the road or accumulating in places.  A couple of hundred feet lower down in Bath itself there was nothing by lunchtime.  At Alex's house though he had been creating the largest possible ball of snow before we couldn't roll it anymore.

 

All green spaces around Bath are suffering from the recent weather; the ground was saturated everywhere - even on high ground in Alexandra Park - so even if there is a prolonged dry spell now you would have to hope the aquifers have been "re-charged" by this winter's rain.  It's similar round here, there is standing water in a lot of fields.

 

*We took the motorway as the A36 Warminster by-pass was closed for at least the morning after two trucks collided (I think), in what was described as a snow-related accident, so the snowfall must have been severe enough to have caught people out.

Edited March 3 by Northmoor

[SteveyDee68]

I may have said this before but…

 

One of the older chaps at the brass band my father played with had served in a tank regiment in World War II. He rarely spoke about the war, but one Remembrance Sunday after the band had played for a parade and were taking “refreshments” at the British Legion Club he told one story which stuck with my dad, who retold it only after the chap in question had passed away.

 

His tank was midway in a column making their way along a road hemmed in on both sides by earth banks, and he (the driver) had a very bad feeling about it. He spotted a gateway and turned off out of the column; he said he knew he’d be in big trouble but that he had an overwhelming urge to get out of the line. His tank commander (Captain?) started yelling at him but just as he did so a German aircraft (Stuka?) suddenly flew over and bombed the front tank in the column, bringing them to a halt. A second plane bombed the rear tank and planes then proceeded to bomb the trapped column one by one. A couple more exited via the gate he had taken whilst he drove into trees to take cover from the planes. He said four tanks from the column survived that attack, and then wouldn’t say any more. 😔

 

I’ve no way of checking the facts of that story. I do know that John had an impressive amount of medal ribbons on his blazer whenever he marched on Remembrance Sunday, and after hearing that story I did wonder - would he have been given a medal for his actions that day, or a dressing down for breaking formation?

 

Another tank related story - taking a group of sixth form students to an Armed Forces recruitment day, I got to sit in a more modern tank - no thank you very much, definitely not for me. I remember asking where the ignition slot would be and being told it was automatic start up (no keys required) - in a battle situation, you wouldn’t want to be searching for the keys! At which point I asked whether that meant all the vehicles being clambered over by our (not exactly angelic) students were “live” (including the missile launcher trucks) and getting an answer that made me slightly nervous (again, due to our student cohort!) 🫢😆

[Happy Hippo]

33 minutes ago, SteveyDee68 said:

I may have said this before but…

 

One of the older chaps at the brass band my father played with had served in a tank regiment in World War II. He rarely spoke about the war, but one Remembrance Sunday after the band had played for a parade and were taking “refreshments” at the British Legion Club he told one story which stuck with my dad, who retold it only after the chap in question had passed away.

 

His tank was midway in a column making their way along a road hemmed in on both sides by earth banks, and he (the driver) had a very bad feeling about it. He spotted a gateway and turned off out of the column; he said he knew he’d be in big trouble but that he had an overwhelming urge to get out of the line. His tank commander (Captain?) started yelling at him but just as he did so a German aircraft (Stuka?) suddenly flew over and bombed the front tank in the column, bringing them to a halt. A second plane bombed the rear tank and planes then proceeded to bomb the trapped column one by one. A couple more exited via the gate he had taken whilst he drove into trees to take cover from the planes. He said four tanks from the column survived that attack, and then wouldn’t say any more. 😔

 

I’ve no way of checking the facts of that story. I do know that John had an impressive amount of medal ribbons on his blazer whenever he marched on Remembrance Sunday, and after hearing that story I did wonder - would he have been given a medal for his actions that day, or a dressing down for breaking formation?

 

Another tank related story - taking a group of sixth form students to an Armed Forces recruitment day, I got to sit in a more modern tank - no thank you very much, definitely not for me. I remember asking where the ignition slot would be and being told it was automatic start up (no keys required) - in a battle situation, you wouldn’t want to be searching for the keys! At which point I asked whether that meant all the vehicles being clambered over by our (not exactly angelic) students were “live” (including the missile launcher trucks) and getting an answer that made me slightly nervous (again, due to our student cohort!) 🫢😆

You need to energise the various electrical systems via the vehicle masterswitch.  Generally speaking this is switched off, especially if you have lots of visitors to the vehicle.

[Oldddudders]

42 minutes ago, SteveyDee68 said:

Another tank related story - taking a group of sixth form students to an Armed Forces recruitment day, I got to sit in a more modern tank - no thank you very much, definitely not for me. I remember asking where the ignition slot would be and being told it was automatic start up (no keys required) - in a battle situation, you wouldn’t want to be searching for the keys! At which point I asked whether that meant all the vehicles being clambered over by our (not exactly angelic) students were “live” (including the missile launcher trucks) and getting an answer that made me slightly nervous (again, due to our student cohort!) 🫢😆

I am not famous for going to 'open days' at depots etc, but in the mid-70s found myself at one such at Eastleigh. Kids were clambering into cabs, and suddenly a Class 74 Big EDL made all the chugging noises and burst into life. A fat kid emerged at record speed and climbed rapidly down shouting "I never touched nuffink!". Yeah, right. 

[Happy Hippo]

Not sure about a column of tanks getting bombed, but on 13 June 1944, Michael Wittman and his Tiger tank, caught a column of 7 Armd Bde vehicles and in about 15 min took out over a dozen tanks plus other stuff before his tank got knocked out.

 

This was the most likely scenario rather than getting bombed. Especially as it is a exceptionally known action, and is still taught in tank tactics lessons.

 

The Russians in Ukraine ought to have gone to the lessons as their tank tactics have been pretty abysmal.

 

 

 

 

Edited March 3 by Happy Hippo

[PhilJ W]

1 hour ago, SteveyDee68 said:

I may have said this before but…

 

One of the older chaps at the brass band my father played with had served in a tank regiment in World War II. He rarely spoke about the war, but one Remembrance Sunday after the band had played for a parade and were taking “refreshments” at the British Legion Club he told one story which stuck with my dad, who retold it only after the chap in question had passed away.

 

His tank was midway in a column making their way along a road hemmed in on both sides by earth banks, and he (the driver) had a very bad feeling about it. He spotted a gateway and turned off out of the column; he said he knew he’d be in big trouble but that he had an overwhelming urge to get out of the line. His tank commander (Captain?) started yelling at him but just as he did so a German aircraft (Stuka?) suddenly flew over and bombed the front tank in the column, bringing them to a halt. A second plane bombed the rear tank and planes then proceeded to bomb the trapped column one by one. A couple more exited via the gate he had taken whilst he drove into trees to take cover from the planes. He said four tanks from the column survived that attack, and then wouldn’t say any more. 😔

 

I’ve no way of checking the facts of that story. I do know that John had an impressive amount of medal ribbons on his blazer whenever he marched on Remembrance Sunday, and after hearing that story I did wonder - would he have been given a medal for his actions that day, or a dressing down for breaking formation?

 

Another tank related story - taking a group of sixth form students to an Armed Forces recruitment day, I got to sit in a more modern tank - no thank you very much, definitely not for me. I remember asking where the ignition slot would be and being told it was automatic start up (no keys required) - in a battle situation, you wouldn’t want to be searching for the keys! At which point I asked whether that meant all the vehicles being clambered over by our (not exactly angelic) students were “live” (including the missile launcher trucks) and getting an answer that made me slightly nervous (again, due to our student cohort!) 🫢😆

Tanks are very vulnerable to air attack, as the Russians have found out recently in Ukraine. As described above being in a column only makes it worse.