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Showing posts from November, 2020

Interesting reading - Operations Report

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I spent an hour searching through the PPCLI website and checking out their archives. A subseries called War Diaries. This is the Seaforth Highlanders of Canada, Operations Report - Capture of Granarolo and the Senio River winter line - Jan 1st to 7th, 1945.  Check out this except, specifically   Note 2.   I love the humour.  The "V2". A slingshot used to lob type 36 grenades 100yards. The "Dagwood". A type 36 grenade "sandwiched" between two type 75 grenades, placed in a sack and tossed at the enemy.  Reports state, "they gave a bad morale effect on the enemy". I'm sure it did!  And once again we see the PIAT put to good use. I did not know they had an incendiary bomb for the PIAT.  The last page of the document is an appendix with lessons learned. Note 3 - PIAT is extremely useful! Although I'd hate to be the bloke who would have to carry the thing. Fun read, great stuff. The PDF is labelled: 74-16-2 or use the link https://archives.ppcl...

New Projects - Canadians in Italy WW2

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 I went on a trip down to southern Alberta and hit some used book stores and found a few old gems.  A decent start for research. Dickens of the Mounted and the Trial of Joan of Arc are more of a personal interest, the other three are for my Canadians World War II research.  These three books are copyrighted 1969. Reader's Digest created this two volume set with a Tools of War booklet. The have some handy maps in the back which I will make use of. The Tools of war has some neat illustrations. Including one of the most surprisingly useful weapons, the PIAT. My initial plan was to stick with the Loyal Edmonton Regiment and follow them into Italy, sharing their history while creating some scenarios for historical tabletop rules sets. There are just so many interesting stories with other regiments as well.  I'll hit the books and follow a timeline as best I can. Once COVID has run its course and we can hit the tabletop again, After Actions Reports should follow.  Che...