Uniforms and Equipment - Battle of the Bulge.
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Uniforms and Equipment - Battle of the Bulge.
by Cpl Bez Thu Jan 01, 2009 2:32 pm
Hi All,
So, with it being decided that as a group we might be better off doing a bulge impression first for the 517th group, here is a few basics.
A) Jumpsuits gone. First of all, if you look at the photos in De Trez's book you will notice that as time goes by Jumpsuits slowly disappear and M-43s start to creep in a lot more. The unit received no re-issue of Jumpsuits at any point and when they got knackered the soldiers were often lead to make modifications to uniforms or raid their B-Bags for whatever item of clothing they could find, one book even mentions a trooper fighting in his Class-A Jacket! (We wont be doing this
). Many will have seen that 42 pockets on Mustard trousers mod that the unit adopted, this wasn't what one might call universal, and by the end of the Maritime campaign these were also gone. In November the unit was moved to Soissons in France for rest, and it was here that the combat team received standard M43 combat uniforms which they left plain, no arm flag and obviously no Divisional SSI. Although photos show some 43 trousers in use, i'd say 75% of the Combat team simply wore mustards. Those who have worn a pair of plain 43 trousers know they may be wind resistant, but aren't that warm.
B) Re-issue of Helmets was not a priority because the unit was not pencilled in for any Combat drops for a while and what it already had would suffice. The replacements it received would have been trained Airborne troops and were probably the only guys with proper M2 Paratrooper pots, but those veterans from Italy and SF would still have had their Modified infantry pots. They would hit combat in the Bulge in these same helmets. I think the odd addition of an M2 wouldn't go a miss, but ideally i think we want to look to avoid this and stick to at very least, fixed bail infantry pots (can get around this by hiding the straps in the liner) or Chris' modified pots. Either way, pots need to look very used at this point because they, like the troopers themselves, had been through some serious shit.
C) Double Buckles and Jumpboots are fine and are really down to personal preference. Because of how late the unit entered combat in relation to the ETO, it found itself being issued Double Buckles as Combat boots and many opted to keep their Jumpboots clean and in good condition, even if they already had a second pair. Just like the 82nd and the 101st, the unit did not receive shoe-pacs, so these should be avoided.
D) Greatcoats are scarcely seen in photos. The unit was too rapid on the offensive to wear these and either way, they weren't issued and those seen would have been taken from the dead of other units. Again, one within a display Ok, but no more.
E) Camouflage. One thing to point out is that in the initial stages of the battle there were only certain parts of Belgium with a covering of snow. When the 517th first hit combat there was no snow where they were fighting so little need to camo. As time went by the weather got worse and when the Offensive operations began the unit was seen to utilise white sheets on helmets and over the upper torso, but it did not receive any proper camouflage items, no snow suits etc.
F) Webbing. For a Bulge display, you're just as well off wearing completely un-camo'd webbing, although what they used was the same they had used for Dragoon and HAD been camouflaged. By the time of the Bulge the paint had worn off and the webbing itself would have been considerably weathered. We all know enough about US Airborne forces to know enough about what webbing was used depending on your weapon, so i wont go into too much details about that. One thing i will say however is that there is no evidence to suggest that the 517th used 3 or 5 cell Magazine pouches for Grease gun and TSMG Ammunition, but that tommy mag bags or GP Ammo bags were used to carry their ammunition. Before the Bulge, each Company was effectively a squad smaller than the standard Airborne Company but received enough replacements at Soissons to add this final squad to each company increasing the units size quite drastically. Weaponary is as yet undecided and will probably be based around what display we decide to do, but its looking more and more likely that the standard rifle squad is a good starting point. The reason for this is that we do have a .30cal Machine Gun in the squad, as well as a number of TSMGs, a Greaser and plenty of M-1's. The Rifle squads within the 517th consisted of a Squad Leader (TSMG or M-1), Ass.Squad Leader (TSMG) a 3 man MG crew operating either a M1919A4 or A6 .30cal Machine Gun (Carbines or TSMG) and the remainding 7 would be riflemen carrying M1's. Browning Automatic Rifles were only used by the Machine Gun squads in Battalion or Regimental HQ and were not part of the standard Rifle Squad unlike some other Airborne outfits, however for any offensive operation the HQ Machine Gun squads were split between the Rifle companies so BAR's often found their way into the standard squad in a support roll.
That just about covers it for now, any questions feel free to ask..
Regards, Bez
So, with it being decided that as a group we might be better off doing a bulge impression first for the 517th group, here is a few basics.
A) Jumpsuits gone. First of all, if you look at the photos in De Trez's book you will notice that as time goes by Jumpsuits slowly disappear and M-43s start to creep in a lot more. The unit received no re-issue of Jumpsuits at any point and when they got knackered the soldiers were often lead to make modifications to uniforms or raid their B-Bags for whatever item of clothing they could find, one book even mentions a trooper fighting in his Class-A Jacket! (We wont be doing this
). Many will have seen that 42 pockets on Mustard trousers mod that the unit adopted, this wasn't what one might call universal, and by the end of the Maritime campaign these were also gone. In November the unit was moved to Soissons in France for rest, and it was here that the combat team received standard M43 combat uniforms which they left plain, no arm flag and obviously no Divisional SSI. Although photos show some 43 trousers in use, i'd say 75% of the Combat team simply wore mustards. Those who have worn a pair of plain 43 trousers know they may be wind resistant, but aren't that warm.B) Re-issue of Helmets was not a priority because the unit was not pencilled in for any Combat drops for a while and what it already had would suffice. The replacements it received would have been trained Airborne troops and were probably the only guys with proper M2 Paratrooper pots, but those veterans from Italy and SF would still have had their Modified infantry pots. They would hit combat in the Bulge in these same helmets. I think the odd addition of an M2 wouldn't go a miss, but ideally i think we want to look to avoid this and stick to at very least, fixed bail infantry pots (can get around this by hiding the straps in the liner) or Chris' modified pots. Either way, pots need to look very used at this point because they, like the troopers themselves, had been through some serious shit.
C) Double Buckles and Jumpboots are fine and are really down to personal preference. Because of how late the unit entered combat in relation to the ETO, it found itself being issued Double Buckles as Combat boots and many opted to keep their Jumpboots clean and in good condition, even if they already had a second pair. Just like the 82nd and the 101st, the unit did not receive shoe-pacs, so these should be avoided.
D) Greatcoats are scarcely seen in photos. The unit was too rapid on the offensive to wear these and either way, they weren't issued and those seen would have been taken from the dead of other units. Again, one within a display Ok, but no more.
E) Camouflage. One thing to point out is that in the initial stages of the battle there were only certain parts of Belgium with a covering of snow. When the 517th first hit combat there was no snow where they were fighting so little need to camo. As time went by the weather got worse and when the Offensive operations began the unit was seen to utilise white sheets on helmets and over the upper torso, but it did not receive any proper camouflage items, no snow suits etc.
F) Webbing. For a Bulge display, you're just as well off wearing completely un-camo'd webbing, although what they used was the same they had used for Dragoon and HAD been camouflaged. By the time of the Bulge the paint had worn off and the webbing itself would have been considerably weathered. We all know enough about US Airborne forces to know enough about what webbing was used depending on your weapon, so i wont go into too much details about that. One thing i will say however is that there is no evidence to suggest that the 517th used 3 or 5 cell Magazine pouches for Grease gun and TSMG Ammunition, but that tommy mag bags or GP Ammo bags were used to carry their ammunition. Before the Bulge, each Company was effectively a squad smaller than the standard Airborne Company but received enough replacements at Soissons to add this final squad to each company increasing the units size quite drastically. Weaponary is as yet undecided and will probably be based around what display we decide to do, but its looking more and more likely that the standard rifle squad is a good starting point. The reason for this is that we do have a .30cal Machine Gun in the squad, as well as a number of TSMGs, a Greaser and plenty of M-1's. The Rifle squads within the 517th consisted of a Squad Leader (TSMG or M-1), Ass.Squad Leader (TSMG) a 3 man MG crew operating either a M1919A4 or A6 .30cal Machine Gun (Carbines or TSMG) and the remainding 7 would be riflemen carrying M1's. Browning Automatic Rifles were only used by the Machine Gun squads in Battalion or Regimental HQ and were not part of the standard Rifle Squad unlike some other Airborne outfits, however for any offensive operation the HQ Machine Gun squads were split between the Rifle companies so BAR's often found their way into the standard squad in a support roll.
That just about covers it for now, any questions feel free to ask..
Regards, Bez
Cpl Bez- Posts : 66
Join date : 2007-12-30
Age : 37
Location : Leicester
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