THE BRITISH ARMY IN 1945.
During the liberation of Holland in 1945 the British Army liberated great parts of our country from German occupation.
The British information service from the Army printed a brochure in the Dutch language to inform the liberated Dutch people.
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| The Armored Division in formation on the move. |
The brochure had the intention to inform the people about the daily live and work in the British Army starting with basic training, the different units and there tasks and the way it fights. Its an interesting piece of history with a combination of photo's and drawings (artist impression).
THE INFANTRY
On two pictures we can see how an easy target changed into a well camouflaged
rifleman. Before camouflage in the
black and white picture and with camouflage in
the collored picture.
Its clear that the enemy can't see him,
but can he see the enemy ?
Also interesting are the pictures which look like a basic training in streetfight, with covering fire from the other side of the street.
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| The Bren Gun in action. On the following spectaculair view we see the basics from fire and manouvre with 3 sections.  THE AIRBORNE TROOPS.   |
The Tetrarch tank which is driving out of the Hamilcar glider was not the best they had. The light tank was easy to transport by air but on the ground it was to light armered and the gun had a caliber which was to small.
The paratroopers where the elite fighting force.
An other elite fighting force are the Green barrets called Commandos.
Operating in small units they where able to fight in difficult situations with minimal logistic support.
THE ARTILLERY.
The main task for the artillery is to suport the other fighting units like the infantry. The artillery can fire a barrage which is aimed at targets just in front of the own troops.
When the infantrie goes forward, the artillery stops firing
and the barrage goes also forward looking for
new targets, like enemy positions.
The battery with 5.5 inch canons.
The main cannon is the 25 pounder.
A special detail is the plate on the ground which
makes turns to the left or right easy.
First you see the 25 pdr. in action and
in the second picture you see the
details from the ground plate.
A special place, the John Frost bridge at Arnhem.
From the movie a Bridge to far.
(Operation Market Garden)
The groundplate for the 25 pdr.
In the mountains you need a light piece of artillery
which can be transported in heavy terrain in
parts. The 3.7 inch mountain canon
is the one you need.
The 3.7 inch mountain canon.
When you have time and place and a good infrastructure
like railroads ,you can use the heavy equipment.
Have a look at the 18 inch railway canon
18 meter long with a firing range of 32 km.
