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Jonathan Ware Profile picture
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18 Jan, 10 tweets, 8 min read
A German family's war.

Discovered by my mates James in the charity shop he volunteers in.

Probably of the Wagner family

I'll let the pictures do the talking /1
#WW2 #SWW #History
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More from @ReassessHistory

Jonathan Ware Profile picture
20 Jan
The Churchill Tank in Normandy: Part One 40-44

Ratty Relic or Bocage Buster?

How did it go from a hated, atrocious POS tank worthy only of the scrapheap to a reliable, trustworthy, survivable and popular gun tank in action?

Another pertinent tale. /1
#WW2 #SWW #History Image
At 38 tons the Churchill was clearly a beast but a manageable one, given concerns about railway loading gauge had informed development (even then you still had to remove the side air louvres for rail tpt).

As always, compromise & industrial limitations underpinned design. /2 Image
Early Mk I and Mk II were respectively armed with a 2 Pounder with coaxial Besa in the turret but with differing hull armament, I - 3" howitzer, II - Besa machine gun.

88.9mm of front armour provided excellent protection for the five man crew, and WS No. 19 provided comms. /3 Image
Read 24 tweets
Jonathan Ware Profile picture
19 Jan
So you're a company commander in Normandy, trying to coordinate your three platoons in action, & liase w supporting tanks & some arty, & keep battalion headquarters appraised, & adapt as needed.

You know your platoons' sets are a bit crap.

What do you do? /1
#WW2 #SWW #History Image
The whole thing is a bit of a juggling act.

The core set at Company HQ was the WS No. 18 set, linking in with WS No. 38 sets used by platoons & back to Battalion HQ.
0.25 Watts
6-9Mhz
2.5 miles range with R/T and 4 miles with W/T
Interference in woodlands/around armour /2 Image
The 18 set was more durable than the WS No. 38, but much less powerful than the popular WS No. 19 and 22 sets... then again you can carry it about and not worry about a vehicle or cart for it in action. /3 Image
Read 25 tweets
Jonathan Ware Profile picture
18 Jan
So you're a platoon commander in Normandy, you've got your three infantry sections, and you need to quickly confer with your company commander. You're wireless op is ready with his WS No. 38.

Easy right?

Well... read on. /1
#WW2 #SWW #History
The WS No. 38 set was a compact wireless set (hence WS) assigned at the platoon level, allowing communication to headquarters, who used the bulkier and more powerful as WS No. 18.

A dedicated wireless operator controlled the set at platoon HQ, speaking via the throat mic. /2
WS No. 38 was usually controlled by Wireless Op's throat mic. Mounted on the chest with a nifty webbing cradle.

Aerial: three piece 12' aerial or 4' 'battle' aerial
Power: 0.2 Watts
Frequency: 7.4 - 9 MHz
Weight: 6kg
Battery: 20 - 35 hrs
Range: <mile /3
Read 15 tweets
Jonathan Ware Profile picture
18 Jan
Fantastic thread & not dissimilar to dealing with museums over image fees & some others regarding permissions.

Most spicy was discovering a publisher published a book with - no - permissions granted.

Nadda.

Zilch.

But wanted me to pay ££££ to quote.
#History
One of the craziest elements, not least that many UK museums own none of the core rights they claim *and openly sell items with illegal terms and conditions tacked on I kid you not* is how this damages discourse and exploration of new narratives.
So as a result other image libraries and more copyright accessible generi-material is used by the tanker load, whereas the correct material is never utilised.

Myths continue their cold dead grasp on our remarkable shared heritage and god forbid you want to write on a new topic.
Read 4 tweets
Jonathan Ware Profile picture
17 Jan
A quick look at 6 Pounder in Normandy

For all those wondering, 1 Tyneside Scottish did use 6 Pounder APDS rounds to devastating effect at Rauray.

But why comment on the use of 6 Pounder Sabot rounds?

Surely they were common? /1

#WW2 #SWW #History
WO205/405
APDS was new in Normandy, it was also a very rare round with (it may be as much as most) use requiring Corps authorisation, occasionally Army.

This meant 6 pdr sabot tended to be issued for specific engagements, and no we don't have tank allocation data easily to hand. /2
6 Pounder remained a serious bane of Panther crews throughout the campaign.

APDS was bloody rare, but other rounds remained devastating.

Esp as many engagements were <1,000 yds. /3
Read 8 tweets
Jonathan Ware Profile picture
16 Jan
So is there much controversy about John Gorman's remarkable King Tiger ramming action?

Sorta, sorta not, let's have a look! /1
#WW2 #SWW #History
The first thing I want to highlight is I used over a dozen publications to write that thread, war diaries, first hand accounts, citations etc.

There's some amazing analytical study out there, please look at Michael Kenny's customary amazing work. /2

forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?…
It's one of those gold standard Normandy tales with an impressive amount of evidence backing it up, and I'm quietly sure even more lurks in archives.

Also it's a pretty consistent tale with multiple eye witnesses and a plethora of evidence. /3
Read 26 tweets

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