The stepin smock was used in 2 operations. Operation Colossus / the Tragino aquaduct raid, destroying an Italian aquaduct. And Operation Biting / Bruneval raid stealing German radar parts. The stengun pouches made from Lanchester pouches was just temporay. In that point in time de MKII basic pouches were worn who were indeed to short for the stengun magazines. These were replaced with a bit larger MKIII pouch. As I own several pouches MKIII pouches Ik have to say that some MKIII only with difficulty close when filled with a full load of sten magazines. I also own 2 shortend lanchester pouches. Although I am not 100% sure if these have been shortend originaly during wartime or postwar. They were in a lot of pouches advertised as basic pouches. The way the stengun was carried on you mannequin is actually the official Polish way to carry the stengun. The British would carry it on the right shoulder barrel upwards or in the field, hanging over the right shoulder barrel aiming forward. These way for carrying had official names , I can not recall at the moment. The shaft of the Dutch boots,not meant to be jumpboots, were straight and the American were more shaped. The heels of the Dutch were not slanted. Also they never have the reinforced stitching. Although there is 1 American manufacturer that did not provided their boots with slant heels. That is one rare variant. And there was an American manufacturer that made their boots with 11 lace and 13 holes (also rare), but with slanted heel and reinforced stitching. There were several manufacturers of those jumpboots with several detail differences. Cocoran was just the largest manufacturer.Allr the manufacturers bought the rubber for the soles from other rubber manufacturers. Boots also got repaired if soles were worn. Spare parts were available.
Nice one ....very good video. The British mannequin looks great, a replica sten is ideal in my book. I just kept thinking about the movie 'a bridge too far'.....nice touch showing the training area and its easy to see why it was suitable. Yes I've seen 'band of brothers' I sat in a C47 Dakota at the Yorkshire Air museum that was apparently used in the show. Regarding the boots, I reckon there's so much stuff in all of our collections that isn't quite right or has been tinkered with....ww2 was a long time ago. I liked your story of the old chap describing his wound at the bridge....the men and women of this era were made of strong stuff indeed.....cheers and another 10 out of 10 from me 😊😊😊😊
For purposes of clarification, the "carbine" referenced in the video is the .30 Carbine M1A1 "Paratrooper" folding stock model. The cartridge it fired is more powerful than the 9mm or the .45 ACP pistol rounds fired by, respectively, the STEN or the Thompson M1 submachine guns. Aside from that point, a great video. Thank you!
Another brilliant collection! When I was involved in the surplus business, I always checked the pockets of the uniforms that I came across and OH BOY the odd things I came to find! From the mundane to the insane! As for the STEN, having fired many in my day, they were and are a most serviceable submachinegun. YAY PUPS!
@@militarymad2840 , HEAR HEAR! I recall picking up items from the Spanish American war for pennies as most Americans had no idea about that conflict! Gotta love our education system then and now.
How common was the Sten MkII in airborne units? Most photographs I can find show the MkV, save for one 1942-dated training photo with a MkII. It's easier to source MkII replicas than it is to find a MkV, but I haven't been able to nail down if/when the MkII saw action with the paras.
The Airborne units were one of the first to receive the stengun (MKII) These were used in all airborne operations until they were getting replaced with the MKV in 1944. Some men of the 1st airborne division never received the MKV. After the Arnhem battle a Dutchman told me as a young boy he started to collect the weapons he found in Oosterbeek Every type of Thompson submachine gun was found by him and also every type of stengun, also the MKIII. The veterans of the 1st airbornes came from a commando unit who were parachute trained. They were issued with Thompsons, many of them served in 1st and 2nd parachute batalion and kept them the .45 ammunition was issued in all units as many officers also used the ammunition for their M1911A1 pistols.Many of these men considered themselves a commando and not a paratrooper. The Dutchman told that he also had a Tompson with forward grip and after he took it apart he could not assemble it again. His mother slowly made his collection dissapear as ammunition still could be found.
I see you have flipped the buckles to the Entrenching Tool carrier so the open part is at the bottom as they are normally used.....the carrier also rides better when worn.
Nice pieces of original kit for the US paratrooper, but unfortunately it's a random assortment or field gear kinda thrown together. The very late style M1A1 carbine doesn't make any sense with an M1 Garand cartridge belt. Along with the helmet being a very late WW2 M1C style helmet instead of the correct M2 or fixed bale M1 helmet. Being issued a carbine, the soldier should have a pistol belt with carbine mag pouches or rigger pouches if it is for Normandy.
I have based the uniform on a very famous photo used in a lot of books of War time paratrooper with 10 pouch ammo belt holding a M1 carbine with folding stock and why wouldn’t a late war trooper have late War helmet if you have a correct carbine and fixed bale helmet would look forward to seeing it 👍
@@militarymad2840 because then a late war US paratrooper would not be wearing the m42’s. They Would have switched to m43’s in september ‘44 and even then many if not most still rolled with their fixedbale helmets. Unless doing a very specific kit such as 504th. But you have not clarified which unit you are portraying here which is key with us airborne setups as they were all so different in the way they did things and what they carried. Its impossible to put together an airborne kit without being very specific of Unit and date. And so we can only go off the basic rules. It’s a very nice collection nonetheless and I’m sure no-one means any harm or disrespect, Just trying to make sense of what you have put together. That’s all
I believe the green step-in smock WAS used in anger once by British Paratroopers on the Bruneval Raid.. I think that was the only time that the first pattern airborne helmet (with the extended fibre rim at the rear) was used operationally too.. No doubt a few of those first pattern helmets do still exist but I've only ever seen one example, in the Airborne Forces Museum when it was still at Aldershot Barracks.
The early helmets were still used at Arnhem. Although most would have cuttof the extended rim. There is (civilian) photograpic evidence of that. In the airborne museum Hartenstein there is also one on a mannequin and I know a guy who has a permit for looking in the Arnhem area with a metal detector he also found one in Oosterbeek. During reenactments he actually wears one. He also has quite a lot of original early uniforms and kit. Inclusing a stepin smock and early german copied sidlelacing boots and ealy high shaft crepe soled British jumpboots.
Some who got their webbing replaced in the field did not blancoed their webbing. I actually have a original colour photograph of a soldier of a postal unit with unblancoed webbing. But blanco was the norm and also useful with camouflage on the fronline.
The American paratrooper suit in the video is an early M42 without elbow and pocket reinforcement, which does not belong to the Normandy landing period. The carbine gun with a bayonet mount was not a mainstream model during World War II. The helmet is made of movable iron rings, and M1 steel helmets with fixed rings should be used as much as possible. Carbines should not be used in conjunction with regular rifle belts.
I have based the video on original WW2 photo which I have seen in two seperate books with a paratrooper wearing a 10 pouch ammo belt and holding a M1 carbine with folding stock not everything was done to regulations and the jacket and trousers being early type make them more rare than the more common later type and am sure some would still have carried on in use and carbine with folding stock are very hard to find so if you have to show that would be great 👍
@@militarymad2840 the unreinforced set is not at all more rare than the reinforced set. reinforced m42's go for double or triple the price of those without them. Because they were specially made for the invasion. But sadly most were burned after normandy due to the anti-gas CC2 treatment they got.
Fun facted is that many paratroopers did not got their reinfored M42 back from the rigger on time for the jump thus jumped with a partially or not reinforced uniform at all.
@@jimomaha7809 “many” might be a slight exaggeration if you compare percentages of those with reinforcements, if you ask me. There are very few pics of unreinforced m42’s in Normandy. But yes it definitely did occur and there is photographic evidence of these instances
The stepin smock was used in 2 operations. Operation Colossus / the Tragino aquaduct raid, destroying an Italian aquaduct. And Operation Biting / Bruneval raid stealing German radar parts.
The stengun pouches made from Lanchester pouches was just temporay. In that point in time de MKII basic pouches were worn who were indeed to short for the stengun magazines. These were replaced with a bit larger MKIII pouch. As I own several pouches MKIII pouches Ik have to say that some MKIII only with difficulty close when filled with a full load of sten magazines. I also own 2 shortend lanchester pouches. Although I am not 100% sure if these have been shortend originaly during wartime or postwar. They were in a lot of pouches advertised as basic pouches. The way the stengun was carried on you mannequin is actually the official Polish way to carry the stengun. The British would carry it on the right shoulder barrel upwards or in the field, hanging over the right shoulder barrel aiming forward. These way for carrying had official names , I can not recall at the moment.
The shaft of the Dutch boots,not meant to be jumpboots, were straight and the American were more shaped. The heels of the Dutch were not slanted. Also they never have the reinforced stitching. Although there is 1 American manufacturer that did not provided their boots with slant heels. That is one rare variant. And there was an American manufacturer that made their boots with 11 lace and 13 holes (also rare), but with slanted heel and reinforced stitching. There were several manufacturers of those jumpboots with several detail differences. Cocoran was just the largest manufacturer.Allr the manufacturers bought the rubber for the soles from other rubber manufacturers. Boots also got repaired if soles were worn. Spare parts were available.
Nice one ....very good video. The British mannequin looks great, a replica sten is ideal in my book. I just kept thinking about the movie 'a bridge too far'.....nice touch showing the training area and its easy to see why it was suitable. Yes I've seen 'band of brothers' I sat in a C47 Dakota at the Yorkshire Air museum that was apparently used in the show. Regarding the boots, I reckon there's so much stuff in all of our collections that isn't quite right or has been tinkered with....ww2 was a long time ago. I liked your story of the old chap describing his wound at the bridge....the men and women of this era were made of strong stuff indeed.....cheers and another 10 out of 10 from me 😊😊😊😊
It would be nice to have everything perfect but would be very difficult
Great work sir. Thank you. 🇬🇧 👍
Thank you much appreciated
For purposes of clarification, the "carbine" referenced in the video is the .30 Carbine M1A1 "Paratrooper" folding stock model.
The cartridge it fired is more powerful than the 9mm or the .45 ACP pistol rounds fired by, respectively, the STEN or the Thompson M1 submachine guns.
Aside from that point, a great video. Thank you!
Absolutely excellent. Well done.
Thank you 👍
I absolutely love your videos!!! keep up the great work 😊
Thank you that’s very kind
Another brilliant collection! When I was involved in the surplus business, I always checked the pockets of the uniforms that I came across and OH BOY the odd things I came to find! From the mundane to the insane! As for the STEN, having fired many in my day, they were and are a most serviceable submachinegun. YAY PUPS!
That must have been a great time in the surplus business
@@militarymad2840 , oh it was! 1970s and 80s in NYC. CHEAP by any standard and many items from both World Wars AND previous were easily had!
@@morgangallowglass8668
Same here in UK in the 1970s I spent all my time in our surplus stores a lot of the webbing was unissued WW 2 great days 👍
@@militarymad2840 , HEAR HEAR! I recall picking up items from the Spanish American war for pennies as most Americans had no idea about that conflict! Gotta love our education system then and now.
Nice job! That Sten gun bayonet looks just like a flatblade screwdriver!
😂😂👍
How common was the Sten MkII in airborne units? Most photographs I can find show the MkV, save for one 1942-dated training photo with a MkII. It's easier to source MkII replicas than it is to find a MkV, but I haven't been able to nail down if/when the MkII saw action with the paras.
The mk V only came out in 1944 and the mk2 in 1941 the Airbourne troops were formed in 1940 so they must have used them
The Airborne units were one of the first to receive the stengun (MKII) These were used in all airborne operations until they were getting replaced with the MKV in 1944. Some men of the 1st airborne division never received the MKV. After the Arnhem battle a Dutchman told me as a young boy he started to collect the weapons he found in Oosterbeek Every type of Thompson submachine gun was found by him and also every type of stengun, also the MKIII. The veterans of the 1st airbornes came from a commando unit who were parachute trained. They were issued with Thompsons, many of them served in 1st and 2nd parachute batalion and kept them the .45 ammunition was issued in all units as many officers also used the ammunition for their M1911A1 pistols.Many of these men considered themselves a commando and not a paratrooper. The Dutchman told that he also had a Tompson with forward grip and after he took it apart he could not assemble it again. His mother slowly made his collection dissapear as ammunition still could be found.
I see you have flipped the buckles to the Entrenching Tool carrier so the open part is at the bottom as they are normally used.....the carrier also rides better when worn.
Nice pieces of original kit for the US paratrooper, but unfortunately it's a random assortment or field gear kinda thrown together. The very late style M1A1 carbine doesn't make any sense with an M1 Garand cartridge belt. Along with the helmet being a very late WW2 M1C style helmet instead of the correct M2 or fixed bale M1 helmet. Being issued a carbine, the soldier should have a pistol belt with carbine mag pouches or rigger pouches if it is for Normandy.
Love to see it, mate!
Thanks a lot much appreciated
I have based the uniform on a very famous photo used in a lot of books of War time paratrooper with 10 pouch ammo belt holding a M1 carbine with folding stock and why wouldn’t a late war trooper have late War helmet if you have a correct carbine and fixed bale helmet would look forward to seeing it 👍
@@militarymad2840 because then a late war US paratrooper would not be wearing the m42’s. They Would have switched to m43’s in september ‘44 and even then many if not most still rolled with their fixedbale helmets. Unless doing a very specific kit such as 504th. But you have not clarified which unit you are portraying here which is key with us airborne setups as they were all so different in the way they did things and what they carried. Its impossible to put together an airborne kit without being very specific of Unit and date. And so we can only go off the basic rules.
It’s a very nice collection nonetheless and I’m sure no-one means any harm or disrespect, Just trying to make sense of what you have put together. That’s all
I believe the green step-in smock WAS used in anger once by British Paratroopers on the Bruneval Raid.. I think that was the only time that the first pattern airborne helmet (with the extended fibre rim at the rear) was used operationally too.. No doubt a few of those first pattern helmets do still exist but I've only ever seen one example, in the Airborne Forces Museum when it was still at Aldershot Barracks.
Good bit of info about the Bruneval Raid 👍
The early helmets were still used at Arnhem. Although most would have cuttof the extended rim. There is (civilian) photograpic evidence of that. In the airborne museum Hartenstein there is also one on a mannequin and I know a guy who has a permit for looking in the Arnhem area with a metal detector he also found one in Oosterbeek. During reenactments he actually wears one. He also has quite a lot of original early uniforms and kit. Inclusing a stepin smock and early german copied sidlelacing boots and ealy high shaft crepe soled British jumpboots.
The sten is a sub machine gun,not a machine gun!
Did the british army used the un-blancood webbing for real?!
It would no doubt start off blanco’ed
@@militarymad2840 And after it........Training.
It depends on the standing orders and the tactical requirements.
Some who got their webbing replaced in the field did not blancoed their webbing. I actually have a original colour photograph of a soldier of a postal unit with unblancoed webbing. But blanco was the norm and also useful with camouflage on the fronline.
The American paratrooper suit in the video is an early M42 without elbow and pocket reinforcement, which does not belong to the Normandy landing period. The carbine gun with a bayonet mount was not a mainstream model during World War II. The helmet is made of movable iron rings, and M1 steel helmets with fixed rings should be used as much as possible. Carbines should not be used in conjunction with regular rifle belts.
I have based the video on original WW2 photo which I have seen in two seperate books with a paratrooper wearing a 10 pouch ammo belt and holding a M1 carbine with folding stock not everything was done to regulations and the jacket and trousers being early type make them more rare than the more common later type and am sure some would still have carried on in use and carbine with folding stock are very hard to find so if you have to show that would be great 👍
@@militarymad2840 the unreinforced set is not at all more rare than the reinforced set. reinforced m42's go for double or triple the price of those without them. Because they were specially made for the invasion. But sadly most were burned after normandy due to the anti-gas CC2 treatment they got.
Fun facted is that many paratroopers did not got their reinfored M42 back from the rigger on time for the jump thus jumped with a partially or not reinforced uniform at all.
@@jimomaha7809 “many” might be a slight exaggeration if you compare percentages of those with reinforcements, if you ask me. There are very few pics of unreinforced m42’s in Normandy. But yes it definitely did occur and there is photographic evidence of these instances