Excalibur Squadron OOC Thread

[Morrdh]

Makes you wonder how a successful guerrilla campaign run by Lawrence with Arab allies against the Turks can happen, and then you have Gallipoli, in the same war and same theater, can happen also, after lessons learned pre-WW1. I know there's a lot of other factors there, but it still boggles the mind.

Gallipoli was commanded by the dregs of the army, IIRC (not completely, and they weren't all retarded). Additionally massive mistakes made early on resulted in pretty much no chance of winning. Really in most cases in Gallipoli it was one or two memn's fault.

IIRC Gallipoli was damaging to Churchill at the time since it was his idea, think it came back to haunt him 20 years later after the disaster after disaster that marked the British war effort of the early part of WW2 and later Italy.

On a slight personal note my county regiment the Royal Norfolks fought at Gallipoli, chiefly it lost an entire company there that was the subject of the TV series All the Kings Men.

[Goram]

If you want good books on WWI, these are worth a look.

-John Mosier. The Myth of the Great War.
-Paddy Griffith, Battle Tactics of the Western Front.
-Gary Sheffield, Forgotten Victory the First World War: Myths and Realities.
-David Stevenson, 1914-1918 The History of the First World War.

[Kouralia]

IIRC Gallipoli was damaging to Churchill at the time since it was his idea, think it came back to haunt him 20 years later after the disaster after disaster that marked the British war effort of the early part of WW2 and later Italy.

Indeed. I've seen a few sigs on the net reminding me about it. You know, who would you want as your leader: previously failed war leader, homophobic person or war hero - Churchill, FDR or Hitler.

On a slight personal note my county regiment the Royal Norfolks fought at Gallipoli, chiefly it lost an entire company there that was the subject of the TV series All the Kings Men.

Royal Anglians?
*MemoryLanes back to a few years ago when his History teacher appeared in a programme about that regiment. Episode 1 of Our War. And he kept getting jokes about it all the time. In fact, I can remember when they were filming in CCF on parade. We were icnredibly professional you can imagine.

[Morrdh]

On a slight personal note my county regiment the Royal Norfolks fought at Gallipoli, chiefly it lost an entire company there that was the subject of the TV series All the Kings Men.

Royal Anglians?
*MemoryLanes back to a few years ago when his History teacher appeared in a programme about that regiment. Episode 1 of Our War. And he kept getting jokes about it all the time. In fact, I can remember when they were filming in CCF on parade. We were icnredibly professional you can imagine.

The Royal Norfolks nowadays forms part of the 1st Battalion Royal Anglians.

There used to be a really cool trench system setup in the regiment's museum, though that has been moved into the much larger museum next day. I happened to be in the army cadets back in 1999/2000 when a local church history group made a film covering the local area over the past 2,000 years, my detachment got invited down to run about in said trench system. Shame I lost the DVD though.

EDIT: Oh and about us Brits not being that bad, make of this what you will.

You know those flak jackets used by British squaddies during the early part of the Troubles?

They were second- or even third-hand from off the Yanks from Vietnam complete with peace signs, bullet holes and blood stains.

[Kouralia]

EDIT: Oh and about us Brits not being that bad, make of this what you will.

You know those flak jackets used by British squaddies during the early part of the Troubles?

They were second- or even third-hand from off the Yanks from Vietnam complete with peace signs, bullet holes and blood stains.

Eh. Really you can take it two ways: did they still work satisfactorily? If Yes, then there is nothing wrong.

[Morrdh]

Part the Third of Flight Sergeant Charles 'Charlie' Fodder's (mis-)adventures on a night pilot training course.

Sabres In The Night, Part III

Mick and Rankin were both waiting out by a Bristol Blenheim, painted in matt black, as Charlie appeared after he'd finally extracted his flying gear from his kit bag and donned it. There were other planes sited about the airfield in the form of the brand new Beaufighter, Charlie had been told that he would get to fly these eventually but first he had to log a few hours on the aged twin-engine bomber. The Blenheim was also fitted with an airborne radar and had seen service as a night fighter, in theory this was a perfect aircraft for both him and Rankin to get used to working together as a crew. Though something about Rankin reminded Charlie of Excalibur's loathed superior Major Cutler, it was almost as though they were cut from the same cloth and had the same arrogant attitude. Secretly Charlie hoped that Rankin had been humbled by his family's misfortunes since the last war.

"Ah, so nice of you to join us Flight Sergeant." Grinned Mick. "Get lost at the NAAFI?"

"Something like that, though 'em WAAFs are bit of a distraction." Charlie grinned back. "So a leisurely flight to Berlin and back?"

"Afraid not." Mick replied with a chuckle. "Just a couple of hours flying about and then back for tiffin."

"Shame."

"I know, I know." Mick said with a mock sigh. "We'll also be giving Rankie a bash at that gizmo of his, so feel free to storm a barn or two."

"I'd rather you didn't." Rankin replied dryly before he went to climb aboard the Blenheim. "The radar set is hard enough to operate as it is."

Mick shrugged and muttered. "All aboard after his Lordship then..."

There was a silent groan from Charlie as he climbed aboard the aircraft, Rankin was becoming less and less likeable by the minute and he wondered whether he could request a replacement or at least something nasty would happen to his humourless observer.

@Kour; All I know is that the British soldiers weren't keen on 'em for obvious reasons and they eventually got newer ones.

[The Two Jerseys]

EDIT: Oh and about us Brits not being that bad, make of this what you will.

You know those flak jackets used by British squaddies during the early part of the Troubles?

They were second- or even third-hand from off the Yanks from Vietnam complete with peace signs, bullet holes and blood stains.

I'm sorry, was this Northern Ireland or the Crimea? I don't know who the hell signed off on that, but that's bordering on criminal behavior in my book.

[Morrdh]

EDIT: Oh and about us Brits not being that bad, make of this what you will.

You know those flak jackets used by British squaddies during the early part of the Troubles?

They were second- or even third-hand from off the Yanks from Vietnam complete with peace signs, bullet holes and blood stains.

I'm sorry, was this Northern Ireland or the Crimea? I don't know who the hell signed off on that, but that's bordering on criminal behavior in my book.

Northern Ireland.

It was mentioned in Ken Wharton's book A Long Long War: Voices from the British Army in Northern Ireland 1969-1998.

Mind you the book does have a few comic moments like some squaddies finding a vanload of armed IRA men who informed them that they weren't waiting for those soldiers but actually the police, and another group of soldiers who got their own back against a lass you kept throwing insults their way whenever she passed by their outpost.

[The Seat of Sundered Kings]

Mind you the book does have a few comic moments like some squaddies finding a vanload of armed IRA men who informed them that they weren't waiting for those soldiers but actually the police, and another group of soldiers who got their own back against a lass you kept throwing insults their way whenever she passed by their outpost.

I remember reading about one time when a petrol station attendant saw men at the pumps were armed with pistols etc. and they looked shifty, so he phoned his friends in the plain-clothes CiD or something to tell them he'd found some IRA they could get. Naturally they ran out, pulled up at the petrol station in plain-clothes and started fighting. (with another police officer turning up and firing some shots off too) Eventally the plain-clothes policemee shouted something like 'Put down your weapons, Police!' at which point the leader of the armed men called out 'Cease fire, Army Intelligence!'

Naturally phoning the actual police would get you through to someone who knew about the undercover operation: phoning your mate will probably not have the same effect.

[Neu Engollon]

Morrdh, 'Odd Angry Shot' eh?
Any chance you borrowed that from the movie about the Australian forces in Vietnam? Pretty good movie.

[The Tiger Kingdom]

If you want good books on WWI, these are worth a look.

-John Mosier. The Myth of the Great War.
-Paddy Griffith, Battle Tactics of the Western Front.
-Gary Sheffield, Forgotten Victory the First World War: Myths and Realities.
-David Stevenson, 1914-1918 The History of the First World War.

I'd recommend Churchill's WW1 bio as well.

[The balkens]

If you want good books on WWI, these are worth a look.

-John Mosier. The Myth of the Great War.
-Paddy Griffith, Battle Tactics of the Western Front.
-Gary Sheffield, Forgotten Victory the First World War: Myths and Realities.
-David Stevenson, 1914-1918 The History of the First World War.

I'd recommend Churchill's WW1 bio as well.

oh yea, he did serve in that war...

[United Kingdom of Poland]

Though it was Combined Operations that had command over the Commandos, SOE had command over undercover agents working in Occupied Europe.

This is true, but I think SOE used a lot of the same commando units, borrowed from the SAS and elsewhere, during later operations that required more than an agent or adviser. In Greece and Yugoslavia, a lot of US Rangers and paratroopers served during SOE ops also, in conjunction with SOE agents who usually had lead on a team. Again, some reading I have done. I also dig books about resistance and partisans.

so thet were the WW2 version of the ISA

[Morrdh]

Morrdh, 'Odd Angry Shot' eh?
Any chance you borrowed that from the movie about the Australian forces in Vietnam? Pretty good movie.

Yes actually.

And yes, it is a pretty good film.

@Sundered Kings; Wouldn't surprise me, there were plenty of hijinks during the Troubles that you could almost call the 'lighter side' of that conflict.

Though a mate of mine had once say that I have a knack for finding all the funny bits in history books, so it may be a new side project for me to do just that.

[The Tiger Kingdom]

All right, wrap it up, boys. I'll give you tomorrow, then I'll make my gigantic actual-ending post, with Excalibur back at Tempsford.

[Morrdh]

Ugh, spent all day manning a stand at a local wargame/RPG show promoting my book.

[The Tiger Kingdom]

Ugh, spent all day manning a stand at a local wargame/RPG show promoting my book.

Cool, what kind of book?
(Although that does sound like a bit of a slog, potentially)

And seeing as how nobody's posting, can I assume I can post the final endpost and not offend anyone?

[The Two Jerseys]

Ugh, spent all day manning a stand at a local wargame/RPG show promoting my book.

Cool, what kind of book?
(Although that does sound like a bit of a slog, potentially)

And seeing as how nobody's posting, can I assume I can post the final endpost and not offend anyone?

Fine by me.

[United Kingdom of Poland]

I'm fine with it.

[The balkens]

There better be a guy doing a kick ass guitar solo when we get back.

[United Kingdom of Poland]

There better be a guy doing a kick ass guitar solo when we get back.

kind of hard sense rock and roll as we know it wasn't invented until after the war.

[The balkens]

Fuck it, get a jazz band to do it...

[The Two Jerseys]

There better be a guy doing a kick ass guitar solo when we get back.

kind of hard sense rock and roll as we know it wasn't invented until after the war.

We could get a guy to do a steel guitar solo, but I wouldn't exactly call that kick-ass, and that's assuming we can even find a steel guitar player in 1940s Britain. We might have to settle for George Formby doing a banjolele solo.

[Morrdh]

Ugh, spent all day manning a stand at a local wargame/RPG show promoting my book.

Cool, what kind of book?
(Although that does sound like a bit of a slog, potentially)

An RPG book that I'd been working on and aiming to get a Savage Worlds licence for, TG me your email and I can send you the current draft if you're interested.

It was ok, though admittedly I had barely recovered from the flu the day before and (still) have a lingering cough.

Didn't sell any pre-orders like I had hoped (mainly so that I could throw money at the artist), though had lots of interest and made a few contacts that'll be useful later on. Just need to find somebody who does book layouts to a reasonable professional standard, get the Savage Worlds licence and then hit Kickstarter.

[The Tiger Kingdom]

Fuck it, get a jazz band to do it...

Hell to that.
You want a guitar solo? Here's a motherfucking guitar solo (with a perfect title as well):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6OI9qcTwRN4
If the choice is between being anachronistic or being awesome, I know where I'm going.

And Morrdh, I'll send you one of my emails tomorrow, I'm kinda interested.

Anyway, OPERATION CAMBYSES IS COMPLETE! HUZZAH! VICTORY ONCE AGAIN! EXCALIBUR CAN AND WILL NEVER LOSE A BATTLE, EVER! HOORAY! HUBRIS FOR THE WIN!

And yeah, the gold made Lend-Lease possible. Everyone give yourselves a pat on the back. Well, IC, anyway. And Konrad escaped, but we all saw that coming, right?

So expect the new op up by the upcoming weekend. I have a lot of housekeeping to do - linking up the stories, finishing Forging the Sword, working in the Tempsford thread (I haven't looked in there in months), other small maintenance jobs, and of course actually writing the OP for the new operation. Get excited - we'll be going places we haven't been before (and blowing many of them up), meeting lots of interesting new people (and killing many of them), and seeing a great deal of the world (which is now embroiled in a massive and bloody war that expands by the day).

Get pumped, everyone!