Re: NZ M10 tank busters
 

The Archer issue is turning into quite the little research project. So far I have not been able to find any source that says the Archer was used by anyone else but the Brits and the Egyptians but we have it used in a number of nations in both SPWW2 and SPMBT and I cannot just assume whoever put them there in the first place was wrong so the search for information goes on. One source says it stayed in limited service with the Brits until near the end of the 1940's which throws the 12/45 end date in SPWW2 we have now into doubt.

That said I just found a source that lists the Archer as used by the Poles in Italy.




Don

Re: NZ M10 tank busters
 

I found a little info here:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/526633/Enc...f-WWII-Weapons

Page 51 says the British Army continued to use it until the mid 1950s.

And interestingly, it seems like the original game designers have the Archer back-to-front! The Archer's 17pdr was rear facing. Unless there are game code limitations for this.


Cross

Re: NZ M10 tank busters
 

There is no such thing as a rear facing gun in the SP universe. So the Archer goes everywhere in permanent reverse.

Andy

Re: NZ M10 tank busters
 

It was the "Achilles" that lasted to the mid fiftys not the Archer. I own that book and that bit of info is wrong. Another source clears that up

As for the Icon, a few seconds thought as to how the game handles Icons and targets enemys should give you an idea why it's backwards in the game. ( seriously...think about how it works. Icons turn to FACE the enemy, how could it do that if the guns pointed to the rear )


Don

Re: NZ M10 tank busters
 

I have only seen British, Polish and Egyptian Archers - although I haven't really searched for others. I’m not sure whether the Egyptians were even supposed to have them in any case. When I was working in Cairo a local told me that the British dumped some Archers in the desert and that years later the Egyptians came along and restored them.

British and American Tanks of WWII: The complete illustrated history of British, American & Commonwealth tanks, 1939-1945 says that the “Archer equipped anti-tank battalions of British armoured divisions in NW Europe from October 1944 onwards. It remained in service until the mid fifties with the British Army, and Archers were also supplied to several other armies in post-war years.” It does not mention any other users during WW2 - including the Poles (7th Anti-Tank Regt., II Polish Corps) who used them in Italy - or specify which countries got them after the war.

Going back to the NZ armoured units in Italy I would like to make another suggestion for spob15: add the Sherman III (spob07/ Unit 303) to the NZ OOB. The Plowman book seems to show that the Sherman III was the standard tank used by the NZ 4th Armored Brigade. The brigade was in Italy from October/November 1943 onwards.