Captured Weapons/Resistance Groups

[pjbandit2003]

Now if I remember correctly (and I probably dont) I remember reading years ago about a British unit in North Africa that set up a squadron of Italian tanks that were abandoned by the retreating Italians and putting crews in them that had had their Crusaders shot out from under them. I can remember where it was but I think it was outside of El Aleimain and they used them for the duration of the NA campaign. I know this is not the same as partisans as these were trained tank crews but with unfamiliar vehicles.

[redcoat2]

Resistance groups could use captured tanks on occasion. I think it usually happened when they switched over to conventional operations from guerrilla warfare.

Here are three examples I can think of:

1) The Warsaw Uprising. The Polish Home Army (PHA) used several captured tanks and half tracks. Zoshka’s Storm Battalion used a tank to break into the Gesiowka concentration camp to liberate 400 Jewish prisoners.

A PHA Panther



2) The Battle for Paris. The ‘French Forces of the Interior’ used captured tanks against German strongpoints. These tanks were originally French tanks from 1940 and so some members of the resistance may have been familiar with them.

A photo of one of these tanks in use

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...fare_scene.png

3) Yugoslavia. Tito’s Partisans were able to capture and use tanks on occasion. I vaguely remember reading somewhere that some of the captured Italian vehicles were driven by Italian defectors. Later in the war the Partisans also received allied tanks from the British and the Soviets.

A captured Italian tank in Partisan service, 1944

[Lt. Ketch]

Originally Posted by redcoat2

Resistance groups could use captured tanks on occasion.

Thanks, Redcoat! You do raise a good observation that most of the, shall we say, "heavier" equipment available to resistance groups, tended to come out when they brought the conflict into the open. I'll have to keep that in mind. I'll also have to look at the Italian OOB when I build my partisan force. It only makes sense as the Italians were in the Balkans before the Germans, for the most part.