British Mech infantry Service Dates and vehicles

[TDR]

chuckfourth said:
Hi Andy
Very excellent You may also want to look at the formation Mech Patrol. Whether these reconascience units actually carried "extra" men over and above the 2/3 man crew, as modeled in the game I have been unable to establish. And so wether or not the extra men would be fully protected from small arms fire I think may be uncertain. The origional "Carrier, Scout, MkI" (ie with a radio and third man radio operator) version had to have the sides especially built up to protect him.
Best regards Chuck.

The Carrier, Scout MkI had a crew of 4. The Commander's carrier had a crew of 3 and radio replacing the forth crew member.

[chuckfourth]

Hi TDR
Do you know if the British formation 330 "Mec Patrol" actually existed? That is with the particular 2-4 man dismountable groups? As far as I can find bren or universal carrier reconascience units crew stayed in the carriers ie as they would if they were crewing an armoured car say. The current formation looks more like lightweght armoured infantry than recon.
Best Regards Chuck.

[TDR]

chuckfourth said:
Hi TDR
Do you know if the British formation 330 "Mec Patrol" actually existed? That is with the particular 2-4 man dismountable groups? As far as I can find bren or universal carrier reconascience units crew stayed in the carriers ie as they would if they were crewing an armoured car say. The current formation looks more like lightweght armoured infantry than recon.
Best Regards Chuck.

I feel I have been through this argument before...

It’s long as there are constant changes and variances between Infantry, Motor and Armour. Not to mention the North Africa variances on top of that.

First much of this is associated with a structure called the Divisional Calvary Regiment and its derivations as the war progressed. Fundamentally they all served the same purpose reconnaissance for the Brigade or Division.

Anyway a brief start.

In 1939 there are the following Regiment structures: (I will only describe the functional Squadrons not the Admin/Support Squadron here)

Infantry Division, Divisional Calvary Regiment:
3 x Squadron each as:
HQ Troop
- 2 x VI light tanks
- 2 x carriers (Scout type)
- trucks (various) - possibly not important to the discussion
2 x Light Tank Troop
-3 x light tank VIs
4 x Carrier Troop
- 3 Carrier, Scout
-- Bren LMG, Boys ATR.
-- 1 x carrier commander with 3 man crew and radio set
-- 2 carriers with 4 man crew

1st Armoured Division - 1st Support Group
Here there is:
1 Rifle Brigade and 2 The King's Royal Rifle Corps
(these being mech infantry)
Structure for both being:
4 x Mech Compnay
-Coy HQ
-- wheeled vehicle
-- 1 x Bren LMg, 1 x ATR
-1 x Carrier Platoon
-- 11 x Carrier Scout
-- 11 LMG, Bren
-- 11 x ATR
-3 x Motorised Platoon
-- trucks - type unspecified
-- each platoon with:
--- 3x LMG, Bren
--- 3 x ATR
--- 1 x 2 inch mor

Hope that sort of clears things a bit. I could get the rest but its a long rewrite job.
Fundamentally a carier recon unit does not actually carry extra men. Each carrier is self contained with only its crew of 3 - 4 men and vehicle weapons.
The problem you are actually hitting is how do you represent the dismount state of these units vs the mounted state. Note in the dismount state the LMG/ATR could come of the vehicle..
So you have to look at the whole idea of do you represent both states or only one. To represent both states per vehicle will end up with an overload of men and weapons.

forgot this bit:
This is only part of the 39 - 40 options..

[Mobhack]

The "Mech patrol" allows the representation of some of the carrier section's crew dismounting for some foot scouting or limited skirmishing around the vehicles.

Cheers
Andy

[chuckfourth]

Hi Andy
As it appears these vehicles were limited to a crew of 4 maybe the "Mech Support Squad" and "Heavy Mech Infantry" should be 2 men rather than the current 3 and 4 men. Mainly because the bren carriers two crew remain in the carrier providing armoured fire power, leaving 2 other men free to skirmish. Also I notice that if the formation is issued with a pait carrier then this vehicele has a crew of 4 and if carrying the "Heavy Mech infantry" is actually carrying 8 men probably not correct.
Best Regards Chuck.

[chuckfourth]

Thanks TDR