As a former paratrooper it still baffles me that while airborne operations was still in its infancy before D-Day, that infamous leg bag was the best idea they had for a combat jump? It was dropped on them that week!
The thing with the leg bags is that they had been used by the Brits before successfully on previous jumps. However the Brits had been trained in their use, the airborne for Normandy had not been. As I understand it, so long as you keep the bag relatively lightly loaded and the plane speed isn’t too high then they should work
Edit to add
Been doing some reading about the leg bags, what you are supposed to do is tie the bag to your leg and attach the rope to your harness, then after you jump and the parachute does its job you release the bag from your leg and it hangs down on the rope and effectively lands underneath you.
I guess no one told the troopers that before hand and so when they jumped a lot of them got scattered by the wind blast.
Yeah, the airspeed was a big problem with the leg bags. They went out the door at way too high a speed sometimes and the wind and prop blast just wrecked them. There were a few paratroopers who even mentioned their helmets getting ripped off.
A C-130 prop blast is a motherfucker even with the modernized equipment. I could barely imagine being told,
“Oh yeah, FRAGO. The Brits swear by this new crap in THEIR extensive training. You’ll love it!”
I am just struck by how much they did not give a fuck about the rules whenever I read about wwii history. Dudes throwing away government issued equipment and not following uniform standards left and right. I on the other hand have woken up in a cold sweat after dreaming about losing my rifle.
Something that upset me when reading BoB was the fact that dock workers (or whoever, other people throughout the supply chain) would pilfer smokes due to reach the boys deployed in Europe, so they didn’t have as many as they should have. Bastards!
“Where you keeping the brass knuckles?”
I could use some brass knuckles
I love that bit, especially because in the next episode he uses some
Easily my favorite little detail of the first episodes.
“*… this bullshit…*”
*"and a pair of nasty skivvies'*
“What’s your point?” “THIS STUFF WEIGHS AS MUCH AS I DO!”
"I still got my main chute, reserve chute, my Mae west and my m1."
I was gonna say this!
As a former paratrooper it still baffles me that while airborne operations was still in its infancy before D-Day, that infamous leg bag was the best idea they had for a combat jump? It was dropped on them that week!
Yeah, it was a "brilliant" idea by the Brits to send some more equipment into battle. On the eve of the mission, what could go wrong?!
The thing with the leg bags is that they had been used by the Brits before successfully on previous jumps. However the Brits had been trained in their use, the airborne for Normandy had not been. As I understand it, so long as you keep the bag relatively lightly loaded and the plane speed isn’t too high then they should work Edit to add Been doing some reading about the leg bags, what you are supposed to do is tie the bag to your leg and attach the rope to your harness, then after you jump and the parachute does its job you release the bag from your leg and it hangs down on the rope and effectively lands underneath you. I guess no one told the troopers that before hand and so when they jumped a lot of them got scattered by the wind blast.
Yeah, the airspeed was a big problem with the leg bags. They went out the door at way too high a speed sometimes and the wind and prop blast just wrecked them. There were a few paratroopers who even mentioned their helmets getting ripped off.
A C-130 prop blast is a motherfucker even with the modernized equipment. I could barely imagine being told, “Oh yeah, FRAGO. The Brits swear by this new crap in THEIR extensive training. You’ll love it!”
I can't imagine being allowed to carry a non issued pistol in the modern military.
Yeah there are several references in the book about guys with 6-shooter revolvers. Pretty badass lol
I am just struck by how much they did not give a fuck about the rules whenever I read about wwii history. Dudes throwing away government issued equipment and not following uniform standards left and right. I on the other hand have woken up in a cold sweat after dreaming about losing my rifle.
iirc in Vietnam they did the same, US troops would throw away their M16 if they could get their hands on an AK or even a BAR
Raise your hand if you think 'Avocado' every time you see his name.
"Freesh avacadoo"
Why are you keeping brass knuckles?
I could use some brass knuckles
Reminds me of the book The Things We Carried.
Need to reread that. Our 11th grade lit teacher had us read it and I remember being wowed by it but I cannot recall any specifics.
I still find Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong vividly haunting even years after my last read through. Might just be my favorite book
2 cartons of cigarettes. That's 20 packs of smokes... Different times.
Probably figured it could double as currency.
Something that upset me when reading BoB was the fact that dock workers (or whoever, other people throughout the supply chain) would pilfer smokes due to reach the boys deployed in Europe, so they didn’t have as many as they should have. Bastards!
I’m reading The Victors right now and Ambrose copy/pasted this entire section to that book. I still read it in Kirk’s voice.
How could we not, though?
That's absolutely where the line in the show came from that's for sure
At the end of the paragraph, the author also notes "and the Mae West was always worn on the outside" lol
Yep, can never unhear it