WesWorld

As is the fashion, and its a damn good idea, here is a special thread for all OOC discussion of Operation Chariot since the IC thread is going to be a big story.

I hear you ask, "yes but what is Operation Chariot?"
I think some of you might have pieced the jigsaw together.

Please don't confuse this with the Persian Civil War threads as although these events are interlinked to some extent they are seperate phases.

Why such a lame name as Operation Chariot? You need to call it something more appropriate, like the Empire Strikes Back... and punctuate it with suitable music and propaganda posters...

Damn, how did your spies get photos of my new Bren Gun Carriers?

British Army operations often have poor names, supposedly randomly chosen with no name associations to what they represent.

Quoted

The British liaison officer Major Cartwright was amazed, “We had heard about the Indian amphibious ships and their Naval Infantry but never knew how efficient they were... It was a direct contrast to our experiences and was certainly more efficient than our men being transferred in destroyers and their heavy equipment by transport via cranes. Indeed we had no assault capability at all.”

Presumably because the British hadn't had the time to react to the lessons they learned from Exercise 37. *Whistles all innocent-like.* Heck, I think the Bulgarians have more "assault capability" with my eight Atlantean-built LCPF/CB38s than Britain has. That's 160 naval infantrymen. That's kinda embarrassing.

What do folks make so far of the British efforts?

Being the first time in WW the British Armed Forces have actually been in action I'm curious to see how others perceive the tactics and overall equipment situation in what is a very demanding environment with mountains etc and poor communications.

Overall, I think the Brits are performing well, all things considered. The British troops seem to be in good form, but India's local presence seems a bit stronger at the moment in equipment and aircraft (courtesy of shorter supply lines). The initial difficulty with the troop landings seems to be overcome, and the SDF doesn't really seem to present any surprises yet...

The Muslim league of Jinnah seem surprisingly strong in an area that had to be taken by force and repetedly purged in OTL

Do you have a map of Baluchistan that you could post to demonstrate where this action is taking place?

I thought everyone used Google map these days?

I never prepared a map and with the quick advances it would be a mass of lines to show progress.
Any decent school or pocket atlas should show the main towns listed here, at least that's all I used to script the story so I'm guessing using any atlas or Google map will find the relevant places.


No one yet picked up on the Major Bagnold theme...?

Quoted

Originally posted by Hood
I thought everyone used Google map these days?

I never prepared a map and with the quick advances it would be a mass of lines to show progress.
Any decent school or pocket atlas should show the main towns listed here, at least that's all I used to script the story so I'm guessing using any atlas or Google map will find the relevant places.

Ah, guess I'm just lazy.

Quoted

Originally posted by Hood
No one yet picked up on the Major Bagnold theme...?

I apparently don't know what/who Major Bagnold is...

Major Bagnold was somewhat a desert specialist in the interwar period and did much pioneering work with desert navigation and travelling techniques like sand mats etc and did an expedition with the backing of the Royal Geographic Society.

In WW2 he formed the LRDG (Long-Range Desert Group).
In WW he has a chance to use his skills in hostile terrain and gain experience of setting up small scale units. It's a British thing that enables sucessful small units to be created, maybe because the Army can be pretty flexible and open-minded at times and because the white-settlers of Africa, Australia and New Zealand were tough guys used to rugged terrain and operating and repairing vechicles with little support. Other armies tended to be too strict or inflexible to allow private armies (even the German attempt to form an LRDG to transport German spies into Eygpt was unsuccessful and they were part of the Brandenburg Regiment).

Hum! Seems the British are following the Bharati example of fast Task Forces to bypass large concentration of enemy forces. Fast learners.