Apologies for slightly dodgy photography, these were taken a few months ago with my craptastic phone. These are intended to represent a company of the 3rd Irish Guards in Guards Armoured Division, so any vehicles are marked thus. Company HQ First, the company HQ. The first stand features the company commander and an attached signaller (from the Battalion's Signal Platoon) with a No.18 radio, perhaps in communication with Battalion HQ or the mortar platoon. The second stand features the company second-in-command, who has somehow obtained a Thompson SMG, and the company sergeant major. The figure in the centre of the second stand is one of Peter Pig's collectible figures. Rifle Platoons Each rifle platoon has a command stand with an officer and his platoon sergeant, a stand with the platoon's integral 2-inch mortar, and a PIAT stand (these were issued out by the Company HQ, although in Flames of War, they are mandatorily attached to each Rifle Platoon). One platoon command stand also has another signaller with a No.18 radio. In hindsight, I'm not sure this was ever actually done, it appears that if platoons had any radio it would be the No.38 (which also doesn't seem to have been widely used by the Rifle Platoons. It's a rather confusing topic, honestly). At some point I'd like to paint up a third platoon... (For some reason, I forgot to take a picture of the front of the PIAT teams...) Battalion support A Rifle Company could expect a good degree of support from its parent Battalion, although perhaps not quite as much as one can lavish upon it in Flames of War. First, some snipers! These would operate relatively independently, scouting, observing, and sniping targets of opportunity. Until November 1944, there were two per Rilfe Company, after that they were consolidated and placed under direct Battalion command. These were just painted for fun, Flames of War V4 Late War has no rules for snipers. These are Peter Pig miniatures, and were enjoyable to paint - they wear Denison smocks and camouflage netting. It took me a while to figure out what the cylindrical canisters on their belts were, as well as the tube that the soldier on the right is using. After some research, I found that they were telescopes. Next, a Mortar Platoon. Typically these would be kept busy firing missions in support of the Battalion generally, although detachments might be parcelled out to particular Rifle Companies. In Flames of War, a two-tube mortar detachment in support of a Rifle Company, whilst more historically accurate, is of limited utility, so I've gone for four teams. At some point, I may even expand this to six teams, as artillery units with five or more teams are especially effective. These are Plastic Soldier Company miniatures, with the cylindrical ammo carriers being plaster copies made from a piece included in their British Paratroopers box, the boxes and stacked mortar rounds being Peter Pig, and the jerrycans being from Skytrex. The carriers have a yellow stripe, showing them to contain High Explosive rounds. The brighter green mortar rounds in the stacks represent smoke rounds, the darker green HE (although they should actually be a more brown colour. I just didn't want to repaint them for something so trivial). Next, a Carrier Platoon. The Carrier Platoon of an Infantry Battalion was utilised in various ways, as it had quite a bit of firepower. Universal Carriers were ideal for bringing up supplies and evacuating personnel over ground inaccessible to other vehicles. The Carrier Platoon had a lot of firepower as a unit, bristling with Bren guns and 2-inch mortars (which aren't included as part of the unit in Flames of War, so have been omitted - I may add one on at some point, just for modeling purposes, as I now have a couple spare from a PSC Universal Carrier). The carrier models, and the one radio operator figure are Battlefront, and the other crew and the stowage are Skytrex. The carrier on the left is the section command vehicle, which has a soldier operating the carrier's No.38 radio. This would be netted with the Carrier Platoon's HQ or the HQ of whichever Rifle Company the section was supporting. Also note the man with a PIAT in the carrier on the right, converted by splicing a spare plastic 2-inch mortar crewman with a spare plastic PIAT. Finally, some 6-pdr guns. These formed the primary anti-tank defence of the Infantry Battalion, and would be moved forward to consolidate and protect any ground won by the Rifle Companies. The guns and crew are PSC. Their box also comes with some Loyd Carriers, but I'm yet to finish these. Divisional Support Infantry Battalions in Armoured Divisions received support from the divisional Independent Machine Gun Company, which was comprised of Vickers MMGs and 4.2-inch heavy mortars. Later on in the war, it also incorporated Wasp flamethrower carriers. The Vickers guns could be dismounted for firing, or fired from a special mounting on their carriers. In the Guards Armoured Division, the Independent Machine Gun Company was outfitted by men of the Royal Northumberland Fusiliers. First, a MMG Platoon. The dismounted ones are PSC, the mounted ones are Battlefront models with Skytrex crew and stowage. In Flames of War, you can field them in either configuration. (For some reason I don't have a frontal picture of the carriers.) Next, a 4.2-inch mortar platoon. These are mostly PSC, with a signaler from Battlefront, and stacked rounds/boxes from Peter Pig, with a few fuel containers from Skytrex. The ammo carriers with yellow stripes are HE rounds, the green striped ones are smoke rounds. In Flames of War, these are a 'Command Card' option. Finally, a section of Wasp Carriers. Again, these are Battlefront models with Skytrex crew. I believe this type of Wasp with the fuel tank on the back of the carrier rather than in the passenger compartments was actually only used by Canadian units, making these models inaccurate, but at the time of making these this was the only model available to me. This is what I have so far. I have a surfeit of other Late War British in the works, but nothing close to finished yet.
Wonderful painting, a skill I was born without (at least that's my excuse). My equivalent is researching and I've come across a few things on wireless allocation, changes in the organisation of the Battalion and the like, which I've written up for my website in the below link. Gary
Your website is an invaluable resource and the source of most of my knowledge on these matters. If you don't mind, I do have a question, though. You've identified two types of No.18 Wireless Sets - 'Ground' and 'Carrier'. The 'Carrier version'- was it physically the same radio? Could it be dismounted from the carrier? I ask this because I've seen a reference to Platoon HQ carriers in Independent MG Companies having the No.18 alongside the vehicle-mounted-only No.19.
As far as I know, the No.18 set used in carriers was the same as that used dismounted. They are shown separately on the few equipment tables I've found and there was a modified list for the equipment issued in each role, however it appears to be more a case of additional items added to the usual No.18 set for its use in a carrier. Progress Bulletin (Infantry) notes that four kits had been developed for use with carrier mounted sets, one each for the No.18, No.19 and No.22 sets and the 300-watt charging set. The basis of this kit was essentially a metal plate that could be fitted to either of two locations in the carrier, at the rear end of the left sponson or the top end of the right sponson, with the relevant wireless or charging set being fixed to the plate. To the best of my knowledge, the No.18 set could only be powered by batteries, while the No.19 or no.22 set mounted in carriers relied on the 300-watt charger, so a carrier mounted No.18 set could be removed and used as manpack version. In the MG Battalion, the No.22 set was used for communications between the MG Platoons and Company HQ, and the No.19 in the Independent MG Companies, while both had a No.18 set in Platoon HQ for use on the Infantry net. Gary
