User blog:BattleGames1/BattleGames1's Season of War Episode 1 - Long Range Desert Group vs Easy Company



BG1's Second Season of War (that will be the informal codename for this season) starts off with a battle of the Allied legends that helped to turn the tide of the Second World War against the Axis.

The Long Range Desert Group, professional British commandoes that created a living hell for the Italians and Nazis in the harsh deserts of Africa...

vs

Easy Company, America's most famous army battallion that fought bravely and bitterly through D-Day and the Battle of the Bulge to become the "Band of Brothers"...

WHO... IS... DEADLIEST?

=Let's Meet The Combatants=

Long Range Desert Group
The Long Range Desert Group (LRDG) was formed specifically to counter Italian operations across North Africa and around the Mediterranean. Comprised mainly of British commandos, the LRDG carried out their missions with an air of professional secrecy, and many of their battles were fought at a distance, as their name would imply. Using bolt-action rifles and submachine guns to keep the enemy at a distance, the LRDG was just as prepared for close-combat with revolvers that packed a nasty punch. They contributed to Allied victories at the Battle of Kufra, Operation Caravan, and the Italian campaign that led to the fall of fascist Italty. The LRDG is famed for their covert operations and thanks to them, the Allied troops got a great foothold on North Africa that was vital to deposing Mussolini and later, invading Southern Europe.

Easy Company
Otherwise known as 'E Company, 2nd Battalion' and 'The Screaming Eagles', Easy Company was one of the US Army's most famous military units during WWII. As part of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment 101st Airborne Division, Easy Company missions were to involve being parachuted from C-47 transport airplanes over hostile territory, mostly in France and Germany. According to Richard Winters, company included three rifle platoons (of three twelve-man rifle squads and six-man mortar team squad) and a headquarters section - all adding up to about 140 soldiers. Easy Company are most famous for their actions during D-Day, Operation Market Garden and the Battle of the Bulge, all part of the Allied attempt to liberate France and invade Germany - such actions have been recorded in recent history in the novel We Who Are Alive and Remain: Untold Stories From the Band of Brothers and the TV series Band of Brothers.

=Now Let's Look at the Weapons=

ME Commando Knife
Similar in design to a trench knife, the Middle East (ME) Commando used a knuckle-duster pattern that allowed two fingers in each holes. The handles was shaped look like the top part of a skull while the blade was single edged and curved at one end - the length of the blade was approximately 6.5 inches (the knife overall being 11 inches). As these knives were issued to members of ME Commando, they most likely found there way among the members of the LRDG and SAS. The brass knuckles of the ME Commando knife were often cast locally and varied greatly in not only general shape but metal composition with many being made from iron.

Fairbairn-Sykes Fighting Knife
The Fairbairn-Sykes Fighting Knife is a double-edged fighting knife used mainly by special forces for close-quarters combat. The knife is designed to inflict both stabbing and slashing wounds, and can be thrown at a distance. It saw extensive use by WWII-era commandos as a stealth weapon. It has a blade of about 7 inches long and its total length is 11.5 inches. While the LRDG are not evidenced wielding such a knife, it is best assumed that due to the FS's popularity among the British commandos of WWII the LRDG possess the knife in their arsenal.

M3 Trench Knife
The M3 trench knife was an American military combat knife originally designated for issue to soldiers not otherwise equipped with a bayonet but particularly designed for use by elite or 'shock' forces in need of a close-combat knife such as airborne troops and Army Rangers. Designed for rapid production using a minimum of strategic metals and machine processes, the M3 trench knife used a relatively narrow 6.75-inch bayonet-style spear-point blade with a sharpened 3.5-inch secondary edge.

KABAR Combat Knife
The KA-BAR is a combat knife that is used by Armed Forces World-wide. It got it's name when a trapper sent a letter to the company that made it about how, after his gun misfired, used it to kill an attacking bear. But the letter was so hard to make out that all that could made out was "K a Bar"-to kill a bear. It was the most popular combat knife in Vietnam, and continues to be used to this very date. It is great for stabbing, slashing, searching for mines, cutting rope, and other useful things like that. It is just below 12 inches in length with a blade of about 7 inches long.

BG1's Edge
All the knives here seem very similar to me so my edge here is Even.

S&W .38 Military
Also known as the S&W Model 10, the .38 Military Revolver is a six-shot double-action revolver with fixed sights and a cartridge of caliber .38 SAA rounds most commonly used in other British service revolvers. Because of the conservative notion that revolvers were more sturdy and more accurate than "automatics", the LRDG found the S&W Revolver (among Enfields and Webleys) a very popular and useful combat sidearm. To them, it was slightly more powerful due to a longer barrel and had less trigger pull making it easier to fire and more accurate. It has a 5.5-inch barrel, weighs 907 grams and fires bullets at a muzzle velocity of between 770-860 feet per second.

Colt M1911
The M1911 is a semi-automatic pistol that fires the .45 ACP. The weapon is single-action and is recoil-operated. The famous firearms designer produced the pistol to be used as the standard sidearm for the United States military. The weapon was used through countless conflicts like World War II and the Vietnam War. The weapon has a range of about 70 meters, fires from a seven-round magazine and a muzzle velocity of 825 feet per second.

BG1's Edges
To me, a revolver - no matter how powerful or how accurate it is - will always be trumped by the automatic pistol but I can see why the British prefer the S&W over the Colt. Edge here goes to the Colt M1911.

Thompson M1928A1
The M1928A1 Thompson submachine gun was an American weapon that was made possible via lend-lease by Britain to replace their heavier and more expensive Lanchester SMG. The Thompson SMG was issued to British NCOs and commandos for a few years as well as the LRDG before it was phased out in inventories by the Sten SMG. While the LRDG also used the Thompson M1, the Thompson mostly used in the Desert War is the interim Thompson M1928 that had a 20-round box magazine and a straight foregrip. It had an effective firing range of 50 meters, has a fire rate of between 600 to 725 rpm and a muzzle velocity of 935 feet per second.

Thompson M1A1
The M1A1 variant of the Thompson submachine gun was a service model introduced to the US Army during the late period of WWII. It was simply a redesign of the expensive M1928A1 models in an effort to simplify and, more importantly, lower production costs. It also featured a simple blowback firing action and offered up modes of fire in semi- and fully-automatic. The bolt-handle was moved to the right hand side of the body as opposed to the top of the weapon. The sights were further simplified and the muzzle compensator was removed altogether. In the M1A1 as opposed to the M1, the firing pin was now being machined (fixed) to the face of the bolt and replaced the hammer of old essentially making it a "virtual" blowback system. However it still maintained the M1's rate-of-fire which hovered around 500 rounds-per-minute.

BG1's Edge
There is a very clear reason as to why the M1 variants of the Thompson SMG were used greatly over their M1928 counterparts - sure they may be the same in terms of firepower but design-wise, the Thompson M1A1 was the superior SMG.

SMLE No. 1 Mk. III Rifle
During the desert campaign, the SMLE MKIII was the weapon most often used rifle by the LRDG owing to its large contingent of former ANZAC soldiers. The Mk III SMLE had been combat tested in the trenches of World War I and was found to be accurate as well as fast firing for a bolt action rifle. What aided in the rapid firing of both models was the rear locking bolt which could activated with the less hand movement, allowing the shooter to disengage and re-engage the bolt faster and with less head movement. The rifle had a barrel of length 25.2 inches, fired a 10-round box magazine consisting of .303 caliber rounds, a muzzle velocity of 744 m/s and an effective firing range of about 503 metres.

Lewis Gun
TBF