WWII, Vietnam or Korean war starting equip/weap and careers?

[Legbreaker]

Originally Posted by Ancestor

... against all odds the dice rolll brought my PC LRRP into direct contact with an entire NVA Regiment! Fun times!

Wouldn't be the first time - look up Battle of Long Tan.
Same sort of overwhelming odds were faced by Australians in the opening stages (and pretty much the entire following campaign) of the fighting along the Kokoda track in New Guinea in 1942. Note this (and at Milne bay around the same time) was the first time anyone had managed to halt the Japanese advance anywhere, and was done by Australians, and Australians alone.

[Ancestor]

Originally Posted by Legbreaker

Wouldn't be the first time - look up Battle of Long Tan.
Same sort of overwhelming odds were faced by Australians in the opening stages (and pretty much the entire following campaign) of the fighting along the Kokoda track in New Guinea in 1942. Note this (and at Milne bay around the same time) was the first time anyone had managed to halt the Japanese advance anywhere, and was done by Australians, and Australians alone.

I will! Thanks for the reference as I love military history and have a personal connection to that theatre. My late grandfather jumped into New Guinea to fight the Japanese. He only talked about it with me once in his life. He spoke very highly of your countrymen! After I joined the Army he gave me the blanket that he bought during that campaign. The tag says "Australia 1943" and I've taken it with me whenever I've deployed throughout my military career.

[Legbreaker]

I've got a sort of personal connection with Long Tan myself. Our battalion padre was an infantryman in 12 platoon, D Coy. Barely 4'10" (less than minimum height actually, but somehow still managed to enlist), covered in tattoos and swore enough for any ten other soldiers. Found god about 15 years later and never looked back. Great man like all the Vietnam vets I served with.

Kokoda would make for a great Twilight style campaign. Initially the Australian forces were just a handful of inadequately trained militia (39th Battalion) but were reinforced by veterans of the middle east, hurriedly recalled and thrown into action. Facing them were 10,000 of Japans finest.

The withdrawal over the Owen Stanley ranges was beyond hellish with everything you can think of conspiring against them - terrain, weather, disease, starvation, lack of ammunition, no air or artillery support, and barely any automatic weapons (at least in the hands of the 39th). Still, they fought the Japanese to a standstill then pushed them back all the way to the northern coast of New Guinea at Buna and Gona.

They didn't stop there though even though they'd suffered appalling casualties and virtually every man was suffering malaria (it was a point of honour that no man would report sick unless their fever was over 40 degrees C (103F). They kept fighting until the Japanese positions, which had resisted the American forces pitted against them (in some cases the American soldiers had flat out refused to advance), were completely eliminated.