"How common was the mohawk hairstyle in US Para's." Topic

Okay now both Britannia and Kelly's Heroes do sets of the US para's with the mohawk but I would like to know just how common this was with the units that dropped on D-Day, Market garden and the Rhine Crossing and how many figs I could use with said haircut in Rapid Fire terms

thanks in advance guys

I think fairly common for the 101st in Normandy, rare later, and not at all for the 82nd, but I'm going from (rusty….) memory.

I've read it was just done by one group of Pathfinders in the 101st for Normandy but am happy to be corrected.

Beevor's D-Day said they almost all shaved their heads on 5th June because it made head woulds easier to deal with. Some – he doesn't say how many – left themselves a Brazilian down the middle. Some German troops took this as validation of Nazi propaganda to the effect that US formations were manned by jailbirds.

My limited reading on the subject indicates that mohawks were not common.

From asking around it wasn't that commen, was only a few pathfinders that did it.

It was not all that common.

It originated in the states as punishment for bad behavior, and was picked up as something of a fashion thing (along with other wierd cuts) by paras in England prior to D-Day. Being rather fun and interesting looking it is likely that a disproportiate number of photos of paratroopers wearing the haircut and warpaint were taken and as a result published, giving the impression it was more widespread than it likely was.

The style has probably become associated with the pathfinders due to the illustration in the Osprey book. Which has been misinterpretated to suggest that it was a pathfinder thing. It was not.

Check out "The 101st Airborne in Normandy" by Mark A. Bando, for more info.

Here's an interesting video, incorrectly labled "82nd Airborne." Nevertheless it's a really cool vid.

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My reading says the same as the others – not common. Mainly one platoon or company, can't remember right off and maybe a few others scattered around.

I talked to this guy, who did airborne and ranger school before going to Nam, he was and is a WW2 buff, so got a mohawk, the only guy in the battalion that did it, and he got lots of looks.

okay so in RF terms probably can have a max of 8 figures like that, that's a shame I have ordered 24 ;-) oh well them's the breaks.

Shouldn't these guys be wearing their helmets anyway? :)

I remember the famous photo of the face painting and Mohawks before Normandy. After reading abut the death of Miguel Marquez. I thought I would look them up and found some addtional info on them I thought that some others would be interested. They sound like a very interesting group.

The Filthy 13
"No other group the 440th Troop Carrier Group carried into battle has inspired more legend and myth than the story of the special demolition squad, the "Filthy Thirteen." Their story, told on page 40 of DZ Europe: The Story of the 440th Troop Carrier Group, was an account of the Thirteen taken from a June 1944 issue of Stars and Stripes. It's hard to tell almost sixty years on whether the fictional parts were derived to inspire the folks at home or to scare the hell out of the Germans, maybe both.

The few survivors of the famous Filthy Thirteen have a slightly different story to tell. 101st Airborne historian Mark Bando interviewed a couple of the original Thirteen for his book, The 101st Airborne at Normandy, published in 1994.

They were members of HQ/ 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, and the roster included: "Jake McNiece, Jack Womer, John Agnew, Lt. Charles Mellen, Joseph Oleskiewicz, John Hale, James T. Green, George Radeka, Clarence Ware, Robert S. Cone, Roland R. Baribeau, James E. Leach and Andrew Rassmussen. Others including Frank Palys and Charles Plaudo were sometimes members of the group." Only a few survived the Normandy mission, though the members of the unit did complete their assigned mission, blowing bridges over the Douve River.

A review of surnames from the group quickly disposes of the myth that they were all "Indians." Several are of Polish descent and Robert Cone who was badly wounded in Normandy and captured was Jewish. He would spend the remainder of the war in POW camps.

Another myth of the Thirteen was that Lt. Mellen could whip any member of the group. According to Jake McNiece, "any one of our group could have whipped him without working up a sweat." Lt. Mellen was KIA in Normandy and was found dead, bandaged about the arm and leg. Apparently he fought on for some time after being wounded.

The notoriety the Filthy Thirteen gained in Stars and Stripes and the famous photo in DZ Europe of two of them applying war paint certainly inspired first the novel and then the movie, "The Dirty Dozen," a completely fictional story. Fortunately, a new book about the famous Thirteen is due out in April 2003, The Filthy Thirteen: The True Story of the Dirty Dozen, by Richard Killblane and Jake McNiece. It is to be published by Casemate and details the story of the famous squad from Normandy to Bavaria.

Sources: The 101st Airborne at Normandy, by Mark Bando; Trigger Time, 101st Airborne web site, by Mark Bando; Stone & Stone Second World War Books web site"

"The novel, "The Dirty Dozen" was published in 1965 by E.M. Nathanson. Nathanson's story was inspired by WWII OSS officer Aaron Bank. In 1944 Major Bank was given the job of selecting anti Nazi German POW's and then lead them on a mission to whipe out Hitler's high command. The mission was scrubbed but Nathanson used the idea for a novel, only he changed the prisoners from German POWs to GI convicts. The title of his novel seems to have been borrowed from the "Filthy 13". Like the 13 the "Dozen" refuse to shower and are a bane to the 101st Abn brass, also in the book/movie the dozen take out a 101st HQ and have a party prior to D-Day. "

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More info and pics in a thread I created about them,
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Robert

As noted above, very specific for Normandy and certainly not to be expected in any US para units in later actions

Since it's a game, you can do what you want with the mohawk guys. You can also use them all if you want to do a skirmish scenario using another rules set.

"Since it's a game, you can do what you want with the mohawk guys."

Yeah, like put 'em in an Ork warbuggy with loads of heavy weapons to gun down the Narzi hordes--dakkadakkadakka!!! That would be like awsumly kewl!

Is there any point anymore to trying to at least keep some semblance of reality in historical gaming? Cos its a GAME, dude!

Oh, and on Mark Bando's forum, LT Mellen's son takes umbrage at quotes from Jake McNeice. "The Filthy Thirteen" doesn't get a lot of good press.

Allen

Hmmm…paratroopers in ork warbuggies…not a bad idea for taking on those Narzi *zombie* hordes, may half ta try that. If I can get a good proxy for the buggies in 15mm I can have them take on my Khurasan Russian shark man hordes, complete with shark man cossacks riding terror birds!:)

complete with shark man cossacks riding terror birds!

Typical result of taking Soviet propaganda for granted.

Actually, there was only one squadron of terror birds available, the rest had to content to riding giant hopping chickens.

There are a couple of books about the Filthy Thirteen. Not bad reads.

"the rest had to content to riding giant hopping chickens."

Great, just bloody great. Anyone know of a source for giant chickens in 15mm?

Couldn't you use ordinary chickens in 1/35 scale…?

There is a Robert Capra photo of some 17th ABD troopers clustered around a map, all with fresh mohawks, and there's a lot more than 13 of them. Maybe they got the haircut to impress the photographer from LIFE, maybe they'd seen the same OVERLORD photos we have….
But it is outside of Normandy and outside the 101st.

Gents;

There was only one stick that wore face paint. It was from the 101. It was NOT a pathfinder stick. It was one stick of the 506 PIR Demolitions Platoon that contained the "Filthy 13". The paint was wet whit and black invasion stripe paint that one man accidentally got on his hands and the resulting "boys will be boys" follow up. It was not planned.

A large number of 101 men, seldom in large groups, elected to wear mowhawk cuts. It had nothing to do with being indian, it was just viewed as cool/scary. Many, if not most, removed them while still in Normandy. It was seldom done by 101 men after Normandy – the new men were unlikely to do anything to stand out in front of the veterans, and the veterans were over such nonsense – which is why the 82 did little of it in Normandy, at least in the veteran PIR.

It was not uncommon in the "Albatross" forces during "Dragoon", especially in the 551 PIB and less so in the 517 PICT.

As mentioned above, the untried forces in the Rhine drop did it too.

Take it for what it is worth, but I have spent considerable time with 101/82 Normandy vets.

Horrocks:
Paratroopers with Mohawk hair cuts were far more common than paratroopers with powered pompadours and lacy hoop dresses. But not nearly as stylish!
Rod Robertson – sorry I am having a bad day!