"Brigadier Peter Young" Topic

Warlord has a figure of Him carrying a garand rifle
link
Why did He carry one?

Story behind who/what? Peter Young? Or why he's carrying a Garand?

he carried one to bag some huns don't ye know what?

I think it was pretty obvious the question was about why did Brig Young carry a garand rifle but I will re-phrase the question to simplify the matter.
Why did Brig Young carry a garand rifle instead of a British weapon?

It wasn't just him. No.1 Army Commando (of which he was CO for a time) managed to kit themselves out with Garands in the Med and they remained equipped with them until the end of the war. Lt Col Ken Trevor, who was Young's successor as CO of No.1 Commando, stated that the extra firepower that the Garand afforded them was a decisive factor in their defeat of the Japanese 54th Division at Hill 170 (Kangaw) in the Arakan in 1945.

Thank You Mark

Young was with 3 Commando. Operations Ambassador, Archery, Claymore, Husky and Jubilee. Then Normandy (which is what those figures represent), after which he was posted to Burma for the rest of the war.

Commando units were 'allowed' to carry what personal weapons they wished/could scrounge/acquire.

In that case, has anyone done up figures for the commandos so equipped with the M1 Garand?

Leland R. Erickson

I can't see an entire Commando unit kitted out with Garands myself. It would have probably made the QM/Armourer's life easier if they had been

Young allegedly 'borrowed' his from a US Ranger unit during Operation Husky.

You might not be able to see it, but their CO certainly remembered it…. ;-)

burmastar.org.uk/trevor.htm

I seem to recall reading that they were issued, along with US helmets, prior to the commandos involvement in the Torch landings, as it was felt Vichy garrisons would be more inclined to surrender to troops that seemed to be American rather than British. Not entirely sure I'm convinced on that; could've simply been to ease supply, but either way 1 and 6 commando definitely got Garands, and at least 1 commando kept them…

Dom.

The AFTER THE BATTLE edition on Dieppe makes a statement that "after that mission he preferred the Lee Enfield as it wasn't as prone to jamming" or something along those lines.

Yup, getting my Commandos mixed up, but as has been said, 1 Commando certainly got their hands on Garands and used them en masse… as did others, including Young.

Lt Col Trevor had this to say regarding 1 Commando in Burma:

"One of the advantages 1 Commando had over the other units was that we had brought from North Africa when we were with the Americans, Garand self-loading rifles with a bore of .3" with which they were armed. These rifles give a very high rate of fire, we also had the normal British – .303 LMG's, 3" mortars and American Thompson Sub-machine guns. We decided not to wear steel helmets but would wear our green berets."

Ah, the Brigadier, a lot of this wargaming shenanagins is his fault you know.

"Ah, the Brigadier, a lot of this wargaming shenanagins is his fault you know."

Yup! But, wasn't it….I want to say…Jules Verne? Or was it H.G. Wells who wrote up the first set of we'd consider to be wargaming rules? Can't remember off the top of my head. Originally written as a hopeful means for countries to resolve their differences without killing one another.

H.G. Wells. LITTLE WARS.

Somebody reprinted it not too many years ago IIRC…

Leland R. Erickson

There's a decent biography of Peter Young: Alison Michelli, Commando to Captain-General (Pen & Sword, 2007). The author was a stalwart of The Sealed Knot so knew him quite well in later life.

A friend of mine tells a story of him in later life when he was Reader in War Studies at Sandhurst. He was involved in an international military history group and Sandhurst was hosting one of its conference – it had a strongly European membership, including the then-Soviets. The head of the Soviet delegation was a senior general, Pavel Zhilin, and Young had arranged for The Sealed Knot to put on a field demonstration to accompany one of the large liquid social occasions that were part and parcel of the event. Young himself rode up to the visiting dignitaries, including Zhilin, in full dress as Captain-General of The Sealed Know, full-bottomed wig and all, and asked loudly 'General, don't you think I look like Peter the Great?'. Zhilin didn't miss a beat and responded, 'Actually, you look like Catherine the Great'. Young took it all in good part, I gather.

None of which has anything to do with weapon choice in No 3 Commando. :-)

A personality figure of Peter Young as Capitan General of the Sealed Knot would make a wondeful ECW commander!

You might not be able to see it, but their CO certainly remembered it…. ;-)

If it's a toss-up between what The Sage feels to be correct and what the unit commander actually says we have a hell of a tricky decision to make…

I met the Brigadier once and he was a tremendous bloke.

Doug

In that case, has anyone done up figures for the commandos so equipped with the M1 Garand?

With the Warlord plastic commandoes having separate weapons, this probably would not be difficult conversion. Just get some metal Garands from somewhere (eg. TAG) or wait until Warlord releases a plastic US infantry kit.

Artaxerxes: The host of the conference was David Chandler, because Peter was too busy with the reenactment. Ordered to entertain the Gentleman, David took a semi-loaded General to the reenactment, where the conversation took place. This was one of David's favorite stories. BTW Peter sold his house to David when he was 'reassigned'.

<<"Ah, the Brigadier, a lot of this wargaming shenanagins is his fault you know."

Yup! But, wasn't it….I want to say…Jules Verne? Or was it H.G. Wells who wrote up the first set of we'd consider to be wargaming rules? Can't remember off the top of my head. Originally written as a hopeful means for countries to resolve their differences without killing one another.>>

Would that be Jules Verne and H G Wells as portrayed by Lionel Jeffries and James Robertson Justice in Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang?

Femeng – yes, I knew David but never had the pleasure of meeting Peter Young (or Zhilin, though I knew several of his successors in that role). The world just ain't like that any more, sadly.

" either way 1 and 6 commando definitely got Garands "

I believe that most Commando units used Thompsons throughout the war as well and not Stens.

Yes, the Commandos apparently refused to accept the Sten and kept the Thompson (as mentioned by Lt Col Trevor above).

It seems that 44 RM Commando (and possibly 42 RM Commando) also used Garands in Burma, receiving a full issue sometime in 1944, with only snipers retaining Lee-Enfields. These photos were taken a few weeks after VJ Day:

link

I've just noticed something… They've attached the SMLE sword bayonet to their Garands! :o)

I actually have a pic of him in later years in his Captain General (ECW) rig, plus said wig. I'll see if I can dig it out.