"Early 50's Cold War Europe ( Armour, Equipment)" Topic

I'm about to start collecting this period.One advantage it is simpler and l could combine some of my late WW2 stuff.
Let say 52/53 main divisions.

British/Soviet/USA/Allies of both.

What tanks would have been used ?
Tank destroyers?
APC's ?
Anti tank guns ?
What was still used from WW2 by first line units .
Infantry anti tank weapons?
Recon, support,?
Anything new that changed warfare differently from WW2.

I

You could probably use Korea as a source for a lot of this.

Soviet equipment would include:
T-34/85, T-44, JS-III, maybe T-54
SU-100, JSU-152, JSU-122
BTR-40, BTR-152
57mm, 85mm, 100mm ATGs and others

US
M26, M4A3E8, some M47, maybe M46
M24 lt tank
M18, maybe M36
M3 halftrack
M20, M8 armored cars

UK
Centurion Mk3, Comet
M3/M5 halftrack
Ferret, Daimler, AEC MkIII

Infantry weapons largely the same for all.

The MicroMark TO&E lists from WargamesVault would have a lot of this in detail.

Pretty sure Wombat was in service with the British by then, as well as integral Wasp platoons in the infantry battalions.

As Irishserb says, Korea gives you a good idea.

No US tank destroyers in the 1950s.

Did the British use any WW2 tank destroyers such as Achilles in early 50s ?
Was the Charioteer in use ?

Bat and Mobat, Wombat entered service in the 60s. I think that the French still had Panthers!

Tally Ho!

"Did the British use any WW2 tank destroyers such as Achilles in early 50s ?"

Archer was still quite popular as a replacement for towed 17pdrs in the BAOR Infantry Divisons. Not sure about Achilles in the early 1950s

As for infantry anti-tank weapons, the US forces in Korea found early on that the 2.35 inch bazooka was lacking in performance against T-34 tanks. This led to the 3.5 inch "Super Bazooka" being hurried into production and then to front line troops. Depending on the scale of our models, the difference between these two bazooka types may or may not be noticeable – but there is a fair bit of difference when it comes to actual armour penetration.

Then there are the recoilless rifles. At the very late WWII, US forces deployed 57 and 75 mm recoilless rifles as infantry armament. In the early 1950's, US army rifle companies were assigned three M18 57 mm recoilless rifles, while the bit heavier M20 75 mm recoilless rifle was found at the battalion level. Both were also used by the French military, and saw action in their Indochina War.

jekinder6 is right, French used the TDs, not US (Duh!).

Brits also used a lot of Universal Carriers in infantry support and some M3 scout cars in HQ and other supporting elements, though I don't think they were used for recce.

Cherioteer was in service early 1950s also.

Thank you Irish Serb,
What units was the Charioteer used ?
Did it deployed with the BOAR.

GHQ has period TO&Es applicable to what you want including equipment. Go to their website GHQ models.com, click on resources and then on microarmor- modern under free stuff. From there select the country you want to view and off you go.

A lot of NATO countries had M47 tanks with M3 halftracks.

My gaming is set in the late 1950s, and I am a little fuzzy on the details regarding the Cherioteer, but I belive the they were added to support Cromwells that were still active in the early 1950s, giving the Cromwell units a little better AT capability with their 17pdr guns.

I can't imagine that there were many Cromwells still around in the early 1950s, and would be surprised to find them in th BAOR by 1951. Hopefuly someone else here will have better or more info.

By 51 you would think the armoured divisions of the BOAR would have no need for Cromwell's but maybe use the Charioteer with the superior Comet before Centurions111 finally took over .
The Charioteer 20prd and Comet shortened 17prd ?
Was the Charioteer used in A/T/G roll replacing 17prd crews in BOAR ?
It was later transferred to TA units back in the UK .

Cromwells were used in Korea but phased out in BAOR. Over 400 Charioteers were built, the relevant wikipedia entry covers their deployment.

I've got the BAOR OB for 1952, but it just lists the units (6th, 7th and 11th AD plus 2nd Infantry Div and the Berlin Brigade), not what they were equipped with.

Comet was in service until 1958, but I'd imagine the bulk of the tanks in BAOR were Centurians in the 1950s.

Cheers Martin,
I checked Wikipedia and it's not clear if they were deployed in Germany or just back in Blighty with the TA.
Do you there was a possibility you would still get a complete unit of Comets in Germany in 52 , example 2 regs of Centurions and one of Comets?

The Sacaren APC , did that equip units and what one's around 52 in the BAOR?

From what I understand of the period, NATO was severely outnumbered in tanks back then, and since it is a hypothetical war/battle anyway, I see no reason why you couldn't deploy them as desired.

Perhaps they would be a second echelon unit (reserves) to mainline Centurions, but given the extreme numbers of Soviet tanks, they would most likely have been deployed, if available.

I don't think BAOR was big enough to have lots of reserves, it was only a Corps sized unit! Complete regiments with one type would seem more reasonable, mixed types were generally the exception.