Suez 1956 - Allied Uniforms and Egyptian Colours

[Ahistorian]

Hullo chaps,

What colours were the Egyptian battledress, and what sort of uniforms did the Israeli paratroopers wear?

Cheers in advance,
Matt @ Morningstar.

[Arlequín]

If I recall correctly the Israeli paras used U.S. OD fatigues with a mix of British and U.S. webbing, topped off with British para helmets, covered in hessian. They might have worn British denison smocks too, although at what point they swapped them for the French style 'lizard' pattern they used in 1967 I'm not sure.

Most Egyptian units were equipped with British 'desert rat' style stone-coloured uniforms (no shorts though) and kit, including the WWII-style 'battle bowler' (as indeed were some Israeli units, who did wear shorts). Newer Soviet items were in somewhat shorter supply and mostly confined to the 'Soviet-style' units recently formed, but were in similar colours, with some helmets still being 'Soviet Green', or it showing through the thin layer of sand-coloured paint applied.

Sorry I can't be of more help, but it's not something I've ever really looked into.

[carlos marighela]

I'd be interested in anything on the Egyptian uniforms myself, as I've been steadily been building up Anglo-French forces for Operation Musketeer. Most f the photos of Egyptian troops around Suez show prisoners, more often than not wearing greatcoats, some with peaked soft field caps. Many of the pre-war photos seem to show Egyptian walking out dress been a copy of British wool battledress. Actually I recall a Military Modelling article from the early 1980s late '70s that showed just that albeit with a Russian Helmet. Many of the troops caught up in the immediate post invasion period around Suez apparently changed into mufti.

That said I did come across a photo, supposedly depicting Egyptians circa 1955/6 with US helmets and SAFN rifles. Looks like it might have been taken in the Sinai. I've been thinking that with a bit of conversion work the Perry 8th Army chaps in long trousers would work. The SAFN being easy enough to convert from an SMLE.

I'd be indebted to anyone with pics or decent uniform descriptions of Egyptians in combat in 1956.

Here's the photo with the SAFN.

[Ahistorian]

So Israeli Paras could be represented with Late War US and British Para Helmets, or indeed simply Late War British Paras? When you say that "some" Israeli units had battle bowlers, does that include the paras?

That's an interesting picture of the 50's Egyptians. This project is to use up some spare Warlord plastics, so that might be a fun way to differentiate them from just any old Commonwealth troops.

In terms of expanding the project, it seems that the British paratroopers were pretty much equipped with WWII equipment, except maybe with Sterlings instead of Stens - but what sort of gear would the French be in?

EDIT: There are some interesting pictures of the 3rd Parachute Battalion at the link below, but they also showed that despite the personal reminiscences I have been working from, the Paras seem to have had SLRs rather than .303s

http://www.paradata.org.uk/media/4326?mediaSection=Photos

[Arlequín]

Sorry to be confusing... some Israeli (reserve?) infantry units still apparently wore the British WWII helmet, while others (possibly most) wore the US M1. As far as I know, which isn't much, the Paras just wore the British para helmet.

Having said that I've never seen Egyptians in M1 helmets before, it's always been British or Soviet... so you learn something every day.

As far as the British go, the FN and Sterling were in the process of being introduced (Sterling from 1953, FN from 1954) and quite a few units still had SMLEs and Stens... Carlos is probably your man on that rather than me though.

[Ahistorian]

Oh right. Not useful for my purposes then - I'm exclusively modelling the sharp end 

Excellent news re the Brits! Would squads still be organised on WWII lines? I'm having the damnedest time digging up anything military on Suez - the Internet’s secondary sources seem focussed entirely on the political. I have some spare Foundry British paras, as well as the Warlord/WF plastics I intend to build everyone else out of.

Those US fatigues the Israelis would be in - is that more NW Europe-style, or Pacific Marines-style? A similar question applies to the French - their kit in the Ospreys and period photos I've found looks halfway between battledress, Marine fatigues and NWE US Army garb. The Pathé reels look pretty much bang on for Marine wear though.

[Lenin]

According to Suez: The Double War, by Roy Fullick & Geoffrey Powell, the newly issued SLRs were withdrawn out of fear that they would jam in the desert sand and the tried and tested No. 4 Lee Enfield reissued instead.

The same book also mentions issues with Stens jamming, so they were presumably still being used rather than the Sterling, and that the ammunition for the, also new, British BAT recoilless rifle had yet to be tested in tropical conditions, so some US 106mm recoilless rifles had to be "borrowed" from NATO stock to give the Paras an antitank capability.

In addition to reissuing WW2 weapons, surplus WW2 jeeps had to be bought back from their civilian owners as the, also newly issued, Austin Champ was too big to be airdropped from the Hastings!

Pete

[carlos marighela]

Yes Mk 4 rifles and Stens for the British at Suez. The SLR doesn't start popping up on overseas operations until circa 1958/59.

The M40 106mm RCLs stayed in service with the Paras for some years, the BAT was too large and heavy. I've seen photos of the 106mm in Aden. Think they were finally replaced by WOMBAT.

[Ahistorian]

Pete - Fascinating. Stories of demobilisation are the same in every cycle! Same with "better" new weapons...

Would the British still be in 10 man squads, or would it be down to 8 already?

Carlos - As the era expert, could I get away with denison smocks for the Israelis? Or should I be using Ike jackets/battledress/plain fatigues &c?

This looks like an excellent resource, but has only dead links for this period. Does anyone know where it might have moved to/been archived? http://orbat.com/site/historical.html#1946-60

And does anyone have details of the French ORBAT for the parachute regiments?

[Arlequín]

No idea what's going on with Orbats.com, but the TO&E Yahoo Group has some info in its file section: https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/TOandEs/info

You might like this site too: http://balagan.info/timeline-for-the-1956-arab-israeli-war

The Israeli fatigues were the 1943 and OG107 types worn with combat boots, so no current WWII types really cover them. The Israelis were pretty scruffy back then though, so you might be able to get away with the U.S. Marines in some cases.

Don't right off their reserves either, everyone was on the front line in the IDF back then. You'll see British helmets on troops all over the place. 'Israeli Army 1956' brings up a fair few images on Google and one photo looks like it features almost every helmet in use by the IDF, all on one halftrack!

For the British, wasn't the M20 Bazooka (3.5" Rocket Launcher in British parlance), the standard company/platoon AT weapon?

[carlos marighela]

I'm no expert and I'll readily admit I know next to nothing about the IDF in this period.

I think the Paras were still organised on WW2 lines, so theoretically 10 per section (this was still the time of National Service pre the man power crunch that came at decades end). That said, some of the the Paras, had been deployed on active operations in Cyprus, immediately beforehand so no idea if they were up to strength. Jim is correct the 3.5" rocket launcher was the standard AT weapon at platoon level. These were used to knock out dug in Egyptian SP guns and bunkers  around El Gamil airfield and the near by Flats.

Here's a handy resource for all things Para:

http://www.paradata.org.uk/

Do you want French Orbats or TO&Es?

The French airborne  battalions in North Africa were organised along the standard Type 107 Infantry Battalion pattern (indeed they pioneered it) This became the standard pattern for troops in Algeria, where the French forces for Suez were drawn from.

You'll find all the information you need on the battalion organisation here:

http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/army/cgsc_jackson.pdf

Weapons were still largely as per Indochina. Platoon organisation was quite radically fifferent and very flexible. Command team, RL team and three grenadier-voltiguer (assault) teams and two LMG teams. Usually divided into two squads. All up paper strength 1 officer and 27 men.

This will give you the platoon structure:

http://daniel.rabbe.free.fr/organisation/section.htm

Hope that helps.

[carlos marighela]

Ah here's the organisational structure for the platoon ( French section)

http://daniel.rabbe.free.fr/organisation/infanterie/sectionafn.htm

[Ahistorian]

Thanks Carlos, there's a good deal of information there - but what do the French acronyms mean? PM, PA, FLG, FM?
EDIT:
I know know that PM=SMG, PA=automatic pistol & FM=MG. I think FLG is fusil lance-grenade, which is to say a rifle with a rifle grenade.

Arlequin - thanks again. I know Balagan's site of old (and have already looked there!), but battalion level is a bit high for this project - I am just doing a squad of each type.

[Arlequín]

I think you're spot on with the acronyms, FM is more correctly an LMG though (Fusil-Mitrailleur). FLG is indeed a rifle capable of firing grenades (possibly the MAS 49 in this case).

In a rare moment of discordance with Carlos, I actually think he might be premature with his assessment of French unit sizes and the older larger squads may (or indeed may not) have been used at Suez. I'll offer this for my view: http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/army/cgsc_jackson.pdf

It's a bit lengthy, but I'm sure you'll find what you want in it and then you can decide for yourself. 

[carlos marighela]

Ah, I think. I know what you mean. 10th Airborne was organised along the lines of a Javelot division. Yes it's true that the structure was different and that the regiment, a sort of enlarged battalion group, or super batallion was the basic tactical entity. However at squad and platoon level they are essentially identical. There were further variations to unit structure throughout the war but you'll find the paper platoon structure remains pretty constant. With the exception of the elements of the one mechanized infantry formation in Algeria, everything else was organised, essentially as light infantry.