[Milsurplus] Re: British Army Radio During WWII

[W7QHO@aol.com]

In a message dated 5/23/03 6:23:55 AM, merz.ds@mellon.com writes (in part):


> ..........throughout the book, Frost makes reference to the continuous, 
> routine disastrous failures of British Army radio equipment from the very 
> earliest stages of the war. He makes it clear that British senior officers had to 
> be constantly on top of the Signals service to get any useful radio support 
> out of them during a campaign.
> 
Interesting.   

A significant number of British WS(*) equipments have been exhibited at the 
MRCG meetings over the years.   The stuff certainly has a different look and 
feel as compared to our gear of the same period and I've wondered how well it 
actually worked under wartime conditions.   One writer in ER a number of years 
ago characterized the design philosophy as being "just good enough" as opposed 
to the "every radio a Cadillac" view on our side.   Maybe "just good enough" 
wasn't good enough.......

Also, wonder if the shortcomings were primarily techincal or organizational?

In reading the memoirs and biographies of our generals (Eisenhower, Bradley, 
Stillwell,   etc.) I've been struck by the fact that communications matters, 
good and/or bad, never seem to come up.   Bradley was known to prefer the 
telephone, but apparently our stuff worked well enough that comms were not an 
issue, at least looking down from the top.

Sounds like a very interesting   book.   Will see if I can find a copy.

Dennis D.   W7QHO
Glendale, CA



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