TL-191: Featherston's Finest - Uniforms, Weapons, and Vehicles of the CSA and Freedom Party

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Confederate Small Arms during the First Great War
 
CS_Small_Arms_GW1.png

Confederate Small Arms during the First Great War
Ah yes. Cant have a proper American war if you don't have both sides shooting at each other with lever action rifles like its the Wild West. Can't remember what the Griswold revolver is suppose take after, but it looks like a heavy hitting one.

These are excellent selections by the way. I also appreciate that you included older weapons into the arsenal of weapons used in this war.
 
Come to think of it... was it mentioned that the Confederates had airborne troops? I would imagine there would be a small elite core of them.

Wild thought about their formation - Featherston and the Confederates take inspiration to form a paratrooper unit not from the British, French, or even the Germans. They look at what the Italians have been up to wit their paratroopers and decide they want to have some of that action too.
 
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Ah, so more they don't adopt the idea before the war? Can I ask why?
More to the point, given their priority target is the Midwest (where there’s plenty of room for armoured columns to manoeuvre around obstructions) it was probably less important for the CS Army to develop a ‘cheat’ that would allow them to fly over obstructions - I’m assuming US paratroopers we’re originally recruited with the idea of using them to get the drop on guerrillas or to land on Japanese held islands without getting torn up by coastal defences - than it was for the Italians (who have to worry about the Alps, Apennines and various other mountains) or the Germans (who, in Western Europe, have much less room to manoeuvre than the CSA does).

Here’s a thought: what if Southern paratroopers were a notion propagated by their Marine Corps?- partly as a way of letting them hit Caribbean islands from a direction the defenders won’t expect, but also because this sort of new specialisation allows them to make a stronger case for being a unique & indispensable corps in their own right (rather than being rolled over into the CS Army - an option which I suspect would be seriously considered as the CS Navy became more & more of a coast guard).
 
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More to the point, given their priority target is the Midwest (where there’s plenty of room for armoured columns to manoeuvre around obstructions) it was probably less important for the CS Army to develop a ‘cheat’ that would allow them to fly over obstructions - I’m assuming US paratroopers we’re originally recruited with the idea of using them to get the drop on guerrillas or to land on Japanese held islands without getting torn up by coastal defences - than it was for the Italians (who have to worry about the Alps, Apennines and various other mountains) or the Germans (who, in Western Europe, have much less room to manoeuvre than the CSA does).

Here’s a thought: what if Southern paratroopers were a notion propagated by their Marine Corps?- partly as a way of letting them hit Caribbean islands from a direction the defenders won’t expect, but also because this sort of new specialisation allows them to make a stronger case for being a unique & indispensable corps in their own right (rather than being rolled over into the CS Army - an option which I suspect would be seriously considered as the CS Navy became more & more of a coast guard).
Confederate Paramarines? That would be entertaining to see. But point taken. I suppose not every major power would even want to develop a paratrooper corps off the bat.
 
Small arms of the Confederate States Airborne Forces
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A small selection of some of the weapons designed for the Airborne Force:
The M1907/43 was a simplified carbine version of the M1907 standard issue rifle, the Marlin model 44 and Madsen M42 were purposely designed weapons for the Airborne Force and the Ferguson M43 was a newly design pistol intended for all branches of the CS military but appeared too late too be made in any significant numbers.
The Timber Bowie was a modified version of a pre-war commercial Bowie knife.

None of the special Airborne weapons were built in large numbers before the war ended and only the Tredegar carbine and Marlin M44 saw some combat in the hands of special commando units formed in the last months of the war.
 
Confederate Paramarines? That would be entertaining to see. But point taken. I suppose not every major power would even want to develop a paratrooper corps off the bat.
The books made a point of stating that the only significant Para operation was IIRC the US attack on Lookout Mountain.
 
I’m currently puzzling out the details for a possible portrait of General (Lieutenant General?) JEB Stuart Junior and was wondering if there is any consensus on the uniforms of CSA generals prior to the Featherston Administration: My own assumption is that there would be more specific insignia for the various grades of General officer, that (like the British & French armies but unlike their US cousins) officers would wear rank insignia on their cuffs, rather than their shoulders and that kepis would be coloured, with embroidery as per regulations for the American Civil War.

I’m not sure what badges would mark out members of the Southern general staff though - and I’m not sure what sort of medal rack JEB junior would be rocking; A medal for service in the War of 1881 is a dead certainty and I’d bet on his wearing an Indian Wars medal (Going by his reaction to the suicide of his son, I’d be surprised if JEB Junior hadn’t chased the Apaches at some point), but I’m not sure what other decorations he might have received.

He’s definitely going to be wearing an “Apres moi le deluge” expression though.
 
Question for all of you Dixie lad, will the Confederate Infantry will have Doughboys nicknamed like with the OTL America in ww1 or An Different names for that?
 
Question for all of you Dixie lad, will the Confederate Infantry will have Doughboys nicknamed like with the OTL America in ww1 or An Different names for that?
Per the Books they CSA soldiers were called Johnny(s) some US soldiers still called them Johnny Rebs but the Southerns seemed to take offense to it whenever it was done with them present. Interestingly younger soldiers called the still gray clad militia men Graybacks
 
Interestingly younger soldiers called the still gray clad militia men Graybacks

Presumably as a nod to their grey hairs as much as the older-pattern grey coats (I wonder if these would have been worn by State Regiments, as well as the Militia?*).

*Here's another thought: at least prior to the Great War there's almost certainly a good many uniform distinctions to be observed between regiments from the various Confederate States, still more between these formations and the uniforms of the regular army - I wonder what these ought to be?** (At the very least one assumes that State Regiments use 'TX' 'VA' 'LA' in the same way the United States Army uses 'US'; I wonder if the Confederate Regular army avoids using 'collar letters' to help mark them out?).

**Besides the obvious buttons & cap badges, of course!
 
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