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French Repacked BD-71 Switchboard

Advanced Guard Militaria offered a French repacked switchboard for $250 dollars, shipped. When I saw that I pounced on it as it was a good price and I wanted to rebuy the BD-71 switchboard I once had. I bought that one for $80 dollars at an auction in 2011.

The switchboard came in a large box and a smaller box contained the accessories.

Unpacking the switchboard was like peeling back an onion. First I had to peel back some paper coverings and open the box.

Next, I discovered some kind of canvas, metallic-backed waterproof bag. When I opened it up, I probably should have done it outside to be safe as the bag appeared to be vacuum sealed, and yet when I opened it, I heard gasses escaping.

Who knows what kind of gas might have been pumped into the bag prior to sealing? At any rate, I got a lung full of 1968 French air.

When I opened it up, there was another box!

When I opened the box, the switchboard finally came into view. It was packed tightly up against cardboard (which left packing lines on the unit). It also contained this weird brown cloth-like packing material (if anyone knows what that is let me know!) –

The accessories were all in waxy and gummy waterproofed cardboard boxes. I had to use scissors to cut it open.

The results look great! I really like the switchboard, the white/tan cardboard lines not so. If anyone had an idea on how to remove them without damaging the wood let me know!

When I began to open up the switchboard there were documents and manuals. There was a French inventory list, a French wire and circuit test, a wiring diagram, and a field manual, TM 1-330.

Now to make the switchboard more historically accurate to WW2, I bought a data plate and swapped it out. I kept the old French one and just added it to my bar as kitsch.

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WW2 Reenacting Table of Organization and Equipment

Below are some Tables of organization and Equipment that outline the personnel, equipment, and organization of various types of units. For reenacting purposes it’s doubtful you’ll ever have this all (and it’s doubtful in WW2 the units in question ever did) but it’s a general guideline on what to aim for.

Army Regulations AR 30-3000 Price List of Clothing and Equipage July 1943 – This is a price list of all the clothing available. Zip file.

The Oct 1944 version of AR-30-3000 is also available as a link to US WW2 Uniforms.

Army Regulations AR 615-40 Enlisted Men Clothing and Equipage Allowances April 1943 – Link to US WW2 Uniforms that lets you scroll through the regulation.

US Army Table of Equipment No 21 Dated 15 December 1943 – Link to US WW2 Uniforms that lets you scroll through the regulation.

Infantry

TO&E 7-16 Headquarters and Headquarters Company Infantry Battalion Feb 26 1944 – A table of organization and equipment for a Battalion. Outlines who has what equipment in what part of the battalion and how much. Looks to be a clean-up copy of original source material.

TO&E 7-17 Infantry Rifle Company Feb 26th 1944 – A table of organization and equipment for a rifle company. Outlines who has what equipment in what part of the battalion and how much. To download the original source use this link

Infantry Parachute

TO&E 7-37 Infantry Rifle Company Parachute – Aug 1st 1944. A Table of Organization and Equipment for what a rifle company should have in terms of manpower and items. This replaces the 7-37 from Feb 1942.

TO&E 7-37 Infantry Rifle Company Parachute -17 Feb 1942. A Table of Organization and Equipment for what a rifle company should have in terms of manpower and items. This is a cleaned-up copy of original source material.

Engineers

TO&E 5-15 Engineer Combat Battalion March 13th, 1944 | This is a cleaned-up copy of the equipment and personnel the battalion had.

Military Police

TO&E 19-55 MP Battalion 1945 – A Table of Organization and Equipment for what a Military Police Battalion should have in terms of manpower and items.

Signal Corps Units Table of Equipment and Organization

List of TOEs for Signal Corps Units – A list of all the TOE guides for signal corps units. Missing the following:

11-1027 Signal Detachment, Headquarters Ship
11-1050 Film Library Organization
11-1095 Army Signal Battalion, Special
11-1096 Headquarters and Headquarters Company, Army Signal Battalion, Special
11-1097 Wire Operation Company, Army Signal Battalion, Special
11-1098 Signal Construction Company, Army Signal Battalion, Special

TOE 11-7 Signal Company, Infantry Division 12-11-1943 with changes –

TOE 11-15 Signal Battalion 12-10-1943 with changes –

TOE 11-16 Headquarters & Headquarters Company, Signal Battalion 12-10-1943 with changes –

TOE 11-18 Field Operation Company, Signal Battalion 12-10-1943 with changes –

TOE 11-25 Signal Light Construction Battalion 2-25-1944 with changes –

TOE 11-26 Headquarters & Headquarters Detachment-Signal Light Construction Battalion 2-25-1944 with changes –

TOE 11-27 Signal Light Construction Company 12-10-1943 with changes –

TOE 11-37 Signal Photographic Company 2-12-1944 with changes –

TOE 11-57 Armored Signal Company 9-15-1943 with changes –

TOE 11-87S Signal Information and Monitoring Company 5-10-1944 –

TOE 11-96 Headquarters and Headquarters Detachment, Signal Operation Battalion 19 May 1944 –

TOE 11-97 Sig Operation Company, Sig Operation Battalion 19 May 1944 –

TOE 11-107 Signal Depot Company 2-6-1945 with changes –

TOE 11-147S Joint Assault Signal Company 12-30-1944 – For an after-action report of the 593rd Joint Assault Signal Company which landed at Leyte Island on Oct 20th 1944 as part of the 96th Infantry Division read: 593rd Joint Assault Signal Company. It goes into detail about the problems it faced as well as the nitty-gritty of how the company was supposed to operate.

TOE 11-237 Signal Company, Service Group 3-26-1943 with changes –

TOE 11-500 Signal Service Organization Sept 22nd 1944 with changes –

TOE 11-557T Airborne Signal Company Dec 16th 1944 with changes –

For the signal items related to an Airborne Division see: Principal Items of Signal Equipment, Airborne Division. This is just section 3 of the TO&E. I don’t have the full one.