Assessor

Point of order: the Vandals were not Asian. Their point of origin as an "Eastern Germanic Tribe" was well to the west of the Urals / Caucasus, taken as the dividing line between Europe and Asia

Over here in the UK, the Fire Service and ambulance paramedics all ditched their dark grey / black uniforms for outfits that were calculated to not have the remotest resemblance to the police after the Broadwater Farm riots in the 1980's. The rioters did attack firemen and ambulance crews (as well as killing one policeman) and the rest of the emergency services decided to make sure they couldn't be mistaken for the police ever again.

The sergeant major of the unit we were attached to always referred to the REME detachment as "Snap-On's Commandos" or "Snap-On's Fusliers" (or "Bunch of idle, insubordinate, non-military tossers", depending whether he wanted us to actually help him or not...)

Insulation foam is good, closed cell polystyrene foam is good, spray foam is good. If you're keen to use plaster, resoration plaster is good - it's as hard as iron and not brittle, but it weighs a ton!

All right, pyhrric victories then.

Despite everything you've just said, I feel sure that someone is going to point out that these dozen or so old scows, some of which can make the collossal speed of twelve knots flat out with a following wind, are simply going to bimble back and forth a number of times, entirely unhindered, and the forty-odd submarines in UK waters aren't going to even bother any of them.

Any ship would only have to show its true colours immediately before opening fire. Flying a false flag was an accepted ruse de guerre in naval warfare.

There were about forty RN, Norwegian, Dutch and Polish submarines in UK waters. Even a quarter of them getting into contact with the invasion fleet would wreak havoc.

In the UK in WW2 a significant percentage of conscripted boys were drawn by lot to be sent straight to work down the coal mines instead of going into the armed services. Many of them felt ignored, forgotten, belittled or that they hadn't helped decades later. But someone had to keep the lights on and power flowing to make stuff. Even if you volunteer, when you sign up for the military you are accepting that you will be given orders and you will obey them. You might not like them, and it might not be what you signed up for, but provided the orders are legal, you do it. It's an occupational hazard, and one that ought to be pretty bloody clear to all concerned well ahead of time. Maybe I'm off base, but if you wanted a career where you don't have to obey orders, WTF would you join the Army?

Ken, although this is undoubtably true, the current thinking is that this had less effect that was stated at the time. For example, bread was rationed in the UK post-war. It had NOT been rationed in wartime. Whilst feeding occupied Germany was mentioned at the time as a reason, of greater significance was potential famine in India and Malaya (although it was later admitted that the amount of wheat freed up by UK bread rationing would have had little significant impact on a disaster of such magnitude), and the desire of the Labour government to retain a sense of equality as had existed in wartime, wherein people who had more money didn't enjoy a better diet than the poor. Churchill thought that the announcement of bread rationing in parliament was one of the gravest things he heard.

Likewise cars. Even for people who had the gelt, they couldn't buy cars - virtually the entire output went for export. You could get an exception is you were a rural doctor or veterinary surgeon.

Post-war, issues included: supplying occupied areas (probably over-played c/w other things, but had some effect); loss of production infrastructure from bombing; factories geared up to produce things that were no longer of such critical importance and slow to convert; paying to maintain and demobilise large armed forces; retaining armed forces to keep control over now (very) reluctant colonies; merchant lines scrapping ships that had been useful in wartime but which were now hopelessly uneconomic to run, but not replacing capacity; industrial unrest, especially around dock work; centrally planned economy (useful in wartime, not so hot in peacetime); and the whole country being essentially potless.

In the UK, rationing went on post-war well into the 1950's. Try this for a kick-off: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rationing_in_the_United_Kingdom

Wasn't this to ensure that there were troops of unquestionable loyalty available should the "bally natives get uppish"? Same as within brigades the Indian troops were divided in batallions along racial / religious lines (e.g. one each Hindu and Moslem Bn, plus a British)? To ensure that there wasn't enough critical mass to start another major rebellion. That, and having Indian units having small arms one generation behind British units, up until WW1?