Use of Daimlers

[Jeff Conner]

The calculation for recon spotting is not provided in the manual. It is more likely the closer you are, the larger the spotting unit and the better the morale, but that's about all I know. Experience is about the only way to determine if the gain is worth the risk.

As for the Daimlers, more often than not, the ones attached to tank regiments were used more as couriers than as recon units. But since they were allotted to the regiment, Dave put them in the OOB. Since Dave put them in the OOB, I put them on the map. I believe historically most of the armored cars stayed pretty close to the HQs they were assigned to and didn't see much action. This was also true for most of the Stuarts in the recon troops during Goodwood. The British started removing the turrets from their Stuarts right about the time of Goodwood as it reduced the height of the vehicle considerably and made it harder to spot. The lack of a 37mm gun was not thought to be much of a sacrifice. This process started, as many of the changes in British tank doctrine did, with the 11th Armoured Division and took longest to catch on in the Guards Armoured Division.

One exception the recon units in the rear during Goodwood was the troopers of the Household Cavalry, who probed the German lines looking for a way to get through and into the German rear. They did this more by being sneaky than anything else. Given the depth of the German defenses, they were not overly successful during Goodwood, but did have some successes in other battles, especially Bluecoat.