if memory serves...the produced green smoke. for 3 to 4 minutes.
these would be a blast to drop on top of gv positions. (or pt boats. cv groups)
(Image removed from quote.) (Image removed from quote.)
This is an original July 1944 dated parachute flare with canister. The flare is marked, Signal, Ground, Green Star, Parachute, M19A1, LOT UNX 1-11, JUL 1944
its a cool idea, but whats stopping the gv's from changing location when they see the smoke? say you have a formation of lancs incoming to carpet bomb an area the enemy team is camping. you throw out this smoke.enemy gv's see this smoke and change postions before the formation arrives. but the bomber pilot doesnt know this, so he wastes his payload carpet bombing an empty area. or, what if you have a tank thats the only one able to protect the maproom, he gets bored. someone pops smoke and the first thing he does is go rolling off in that direction. exposing the maproom. its both a good and bad idea.
i think it would be better used in an artillery,shelling role. pop smoke to help the gunners judge distance better.
and if your going to use them to mark gv's then use them to mark only the most IMPORTANT ones. (like say, a tiger camping on the hill and the m3 waiting behind him, and not the little m8 thats hiding inside a barn way off in nobody cares land)
and also i can see some countries using the smoke in other ways,
like fighters coming in dropping TONS of smoke over an airfield to block out the sky from the base gunners. then have there low level bombers come in and just blind-carpet bomb the place.
or people spawning on the cv deck, popping smoke, then towering. then upping againt to pop more smoke so its harder to target for the bomber pilots.
so it would need to be lightly perked or something to try to discourage mis-use.
