A-21 Cruiser tank - Cyclops Mk.ii - France, 1944

[Old Wombat]

The Americans were the ones caught up in the bocage hedgerow country, which is why (some) US Shermans were fitted with hedgerow cutters.

If, in this time-line, the US doesn't enter the European war, then it would be British & Commonwealth tankers bashing their way through the bocage.

[Weaver]

The hedgerow cutter is unlikely, IMHO. The British never appear to have used those at all — despite every kit of a Cromwell including one, but those are all based on the photos of a single prototype that never left the UK.

Well I didn't know that. I assumed that because, as you say, every Cromwell kit features it, it was widely used. Still, it makes it look more aggressive and purposeful and Anglicised. Plus in this timeline perhaps they were used more extensively?

Also, there's a modeller's issue of expectation management. It's harder in one respect to do operator-swap armour whiffs because the shape is more recognisable than the colour scheme, most of the schemes are rather dull and not very nationally distinctive, and markings are small and not as widely understood. With aircraft, even cammo tends to be instantly recognisable: you'd know instantly that there was something different about a Tornado in Swedish Fields and Meadows cammo, for example, even if you knew nothing about markings. This means that equipment that's very distinctive to a particular operator or theatre is that much more important in "selling" an operator-swap armour whiff. Everyone associates Cullen hedgerow cutters with Normandy, so it's important in "selling" the idea that this T-34 is in France, not Russia, even if it requires a bit more "whifjitsu" with the backstory to justify it. This is also why I suggested British smoke bomb launchers for this one, and the British Bren AAA mount for your previous one.

[RAFF-35]

The hedgerow cutter is unlikely, IMHO. The British never appear to have used those at all — despite every kit of a Cromwell including one, but those are all based on the photos of a single prototype that never left the UK.

Well I didn't know that. I assumed that because, as you say, every Cromwell kit features it, it was widely used. Still, it makes it look more aggressive and purposeful and Anglicised. Plus in this timeline perhaps they were used more extensively?

Also, there's a modeller's issue of expectation management. It's harder in one respect to do operator-swap armour whiffs because the shape is more recognisable than the colour scheme, most of the schemes are rather dull and not very nationally distinctive, and markings are small and not as widely understood. With aircraft, even cammo tends to be instantly recognisable: you'd know instantly that there was something different about a Tornado in Swedish Fields and Meadows cammo, for example, even if you knew nothing about markings. This means that equipment that's very distinctive to a particular operator or theatre is that much more important in "selling" an operator-swap armour whiff. Everyone associates Cullen hedgerow cutters with Normandy, so it's important in "selling" the idea that this T-34 is in France, not Russia, even if it requires a bit more "whifjitsu" with the backstory to justify it. This is also why I suggested British smoke bomb launchers for this one, and the British Bren AAA mount for your previous one.

What a perfect summary of a problem I didn't even know we whiffers encountered!

[Jakko]

Plus in this timeline perhaps they were used more extensively?

You never know, maybe the British ended up fighting in bocage country and the Americans were battering away at Caen?