CLE Containers for British Airborne

This week I have completed a set of Drop Cannisters for my 15mm British Airborne troops. I'll use these either as scatter terrain, objective markers or jump-off points for my Chain of Command games. They are from Peter Pig and contain spare packs, Piat anti-tank guns and rifles. 

The CLE Container (Container Light Equipment) was a standardized cylindrical container used by the British during World War 2 to airdrop supplies to troops on the ground. They could be dropped from the bomb racks of aircraft and deployed a parachute pulled by a static line. Fully loaded they could hold between 200-250lb of equipment and were used to support parachute troops on the ground and for drops to resistance fighters. During Operation Market Garden they used different coloured chutes to indicate the nature of the contents;  red for ammunition, green for rations, white for medical supplies, blue for fuel and yellow for communication equipment.