diff --git a/vasl_templates/webapp/static/html-editor.js b/vasl_templates/webapp/static/html-editor.js
index b3d0d92..2c8ce25 100644
--- a/vasl_templates/webapp/static/html-editor.js
+++ b/vasl_templates/webapp/static/html-editor.js
@@ -170,12 +170,7 @@ function unloadTrumbowyg( $ctrl, removeFirstPara )
         }
     }
 
-    // remove superfluous <br> tags
-    val = strReplaceAll( val, "<br></p>", "</p>" ) ;
-    while ( val.substring( val.length-4 ) === "<br>" )
-        val = val.substring( 0, val.length-4 ).trim() ;
-
-    return val ;
+    return _tidyHTML( val ) ;
 }
 
 // --------------------------------------------------------------------
@@ -355,6 +350,12 @@ function onEditHtmlTextbox( $ctrl, objName ) {
     } ) ;
 }
 
+function unloadHtmlTextbox( $ctrl )
+{
+    // unload the HTML textbox
+    return _tidyHTML( $ctrl.html() ) ;
+}
+
 // --------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 function sanitizeParams( params )
@@ -379,3 +380,41 @@ function sanitizeHTML( val )
         { USE_PROFILES: { html: true } }
     ) ;
 }
+
+// --------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+var $gTranslateHtmlDiv = null ;
+
+function translateHTML( val )
+{
+    // FUDGE! Allowing users to edit content in an HTML textbox introduced a problem when checking
+    // if they had made any changes. We have a lot of HTML content in data files (e.g. vehicle/ordnance
+    // capabilities and comments), and when we load them into an HTML textbox, we don't always get
+    // exactly the same thing back e.g. "&times;2" comes back as "\xd72" :-/
+    // Fixing up this kind of thing in the data files would be a big job, and wouldn't even be guaranteed
+    // to work, since what happens is surely browser-dependent, and so the only way to detect if this
+    // is happening is to load the content into a contenteditable and see what we get back. Sigh...
+
+    if ( $gTranslateHtmlDiv === null ) {
+        $gTranslateHtmlDiv = $( "<div contenteditable='true' style='display:none;'></div>" ) ;
+        $( "body" ).append( $gTranslateHtmlDiv ) ;
+    }
+    $gTranslateHtmlDiv.html( val ) ;
+    return $gTranslateHtmlDiv.html() ;
+}
+
+function _tidyHTML( val )
+{
+    val = val.trim() ;
+
+    // remove superfluous <br> tags
+    val = strReplaceAll( val, "<br></p>", "</p>" ) ;
+    while ( val.substring( val.length-4 ) === "<br>" )
+        val = val.substring( 0, val.length-4 ).trim() ;
+
+    // remove superfluous <p> blocks
+    if ( val.substring(0,3) === "<p>" && val.substring(val.length-4) === "</p>" && val.indexOf("<p>",1) === -1 )
+        val = val.substring( 3, val.length-4 ) ;
+
+    return val ;
+}
diff --git a/vasl_templates/webapp/static/snippets.js b/vasl_templates/webapp/static/snippets.js
index bafb47f..c5c8bb5 100644
--- a/vasl_templates/webapp/static/snippets.js
+++ b/vasl_templates/webapp/static/snippets.js
@@ -971,7 +971,7 @@ function unload_snippet_params( unpack_scenario_date, template_id )
         if ( $elem.hasClass( "trumbowyg-editor" ) )
             val = unloadTrumbowyg( $elem, false ) ;
         else if ( $elem.hasClass( "html-textbox" ) )
-            val = $elem.html() ;
+            val = unloadHtmlTextbox( $elem ) ;
         else
             val = $elem.val() ;
         params[ $elem.attr("name") ] = val ;
diff --git a/vasl_templates/webapp/static/vo2.js b/vasl_templates/webapp/static/vo2.js
index a2d46a9..b58a216 100644
--- a/vasl_templates/webapp/static/vo2.js
+++ b/vasl_templates/webapp/static/vo2.js
@@ -23,8 +23,8 @@ function _do_edit_ob_vo( $entry, player_no, vo_type )
         return data ;
     }
 
-    function get_default_capabilities( vo_entry, params, show_warnings ) {
-        return make_capabilities(
+    function get_default_capabilities( vo_entry, params, show_warnings, translate ) {
+        var caps = make_capabilities(
             false,
             vo_entry, vo_type,
             params[ "PLAYER_"+player_no ],
@@ -32,9 +32,21 @@ function _do_edit_ob_vo( $entry, player_no, vo_type )
             params.SCENARIO_THEATER, params.SCENARIO_YEAR, params.SCENARIO_MONTH,
             show_warnings
         ) ;
+        if ( translate ) {
+            caps.forEach( function( comment, index ) {
+                caps[index] = translateHTML( comment ) ;
+            } ) ;
+        }
+        return caps ;
     }
-    function get_default_comments( vo_entry ) {
-        return vo_entry.comments ? vo_entry.comments : [] ;
+    function get_default_comments( vo_entry, translate ) {
+        var comments = vo_entry.comments ? vo_entry.comments : [] ;
+        if ( translate ) {
+            comments.forEach( function( comment, index ) {
+                comments[index] = translateHTML( comment ) ;
+            } ) ;
+        }
+        return comments ;
     }
 
     function load_entries( $sortable, entries ) {
@@ -46,9 +58,7 @@ function _do_edit_ob_vo( $entry, player_no, vo_type )
     function unload_entries( $sortable ) {
         var entries = [] ;
         $sortable.find( "div.html-textbox" ).each( function() {
-            var val = $(this).html().trim() ;
-            while ( val.substr( val.length-4 ) === "<br>" )
-                val = val.substr( 0, val.length-4 ) ;
+            var val = unloadHtmlTextbox( $(this) ) ;
             if ( val.length > 0 )
                 entries.push( val ) ;
         } ) ;
@@ -70,11 +80,11 @@ function _do_edit_ob_vo( $entry, player_no, vo_type )
     var vo_entry = $entry.data( "sortable2-data" ).vo_entry ;
     var capabilities = $entry.data( "sortable2-data" ).custom_capabilities ;
     if ( ! capabilities )
-        capabilities = get_default_capabilities( vo_entry, params, true ).slice() ;
+        capabilities = get_default_capabilities( vo_entry, params, true, false ).slice() ;
     var elite = $entry.data( "sortable2-data" ).elite ;
     var comments = $entry.data( "sortable2-data" ).custom_comments ;
     if ( ! comments )
-        comments = get_default_comments( vo_entry ) ;
+        comments = get_default_comments( vo_entry, false ) ;
 
     // load the dialog
     var vo_image_id = $entry.data( "sortable2-data" ).vo_image_id ;
@@ -147,7 +157,7 @@ function _do_edit_ob_vo( $entry, player_no, vo_type )
         var curr_params = $reset_capabilities.data( "params" ) ;
         $dlg.find( ".header .vo-name" ).html( make_vo_name( curr_vo_entry.name, false ) ) ;
         load_entries( $capabilities,
-            get_default_capabilities( curr_vo_entry, curr_params, false )
+            get_default_capabilities( curr_vo_entry, curr_params, false, false )
         ) ;
         $elite.prop( "checked", false ) ;
     }
@@ -155,7 +165,7 @@ function _do_edit_ob_vo( $entry, player_no, vo_type )
     $reset_comments.data( { vo_entry: vo_entry, params: params } ) ;
     function on_reset_comments() {
         var curr_vo_entry = $reset_capabilities.data( "vo_entry" ) ;
-        load_entries( $comments, get_default_comments(curr_vo_entry) ) ;
+        load_entries( $comments, get_default_comments( curr_vo_entry, false ) ) ;
     }
 
     function update_for_elite( delta ) {
@@ -262,14 +272,14 @@ function _do_edit_ob_vo( $entry, player_no, vo_type )
                     $entry.data( "sortable2-data" ).vo_image_id = data.vo_image_id ;
                 $entry.data( "sortable2-data" ).elite = data.elite ;
                 // save the capabilities and comments
-                if ( data.capabilities.join() !== get_default_capabilities( vo_entry, params, false ).join() )
+                if ( data.capabilities.join() !== get_default_capabilities( vo_entry, params, false, true ).join() )
                     $entry.data( "sortable2-data" ).custom_capabilities = data.capabilities ;
                 else {
                     // the capabilities are the same as the default - no need to retain these custom settings
                     delete $entry.data( "sortable2-data" ).custom_capabilities ;
                 }
                 // save the comments
-                if ( data.comments.join() !== get_default_comments( vo_entry ).join() ) {
+                if ( data.comments.join() !== get_default_comments( vo_entry, true ).join() ) {
                     $entry.data( "sortable2-data" ).custom_comments = data.comments ;
                 }
                 else {
diff --git a/vasl_templates/webapp/tests/test_ob.py b/vasl_templates/webapp/tests/test_ob.py
index 9ccabb9..1c0c964 100644
--- a/vasl_templates/webapp/tests/test_ob.py
+++ b/vasl_templates/webapp/tests/test_ob.py
@@ -16,15 +16,15 @@ from vasl_templates.webapp.tests.utils import \
 
 def test_ob_setup( webapp, webdriver ):
     """Test generating OB setup snippets."""
-    _do_test_ob_entries( webapp, webdriver, "ob_setups", False )
+    _do_test_ob_entries( webapp, webdriver, "ob_setups" )
 
 def test_ob_notes( webapp, webdriver ):
     """Test generating OB note snippets."""
-    _do_test_ob_entries( webapp, webdriver, "ob_notes", True )
+    _do_test_ob_entries( webapp, webdriver, "ob_notes" )
 
 # - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
 
-def _do_test_ob_entries( webapp, webdriver, ob_type, has_para ):
+def _do_test_ob_entries( webapp, webdriver, ob_type ):
     """Test generating OB setup/notes."""
 
     # initialize
@@ -73,12 +73,7 @@ def _do_test_ob_entries( webapp, webdriver, ob_type, has_para ):
         "[German] [<i>updated {} #2</i>] (col=[OBCOL:german/OBCOL-BORDER:german]) (width=[200px])".format( ob_type )
     )
     check_snippet( sortable1, 0,
-        "[German] [{}{} #1{}] (col=[OBCOL:german/OBCOL-BORDER:german]) (width=[100px])".format(
-            "<p>" if has_para else "",
-            ob_type,
-            "</p>" if has_para else ""
-        )
-    )
+        "[German] [{} #1] (col=[OBCOL:german/OBCOL-BORDER:german]) (width=[100px])".format( ob_type ) )
 
     # delete an OB setup/note by dragging it into the trash
     assert get_sortable_entry_count( sortable1 ) == 2