Saturday 29 September 2012

Fallschirmjäger IV.

10th June, 1944. A squad of Fallschirmjäger from 'Fallschirmjäger-Regiment 6' looking to reinforce the troops in defence of Carentan.

Feldwebel Haschberger and Jagers.

Hauptmann Thaddeus Renke and Jagers.

Unteroffizier Schwarz and Jagers try to decide which way to go.

Hauptmann Renke and his squad.

Figures are a mix of Artizan and Bolt Action. All painted by Neil Wilson of Wilson's Miniatures.


Saturday 8 September 2012

"All American" - 82nd Airborne.

Two squads of the 82nd Airborne shortly after landing in France.

Captain Royce Rudham surveys the scene with his men in tow...



Figures are from Artizan.

Saturday 1 September 2012

British - Riflemen.

Two squads of British infantry on drill in the English countryside - ready to face the Nazi menace!

Sgt. Danbridge leads the men!


Figures are from Crusader Miniatures.

Saturday 25 August 2012

British - Parachute Brigade.

Two squads of British Airbourne from the 1st Parachute Brigade are dropped in behind the front line to provide support to M. Bertin Vaux and his band of resistance fighters...

Captain Henry "Harry" Fortescue and Sgt. Donald McIvar organise the men.


Figures are from Bolt Action.

Saturday 18 August 2012

French Resistance II.

At last, M. Bertin Vaux and Marc-Jean Ferrand are joined in their struggle against the Nazis by some new recruits to the cause. M. Vaux is not entirely happy to see his daughter Yvette has also joined them but at least she knows how to handle a Sten!

M. Bertin Vaux and his valiant fighters move out...

"Vive le France!!"


Figures are from Artizan and Foundry.

Sunday 1 July 2012

Germans on Patrol VIII.

A late war German grenadier platoon under the command of Oberst Henrik Lutz.

Oberst Lutz and command unit.

'Tank Killer' weapons team under Hauptmann Finkel.

First Gruppe, under Leutnant Kuefer.

Second Grupp, under Leutnant Reiniger.

Third Gruppe, under Hauptmann Wechsler.

The whole Platoon.

There is still an MG42 and a mortar team to add to this group.

Figures are from Artizan and Bolt Action.

Sunday 17 June 2012

Germans on Patrol VII.

A single MG42 team hold a position.

"Schießen!"

Later war uniforms with 'splinter' camo, of a sort.

Figures are from Bolt Action.

Sunday 3 June 2012

Germans on Patrol VI.

Another SS unit, this time in a mix of plain 'Feldgrau' uniforms and some in 'Pea-Dot' camo.

Hauptsturmführer Junker and his unit.



Figures are old Bolt Action.

Not painted by me, they were given to me so unsure of the artist!

Sunday 20 May 2012

Germans on Patrol V.

An SS unit in M43 'Pea-Dot' Camouflage uniforms.

Rottenführer Thalberg at ease.

Scharführer Blau directs fire.

An example of SS camo from the Imperial War Museum.

Lots of MG's in this squad!

Figures are from Artizan.

Sunday 6 May 2012

Fallschirmjäger III.

9th June, 1944. Another unit of Fallschirmjäger preparing themselves for the defence of Carentan.

Hauptmann Traugott and his command squad with Medic, Radioman and MG42.

Leutnant Maurer and his rifle section advance.

The 2nd MG42 team.

Jagers, 2 armed with FG42 automatic rifles.

The squad moves out...

Uniform from the Imperial War Museum.



Painted as 'later war' Fallschirmjäger.

Figures are all from Bolt Action.

Sunday 15 April 2012

"Currahee!" (Overpaid. Oversexed. Over here.) - 101st Airbourne.

An understrength platoon from 'Dog' Company of the 506th PIR, 101st US Airborne.

"Hey Joey - which way to Europe?" Pathfinders.

1st Squad, under Sgt. William 'Buck' Hemmings.

2nd Squad, under Sgt. Richard 'Tricky' Warden.

3rd Squad, under Sgt. Thomas 'Duke' Dukeman Jnr.

Command group, led by Captain Ronald Autumn.

Dusk falls on Sgt. Floyd McGrath and the support weapons team...


Painted using the Army Painter technique (speed painted!)

Figures are from Artizan.

Wednesday 11 April 2012

The Russians are Coming II!!

More Russian infantry. Late war Eastern Front.

Russian Squad under Serzhant Pavel Malinovsky.

Russian uniform from the Imperial War Museum.

Still a work in progress - lots more to do!

Figures are all Bolt Action.

Sunday 8 April 2012

Germans on Patrol IV.

Oberst Deiter Loewe tries to organise his tired and battle weary men - an understrength platoon of German Heer.

Oberst Loewe and command unit.

First Gruppe, under Leutnant Kortig.

Second Gruppe, under Hauptmann Reinhard.

'Tank Killer' weapons team, under Hauptmann Waechter.

MG42 team.

MG34 team.

The whole Platoon.


Painted using the Army Painter technique.

Figures are mainly Crusader but also Artizan, Black Tree Design and Bolt Action.

Saturday 10 March 2012

Fallschirmjäger II.

9th April, 1940. A small unit of Fallschirmjäger under the command of Leutnant Dreher, soon after landing as part of Operation Weserübung in Denmark.

Leutnant Dreher and his squad just outside Aalborg Air Base.

The squad MG34 sets up.

Dropped far from the others, Jager Schmidt runs to rejoin the squad!


2nd unit, again painted as early war Fallschirmjäger.

Figures are all Wargames Foundry. Sorry the photos are a bit blurred!


Saturday 25 February 2012

M4 Sherman Tank.

US troops and a Sherman with Culin hedgerow cutter advance on a Belgian town.

The M4 was originally designed to replace the (stopgap) M3 medium tank, as a medium tank armed with a 75mm gun in a turret, and using many of the components of the M3 to speed production. Two versions of the tank went into production at the end of 1941. The M4 was a tank with a welded hull, characterized by the sharp cornered hull shape, while the M4A1 featured a cast hull with a more rounded shape. The reason for the two styles was that, in order to meet production targets, factories without the ability to handle hull castings were used. These firms could not produce the large armor castings needed for the M4A1 hull, but they were able to produce the welded M4 hull. (In the end, the welded hull variants out-numbered the cast hull versions.)

Sgt. Bill Hey and crew take time out of the cramped interior of their tank.

When the tank first entered combat in North Africa in 1942, it was quite successful, but combat experience showed a number of changes were needed. Some of the changes involved improving protection, as the tank’s armor was insufficient to stand up to the larger German guns. Additional armor was added at the depot level, by welding additional armor over vulnerable areas, such as the ammo storage bins. This armor was called “applique armor”. Additional soft armor was added by crews in the field. This took the form of sandbags, logs, tracks, and other similar materials. This type of add-on protection didn’t really help against anti-tank cannon fire, but was effective against Panzerfaust (Germany’s version of the bazooka) rocket propelled HE rounds.

Gunner Corporal 'Chuck' Miller keeps watch with his Thompson SMG.

The Sherman was first equipped with the with the L/40 75mm M3 Gun, which firing the usual M61 round could penetrate 77 mm at 100m and 61 mm at 1000m. Conditions later in the war necessitated the up-gunning to the L/55 76mm M1A2, which could penetrate 124 mm at 100m and 83 mm at 1000m using the usual M79 round. The M1A2 helped to equalize the Sherman and the PzIV in terms of firepower, although the M4 was still under-powered compared to the Panther's much more powerful L/70 75mm gun.

Corporal Miller in action.

The British-developed Sherman Firefly was up-gunned with the 17 pdr. gun. The 17 pdr. also was 76 mm and had a L/55 barrel, but it introduced a much bigger charge which allowed it to penetrate 140 mm at 100m and 120 mm at 1000m using Mk.IV shot. This gun allowed the Firefly a slight firepower advantage over the Panther, although the blinding muzzle flash due to unburnt powder from the increased charge was a handicap.
Sherman at the Imparial War Museum.

The U.S. Army restricted the Sherman's height, width, and weight so that it could be transported via typical bridges, roads, and railroads. This aided strategic, logistical, and tactical flexibility.

Sherman at the Imperial War Museum.

The Sherman had good speed both on- and off-road. Off-road performance varied. In the desert, the Sherman's rubber tracks performed well. In the confined, hilly terrain of Italy, the Sherman could often cross terrain that some German tanks could not.

Tank crew at Fort Knox 1942.

A typical checklist of a tank crews equipment can be found on the Patton's Troubleshooters website.
M4 Sherman on Wikipedia.

Sherman M4 tank from a plastic 1/48 scale Tamiya kit. Crew are by Artizan.