world war two Archives - Page 27 of 36

Flames of War French Reinforcements

On the 23rd July, my French Blitzkreig forces will be able to get some reinforcements with some new releases for them for Flames of War.

The FRX05 All-Terrain Towed 105mm Artillery Battery.

The FRX06 Self-propelled 75mm Anti-aircraft Platoon look like relics from World War One. Old lorries with 75mm AA guns on board, just the thing to attempt to shoot down the odd stuka or three.

The final release for the French is the FR201 Lorraine 38L Armoured Carrier.

Used as a supply carrier, many were later used by the Germans and converted in self propelled artillery.

Flames of War Churchill Platoon

Another new release from Flames of War is this boxed Churchill Platoon set.

Though designed for Cassino, it should also be suitable for the Normandy campaign, though I did think it might be handy for a game based on the Dieppe raid in 1942.

I awakened to a stab of early morning sunlight searing my eyelids. My batman, Corporal Mino, peered through the tent flap. “Sir wake up! Admiral Mountbatten has ordered you to attend a debriefing in London two hours from now.”

I sat up groggily. Christ, I was a mess. I was still wearing my battledress, filthy, streaked in grime and dried blood.

“They said you were the only officer of the whole brigade who came back from the beaches. You’re all that’s left.”

Captain Denis Whitaker, Royal Hamilton Light Infantry

August 19th 1942 was a date that many Canadians would never forget. On that day, three thousand Canadian infantry troops (out of an initial total of five thousand) were killed, wounded or taken prisoner on the beaches of Dieppe on the French coast. The Royal Navy lost boats and personnel, the RAF and RCAF had one hundred and eight planes shot down with sixty pilots lost. The Allies had raided a heavily fortified port and had paid the price, a heavy price.

In 1942, Aldof Hitler and his armed forces held most of Europe and was probing deep into Russia. Stalin called on his allies to open a second front.

The allies knew that if they were to liberate France than they would need a port, logistics is what wins wars, not necessarily better weapons The Dieppe raid was conceived as a precursor to a larger landing in France at some later date.

Many lessons were learnt on that day, but just under two years later on the 6th June 1944, the allies landed on the beaches of Normandy, D-Day was the beginning of the end of the Nazi occupation of Europe. D-Day saw the use of “funnies”, tanks specially designed to overcome beach obstacles, mulberry harbours and a wide range of other new equipment.

The Churchill Platoon set is out on the 30th July.

Flames of War Cromwell ARV

Having seen this picture on the Flames of War website, decided that this was a really nice model.

So I decided to get a blister.

Photographs of Cromwell ARVs in action in France.

These are the resin and metal pieces.

See the workbench feature on the Cromwell ARV.

Colditz

Recently on the Yesterday channel here in the UK, they have been showing the 1970s BBC Series, Colditz.

This classic series deals with Allied prisoners of war imprisoned at the supposedly escape-proof Colditz Castle during World War II, and their many attempts to escape captivity, as well as the relationships formed between the various nationalities and their German captors.

I do remember watching it back then and usually I avoid watching things I recall from the 1970s and 1980s as my nostalgic memories are often dashed when I view them now. The Channel Island drama, Enemy At The Door was also on recently and to be honest though I remember enjoying it back when it was first on, it seemed somewhat more soap opera than world war two drama.

So when I found that Yesterday were showing Colditz, I thought I would remember it from my nostalgic memories rather than ruin them by watching it again.

However looking through the listings describing the episodes, I was intrigued by the episode Tweedledum.

One memorable episode portrays the attempts of a prisoner, Wing Commander Marsh (Michael Bryant), to get out of Colditz by feigning insanity. He succeeds, but is pushed to the limits of his sanity in the process…

I did watch it, and was impressed, it certainly was worth the awards it won. As a result I watched more episodes. Slightly disappointed that I had missed so many, but at least it is available on DVD.

If you like 1970/80s world war two dramas, then you will enjoy Colditz. With an excellent cast, great writing and some poignant stories, it is a series well worth watching.

Flames of War Jagdpanzer IV

The Jagdpanzer IV, Sd.Kfz. 162, was a tank destroyer based on the Panzer IV chassis built in three main variants.

I managed to get these two blisters on special offer.

Flames of War British M10 / 17pdr SP Achilles

The 17 pounder, Self Propelled, Achilles was a British variant of the American M10 Tank destroyer armed with the powerful British Ordnance QF 17 pounder anti-tank gun in place of the standard 3″ (76.2 mm) Gun M7. With a total of 1,100 M10s converted, the 17 pdr SP Achilles was the second most numerous armoured fighting vehicle to see service armed with the 17 pounder gun, behind the Sherman Firefly.

Purchased a couple of Flames of War blister of the M10. They were on sale and cheaper than normally.

Within each blister you get a resin hull and turret, metal parts and plastic tracks.

Interesting to note that though both models have the same code and were purchased at the same time from one retailer, one came with a complete resin turret, whilst the other had a turret which was part resin and part metal! The resin turret is much crisper and nicer than the metal component.

See the workbench feature on the British M10 / 17pdr SP Achilles.

Flames of War Panther A Platoon

Panther is the common name of a medium tank fielded by Nazi Germany in World War II that served from mid-1943 to the end of the European war in 1945. It was intended as a counter to the T-34, and to replace the Panzer III and Panzer IV; while never replacing the latter, it served alongside it as well as the heavier Tiger tanks until the end of the war. The Panther’s excellent combination of firepower, mobility, and protection served as a benchmark for other nations’ late war and immediate post-war tank designs, and it is frequently regarded as one of the best tank designs of World War II.

The resin and metal certainly fills the box.

There are five Panthers in the box and the hulls and turrets are in resin.

The tracks and the rest of the gubbinz are in metal. There are quite a few parts to the model and there are opportunities to customise each model further. What’s nice about this pack is that each of the models is individually sculptured so there are subtle differences between each of the tanks. The parts include the tracks, mudguards, the cupola with an option to put in a tank commander, the front MG, exhausts, skirts and the main weapon.

The first stage was to wash the resin to get rid of any mould lubricant.

See the workbench feature on my Flames of War Panther A Platoon.

Flames of War German Krupp Kfz 70 Trucks

I’ve always like the Krupp truck, probably as a result of buying the Matchbox 1/76th scale model kit.

You may recall an earlier blog post on the influence of Matchbox and Airfix kits on my purchasing decisions.

So was pleased to see that the truck was also available for Flames of War. Decided to get a couple even though I am building a Late War German force.

German Panzergrenadier Platoon

As well as the boxed set, I also have the German Panzergrenadier Platoon blister. It contains three squads.

Flames of War French Char B1 bis

The Char B1 was a French heavy tank manufactured before the Second World War. It was a specialised heavy break-through vehicle, originally conceived as a self-propelled gun with a 75 mm howitzer in the hull; later a 47 mm gun in a turret was added, to allow it to function also as a Char de Bataille, a “battle tank” fighting enemy armour, equipping the armoured divisions of the Infantry Arm.

Among the most powerfully armed and armoured tanks of its day, the type was very effective in direct confrontations with German armour in 1940 during the Battle of France, but a slow speed and high fuel consumption made it ill-adapted to the war of movement then fought. After the defeat of France captured Char B1 (bis) would be used by Germany, some rebuilt as flamethrowers or mechanised artillery.

It’s as the German flamethrower variant that is sold for Flames of War that I purchased. At the time of writing battlefront have repackaged the blister as early war French version. I got two blisters of the Char B1.

Though having looked at the army lists in the Blitzkrieg book it looks like I should really have three, however there were only two in the shop when I bought them. So I ordered a third when I made a recent order for Flames of War.

Within the blister you get the resin hull and turret whilst the rest of the model is whitemetal.