On the evening of 19/20 April 1945 a force of around 200 Italian Paracadutisti from the old Nembo and Folgore regiments accompanied by one British Airborne sergeant were dropped behind German lines south of the Po River in Northern Italy. This was the beginning of Operation Herring, a 36 hour operation to disrupt the retreating German forces along with securing bridges in the area. Aided by Italian Partisans the mission was a success however it did end up lasting 3 days before Allied forces reached the area. According to some sources 481 German soldiers were killed, 1083 surrendered, 44 vehicles were destroyed and many captured including tanks, armoured cars and artillery, 77 telephone lines cut, three bridges taken intact and an ammunition storage site blown up.
This is the beginning of my Italian Paracadutisti force for Operation Herring, however the idea is to be able to use these figures for both Allies and Axis forces. As not all the Italian Paracadutisti joined the Allies after the Armistice and some fought on in the 4th Fallschirmjager Division most notably at Anzio. Future plans involve some conversion work, probably head swaps, as they did use some British equipment including Brens and Stens. I will also add Fallschirmjager to use as part of 4th Division. Another thing to consider is that I want the figures to be useable for different rule sets so the basing will be suitable for Rapid Fire, Battlegroup and Arc of Fire.
Figures are all Kelly's Heroes except the British Airborne figure on the HQ base which is from Platoon 20.
