From DaveS - 'Allo 'Allo - French Partisans

 I have continued to work on the French Partisans that I plan on using for Bolt Action.  This time, I have the start of a second squad, and a pre-war 75mm Howitzer for support.

First we have the body of the squad, 6 troops with rifles, one with a Panzerfaust.  These are a mix of Warlord's French Partisans, and their Russian ones. Their leader has a sash, which I have attempted to paint as a French flag.  There is also the Partisan in a Trenchcoat that someone was wishing for.

As part of this squad, I also have the light machine gun and loader.  These were real pigs to photograph at all well.  I also noticed during painting that the gunner has no bipod for his machine gun.  The plan is to either make one in the future, or to balance the gun barrel on something else (maybe sandbags) when I manufacture some.  For now, he will just have to be wildly inaccurate instead.

Finally, we have an artillery option, in the form of the 75mm Howitzer.  This caused me some issues, as I was torn as to what colour to paint it.  Eventually, I went with an artillery blue, figuring that this was an older gun that had not been repainted, and small enough caliber to have never been painted in camo.  However, since I know almost nothing about French guns, I could be completely wrong.  It does, however, look good with the rest of the forces.

So that should be 12 28mm models at 5pts each, plus a crewed gun at 10pts, for a total of 70 points.

" 'Allo London, zees ees Missus Nighthawk calling..."

These are obviously the Communist resistance - the de Gaullists were all in berets, brown raincoats and wearing white ankle socks...

I'm sure you already have a certain cafe owner and his staff from Artizan's "Thrilling Tales" range (and if not, maybe you'll be ordering them now I've made the suggestion).

Tamsin

From Curt: Czech Paratroopers from 'Operation Anthropoid' - The Hall of Traps (55 Points)

For my submission for 'The Hall of Traps' I've painted up figures representing the Czech paratroops, members of 'Operation Anthropoid', who were trapped and killed in the Church of Saint Cyril and Methodius in Prague on June 18, 1942.

My grandfather was raised just outside Prague and emigrated to Canada when he was a boy. In around 1940 he received a draft notice from the German-controlled Czech government  calling him 'home' to serve in the army. Being a new Canadian he pointedly ignored it. When I was a teen he told me of the Czech patriots that killed Heydrich along with its heavy cost. Being young, I really didn't know much of what he talked about, but I knew it made him very sad and yet proud. It wasn't until I watched the excellent movie 'Anthropoid' a few years ago that I understood what this event may have meant to him.

Poster from the 2016 film

As a bit of background, 'Operation Anthropoid' was a Special Operations Executive (SOE) mission whose objective was to assassinate SS Obergruppenfurer Reinhard Heydrich in Prague in the spring of 1942.  

Heydrich was the head of the SS security service and was the Reichsprotektor of Bohemia and Moravia. In addition to being soullessly ruthless (he was the chief architect of 'The Final Solution'), he was also regarded as a brilliant administrator and a savvy politician. His influence and position within the Nazi party made him an obvious target for the SOE, who wanted to make the point that any Nazi leader, no matter how powerful, could be found, targeted and killed.

In light of the despondency and acquiescence of many Czechoslovakians to the 1938 German occupation, the Czech government-in-exile was eager to show its commitment to the overthrow of Nazi Germany. They wanted to be seen as active participants in the war, and were enthusiastic to be involved in a bold strike to salve their national pride and bolster their credentials in any postwar reconstruction.

As such, a team of SOE-trained Czech paratroopers were dropped into Czechoslovakia, and after several setbacks and false starts, succeeded in fatally wounding Heydrich while he was being driven to work in his open-topped staff car.

Heydrich's staff car after the attack. Note the bomb damage on the rear running board.

The Czech commandos were given sanctuary in the Church of Saint Cyril and Methodius. Nonetheless, their hiding place was ultimately discovered by the SS through torture and treachery. 

Approximately 750 SS troops laid siege to the church. They tried numerous times to simply force an entry, but were bloodily repulsed. After several hours of fighting they managed to force the surviving paratroopers down into the lower crypt. The SS then used tear gas and then began to flood it from firetrucks brought to the scene. Recognising that their situation was hopeless, the last remaining paratroopers committed suicide rather than being captured.

Memorial plaque at the Church commemorating the Czech and Slovak paratroopers killed in the siege and the church's clergy who were subsequently murdered by the Nazis. 

As expected, the reprisals for the assassination were swift, brutal and without any sense of proportion. The Nazis arrested thousands, and the villages of Lidice and Lezaky were effectively wiped from the map. It is estimated that approximately 5000 civilians were murdered by the SS, with many being interred and later executed in concentration camps. The clergy from the church where the paratroopers were hidden were summarily executed. 

The believed necessity of Heydrich's assassination weighed against the resulting reprisals is something which is still debated today - it certainly isn't an easy question to rationalise or square with. Yes, 'The Butcher of Prague' and the architect of the Final Solution had been brought to justice. It did cause the Nazis to increase security in their rear areas, which meant less troops serving at the front, and it did steel the Czech's will against their occupiers, but the cost of these gains was so very high that it brings into question the decision to mount the operation in the first place.

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The majority of the figures I used for the paratroopers are 28mm partisans from Artizan Design and Wargames Foundry. Nice, simple and characterful. 

I used fairly large bases with sloped sides so I had space to paint in the names of the seven paratroopers. My script is a little off here and there, but it serves alright.

These seven figures plus the Chamber bonus will give me 55 points and Squirrel Point #3.

Sorry for the rambling history lesson, but thank you for dropping in!

-Curt 

From AlanD: Partizanke! (30 points)

This is my shameless bid for Sarah's choice....

The Jugoslavian partisan forces under Tito are important contributors to the history of WWII who don't get the attention they deserve in the West, and are increasingly overlooked in the Balkans thanks to the ethnic politics that have dominated in the region since the 1990s.

In our little hobby world, it is a glaring omission that nobody has made 28mm figures of Jugo partisans. There are French Resistance and Russian partisans, but they are almost always unsuitable to represent Balkan figures. I have approached a couple of manufacturers over the past couple of years to try to interest them in making some figures - offering to do the research and everything - but so far without success. So I have decided to have a stab at making some figures myself, kitbashing available figures until I have a useable force for Bolt Action.

For those interested in women in warfare, Jugoslavia is a powerful case study. Perhaps up to 100,000 women fought under Tito in WWII - up to around 1 in every 7 or so combatants. Of these, perhaps a quarter died. I knew that some of the first figures I would make would be a tribute to some of these women.

I have chosen to depict my partizanke as belonging to a Brigade in the west of Serbia or Bosnia in the Spring of 1945. They are fairly well equipped, with a mixture of captured German weapons and uniforms, those supplied by the British, and a few pieces of Jugoslav army kit. Most of the figures are kitbashed from Warlord plastic figures of Russians, British and Germans, with heads from Statuesque Miniatures and lots of Greenstuff. The Partizanka with the grey skirt is a metal figure, I think from Black Tree Design, with a Greenstuff Titovka (cap) and uniform collars.

I learned a fair bit about working with Greenstuff from this attempt, and the next figures will have better caps in particular, but I am pretty pleased with them. Only another hundred or so to go.

And figure manufacturers who would like to be ranted at about why this is a range of figures you need to make - I'd love to hear from you!

A blatant tilt at Sarah's Choice, surely the Lady will see this cynical entry for what it is?!

Very nice conversions! I particularly like the long skirt, it seems impractical. I like the different shades of green/ grey/ khaki you've used. We look forwards to being further educated!

Barks

From AlanD: More Fall of the Reich and a New Project (88 points)

This week I had the pleasure of painting a box of 8-rad German armoured cars from Battlefront. This is a terrific box set, enabling you to build 6 vehicles of the Sdkfz 234 series. I painted up 2 as Sdkfz 234/1s, a brace of Pumas and one each of the Pakwagen and Stummel.

All but one of the Pumas are painted as belonging to SS units, and are destined for games of Battlegroup Spring Awakening or Fall of the Reich. I even had a go at painting some bits of uniform in a very stylised SS pea-dot camouflage, which is sheer folly in 15mm!







Continuing on my terrain project, I also painted up a bombed-out factory to add to my urban layout.

I also started a new project this week. I have been wanting to make a Jugoslavian partisan force in 28mm for some time, mainly for the challenge of converting the figures. Nobody makes a suitable range of Jugo partisan figures, as their appearance differed markedly from the French Resistance or Soviet partisans that comprise most of what is available in 28mm. Consequently, after a lot of research, I've started trying to make my own. The first figure is a proof of concept test, being an easy kitbash from Warlord bits. There will be more.





So for points this week, I make it:

6 x 15mm vehicles = 48
6 x 15mm figures = 12
2 x 15mm half figures = 2
1 x terrain of 34x15cm = 20?
1 x 28mm infantry = 5

Adding up to 87 points, I believe. And now to bed!

A new project! Very interesting to watch this evolve. Was this inspired by your recent trip to Serbia? What makes a Jugoslavian partisan recognisable?

I've always liked the 8-rads, and I'll give a bonus point for the pea-dot camo. That's a WW2 German-appropriate 88 points.

Barks