In 1963 the Soviet Union released the film ‘Optimistic
Tragedy’. It won ‘Best Revolutionary
Epic’ at Cannes that year (though one wonders how many other films were in the
running) and within the Soviet Union it took in 46 million tickets at the
theatres (again, ticket ‘sales’ may have been encouraged by the state or perhaps even
made free). Politics aside, it was regarded as an important film and was credited for its technical authenticity and production quality.
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| 'Optimistic Tragedy' - Yes, only the Russians could come up with such a title for a movie... |
The movie tells the story of a Russian Naval unit
which comes under the leadership of a female commissar (named simply ‘The Commissar’) played by
Margarita Volodina. The film is essentially about the struggle for the control (and identity) of a
band of anarchist sailors during the Russian civil war. This group of sailors basically acts
as a self-governing detachment until a female commissar is detached from Party
headquarters to bring them into the fold of the Red Army.
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| Russian Sailor Beefcake |
The plot will remind many of today’s viewers
of movies in which a steely-willed teacher slowly civilizes a classroom of unruly teenagers. It's a historically interesting film, and so inspired, I thought it a great opportunity to put together a small vignette depicting a
female commissar who is urging forward her unit of Russian sailors for the glory of the Revolution.
Historically the Russian navy provided some
of the hardest fighting cadres for the Bolshevik cause. They were often
committed to hardest fighting in both the Revolution and the Civil War – they
were depended upon for their professionalism, aggressiveness and steadiness
under fire.
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| A.Z. Zhelezniakov, a Russian sailor who became a prominent Bolshevik commander during the Civil War. |
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Ironically the sailors themselves became some
the last casualties of the Russian Civil War. In 1921, when based back with the Fleet at
Kronstadt, they made demands for a return to the original purpose of the
Revolution, namely free elections, free speech and right of assembly. They were
swiftly labeled as counter-revolutionaries and were attacked by approximately 60,000
Bolsheviks, who stormed them over the ice at Kronstadt harbor. After fierce
fighting, where they caused appalling casualties amongst the attacking Red Army, the
sailors either surrendered or escaped to exile in Finland. Overall, an embarrassing closing chapter for the Bolshevik's revolution.
The sailors seen here are all from
Copplestone Castings. I’ve painted them in a mix of either their regular blue or
white dress trousers. I did this to add
some variation as many of the poses are virtually identical so I reasoned that
some men may have resorted to their dress trousers when they wore-out their
blues.
The female Commissar is also from
Copplestone. On the same base I’ve added a NCO from Footsore Miniatures
(previously Musketeer). I had them both based, primed and ready to paint when I
realized he had epaulettes on his shoulders and an Imperial rosette on his cap.
This is a BIG no-no with Bolsheviks, especially after December 1917 where they
made it mandatory to remove all symbols of imperial rank. In fact it was
regarded as a damning insult to be called a ‘Golden Epaulette’ in the Red Army.
Anyway, knife and file were duly brandished and the offending insignia was removed so
he could be 'a Soldier of Equal Rights'.
As with the squad of Whites that I did a
few weeks ago, I’ve placed flowers in the groundwork that identifies with their political
affiliation (though with all of these fellas being festooned with red armbands and accompanied by a commissar who's waving a honkin’ huge
red banner it does seem like a bit of overkill, oh well…).
The vehicle is an Austin-Putilov-Kegresse
halftracked armoured car. The Kegresse variant was particular to the Bolsheviks who
modified twelve Austin cars to this halftrack model. The machine gun turrets were
off-set to better allow overlapping fields of fire (and just in case you're wondering the shields on the
sides of the guns were designed to protect the barrels’ water coolant casings from being
holed from incoming fire).
This 1/55 scale model is from Copplestone
and while a bit small for my liking, was a very easy build. Nonetheless, when I originally unpacked it I
discovered that while the resin body was excellent, some of the white metal
parts were flawed in that they were missing some of their edge detail, and the
existing detail was rather soft. I sent a
note to Mark Copplestone outlining my concerns to which he immediately replied,
apologized for the defects, insisted on sending out another model of equal
value (post free), and also stated that he would pull the Putilov model until
the quality issue was resolved. Wow. Now, how’s that for excellent service?! I'm very impressed and must thank Mark again for being such a gracious vendor, he’ll
definitely be getting my business again soon.
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| Magnetics installed for the turrets. |
I painted this model in a two-tone camouflage pattern that I understand was typical for the period. Photographic evidence suggests that some of these vehicles operated without any insignia or slogans so that is what I went with here (and it allows it to be used as a captured vehicle by the Whites, Poles or even for Pulp gaming).
For scoring, these dozen figures and the
armoured car will give me 75 points. Now, this places me at 125 points total for
my duel with Phil (where in our 'Duel So Civil' we challenged one another to see who could first paint
100 points of any civil war infantry). This
past Friday I challenged him to hit his 100 point target by his next posting
day (this Thursday), or better yet, beat my par of 125. Okay, the clock is running Mr. Hawkins, it's now your move…
