Attack of the Red Devils

News from the front Fall 1944, somewhere in Northern Europe and our brave photographer, Dan D. Shurshot sends us pictures of the famous "Red Devil' (aka 1st Parachute Division) in action.
                                          

                           Here a section of Red Devils charge headlong into battle.

They are given covering fire by a team using a captured Maschinengewehr 34 (Machine gun 34).

When they meet enemy armour it's time for the Projectial Infantry Anti-Tank (PIAT) team to lend a hand.

                                        

The Bren Gun LMG team sprints forward to give even more fire support to the attack.

All the while a sniper team checks their comrades "6" for any hostiles.

All are plastic pieces that I pained in June 2018.

And here is an actual 1944 photo of a Red Devils PIAT Team during Operation Market Garden.

Paratroop Sniper Team

A two-man Tommy Paratrooper sniper team races to their next vantage point to cover their comrades advance in 1944 Northern Europe. 

These are plastic pieces from Warlord that I painted for my Bolt Action British Army.

The Ordinance SBML Two Inch Mortar was a great improvement on the rifle grenade and much easier to move and use than the larger medium mortars.

Capable of firing a 2-pound 2-ounce (.51 kilo) round 500 yards (460 meters) every 7.5 seconds, the Two-Inch mortar gave solid service to British and Commonwealth forces from the late 1930's to 1960's.

I painted up this plastic Sikh mortar team this week.

Ben Gun-Firepower on the Move

At the run, a two-man British paratrooper Bren Gun team race to the next firing position to support their comrades advance after an early morning drop behind enemy lines.

A reliable and popular squad weapon, the Bren gun was a staple of the British Army through much of the Mid 20th century.

These are plastic pieces I painted in 2018.

Have No Fear, the Home Guard is Here

Daily Post Dispatcher Times 19-9-40. In the latest news from the Home Front our photojournalist, Robbie Cl'shot, has taken this pic of the Upper & Lower Derbywishershire council LMG Home Guard (HG) squad returning from an intensive day of field training. Under the inspired leadership of Assistant Mayor, Rupert B. Readyson, the squad has drilled relentlessly and are ready to give the Hun a black eye if they dare show their faces in the vicinity of Upper & Lower Derbywishershire! 

 Assistant Mayor, Rupert B. Readyson stands ready to give the Huns a taste of their own medicine with his Mauser 9mm machine pistol Great War souvenir weapon.

Joko Brawnsworty demonstrates his strength by brandishing his Bren Gun LMG with one hand. Willam

Miller is Jokos's assistant gunner.

 

The end of the training session is at hand as Joko points the way to the Hoornboower Arms Pub, time for a pint of Bitter me thinks.

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On the left, giving a rousing cheer for King and country (and a well-deserved pint), is local baker Issac Loofmakr.

Bringing up the rear are the dry merchant brothers Randalf and Gandalf Tollkens. Randalf keeps a lookout for other members of the HG, as it has become a new tradition that the first squad to the Hoornboower Arms is given a free pint from the pub's owner, Quist Fitzsailor, as a reward for the brave HG defenders. Time to drink up for tomorrow they drill again.

These Home Guard pieces are kit-bashed from Perry, Atlantic and Warlord pieces that I put together and painted this week.

Para's Advance

Captain Hyde Hamer-Smyth gathers his command section and heads towards "the sound of the guns."

The captain knows that one of the greatest's strengths of paratroopers after a drop is swift action to catch the enemy unprepared and disoriented. So have at it "Para's" and "let loose the dogs of war!"

Thes are plastic pieces I painted in June 2019.

Drop 50. Fire for Effect

Throughout the Second World War, the medium, mortar added quick. local firepower to support the Bloody Infantry. Here a British Ordinance ML 3-inch mortar lends its support to the front-line soldiers.

 Designed in the 1930's, and in use in combat as late as the Soviet Afghanistan Invasion of the 1980's, the ML 3-inch did excellent reliable. service. It was actually 81mm (3.2 inch) in diameter and fired a 4.5 kg (10lb) round up to 1500 m (1600 yds), war time improvements increased the range to 2600 m (2800 yds).

This mortar team is made of metal pieces that I assembled and painted earlier this month.
 

The Always Reliable Vickers .303 Machine Gun

Since 1912, the .303 Vickers Medium Machine Gun has be the Backbone of support fire for the bloody infantry. Firing up to 500 rounds a minute to ranges beyond 2000 m (2187+ yards) the Vickers was well suited for the battlefields of Europe, Africa and the Pacific.

After stellar service in the Great War, it was no surprise that the beloved weapon continued to confront the Empires enemies in the Second Word War.

As well as the Korean war, and every British conflict between, until its final retirement in 1968.

This Vickers MMG team is all metal, that I built and painted earlier this month.
 

Need Boots on the Ground-Call in the Bloody Infantry

A well tested British infantry squad is a perfect example of the "Bloody Infantry" that did the lion's share of ground fighting of the Second World War.

Like their forefathers, and future infantry brothers, the Bloody Infantry are the ones who have to take and hold the ground they are fighting on. Their job is made easier by the other arms like the artillery, but in the end its "Boots on the Ground" that own the land.

This squad has a mixed group of weapons, Sten Gun SMG, Bren Gun LMG, Enfield rifles, Piat anti-tank, Webley revolver, hand grenades, and the spike bayonet. 

The weapons and equipment may change, but since the time of the Roman Legionnaires, the role of the Bloody Infantry will aways be the same.  Meet and defeat the enemy, take and hold the land that they paid for with their blood.

So raise a pint and salute the Bloody Infantry-God Bless Em.

                                    These are plastic pieces I finished last night.

Today's Workbench

Todays (Monday April 18, projects. Fron to back: M4 75mm Sherman tank, a 9-man British WWII squad with Bren gun, 4 Napoleonic soldiers, and 5 Crisis Protocol Asgardians.

The Asgardians are Hela, Valkyrie, Loki. Thor and Angela.

All are plastic pieces. In the back left is a future project birthday gift from Richard, an M-3 Lee tank.
 

Tank, Cruiser, Mk VII, Cromwell (A27M)

 

                                                 Right, let's just go with "Cromwell," OK.

With only4000 units built, Cromwell's were not the most common tank in the British Army. Yet with its high speed 64kn/h (40 mph), good armor 76-100mm (3 to 4 inches) on reliable 75mm (2.953 inch) main gun the Cromwell was popular with its crews. 

Cromwell's saw heavy service from 1944 to the end of World War II in Europe, as well as action in the '48 Arab Israeli War and the Korean War.

After World War II, some Cromwell's found service with the Greek, Israeli, Polish and Portuguese Armies. 

         By the mid-1950's, they were no longer frontline units in the British Army.

This is a plastic piece that I put together and painted this month.
 

Turn About is Fare Play

There's nothing ion the rule book that says you can't use the enemy's weapons against them.

Especially when it's the excellent Maschinengewehr 34 (Machine gun 34), that these British paratroopers are using against its former owners.

I scratched together this plastic unit using British and German Bolt Action pieces in June of 2018.