The 10.5 cm Leichtgeschütz 40 was the evolution of the 7.5 cm recoilless gun which had been used successfully in Crete by the German paratroopers. The reason why this was a good weapon for the airborne troops is because it could be taken apart into 5 separate pieces, and dropped into the operating theater where it could be assembled quickly and give these troops much needed firepower. Alternatively, it could be dropped fully assembled with the aid of a special container equipped to absorb the impact. Ironically, after the heavy losses suffered in Crete, the German Fallschirmjaeger were not used again in airborne operations, so the versatility of this gun was not leveraged to its full potential. The LG40, which was manufactured by Krupp, weighed about 855 pounds and it was built using aluminum and magnesium alloys. Its successor, the LG42, was manufactured by Rheinmetall and weighed about 1200 pounds (40% more!) as it had to be manufactured using steel given that alloys became a priced resource as the war went on. The LG 42 could be taken apart into 4 pieces, which likely made it easier to assemble, but some of the parts must have been considerably heavier relative to the LG40. Both the LG40 and the LG42 had a range of about 8km.
Mars German Paratroops w 10.5 cm LG 42 Tropical Uniform
This is a nice and original addition to the existing German Para units produced by other manufacturers which so far have lacked any heavy weapons support. The set includes two guns, each with its respective crew. They are meant to be painted in the tropical uniform. I actually purchased two sets, and plan to paint one crew in the early war (Crete) colors and the other one in the cammo scheme. The recoilless gun is interesting. The wheels are meant to be off the ground when it's deployed, but the plastic is a bit hard to straighten so that it looks even. I may actually use these crews with 21C Pak 40s. As far as the figures go, the poses are all good, but I do feel that the sculpting detail could be sharper.
Mars German Winter Paratroops with 10.5 cm Gun
This is a really nice set to complement the Mars German winter paras. Each crew consists of 5 men and you actually get 2 crews per box. I bought two boxes, so I now have 4 guns/crews, so I will likely assign 2 to the paras and 2 to the regular winter infantry. Those who are into conversions could replace the helmets to make them fit better as regular infantry. The best part about this set are the figures. The gun itself is made of softer plastic which bends quite a bit and needs to be straightened so that the gun stands evenly. A minor criticism is that the shells look wider than the gun's barrel. Looking at some pictures of the real equipment online, I think the shells are the ones which are too large. But let's not get too picky and instead be glad that we have this unique set to give our winter units some well needed firepower!
No comments:
Post a Comment