Introducing the Finnish Infantry

Latest edit: Added Hanomak Lapland Army

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World War II for Finland represented three separate phases. First came the Winter War, fought against the Soviet Union between the end of November 1940 and March 1941. During this period, Finland stood alone against the Soviet Union which had some territorial ambitions particularly north of Leningrad in the area known as Karelia. Despite being outnumbered at least 3 to 1 -or worse in some sectors-, and having substantial deficiencies in materiel such as armor, planes and supplies, the Finns fought with distinction along the entire border with the USSR. However the Finns had a couple of substantial advantages. They were used to the harsh winter weather and the heavily forested and snow-covered terrain. This meant that as opposed to the Soviet Army which traveled mainly on roads, the Finns used skis and white clothing or the cover of the long, dark winter nights to move swiftly off-road around the Soviets and harass them with guerrilla tactics or even envelope them and destroy them in smaller groups. What the Soviets expected to be a 2 week effort turned into a tough 3 month campaign. Soviet military blunders certainly contributed, as the Soviet army was still hurting from Stalin's officer purges of 1937. It was not until the Soviets adjusted their combined arms tactics that they were able to break through the static defenses on the Southern front that the Finns defenders had to negotiate for peace at the expense of considerable territorial (11%) concessions.

This peace lasted until the beginning of Operation Barbarossa, when the Germans attacked the Soviet Union. Finland, allied with Germany, began its military operations which became known as the Continuation War. During this campaign, Finland was able to recover their lost territories and to its credit, halted at its original border, rendering this sector of the front relatively quiet, even while Germany pressed on the attack and lay siege to Leningrad for 28 months. Finnish actions were limited to repulsing the occasional Soviet attack, although the Soviets did attempt to wage an air bombing campaign against Helsinki, which had very limited impact. In the summer of '44, 3 days after the Normandy landings, The Soviet Union launched a major offensive along the Karelian Isthmus. In about a month, they pushed the Finnish back close to 100km, roughly to the border established at the end of the Winter War. It was thanks to German support in the form of men and materiel that the Finns were able to stop the Soviet advance. However, this made them determined to negotiate a separate peace, while they still had a 'stable' front and before Germany collapsed. A peace agreement was reached in September of '44, with Finland agreeing to pay 600M in reparations.

The last phase of the war became known as the Lapland War and consisted mainly of chasing the Germans out of Finland, as agreed to by the peace terms with the Soviet Union, even as the Finnish Army was being demobilized, also per the terms of the peace agreement. This campaign was relatively peaceful, as both sides did not want to fight each other, and consisted mainly of isolated rearguard actions as the Germans moved out of Finland into Norway. The Germans did leave behind considerable destruction in their wake as they burned out buildings which the pursuing Finns might be able to use for shelter, and they also destroyed bridges and mined roads, causing further casualties for years to come. Casualties from these campaigns totaled 26k dead or missing out of 340k during the Winter War,63k dead or missing out of 530k during the Continuation War, and a little over 1k out of 75k during the Lapland War. In terms of Toy Soldiers, this is a theater that has not really been covered by solider manufacturers and it wasn't until recently that one set became known to me. Let's take a look.

Engineer Bassevich Finnish Infantry - Part I

This is a nicely sculpted set from Engineer Bassevich, which is a Russian manufacturer and understandably has chosen to cover this theater. It contains a total of 10 Finn soldiers, although only 6 of them represent fighting poses. As usual with Bassevich's figures, they are well sculpted with a very nice level of detail. They also represent a good level of diversity on the uniforms being worn, however this might pose some challenges if you are trying to build up a sizeable unit of similarly clad men.

Engineer Bassevich Finnish Infantry - Part II

Of these, my favorite one is the man on the left, standing while firing the sub MG. He is wearing white cammo overalls and a German style helmet. Definitely a great fit for the Winter War scene once he is painted all in white. The officers in the middle are probably some known historic characters, as is the case in some of the other Bassevich sets, but I must say that I would have rather had a couple more action poses than this many officers.

Engineer Bassevich Soviet Infantry - Winter War

Not to leave the Finns without an opponent, this set also contains four Soviet soldiers, although that's hardly going to be enough to mount an offensive. Note also that the set contains two 'border' posts. One has the emblem of the USSR and the other the one from Finland. Again, a nice touch, but I would have preferred to have two more men if I had a choice. Also, if there are going to be only 4 men, why make two of them just stand around? One nice touch is the head gear on the figures. Two of them are wearing the pointed winter caps (I thought they were used by cavalry units) instead of helmets.

Mars Finnish Infantry - Part I

Another interesting and unique set by Mars to complement Engineer Bassevich's Finnish troops. Particularly nice are the two figures with skis. The actually come attached to them with a small metal peg which allows them to rotate some. I just hope they don't come off. It would have been nice if a couple more had skis, not necessarily on, but maybe on their backs. This set, at 12 figures/8 poses, was also smaller than the typical Mars set of 15 figures/8 poses, I suppose because of the extra molds to make the skis.  

Mars Finnish Infantry Part II

Most of the figures in the set are in good action poses, except for the guy who seems to be just standing around. I have also read some comments complaining about how little facial detail is visible on him, and some folks have remarked that he is wearing a mark. Emil K. and Thomas H. have identified him as the famous Finnish sniper Simo Häyhä, also know as White Death, who indeed wore a white mask, and smock to blend in better with the background. With more than 500 confirmed sniper kills, it's a nice gesture to dedicate a figure to him, but imho, it would have been better to pose him in action. Good thing that Engineer Bassevich made a similar figure shooting. Anyhow, happy about having a few more Finns to go against the Soviets!

Hanomak Finnish Lapland Army

This is a very interesting and unique set from Hanomak. It represents the Finnish troops who fought the Germans after Finland stopped fighting the Soviets. The set is organized around a small anti-tank gun. The gun comes in multiple pieces and requires some assembly. I had to glue my together so that it would stay in place. The figures are all well posed and relevant to the situation. What is perhaps most interesting about them is the variety of uniforms. The man kneeling with the ammo is wearing a double-breasted jacket, the man firing the pistol seems to be wearing some kind of smock over his uniform, while the other three are wearing the more traditional Finnish uniform for enlisted men and officers. The set comes with an extra box of what appears to be armor-piercing ammo, as well as a few lose shells to place in the box and the guy's back.

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Introducing the German Don Cossacks

Latest edit: Added Hanomak Cossack horse rider

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The Cossacks are an ethnic and military order from the area of the Don river in what today is southern Russia / eastern Ukraine. They have been known for centuries, going back to the1400's and have developed a rich tradition and reputation as fierce and effective mounted troops. During WWII, starting in late 1942 and into summer of 1943, the Wehrmacht raised the 1st Cossack Cavalry Division, from captured Soviet Cossack units, deserters, as well as recruits from the occupied Don territories. In the summer of 1944, they were transferred into the Waffen SS and the 2nd Cossack Division was constituted and together with the 1st Division, they became the XV SS Cossack Cavalry Corps. It is arguable whether these troops were fighting for the Germans or against the Soviet regime which had oppressed them for almost 25 years. Most of these Cossack units saw action against partisan units in Croatia and Yugoslavia but they also fought as front line troops against the Soviets during the retreat from the eastern front. Outside of the battlefield, the Cossacks were also known for being unruly and ruthless, abusing the local population, sometimes as punishment, sometimes for amusement. Many of them were court-martialed by their German commanders, which is surprising given how brutal Germans themselves were against the locals. At the end of the war, they made their way west in order to surrender to the British, however they were later turned over to the Soviets who executed their leaders, and sent the rank and file to forced labor camps, where most of them perished. Only a few of them made it out alive when they were finally released after Stalin's death in 1953.

Mars German Don Cossacks

Extra points to Mars for addressing a set that had not received any attention (to my knowledge) before. The quality of the set is good overall. The figures come in decent action/fighting poses, with a nice degree of movement, and the sculpting keeps improving. Perhaps the one missing pose from  this set is a cavalry figure, maybe a mounted officer. The Cossacks in general, including the Don Cossacks, were renowned cavalry troops. I know that in WWII the role of mounted units in battle was negligible, however I suspect that in the role of the Don Cossacks, hunting down partisans, and chasing them around the woods and countryside, horses would have been useful. 

Hanomak German Cossack

This is a figure that may not be too exciting for some collectors given that it is not much of an action pose. The appeal for me came from the fact that it is a mounted Cossack. The only other German Cossacks that I am aware of are the ones released by Mars a year or two back, but all of them are on foot. So this guy is great at representing their origins riding horses in the steppes of eastern Europe, and it will also make a good commander. In terms of the sculpting the figure is reasonably well done. It has some nice touches like the luger, the hat with the German insignia, and the pelt cover under the saddle, even if the detail is not the sharpest. 

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Introducing the Soviet NKVD

Latest edit: Added Mars Border Guards

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The Soviet NKVD was the organization within the Soviet Union responsible for protecting the state and its political ideology from internal threats. It was a mix of an intelligence agency and secret police. They were also in charge of guarding the borders as well as the prison camps. Its origins go back to the Revolution of 1917. In the years preceding WW2, they conducted a series of ruthless campaigns and purges against the Soviet people. Some of them politically motivated, but sometimes also ethnically-driven. And sometimes simply quota-driven against a certain region or occupational group, such as the clergy or army officers, as was the case during the great purge of 1937. Many others were arrested and sent to prison camps or gulags where they languished or were executed. Most of these arrests and trials were performed with minimum evidence, often just the word of someone who declared someone else an 'enemy of the people', and confessions were obtained through brutal methods. They were also responsible for the execution of 22,000 captured Polish officers in what became known as the Katyn massacre when Germany and the Soviet Union invaded and split Poland at the start of the war. The actual NKVD was formed shortly after Germany invaded the Soviet Union in the summer of 1941. Their role expanded to ensure that the Soviet Army fought as expected and in order to 'increase morale', NKVD units often shot at Soviet troops attempting to retreat. If you have not watched the movie Enemy at the Gates, this is well illustrated in this film, when the NKVD men unleash a storm of machine gun fire at some retreating Soviet conscripts who have no chance of succeeding in a frontal attack at Stalingrad. The NKVD formed multiple divisions during the war, and while most were used for the stated purposes, a few of them were also used as frontline troops as was the case in Stalingrad and Crimea. As the tides of war changed, the NKVD was either involved in sabotage activities behind German lines, or was busy clearing the liberated territories from collaborators and Nazi sympathizers. By the end of the war, the NKVD ranks numbered over 1.5 million men. The Soviet Union created a similar organization, which actually splintered off the NKVD, to guard against foreign spies and bad influences within the Red Army. That organization was called SMERSH. It is so similar in nature that one could easily confuse them. Anyhow, the NKVD was definitely a controversial organization. Perhaps it is due to this, or to its limited combat role, that NKVD troops had not been represented in the Plastic Toy Soldier hobby until recently, when Hanomak introduced its set. Let's take a look.  

Hanomak Soviet NKVD - Border Guards

At first glance these figures could be thought of as regular Soviet Infantry. Upon further inspection, I there are a few clues that confirm the name of the set. The first one is that they are all wearing a cap with a visor. I don't know if this is because all member of the NKVD force were officers, but it seems that when I see pictures of them, they are all wearing such cap. Then you have the guy with the dog, and also the machine gunner. If you watched enemy at the gates, those machine gunners are hard to forget. And then there are also the two guys standing around, likely detaining or interrogating someone. Two of the poses do seem to represent the political officers who were attached to front line units, to influence and monitor them ideologically. These officers would also fight alongside them and one can only imagine that either to demonstrate the strength of their political convictions or due to them, they would have led by example and tried to inspire their men, as the man with the flag is doing. In terms of the sculpting, no complaints. Nicely detailed, well proportioned, good poses. Similar rubbery material as the other sets, but in this case you only have to glue the shield to the machine gun.

Ratnik 1941 Soviet Border Guards

This is a good set to complement the Hanomak NKVD Soviet Guards. The sculpting is average -a couple of the poses feel a bit stiff, like the man throwing the grenade or the man to his right- but the diversity of poses compensates for that. For example, you get a radio man with it which is something handy in any unit and several of the poses are useful in fighting scenes. As was the case with Hanomak, you also get a guard dog, which seems quite appropriate for this unit. The one pose I don't care much for is the officer walking with the gun in his hand. He seems to be of limited use in the type of scenes I like to setup. Lastly, this set also comes with a border post. I guess to help setup the scene at the border. Given how shortly the war was fought at the border where these posts might have been, I would have preferred if they had given us an extra pose instead. But all in all, a decent set to add to the collection. 

Mars Soviet Border Guards

Normally you don't think of the Soviet border guards as the most exciting topic, but this set makes it look quite intense, and other than the guy who is observing the action with his dog, all the other guys are engaged in the fighting. But I know the dog is a key element of the Soviet guards, so it had to be fit in somehow with its handler. My favorite poses are probably the guy who is running and the officer. The officer was a bit tricky to get to stand straight, but nothing that the good old hot/cold water treatment couldn't fix. The other figure that is interesting is the crawling guy wearing the cammo suit. That guy is going to play double duty with my unit of Soviet scouts. This set certainly exceeded my expectations! 

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Introducing the Partisans

Latest edit: Added Hanomak Soviet Partisan horse rider

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The term Partisan applies to those units which operated behind enemy lines in order to disrupt the German war effort. Their operations primarily targeted the infrastructure supporting the German front units, such as railways, rail stock, supply depots, bridges, communication centers, etc. and even though their main goal was not to fight the Germans head-on, they did kill a good share of rearguard troops and collaborationist units. Initially the partisan units originated from regular Soviet troops left behind by the rapidly advancing front, and operated in an independent manner. Gradually, the German occupation and the brutal treatment of the local population -deportations, use as slave labor, confiscation of food in the middle of winter, etc.- turned many civilians, towards the partisan ranks. The German reprisals against this movement did not only target the partisans themselves -who were regularly executed-, but often included the execution of civilians, sometimes as many as 100 for each German death. The partisans responded in kind, by not just killing Germans, but sometimes mutilating them in horrible ways. As of mid 1942, the Soviet Central command started to play a role in coordinating and supplying the partisan units. The supplies not only consisted of weapons and material -including badly needed communications equipment-, but also included specially selected and trained troops as well as NKVD members to lead and reinforce the partisans. Many of these were air dropped behind enemy lines, but many also flowed through a 40km wide land corridor known as the Vitsyebsk Gate which was open for a good portion of 1942. Partisan operations gradually became more than local harassments and by 1943, they were well coordinated and timed operations. For instance, during the Kursk offensive, the supply difficulties created by the operations in the German rear played a very important role in halting the summer offensive. Over 100,000 partisans participated in the raids at this time. Another measure of the partisans success is the fact that as the Soviet Army advanced many partisan units were ordered to continue to move west so that they could remain in occupied territory and continue to operate. This was important not just because of the direct impact on the infrastructure, but also because of the large number of German troops which were required to guard the supply lines and to hunt the partisans. Most of those partisans which were liberated by the advancing Soviets joined the regular army and kept fighting on. At the height of the war, over 500,000 partisans were active across the whole length of the front. After the war ended, partisans were treated not much better than Soviet soldiers who had allowed themselves to be taken prisoners, and underwent interrogations by the NKVD, with many of them being sent to labor camps. This is not surprising as experienced guerrilla forces would have been a danger to Stalin's regime. In terms of toy soldiers, there are now several sets out which collectively, do a nice job at depicting the variety of backgrounds in the Partisan ranks. Let's take a look.

Engineer Bassevich Soviet Partisans - Part I

A unique set by Engineer Bassevich. The depiction of these partisans strikes a nice balance between showing them as civilians and soldiers. For example, the guys above might have just joined the partisan unit and are still wearing some of their original clothes and their weaponry is lacking automatic firing. 

UPDATE: I had the good fortune of getting some input from Alex, the man behind Engineer Bassevich's figures and he supplied me with a description for some of the figures. For instance, these guys could be used as members of the factory workers Fighter Battalion at Stalingrad during the summer of 1942. If you take out the guy throwing the grenade, who is holding the automatic weapon, they could also be used as members of the People's Militia Division, during the summer of 1941. Automatic weapons were not available outside of the professional army during the earlier part of the war.

Engineer Bassevich Soviet Partisans - Part II

These guys however are more rugged. they could be regular army troops who got left behind the enemy lines and joined the partisans, giving them some badly needed training and leadership. As far as the quality of the figures go, I am quite pleased with this set. They don't have any flashing, and the plastic used to make them feels more dense, making them feel a bit more robust. The level of detail in the sculpting as you can see, is really great.

UPDATE: Thanks to Engineer Bassevich we now know a bit more about the source of inspiration for these figures. The man in the middle is the legendary Sydir Kovpak, leader of the partisan units in the greater Ukraine-Belarus area -see picture below-. He was officially recognized by the Soviet military command and awarded the rank of Major General. The man on the right represents Pyotr Vershigora, who was Kovpak's second in command and eventually also rose to the rank of Major General. 

Here is a picture of Major General Sydir Kovpak, partisan leader in the greater Ukraine-Belarus area

Engineer Bassevich Soviet Partisans - Part III

These guys are probably a mix of civilians and ex-soldiers, but have been in the Partisan ranks long enough to have more sophisticated clothes and equipment. A very interesting touch is the kid in the middle, holding a captured German sub-machine gun. I actually saw a picture of such a kid, dressed very much the same way, which was surely the inspiration for the pose. 

UPDATE from Engineer Bassevich: The guy on the right, would have belonged to the division of the People's Militia. Maybe a former teacher. He can be used in the Battle of Moscow, along with soldiers from set number 1. The man on the left could have been a regular army officer left behind the enemy lines after his unit was encircled and then he joined the partisans.

Engineer Bassevich Yugoslav Partisans - Part I

Another set of partisans. These are supposed to be Tito's partisans from Yugoslavia, but I think they could pass as partisans from any occupied country. Note that many of them feature long beards though, so if you are strict about cultural matters, maybe that restricts your options. I am actually planning to mix them with the Soviet partisans and have a larger unit of unregulated militia guys.

Engineer Bassevich Yugoslav Partisans - Part II

One thing I like about this set from Engineer Bassevich is that most of the poses are fighting poses and we got a lot fewer guys standing around. 

Engineer Bassevich Yugoslav Partisans - Part III

I am OK with a commander standing around, observing the action. The only guy I don't really have much use for is the 'guard' next to the commanding officer.

Plastic Platoon Greek Partisans

This is the second half of the set representing the Greek combatants. Along with them, on the right, is the partisan figure of set 3 of the German Paras. I just put him next to his comrades in the picture so that you can see how it fits with them. What's nice about these figures is to see the men in their local garb. I don't know if that's what they would have worn going to battle, but it certainly makes them look more authentic. There's also a partisan woman. She is dressed in more 'modern' clothes of that time. Interesting to see that these guys seem more determined to fight than the Greek infantry figures, although it stands to reason that these guys lived on the island and the Greek troops were most likely sent there from other parts of Greece to defend it. That would certainly influence their level of resolve.

Hanomak Soviet Partisans

This depicts the wide range of folks who took arms against the German invaders behind enemy lines. You can see fighting age men in Soviet army attire who are likely men who got encircled and left behind the German advance. There are older men fighting with farming gear, there are women who may have been civilians or maybe also Soviet army regulars, and there's even a teenager who is cursing and ready to throw a rock. And there's also the guy operating the radio which allowed them to coordinate their operations with the main Soviet forces. A good set from Hanomak which will complement well the other partisan sets that came before. 

Hanomak Soviet Partisan

I had similar feelings about this figure as I did regarding the German Cossack in the sense that it is not much of an action pose, but at least this guy is aiming his subMG, even if the horse is way too relaxed. But if you want to give your partisans some variety so that not all of them are on foot, this is a decent figure to add to your collection. I wonder however how often partisans relied on horses as they seem like they would be much easier to track down. In terms of the sculpting, the figure is fairly average with a few interesting details like the bags on the horse or the rider's googles and mustache.

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