Introducing the Italian Infantry

The Italian Army has received much criticism regarding its performance during WWII, mainly because Germany had to come to their rescue in the Balkans and North Africa. Their collapse outside Stalingrad did not help their reputation either. But when you consider Italy's availability of raw materials, industrial output, technological development, and overall military strength at the outset of the war, you realize that they were utterly underprepared to fight in WWII, and the soldiers' morale reflected that. It is also hard to believe that under such conditions the Italian leadership committed them to fight on so many fronts: Southern France, West Africa, East Africa, the Balkans, and later on Russia. They were certainly courting disaster. Of course, there were many displays of courage at the individual and small unit level, and even at the divisional level as was the case of the Folgore Division, an elite paratroop unit which fought in North Africa for 2 years, and that during the Second Battle of el Alamein, held up against the combined attacks of 4 Commonwealth Divisions. After the armistice of September 1943, the Italian military was divided in two. Those continuing to fight on the side of the Axis, and those fighting with the Allies, including those fighting guerrilla operations on the northern part of Italy, still controlled by the Germans. During the war 4 million men served in the Italian Army, of which half a million died, so in terms of human cost, they certainly paid their fair share. As far as figure availability goes, we have a few sets available, most of them produced in the last few years.

Airfix Italian Infantry

For the last 3 decades these had been among the very few Italian Infantry figures. The only other ones that I am aware of from that time are the Atlantic guys. A fairly decent set. Not the most active poses, but with nice, detailed sculpting. I bought these second hand, so the paint job is not what I would like it to be. I think that once they are repainted they will look quite a bit better.

Classic Toy Soldiers Italian Infantry

CTS released this about 5 years back. They display a bit more intensity than the Airfix guys, however the sculpting is a bit less detailed. Still a welcome addition after so many years of waiting. These guys could be fighting in the Balkans or in the Soviet Union.

Waterloo 1815 El Alamein Division

Waterloo 1815, mainly a producer of 1/72 figures came up with this set around the same time as CTS. There were multiple Italian Divisions -Pavia, Trieste, Trento, Ariete, Brescia, Littorio, Bologna-, which fought during the First and Second battles at El Alamein, and the fighting in between. One of these guys appears to wear a Bersaglieri helmet, but there were Bersaglieri units attached to several divisions, so it does not really help to narrow down which one they belong to. In any case, they are good troops to have next to the DAK to fight the British 8th Army.

Waterloo 1815 Folgore Division

Another good set for the West Desert campaign. They could fight side by side with the guys above. I like how they reflect the relaxed dress code that existed in the North African desert. The only thing I don't quite like about these guys are their bases, which make them a bit wobbly.

21st Century Toys Italian Infantry

A very nice set from 21C toys. The poses, the detail, even the paint job. Very nice. Their uniforms seem a bit darker than the real ones though. I'll probably struggle deciding whether to paint the other guys trying to match these or trying to reflect the original colors.

DGN Italian Infantry - Part I

This is a welcome addition to the scarce WWII Italian figures available up to date. The prone guy has a strong resemblance with the Airfix guy. The others seem to be originals. The mortar guy is a bit hard to stand as it keeps falling over. 

DGN Italian Infantry - Part II

The officer in this set clearly resembles the Airfix officer. The other guys also appear to be originals. The head dress that they wear matches that of the Waterloo 1815 El Alamein Division. The weakest figure here is the prone machine gunner. His left arm is too short and he does not rest on the ground entirely.

DGN Italian Infantry - Part III

The rest of the set. Not much to criticize here. These guys appear to be Bersaglieri, based on the plume that they have on the left side of their helmets.

Atlantic Italian Infantry
These are Italian assault infantry troops I had to admit that I had to think twice about buying them. Some of the poses are a bit unreal -like the guy on the left- and I am not all that excited about them, but in the interest of having a complete collection I went ahead and got them. The best figure in the lot is probably the guy kneeling with the binoculars. Note also that the 10 figure set only has 6 unique poses. 

Atlantic Italian Bersaglieri - Part 1

These are 60 mm figures. A very nice set from Atlantic. Good, dynamic poses, and a good variety of weapons. I doubt they came painted out of the factory. In any case, they seem to be ready for a second coat.

Atlantic Italian Bersaglieri - Part 2

A mortar man and a motorcycle. Definitely a very nice set. These guys seem a bit overdressed for the desert, so most likely I'll have to use them in European scenes. By the way, there is also a 54mm set of traditional Italian Infantry made by Atlantic which I am not showing here, but I hope to get at some point.

Dulcop WWI Italian Troops

Dulcop really gave us a sampler of troops here. We are looking at two Bersaglieri (second and the sixth from the left), two Arditii, a specialty of Italian Army which assaulted the trenches with hand grenades and long knives (first and fifth) and two Alpini (the two in the middle). While these guys are technically WWI troops, considering that Italy did not modernize their military that much during the interwar period, I think that their uniforms and weaponry could pass as WWII equipment. A nice, dynamic set by Dulcop, even if some of the poses seem a bit off balance. The officer's heard is also a bit too small. However the head gear and the facial hair in some of the figures are quite unique. A good addition to the collection.

Waterloo 1815 WWI Italian Infantry - Part I

From the bushy set of feathers on their helmet, this is a set of what appear to be Bersaglieri troops. While they are also WWI figures, as we've pointed out already, the Italian uniform and equipment did not change much in the inter-war years, so I think these guys will blend in well with their WWII peers. In terms of the set itself, I like the poses and detail on most of the figures. The only one that is a bit odd is the man throwing the grenade. It's not very apparent on this picture, but his front leg is too close to his back leg; not quite the way one would throw an object.

Waterloo 1815 WWI Italian Infantry - Part II

A nice set of poses here. I like the man on the left, crouching, but not quite kneeling. There is not much to criticize. Perhaps the only other thing to point out is that they are made out of this very light but hard plastic, which makes it a bit annoying to take off the spruce. You need a sharp knife, and you need to apply a good bit of pressure too, so if you slip a bit you might be slicing off your finger. One good thing is that Waterloo chose to give them a regular base. An improvement over those funny bases in their WWII sets.  

Atlantic Italian Alpine Troops - Part I

This is another set that is a bit hard to come by. What makes it special is that it has quite a few unique items in it. For instance, on the left you can see that it has what looks like a snowmobile. I don't really know if these were around at the time of WWII, so perhaps these guys represent post WWII figures. As you can see, it also comes with a small howitzer, but there don't seem to be any figures to operate it. And then there is the skier. This is perhaps my favorite pose in the set.

Atlantic Italian Alpine Troops - Part II

Here is a view from behind of the same three items. As you can see, there is a second man sitting on the snowmobile firing on the move. The tricky thing though is that he does not like to stay on his seat and there is nothing to keep him there, so if you move the snowmobile, you constantly need to reposition him.

Atlantic Italian Alpine Troops - Part III

These are the rest of the figures. The man on the right is the only 'traditional' pose. The other two are again, quite specific to the Alpine genre. There is the man sitting on the sled, which is a bit too relaxed, if you ask me, and then there is the man leading the pack mule. So all in all a nice set, but I feel that you need to combine them with some other figures to have a real fighting unit. Even combining them with more Atlantic Alpine Troop sets would not be good enough, as you need to have a few more of the traditional poses.

 Atlantic Italian Heavy Weapons Team - Part I

This set might actually be representing post WWII figures, but I think they can still pass for WWII guys. As you can see, there are 4 figures. The three kneeling guys are the mortar crew. The prone guy is supposed to be manning a heavy machine gun, but it was missing from the set when I got it. As it's the case with all other Atlantic figures, they come unpainted. These were painted by their previous owner, who actually did quite a nice job. All in all a good set.

 Atlantic Italian Heavy Weapons Team - Part II

So I managed to find the machine gun that goes with the prone guy. And one more kneeling guy, which looks like he might be supporting the machine gunner, or at least that's how I plan to use him. In terms of the machine gun, I think they took the 'heavy weapons' thing quite seriously as this looks more like an anti-tank gun based on size.

BUM Infantry - Part I

This is machine gun team is sold as American by BUM. The art on the box shows them wearing GI uniforms, however when you look at the actual figures I don't really recognize the features of the American uniforms. So I actually plan on using them as Italian Infantry, since they could use a bit of help when it comes to heavy weapons and the helmets and uniforms are more similar to the Italian one. The poses are actually OK, but the level of detail on the figures, is not so great. For instance, the face of the man on the left is pretty plain.

BUM Infantry - Part II

Another heavy weapons team from BUM. Also allegedly American, but note really. This set also comes with the barbed wire, but I did not include it in the picture to get a better shot. Note also that the figures seem to be clones. You can tell not only because the level of detail is a bit faded, but also because the original oval bases are now encased in larger rectangular bases. 

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Click here to see a post about the Italian Light Artillery

Click here to see pictures of their German allies in North Africa.

Click here to see pictures of their British 8th army foes on the Western Desert.

Click here to see pictures of traditional German Infantry.

Introducing the German Combat Engineers

The German combat engineers, also known as 'Pioniere', were not just entrusted with construction and demolition missions as is often the case with military engineers in other countries. Germany's combat engineers were often used also as combat troops, which is understandable given the shortage of men that they were often operating under and their expertise in demolition. There is a scene in the movie Stalingrad, showing a company of engineers freshly arrived to the city and going into action for the first time in that all-consuming battle. You get a glimpse of their equipment and techniques, as well as the huge casualties that they were willing to take -well, at least in the movie. In terms of toy soldier figures, this is a niche set which has only been pursued by Revell GmbH, not surprisingly, a German manufacturer. Unfortunately I suspect that at this time they are no longer being manufactured as they don't offer them anymore on their website and I have not seen them on the shelves of hobby shops for several years now.

Revell Deutsche Pioniere - Part 1

As you can see there is a good diversity of poses reflecting their many roles, such as construction, demolition, mine laying, mine removal, and combat.

  

Matchbox German Infantry and Revell Deutsche Pioniere - Part 2

These guys are actually 1/35 in scale, but they are close enough in size to mix with 1/32 figures as you can see in the picture above. When I painted these guys I thought they should have a few more guys in fighting poses to also reflect their combat role, so I recruited the four Matchbox guys in the back row. A very interesting piece of equipment is the 'Goliath' or SdKfz 303b/Gerat 672, which is operated by the man on the left. This was essentially a remote controlled tracked bomb which could be used against fortifications. This site has a good description of it. Thanks Bill for helping to identify it.

Revell Deutsche Pioniere - Part 3

Engineers were also tasked with river crossings and bridge building. In this case, we have a couple guys on a raft negotiating a section of a river. I must say that with that size of boat it would have taken many trips to bring a unit across a river. My guess is that the manufacturer wanted to convey the spirit of the role, without having to produce a much larger boat.

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Click here to see a description of German Infantry.

Introducing the Romanian Infantry

Romania was a strong ally of Germany during WWII. It contributed more men to the Axis cause in Europe than all of the other Axis allies combined, in exchange for territorial gains such as Transylvania. In the summer of '41, when it went into the Soviet Union as part of Operation Barbarossa, it had a bit under 700,000 men in arms. This number peaked at 1.25 million in the summer of '44, when a coup d'etat overthrew Mashal Antonescu's government and switched Romania's allegiance to the Allied side. Romania's participation in the war exacted a high price. Throughout the war they lost 370,000 men. A good number of these took place during the Stalingrad debacle, where they lost a combined 158,000 men when the Soviets launched Operation Uranus, striking at the overextended flanks covered by the Romanian units and other Axis allies. Another 167,000 deaths happened after they turned against the Axis. In terms of figure production, there is only one set that I am aware of as illustrated below.

Classic Toy Soldiers Romanian Infantry

CTS came out with this set a few years back. They released it at the same time that they released their Italian infantry, and aside from the officer, the other five figures are the same. The Italians were released in grey, and the Romanians in olive green. The set is actually fairly decent. The sculpting could have used a bit more details, but their poses do a nice job of conveying action. These guys will fit just fine fighting either the Soviets or the Germans.

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Click here to see a description of the German Infantry.

Click here to see a description of Soviet Infantry.

British Infantry - Part III

In this post I would like to show you a few more British figures. These guys are all factory painted or were found after I made the other post in which I described all the other British figures. That post focused on the hand-painted guys. In addition to the guys below, 21st Century Toys also produced 6 factory-painted British Infantry, but I did not get around to buying those. Now that I am posting pictures of the figures, I wish I had. Maybe I will look for them on eBay at some point. Anyhow, let's take a look at the ones I do have.

Britains Deetail British Infantry

These are vintage figures from the 70's and 80's. A nice set all around. All small arms are represented. It's nice how they all have bits of cammo attached to their helmets.

First Gear British Infantry

These are recasts of the original Britains Deetail figures produced in the last few years. I find the color scheme better than the original, but I don't like how they paint the eyes that much. Note also that the bases have rounded corners, not that it makes a big difference.

Britains Deetail British Mortar Set

A really nice heavy mortar team. The mortar can actually fire shells enabled by a spring mechanism inside the tube. There is a small lever in the back of the mortar which can be pulled and released to eject the shells. A pretty fun set.

Britains Deetail British Assault Boat

An officer and a Bren gunner on a raft. A tricky set to find a realistic setting for, but like the saying goes, 'that's a good problem to have' when it comes to the coolness factor of this set.

Britians Deetail British Land Rover

This is a nice little set from Britians Deetail. The Rover comes with a driver and a Bren gunner in the back. I would have rather had it in a tan color scheme to use it for some long range patrols in the desert, but hey, we can still send this guy to scout the French countryside.

Britians Deetail British Land Rover - other side

From this angle you can see the Bren gunner better. Notice how his knee is resting on a little ledge behind the cabin so that he can lean forward and rest the gun on the top of the vehicle while he fires away. I find that a nice touch of realism. 

Crescent British Infantry

Based on the weapons, these guys seem to be modern British Infantry. They are a bit on the smaller side of the scale, but I think that once they are painted they will fight just fin. I particularly like the two guys on the right. Their forward lean makes them good action poses.

Crescent 60mm British Infantry - Part I

Crescent also produced 60mm British Infantry figures. Naturally they look a bit large next to the rest of the guys, but if you spread them out, they could just be a big guy among the rest of the normal size crowd.

Crescent 60 mm British Infantry - Part II

The officer. A nice action pose. Running into the heat of battle.

Britains Swoppets British Infantry

I only have a handful of these guys, but this sample is quite nice. The mortar team is very well put together. Unfortunately the man dropping the shell into the tube is missing the shell, but if you assume that he just dropped it, then it works just fine. The stretcher guys unfrotunately are also missing the stretcher, so I had to place the wounded man on the ground. I guess that's the downsied of the swoppet approach. Those detachable pieces go missing. Note that the wounded guy comes with a blanket, which gives it an additional nice touch.

Britains Swoppets British Infantry - Part II

A couple more guys. The marching guy is nothing out of the ordinary. The other guy is showing quite a bit more action. Definitely more into the heat of the moment. 

Britains Swoppets British Infantry - Part III

This guy came to me already in a pretty beaten up shape. Looks like the previous owner wanted some casualties in his army and even painted some blood stains on this poor fellow. I wish they had kept him in his original shape...

Britains Swoppets British Infantry - Part IV

This guy seems to have the same lower body as the previous guy. although he seems to have lost his base, but that's OK. He does not really need it. The uppor body is very much to my liking and his weapon is in great shape. I think he is one of my favorite swoppet figures across all swoppet manufacturers. 

Timpo Swoppets British Infantry with raft

Here is a rather nice and interesting set from Timpo. It is a set of British Infantry advancing on a raft. Sometimes such rafts feel quite a bit underscale, but in this case, both the figures and the raft are well proportioned. Two of the poses seem to be repeated, and I don't know if that was the case with the original set, but I am still quite happy having found it in this good condition.

Hilco British (or US?) Infantry - Part I

These are only three poses from the set. I've seen another 4 or 5 guys. I am not sure how many there are in all. The figures are a bit on the slim side, and the sculpting is OK, but not extraordinary. Even so, they seem to be a bit hard to get. And for some reason, that piece behind them with the tree stumps seems to be something special as I saw it go for 20+ dollars on eBay. Also, The shape of the helmets makes me doubt whether they are really British Infantry.

Hilco British (or US?) Infantry - Part II

Here are a few more Hilco guys that I recently found. As you can see they are mostly recasts of Britains Herald (grenade thrower, officer), Timpo (minesweeper, radio man), and Crescent (flamethrower) figures. The one sure thing that confirms that they are Hilco figures is that the base is stamped as such. About the country that they represent, I am now wondering if they actually come from two different sets: American and British.

Hilco British Infantry - Part III

And here is one more guy. This one also seems to be a copy of the Herald British Infantry. The plastic and original paint scheme are different from the figures in the previous pictures, so there must have been several releases of hese figures. 

UNA British Infantry

This is a figure from new company that I just discovered. I purchased a lot of mixed soldiers and this one came with it. Af first glance it looks like a Lone Star kind of guy, but the bottom part of the base is marked 'UNA' and a few google searches revealed that is an actual toy soldier company. His uniform and Vickers MG lead me to believe that he is a British guy, but I have not comfirmed it or found any other UNA Tommies yet. Based on the helmet he might also be a GI as UNA did make a GI set.

Blue Box Elite Command British Infantry

This is a set of 4 metal figures representing General Bernard Montgomery and some of his infantrymen. Compared to other metal figures, like King and Country and so on, they are not as nice. In fact, I bought them thinking that they were plastic figures as that is the focus of my collection. As far as the resemblance with Monty, I think it requires a bit of imagination to get there. 

Cherilea Modern British Infantry

I really like the level of action and intensity depicted by these guys. And by that, I don't just mean that they have for instance, a guy who is charging, because some other manufacturers also have such a pose, but still, the movements of those other figures are sometimes not as fluid. They really captured well all the subtle angles of the joints and leaning of the body to give them a very genuine look. There is at least one more guy in the set, as I've seen a picture with 4 poses (a grenade thrower is missing).

Click here to see a description of the hand-painted British figures.

Click here to see a post about the British guys who did not make the 'paint cut'

Click here to see pictures of British Infantry in action.

Introducing the Gurkhas

The Gurkhas were Nepalese soldiers fighting on behalf of the British Empire. In all about a quarter of a million men volunteered to serve and, as was the case in the Indian divisions, they fought under the command of British officers. They did so with distinction in places like Syria, Greece, North Africa, Italy and Burma. Nepal's location next to the Himalayas created the necessary conditions to produce very tough and resilient troops, very well suited for operations in mountainous terrain such as the one encountered in Italy. Fond of engaging in hand to hand combat with a kukri -a very sharp Nepalese curved knife- Gurkhas were also fierce warriors, respected and feared by their foes. An account of a British officer from the 78th division found in Matthew Parker's book 'Monte Cassino' tells the following story which helps explain why: 'I came across some Gurkha soldiers who were laughing uproariously. When I asked what the joke was, one who spoke some English explained that they had been out on patrol when they came across three Germans asleep in a slit trench. They cut off the heads of the two outside men but left the chap in the middle as he would have a terrific shock when he awoke!'

Unfortunately, as far as manufacturers of Gurkha figures go, there is only one option in the market to this day.

Airfix Gurkhas - Part 1

Luckily for us Airfix decided to make twice as many figures as they typically released for their WWII sets. The figures are slightly smaller than their other 54mm figures, although that could perhaps be by design.

Airfix Gurkhas - Part 2

These guys are wearing a tropical outfit, which means that they were likely fighting the Japanese in Burma. Given their jungle setting, you would probably expect them in a greener shade of khaki, but apparently, they wore the same uniform as other Gurkhas in the Middle East. But what I should have done is given them a slightly darker skin tone for greater realism. Note that one of them is handling the kukri knife, ready to take on his enemy in hand to hand combat.

Airfix Gurkhas - Part 3

Here we have three more figures with kukris and a guy handling what looks like an oversized Bren gun. Not featured here, but I recall seeing it at some point many years ago, is one more pose of a Gurkha casualty, lying face up on the ground with one of his arms around his head holding his kukri.

I wonder if these guys would be acceptable to use in a scene about Monte Cassino. The alternative would be to use regular British Infantry, as Gurkhas fighting in Italy wore the British battledress, but then in the pictures you would not be able to tell that they were Gurkhas... a tricky decision. I guess we will cross that bridge when we get there!

Here are some links to other participants in the Cassino campaign. Note that I face similar dilemmas with some of them in terms of the uniform that they are wearing not being the same as the one worn in Italy.

New Zealand Infantry

Indian Infantry 

French Infantry

British Infantry 

(British might also be used for Polish and Canadian who also fought there)

US Infantry

(Could also be used for Free French Moroccan Infantry)

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