British Infantry - Part II

I finished painting the British guys and giving them their final protective coats a few days back but had not gotten around to uploading a picture. Well, here they are. As I mentioned in the post about painting toy soldiers, after the paint job was done, I dipped them in Plasti-dip, then on clear Minwax lacqer, and finally in a watered down black acrylic paint to give them their final blackwashed appearance. I still can't decide if they represent a large platoon or an understrength company. In any case, the unit contains troops from Airfix, Atlantic, BMC, Britains Herald, Marx, Matchbox and Steve Weston Toy Soldiers. These guys are now ready for some action in places like Dunkirk, Normandy, Caen, Monte Cassino, or Northern Germany!

Click here to take a closer look at these figures by vendor.

And here to see them in action against a unit of Waffen SS in Normandy.

Upcoming Toy Soldier Show

If you happen to be in the DC area next weekend, the National Capital Model Soldier Society is organizing the 50th Annual Washington Show. It will take place on Saturday, September 10, 2011from 9 am to 5 pm at the Annandale Campus of the Northern Virginia Community College. Toy Soldier Shows are a nice way to see the figures and vehicles first-hand before you decide to buy them and it also affords the opportunity to interact directly and build a relationship with your favorite dealers. Many dealers sell new production items, but there are also those who sell old, vintage figures. You can find figures both in metal and plastic and from all time periods. It's fun even if all you do is walk around and take a look.

UPDATE: here is an after action report about the show.

Michigan Toy Soldier Sale

I got an email from Michigan Toy Soldier Company announcing a 20% off sale across the board. The sale will go on through September 9 and to take advantage of it you need to be a registered user of their site, and enter the promo code HappyBirthday when you are ready to check out (note that it's one whole word). If you are a preferred customer (you can become one by requesting your preferred customer number from them), you can also take advantage of a few other select items at 50% off. All in all it seems like a decent deal. I am already adding a few Charben and Cherilea WWII figures that I recently discovered to my shopping cart!

Sherman Tanks

The M4 Sherman Tank was one of the most popular Allied Tanks during the war. Over 50,000 of them were produced and it saw action in all theaters of operation, from North Africa, to Europe, the Pacific and even the Eastern Front through the Lend Lease program. The Sherman is what is considered a medium tank, and it offered a good balance of speed, armor and gun power, while at the same time, being reliable and easy to service in the field. All this made it a popular tank and many variations of it were made. Its 75 mm or 76 mm gun was able to take on most light and medium enemy tanks, like the German Panzer III and IVs, and the light Japanese tanks were no match for it. But its gun and armor were at a disadvantage against the heavier German Tanks like the Panther, Tiger and King Tiger (Tiger II), however the US made up for this disadvantage with numbers as well as air and artillery superiority. The Sherman's high profile also made it vulnerable as it made it easier to spot, particularly when it was silhouetted against the morning or evening sky, which made some of its crew men refer to it as a traveling coffin, particularly when fighting against the heavier German tanks. The book 'Brothers in Arms', the story of the 761st Tank Battalion, describes frightfully well what it was like to be a Sherman tank man fighting in Europe, and how the German shells would sometimes go right through the Shermans' armor wreaking havoc inside. In any case, the contribution of the Sherman during the War was substantial and they deserve proper credit for it. Manufacturers of armored vehicle models have done their part to help this happen, as illustrated below. 

21st Century Toys Sherman Tank

This is a plastic model with plenty of detail. It comes with a driver and a tank commander. The other figures around it are just guys that I added for the scene.

Notice the pieces of track welded to the front of the vehicle to give the driver extra protection against head-on shots.

BMC Sherman Tank

If you are looking for a good deal on a Sherman Tank or you are considering getting a large fleet of them, this is the tank you are looking for. You can get it for about 5 dollars and if you take some time to paint it slightly, it can look really good.

It is also a bit taller than the other models out there, which seems to be more in line with reality.

New Ray Sherman Tank

This is a die cast model, so it has a nice heavier feel to it. The scale is a bit on the smaller side though, but still acceptable and for some reason I've often seen them on sale, which can make it an affordable addition to your army.

This one also has some tracks welded on to protect the driver. The stars and the motif on the side are actually stickers, which is not great as they might come off, but you just need to be a bit careful with them so that they remain glued.

InAir / New Ray EZ Build Sherman Tank

Another all-plastic kit requiring some small amount of assembly. As with the other models in this line, the appearance is acceptable. The feel is a bit on the light side since it is all soft plastic and we've now become used to the FOV or 21C models. It was still a good find (ran into it at Amazon.com)

21st Century Toys Sherman Firefly

The Sherman Firefly was a British variation which contained a more powerful 17 pounder main gun capable of penetrating the armor of the heavier German tanks. Given that it is a British variant, I suppose I should have used British guys for this picture :-)

This model from 21C Toys is made of plastic, did not feature any figures with it and has a very light feeling to it, but its appearance is still fairly decent. The long gun gives it a more impressive look.

Forces of Valor U.K. Sherman Firefly - 7th Armored Division

FOV must be in cost cutting mode because this is the first vehicle that I come across which is pretty much made out of plastic entirely. The level of detail is still very high. For instance, the armor surface is all nicely pockmarked, but for the prices that they command these days, it was a bit disappointing that it was all plastic. Good thing that I found it on sale...

21st Century Toys Sherman Bulldozer

Another nice variation of the Sherman vehicle by 21st Century Toys. Vehicles like this might have been used in the rocky island campaigns in the pacific like Iwo Jima to clear paths for the other Shermans behind them with flamethrowers, which was the only way to clear some of those caves from where the Japanese fought. 

A bulldozer like this might also come in handy in the hedgerow country in Normandy, to create gaps in the hedgerows for the tanks and infantry to move through, avoiding the pre-set fields of fire. There is also a hedgerow cutter variation of the Sherman from Forces of Valor which is even more in line with what was used in that theater of operation.

Click here to check out other US Vehicles

Click here to see a post about other American Tanks

Click here to see a post about German self-propelled guns

Here are some pictures of GIs in action against German troops in Normandy

German Paratroops in Action

Berlin, April '45. The end is near. The 9th Fallschirmjaeger division has been gradually pushed back into the city by the Soviet Army and is now engaged in urban warfare. This division was raised shortly before the end of the war and was made up primarily of surplus Luftwaffe personnel. They recieved very little training on infantry tacticts and therefore suffered disproportionately high losses. By the time the battle of Berlin is over it will have ceased to exist. In the images below we see a platoon of paratroopers defending a corner house which has miraculously avoided major damage from the months of allied bombardment and the intense weeks of Soviet artillery shelling.

This is where the paratroopers have decided to make their stand. As a corner house, it is able to control an important street intersection in the city.

The paratroopers stand ready, having fortified the house as much as it's possible under the circumstances.

A prone man with a MG-42 is keeping the advancing Soviet troops at a safe distance.

The balconies offer a good field of fire, but don't offer much protection.

A PAK-40 has been positioned inside the house and is exacting a heavy toll on the armored vehicles trying to move through the intersection.

The attic also offers prime observation and firing positions.

The back of the building, facing a courtyard is also being properly defended.

Many of the paratroopers are armed with semi-automatic weapons, which provide them with a good rate of fire, but work best when the enemy is at close range, so these men are holding their fire for the time being.

The commander, positioned in a corner window in the upper floors, signals the rest of his troops to open fire on the closing Soviet troops.

All hands rush to their battle stations.

Those men with carbines are making every shot count.

The attack is coming from both streets leading up to the intersection. Fortunately, the corner windows offer a 270 degree field of fire and the men shift their aim to wherever the need is greater.

The Soviet attackers greatly outnumber the defenders and the Soviet, sensing that the final victory is within reach, attack fiercely. Soon they are within grenade-throwing range.

From the ground floor to the attic, every paratrooper is trying to do his best. They know that this time the fight is to the end.

For the now, the grenades...

...and the automatic weapons are keeping the enemy from reaching the house.

But the enemy has the house surrounded by now. The toopers rush from window to window in a desperate struggle to keep them away from the building.

By now, the MG-42 on the ground floor has been knocked out. The second and last MG is firing non-stop.

The observer in the attic is calling for mortar fire on the courtyard within a few yards of the house. The risk of a shell landing short is well understood, but there are no other options.

The men are starting to run low on ammo, and some are firing their last rounds.

The German men also feel that the end is near and a sense of rage takes over. All they want is to take a few more of the enemy with them.

But despite their best efforts, the casualties start to mount.

The first Soviet troops have reached the house and vicious hand-to-hand combat ensues.

Some Soviet men have managed to gain access to the building through the back door and are already reaching the second floor.

A paratrooper drops a few more grenades into the courtyard from one of the upper floors.

But the Soviet men are already spreading through the rest of the house and it is now only a matter of time until the clear the entire building. The fate of these paratroopers is sealed.

Here's a post of the German Fallschirmjaeger in more detail.