D-Day plus 1 - British Paratroops in Action

A small group of paratroopers from the British 6th Airborne Division has been holding out in a Norman village since the early hours of June 6th. The unit, a mixed bunch of stragglers from several companies, began its defense of this town in company strength, but has been gradually reduced to a couple squads during the previous day's fighting. The town, which controls a bridge leading to the beaches, has been the focus of repeated German counter attacks. These attacks, which were initially not well coordinated, have gradually grown in strength and determination. Unfortunately for the Germans, their lack of tanks in this sector means that the fighting is primarily a small arms affair, supported by a few artillery pieces. Nonetheless, the defenders find themselves against the ropes, low on manpower and ammo, desperately waiting for the ground troops moving out from the beaches to link up with them. How much longer can they hold? Let's see how the next counter attack unfolds....

As the most recent artillery barrage comes to and end, the British Airborne commander spots a German column approaching the town and readies his few remaining troopers for the next chapter in the ongoing battle.

The paratroopers steel themselves for the upcoming struggle and take careful aim to make sure every one of their few remaining shots count.

The reason for capturing the town is to control one of the few remaining bridges in the region capable of supporting heavy tanks. The routes to the beaches must be kept open for the armor if there is any hope of throwing the invaders back into the ocean.

With machine guns blazing, an armored scout vehicle and a halftrack lead the attack.

Under covering fire of the vehicles, the panzer grenadiers advance forward and fire on the go.

But the British paras are ready and are making it very hard for them to get off the bridge...

... bloody hard.

Also, with their last PIAT round, they have managed to knock out the leading vehicle which is now blocking the bridge.

In the meantime, their requests for support continue. The response for the last 24hrs has been 'help is on the way'.

For now, the fighting settles into a sustained exchange of small arms fire between the men on the bridge...

....and the men in the town's rubble.

It appears that the German attack is losing its momentum.

But in reality, they are adapting to the circumstances. They have setup a MG team across the river and...

under their covering fire, have dispatched a squad to try to outflank the men at the town's entrance.

The action is getting really close and personal.

Just then, the long awaited relief column arrives from the opposite end of the town.

And they brought their friend, Mr. Firefly, with them.

Swiftly moving up the main street,

they move into the town's buildings.

Occupying and firing from every doorway,

and even from the craters left behind by the earlier bombardments.

The town's main square is now firmly in British hands.

British infantrymen, fighting side by side with the few remaining Red Devils.

The King's rifles, converging simultaneously on the bridge and its surrounding area, pour their fire on the enemy.

Overwhelmed by the increased firing power, the German attackers begin to fall back.

Shortly after, the call for a general retreat is heard among the surviving Germans.

The British paras have held.

Click here to see more pictures of British infantry in action.

Click here to see a description of German Waffen SS figures.

Introducing the Chinese Infantry

When Japan invaded China in July of '37 the Chinese military was not ready for it. The Chinese army of the Second World War was primarily an infantry force without motorized and armored units. In the years leading up to the war China benefited from military advice from Germany.  This program had produced 8 divisions fully trained and equipped with German and European weapons, and another 12 divisions trained, but armed with inferior Chinese weapons. This was in addition to the regular Chinese divisions. These other divisions were a combination of the Nationalist Army and the Communist army which had agreed to a truce in 1937 to face the common enemy. The German-trained units, a precious resource, were quickly used up during the first year of the war, particularly during the defense of Shanghai in which 250,000 troops were killed. Another large battle during this early phase of the war was the one for Wuhan, which involved 1.1 million Chinese soldiers and cost them another 225,000 killed. Throughout the war there were 22 major battles involving more than 100,000 men on each side. And then there were also a large number of civilian deaths, as was the case during the aftermath of the fall of Nanking in which 300,000 civilians were killed. After '38 Germany withdrew its support in order to form its alliance with Japan. Shortly before that, the Soviet Union began to support China, and did so up to '41 when they signed a non-aggression pact with Japan. From mid '41 onwards the US and then the other allied nations began supporting China. When the Burma road was closed by the Japanese in '42 and with the naval ports occupied by Japan, the supplies getting into China were not adequate to mount major offensives. The Chinese also found it convenient to adopt a defensive posture and wait for the allied nations to defeat Japan in the Pacific campaign. And they were also busy fighting each other again, after the truce between the Nationalists and the Communists collapsed in early '41. However the Japanese had also been bleeding profusely -about 450,000- over the course of the war, which prevented them from launching major offensives to bring an end to the war in China. The conflict in China cost the Chinese military about 1.5 million deaths in battle, the same from disease and another 750,000 missing soldiers. A great majority of them came from the Nationalist side, which left them in a weak position when the struggle against the Communists resumed in earnest. Lastly an additional 900,000 men served in a collaborationist army under the Japanese, but they were rarely used in battle as their performance was poor, and mainly served to control the local population. As far as Chinese plastic troops, we do not really have many available options, but luckily there are a couple... I think.

Charben Chinese Infantry

I couple of months ago I purchased these guys advertised as Chinese Infantry. Shortly after I bought them I saw them on the book 'Collecting Foreign Made Toy Soldiers' by O'Brien labeled as Japanese Infantry. I have not been able to establish what they really are, but since I already have many more Japanese figures I've chosen to accept them for now as Chinese Infantry. The figures are not the greatest but for a set made in the 60's/70s they are acceptable. The most interesting figure is probably the flamethrower guy, however painting a good looking flame is always tricky, so I am a bit concerned about how he might look when I get to paint him.  

Cherilea Chinese Infantry

These Cherilea figures are 60mm tall, most likely recent recasts of the originals. I've seen them advertised as WWII as well as Korean War soldiers. Even if they were the latter, they are close enough in time that it does not make much of a difference. I like the fact that they'll provide a mortar, a bazooka, a couple of MGs, and a flamethrower to the otherwise lightly armed Charben guys. The flamethrower guy is interesting because his fuel tank is round, like a slice of a cylinder. The detail is not the best, but considering that there are not many sets to pick from what are we going to do about it?

Cherilea Chinese Infantry - Vintage

Here are some original Chinese Infantry figures. It gives you an idea regarding the original paint color scheme and the plastic that they were cast on. They definitely look nicer than the more recent recasts without any color on them. A good incentive to paint those recasts at some point. Plus I can then paint them in their actual uniform colors. 

21st Century Toys Chinese Infantry

Now, these are some nice figures. Among the best that 21C Toys produced. They are nationalist soldiers wearing British helmets with a light blue uniform. I guess this means the other Chinese troops will be painted to match these guys. Again, great job by 21C Toys. The sculpting, level of detail, paint work is all there. No wonder that they have become quite a bit pricy since they went out of business.

OWN Chinese Infantry - Part I

These figures are actually fairly nice. They represent the early divisions which were equipped with German equipment and were overall better trained and more effective. The sculpting is fairly good both in terms of the poses and the level of detail. There are only two things that I did not like that much. First was the price. At $2.25 a piece they are above the average for new production plastic figures. The second was that they come in multiple sections and you have to spend a good amount of time putting them together and finding the right glue for the job. 

OWN Chinese Infantry - Part II

The advantage however of how they were manufactured is that you can avoid the solid blocks of plastic that other figures would otherwise have in between their arms when holding a weapon across the chest. So I suppose that also justifies a bit the higher price. They actually come in two sets. The firs set contains the 8 poses above, and you get 16 figures. 

OWN Chinese Infantry - Part III

This are the poses in the second set. You also get 16 figures, which means that you end up with 4 poses of each, whether you need that many or not. So setting aside the packaging, I still think that the OWN figures do add a badly needed variety to the Chinese Infantry units. And BTW, looking at their uniforms, made me realize that I can use some AIP WWI Germans to reinforce them as the helmet shape and the use of puttees give them a strong resemblance. In terms of having a uniform Chinese Army, the only problem is that these troops with the German helmet wore a khaki uniform, so they would not match the 21C guys. 

OWN Chinese Infantry - Part IV

Another thing which was a bit of a pain was how much flashing and extra bits of plastic came attached to the figures. Even before you got to the part about gluing them together you had to spend a good chunk of time just trimming off all these extra bits of plastic left over from the injection process.

OWN Chinese Infantry - Part V

Here are a couple more shots of how they come preassembly. 

OWN Chinese Infantry - Part VI 

 OWN Chinese Infantry - Part VII

Here is add-on set. It contains three nice artillery crewmen plus four of the infantry poses already released in the previous set - actually it contains 6/8 of each for a total of 14 figures in the set. In reality, I would have preferred to be able to buy just the artillery guys. Again, the figures require assembly, but with the right glue, that's not much problem and the result is well worth the effort. Here I have displayed them with a German PAK 36, which the early Chinese army might have had, given the close relationship that they had with Germany at the onset of WW2.

DGN Chinese Infantry

This was a huge disappointment. I really felt cheated when I received these figures. All they are is a neon green version of the DGN Soviet figures. What made them believe that they would pass as Chinese? Not worth of reviewing at any closer level of detail. 

Classic Toy Soldiers Korean War Chinese - Part I

I got these guys thinking that I will use them as WWII Soviet Winter troops. The level of detail is so good that their faces actually betray them as Chinese. I might still be able to use them as Soviets, if we assume that they came from the Central Asian Soviet Republics. The uniforms and weapons all would pass as Soviet gear. In terms of the sculpting and poses, I am quite happy with this set. All poses are combat poses, which is the way I like them. 

Classic Toy Soldiers Korean War Chinese - Part II

The man on the right is actually my favorite pose. You don't often see figures reloading their weapons, and he is doing it on the run. Another interesting detail of these figures is that the base is covered in snow and you actually see the footprints of the men on it. A nice touch of realism, which actually highlights the fact that I should have taken these pictures with a different background :-)

 The only thing that some might criticize is that the sets come with 16 figures, but you don't get two of each pose. Three of them come in 3s and 3 of them as singles. Having 2 of each is useful if you plan on painting one set of poses and leaving the other 8 unpainted. On the other hand, if you want to use all 16 together, then, having one officer makes more sense than having two. All in all a nice and unique set from CTS, so I might not even mind buying a second one, perhaps to use as true Chinese.

Atlantic Mao Chinese Revolution - Part I

This is another of those hard to find sets. And as you can see, I did not manage to get the complete set. Luckily, I did get the main figure, Mao, who stands in the middle of the picture. The rest of the set are a mix of fighters and common folk. The man on the right is missing his boat. 

Atlantic Mao Chinese Revolution - Part II

These are two of the fighting poses. There's also a man with a sub mg, another one aiming/firing his rifle, and another standing guard with the rifle at his shoulder.

Atlantic Mao Chinese Revolution - Part III

This is supposed to have a man pulling the rickshaw. And I suppose the woman riding is meant to represent the upper class oppressing the working class. There are a total of 11 poses. The other guy who is missing is some type of civilian or political officer. 

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Click here to see a description of the Japanese figures.

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 check out other German Troops

 Click here to see pictures of German Waffen SS in action.

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.

Click here to take a look at WWII Toy Soldiers by Country

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Click here to see a description of the German Infantry.

Click here to see a description of Soviet Infantry.