Crete 1941 in 20mm for Rapid Fire! Part 5: The JU-52s and the FJ companies

When I was a kid, close to some 50 years ago, there was a beautiful silver Tante Ju ( Junkers Ju-52) in my town at Portugal dos Pequenitos, a kind of playground with small Portuguese houses and monuments, which is still today one of Coimbra´s main attractions, after the University. The Ju-52 could be visited, we would sit and run in its interior and my devious mind already knew, probably from Readers Digest WW2 books, that these were used to assault Europe, and particularly, Crete. So when exiting the plane I would become a German Fallschirmjäger and jump... to the first step of the ladder that would take me to the ground safely. 

This was one of the last existing Junkers Ju-52 in the world as there are only some 20 survivors, mostly in museums. It was taken from Portugal dos Pequenitos (replaced by a Fiat G-91) in the 90´s, then taken to Norway for repairs and now sits at Alverca Aviation Museum, close to Sintra/Lisbon. Its also a testimony of Salazar´s alliegance to the Nazi regime as this Ju-52 belonged to a batch of 10 aircraft bought in 1937 from Germany. Even so, its history, and an important piece of it. 

Our masters Colin and Richard ordered us to have two of them for the action at Crete 1941. They are Italeri models built decades ago and carefully painted and weathered as I was doing in those days. Next to them there are 14 FJ companies, all figures necessary to the Prison Valley scenario, which is the one were more German paratroopers are necessary, allowing you also to make all other three scenarios. 

The companies are made from Airfix and Revell figures mixed in allowing for some 15 poses to be in this large group. 

Next: FJ containers and Kettenkrad

Crete 1941 in 20mm for Rapid Fire! Part 4: the gliders, artillery and support weapons already painted

 

In the last few days I´ve been painting my scratchbuilt artillery, support weapons and DFS 230 gliders. I tried to get the most common FJ uniforms painted avoiding camouflaged items for speeding the process.

Which of them is the Frontline Wargaming resin glider?...Hmmm...Damn, I was expecting some mistakes and a bit more drama but that lady in the 2nd row immediatley gave the correct answer.... Its the one on the bottom right corner...

The painted plywood and Blue Board gliders got a layer of PVA so they can be spray primed. The camouflage is the one of Blitzkrieg namely the attack on Eben-Emael. The camouflage used on Crete was very bare virtually without markings and with a lighter color on the upper wings. At least, some people say it based on period pictures. But frankly it may be just a trick of the eye due to the mediterranean light. 

The Do Gerat 150mm rocket launcher. The quest for pictures of this specific weapon gave no results so this one was based on other models of different calibre.

The 75mm IG. The Airfix figures give reasonable artillery crew (If you are not too peaky, of course). 

The 75mm Geb.G 36. 

The 20mm AA gun. Still not sure if this Flak.38 was the model used at Crete. The shield was taken out, which is a messy enterprise as the gun is 3d PLA, but like this its closer to other models of the 20mm Flak gun, just in case. 

The 75mm LG40. 

This Puppchen 88mm gun and this other 75mm LG40 are for the Carentan book. 

The 37mm PAK 36. 

The PzBuchse 39. The heavier 41 version seems not to have been used at Crete, at least I could not find any evidence of that. Of course I would love to be wrong so I could make a few of them.

The MMG 34. Again the Revell and Airfix figures got new positions, legs and plenty of cuts in order to fit the guns. 

The 105mm mortar. The wouded FJ (top) is particularly handy as it can be used to carry ammunition and/or to be placed with a pair of binoculars. 

I´m not sure of the real size and shape of the thing so a bit scaled up 81mm mortar will do the trick. 

The 81mm mortars. 

The 50mm mortars. 

The FO (I think this is my shortest comment ever). 

The containers both for the small and support weapons. 

The command groups with a few Matchbox officers. 

Next: The FJ companies and the JU 52s. If mail arrives in time I´ll add a couple of Kettenkrad. 

Crete 1941 in 20mm for Rapid Fire! Part 3: the DFS 230 gliders and the Fallschirmjäger companies

 

You need four DFS 230 for the first scenario of the RF! booklet Crete- the airborne assault, related to the most western German attack, around Maleme airfield and Tavronitis bridge. As each of this gliders carried 9 men (excluding the pilot) you have four companies of 8 men in average per glider. The DFS 230 on the back is a very old resin Frontline Wargaming model that served as a template for the other three, made from BlueBoard, card and plywood. None of them equals the other :) 

One of the three got a MG15 behind the cabin. The figure is the laying down FJ from Revell manning a MG34. The MG got a second ammunition drum in order to look like a MG15, a common Luftwaffe weapon. The ugly black blob of burned plastic is the ammunition bag for the spent cartridges. 

Some pieces of Evergreen rod was used as wing supports and rear landing gear. They are thicker than it should as these models will not have a base. They are intended to be used on the dry Tavronitis river bed and the roofs of Eben-Emael, two very different landing places, so not placing any base looks better. Under the plywood wings a layer of card was added and glued with hot glue for extra thickness. 

The gliders became much smaller than the true ones, as Tim Wade of Frontline Wargaming did with his DFS 230. Even so the Frontline models captures its the generic shape and an DFS 230 glider can be easily rocognizable there. The smaller size, keeping the cockpit normal size, has the same impact as most of RF structures and houses, allowing for them to fit in most of the places on the table like the Tavronites river bed. 

The original wing span is much bigger than in all these models. The scratchbuilt models became on the fatty side as they are (atempted) copies of the Frontline model. As you can see in this diagram the true glider was much more elegant and slim. 

The airborne companies are a mix of Revell and Airfix. The number of companies is 14 which is the maximum number in all scenarios, namely the Prison Valley action. Do not use the laying down Airfix figure (or Esci if you have them) with the FG42 as it entered in service only in 1942. The ones in the photo with the FG42 were replaced by Revell figures firing the MG34. 

Next: the painting of all these last 3 posts starts

Crete 1941 in 20mm for Rapid Fire! Part 2: the FJ support weapons

 

The second step for this German side of Crete 1941 was the necessary support weapons, containers and command stands for any of the four actions of the Crete booklet which summarizes the initial battles on the 20th May. I had nothing of these so everything was made from around 10 boxes of plastic figures I had in stock, 5 from Airfix and 5 from Revell. In fact only since Brexit I´m capable of diminishing my piles of stash as I feel forced to use them, which is something that is also giving me lots of pleasure. These old boxes are quite incomplete as no support weapons are presented but both have  many figures that can be easily converted to other functions as I will try to show you. 

The containers are Revell and are the only things without any change. 

The 50mm mortar  (X4) Revell operator was originally firing a rifle and became a mortar crewman after cutting out the rifle and heating the arms. The 2nd operator is the famous Airfix prone grenade thrower without grenade this time as if reloading the mortar.

The same happened to the AT rifle (x4) crews that received british 3d printed Boys AT rifles cut to shape and with added bipod. 

Two of the AT rifles are leaning on a Cretan field wall and are Airfix conversions again. 

The officer stand (5X) has the famous Matchbox figures with a pair of new Milliput trousers taking advantage of Primark´s January sales. 

The mortars (x3) came from Matchbox, FtF and PSC and have heavily converted crews. The injured in the arm standing Airfix FJ can finally be useful for something as he is in charge of the weapon and using binoculars (after some X-acto cuts, of course) or with an entirely new arm. 

These are not in the family photo as they were made a few hours later and are the MMG stands (x5). Originally all guns are 3d printed MG42 and the barrel was slighly rounded in order to look like the MG34.

The tripod was made from Evergreen tubing and plate. The ammunition belt is cut from a piece of photo-etched "sprue". 

The FO stand in also not on the family photo and its useful for the mountain 75mm gun. The pointing figure had a tiny addition in the form of a pair of binoculars hanging from the chest. 

Next: the jagers and the DFS 230 gliders.

Crete 1941 in 20mm for Rapid Fire! Part 1: the FJ artillery

 

Since I got my first Airfix German paratroopers I´m trying to make the battle for Crete, May 1941. What was necessary in  RF terms was some guidance, which was finally provided by the excellent booklet Crete-The Airborne assault, by our masters Colin and Richard to whom I wish a happy new year.

(pause/space for a humble bow... it takes some seconds... sorry)

Ok, its done! The book is concentrated on the initial landings of 20th May leaving some future space for the actions of the German mountain troops, the true winners of Crete. Even so, a very well organized guide is provided and you can work on all essentials of the battle. I took the oportunity to scratchbuild the last few missing models for the other recent RF! booklet Carentan also with the German FJ as an essential part. 

In the last two pictures you can see L to R, three Pak36 37mm (all for Crete), a 75mm IG (also for Crete), a Püppchen 88mm (for Carentan), and three 75mm LG40 (two for Crete and one for Carentan). All of them are scratchbuilt and copied from other existing models (as an example  there is the excellent Zvezda 75mm IG that served to copy the 75mm IG in the center). The new Carentan booklet introduced something that I also like to do which is a final list of the necessary total amount of different models necessary for a campaign or set of games. 

The models  are mostly made of plastic card or other plastics (the blue barrels of the Pak36 are made of broom sticks, for instance). The wheels are sometimes 3d printed or taken from the spare box. 

The crews came from the two boxes of fallschimjägers from Airfix and Revell. The kneeling and standing figures had their MP40 replaced by a shell or are somehow manning the gun. The Airfix injured figure had his arm replaced by another Milliput arm with binoculars. 

Some figures also got rifles and MP40 hanging from their backs.

The last four guns were made after the batch shown in the first picture. The 75mm Geb.G 36 mountain gun was made from all available small parts from plastic Pak 75mm wheels, an old Lorraine Schlepper gun shield cut to shape, a resin gun and the usual plastic card.  

The 75mm mountain gun already crewed. 

The 150mm rocket projectiles Do Gerat was used in limited quantities and was not successful. I could not find pictures of this model but it probably must have looked something like this, taking into consideration other similar models available in the web. The crate of the model is wood and the bipod come from a derelict aircraft model of some sort. The injured Airfix figure got a Roco arm. 

 

The 105mm mortar was a scaled up 81mm mortar. This one is made in EverGreen tubing with an Atlantic base. 

This 3d printed model is probably wrong as the 20mm gun used by the German FJ in Crete was a different model with rounded shields and slimmer legs. I´ll try to get rid of the shield so it can look better. Even so its something close with the same caliber. 

Next: more Crete 1941

Impetus rules, Mohacs 1526 in 20mm (Part 2), The Ottoman army

In this second part of the Mohacs battle of 1526 you can see the Ottoman army. Models are Zvezda, Italeri, Lucky Toys and StreletsR. As usual there are plenty of conversions, specially on the Sipahis. This project is still halfway but all types of Ottoman soldiers are already here.