The Afrika Korps, Western Desert 1941-43, for Rapid Fire! rules

This is the DAK / Deutches Afrikakorps of the famous Rommel, or better the three more famous German Division sized units - 15PD, 21PD and 90LD of the Afrika Korps. Still not included is the great Italian "Ariete' armoured divison that together with many other German and Italian units made this famous corps.

Next: PzIIIs for Kursk.

Rapid Fire! Operation Barbarossa and beyond in 20mm- A few more vehicles for the 'Panzer Grey' period.

In USSR, mid 1942, a German column stops close to an orchard for the crews to fill their bellies with plums. 

Inside the column is the famous Kurt Knispel, a Sudeten German of Salisov that is still the highest scorer tank ace of history with at least 168 confirmed  kills both as gunner and tank commander. In this picture Kurt Knispel was still a gunner inside this '301' Tiger I E. Later he would became a tank commander and use other Tigers and King Tigers. It was in one of the later that he died in 28 of April 1945, aged 23, surrounded by Soviet tanks not far from its birth place, in Urbau, Czechoslovakia. He was an interesting character, definetly not a Nazi (nor a 'pure' German), with longer than usual hair and a goatee. These two characteristics, together with the fact of assaulting an SS soldier whom he saw mistreating Soviet POWs, never let him have more than the German Cross and the Unteroffizier rank, even with a tank kill record superior to Wittman, Barkmann or Otto Carius. 

This Tiger was painted with  the symbols of the s.Pz.Abt.503. and believed to have been  Knispel's first Tiger. Later when using the first model of the King Tiger in Normandy he only destroyed two allied tanks and a few other vehicles due to an environment not as favourable for his admirable skills and his heavy tank.  

The model is an old and half broken Airfix model. It received several new parts from the slightly bigger Hasegawa Tiger like the Rommel kisten, commander's hatch, headlights, smoke dischargers and engine cooling and exaust parts.

Also some extra wheels were added as they were missing in the original model. They are solid steel wheels of a later version so they were covered in paste to hide the difference.

These two PzIV are Hasegawa, and F2 to the left and a later G model with PSC commander. 

The PzIV F2 got a few extras from PSC.

Same with the PzIV G. I place my antennas inside a small EverGreen rod for extra strenght.

This Armourfast PzIII G had plenty of details added as, even if well proportioned, could have been a more detailed model in the way PSC makes theirs. 

My idea with these tanks is to make a pool of different models of the PzII,III and IV for the 'Panzer Grey' period of 1941-42 so they can be used with many different units. 

The Armourfast model with all its detail added before priming. 

These two die-cast VW joined the German Army in the Eastern Front after having one tyre in North Africa. Fortunately, and thanks to the lovely RF! FB groups , it could be concluded that no VW ever went to the DAK. 

The VWs started their commercial lifes in a local bazaar and sported the later bigger rear windshield which were remodelled with paste. The cargo on top is a mix of two component paste and small bits and pieces copying the one you can see in the German Tank Units in the Eastern Front 41-42 supplement by Master Richard. 

Finally three Krupp Kfz70 from BPM 3d prints were added to the France 1940 collection and its 7th PD. They were left without the brown camouflage so they can give a hand in the Eastern Front even if the green jackets of the figures betrays them as early war models. The figures, stowage and Mg34s are PSC from its very useful stowage set.

Next: The new ACW Epic miniatures. 

Rapid Fire! Market garden in 20mm - Oddities and such (part 12) - Mielke Panzer Company

Mielke Panzer company was part of Kampfgruppe Knaust and consisted of two PzIV (one Ausf G and one Ausf H) and six PzIII (Ausf F, G, H and M) on its arrival at Arnhem on the 18th of September 1944. This tank company came from Bielefeld and from the Panzer school of Pz Regiment 11, 6th PD. 

Masters Colin and Richard mention one PzIV and one PzIII on both RF! OMG supplements. Perfectly logical and balanced but, due to being tired of making PzIV, I used two PzIII for this company. Besides, using PzIII in late 1944 makes another distinguishable German unit due to the relative rarity of this tank by then.

The final push  for making this company was the excellent post from Mike´s Research Blog you can find here: 

https://mikesresearch.com/2018/08/26/panzer-kompanie-mielke/

I used for these models the inevitable Concord book by Marcel Zwarts on the German Armour at Arnhem, The Squadron Signal book on the PzIII and some nice photos Piers Brand kindly  sent to me of his own Mielke Panzer Company.

I used an Armourfast kit for the PzIII Ausf. F(or G?...) and  a PSC for the PzIII Ausf. M. 

The pictures I found of the short gunned 50mm PzIII doesnt help much about finding the exact variant. Some mention Ausf F, others Ausf G. In fact the external differences between the two variants are very small: different driver's vision slot cover; signal port  in the Ausf F and different sliding covers in the turret cuppola. 

The kit is a bit incomplete so a few extra parts were added: rear engine cover and air vents...

...antenna resting place, several types of stowage...

... escape hatches on the hull (not used in later models), torsion bars, several tools including a Jack. The engine covers were also wrongly added as they were only present in the Ausf H model (the good news is that Mielke's Company also had the Ausf H so...).  

Armourfast models are nice and cheap. Its true that they are a bit on the undetailed side but with some work they can be turned into a nice piece. 

By having a few extra PzIII painted in the three colour scheme you can also beef up your forces for Kursk 1943, Sicily or Italy 43/44. 

The Ausf M was built straight from the PSC box, only with a pair of new lights on the fenders. The ones on the hull had to be carved out. 

The PSC model is far more complete than the Armourfast. 

I used plenty of extra tracks for protection. Not sure if these tanks had so many has they belonged to a Panzer school. 

This Panhard 178 A/C has nothing to do with Mielke's Panzer company and it belonged (or not...) to the 'Frundsberg' 10th SS Pz Recce battalion.

The model is a 3d print from MiniGeneral. This time some paste - Vallejo plastic putty - had to be placed all over some boring printing lines as this model is already a bit old in Pedro Pato´s catalogue. Even so its a very nice and simple to assemble model.

The usual extras - foliage, antennas and crew- and it was done. I chose the plain Dark Yellow colour after consulting the RF! FB groups were you can always have help from people who know what they are talking about. The figures and some of the stowage came from the PSC German Stowage Set were you get three sprues with dozens of useful pieces. 

Next: Tigers for Pz Lehr or France 1940.

Rapid Fire! NW Europe 44/45 - The M-18 Hellcats of the 705th TD Battalion

The 705th Tank Destroyer Battalion arrives at Bastogne on the 19th of December 1944. Already dug in are some of the units of the 101st Airborne which the TDs will help with its powerful 76,2mm antitank guns. This quick story sums up the reason why the Hellcats of the 705th TD Battalion are necessary for the defence of Bastogne. I remember Bastogne as one of my first solo wargames when I was still a teenager. 

Thanks to the quick builds nowadays available, three boxes of Armoufast M-18 Hellcat solves the issue of a full US TD battalion at least regarding the tanks themselves . 

But not everything are roses with Armourfast kits. They are well engineered models with all main parts but missing some equipment that I think could be easily engraved as PSC does. Here you can see a load of Jerrycans, different stowage, figures, antenna...

...headlights, mantlet covers, axes, hammers and Mg ammo box. All these details are easily made in different types of styrene and two component paste.

I paint nowadays all my US vehicles with Vallejo Cam. Olive Green (RLM80) from its Panzer Aces series. 

All markings were aplied by hand . 

Another example of the stowage necessary for a late US vehicle. 

- Hey Marl, what is that tough thing leaning against my butt...?

- Don't worry Steve, just my Colt 45...

Conclusion: Yes, the interior of these things was really crammed!

The figures are torsos from Matchbox and Revell chosen from the ones without netting on the helmets. The arms are all made in GreenStuff for them to sit in the intended place. 

The names on this Hellcat were taken from the tankdestroyer.net site namely from the pages dedicated to the 705th TDB. 

Next: another load of German vehicles for Market Garden.

Rapid Fire! Conclusion of the 26th VGD in Bastogne - The Intriguing Feldersatz Battalion

Years ago I built a Volksgrenadier division according to its six battalion/ three Regiment structure and obviously obeying Herr Richard Marsh and his Battle of the Bulge supplement. You can see it here:

http://jpwargamingplace.blogspot.com/2013/02/rapid-fire-20mm-volksgrenadier-division.html

One of the intriguing points in the Bastogne siege is how the 26th VGD (Volksgrenadier Divisions had around 10.000 men) could have besieged a bigger and better quality unit like the 101st Airborne with 11.000 men during more than one week. If it is true that the 26th VGD was not alone, counting with other units of the 47th Panzer Korps, it is also true that the 101st was not alone as it counted with tank, Tank Destroyer, stragglers  and many artillery units. 

Eventually many other units participated in the siege on both sides, some just passing by, making countability more difficult. 

To increase problems many sources, including the CO of the Division, Gen. Heinz Kokott, place the 26th VGD at 17.000. But how can a VGD be 17.000 strong if its organized according to the 1944 OB for infantry with only two battalions per regiment, so less than 10.000 men?

After looking a bit everywhere, mainly in internet forums where other people placed the same question,  the solution seems to be that the 26th VGD had a big Feldersatz Battalion (FEB) of several thousand men, used as replacements for the numerous casualties expected in the Ardennes campaign, something that really happened. A bit like the assault companies of US infantry for D-Day, reinforced at 50% as they also expected a high volume of casualties. 

The difference between the 10.000 paper organization of a VGD and the real 26th VGD 17.000 men strong makes you build at least four new battalion sized forces that you can see in the big picture above: three infantry battalions and another one at the top, with the Hetzer tank dividing it, to reinforce the Pioneer and the Fusilier battalion of the Division.  

Most of the figures are old plastics from Airfix, Matchbox and Revell with a few newer PSC and some metal from SHQ and Irregular Miniatures. 

Some stands of Irregular Miniatures 80mm mortar and HMG. 

The PSC cleverly engineered solution for the HMG. 

The Pzfausts and Pzschreck of PSC. 

Some conversions also made are the support figure for the Esci Panzerschreck made out of two figures from Matchbox with the MP44 assault rifle from Armourfast. 

Airfix and Revell living together in harmony. The Airfix figure comes from the DAK box but with gloves new uniform and camouflage trousers becomes a nice Volksgrenadier. 

The Command stands have radios placed on the back of Esci and Airfix. The Officers are PSC, Esci, Matchbox, Fujimi (the greatcoated one) and SHQ. The lying down figures are Armoufast, Revell, Airfix and Matchbox. 

Esci and Revell for the snipers, Revell for the Pzfausts. The 80mm mortar stand has an Esci (surplus from the Nebelwerfer set) and Matchbox figures, the kneeling one again a conversion. 

For speed of painting I used the same grey colour for the gloves; webbing was all black, haversack and canvas gaiters were all khaki, etc. Also the camouflage schemes were generally the Field Grey jacket, the camouflaged or white smock and the same for trousers and helmets. 

Pioneer from Revell lead by an Italeri figure. 

This is my fifth Hetzer, a bit too much as only three are necessary for the Anti-tank battalion. The camouflage comes from Osprey campaign 145 about the Bastogne events. With one extra Hetzer it makes two companies and with this big FEB may be I start also another VGD as two are necessary for the St Vith actions. 

Next: have no idea. Better, too many ideas but don't know what to choose. 

Rapid Fire! Operation Lüttich (Mortain Counterattack) 1944 in 20mm, Part 6 and last - Panzer Lehr

This series is finishing in the beginning of August, about the time of the Mortain battles just by mere luck not on purpose. Here you have the two Kampfgruppe in which Panzer Lehr was divided after Operation Cobra, KG Von Hauser and KG Ritgen. The CO of Pz Lehr. Generalleutnant Fritz Bayerlein reported catastrophic casualties from the carpet bombing of Cobra and the following assault by two US tank divisions. But it seems they were exaggerated as other officers from the division reported much smaller casualties. Apparently Bayerlein was trying to save the division from further damage. Thus the two KG of the division played only a small role at Mortain with Von Hauser behind the main assault and Ritgen  much to the rear. 

In the top picture the two KG are forming. The Panther battalion is reduced to 3 (RF!) tanks, same with the PzIV battalion as the Lehr tanks were only a bit more than 30 around the 5th of August. On the right you have the AA assets of FlakAbt. 130 close to the remnants of the Pioneer battalion. In line at the rear the Recce bat.130 has its eight wheeled vehicles ready for action. To the left the SP's are providing some fire support while the AA half-tracks of the Pz.Gren. regiments are waiting on the side of an hedgerow. The Fallschirmjäger of II Corps gives the necessary infantry and PAK for this advance with Pz Lehr being subordinated to this Corps during the Mortain actions. 

This Nitto/Fujimi Panther has its big white and red number painted over the turret protective track pieces. Another typical characteristic of Pz Lehr Panthers were the white painted front mudguards. A PSC crewman was the only addition to the model. 

Now this one is a work of art. It was gift from my friend Jorge Faria, the 2nd biggest wargamer and model maker of this country. He carefully used a hot steel to carve the Zimmerit on this Matchbox model, something that many of us thought about but few had the ability to do. I only repainted it in order to have the same tones of colour in all models. 

The PzIV are Esci built straight from the box with the usual add-ons.

The Pz38t AA are Altaya with plastic crews.

This Bergepanzer III is a conversion from the Matchbox Pz III. 

Two Hasegawa Sdkfz 7/1 and 2 from the Flak Abt.311.

Probably Pz Lehr still had some of the 25 Sdkfz 234/2 'Puma' of Panzeraufklärungs-Lehr-Abteilung 130. I used three to represent approximately half of 4th company still  in existence a number probably exaggerated as the reconnaissance units of WW2 had the higher percentage of casualties.   

Another asset of the Recce battalion is this Britannia Sdkfz 233 with SHQ crew. 

Two more Britannia Sdkfz 10/4 makes the Flak for the 901 and 902 Pz Gren. regiments. One day I will make this figures from the available ones in the Valiant box. 

Panzer-Artillerie-Regiment 130 still has these two matchbox Wespe.

General Bayerlein watches the direction of the attack he thinks being a total mistake. But its Hitler's orders so its better to do something about it. The light car and Stoewer are Frontline Wargaming. 

The FJ manning this Airfix Pak40 are also old Airfix and Preiser. 

The main body of the two battalions of  FJ are Esci with a few Valiant conversions. 

The MMG are Armourfast with Airfix heads. The Radio stand is Revell. 

Now for some bibliography used in this series. To the right you have the Victory at Mortain book from M.J. Reardon. For me its the best account of the battles of the Mortain counteroffensive even if lacking detail on the German OB's. To the right  R. Weiss Fire Mission book centers its text on the 'lost Battalion' actions around hill 314. 

The 1947 Michelin map of Mortain is a very useful guide for the terrain were everything happened. I used this one I found in the internet. When all pages are placed like this and wrapped with tape it measures around 70cm X 40cm.

A quick map of the actions make you understand you need a table around 8 meters X 4 meters to cope with all units involved. 

Along the years I built these helpful charts to keep a registration of all details I could find of the six big German units present at Mortain. Also wrapped in tape it was essential to add constant changes in numbers and weapons to the German lists as I was finding more references on this difficult matter and far from conclusion.

Next: More German units for late WW2.