A wargamer´s trip to Arnhem - (part 2) The Crossroads at Oosterbeek and the Oude Kerk

 

Writing "Oude Kerk" (the old church of Oosterbeek), makes me look more cultivated for sure even if I don´t know any other word in Dutch. Even sure I´m sure it attracted your attention as it surely attracted mine a few days ago as I had no idea how to write 'old church' in Dutch. 

This post is about the Crossroads and the Oude Kerk, particularly this last one as I don´t have many references in order to build the church which is an important building still missing in my collection. I have all other major buildings already made for years and it was very funny to see them in 1/1 scale :)

On top of the page you can see the modern Tafelberg.  First it had the old red brick walls and it was like this that served as General Model´s HQ (together with Hartenstein) and then as a critical MDS station for the British. Today is a private house. Only the front remains from the battle time and it was recently painted white. 

Going down Pieterbergseweg you have on the right the No 35, Hotel Johanna. On the previous post you can see the piece of wall paper taken from this place and used as a kill mark by a British sniper.

While looking for this house I asked a lady that was passing by were Hotel Johanna was. To my astonishement she was the daughter of Kate Ter Horst, and I think one of the few still alive from a total of 6 children. We chatted a bit and I could understand that she was 5 years old when the battle happenned. She was very sad when I couldn´t understand initially her mother´s name in Dutch but then, when I mentioned that I remembered her mother taking care and saving hundreds of British Paratroopers, she became slightly happier. I´m not sure but after looking in the Web she seems to be Sophie, probably the youngest daughter now with the beautiful age of 87. 

Next to No34 is this other beauty, in typical Oosterbeek style, maybe also deserving a model. 

Hotel Vreevijk on the Crossroads was another medical post. 

Schoonoord Hotel. In fact this row of building were rebuilt after the landing of revengeful V-1 weapon strike on the 26 January 1945 which killed 26 people. 

Quatre-Bras is probably one of the most elegant buildings at Oosterbeek. But frankly in the middle of so many beautiful buildings its hard to say. The triangular monument at the right bottom corner remembers the 21 Independent Parachute Company. 

And now to the main target of my visit to Ooosterbeek, the Old Church. This church is famous for being the oldest church ground of the Netherlands and it became the focal point of Lonsdale Force in the last few days of the perimeter. There is a nice model picture of this church in the first Rapid Fire! book on Market garden designed by  Dale Rawson  but I wanted more information and take some pictures in order to make the model in the future. 

The guy in the picture is my wife´s cousin, he is almost two meters tall and he was useful for scale. Well, at least if you use Valiant 1st edition 1/72nd scale figures :). Besides scale he was also a great company. 

The lime tree to the right is still shattered from the battle and next to it 4 British paratroopers died from a mortar shell. 

Going left around the church and still facing the river you can see some details of the windows in Gothic style. They look to be new as the church suffered a lot of damage during the battle with plenty bullet holes that can still be seen right and left of this door. 

With your back to the river there are new structures and different, smaller, windows. 

Using AI I got this information: 

Following the Battle of Arnhem in September 1944, the Oosterbeek Old Church (Oude Kerk) was left in a state of near-ruin due to heavy artillery fire and its role as a final stronghold for the 1st Airborne Division. Restoration efforts between 1946 and 1961, directed by architect Berend Tobia Boeyinga, focused on rebuilding the church while altering its structure to reflect its historical origins. 

Key changes and structural alterations after the 1944 battle included:

• Removal of the 19th-Century Expansion: The extensive 1856 neo-Gothic additions, which included a transept and large windows, were not restored.
• Restoration to "Original" Style: The church was rebuilt to resemble its older, pre-19th-century form (circa 1400).
• Choir Modification: The severely damaged 15th-century Gothic choir was replaced with a new, smaller, and simpler pseudo-Romanesque choir that matched the 10th-century nave.
• Structural Changes to Walls and Windows: To emphasize the Romanesque origins, large windows were closed off and replaced with smaller ones.
• Consistory Addition: A new, smaller consistory (a room for church meetings) was added to the choir.
• Commemorative Features: While the structure was repaired, many battle scars, such as bullet holes, were left in the walls as a memorial. Inside, the church was adorned with memorials to the British and Polish soldiers, including special kneeling cushions with the Pegasus emblem of the Airborne Forces. 

So in order to make model of this church (no interior) you need:

- To add the transept 

- Make larger neo-gothic windows. 

- Take into consideration that the clock are not contemporary of the battle and frankly I´m not sure if they even existed by then. 

This plate on the wall also clarifies the date of the major changes.

The view of the church from the river. To the left, the beautiful white building is the house of Kate Ter Horst family. 

And the view of the other side of the Lower Rhine river were the remnants of the 1st British Airborne Division and the Polish Brigade arrived after escaping the German encirclementon of Oosterbeek during Operation Berlin on the 25th and 26th September 1944, an operation made under constant fire from the Germans. The river is not very large but the current is very strong which caused trouble to the salvage boats and to swimmers on those days. 

Next: a visit to Arnhem itself

A wargamer´s trip to Arnhem - (part 1) Oosterbeek Airborne museum and surroundings

 

The days of the Carnival break were spent in the Netherlands and - obviously - around Arnhem and Oosterbeek, with a short visit to Eindhoven, Nijmegen and the Vught concentration camp. 

The Oosterbeek Airborne Museum (there is another at Arnhem) is the old Hartenstein Hotel and the HQ of the 1st British Airborne Division during the 9 days of the Market Garden campaign, and also the center of the defensive perimeter very close to the east/west main artery of Oosterbeek, Utrechtseweg. 

As we flew cheap with backpacks I was not able to carry my two large volumes of Market Garden Then and Now but was able to take my two excellent volumes on Arnhem and Oosterbeek of Battleground Europe by Frank Steer which cleared many doubts on the way and helped me find virtually everything I needed. 

Unfortunately, the tennis courts at the Airborne Museum of Oosterbeek (old Hartenstein Hotel) were the German prisoners  were held are gone and turned into a sort of rest area. 

Inside the museum you can find a great collection of items very well displayed. The container next to the British paratrooper is of good usage both for modellers and wargamers. 

A Polish radioman.

                           

A very good selection of weapons in the vitrine to the left. The 50mm German mortar is interesting with a base in dunkelgelb and the tube in panzer gray. The large Nebelwerfer rocket probably belonged to Von Tettau´s large Kampfgruppe or less likely to the 10th SS Panzer division as these ones operated south of the lower Rhine. 

I´m not sure if this was the first 8cm German mortar I´ve seen but it looked quite big. I think that its representation in 1/72-20mm size should be slightly increased in most brands. 

It was nice to see the British webbing in a light pea green tone close to what I did with my British paratroopers. 

This is a British list of 'Gerry' casualties fu..., sorry, taken by this sniper. This piece of wall paper was taken from Hotel Johanna, No34, Pieterbergseweg, Ooosterbeek. 

Frost´s hunting horn ended up in the museum after some adventures. Now I need a 20mm John Frost with a hunting horn. 

A painting of the medical aid from both sides around the Crossroads.

An animated battle map is one of the best features of this museum as it shows the events from the day one up to the last. Of course, in the basement you can take a ride in a Horsa Glider and go through Oosterbeek ruins in another great animation.  

The HQ of the artillery regiment of the 1st British Airborne was situated some 100 meters to the south of the museum and is represented by this battered 17 pdr AT gun. 

                             

As you can see there is more than one Urkuhart, with the British version (183 cm)) being slightly taller than the portuguese one (170 cm). Unfortunately the weight between the two is getting dangerously close. 

                          

                                                         

The first modelling consequence upon arrival was to repaint sand yellow a good part of the white walls of my scratch built Hartenstein hotel /Airborne Museum as white walls was the perception that many had during decades, including RF! Masters Colin and Richard.  I left the interior white but I may go for some paper wall decoration as in the original. 

Next: part 2 with more Oosterbeek

The Stutterheim brigade at Wagram for AOE/V&F in 20mm

 

The Stutterheim brigade at Wagram was constituted by the 2nd Jägers, the 5th Chevau-Légers and an artillery battery. During the battle the brigade was involved in the fighting around Aderklaa, defending the place, then loosing it and later recapturing it.  

I placed some of the Jägers with the old Raupenhelm of 1805 which, I think (or hope), that was still used by some units. The skirmish bases are not intended for brigade size wargames with most of the line infantry in Age Of Eagles having the SK mark showing skirmishing ability. The problem, at least for me, comes when a brigade only has infantry made of Jägers, not being very logical to show these troops in rectangular bases with 6 figures or even less. So I like to use these smaller stands that can be spread a bit all over. Another advantage is using them in smaller scale actions using other rules. 

The majority of the Jägers were changed to have the newer Corsican hat. The figures used were Esci British and Russian figures without shako. The trumpet came from the Esci Prussian and the third figure from the left is Italeri with my last Hat Corsican hat from their Austrian Landwehr box.

The brim of the hats were made from small pieces of card glued on the head. Then on top a piece of Belgian shako (without the top part) was glued. All Jägers, including the ones with the Raupenhelm, got a backpack. The rifles were also cut down to show the Jägerstutzen short rifle 1795 model and the Jägerkarabiner 1807 model. 

Klenau´s Chevau-Léger Regiment is made from the Revell British Life Guards, less the plume, on top of Airfix Hussar horses, due to the rear pointy shabraque. 

The more I paint these old types of plastic figures the more I get convinced that the figure designers of Revell, Airfix, Esci (and Italeri to an extent) were thinking to provide the basic types of equipment used in the Napoleonic wars and then trusting in its soft plastic for the conversion of whatever necessary by modellers and wargamers. In fact they had their hands full was they were making figures for all possible periods of history and thuis choice seems totally logical. Then StreletsR and Hat changed all this by making everything you need. In fact the British Life Guards can be turned easily into Austrian Dragoons or Chevau-Légers simply by changing the horse, cutting the plume and ignoring a bag under the canteen. Almost all horse´s legs in the air were glued to the base in order to provide a sturdier stand. 

                                 

Karl Wilhelm von Stutterheim was considered one of the best Austrian commanders of the 1809 war but he killed himself in 1811 at the age of 41 due to an unknown scandal while writing a book on that famous campaign. 

Next: French Cuirassiers

Austrian Uhlan Archduke Charles Regiment and Sommariva Cuirassier regiment for AOE/V&F in 20mm

 

The Austrian bug continues to bite. Painting Austrian cavalry is a very relaxing thing as the uniforms are not complicated and some beautiful units can be formed. 

The cuirassiers on the back row came straight from the Hat box but really challenging were the conversions made on the Mars box of Austrian Uhlans.

Even so the Hat Austrian cuirassiers had to have some changes as there are only figures holding a sword. One of them got his right arm bent in order to old a flag; another one became an officer with enlarged crest and different painted cuirass; the last change was the cornet who lost his sword, had its arm bent in order to hold a cornet. 

Heavily engaged on the 2nd day of Wagram, the Sommariva regiment participated in the frontal clashes against Davout´s III corps. 

The Mars Uhlans are more troublesome. With only four poses these figures are (L/R) an officer, two lancers holding high his lance or his sword and another one falling from his injured horse. There is a separate sprue with rifles, muskets, sword but only 3 lances. Like this you would have only 3 lancers, 3 swordsmen with others being officers and wounded Uhlans. 

Some changes had to be made then. One of the officers became a cornet...

... and nine others got plastic broom bristles for the lances and paper pennants after some changes on the arms. The falling horses had its front legs cut from the base and glued in a more natural position together with its mounted figure who had its right arm taken from the reigns and got a lance The Archduke Charles Uhlan regiment was not at Wagram but participated in the actions of Aspern-Essling a few months before. 

Next: 1809 Austrian Chevau-légers and Jägers

More 1809 Austrian infantry (IR 10 and Grenadier Battalion Brezjinsky) for AOE/V&F in 20mm

 

The Austrian infantry is in fact never fully made. You need hundreds of stands for Wagram, (in AOE terms - even at 1 stand/360 figures you need 223 bases of line infantry) and I´m around a bit more than half of the total. Together with this IR 10, made of Esci and Italeri figures, I painted one more Grenadier Battalion and an artillery stand. 

Two of the infantry battalions are Austrian figures but the third battalion got a different treatment. The torsos on the 2nd and 3rd ranks are French "line" from Esci with Austrian heads taken from kneeling figures. There are simply too many in both Esci and Italeri boxes and making three ranks, two of them standing, doesn´t help.  Backpacks were placed in all figures that didn´t have them. The French uniform in both brands have short coat tails and suit an Austrian unit very well if appropriately painted.

Like this they don´t stand that bad and you can reduce the number of headless figures. A good number of kneeling Esci and Italeri Austrians was still kept as I intend to couple them with Hat or Strelets Austrians.

The kneeling figures have to be used due to their numbers in old boxes. In fact I`m not sure if the Austrian infantry kneeled  even when in square like the British did with its first rank. 

The Esci figure biting its cartridge was converted into a drummer and is now smoking its pipe. 

This one, originally a Prussian sprue, came by mistake inside a box of Wurttemberg artillery as both are blue. The coat was cut here and there and painted as Austrian.

Next: more Austrian cavalry.