Rapid Fire! 20mm- 21st Panzer Division, Normandy 1944- Pt 1

    

The 21st Panzer division always filled my imagination since a little boy, with all that tranformed material from outdated French 1940 Somua, H-39, P-107 etc, which also included Russian guns.

Unfortunately this unit can only be properly done with those expensive resin and metal kits from France and England, but I made use of the much more affordable plastic and conversions whenever possible. On the other hand, having to buy (carefully...) expensive material you are forced to take extra care on the way you research, build and paint this big unit.

With 200 miniatures AFV´s this unit was made along several years with breaks for starting or coming back to other periods of wargaming. Due to this you can see different styles of painting both on vehicles and figures.

In this first part you will see 22nd Pz Regiment; Pz Artillery Regiment 155 and Pz Reconnaissance 21.

2nd battalion, 22nd Pz Regiment:
PzIV - Altaya;
Somua - metal Skytrex;
Cmdo Somua - Alby;
Pz38t Flak - Altaya;
PzIVD - Airfix;
H-38(f) -  Skytrex.

The H-38 from Fontline Wargaming with a ESCI commander.

This Airfix Pz IVD has a metal Britannia commander.

1st battalion, 22nd Pz Regiment:
Pz IV - Altaya; ESCI; Frontline Wargaming; Britannia (the one in the command section);
PzIII - ESCI;
Recovery PzIII - Matchbox conversion;
Pz38t Flak - Frontline Wargaming.

The Altaya Pz38t Flak, with a different camouflage to match the ones of 21st PD.

22nd Pz Regiment aproaching Périers ridge under the eye of a Typhoon Jabo...

The converted Recovery Pz III. A Matchbox hull with an Evergreen box and ESCI crew.

The Alby Somua command. A very fine and detailed kit.

1st battalion, Pz Artillery Regiment 155:
100 mm gun -Roco Minitanks (truly a 155mm gun in 1/87th scale);
122mm Russian guns - Irregular Miniatures;
French Prime Movers - Frontline Wargaming;
Somua Rocket Launcher - Raventhorpe;
Lorraine OP - Skytrex.

2nd and 3rd battalion, Pz Artillery Regiment 155:
Lorraine SP 150mm, Lorraine SP 105mm and Lorraine OP - Skytrex.

The three Lorraine SP and OP from Skytrex: left to right; 105mm; 155mm and OP.

The foliage I apply on all AFV is made of a hand mixture of HO train  foliage + white PVA glue from several brands. The material gets tough and can be handled by  any clumsy hands.

The full Pz Artillery Regiment 155mm.

The Raventhorpe Somua Rocket Launcher half-track.

The crewman are Preiser in 1/72nd scale from their Panzer crew at rest box.

The Russian 122mm and crew from Irregular Miniatures. There is also a crewman from the Sdkfz  251from ESCI. Here the figures are painted in an older block style painting.

The Sturmgeschütz - abteilung 200:
H-38 7,5cm PAK and H-38 105mm - Britannia and Altaya;
P-107 AA 20mm - Britannia.
H-38 OP - Raventhorpe.

This unit is exagerated in numbers but I just can't resist when I find one.

The H-38 of Alfred Becker: From left to right: Britannia H-38 105mm; Altaya H-38 105mm and Britannia H-38 75mm.

The only added parts to the Britannia model was the periscope; antenna and folliage/stowage.

The Raventhorpe P-107 AA carries a Britannia crew.

The small H-38 OP from Britannia.

The powerfull Pz Reconnaissance Battalion 21:
Sdkfz 250/9 - Britannia and ESCI;
Sdkfz 250/1 - Britannia;
Sdkfz 232 - Skytrex;
Sdkfz 233 - Britannia;
Sdkfz 222 - Britannia;
Sdkfz 251/1 and 37mm - ESCI;
Sdkfz 251 Flammenwerfer - Britannia;
Sdkfz 263 - conversion on Airfix Puma chassis.

 The recce  infantry is Irregular Miniatures infantry with some plastic ESCI and Revell's help. The infantry sports the caracteristic waterproof garments of the 21st PD.

The Britannia 251 Flammenwerfer.

Detail of the Sdkfz 251. Crew are plastic and metal SHQ.

There is no indication that the 21st Pz division had the Sdkfz 263 but this guy gave too much work to be left aside from this unit. Parts from Airfix and Evergreen on the hull of a Matchbox Puma with an aerial from ESCI 251 HT.

ESCI 7,5 cm PAK from the 5th company, with crew from ESCI soft and hard plastic.

 In the next few days I hope to be able to take some shots for the 2nd and last part of this post contemplating the infantry, pionneer and AA units of this division.