Rapid Fire! France 1940 in 20mm - The 9th French Infantry Battalion of the DI/DIM and the last few 25mm AT guns

 

Finally finished! The 1940 DI/DIM is complete after many years of collecting, modelling and painting this one. Its a particularly tricky division as it involves 9 infantry battalions, lots of horse tows and plenty of conversions. 

Once again I used the brilliant Pegasus figures and also plenty of conversions for the support weapons and 25mm AT Hotchkiss crews. The green pieces you see are the usual arms made from GreenStuff. 

The command stand has three conversions. The officer torso was placed on top of HAT officer´s legs (whose torso went on top of a vehicle). 

The radio man had a new right arm and headphones made from GreenStuff and the usual EverGreen was used for the radio. The third figure was originally firing but with some twists it became more like on the watch. 

The last six Simon´s Soldiers metal figures were also used in this battalion. If I wasn't for my primeval fear of White Sharks and Crocodiles I would move to Australia and all my French would be Simon´s Soldiers !!

The missing 25mm AT gun for the GRDI was made from MiniGeneral 3d prints and the crew are converted HAT artillery figures. 

The figures had Greenstuff modelled on the helmet, both for the padded front and goggles and also on the trousers for them to become baggier. 

The last five 25mm guns of the division are MiniGeneral and the figures are Pegasus conversions. 

The Pegasus figures are ideal for these conversions as most of the arms are separate and can be discarded and replaced by GreenStuff arms. 

The (9th) 81mm mortar was made from and old Airfix one. The versatility of the Pegasus figures can be seen here, all arms are GreenStuff and can be easily adapted to a new task. 

The 60mm mortar stand has and old Revell figure too. The mortar is made out of EverGreen plastic card. 

Last week I was at Les Invalides Military Museum and these pictures gave me the Élan to finish the DI/DIM. This nice cavalryman shows the equipment for the DLC trooper very well.

Here a very good Chasseur Porté for the infantry of the DCR. 

The equipment of a regular infantryman. Note that the gourde (canteen) is uniform colour and the bayonet scabbard is black. 

The APX 1937 25mm AT gun. Guns are obviously very simplified in our scale but here you have it if you want more details. 

The Puteaux 1918 37mm gun used in many of the French tanks. Even the S-Models version is very simplified...

This is me waiting for the driver of my FT-17, which is busy taking the picture. Used in the last month of the 1940 war the FT-17 and derivatives became one of the many "desperate measures" of the French trying to stop the Germans. 

Next: a video on the DI/DIM of 1940