Rapid Fire! rules in 20mm - The Germans manning the WNs at Omaha

 

For some time I wanted to have some "proper" Germans for the Normandy beaches. By "proper" I mean late uniform and equipment, without camouflage smocks or helmets and, specially, without any grass on the bases. The period photos of the troops manning D-Day WN´s show them in pretty standard uniform and equipment. 

With the authorisation of Masters Colin and Richard you can see the number of figures needed for the biggest scenario of D-Day, Omaha beach, of course, belonging to both 352 and 716. Infantry Divisions. A total of 60 figures small arms equipped, 5 figures with PzFaust and 12 MMGs. As I have 7 pairs of the latter from Britannia (with surcoats but very nice figures) and 5 more were added. Some of the MMGs are inside bunkers with no figures, like the ones in WN 71 and73, but maybe one day I´ll change those pieces of terrain so I can place the models inside of it. 

All figures are 1st type Valiant figures. For the MMG´s I used the figure manning the HMG but used the MG42 of the standing figure that fits nicely into this figure armpit . All the figures got some extra height to reach the level of my model trenches. 

The No 2 is the Valiant radio figure (with headphones cut out)  and, with some Extra Tech photo-etched ammo, it became a decent ammo provider. The stands were also cut at the front so the MMG can poke from the trench. 

Many of the riflemen got new arms and weapons from the Valiant Normandy set and they fit very well. 

By using different arms  from both sets you can get a lot of different figures. 

The Pzfausts got the same treatment and they also have a rifle for double usage. 

I will use the reinforcements from my other German infantry battalions as they eventually got a bit more time for some camouflage and the grass on the base will not look strange. The WN you see on the previous pictures is WN 72 with the famous 88mm and 50mm PAK guns on the western part of the beach. The Sentry model is a great piece of resin (which I copied here in styrofoam), unfortunately the distance between both casemates is too small (in fact it was some 150 meters) and Sentry used a small wall to connect both casemates when there should be a trench. I did the same with my copy as you don´t have too much space to portray accurately the German WN´s and the whole Omaha beach, that is over 7 km long. 

I made a few changes in my WN 72 based on the excellent work of Michael Akkerman. This guy is probably the leading expert on Omaha and also a talented painter. You can find his work on the Web, and particularly on the fabulous WW2 TV YouTube channel. 

Like this I painted  a bit more accurately the broken fence on the hotel next to the R667 casemate...

... and placed some stones and grass around the 50mm casemate. 

Related to 352.ID you can add a  Lorraine OP to the PzJäger Abt. of the division. This diagram came in an extensive 40 pages article on the PzJäger Abt. 352 in No38 of the excellent Normandie 1944 French magazine. So one more unit were you can have these funny vehicles instead of only the 21.PD. artillery.

In the top picture you can see one of the two in the top right corner. 

Next: a video on the Polish 1939 army, on Omaha or on the SCW.