Rapid Fire! Dieppe 1942 in 20mm (part 7) - The Tobacco factory

 

The Dieppe Tobacco factory is one of the last buildings I still wanted to do for the landings at White and Red beaches. After this one only the Eastern Pier is missing as it encloses the main beach and housed a 37mm gun that caused problems for the Allied landing force. Regarding the rest of the buildings on the promenade and bunkers at the beach and cliffs I hope to use the ones I already have but I will only be sure when the built up of the table starts. 

Behind this factory there is a famous love story that I want to share with you. Yes, wargaming is not only death and mayhem but also the conscience that behind each miniature there was a hart that was pounding for someone. The flowers you can see at the entrance were planted by the beautiful Mademoiselle Annette Pourtous, the secretary of the factory owner, Monsieur Pierre LeCoq. Soon they became in love but with a big problem. The parents of Annette had promised her to a sous-chef of the factory called Jean Revanche. When Jean Revanche found the affair bettween Annette and his boss he became crazy with jelousy and told the local Maquis that the factory was being used by the Germans as an ammunition depot. And this is why on the night of the 18/19 August 1942 the RAF Bostons bombed the factory and totally destroyed it with Pierre LeCoq and Annette inside, after a torrid night together...

Of course this story is total BS, so let´s get back to the model as I only wanted to keep your attention for the next pictures. The only true part of the story is the destruction of the factory under the belief of its usage by the Germans as an ammunition depot. 

I couldn´t find much information on this factory and much less some good photographs of the place. This one was the best I could find and its a pre-war photo. Even so enough for some details that can be modelled and painted. The bible of the action on Red and White Beaches, After the Battle- Dieppe through the Lenses, only shows a partial aerial view and some almost undistinguishable shots of its front taken from the beach after its destruction. 

I always make a small sketch of the final thing so you can have the general layout, decide the maximum size and no to go adrift of the main goal. 

So the front part became reasonable but other parts are much harder to reconstitute. 

Everything was kept on the small side in RF! style. The chimneys are wooden sticks and should have a more conical shape which is something very difficult to represent. 

The back part of the factory is completely made up. I used a long veranda that was helpful as it completes the tiled roof at the back . 

Painting is also completely conjectural in this part as well in others. The painting was based on the B/W picture I showed you before and not even AI managed to give any specific color for this building. So mostly dark yellow walls and blue doors lined with white was used together with red brick sidewalks and chimneys. These are just usual colors in this part of France but who knows. 

The sole chimney represents in fact a lot of them and other structures present at the right back part of the factory. The base is a square of 30cm X 30cm as it will lean on the southern end of the table together with one line of buildings. 

The RAF Boston´s view of the factory. 

Next: more Slovaks or maybe Germans in bicycles.

Rapid Fire! Dieppe 1942 in 20mm (part 6) - The Dieppe casino

 

With 14 people in the house in the last week I managed to sneak out in true Commando style for some period of time and build this model. The Dieppe casino was one of the many beach obstacles the Germans had at the main beach of Dieppe in order to hamper any allied landing. During the landings of August 1942 it was used as shelter for some Canadians and was thus destroyed after the failed Jubilee operation for the Germans to have a clear line of fire for an eventual second landing. 

This was another venture I was wanting to make since my teenage days but only when I got my hands on the excellent After the battle- Dieppe through the lens and Channel ports- Operation Jubilee books I really had enough reliable information for all this, from my Calgary tank regiment (already made) up to this one. 

This model became 60cm X 30cm. 

The casino was built in Moorish style, opening its doors in 1886,  and it became an imposing feature of the beach and an attraction for tourists during the French Belle Époque. 

Between 1926 and 1942 it gained this Art Déco style, with added galleries,  favoured by the 1936 first paid holidays in history which attracted even more bathers to its beach.

Then the Germans did this and it was in this conditions that the Canadians faced it. It got plenty of its structures changed and simplified and some AT bunkers in its extremities were added. All three last pictures are taken from the castle grounds, a typical photo shoot place at Dieppe. 

My interpretation of the building is a simplified one. The building was five floors tall and I only made three; the U-shaped galleries at the rear next to the gardens were heavily reduced as well as the overall size of the compound in what I hope to be true RF! style. 

The material used was my trusted BlueBoard 4cm sheets. Card was used for all openings, wood for the pipes on the left side roof and broom sticks for the railings. 

The tips of the casino were strenghtened with a 37mm gun (left) and a 47mm gun (right), both in bunkers. In fact the 37mm guns was placed more to the front and leaning on the sea wall. 

The rear part of the casino got shelled before the landing and had its western gallerie destroyed. I used pieces of BlueBoard and some pebbles to represent it. 

Some wooden beams were used to represent some tubing on the western roof (ventilation? water?). 

Just to break the structure some resin bundles of boxes and barrels were placed on the third floor. Its a bit the Call of Duty style but gives some detail to the model. 

The camouflage painting colors of the casino is not easy to understand and, in desperation and against my true beliefs, I asked Chat GPT what would it be and  green over sand showed up. The Osprey book shows it brown over sand and frankly the contrast looks more green over sand in the period pictures as AI said. 

The building´s front part is the most famous with its two oblique towers. The Germans look to have taken out most of the glass from the windows in order to avoid injuries on the defenders while being attacked. 

Some defensive weapons were made for the casino: the 20mm AA is 3d printed and both the 37mm and 47mm guns were scratchbuilt in EverGreen plastic card with some 3d printed wheels in both of them. The 37mm gun was made from memory and its shield became a bit too large. For not to try play the smart guy again I used a ShellHole scencics 47mm gun as a template and this one became nicer. The crews are Simon´s Soldiers and FtF. 

 An MG34 from FtF and a repainted Altaya Opel Blitz were added. The bases of the guns in particular had to have smaller sizes from the ones I already had due to the bunker openings. Besides the AT guns, there was a 20mm AA gun somewhere in the compound that I imagine to be on the roof and most probably some HMGs also. 

                                       

The guns when in the bunkers can be barely seen but the tips of their barrels add some drama to the action. 

These are the  three buildings for the Dieppe project made up to now. Their size has to do with its relative size with the gates being the smaller of the three and the casino, by far, the larger. 

In this picture you can see all three building and their relative position: the gates in the middle; the castle at the top and the casino galleries at the middle right. 

  

As I was probably a failed croupier in a previous life I like casinos. To the left you can see my approach to the Riva Bella/ Ouistreham casino of Sword fame made years ago.

Next: some YouTube shooting.  

Rapid Fire! Dieppe 1942 in 20mm (part 5) - The Dieppe gates

 

The mid XIX century rebuilt Dieppe gates with the famous tourelles were one of the seven entrances to Dieppe. When the Canadians landed, this was the aproximate sight they could see. 

Due to the tourelles the building stands out in the Boulevard de Verdun, the main avenue facing the sea. 

The construction material look like being the same of the castle, that is flint and sandstone. 

This is the aproximate view from within the city. 

There are some steps on this side and more floors than the ones modelled. 

The model was made in heavy duty card with Lego type conical roofs at the towers, the same used at the castle. The rear roof windows are made from pieces of BlueBoard. 

Kermit the Frog? 

The circular towers are made from spent paperboard centers of toilet rolls as I had no more large plastic tubing which was all used in the castle towers. 

This famous picture shows the three buildings I want for Dieppe specifically: the towers (centre left), the castle (top centre) and the Casino (right).  

The building was heavily shrunk and only three floors (instead of the original four) can still be seen at the front facing the see. Even so the gate and windows are enough for 20mm figures. 

Next: the Dieppe casino, probably, or some houses for the eastern Front. 

Rapid Fire! Dieppe 1942 in 20mm (part 4) - The Dieppe castle

 

The Dieppe castle is a dominating feature on the battlefield looking east from the top of the cliffs at Western Headland. Its made of flint and sandstone and its reconstruction dates the XIV century. While impressive you can pass well without it as the nearest heavy German defences were placed below the castle in some nearby houses, but it also housed the fire control  of several artillery batteries, hence the reason for this model ( Stab II./ Gren.Rgt. 935 and Stab H.K.A.R 1252 artillery). There were also some MG nests in the openings of the near tower. 

I left plenty of structures out of the model like the bastion facing the beach and the round wall with ramp leading to the main entrance, together with the Ruffin barracks. This was an obvious compromise as the structure is too big to be placed in a normal table. 

The side facing the beach. 

And the original one. Again, the old part of the castle was considerably reduced in the number of adjacent structures. 

This is the side you most see when looking for Dieppe castle in the web. 

This old picture of the same side is precious as shows the old look of the castle and not the pristine one of today as it houses a museum. 

The side of the bridge. 

The real one. In order to shrink the castle some of its parts ended up in a different position. 

The castle was made from Christmas wood houses together with PVC water pipes and even some pieces of toilet paper support. The large number of windows was covered with cardboard.  

This is a simple sketch made as I was gluing each part to another. 

This kind of cheap Christmas houses can be found a bit everywhere and they were the base for this model. 

At one euro each and after using some 6 or 7 of these you have a reasonable cheap model.  

The conic roofs were made from some 50 years old kind of lego parts from a castle. Some arches of the same set were also used for the bridge. 

Next: the Dieppe gates ( I also plan the casino but need more information on it)  or more Angolans for Cuito Cuanavale.