5e DLC for the 1940 campaign in 20mm for Rapid Fire! wargames rules

This is the smallest of the French division types for the 1940 campaing. The 5e Division Légère de Cavalerie (5e DLC) tried to stop the Germans in the Ardennes and fougth them at Sedan and Abbeville. Its very interesting due to its old material and number of horses. The figures and vehicles are a mix of Simon Soldiers (pioneers and artillerymen); Hat, Esci,Caesar, EWM, Lancer and LesArméesOubliés (horsemen, Motorcyclists and Dragons Portés); Resin prints from Mário Laranja (AMR33, Unic P107BU and Simca Cinq); MiniGeneral PLA prints (75mm field guns and Lafflys), SHQ (SideCars and motorcyclists), Wespe (Renault ADH), Altaya (Panhard 178), Skytrex (H39) and plenty, plenty of my own conversions.

Rapid Fire! France 1940 in 20mm - The 12e Régiment de Chasseurs à Cheval (5e DLC)

Just finished the last big unit of the 5e DLC, the 12e RCC. Its mostly a copy of the 11e Régiment de Cuirassiers that I made a few months ago. I used more of the Hat French WWI cavalry figures, EWM cyclists and MMG's, Lancer Miniatures 25mm AT gun and a few Caesar figures for some specific stands. 

The support squadron is EWM and Caesar mostly. The work on the EWM MMG's figures is on the coat in order to make it unbuttoned, and on the puttees in order to turn them into cavalry boots by using filler and painting them black. The horse holders are Caesar figures with Hat standing horses.

The 25mm SA34 AT gun tow was built in Evergreen. The horse is one of those nice Revell German horses of the artillery set pulled by a conversion from Caesar and a Hat driver.

The conversion of the Caesar front figure had to have a relocated rifle, unbuttoned coat and a new arm to pull the horse's reins. 

The whole group can be seen here on this nice picture of May/June 1940 taken from this post

https://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?t=131235

The Mle 1911 cart for the Hotchkiss MMG's is also scratch built using Airfix horses, Hat driver and a Revell MMG. The cart itself is made of Evergreen plastic card with resin copies of some plastic wheels.

The three mounted cavalry squadrons have plenty of Esci horses as many of the original Hat were used for the horse holders.

The Esci horses were taken mostly from the Scots Grey set and a few details on the horses equipment were added.

                                   

The fourth squadron, like in the 11e Cuirassiers, ride their butt-pain bikes due to the lack of horses.

The HQ of the regiment has Hat cavalry figures and Caesar foot. The 60mm mortar is scratch built.

Not sure about the boxes for the 60mm mortar and ammo as I never found any picture of them. I just used some old ones from the Italian Esci Alpini set. 

The command stand is the usual Hat figures with the cornet having a Hat Napoleonic British arm instead.

The family moved to a T1 after the pictures but now they are on the way to a much bigger house on my basement.


Next: more French 1940 probably, command cars and the last two H-39 for all big units. Also the two cavalry regiments in dismounted positions is a possibility.

Rapid Fire! French 1940 in 20mm - The figures of the Dragons Portés of the 5e DLC (Part 2)

The 15e RDP chooses a crossroads in an Ardennes forest to try to slow down the invading Germans. 

The Regiment figures are finished. The EWM and Caesar figures mix very well after painting. Of course the bodies and helmets are a bit larger  in EWM but not everybody eats the same amount of food. 

The rifle squadron of each battalions has 11 figures as Messieurs Colin and Richard say, seven from Caesar with the vareuse or the  converted Capotes and three EWM in the MMG. 

The support squadrons are the opposite with more EWM than Caesar figures. The Dragons Portés MMGs are a total of six for the two battalions. Not bad as it has to compensate the lack of riflemen in the regiment. 

The command squadrons are a mix of the two brands plus an ESCI figure with the 60mm mortar coming from the US range of SHQ. 

The work with the two component paste on the Capotes can be seen here. After painting the result is reasonable and they look like cavalry dress. 

Next: Maybe the last cavalry regiment for this division, the 12e Chasseurs, or some Iranian armour for the 1980-88 conflict. 

Rapid Fire! French 1940 in 20mm - The figures of the Dragons Portés of the 5e DLC (Part 1)

This group of 50 figures represents the full 15e RDP of the 5e DLC as each of its battalions only has one rifle squadron the rest being command and support squadrons. I used Caesar plastic figures and EWM metal for this unit. 

The Caesar set has beautifully crafted figures but no HMG/MMG of grenade launcher. I used the marching figure for the grenade launcher. The idea was to have the grenadier with its weapon visible, on the other hand a marching figure in the middle of action figures is not a very clever idea...

These Dragoons have the cavalry uniform so the Vareuse is Ok but the Capote of the original Caesar figures have its buttons fastened on the back in infantry style. I used two component paste to make the cavalry Capote front details and cut the folded part on the back with a X-Acto. 

The same for the officer. Even for infantry the original Caesar officer has the Capote fastened which was not the way for any officer to use it. Taking out that small detail and the lack of some weapons the Caesar figures are great. 

The radio man is the standing casually figure with a scratch built (sort of) French ER40A radio on its back. 

For the Brandt 81mm mortars I used the Esci figure with bipod from Atlantic and cut in some extra details. The other figures are Caesar. The figure on the left had its rifle taken out and placed on its back.

The 8mm Hotchkiss MMG are all EWM and the same trick on the Capote was used to turn these figures into Dragons Portés. 

Next: Most probably these figures already painted. 

Rapid Fire! France 1940 in 20mm - The transport vehicles of the Dragons Portés of the 5e DLC (Part 2)

The two battalions of Chasseurs Portés of the 15e RDP (5e DLC) pass in the hamlet of Deux Maisons with orders to delay the German advance in the Ardennes. 

The P-19's of the support company of the first battalion include in the center a Portee 25mm that didn't exist in the 5e DLC but that in this form is absolutely irresistible. To the left the EWM P-19 mortar version had the boxes behind the driver unified with two component paste and some door handlers glued on their side. The P-19 MG version on the right had the boxes dealt on the same way. 

The standard P-19's for the Fusiliers were built with no changes. 

The Command version had two extra EWM figures on the back, one manning a radio and the other holding the FM mle 24, and an Irregular Miniatures officer preparing to leave the vehicle. 

I bought another five cheap Chinese Die-casts for the second battalion of the 15th RDP. 

You can see here what I did with the first batch: 

http://jpwargamingplace.blogspot.com/2018/03/rapid-fire-france-1940-in-20mm-few-more.html

This time they are intended to pass as the GMC ACK 353 that was in service in this regiment as these models are very close to the American trucks. I looked for models of this US truck but I could only find the six wheeled GMC. As these toys are far from perfect they suffered some changes namely the insertion of two replacement wheels behind the driver and double wheels on the rear set. 

The extra replacement wheels also allowed for the displacement of the cargo structure to the rear making the vehicle a bit longer as a true GMC ACK 353. 

The double set of wheels you need to correctly portray the GMC ACK 353. 

This picture in GBM is one of the few that confirms the usage of this vehicle by the 15e RDP. 82 of these US trucks are known to have joined the regiment but they are not enough to equip the two battalions. Based on this information I made the two battalions equipped differently, one with P-19 and the other with the US trucks. 

Next: French Army command post. 

Rapid Fire! France 1940 in 20mm - The transport vehicles of the Dragons Portés of the 5e DLC (Part1)

These P19 HT are from EWM and are intended to be the transport for the 1st battalion of the 15th Motorised Dragoon Regiment (of course I could say this unit's name in French but I don't want to impress you that much). 

EWM produces two conversions of the P19, the fusilier vehicle and the staff vehicle. In the GBM magazine, the main source for France 1940 equipment, none of these staff vehicle shows up, so I will use six standard P19 for the whole battalion with four conversions. 

Starting with the support squadron, one of the P19 was used to carry the Hotchkiss 25mm AT gun. In fact the 5e DLC didn't convert any of their P19's to the Portee version and kept on towing the AT guns. The problem is that after looking at their pictures you just have to have one of them!

A plastic card structure was built for the gun and I tried to insert a Lancer 25mm gun inside but it just didn't fit. So I decided to scratch build one. I used a very old EKO 1/87th German 37mm gun as base and made the double mantlet out of Evergreen plastic card. The wheels came from some Chinese toys I had around as they are almost invisible inside the vehicle and will be covered by the crew. 

Then some rectangular hard foam structures were added to the sides to serve as the descending beams for the gun and also the rear part of the gun and supporting structure was added. 

Finally some Hat artillerymen were added as well as the driver. Also plastic card doors were glued in order to have the P19B version were these changes were made. 

The P19 Voiture Mitrailleuse (See? What do you say about my French, hmm?) has some changes from the original. The two boxes behind the driver were united with two paste component and an Hotchkiss MG was added. For the MG I used a 37mm gun leftover from an S-Model French tank as a starting point, changed the barrel, drilled a hole for the handler and used a bit of GreenStuff for the bumper in the middle of the gun. 

The MG firer is again the same Caesar figure with new arms I used with the Laffly S20's.  The door handlers to access the other MG parts are now already in position but skipped the photograph. 

This is the mortar version. Basically the same as the MG version with connected boxes and door handlers to access the mortar and ammunition. 

The command vehicle of the battalion could  very well be a Laffly S20 but I want to concentrate those on the DLM. Another normal P19 was used, a radio and doors were added as the P19B was used mostly in the command sections, some wire made the canvas armature and an Irregular Miniature French officer became the unit's commander. 

Another addition was the exhaust added with GreenSuff to the right front side in all vehicles.  

A few drivers had to be copied in GreenStuff as sometimes EWM forgets some parts. Well, nothing that we can't live without, besides EWM makes a great job on covering the first few years of the war and many other periods. By the way they just realeased  Ardennes 44 German Infantry and they look great. 

Next: whether the infantry figures for the Dragons Portés, the vehicles for its 2nd battalion or the start of the Iraqi 5th Mech. Division for the 1991 Gulf War. 

Rapid Fire! France 1940 in 20mm - Motorized Dragoon battalion from the DLM

 

A French  Motorised Dragoon battalion deploys behind some stone walls near Forêt D'Arbres (?!!!). Most of the vehicles and motorcycles are SHQ with Hotchkisses from S-Models. The dismounted motorcyclists are EWM.

 

 

 

The Laffly S20 from SHQ are lovely and simple models. In fact a bit too simple as they need a driver (copy from Skytrex) and a FM24/29 LMG firer.

 

 

The LMG firer was made from the torso of a Caesar figure, the one standing with its rifle at rest, with new arms made of putty and plastic Bren LMG's turned into Chatelleraux's with a few cuts here and there.

 

 

The Laffly S20TL CC is another  beauty with the usual extra flimsy 25mm gun barrel that SHQ likes so much. I know that like this it shows the real size but it also becomes too fragile. I had to place a plastic piece at the muzzle as there was nothing in its place.

 

 

The figures are Hat and they fit quite nice inside the vehicle. Are Hat and SHQ working together ?...

 

 

I could not find any reference as were to place the ramps of the  25mm gun so I placed them on both sides of the gun crew compartment.

 

 

I placed another two Bren LMG's conversions on the SHQ side-cars.

 

 

The dismounted Motorcycle squadron is EWM. Chunky and lively figures they are a pleasure to paint.

 

 

The H-39 from S-models are in fact for the  regiments of the DLM and DCR not for the reconnaissance squadron of the Dragoon regiment as these use the H-35. I added some stowage and crew from Lancer Miniatures and also an antenna from an Altaya Somua to the command version in first plan. My total of H-39 is 14 at the moment with only two missing to the total of 16 necessary for any of the DLM or DCR.

 

 

Next:  Probably a few German AFV's for 1940 or Portuguese 2008 I have cueing for a long time but that also  depends on the mailman...