Rapid Fire! Operation Lüttich (Mortain Counterattack) 1944 in 20mm, Part 3 - 116th Panzer division

 

The 116th Pz Div. was still in a good shape around the time of the Mortain operations. It still boasted  around half of its Panzers and SPG's and, in spite of a big shortage in trucks, was considered 'Kampfwert I'.

 

 

The Panther battalion was on loan from 24th Pz. Div. as the division's Panthers were still training in Mailly-le-Camp. The models are all 1/76th scale and a mixture of Nitto/Fujimi, Frontline Wargaming and Matchbox. The far away Bergepanther is another Altaya model. Due to the shortage of trucks in the Pz. Gren. Regiments I placed the 2nd battalion of Pz. Gren. on foot. Another reason for this is my own shortage of model trucks...

 

 

The Panthers from 116th Pz. Div. had camouflage on most of its areas. Another distinctive characteristic were the spare wheels placed at the rear of the turret. The division's symbol is of course the one from 24th Pz Div. This model is Matchbox with EverGreen side protection and extra tracks also for protection.

 

 

The Pz IV battalion is also 1/76th scale with models from Airfix and Skytrex. Leading the Panzer wedge is an Esci PzIII which the 116th still had a few.

 

 

 

The Mechanized Infantry battalion has Esci, Altaya and Frontline Wargaming Sdkfz 251's with a Sdkfz 251/9 from Hasegawa. The Grille SPG is again an Attack model.

 

 

The 116th Pz Div. was one of the few to have the Möbelwagen. The base for this conversion is the Ostwind from Hasegawa. I used the hull and the 37mm gun and build the box superstructure and the gun shield in EverGreen plastic card.

 

 

Another AA asset for this division is this Hasegawa Sdkfz 7/1. Flak-Abt. 281 had no guns in Normandy so its better to give this unit some AA protection.

 

 

The Pz. Aufkl. Abt. 16 had the PzII L Luchs in its ranks. As I don't have any I used two Attack Pz 38t recce tank. The Sdkfz 232's are Frontline Wargaming.

 

 

The Art. Reg. 146 has an Esci Hummel and two Matchbox Wespe. The OP Kubelwagen from Hasegawa has a crew from Revell and Atlantic.

 

 

From the original 21 Jagdpanzer IV the Pz Jäger Abt. still had 15 on the 30th July so 3 models according to RF! The models are Esci again with darker colours than other divisions with the camouflage green being the main colour.

 

 

A Fujimi General von Schwerin is seen here in a Frontline Wargaming Staff car surrounded by Atlantic and Hasegawa escort and staff.

 

 

A few more plastic card Panzerfaust conversions using (L/R) Esci, PSC, Hasegawa, Revell and hard plastic Matchbox and soft plastic Matchbox figures. On the rear the already showned Hasegawa Sdkfz 251D has Britannia and Matchbox crew.

 

 

Next: 1st SS Panzer Division  'Adolf Hitler'.  

 

Rapid Fire! Operation Lüttich (Mortain Counterattack) 1944 in 20mm, Part 2 - 2nd SS Panzer Division 'Das Reich'

Now for 2nd SS PzDiv. 'Das Reich'. Infamously remembered by its massacres on the civilian population in the eastern front  and on the way to Normandy in Tulle and Oradour-Sur-Glane, 'Das Reich' division was pretty down sized by the time of Mortain specially in armour. For this big unit I looked mostly for 1/72nd scale models.

The leading Panther (Revell) is the  424 of the famous Ernst Barkmann. In fact Barkmann was not at Mortain enjoying a break after the events at “Barkmann’s corner” but its impossible not to field its tank even if Steven Zaloga doesn't like it. The other two tanks are Hasegawa.

A bit of resin and metal for these PzIV. The leading vehicle is the Britannia version of the PzIV H, the other two are Frontline Wargaming.

And a bit of recovery capability for the SS PzReg.2 in the form of this Bergepanther A from SHQ. A true shelf bender.

Flakpanzer IV Wirbelwind  from Hasegawa. SS divisions were always getting the newest material.

An all Altaya SS Art.Abt. 2 with Wespe and Hummel SP. The OP Schwimmwagen is Hasegawa and the foot OP team is Valiant.

This Die-cast Hummel got a crew from Airfix.

SS Sturmgeshütz Abt.2 got a pair of Armoufast Stug III.

At Mortain both PzGren. regiments were quite depleted so I used the halftrack  battalions of both 'Der Führer' and 'Deutchland' regiments to portray its infantry (besides I have more HT than trucks ...).

This battalion is made of Britannia figures which are a true delight. The Sdkfz 251D's are Hasegawa and the sole 251C is Esci.  

With their blowned up heads these figures are detailed and easy to paint.

The other battalion is made of all available plastics turned into SS figures. The LMG's and Panzerfaust figures are Irregular Miniatures The Sdkfz 251D's are Frontline Wargaming. The Grille SP is Britannia.

This Sdkfz 7/2 with 37mm AA gun for protection of the PzGren regiment is an Altaya model with Hasegawa and Esci crew.

Plenty of conversions and brands as you can see here: Revell, Esci, Airfix and Armourfast.

The Command stand has a radioman from the Revell Afrika Korps, another Afrika Korps figure from Airfix with new legs and an officer from Esci.

 This command Sdkfz 251 is a conversion of a Matchbox model and it was fitted with a lot of radio equipment and antennas.

Gen. Lammerding  is looking at the map for his escape route after the war. Staff car and figures by Britannia.

The SS figures have to have the splinter camouflage as in these Britannia figures inside a Hasegawa Sdkfz 251/9.

More splinter camouflage in these Britannia and Esci figures.

More diffrent brands sharing the same room: Revell, Matchbox and SHQ.

2nd SS Pz.Div. also had  SS Werfer Abteilung 102 equipped with these Panzerwerfer 42 from Altaya.

Next: 116th Pz.Div. at Mortain.

Rapid Fire! Operation Lüttich (MortainCounter attack) 1944 in 20mm, Part 1 - 2nd Panzer Division

When I was a kid I read in a comic book the actions around Mortain in Normandy, 7-12 of August 1944. Uau, Germans leaving their foxholes and attacking American positions! And there was no snow! What a difference! Along the years while reading more on the subject I learned that if I could make all German Panzer Divisions present for Operation Lüttich I could have the German forces for any operation ın Normandy and virtually any scenario in the Western or even Eastern front in 1944/45.

With a few extras, the Arnhem, Ardennes or Bagration campaigns could also be made from the German side. With this idea in mind I started to build my German army for 1944/45 around the Mortain Counter attack. Even my American miniatures for the period are built around the 2nd and 3rd Armored Divisions and the 117th Infantry Regiment,  the main opponents of Operation Lüttich.

The six main German divisions - 2nd and 116th PzDiv, 1st and 2nd SS PzDiv and 17th SS Pz Grenadier Div (also Pz Lehr in supporting role) - were all quite depleted and could only amass  250 to 300 Panzers. But those Panzers were supported by many SPG's, Stug's and Half Tracks, etc in a total of around 1500 vehicles. In Rapid Fire! terms this represents around 50/60 Panzers in a total of 300 AFV's. These lasts two numbers are my aim for German 1944/45 forces.

Unfortunately no Tiger battalions or the French conversions of the 21st PzDiv were on this battle but at least as I wanted to have on the table the full German army I could use some material from the 21st PzDiv namely the PzIV's and the Sdkfz 251's.

Most of this stuff I'll show you in the next few weeks was made before Armourfast, PSC and alike emerged with their 2/3 models in a box and much more complicated models had to be built by then. Fortunately as this collection took many years to build, and is still not finished, I was able to include many Die-casts from DeAgostini and such.

The first Pz Division I'll show you is the 2nd PzDiv. It still had around 60 Panzers and a good amount of mechanized infantry with two SPW battalions. The trident was the divisional symbol in Normandy with the inverted Y being recently replaced. I placed the divisional symbol in all vehicles so I can recognize easily each unit in the shelves. This division was built mostly around 1/76th models for the sake of uniformity.

The 2nd Panzer Division was still  Kampfwert (combat value) I  in spite of the loss of over 50% of its tanks. The infantry and artillery was still in good shape.

According to some sources only 5/6 Panthers (other source mentions 13) remained in Pz Reg. 3  but I also found the reference to 30. 2nd PzDiv. divisional assets were concentrated in Kampfgruppe Schacke which also had Panther from 116th PzDiv. I prefer the last number and so 6 vehicles in RF! terms in this battalion. All models are Airfix and the ones camouflaged only in green are the very old soft plastic versions. The Bergepanther is a repainted Altaya. The Pz38t Gepard is SHQ.

Again Airfix for all these PzIV with a another Gepard from SHQ.

All of them got plastic card structures for the passive armour and longer gun tubes as the Airfix model is the F2 and the G and H version are the ones needed for 1944.

Pz Gren.Reg. 2 (left) is Esci and Hasegawa on its Sdkfz 251's and Pz Gren.Reg. 304 has Matchbox and Frontline Wargaming models. All Opel Blitz are Airfix.

I painted tridents in front and back of all vehicles identifying  2nd PzDiv models like this Frontline Wargaming Sdkfz 251/9 with plastic crew.

Others have Britannia crew mixed with plastic figures. I'm no racist!

The Hasegawa sdkfz 251/9 has crew taken from their 88mm AA set.

The Sdkfz 251/16 Fammenwerfer is an Esci model with Airfix and Matchbox crew.

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These two 38t Grille for Panzergrenadier support are Attack models with crews from other plastic companies.

Esci Jagdpanzer IV from PzJäger Abt. 38.

The full Art.Reg 74 is Esci in all Wespe and Hummel Sp's. Only the Kubelwagen OP is Hasegawa with Atlantic and Revell crew.

The Hummel has PSC crew.

Panzer-Aufklärungs-Abteilung 2 has Matchbox Pumas; Altaya, Esci and Frontline Wargaming Sdkfz 250 and the Sdkfz 234/1 is also Frontline Wargaming .

The Airfix 88mm set with gun placed in a small vignette to represent Flak Abt. 273.

General von Lüttwitz seating in the back of a Frontline Staff car. I never know if he is the one on the right or on the left...

The infantry is a mixture of all old plastic brands available. I need a total of 16 infantry battalions so even these old ones have to be pressed into service.

The Panzerfaust firers are conversions from many brands. The Panzerfausts are made in Evergreen plastics.

I always prefer to place more than less miniatures in my OB's. Probably this division was not so well armed. The problem is that sources are contraditory and I always prefer the numericaly stronger possibility. In fact if you want a wargame about Mortain the Germans must have some numbers otherwise the Bocage country that helped the Germans so much since June will quickly turn against them. Besides as I use mostly cheaper plastics I can keep costs down.

Next: As you can see I got the Normandy bug again and no Poland 1939 for now. Part 2 will be 2nd SS Pz. Division  'Das Reich'.