Germans on Patrol V.

An SS unit in M43 'Pea-Dot' Camouflage uniforms.

Rottenführer Thalberg at ease.

Scharführer Blau directs fire.

An example of SS camo from the Imperial War Museum.

Lots of MG's in this squad!

Figures are from Artizan.

Fallschirmjäger III.

9th June, 1944. Another unit of Fallschirmjäger preparing themselves for the defence of Carentan.

Hauptmann Traugott and his command squad with Medic, Radioman and MG42.

Leutnant Maurer and his rifle section advance.

The 2nd MG42 team.

Jagers, 2 armed with FG42 automatic rifles.

The squad moves out...

Uniform from the Imperial War Museum.

Painted as 'later war' Fallschirmjäger.

Figures are all from Bolt Action.

"Currahee!" (Overpaid. Oversexed. Over here.) - 101st Airbourne.

An understrength platoon from 'Dog' Company of the 506th PIR, 101st US Airborne.

"Hey Joey - which way to Europe?" Pathfinders.

1st Squad, under Sgt. William 'Buck' Hemmings.

2nd Squad, under Sgt. Richard 'Tricky' Warden.

3rd Squad, under Sgt. Thomas 'Duke' Dukeman Jnr.

Command group, led by Captain Ronald Autumn.

Dusk falls on Sgt. Floyd McGrath and the support weapons team...

Painted using the Army Painter technique (speed painted!)

Figures are from Artizan.

The Russians are Coming II!!

More Russian infantry. Late war Eastern Front.

Russian Squad under Serzhant Pavel Malinovsky.

Russian uniform from the Imperial War Museum.

Still a work in progress - lots more to do!

Figures are all Bolt Action.

Germans on Patrol IV.

Oberst Deiter Loewe tries to organise his tired and battle weary men - an understrength platoon of German Heer.

Oberst Loewe and command unit.

First Gruppe, under Leutnant Kortig.

Second Gruppe, under Hauptmann Reinhard.

'Tank Killer' weapons team, under Hauptmann Waechter.

MG42 team.

MG34 team.

The whole Platoon.

Painted using the Army Painter technique.

Figures are mainly Crusader but also Artizan, Black Tree Design and Bolt Action.

Fallschirmjäger II.

9th April, 1940. A small unit of Fallschirmjäger under the command of Leutnant Dreher, soon after landing as part of Operation Weserübung in Denmark.

Leutnant Dreher and his squad just outside Aalborg Air Base.

The squad MG34 sets up.

Dropped far from the others, Jager Schmidt runs to rejoin the squad!

2nd unit, again painted as early war Fallschirmjäger.

Figures are all Wargames Foundry. Sorry the photos are a bit blurred!



M4 Sherman Tank.

US troops and a Sherman with Culin hedgerow cutter advance on a Belgian town.

The M4 was originally designed to replace the (stopgap) M3 medium tank, as a medium tank armed with a 75mm gun in a turret, and using many of the components of the M3 to speed production. Two versions of the tank went into production at the end of 1941. The M4 was a tank with a welded hull, characterized by the sharp cornered hull shape, while the M4A1 featured a cast hull with a more rounded shape. The reason for the two styles was that, in order to meet production targets, factories without the ability to handle hull castings were used. These firms could not produce the large armor castings needed for the M4A1 hull, but they were able to produce the welded M4 hull. (In the end, the welded hull variants out-numbered the cast hull versions.)

Sgt. Bill Hey and crew take time out of the cramped interior of their tank.

When the tank first entered combat in North Africa in 1942, it was quite successful, but combat experience showed a number of changes were needed. Some of the changes involved improving protection, as the tank’s armor was insufficient to stand up to the larger German guns. Additional armor was added at the depot level, by welding additional armor over vulnerable areas, such as the ammo storage bins. This armor was called “applique armor”. Additional soft armor was added by crews in the field. This took the form of sandbags, logs, tracks, and other similar materials. This type of add-on protection didn’t really help against anti-tank cannon fire, but was effective against Panzerfaust (Germany’s version of the bazooka) rocket propelled HE rounds.

Gunner Corporal 'Chuck' Miller keeps watch with his Thompson SMG.

The Sherman was first equipped with the with the L/40 75mm M3 Gun, which firing the usual M61 round could penetrate 77 mm at 100m and 61 mm at 1000m. Conditions later in the war necessitated the up-gunning to the L/55 76mm M1A2, which could penetrate 124 mm at 100m and 83 mm at 1000m using the usual M79 round. The M1A2 helped to equalize the Sherman and the PzIV in terms of firepower, although the M4 was still under-powered compared to the Panther's much more powerful L/70 75mm gun.

Corporal Miller in action.

The British-developed Sherman Firefly was up-gunned with the 17 pdr. gun. The 17 pdr. also was 76 mm and had a L/55 barrel, but it introduced a much bigger charge which allowed it to penetrate 140 mm at 100m and 120 mm at 1000m using Mk.IV shot. This gun allowed the Firefly a slight firepower advantage over the Panther, although the blinding muzzle flash due to unburnt powder from the increased charge was a handicap.

Sherman at the Imparial War Museum.

The U.S. Army restricted the Sherman's height, width, and weight so that it could be transported via typical bridges, roads, and railroads. This aided strategic, logistical, and tactical flexibility.

Sherman at the Imperial War Museum.

The Sherman had good speed both on- and off-road. Off-road performance varied. In the desert, the Sherman's rubber tracks performed well. In the confined, hilly terrain of Italy, the Sherman could often cross terrain that some German tanks could not.

Tank crew at Fort Knox 1942.

A typical checklist of a tank crews equipment can be found on the Patton's Troubleshooters website.

M4 Sherman on Wikipedia.

Sherman M4 tank from a plastic 1/48 scale Tamiya kit. Crew are by Artizan.