Operation Winter Storm: Panzergrenadiers 11 – Sd.Kfz. 10/5

Well, this is it – the final German entry for the Operation Winter Storm project. It feels very nice indeed to have the first stage of the project finished.

For the finale you would have thought I'd painted something fitting, like a Tiger or perhaps a StuG, or any other iconic German WW2 vehicle. Instead I've gone the eclectic route and present to you the Sd.Kfz. 10/5.

The Sd.Kfz 10 was a half-track vehicle that was primarily used as a tower for smaller guns such as the 2 cm FlaK 30, the 7.5 cm leIG, or the 3.7 cm PaK 36 anti-tank gun. As with most WW2 vehicles, there were numerous variants produced throughout the war.

The Sd.Kfz. 10/5 carried the 2 cm FlaK 38 anti-aircraft gun on a special platform with fold-down side and rear panels. It had magazines for the gun fastened to the panels and usually towed an ammunition trailer (Sd.Ah. 51) with 640 more rounds, the gun's sights and its rangefinder.

Though the FlaK 38 was designed as an anti-aircraft gun, it was also used against ground targets.

The model is from Battlefront and required a fair amount of cleaning up, especially on the resin main body. The other parts were in metal and while the cast was clean, the tracks once again suffer from the softness of details which seems to be prominent on most of Battlefronts vehicles. The gun barrel is also very soft, and bends easily, which of course is very annoying. Other than that, it's a nice little kit I think.

Rather than paint the vehicle in winter camo, I decided to do it in Panzer Grey with the crew in regular Feldgrau uniforms to make it a bit more versatile.

Now with this stage finished, I'm going to let the Operation Winter Storm project rest for a while. But I've already thrown myself into the next project for which I'm frantically painting at the moment. Stay tuned for more about this.

As always, thanks for reading!

Operation Winter Storm: Panzergrenadiers 7 – Marder III

Time to bring in the first vehicle for my Operation Winter Storm project. Not a regular tank though, but rather a mobile anti-tank gun in the form of a Marder III, Sd.Kfz. 139.

Always in search of more powerful ATG:s to counter the new heavier Soviet tanks like the T-34, the Germans began experimenting with converting captured or obsolete tanks to tank destroyers. These became known as the Marder series, and were armed with either captured Soviet 76.2mm F-22 Model 1936 divisional field guns, or German 7.5 cm PaK 40 ATG:s for later versions. This gave them the firepower to destroy the majority of Soviet tanks at the time. The Marders were not fully armoured, due to weight and the space constrains of the small chassis, and they were all open topped.

The Marder III was built on the Czech-supplied Panzer 38(t) and at first fitted with captured Soviet 76.2 mm field guns (Sd.Kfz. 139), and later with the PaK 40 anti-tank gun (Ausf. H and Ausf. M).

Because of their thin armour and open tops, combined with their high silhouettes, Marder III:s were very vulnerable to both tank and artillery fire. They were also risky to use in urban areas and in assault or close-combat situations. Instead they were best suited for defensive or overwatch roles.

Due to these weaknesses, the Marder tanks were subsequently phased out in favour of better armoured tank destroyers with lower profiles, such as the Jagdpanzer 38(t) (also based on the Panzer 38(t) chassi) and the StuG III. However, Marder vehicles were used until the end of the war.

This is a Battlefront model and a rather nice one except for the wheels and running gears which have very soft details. The kit went together very well. The only problem was the "lock" for the gun barrel (the triangular thingy pointing out at the front) which has a very small point of contact, thus making it a bit fiddly to glue in place.

I made the decision to go with Panzer grey rather than a winter camo to make this Marder a bit more versatile. I kept the model pretty "clean", with just some extra tracks at the front and some light weathering on the tracks and lower parts of the hull. However, looking at it now I probably should have weathered the transfers a bit more. And I still haven't decided wether to add an antenna or not – it certainly looks good but how practical is it on a wargaming model?

For the rust effect on the exhaust I used the excellent Rust Effect from Modelmates – so simple to use even I get great results!

Thanks for looking – have a great weekend everyone!

Operation Winter Storm: Panzergrenadiers 6 – PaK 40

The Germans need something to counter those pesky Soviet tanks so it's time to bring on the heavier stuff in the form of a PaK 40 anti-tank gun.

The PaK 40 (Panzerabwehrkanone 40) had been in development since 1939 but after Operation Barbarossa in 1941, the Soviets began to field more heavily armoured tanks like the T-34 and KV-1 and the Germans found they lacked the necessary firepower to combat these. Thus the development was given an increased priority and the first PaK 40:s were used on the Eastern Front in November 1941. It soon became the main ATG used by the German forces during the later parts of WW2.

The crewmen miniatures are all from Peter Pig, while the gun itself (kindly donated by my good mate Dalauppror – cheers Micke!) is from Battlefront.

In keeping with the rest of this project, I avoided any fancy modelling on the base and just did some simple wheel marks in the mud (not really visible in these photos) and added a couple of ammunitions boxes.

Next up – the first vehicle!

Operation Winter Storm: Panzergrenadiers 5 – HMG

Here is the next addition to the German forces for my Operation Winter Storm project: an HMG with crew. This is an MG 34/42 mounted on a tripod to make its sustained fire more effective. Obviously you need lots of men to supply this monster with all the ammunition it spews forth.

The miniatures are from Peter Pig, except for the righthand ammunitions guy who is from Battlefront.

As usual I painted them in a mix of winter gear and regular uniforms/greatcoats.

Thanks for looking – have a great weekend everyone!

Operation Winter Storm: Panzergrenadiers 4 – Sniper Team

The next support team to be finished for the Operation Winter Storm project are some German snipers.

The miniatures are from Battlefront.

I'm not really that fond of diorama type bases, but here I took the opportunity to indulge in some light modelling as I thought it would suit the miniatures.

Next we're gearing up for the heavier stuff!

Operation Winter Storm: Panzergrenadiers 3 – Pioneer Teams

I'm steaming ahead with the Operation Winter Storm project and after finishing all the regular German infantry, it's now time for the support. First up are a couple of Pioneer teams, very useful for taking care of bunkers and other fortified positions.

Smoke team with smoke grenades.

Demolitions team with pole charges
and other demolition charges.

Flamethrower team with flamethrower and two riflemen.

The models are a mix of Peter Pig (specialists) and Battlefront (riflemen). Despite a difference in style and chunkiness, they mix pretty nicely in my opinion.

More support toys to come ...

Operation Winter Storm: Panzergrenadiers 2

Here are another two squads of German Panzergrenadiers for the Operation Winter Storm project. Together with the ones posted last week they make up a reinforced platoon, and are all the regular German infantry needed for this project. Ah, the joys of working in 15 mm!

Squad 1.

LMG team 1 and three riflemen. 

LMG team 2 and two riflemen.

Miniatures are all from Battlefront. A mix of older and newer sculpts. I actually quite like them both but wish there were more poses with full winter gear.

Squad 2.

LMG team 1 and three riflemen. 

LMG team 2 and two riflemen.

All together now ...

German Panzergrenadier platoon,
reinforced with a fourth squad.

Thank you very much for reading – have a great weekend everyone!

Operation Winter Storm: Panzergrenadiers 1

After a (not so) brief fantasy diversion it's time to buckle down and get on with one of my planned projects for this year: WW2 Estern Front, more specifically Unternehmen Wintergewitter – Operation Winter Storm.

German troops in southern Soviet Union in December 1942.
In the foreground a Panzer III.

This was an attempt to rescue the encircled German 6th Army at Stalingrad during December 1942. The plan was for a relief force made up of the 4th Panzer Army, commanded by Field Marshal Erich von Manstein and consisting of the 6th, 17th and 23rd Panzer Divisions, to penetrate the Soviet lines from the south and secure a bridgehead over the river Myshkova. Meanwhile the mobile forces of 6th army would smash its way out of the Stalingrad pocket and join up. This was somewhat of gamble by Manstein, as Hitler had more or less forbidden the 6th Army from ever giving up the city.

The main effort of the drive from the south was to be with 6th Panzer Division, who was in very good shape after a period of refitting in France, while the other two divisions were protect the flanks of the advance. However, 17th and 23rd had seen heavy fighting on the Eastern front and as a result they were both badly understrength leaving the flanks of 6th Panzer Division dangerously vulnerable.

Despite this, and despite the crumbling front line, the first stage of the operation was a success: the divisions were able to detrain successfully while under threat from Soviets pouring into the gap left in the front line, stabilise the situation, and launch the operation.

German Panzergrenadiers examining
a knocked out Soviet T-34 tank.

The Soviets were taken somewhat by surprise by the attacking German forces, and in true Blitzkrieg spirit, the Panzer Divisions were able to rapidly speed deep into enemy held territory before the Soviets counterattacked. These attacks, fierce as they were, were initially fought back by the advancing Germans and the 6th Panzer Division could eventually secure the bridgehead over the Myshkova river. However, they had now suffered heavy losses and continuous Soviet attacks forced them to halt further advance.

According to the original plan, the 6th Army was now to break out of their encirclement and join up with the relief force. Despite Manstein's successful operation, Hitler still refused to let the 6th Army conduct the breakout operation. Manstein tried to convince General Friedrich Paulus, the commander of the 6th Army, to still go ahead with the original plan. While Paulus at first agreed, he later changed his mind due to the weakened state of the 6th Army and Hitler's expressed orders against it.

German troops on the Eastern front October 1941.
Note the interesting mix of regular and improvised winter camouflage.

Manstein then made a final attempt to link up with the forces at Stalingrad, but despite advancing to within some 48 km from the city, the 6th Army made no attempt to break out of the encirclement. Sensing the moment lost, on December 23rd, Operation Winterstorm was cancelled as Manstein ordered the 4th Panzer Army to regroup to deal with further Soviet offensives elsewhere. The German forces at Stalingrad incredibly managed to hold out for another month, under constant worsening conditions, but on January 31st they finally had to surrender. Some 91 000 men were taken prisoner, and of these only 5 000 ever made their way back to Germany.

As a basis for this project I will use the excellent scenario pack for Too Fat Lardies platoon level game Chain of Command. My original goal for 2015 was to be able to play the first 14 (of 22) scenarios. This meant painting up models for both sides (Germans and Soviets), and to make all the necessary terrain – certainly an ambitious plan! But now we're already well into October and I've had to adjust the plan, making this first step a more modest one: my goal is now to finish all the German stuff this year. The Soviets and the terrain will have to wait until 2016 I'm afraid.

Squad 1.

What better way to start then, than with two squads of the iconic German Panzergrenadiers. These guys are all about the firepower: with the tactics built around their (in)famous MG 34/42:s, they can pour out some serious amounts of dice. They have their Obergefreiters with them (Junior Leaders in Chain of Command).

LMG team 1 and three riflemen.

LMG team 2 and two riflemen.

As for the basing, I've been thinking this over for a good while, and as you can see, in the end I went for mostly single bases with the LMG-teams two on one base. The reason for this is mostly aesthetic rather than practical, as I think single bases just look better and more "realistic" when it comes to modelling WW2-tactics. And of course, casualty removal is a breeze with singles. If it proves too fiddly in play I can always rebase them ...

The regular riflemen are on a 15 mm base, while the JLs are on 20 mm bases to make them easier to spot on the table. The LMG-teams are on 30 mm bases.

Squad 2.

The bases show a late fall/early winter theme with patches of snow, as the area was not fully covered in snow during December 1942. I'm not entirely happy with the look, mainly the snow flock  is a bit too coarse for this scale, and I might go back and adjust this.

LMG team 1 and 2 riflemen.

LMG team 2 and 3 riflemen.

Models are from Battlefront and I've gone for a mix of greatcoats and winter camouflage uniforms, with further diversity added by painting some helmets white. During the first winter on the Eastern front, in 1941, the Germans lacked suitable equipment as they were convinced the invasion would be a quick job, and they would be home before Christmas. When faced with the harsh Russian winter, they scrambled together what they could find of warm clothes and even had to improvise winter camouflage with scavenged bedsheets and captured Soviet winter uniforms (see the photo above). The relief force in 1942 would probably be better equipped for the winter conditions, but I think the Germans always look best with a somewhat rag-tag appearance.

Finally a shot of the two groups together with the platoon commander (Unterfeldwebel, Senior Leader). He's mounted on a 25 mm base to make him stand out from the JLs.

Squads 1 and 2 with their Unterfeldwebel/Senior Leader.

Next up are two more squads of Panzergrenadiers and then it's time for all the fun toys.

Thank you very much for reading – have a great weekend everyone!

German Panzergrenadiers for Chain of Command

Dalauppror and I have been talking about trying out Chain of Command, the new WW2 platoon level game from Too Fat Lardies. Suddenly an opportunity presented itself on this Sunday (today!), and so we schedueled in a test-game. On Monday night, after coming home from another game in our A Very Moderate Swedish Conflict campaign, I rummaged through my old 15 mm WW2 stuff and dug up my Late War Germans. These were used for playing Crossfire and I Ain't Been Shot Mum! around four or five years ago, and haven't been used since. The paint jobs are not the best to be honest, and the basing is a mixed bag, but they will have to do.

After checking the German list in Chain of Command, I had a good idea of what I needed to do to bring my force up to the required strength: a whole 5 new miniatures were in required in total – a senior leader, a Panzerschreck team and two regular riflemen (although the miniatures are armed with panzerfausts). I also had to rebase about 10 miniatures, eg pairing off some of the LMG teams that weren't on separate bases and doing some singel based miniatures for casualty removal.

So after some frantic painting and (re-)basing this is my new(ish) Panzergrenadier platoon with support:

The miniatures are from Battlefront. However, the senior leader and the panzerschreck team are from Peter Pig, as well as most of the support.

The old bases got a quick facelift with some tufts. Hopefully this also took the edge off the garish static grass used ...

I had some support options painted up from earlier as you can see below. Some tripod mounted MG42s and a 81 mm mortar team, as well as a forward observer and a PAK 40.

Tripod mounted MG42s (PP).

Foward Observer (BF).

Platoon commander in front of the PAK 40 (PP).

81 mm mortar and Panzerschreck team (all PP).

It was certainly interesting to go back to painting 15 mm after having painted 28 mm exclusively for the last 2 years or so. For one thing, I think my eyesight is getting worse – I don't remember them being this small ... Still, they're certainly quicker to paint than the larger scale! If the test game goes well, we'll probably go the 28 mm route though.

However, all this 15 mm painting has unfortunately meant that I've not had the time to work on the miniatures for Röda nävar. Consequently, they've been pushed back a couple of weeks. I'm still determined to get them finished though.