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Proud Kraut
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Well, most of the yard work is done and I would like to start one more project here. It' s the same theme Dennis wonderfull dio is dealing with. As I've annonced over there I want to build a small vignette with two of MiniArt's 1/35 figure sets. First one is "U.S. 101st Airborne Division Normandy 1944". Two paratroopers caught 3 younger German soldiers (12. SS Panzerdivision Hitlerjugend?). A 101st Abn Div medic takes care of a wounded kid, while the other paratrooper watches two more POWs.

 

cap1.jpg

 

Maybe the scene was influenced by this picture?

 

http://www.gettyimages.de/galleries/photographers/walks

 

After assembling the figures they all were painted with black primer.

 

cap2.jpg

 

Sections of the skin were made this way:

 

http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/index.php?/topic/132079-painting-face-and-hands-of-a-135-figure/

 

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Captured SS men? In Normandy?

 

Figure model manufacturers write a new history of WWII and add humanitarian mythology to the Normandy Campaign. Sad but true.

 

-_-

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Garth Thompson

Captured SS men? In Normandy?

 

Figure model manufacturers write a new history of WWII and add humanitarian mythology to the Normandy Campaign. Sad but true.

 

-_-

 

There were several waffen SS units that fought in the Normandy campaign. Many were taken prisoner.

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SS units were not taken prisoner. Some lucky guys from Waffen SS were taken. Ask international Allied units fighting in the Falaise Gap, for example, how many SS men were taken POW and how many of them "disappeared" somewhere.

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Thanks everybody for their feedback and input! A couple of Waffen SS units saw combat in the Normandy campaign, among them 12th and 17th Division. We all know the bitter history of war crimes like massacres of POWs done during the war. I can only imagine that this model kit was influenced by the picture on this site: "An American Medic lights a cigarrette for a wounded Waffen-SS Grenadier captured with others from the 17th SS 'Götz Von Berlichingen' in the area of St Lo."

 

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/328270260312492541/

 

Please compare the boxart with following picture from Wikipedia. It could have inspired the artist as well:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waffen-SS#/media/File:German_prisoners_SS-Panzerdivision_Totenkopf.jpg

 

 

Personally I like the idea of modeling this little "human act". Back to the figures: Americans and Germans were painted with a mix of Vallejo sand colors then:

 

Cap3.jpg

 

After the color has dried, I painted larger dark green, dark brown and pink spots on the German's uniform:

 

Cap4.jpg

cap5.jpg

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I obviously forgot to mention, that I will paint the German's uniforms as "Erbsentarnmuster" pea pattern camo. I have two booklets on that subject. Enough to get an idea of how many variants of those pattern were in use by the Waffen SS.

 

Peterson.jpg

 

P.S.:I got to know the author when he was the curator of the 1st Armored Division museum in Baumholder. We met sometimes at military shows over here.

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Next up I painted dark brown dots with a toothpick on the brighter areas...

 

cap6.jpg

 

...and khaki dots on the darker areas:

 

cap7.jpg

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Captured SS men? In Normandy?

 

Figure model manufacturers write a new history of WWII and add humanitarian mythology to the Normandy Campaign. Sad but true.

 

-_-

Laughable, since images of the time show Waffen-SS as POW in Normandy. In fact the figurine wearing the early smock is based on an Image of a 12th SS trooper

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:German_prisoners_SS-Panzerdivision_Totenkopf.jpg

 

http://www.flickriver.com/photos/41818881@N06/8515999532/

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The figures are looking good Lars. I am looking forward to seeing the finished vignette. Mini Art, Master Box, Bronco and the other new figure makers are producing some very nice figure vignettes ready to go, no need for lots and lots of figure bashing and alterations any more. This is a good time to be a model builder.

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Laughable, since images of the time show Waffen-SS as POW in Normandy. In fact the figurine wearing the early smock is based on an Image of a 12th SS trooper

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:German_prisoners_SS-Panzerdivision_Totenkopf.jpg

 

http://www.flickriver.com/photos/41818881@N06/8515999532/

 

Yes, Wikipedia - "the best source" of historical information.

 

Read "Other Losses" book -- you will know what the Allies did with the SS and Waffen-SS men during the war and in Allied post-war POW camps being in fact like concentration camps.

 

Check what happened to thousends of Waffen-SS POWs in Chambois region - for example - at the end of Normandy Campaign.

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Gentlemen,

 

I would like to ask everybody to focus on model making from now on. This USMF's section is NOT the right place to discuss possible bygone war crimes. Last call: Let's return to scale modelling!

 

Thank you very much!

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Now the whole gang has received a "washing" with Citadel Earthshade. For me these washings are one of the most important improvements since I quit modeling more than 25 years ago.

As you'll notice I have copied the boxart and applied light OD areas on knees and elbows of the paratrooper's uniforms, looks like these are reinforcements?

 

cap10.jpg

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Yes the patches are reinforcements done on high wear areas, elbows and knees, at the same time they reenforeced the bottom of the jacket pockets and put tie strings in the pants legs over the pockets. Most of the modifications were done just before jump into Normandy

 

Great looking figures, all the Germans are blond? ;)

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PK,

You are doing an excellent job on these figures so far. Navybean gave you good information where you can enhance the realism on your US paratrooper figured. The sides of the cargo pockets on the pants and the sides on the bottom pockets on the jump jackets should be dark OD canvas just like the knees and elbows. To further the realism- if you are making the paratroopers 82nd Airborne, then the tie down straps on the pants need to be the same color as the reinforced areas of the jacket as the ties were made by folding canvas over and making the straps that way. If the paratroopers are 101st A/B then the tie down straps should be a light OD to tan color.

 

To go a step further, the strap holding the trench knife at the paratrooper's calf should be white web. These straps were taken from the cots used in England prior to the jump.

 

I think you are doing a great job. I have talked to hundreds of WWII paratrooper veterans who were at Normandy over the last 38 plus years that I have specialized in WWII airborne. When you talk to them about the SS, they usually tell you that they took them prisoner at first, but the more they fought against them and the more atrocities that they saw attributed to the SS, the less likely they were to take them alive. One trooper told me that they had a guy who was the unofficial POW escort for their unit. He would leave with any POWs in tow and shoot them for "trying to escape" once they were out of sight. The guy told me that one time they caught a high ranking SS officer (your guess at the actual rank is as good as mine) and their lieutenant wouldn't let the usual POW escort take him to the rear which made the escort really unhappy. The escort kept hollering that it was "his job" and the LT kept telling the escort no, saying that this one had to get back to the rear for interrogation, so someone else had to take the officer back to the rear. I just thought it was a pretty vivid story about how they treated POWs.

 

Allan

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Thank you all for your kind words!

 

@Navybean: No, they are not ;). Hair, eyes etc. are still unpainted.

 

@Allan: Thanks for the additional infos regarding the US uniforms, especially the straps!

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  • 1 month later...

Finally some time for modeling again. This question might sound silly for all Airborne specialists but I wonder how many chinstraps a correct Airborne helmet would have. If you google Airborne helmet you'll find a lot of pics of helmets with only one web chinstrap and several more with a second leather chinstrap.

 

This is what I'm talking about:

 

IMG_1904.JPG

 

 

 

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Actually, the SOP was for the soldier to tuck the A straps up underneath the webbing of the helmet and to secure the yokes with the chin cup. They were then supposed to use the helmet strap as intended.

 

Allan

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