Friday 19 June 2015

Infantry Regiment Großdeutschland - Operation Barbarossa

The first  Zug is finished.
15mm "Blitzkrieg" minis from Skytrex.

As everyone is talking Waterloo these days, I thought I’d use this, my 100th by the way, blog post to highlight another, perhaps less known, anniversary in military history. At 3:15 am on Monday the 22nd June its exactly 74 years since the greatest land battle of all times started – the Nazi invasion of Communist Russia, codenamed “Operation Barbarossa”.

Operation Barbarossa, with its three main thrusts 
consisting of Army Groups North, Center and South)

It marked the end of the so-called “Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact” of Non-Aggression, signed in 1939, and would prove the beginning of the end for Nazi rule in Germany. It would have a fatal outcome for hundred thousands of soldiers and civilians, and it would be the stage on which some of histories most gruesome war crimes were committed. 

The six man rifle team - according to  the Chain of Command rules.
Casualties will be removed with markers, and full bases when possible.

With the aim of building a 15mm collection for the period of Barbarossa (41-42), I was first of all looking for suitable German Blitzkrieg infantry miniatures. While many producers out there offer good products for the Early War period, I decided to go with Skytrex for the infantry. They really are wonderful sculpts, and I like the weight compared to plastic, when I’m basing this small scale.

Cuff insignia for Infanterie-Regiment Großdeutschland.
Tried to add these on the 15mm minis, with varied success.

Next question was what unit to paint up. I wanted a unit that had participated in the initial stages of Barbarossa, but also one, which was later involved in Fall Blau and Wintergewitter. After some advice from co-club members Ulf and Jesper, I decided to go with the Großdeutschland regiment. It’s history really runs deep on the Eastern Front, and it offers versatility of deployment, as it later became upgrade to a panzer reg. 

MG34 and Obergefreiter with MP40.

As a further bonus for me, Großdeutschland was part of XLVI Panzer Corps,
 of Panzer Group 2 commanded by Heinz Guderian, somewhat a personal favorite among the many capable German army commanders. 

Großdeutschland MG gunner.

Großdeutschland have a fascinating history, including dark as well as bright chapters.
My plan is to touch on all aspects, and post for post follow the unit in a chronological way, from the kick off of Barbarossa on the 22nd June 41, until the last remains staggered up towards the Danish border to surrender to the much preferred Brits in 45. 

Großdeutschland trooper having a pensive moment at the Eastern Front.

It will be a dramatic journey, including war crimes, near annihilation and heroic counter charges. In other words; to be continued.

Thank you very much for reading!

24 comments:

  1. Great painting and basing Soren, and once again as with your WWI Germans, you have made some great colour choices for the uniforms!

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    1. Thanks Chris, used some time color testing, with the old Signal books (great color plates) as reference, to really find that "German" mix of blue-grey helmet and mossy grey-green tunic. Very happy you liked the outcome!

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  2. Another nice and interesting post, and a great paintjob on these units...well done Sören!

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    1. Thanks Phil, 15's are quite a different painting experience than 28's, and I'm tuning into the charms of this scale :0)

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  3. Really looking forward to this! One of my all time favorite reads is Guy Sajer's The Forgotten Soldier and this dovetails perfectly with it. Good luck!

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    1. Thanks, I'm actually looking for some summer reading at this moment, will have to check out that book you're mentioning! Thought it would be a cool way to go from Barbarossa to Stalingrad, via the history of one particular unit.

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  4. Very good job on these Germans, Soren! Having painted many of what I think are the same figures (I get mine from Old Glory sold under the Command Decision brand), the amount of detailing you accomplish is remarkable. Great tunic color too for early war; subtle green hue. What color are you using?

    CoC in 15mm. I look forward to this!

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    1. Thanks Jon, I've used a new triad from the Foundry Painting System - A and C from "Storm Green". Yeah, Jesper and Ulf have been playing CoC Big Battles for quite a while in 15, using casualty markers on multi-based squads. Very smooth rules, and they have a special army list for Barbarossa!

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  5. Great painting and nice idea on basing up the groups of miniatures.

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    1. Thanks Steve, yeah the Chain of Command lists offer loads of variations, these are their lists for Barbarossa, based as they are quoted in the army lists, with rifle teams of 6 on two bases for easier casualty removal. Checked out Jesper and Ulf's gaming system at our local club, and it worked like a charm...

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  6. Looking good Soren!
    I have painted up my German Platoon Senior leader and the panzerschreck team for my late war Germans. The figures I have for the platoon are a mix of Flame of War Battleground figures and also some Skytrex. I think the Skytrex figures are better miniatures and in the future I will be getting more figures from them.
    I have to get off my butt and paint the rest of the platoon, but I think I will start with one zug at a time instead of tackling all 30 men of the 3 squads.
    Have a great mid summer.

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    1. Thanks Mark - hope you guys had a great mid-summer too! I'm looking very much forward to your late war units! Yeah, I've got way too many 15s on the table as well, think I'll scale down the painting sessions to one squad at the time, which will give me more patience with adding details. Let me know if you want to hang out at the club and do another painting session at some point!

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  7. Lovely work indeed on the uniforms! I wanted to do some early war Germans at some point and these might be a good choice.

    Christopher

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    1. Thanks Christopher - if you want to do early war Germans in 15, Skytrex is absolutely a top contender. They have some great extras, like Zundapp recce, infantry in fox holes and soldiers crossing rivers in boats. In terms of vehicles, I've been most impressed with Plastic Soldier Company's 15mm range.

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  8. Great paintjob! This will be a great projekt to follow. 15mm chain of command is something I,ve considered myself but I'm stuck with my 28's. At least for now. :-)
    Have you considered having the six man rifle team based in 3-2-1 or 2-2-2? Each system has its merits and for sure 3-3 makes handling easy and makes it simple to tell officers, weaponteams etc from the ordinary rank and file. /Mattias

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    1. Thanks Mattias, yet another project on my list, but the good thing with 15, is that it moves along at a quicker pace :0) Yeah, I went with the 3/3 plus weapons team, following along on Jesper and Ulf's established approach, using casualty markers during game play. Like you say, the visual identification on normal and small FoW bases are easier this way.

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  9. Indeead greate work Sören !

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    1. Cheers buddy, 15s are something quite different but very enjoyable to paint!

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  10. Great looking 15's, Soren. And a nice remembrance of another critical even in history. As I've only painted a handful of 15mm (one DBA army), I cannot fathom trying to paint those cuff insignia!

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    1. Thanks Dean, the Skytrex minis are great sculpts, and quality working materials is half the work (As a saying here goes). Barbarossa has been an interesting subject to dive into, especially when you start comparing it with the Ostfront of WW1. There is no two ways about it, the Germans came very very close to actually obtaining their objective, but also made some classic mistakes. I'm looking very much forward to pinning down the history of the GD regiment, offset on the background of the 41-45 eastern front events.

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  11. Well done again! This force will be a real corker when finished. The only thing I don't really am too fond lf is the shape of the bases. I think it might have looked better on round ones.

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    1. Thanks M, I'd tend to agree on the visual attractiveness of round bases, and 15's on rounds would look very good - with commands on ø25mm and teams on ø40mm for instance. But for the sake of conformity, I'm adopting a system widely used at our local gaming club here in Stockholm, based on the conventional FoW bases. I've got the version with pre-cut wholes into the bases, which is actually quite a nuisance to work with, contrary to expectations.

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  12. Fantastic painting Sören! You're off to a flying start on the 15 mm Eastern Front project. Very encouraging to see and a great boost of inspiration for me.

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    1. Cheers Jonas, I'm looking very much forward to kicking off the gaming after the summer holiday - 15's have been a really nice diversion from the 28's so far. Glad you tuned me into this project :0)

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