Deutsches Historisches Museum

Painting of Early WW1 battle.

(Deutsches Historisches Museum).

Dear readers, during the last week yours truly have been kidnapped from the hobby table, and taken abroad on business. The upside was, that the impending meeting would be with an Ad Agency - in Berlin! 

Ran into this guy in the middle of the street.

Friedrich is yet again popular - due to his multi-cultural support during his reign,
his enlightenment adherence and supposed homosexuality.

My travel plans offered me a generous 4 hrs extra time in the city, which I enthusiastically spend on visiting two landmarks of particular interest to the history hobbyist. The fantastic Berliner Zinnfiguren Shop next to Savigny Platz, and the monumentally impressive German National History Museum (Deutsches Historisches Museum).

The Berliner Stadtschloss anno 2015.

€105.000.000 is being poured into the re-construction.

After a double quick check-in at the hotel, I made my way down to Alexanderplatz for a mandatory Kurrywurst. A short post-lunch walk took me over to the "Museumsinsel" and past the massive construction ground for the re-building of the Berliner Stadtschloss - the palace that housed many kings of Prussia and a few Kaisers of the German Reich. 

The Stadtschloss late 19th Cent.

It was destroyed after WW2 by German Communists, and in its places they build the Volkskammer (DDR Parlament) during the German division into east and west. After the reunification the decision was made to rebuild the old Scholß for its historic and symbolic value - a project of some €105.000.000!

At the entrance of the museum Bismarck carefully examines all the visitors.

Having gazed at the massive Stadtschloss, it was finally time to enter the holy Grail - the German National History Museum. Here follows a series of pictures from my visit:

Medieval German/Teutonic pavisade.

Late medieval maximillian armour.

Samples from the Thirty Years War armoury.

Die Lange - The tall guards of Friedrich's father.

His passion for tall men took him across Europe with bounty hunters searching 

for the next colossus to get enrolled.

Frederick the Great's uniform.

Having read about this king since I was a young teenager, 

it was pretty special to actually see this thing live.

The actual hat Napoleon wore at Waterloo, 

captured as a trophy by the Prussians.

The Prussians storm the Danish position at Als.

The War of 1864.

Captured Danish flags.

The war of 1864.

The extremely effective Needle-gun used against 

the Austrians and the French in 1866 and 1870-71.

The actual uniform of Kaiser Wilhelm II.

Note the shorter left sleeve. Wilhelm had an underdeveloped left arm.

WW1 British and French uniforms.

Beautiful and large (1.5 meter) model of the sms Markgraf,

 which fought at the Battle of Jutland in 1916.

The nazification period in the 30ies.

Different kinds of Nazi party uniforms.

Nazi Propaganda Poster focusing on the young audience.

"The youth serves the Führer. All 10 year old in the Hitler Jugend".

"Volkshalle."

An original model by Albert Speer.

German infantry uniform of 1944.

"The Liberation Game"

Who can reach Berlin first?

Portraits of  people who were exterminated at Dachau.

Original Newspaper from 1945 announcing Hitler's death.

Germany 1945 - a land in absolute ruins.

Germany divided - a DDR boarder post.

Actual pieces of the Berlin Wall.

For someone who grew up in the 80ies, 

this part of the museum left the greatest impression on me. 

The Deutsches Historisches Museum kept me entranced for several hours.

As I left the building and strolled down Unter den Linden towards The Brandenburger Tor, I was still digesting the impressions I had gathered. What a magnificent, turbulent, terrible but grand history this country has. 

Thank you very much for reading.

SMS Seydlitz – The Shell Magnet

The SMS Seydlitz in 1/2400.

Model from GHQ's Micronauts range.

Named after one of Prussia’s greatest cavalry generals of all times, the SMS Seydlitz had quite a name to live up to. Contributing in no small amount at all mayor actions on the North Sea from Heligoland, Dogger Bank and to the turbulent Battle of Jutland, she was however going to live up to the named legacy of dash and tenacity in every way. 

The Seydlitz looking her finest for a WW1 commemorative postcard. 

More modern than her battle cruiser predecessors Von der Tann and the two ships in the Moltke-class, the SMS Seydlitz saw the introduction of a new innovative propulsion system allowing an improvement in armor without any loss of speed. The new layout of her propulsion system, would give her 63.000 shp, no less than 21.000 shp more than Von der Tann. 

Aerial photo, the white circles would help pilots set her apart from any entente ships.

This increased power needs to be considered off set against the increase in armor, with the SMS Seydlitz getting a belt armor of 11 inches compared to Von der Tann’s of only 9.5 inches. The effective cruise speed of the boat was the same as the rest of the High Seas Fleet’s battle cruiser force – with a max output of about 28 knots. With these innovations, she was laid down for construction at the Krupp subsidiary; Blohm & Voss in Hamburg in 1911.

Seydlitz steaming out to sea.

With fate having a severe beating in store for the SMS Seydlitz, this heavy armored but fast moving beauty was going to need all the nickel-refined steel plate protection she could get from the Krupp works at Essen. Leading at the front of Hipper’s force at Dogger Bank in 1915, the SMS Seydlitz was going to take some critical, but very instructive damage. 

Barely noticeable, but I tried to add the Seydlitz ship crest,

 with three red fish on a white shield.

A critical hit scored on the SMS Seydlitz by fire from Tiger and Lion, almost blew up the ship, as internal flash from a penetrating shell, was traveling down towards the main magazines. An alert German officer ordered the magazines flooded, and the damage was contained to the reloading chamber, which however blew up killing 159 men. This important learning point would result in an important anti-flash updating of German ammunition and cordite practice, which would prove to be crucial at Jutland.

The Seydlitz barely afloat, limping home after Jutland.

At the Battle of Jutland, the SMS Seydlitz was initially locked in a duel with the Queen Mary in the late afternoon, resulting in a penetrating shell causing an internal explosion ripping the latter ship in two. With terrible consequences, the tables had now turned, and it was the British battle cruisers, which were being schooled in how to handle cordite and contain flash from explosions.

In dock after Jutland, waiting for repairs. 

Notice the large torpedo damage to her starboard side.

 During the later engagement with Beatty and finally the epic showdown with Jellicoe, the Seydlitz was in all hit 21(!) times by heavy shells, and even torpedoed. When she limped back towards home during the night after the battle, she carried an extra 5.300 tons of water due to flooding, with her deck barely remaining above the waterline. As her crew prepared to abandon her, two pump boats from Wilhelmshaven came out to stabilize and bring her home for repairs. Like her historic namesake, the Seydlitz had refined the German forces, been at the heart of the battle, bore the brunt of the charge, and taken a beating to write home about.

Technical drawing of the SMS Seydlitz.

SHIP DATA:

Laid Down: Feb 1911

Launched: Mar 1912

Completed: May 1913

Constructed at: Blohm & Voss, Hamburg

Displacement: 24.988 tons (Full load)

Dimensions: 658ft x 94ft x 30.5ft

Main guns: 10 x 11inch

Armor: 12in belt, 3.1in deck and 9.8in turret armor

Machinery: Parsons Turbines creating 63.000 shp 

Speed: 28 knots

Endurance: 4.200 miles at 14 knots

Thank you very much for reading!

The SMS König: A 10-gun broadside

The SMS König with Rear Admiral Behncke taking the van position at Jutland.

Model is from the 1/2400 Micronauts range by GHQ.

Borrowing the internal layout of the previous Kaiser Class, but with improved broadside factor matching that of the contemporary British Iron Duke class, the König class battleship program was approved by the Kaiser as part of the 1909-10 naval budget. The class would comprise four ships: König, Grosser Kurfürst, Markgraf and Kronprinz – all fitted and launched during 1914, making them the newest ships in the German navy at the outbreak of the war.

The SMS König enjoying a quiet day at sea.

The König class would retain the use of the 12in Krupp guns, offering a higher muzzle velocity but also increased barrel wear. The British navy had at this time already shifted to 13.5in or even 14in guns for their ships, with the improved shoot that would potentially come as an effect of lower muzzle velocity. The German navy would keep their faith in the 12in all the way until the launch of the Bayern class in 1916, fitting that class with whopping 15in guns.

Horizontal photo of the model.

Note the elevated masts,

In terms of armor, the König class stood it’s ground towards the opposing British ships both in belt and deck armor. Comparing to the Kaiser class, the significant improvement was to scrap the clumsy layout of the mid-ship turrets of the Kaiser class, and replacing this with a superimposed central turret on the new König class. With this mid-ship turret being able to rotate to both sides, the König was the first ship class able to direct a 10-gun broadside towards the enemy. 

Extending the masts.

I'm adding a small "T" etched in brass. 

The crisply detailed GHQ models take nicely to washes and highlighting.

Here the rust effects on the protective mine-skirts gets a light brown highlighting.

A good way to get a 3D effect when looking down on the deck,

is by picking out all the grey edges with a light grey.

Just like the grey hull, the tan colored deck also gets a 

highlighted edge to really create contrast and visual effect.

A final touch is applied to the dark sea green, by adding a layer of glossy varnish on top. 

This will create both depth and a realistic water effect.

Named in honor of King William II of Württemberg, the SMS König joined the High Seas Fleet as part of Battle Squadron III in 1914. In 1916 at the Battle of Jutland the SMS König, under Rear Admiral Paul Behncke, had van position as Battle Squadron III approached the Grand Fleet. When the two navies closed in she became heavily involved in a gunnery duel with Beatty’s Lion and later with the bigger British battleships Barham and Warspite of the 5th Battle Squadron. 

Actual WW1 postcard with the SMS König.

After this first graze with Beatty and as the afternoon went into evenings, the König closed with the Iron Duke, the British flagship with Admiral Sir John Jellicoe on-board. The König started to come under fire from the larger 13.5in guns of the Iron Duke. One shell struck the forward conning tower, but didn’t penetrate. However, Behncke was injured but refused to leave the bridge and stayed in command of his ship during the rest of the battle.

The SMS König model, with full steam ahead on the North Sea.

In 1917 the König was again in action, but this time against the Russian navy at the engagement of Moon Sound. Here the König scored 9 hits on the Russian pre-dreanought Slava, eventually forcing the Russian crew to scuttle their ship. The operation was tied to the recent German conquest of Riga, and had the strategic aim to clear out the remnants of Russian naval forces in the area. 

A view from above.  I always apply name tags to the bases. Not only does it help with fast identification during games, but it also looks nice and adds to the finished model.

The last action of the SMS König was in 1918, and turned into nothing less than mutiny. With the Great War coming to a close, Scheer and the German admiralty wanted to strike a hard blow at the British Grand Fleet in the hopes of improving Germany’s position at the coming peace negotiations. In full disregard of the obvious peril and undoubted cost in men and material this operation would cause, Scheer ordered the Germany navy out to sea on the 29th October 1918. The order for a virtual suicide mission was to much for the hard tested sailors. Mutiny spread like a wildfire from ship to ship. Onboard the König, the Captain was wounded while both the first officer and adjutant was killed during the turmoil. 

The SMS König was finally surrendered and interned at Scapa Flow, where her crew scuttled her in June 1919. Today she rests at 40 meters depth and has become a popular diving site for enthusiasts.

SHIP DATA:

Laid Down: Oct 1911

Launched: Mar 1913

Completed: Aug 1914

Constructed at: Wilhelmshaven

Displacement: 28.148 tons (Full load)

Dimensions: 580ft x 97ft x 28ft 6in

Main guns: 10 x 12in 50cal (5 turrets)

Armor: 14-10in belt, 4,5in deck and 14in turret armor

Machinery: 3-shaft Parsons Turbines creating 31.000 shp 

Speed: 21 knots

Endurance: 10.000 miles at 10 knots

Thank you very much for reading

The Baby Killers are here! 1/2400 Zeppelins for WW1 naval gaming

L9 and L17 crossing the North Sea 

to hit the enemy at his home front.

My High Seas Fleet is undergoing expansion for the moment, and in order to add further visual appeal and period flavor to Scheer’s naval force, I decided it was time to find some suitable Zeppelins for the collection. 

The High Seas Fleet enjoying some aerial support!

I consulted a few links on TMP to get some inspiration, needing to find a model, which would fit with the 1/2400 scale of my GHQ ships. Deciding that what had previously been posted as suggestions on TMP would be too large, I googled the matter and found something interesting. Shapeways, a Dutch company specialized in 3D laser printing and dealing with models of all kinds; ships, tanks, trains, planes and to my happy surprise Zeppelins in 1/2400.

Shapeways offer a large selection of Zeppelin models.

The quality looked crisp on the Shapeways site reference pictures and the price of about €20 per piece seemed ok, so I decided to go for two of these baby killers, to create more of a flotilla feeling. They arrived carefully packaged and were produced in a clear see-through plastic resin, which painted up nicely after a black undercoating was applied. 

S.M.S Von der Tann is joined by a Zeppelin flotilla.

The Shapeways Zeppelin models seem perfect for the 1/2400 GHQ ships.

I’m not sure whether Count von Zeppelin was able to grasp the prospect of his invention, when he in 1895 filed his first patent for what would later be one of the most feared weapons of the Great War. Build on a steal frame and filled with hydrogen, the sheer size and potential risk of explosion of one of these aerial monsters would no doubt be enough to spread terror into any group of unsuspecting civilians in their path.

"Guten Tag" - London, Liverpool, Nottingham and a long list of other cities 

became targets as the Zeppelins tried to zap British morale.

Sorting under the Navy the Zeppelins were often used to perform reconnaissance missions over the North Sea, mapping out British mine-laying operations. With a speed of about 85 mph and with a potential capacity for 2 tons of bombs, the Zeppelins also performed a long list of small and large flotilla strikes at UK civilian targets. 

Even though bombs were primitively dropped by hand, the result was often devastating

to the civilian populace. Women and children frequently figured on the casualties lists, sparking British press to dub the Zeppelins the "Baby Killers"

Aiming to puncture British morale by striking at the so far untouched homeland, the raids targeted London, Liverpool, Newcastle and a long list of smaller costal towns, which got some collateral bombing as the “Baby Killers” (the British press worked out this name to underline the unsavoriness of bombing civilian targets) passed overhead.

Zeppelin L9 landing at the Tønder base. This was a risky maneuver,

in some cases resulting in crashes, fire or explosions.

I’d have thought these early Zeppelins too vulnerable or technologically primitive for such long reach raids, but a determined breed of adventurous air captains and devoted crews would time and again volunteer to head out over the North Sea, even though sister Zeppelins often exploded on landing, takeoff, due to malfunction or were simply shot down by anti-aircraft fire.

Far from all made it home. 

The Zeppelin crews were a special breed of death defying daredevils.

This decidedly German weapon have always fascinated me, and I recently discovered that the Imperial German Navy had one of their main Zeppelin bases only 1 hrs drive from where I grew up, in modern day Tønder, Denmark. Today there is a museum at this site, focusing on the Zeppelins history and the role they played during WW1 – a definite must-see on my travel itinerary when I go down to visit family in Denmark this summer.

Thank you very much for reading!