Normandy 1944

Recently I've been doing some planning/painting for the start of a new project based around the Allied landings in Normandy in June 1944.

Having done some research in to the US 1st Infantry Division and the German 352nd Infantry Division I came up with the idea of creating regimental sized battlegroup lists that would each feature a set of core units and a range of optional units for a player to choose from. These lists were deliberately designed to both provide a good range of different units to choose from and to limit the amount of painting I had to do.

As an example the German list gives the following Core Units:

Regimental HQ (CO)

Regimental Anti-Tank Company (PAK40)

Regimental Infantry Gun Company (2 75mm and 1 150mm guns)

2 Grenadier Battalions, each with a HQ, 3 Grenadier Companies (3 stands each) and a support company (MMG and 3 mortar stands)

These core units can be supplemented by a combination of Attachments:

Panzerjager Battalion (2 StuG IIIG, 3 Marder III and 2 truck mounted 37mm AA guns)

Divisional Fusilier Battalion (organised as the Grenadiers above but with 1 company on bicycles)

Ost Battalion (4 infantry companies made up of Russian "Volunteers", rated as Conscripts)

Attached Grenadier Battalion (4 Grenadier Companies (1 on bicycles), rated as Fortress Troops)

Divisional Pioneer Company (3 engineer stands, possibly on bicycles)

Divisional Artillery Battalion(s) (105mm or 150mm towed artillery guns)

Aircraft (FW-190 and HS-129's, though with no air superiority they might not arrive on the battlefield very often!)

Added to this I will be creating a few Corps level units that might be available depending on the scenario. These will probably consist of a StuG Brigade, a towed Panzerjager Battalion and 1 company of Jagdpanthers.

Some pictures of the first completed units and a few other items I've been working on (including some very nice resin pieces from Leven Miniatures) will follow over the weekend.....

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M51 Isherman Company

These are the first models for my 1973 October War era Israelis (for the Southern Front). I quite like these H&R M51 Ishermans (ISM02), the model is quite detailed though the gun barrel does have a weak point near the join with the turret but once painted is somewhat stronger:






Israeli tank battalions are quite a complex subject and different sources give different info for the same units which makes life difficult foe wargamers. I've written myself an Armoured Brigade list (at my usual 1:3 scale) to try and cover all the variables, it's not 100% accurate and was hard work but it's good enough for what I want to do. I've enough models to put together a battalion each of Centurions (Sh'ot) and M48's (Magach 3), a Mechanised Battalion in M3 Half Tracks and an Armoured Recce Battalion with M60's (Magach 6) and M113's. With the addition of a few extra units the Mechanised Infantry will probably double up as Paratroopers.
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