“Bloody Omaha” – 2nd Ranger Battalion, Charlie Comp. – Omaha Beach, Dog Green Sector – D-Day, June 6, 1944

On 1 April 1943 the 2nd Ranger Battalion was formed at Camp Forrest, Tennessee, along with the 5th Ranger Battalion. Both battalions were officially activated in September 1943 and shipped to Great Britain where they were prepared for Operation Overlord as part of six Ranger battalions of the Second World War.

On 6 June 1944, Dog, Easy, and Fox Companies, commanded by Lt. Colonel James Rudder, landed at Pointe du Hoc from LCA landing craft and specially modified DUKW “Ducks” operated by the Royal Navy. The 225 Rangers had set off from Britain to launch an assault upon the cliffs overlooking the English Channel. In order to over-strength the 2nd Battalion, members of what was formerly the 29th Rangers were assigned as well.

Unfortunately, several landing craft containing Rangers and supplies capsized in the stormy waters and many Rangers drowned due to heavy equipment, but others were saved and hoisted into other DUKWs to participate in the attack. The Rangers had planned to land at the base of the cliffs at 0600 hours, however, because of a navigational error, they landed nearly an hour late. This cost the lives of more Rangers as well as the element of surprise. During the attack, the 190 remaining Rangers scaled the cliffs utilizing rope ladders, but only 90 Rangers were still able to bear arms after two days of relentless fighting. During the assault, 2nd Battalion managed to disable a battery of 155mm French artillery captured by the Germans, which was their primary objective. These guns were to be aimed at Utah Beach, however, the Rangers prevented their use, saving countless American lives on the shores of Normandy.

Meanwhile Able, Baker and Charlie Companies landed along with the 5th Rangers, the 1st Infantry Division and the 29th Infantry Division at Omaha Beach. They suffered heavy casualties but were able to complete their D-Day objectives. The 2nd Rangers were later involved in the Battle for Brest and the Battle of Hurtgen Forest where they lead the assault on Hill 400, Bergstein. The battalion was deactivated after the war together with the 5th and 6th Battalion. (font Wikipedia)

“You fucking coward… pick up that gun and get kinky!” (Berlin, April 1945)

The FJ/NCO

Helmet: BBI improved (replaced chin strap and buckles) and repainted.
Head: from e-bay, improved and repainted
Jumpsmock and pants: BBI, improved (redone zipped and snap buttons) and aged.

Gears: mix of DML, DID and Soldier Story, improved and repainted
G43 DML, repainted
Boots: New Line Miniatures, improved

The SS Officer

Visor cap: Soldier Story, improved

Head: from e-bay, improved and repainted

Smock: BGT

Tunic and pants: Soldier Sory, improved

Boots: NLM repainted

Gears: mix of DML/DID, improved and repainted

Base

scratchbuilt

SS-Karstwehr- Btl. – Road #60 of Monte Maggiore (Croatia)

What really makes so special this work, is the history that inspired it. I recommend you to read it, since it’s very fascinating.
I shall not be me to narrate it, but the researcher who has spent nearly a quarter of a century to recompose all puzzle tiles.

Everything stems from a photo taken 70 years ago, on a mountain road in the Istrian region, during a counterinsurgency operation, carried out by a unit of the SS-Karstwehr- Btl…

“In june 1990 I was just a kid in love with war and militaria. Every month I used to wait with anxiety for the new issue of the only Militaria magazine published at the time. I clearly remember the day I’ve seen for the first time that picture published on that very same magazine, and how I’ve fallen in love with the Tarnjacke worn by the SS man, keep wondering for the following years who those guys were and if had they managed to survive the war.
The picture was briefly captioned, but at the time I wasn’t even aware what the SS-Karstwehr-Btl. was and that was deployed in action mainly pretty close to my home. Growing up I’ve lost a bit of interest into Militaria due personal problems and, of course, money problems, so I’ve kind of forgotten of that picture. But any time I was at home, and while reading that Militaria magazine issue again, I always felt very fascinated by that picture. I can’t even explain clearly why. Anyway, job, girlfriends, everyday life, and the kid dreams got leveled step by step. At one point I got back with passion to military history but as researcher now, focused on the WWI and WWII events that happened close to my place of birth, mainly interested into pictures. Mainly due to that, I got fascinated again by that pictures, so I’ve tried to learn more about it under all aspects: luckily enough I’ve also managed, after an hard detective work, to find the actual owner of the original picture and buy it off him along with a big group of serie of pictures taken by the same photographer and related to very same operation of the one which I was researching about. Thanks to these additional pictures I was able to ID date, exact location (to the meter!) and operation during the shot was taken. Unbelievably the location was very close to my home. But the SS man was still a perfect Mr. no-one to me. Few years later, a friend that was writing a book about the unit the pictures were related to, asked me if I would allow him to use that one along with some more images from my archive, for such a project, which I’ve agreed. Few years forward again, we are in 2009 now and here I am reading the book, just published, noticing that that very same SS man was pictured also on other pictures published there, that didn’t belonged to me but were credited to some veterans of that unit. Very excited, I’ve called my friend immediately telling him about my discovery, just to be replied in a very relaxed way something like “Oooh, yes, I’ve got the others pictures you are referring to from that very same SS veteran depicted on your picture…he is still alive and he lives 100 km. away from you..”. I couldn’t believe my ears. The guy was still alive and so close for all these years! I’ve managed to obtain from my friend the telephone number of that veteran, and few minutes later I was talking to him: we agreed to fix an appointment at his home, and two days later, in a very hot and sunny spring’s day, I was talking to him about that picture and everything related to it and his service in that unit. After that, and after having a copy of my picture being signed by the vet, I got happily back home. That was a.D. 2010. But I still couldn’t believe this tale, if it hasn’t really happened to me.”

13th Field Hospital – Falaise, July 1944

Brainchild ofDave Revelia, this work kept me busy for about six months. The original project should have foreseen only the three foreground figures (nurse, combat medic and wounded POW), but one day Dave has scored a great shot, by winning the auction for that tent (a rare and remarkable Hasbro’s piece)… from that point on, everything has become biggest and hardest!

Gran Sasso raid – September 12, 1943

On 25 July 1943, a few weeks after the Allied invasion of Sicily and bombing of Rome, the Italian Grand Council of Fascism voted to depose Mussolini and replaced him with Marshal Pietro Badoglio. Mussolini was subsequently arrested on King Victor Emmanuel’s orders.

After his arrest, Mussolini was transported around Italy by his captors. Intercepting a coded Italian radio message, Otto Skorzeny used his own reconnaissance[citation needed] to determine that Mussolini was being imprisoned at Campo Imperatore Hotel, a ski resort at Campo Imperatore, an alpine meadow at the Gran Sasso massif, high in the Apennine Mountains. On 12 September 1943, Skorzeny joined the team—led by Major Harald Mors—to rescue Mussolini in a high-risk glider mission.
Mussolini leaving the Hotel

The operation on the ground at Campo Imperatore was led by Lieutenant Count Otto von Berlepsch, planned by Major Harald Mors and under orders from General Kurt Student, all Fallschirmjäger (German Air Force Paratroopers) officers. According to Otto Skorzeny’s Memoir, he commanded this mission and was on the ground while rescuing Mussolini.

The commandos crashed their nine DFS 230 gliders into the nearby mountains, then overwhelmed Mussolini’s guards without a single shot being fired. The carabinieri guarding Mussolini were ordered to not put up any resistance by an Italian general, Fernando Soleti, that the Germans had brought along on the raid. Skorzeny attacked the radio operator and his equipment, and formally greeted Mussolini with “Duce, the Führer has sent me to set you free!” to which Mussolini replied “I knew that my friend would not forsake me!” Mussolini was first flown from Campo Imperatore in a Luftwaffe Fieseler Fi 156C-3/Trop Storch STOL liaison aircraft, Werknummer (serial number) 1268, initially flown in by Captain Walter Gerlach, then taking off with Mussolini and Skorzeny (even though the weight of an extra passenger almost caused the tiny plane to crash) to the military airport of Pratica di Mare (near Rome) then embarked in an Heinkel He 111 on to Vienna, where Mussolini stayed overnight at the Hotel Imperial and was given a hero’s welcome. The Storch involved in rescuing Mussolini bore the radio code letters, or Stammkennzeichen, of “SJ + LL” in motion picture coverage of the rescue (font Wikipedia).

WWII German Officers Collection

Series limited to six figures, depicting officers of some the best known Elite Corps by German Army, during WWII.

“Climb to Shuri Castle” – Okinawa, June 1945

The Battle of Okinawa, codenamed Operation Iceberg, was fought on the Ryukyu Islands of Okinawa and was the largest amphibious assault in the Pacific War of World War II. The 82-day-long battle lasted from early April until mid-June 1945. After a long campaign of island hopping, the Allies were approaching Japan, and planned to use Okinawa, a large island only 340 mi (550 km) away from mainland Japan, as a base for air operations on the planned invasion of Japanese mainland (coded Operation Downfall). Four divisions of the U.S. 10th Army (the 7th, 27th, 77th, and 96th) and two Marine Divisions (the 1st and 6th) fought on the island while the 2nd Marine Division remained as an amphibious reserve and was never brought ashore. The invasion was supported by naval, amphibious, and tactical air forces.

The battle has been referred to as the “typhoon of steel” in English, and tetsu no ame (“rain of steel”) or tetsu no bōfū (“violent wind of steel”) in Japanese. The nicknames refer to the ferocity of the fighting, the intensity of kamikaze attacks from the Japanese defenders, and to the sheer numbers of Allied ships and armored vehicles that assaulted the island. The battle resulted in the highest number of casualties in the Pacific Theater during World War II. Japan lost over 100,000 soldiers, who were either killed, captured or committed suicide, and the Allies suffered more than 65,000 casualties of all kinds. Simultaneously, tens of thousands of local civilians were killed, wounded, or committed suicide. The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki caused Japan to surrender just weeks after the end of the fighting at Okinawa (font Wikipedia).

Created on the heels of  “The Pacific” (produced by Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks for HBO), and more precisely at episode on the Okinawa’s  Battle; this figure was inspired by U.S. Marine Corporal Eugene “Sledgehammer” Sledge.

“Hey Jap, do you understand what I’m saying?” Roi-Namur (Marshall Islands), 4th Marine Division – February 1944

In January 1944 the 4th Marine Division sailed from San Diego for the Marshall Islands, Roi-Namur in the Kwajalein Atoll. Operation “Flintlock” was the first objective for the Division.  Six hours after landing on 1 February 1944 Roi Island was declared secured, and Namur Island was secured just 24 hours and 15 minutes after the first troops landed.

The 4th Marine Division set three new records on its first operation: it became the first Division to go directly into combat from the States; It was the first to capture Japanese mandated territory in the Pacific; and it secured its objective in a shorter time than any other important operation since the attack on Pearl Harbor (font www.semper-fi.us)

Body: modeled with Fimo on DML base
HS: by Tony Barton, modified and repainted
Tattoos: drawn with pencil, directly on skin
Campaign Hat: by “Stevo Toys”, modified (repainted in Olive Drab, rebuilt chin strap and added USMC crest by Tony Barton)
Leggings: by Be-Com Shop
Boots: Soldier Story
USMC Utility Uniform: DML, modified
Helmet: DID, modified (redone chin strap and hooks)
M1 Garand: Soldier Story, repainted with oils and enamels
Palm leaves: drawn on yellow paper and painted with airbrush

On display at the Suncoast Center For Fine Scale Modeling, Tampa (FLA)

“SCHEISSEEEEEE!”

No historical reference this time, but just fun. A technical virtuosity for showing what you can pull up by the Sixth!

On display at the Suncoast Center For Fine Scale Modeling, Tampa (FLA)

“The Island Owners “- Peleliu, november 27, 1944

“The bitterest battle of the war for the Marines”.
The Battle of Peleliu, codenamed Operation Stalemate II, was fought from September–November 1944 on the island of Peleliu, present-day Palau. U.S. Marines of the First Marine Division and later soldiers of the U.S. Army’s 81st Infantry Division, fought to capture an airstrip on the small coral island. This battle was part of a larger offensive campaign known as Operation Forager which ran from June 1944 to November 1944 in the Pacific Theater of Operations.
Major General William Rupertus, USMC—commander of 1st Marine Division—predicted the island would be secured within four days. However, due to Japan’s well-crafted fortifications and stiff resistance, the battle lasted over two months. In the United States, it was a controversial battle because of the island’s questionable strategic value and the high casualty rate, which was the highest for U.S. military personnel of any battle in the Pacific War (font Wikipedia).