Saturday, February 11, 2017

More WW2 North Africa

As I stated in the last post, I do have some additions to my 1:285 scale German and British battle groups.

But first, some additional formations not pictured in the last post:

British 4th Armored Brigade Group command with its headquarters element and two M3 Honey tank platoons

German 5th Panzer Regiment command with its headquarters element and regimental Pz II reconnaissance platoon
Both of the headquarters elements will have more "foot" figures added to the bases.

German panzer battalion motorcycle reconnaissance platoon (one of two in the regiment)

German panzer battalion engineer platoon (one of two in the regiment)

German PaK38 50mm antitank gun, deployed and "limbered"
So far I have two of these sections painted which form part of the 39th Panzerjager Battalion (motorized),
5th Light/21st Panzer Division

And now pictures of the two battle groups.

The British 4th Armored Brigade Group (XXX Corps) was formed particularly for the Operation Crusader in November and December 1941.  I'm basing my main British armored force on this brigade group.  Not all of the formations of the brigade group are pictured, particularly the infantry component, the 2nd Scots Guards.  In addition, the brigade group temporarily includes the 44th Royal Tank Regiment (Valentine infantry tanks) which is actually part of the 1st Army Tank Brigade, XIII Corps, and will eventually be moved to the 11th Indian Brigade, 4th Indian Division, when I raise that brigade.

4th Armored Brigade Group
[front - brigade group headquarters]
[on left - 3rd RTR; center - A Squadron, Kings Dragoon Guards (front) and A and B Batteries, 102nd AT Regiment RHA (rear); right - 8th Hussars]
[rear - 44th Royal Tank Regiment]

The German 5th Light Division/21st Panzer Division was in the midst of reorganizing from its light composition to its panzer composition.  I've taken the deliberate step of "freezing" its organization at the light composition.  Not all of the formations of the division are pictured, only the 5th Panzer Regiment and some supporting divisional reconnaissance, artillery, and antitank elements.

5th Panzer Regiment (reinforced)
[front - regimental headquarters]
[left - 1st Panzer Abteilung (Battalion); center - 605th and 39th Panzerjager Battalions; right - 2nd Panzer Abteilung]
[rear - 1st Battalion, 75th Artillery Regiment]

There will be more added to these battle groups, so stay tuned.

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