ANZAC day 2017 Remembering the fallen

ANZAC day 2017 

  

  In remembrance. For 1915, 1916, 1917, and 2017

  and for all the sacrifices before and after  for those who went and served, those who came back, and those who did not

  Lest we forget.

They went with songs to the battle, they were young.

Straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow.

They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted,

They fell with their faces to the foe.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:

Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning,

We will remember them.

Laurence Binyon ( For the Fallen)

ANZAC Day, pause a moment

ANZAC Day 100 years on:

Australia and New Zealand pauses today to remember their war fallen.

101 years ago today, the fateful landings to try and secure a strangle-hold on the Dardanelles forged the nationhood of the antipodean cousin countries as we know it today. 

100 years ago the first ANZAC commemoration services were held. 

Lest we forget. 

Sacrifices that thousands have made on the battlefields of the world to guarantee our freedom. 

Sometimes in error, sometimes in folly, sometimes with intent on a common goal or idea. 

Never the less, lives sacrificed.

It was Winston Churchill's brain-child to force open the way to Constantinople through the Dardanelles straits to the Bosporus, allowing Russia, who was access to the Aegean. 

He tried first with the Royal Navy, assisted by French and Russian ships, but was given a bloody nose by the Turkish forts and gun emplacements. 

The fateful decision was then made to take the approaches by land, across the Gallipoli peninsula.

I am currently reading Peter Fitzsimons' book, written from the Australian perspective. 

The history is probably familiar to many, so I am not going to dwell on that. 

It suffices to say that it was a massive waste of lives. On both sides. 

Not only was there massive sacrifice by New Zealanders and Australians, but many other nations took part in the futile assault. Indian and Gurkha troops, French, British, Canadian and many other allied countries. 

What I did learn from the red bandanna wearing Australian's book, is the interesting role  

Australian Navy submarines played in the naval engagement part of the campaign.

Captain Henry Stoker and the crew of AE2. The stuff of legends. 

The submarine has subsequently been found, and remains in the sea of Marmara

The narrow stretch of land known as ANZAC cove

The forbidding terrain

British troops attacking at Gallipoli 

Cease-fire to allow both sides to bury their dead. 

ANZACs in the foreground, Turks in the background

Memorial to Mustaf Kemal (later honoured as Ataturk) 

The Turkish commander whose skills as commander swung the battle the way of the Turks. 

Numerically, the Turks suffered more casualties that the Allies put together.

Lest we forget

And so, back to the future...

Happy Back to the Future Day!

Not Photoshopped. I was allowed to sit in the Southward Car Museum's De Lorean.
Its not what you know. It's who you know...

Soviet Arms Factory on my Table-top - Getting ready for KWC Open Day

Soviet Arms Factory

We decide to have Late war Soviet Push for Berlin game at the annual open day.

I realised that I had a great deal of unpainted and half-built Armourfast Soviet tanks and tank busters sitting under my work area, so out came the glue and paint:

Pretty soon Su-85s, T34-Obr 1943s and T34-85s were rolling off the production line

A lone halftrack makes a quick getaway, while tigers huddle in their plastic container.

Awaiting tracks, guns fitted

One model had been waiting so long that it somehow lost its gun mantlet. KV1 mantlet and green stuff to the rescue

D-Day at Last: Kapiti Wargames Club Open Day

D-Day: Sword Beach at Kapiti Wargames Club Open Day 2014.

We are barely 3 weeks out from the 70th anniversary of the D-Day Landings on 6 June 2014.

I have been preparing for several months for a large-scale 20mm Flames of War game. The boards are painted and flocked, most of the troops, armour and planes ready, bar some national markings that got left off. Anyhow we loaded the boards and miniatures and headed off to Paraparaumu. Unfortunalely quite a few of our Generals, experienced and otherwise had to pull out either due to business or family commitments.

Les could only make it for the opening volleys of the game, and had to leave early. Others could not make it at all. Suitable replacements were found, never the less, and a great day of gaming was had by all!

Protagonists at Sword Beach
Allied forces attacking Gold, Juno, and Sword Beaches faced

German units of LXXXIV Corps under General der Artillerie Erich Marcks:

                                               716.er Inf Div. Insignia              21.er Pz Div Insignia

• 716th (Static) Infantry Division under Generalleutnant Wilhelm Richter. At 7,000 troops, the division was significantly understrength, and included Ost Truppen, Soviet PoWs who elected to serve in German Uniform rather than go to PoW camps.
• 736th Infantry Regiment
• 1716th Artillery Regiment
• 21st Panzer Division under Generalmajor Edgar Feuchtinger: Included 146 tanks and 50 assault guns, plus supporting infantry and artillery.

British and Canadian zones (The latter landed at Colville, ignored for purposes of this game)

Royal Marines Commandos attached to 3rd Infantry Division move inland from Sword Beach, 6 June 1944
Commander, Second Army (Britain and Canada): Lieutenant General Sir Miles Dempsey

Overall, the Second Army contingent consisted of 83,115 men, 61,715 of them British. The nominally British air and naval support units included a large number of personnel from Allied nations, including several RAF squadrons manned almost exclusively by overseas air crew.

                                                     
                                                       3rd Infantry Corps Insignia

• British I Corps, commanded by Lieutenant General John Crocker
• British 3rd Infantry Division: Major General Tom Rennie

• British 6th Airborne Division: Major General R.N. Gale
• 79th Armoured Division: Major General Percy Hobart

Facing the landing beaches from the sea: Ouistreham, Lion-sur Mer and farms outside Hermanville-sur-mer in the Distance. The German HQ is situated in the Casino Riva Bella, with the artillery observation tower at left (Allied and German objective) LeFH 18 battery at Hermanville, protected by Flak 38 and Pak 40, Vierling Flak on Halftrack. The road from Hermanville runs down the centre, with the road to Merville leading off the board to the left, Luc -sur-Mer to the right. Heavy MGs on Pillbox and bunker

Luc-sur-Mer, with artillery emplacement (88mm) and 75mm turret bunker (Right), Ost truppen dug in (The weakest link) Heavy MG in pillbox. Road to Lion-sur-Mer and Ouistreham to left, Colville to right.

Nebelwerfer rocket artillery in the fields beyong Luc-sur-Mer (substituting for Wurframen static rockets, as I have none), again supported by an 88 and a 37mm Flak on a halftrack.

Ouistreham harbour and fuel Deport (Objective 2) Protected by Light (bipod) and heavy (Pillbox) MG, 20mm twin AA gun  and Flak Vierling, Ost Truppen of 716 Div.

Rockets at the ready, some Ost Truppen to protect the artillery, and the Luftwaffe half-heartedly manning their 88mm Flak

Heer (Wehrmacht) Artillery. They accounted for more Allied casualties in WW2 than all the Tiger tanks put together. In this case LeFH18 (Light Field Howitzers) 105 mm guns.

The Guns of Merville Battery: Objective 3: 6th Airborne: Parachute brigade

Pegasus Bridge (Orne River): Objective 4: 6th Airborne: Air landing Companies 

22nd Dragoons Sappers (Demolition teams) are the first to land

RAF supplying areal support with Hawker Typhoons. Nick, the Supreme Allied commander rains rockets on the dug in Germans of  716. Infaterie Div.

AVRE Bunker-busters, Hobart's "Funnies" arrive at long last to swiftly clear the defenses at Luc-sur-Mer

LCVPs and DUKWs landing more sappers at Lion-sur-Mer. Unfortunately for them within range of the Nebelwerfers and the heavy machine-guns

Stugs of the 21. Panzerdivision arrive via Hermanville en route to Lion-sur-Mer, and Ouistreham

Yours truly deploying the 21.Pz Division Stug platoon

Sherman wade ashore near the Casino

The second wave of Allied Commanders achieve a break-through at Luc-sur-Mer. The Allies suffered an unusually high rate of casualties amongst both commanders and field officers. 

Supreme Commander Nick urging his generals to increased efforts. He ascribed the high rate of loss of field officers to the Germans being instructed to pick out the British officers.

Hobart's funnies, Shermans and Wolverines pouring from assaulting landing craft and into the gap created by the Dragoon Sappers, but too little, too late ?

Strange how games and history often reflect what actually happened given a well written rule set.
The Allies knew that the Germans would be a hard nut to crack!
Full Batrep to follow...

Generals Repose: Nick and Sam havin' a break at the end of the day

Last prep before D-day

Invasion preparations for D-Day

Really just a quick post of the boards and some prepping taking place prior to yesterday's D-Day Sword Beach Invasion

Hemmbalk and sandbag production line

Tobruk pits, signs and telegraph posts, Czech Hedhogs taking shape

I have not modeled an aircraft since 1981, so this was quite an interesting experience. My skills have improved, but I still struggled with getting those invasion stripes right on an odd-shaped  fuselage! (almost pear-shaped in cross section)

Purposely left the tail of the Horsa detachable, as to reflect Airlanding platoons and their equipment being unloaded after the landing

A river (and a canal) flows through it: Making rivers

Sword Beach: Lion/Hermanville -sur-Mer and Luc-sur-Mer taking shape.

21.Panzer Division inspecting the building work on the observation tower at the (as yet unbuilt) Casino at Riva Bella

Harbour inlet to Ouistreham, Pegasus Bridge taking shape, as does the Orne River Canal and lock