Heaven & Hell: Diary of a German Paratrooper.

Picked it up on the bring and buy at Salute, I always like to read a bit from the other side of the conflicts.

Very good account of a German paratrooper from the second world war from training right up until his surrender to British troops at Rees, Germany in 1945, it's a no bullshit look at the training and tactics of a new type of warfare, he fought in Poland 1939, Narvik 1940,Crete 1941, Russia 1941-2-3, Sicily and Southern Italy 1943, Normandy 1944 and finally Holland and /Lower Rhine 1944-5 and is sent to England as a prisoner of war until 1946.

He starts off with enthusiasm for the war and the Nazi party but as his account goes on this enthusiasm for both dwindles as the war and years progress. His writing is short and to the point with literally dates sometimes following each other as he mentions little if nothing happened or if  their is action or casualties, he cares for his men and their survival, he has some discipline issues in the early days.

We learn what he thought, what he felt and what he went through and his transformation from an eager soldier into a war weary veteran wanting mainly to bring his men home safely, his description of the chaos and confusion of war is vivid and grim. Good read and great pictures throughout.

Service Medals:

Iron Cross First Class
Iron Cross Second Class
Luftwaffe Jump Badge
Luftwaffe ground assault badge
Close Combat Clasp in Silver
Wound badge in Silver
Narvik campaign sheild
Kreta Armelband

28mm Modern Civilians for Zombie Gaming......what are their chances?

28mm foundry civilians for zombie/modern gaming but what are their chances when then outbreak comes?

Still painting up the odd figure for zombie and modern gaming, as we all now in most games civilians are a bit of a burden to be protected and saved but what about the civilian being able to look after themselves from the get go?

Two likely lads here.

City road sweeper, fit from all the breast feeding of that brush and as a possible weapon maybe or likely to be as fit as a sloth but has life experience? 6 out of 10 survivability  

Student type, fashionable and functional clothing,but what's in the bag, books, weed and munchies or a Glock but possibly too sheltered and naive a character? 5 out of 10 survivability

IMAGE WARNING: 20mm Painted WW2 German Battlefield Discipline.

First question is why paint the miniature? (I didn’t, Ray did but that’s not the point), why is the miniature on sale from a manufacturer?, why buy it? I suppose I like the disturbing but true and it’s only a metal miniature, this scene happened a lot as a deterrent to others and some say kept the German army together in the later stages of the war.

There were a lot of examples of battlefied justice throughout the centuries for example English drumhead court martials (I believe first documented in the Peninsular War 1807, the term arose from the use of a drumhead as an improvised writing table) but is the miniature is justied or just disturbing?

I have included some other examples of battlefield or otherwise justice miniatures.

Feldgendarmerie units were generally given occupation duties in territories directly under the control of the Wehrmacht. The duties policing the areas behind the front lines, ranged from straightforward traffic control and population control to suppression and execution of partisans and the apprehension of enemy stragglers.

But by 1943 as the tide of war changed for Nazi Germany, the Feldgendarmerie were given the task to maintain discipline in the Wehrmacht. Many ordinary soldiers deemed to be deserters were summarily executed by Feldgendarmerie units. This earned them the pejorative Kettenhunde (chained dogs) after the gorget they wore with their uniforms. The arbitrary and brutal policing of soldiers gave them the other nickname Heldenklauer (hero-snatcher) because they screened refugees and hospital transports for potential deserters with orders to kill suspected malingerers. Rear-echelon personnel would also be checked for passes that permitted them to be away from the front.

I may never use the miniature in a game but I still bought it though, apologies if the images disturb but it did happen!

The miniature is from CP Models and the Feldgendarmerie are from AB figures.

Execution of a German soldier caught in a US uniform in WW2 around the time of the Battle of the Bulge I believe.

The execution of Catherine Howard.

English Civil War justice I think from Redoubt Miniatures.

Guillotine set from Foundry Miniatures.