Hey guys, this is my second diorama, its basically a small snapshot of the third battle of Kharkov.

when I originally began this dio, I planned to cover Koeningsberg. Basically, a group of grenadiers ambushing a T-34 from their make-shift command-post in a bombed out church. As the dio developed, I eventually changed it to Kharkov, with a different group of soldiers bracing for a Russian counter-attack, including a sd. kfz 251/C half-track. The half-track and the T-34 took up entirely too much space, thus, after grabbing a Marder III during my infatuation with Panzerjagers, I changed the theme yet again. I applied hydrocol "snow" to cover the lentil-bean "cobblestone" and then I felt like I really solidified a theme. In that sense, this diorama has taken about a year to finish.

This is the 3rd battle of Kharkov, where the SS panzer army was deployed to envelop the Russians after they already surrounded the city. The point when the dio takes place is when they've entered the city and have began house-to-house fighting. There are pockets of Russians defending their freshly won prize. You can see that the church has already changed hands a few times. In spite of the fresh snowfall, there is rubble everywhere and its a shadow of its former self. On the first floor of the church, you'll see some equipment from the ill-fated German defenders, and on the second floor, you'll see the soviet officer preparing to go out in a blaze of patriotic glory! The machine-gunner is observing the still-wet soviet grafitti covering the church. The German officer, the focal point of the scene, is shouting orders to his men from the back of a Marder III(H) panzerjaeger with a lugar in hand, just in case.

The church has an advantage over the surrounding terrain, making it a critical spot to deploy artillery, but, in spite of being the victim of a few 105mm salvoes, it still needs to be secured, since the Russians also recognize its value.
The grenadiers of 3nd SS Panzergrenadier division "Totenkopf" have been tasked with pushing out the resistance while they simutaniously move a Marder into position.

Sets Used:
# Dragon Marder III Ausf. H
# Dragon Panzergrenadiers (Kharkov 1943)
# Verlinden German SS Officers
# Verlinden Soviet Officers
# Verlinden Church Ruins

More Info/Photos


On to the pics!























hopefully, you like it!

Nice diorama, great snow effect and the church looks great. What is the Russian holding in his hands and how did he get up on the platform?

Very Nice Build, Thanks for sharing. milvehfan

Nice diorama. The snow looks really good. You made good choices to finish this up. Congrats!

Nice work, I really like the church!

The Russian doesn't seem to be too concerned about whats going on around him though - just a thought....

CHris

I really like small dioramas and I like yours. Couple of minor things I noticed:
I don't know how many stained glass windows there where in churches in the Soviet Union
The figures look pretty shiny, may just be the photos
Like others have mentioned, I am not sure about the Russian in the church. What is he doing? How did he get there?

Please don't misunderstand me. I love this. The snow is outstanding, so it the building. Just a couple of Thursday night comments.

Shaun

Looks great!, I agree with the others. I do have some things I'd like to point out...

The German on the edge of the dio, he has his weapon slung and is holding a shovel...why? The other guys are in fighting positions...
The guy on the marder, he looks like an officer, but where is the gun crew? Why are there live rounds bouncing around on the stowage basket thing? If you are gonna put some brass there, I'd remove the shells and leave the casings.
There is a guy taking shelter behind the track and firing, the officer seems to be responding to the same danger, but the guy looking in the door is totally ignoring it, and is in the way of his buddy's line of fire, good that he's taking a peek into the church, but still.

I'd reorganize this one a little, but I like the concept, and even as it is, it looks great!

There is something about the figure in the last picture which I don't like, however I can't tell you what it is because I don't know. the reast of the diorama I feel has a good level drama/tension about it (as in what's about to happen), great work well executed.

no ammo belt in MG42..... fine job i like it....how long did it take you ?

impressive build
the church looks great! especially the evil russian figure he looks
suspicious =]

keep it up mate =]

Nice effort, amigo. As someone mentioned, how did the Russian get up to that level?
The interior of the ruins should have some clumps of snow somewhere.
The Marder is terrific but needs some stowage as this was a rolling home to the crew (tarps, fule cans, ammo crates, spare personal gear, tools).
The machine gunner doesn't have a belt of ammo for his MG34 so he wouldn't be much good for flushing out any snipers.
The snow is very good as is the ruins and Marder.
Ironmike

Hi Jacob,
you have a good result with your dio, a classic composition, well balanced and plenty of action.
Only two questions: the church and graffitis, this church is gotic style,that is not easy to find in Jarkov.churches here have is how style, ortodox churches, very diferent of western gotic church.
graffitis is another question, all forms of propaganda was controlled by soviet apparatus,and all forms of individualism expresion is discouraged.
I not say that is impossible see a grafitti in a soviet city in WWII, but is not common.
cheers
Carlos

thanks for the advice/comments

It's hard to estimate how long this project took me, since it was segmented into a series of unrelated projects, but I'd estimate, 15 hours making the marder, 24 hours painting the figures; about 3 hours weathering the building; an hour adding the snow; a few hours doing the interior, etc. As I mentioned, this went through a few permutations.

Thanks for the suggestion to arm the machine-gunner with an ammo belt; I think that's a great idea!

As for the white gren w/ the spade, I agree that he's completely out of place; although I felt that he reinforced/balanced the marder's direction/position. Should I replace him with a withered tree or something to that effect?

Regarding the church, although 90% of Ukrainian churches were probably Orthodox, I was trying to capture the Lutheran Cathedral of Kharkov



Regarding the Marder: The live rounds on the marder's backpack were kinda driving the point that they had a surplus of ammo. The spent rounds are scattered through the base. Another aspect I didnt notice initially, that weren't pointed out, is that I didn't weather the bogey wheels, and that's bothering the hell out of me. As for a tarp, another excellent idea, I guess I can make a rolled up one. The crew is another story, initially, I had a loader from a verlinden SPG crew next to the officer, but he really crowded the platform; so it became a question of balance. The officer, I feel, is absolutely essential for the composition. So, sadly, suspension of disbelief is a bit necessary. The real downer is that I always wanted to make an active panzerjager too.

As for the Popov, he's loading a clip into his pistol. Basically, he's hiding in the corner, while peering out the window (I may alter his head a bit, to accentuate that). Originally, I was going to procure a sniper. And this brings up the greatest mystery in the diorama: How did he get up there? Short answer, 105mm salvo smashed the other side (including the stairs) and he was trapped up there. It wouldn't be hard to scale down the side, but it's an excellent listening post, so he just hung around. Although, the question posed made me realize that incorporating stairs would provide a two-fold goal, A.) Shutting you guys up! B.) filling up the otherwise bland interior. So maybe I'll scratch-build one, although, for the most part it would be devastated by the rubble.

Thanks for the input, I will apply your suggestions next time I have some free time.

here are some additional photos from the build: