Greetings all,

Whilst this project is still a long, long way in the future, I'd like to do a dio of a German river crossing using pontoons during the early campaings of WW2.

Dio would contain 4 rafts and a couple of small boats, a Kleine Sd.Kz 265, possibly a Sturmgeschutz III (if appropriate) and I have a couple of the GE Engr (gen 2) figures that have the early uniform and could be used. I'm thinking Russia here with the possibility of using the new Cavalry Set and perhaps a T26 and some captured Russians.

So I'm looking for Web links that can help me identify Units, times, locations etc.

The troops all have normal light clothing so Spring, Summer or early Autumn would have to be the season.

Any thoughts???

Cheers

Al

Hi Alan,

Why aim at Russia, what about a crossing like that udertaken on the Meuse during the battle for France and instead of a Stug, what about using one of the SdKfz 232/223 or similar the Tamiya kits are still quite good despite their age and would probably look good. They are always showing bit on the Civilisation or History Channels, with some programmes having quite good shots of the assault river crossings.

Well hope it starts some ideas,

John

Evening John,

I'm not fixed on Russia, just thought if I included France, Poland etc that I would get too much data to work with. The earlier the better as I would prefer early German Armour.

Just looking for a few ideas, links to research units etc, etc.

Cheers

Al

Hi folks,

Any ideas, France, Poland or Russsia 1940 - 1941?

Cheers

AL

Hi

Why not Belgium in May 40' .......when i have some time i will send some foto's from this time ....i have a lot of them i just have to scan them in.

grt den Bill

Hi Bill,

Thanks for your reply, that would be an excellent place to start.

Cheers

Al

AlanL -

Think 'bill1' has a great idea using Belgium or you could go a little farther into France 1940. Plenty of opportunities for Pz Is, IIs, and IIIs. I'm planning a future diorama along similar lines as yours with Rommel's 7th Pz and a Pz III 'E' from Dragon with maybe a Pz I or II along with. Good luck and keep us posted,

Blade48mrd

Hi MIke,

Just in the research stage at the moment and looking for ideas.

I like the early German armour and picked up a couple of Dragon Pontoon Sets when I was in China for £4.00 so they could form the centre piece.

It will be a considerable time before anything gets started but I though best to start looking for references and ideas now as I haven't read up much on specific German armour or studied things in detail from their side yet.

I imagine that the Dragon Cavalry would be OK in Belgium or France but as they are only being released I'm not sure.

Any links or photos that would point me in the right direction would be good.

Cheers

Al

Hi Al

One of my faves, bought it for the French coverage, but there's plenty of German and British stuff too. Going to have to dig it out this weekend as we are trying to find anything that might tie in with SWMBOs father's trip across France and Belgium in 1940.

After the Battle

David

Hi DAvid,

Thanks for that, another one to add to must buy book list LOL, LOL..

Cheers

Al

Al -

Know where you're at. I've got a couple projects I'm working on ("MEOW" and "Purple Hearts" Campaigns) and the others are in the early planning/research stages. I've found that the Concord Publications books (like "Achtung Panzer; German Invasion of France", "Panzer Divisions; 1935-41, the Early Years", and the "Panzer VOR" series) have a great collection of photos (mainly) that are outstanding for diorama ideas and references. Keep us up to date on your progress.

Blade48mrd

Hi Mike,

Thanks for your reply, it's too early for any books yet as I have lots of other stuff going on but I'll bookmark them for later in the year.

Good luck with you campaigns. I signed up for the Normandy one and the Trains campaign but I haven't even got started on the first one which has been over shadowed by the second!!! LOL, LOL, plus I'm plodding on at two other large projects at the same time. Need mroe hands and more time LOL, LOL.

Cheers

Al

Hi Al! Go for the France 1940 idea. No one seems to model that period. It's all Tigers and Panthers these days. I'm doing a BEF dio for the Purple Hearts campaign. Started it before the Normandy one but it's temporarily gone on the back burner until I've built up speed on the Normandy build. Incidentally I'm using Airfix figs for the BEF dio so I'll post some pics on your other thread.

Hi Karl,

I have a British 'Dunkirk' type situation that has been rolling about in my head for some time. I built the infantry some time ago but haven't got any further with the project as there are a distinct lack of early British vehicles around.

For the Germans France would be good too. I need some visuals of a suitable size river where I can deploy the pontoons and then a link to the units involved. Once I start to read up on something then that's when I get really hooked :-) :-) :-) :-)

I'll do some web searches to see what turns up, the ideas sound it just needs tied in to some actual history first. My knowledge of individual German units is limited so I'm hoping to get some pointers here.

Cheers

Al

Hi, friends. I am also interested in these photos? Could you send to me too? Thanks in advance.

jose