I am looking for information on Polish AFV crews of WW II. Specifically, are there any 1/35 scale figures of Polish AFV crewmen on the market that can be used for a Polish Sherman Mk III in Italy during 1944? Resin figures are preferred, but plastic or metal will work. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Hi Craig,

I don't know of any specifically for Polish Crews but you could use almost any British/Commomwealth Tank crew as the uniforms were basically the same.

Do you want WInter or Summer uniforms?

Ultracast, Alpine, Resicast, Warrior, Cromwell all do British Tank Crews.

Hope that helps.

Cheers

Al

Thanks. That is what I thought. I love the ones by Ultracast, so I need to order some more.

As Alan says almost any commonwealth tanker figure can be used. They did tend to wear their berets in a different way, kind of puffed up and with the badge in the middle. Some infantry figures might be usable as photos show a lot of Polish crews wearing the webbing straps and not just the belt - so the Tamiya British infantry on Patrol set would be sitable with Pistol holsters instead of Pouches and new heads.

Hey Craig,
My Dad was with the 16th Canadian Scottish, 3rd Canadian Infantry Division.
Polish units were operating with Canadian Army units in NW Europe and he remembers, as Pat mentioned, that the Poles wore their berets pulled back and they wore their regiment badge almost dead center.
They wore the same style of battledress uniforms as the British/Commonwealth units but with their own particular rank insignia.
Ultracast's figures would work well but you might want to pick up some Hornet AFV crew heads for the style of beret worn.
I've also seen lots of photos of Polish AFV crews wearing the British style AFV helmet.
BTW Hornet set HBH1 has a head with the Polish Rogatywka cap, like the one worn by the POW in the new German troops 1939 figure set from Dragon.
Hope that helps.

jjumbo

There's a pic in Polish Shermans 2 of a Polish soldier in NWE 44 wearing the Rogatywka cap.
I remember a story in Peter Ustinov's memoirs. He was a private attached to a film unit based in London and wore a plain greatcoat with his beret folded to hide his cap badge and walked around like an officer ignoring everyone who because of his appearance ignored him back except for Polish soldiers of all ranks who saluted him. :-)