Hi everybody!

I just saw one article about Jewish soldiers serving in army of Finland during the continuation war. They were even allowed to establish field synagogue, with silent approval of german army. It might be a nice theme for diorama, finnish soldiers with kippot reading torah during the field service, and german soldiers watching, stunned... The only problem are the finnish soldiers - does anybody know about any in 1/35?

Thanks for advice!

I´ve been searching for some kit, but all I found on one forum wa this: "I was told that the best way of making finnish soldiers, is to mix late war German troops with winter clothing, and Russian soldiers with winter clothing, then use the woolen hats and the smg's for finnish winter garb,and the german bodies for the wrest..." What do you think abot that? ths, rd

Interesting story, I just looked it up -three Jewish Finnish Soldiers were awarded the Iron Cross which they refused.
I would set it in the summer or Autumn as I can't see anyone holding religious services outdoors in a Finnish Winter I've been there it gets very cold.
Here is a continuation war Dio by a Finnish modeller -Jouni Koski

http://public.fotki.com/Finnbatt/scale_models/my_plastic_models/leave-one-mg!/page2.html


The Finnish Uniform was based on the German one, the water bottle and bread bag were similar, German , Russian, Czech and Italian helmets were worn. there is a Finnish company (Combat Models?) who make Suomi SMGs but large numbers of Russian Small arms were also used. The standard rifle was the same model Mosin Nagant as used by the Russians.
No Y straps just a buckle belt with one set of cartridge pouches or a loose SMG drum magazine tied to the belt with a strap or even string.
Hope this helps

Thanks for the info. I have some odds and ends including Soviet helmets and Mosan Nagant rifles left over from a Zvezda set. However, was the Finnish uniform the same in 1940 as in 1944? I think it would be very cool to model the Winter War of 1940 (no pun intended).

There are two excellent books that I know of on Finnish Uniforms one is ASEPUKU M/36
and the other is Osprey's
Finland at War
Trumpeter have a recent release of Russian troops in Snow smocks which might do as Finns in The Winter War when surprisingly the Russians didn't have a lot snow gear.
http://www.shop.edirectory.co.uk/model_hobbies/2889/mia/d/plastic+model+kits+trumpeter+1+35+wwii+soviet+assault+red+army+w+winter+gear/pid/5287253

The detail is a bit soft but that's not so important with snow gear, new heads from Hornet wearing the Ushanka and a remodelling of the hoods and maybe the boots to Lapplander boots and you'll be on your way


http://www.mosinnagant.net/finland/FinnishTunicsectionrevised.asp

Warriors make a Finish soldier.

This is an excellent site for Finnish uniforms. It also explains the historical ties between Finland and Germany.
I would like to see a Finnish Armor site that is as detailed as this one.

http://www.mosinnagant.net/finland/FinnishTunicsectionrevised.asp

Thanks Exer!

Jeff

Combining Soviet and German figures is the advice I've heard too.
For soldiers wearing winter camo suits, Dragon makes a couple of German sets that could be useful.
Winter Combat
German Ski Troop

While the first set's figures have the Y-belts, they should be easy to remove blend in with putty, because of the winter suits.
That trumpeter set looks pretty good otherwise, but the head gear doesn't look like it would pass as finnish. Looks like they're wearing field caps, and the style the hood is tied down looks a bit odd.
But if you can find suitable replacement heads, why not.



Yes, combat models it is.
In addition to the Suomi SMG, they also make a Finnish Maxim MG and DT "Emma" tank machine guns. Great stuff.
Dragon's German infantry weapons set 2 (3816) also has Suomi SMG, although the set can be quite hard to find today.

Though maybe more for the history forum , here is a interesting article about Jews in Finland during WW2...