INTRODUCTION

The Eastern Front of World War II was a theatre of war between the European Axis powers, Germany, Romania, Hungary, Italy, Slovakia, Croatia, Finland and the Soviet Union which encompassed Northern, Southern and Eastern Europe from 22 June 1941 to 9 May 1945. It was known by many different names: The Great Patriotic War, (Russian), the Eastern Front, (German), the Eastern Campaign, (German), or the Russian Campaign, (German). The two principal powers were Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union.

The battles on the "Eastern Front" constituted the largest military confrontation in history. They were characterized by ferocity, large scale destruction, mass deportations, and immense loss of life due to combat, starvation, disease, and massacres. The Eastern Front, as the site of nearly all extermination camps, death marches, ghettos, and the majority of organized massacres, was central to the Holocaust. Of the estimated 70 million deaths attributed to World War II, over 30 million, many of them civilians, died on the Eastern Front. The Eastern Front was decisive in determining the outcome of World War II, eventually serving as the main reason for Germany's defeat.

Zvezda has released German Infantry, Eastern Front Winter 1941-1942 in 1/35 scale as kit number 3627. This is a set of four figures which represent WWII German troops on the Ostfront (eastern front).

contents

The box that the kit comes in is the typical soft cardboard open end box with artwork of the figures on the top. The bottom of the box has photographs of the completed figures.

The kit comes with a two page instruction sheet with assembly steps for all four figures, line drawings of the sprues and a painting guide. The painting guide references Model Master brand paints. There are no decals included in this kit.

The kit comprises two grey styrene sprues which contain 87 total pieces. The sprues come sealed in clear plastic bags. All of the pieces are attached to the sprue with a minimal amount of contact points. I have seen some kits where it seems like the sprues contain more plastic then the pieces that make up the kit. However, that is not the case with this kit which makes for easy removal and less clean up of each piece. When I examined the sprues I didn't find any bent, broken or missing pieces.

The larger sprue, which has the figures, does not have part numbers on the sprue. The modeler needs to refer to the instruction sheet for the part numbers. However the smaller sprue, which has the weapons and equipment, includes the part numbers on the sprue as well as on the instruction sheet.

As I examined the individual pieces I found what I would consider to be a normal to minimal amount of flash, however there are seam lines present. I did not find any push out (knock out) marks on the individual pieces. The detailing on the individual pieces is fairly decent.

THE FIGURES

The kit comes with four WWII German Troops. I assembled all of the figures straight out of the box without doing any work on them to show all of the seam lines, flash, gaps and how the equipment fits on the figures. I felt this would be a good way to show the work required on all of them.

The kneeling German pointing:
The figure is made up of twenty one total pieces. The detailing on the clothing and face is decent. The figure comes with a helmet with a cloth covering, a great coat that has five pieces to be assembled. There are gaps where the coat pieces fit together but the end result is nice. He is wearing gloves and has a hooded toque around his head and neck. The collar is also a separate piece. The figures neck fits into the collar nicely and the helmet fits on the head well.

The figure comes with an MP-40 submachine gun, one MP-40 magazine pouch, canteen, bread bag, an entrenching tool, a gas mask canister, binoculars with binoculars case and a document case. The boots have no hob nails. The pose of the figure is nice, although the left hand does not close around the binoculars realistically. There is no molded strap for the gas mask canister nor is there a sling for the MP-40. There is what I would call a normal amount of flash present and there are seam lines which will need to be removed. The overall fit of the pieces is good, however there are gaps that will need to be filled.

The kneeling German with the K98 Mauser rifle
This figure is also made up of twenty one total pieces. The detailing on the clothing and face is decent. The figure comes with a helmet with a cloth covering, a great coat that has four pieces to be assembled along with a separate collar. The figures’ neck fits into the collar nicely and the helmet fits on the head well. As with the first figure, there are gaps where the coat pieces fit together but the end result is nice. The figure is wearing gloves and has a hooded toque around his head and neck.

He is holding a K98 Mauser rifle and comes with two K98 Mauser ammunition pouches, an entrenching tool, a canteen, bread bag, and a gas mask canister. The K98 Mauser does not fit in the figures hands very well and, if desired, the modeler will have to scratch build a sling for the rifle. The figures arms and hands are separate and need to be assembled, and after assembling this figure I see no real reason for this other than to possibly adjust the hands to hold the rifle better. There are no hobnails visible on the boots. There is what I would call a normal amount of flash present and there are seam lines which will need to be removed. The overall fit of the pieces is good, however there are gaps that will need to be filled.

The running German with the 50mm mortar ammunition cans:
The figure is made up of twenty four total pieces. The detailing on the clothing and face is decent and comes with a helmet with a cloth covering. The great coat has four pieces to be assembled and as previously mentioned has gaps that will need to be filled where the coat pieces fit together. The figure is wearing gloves and has a hooded toque around his head and neck.

Armed with a K98 Mauser rifle which is slung over his left shoulder, he is further outfitted with two K98 Mauser ammunition pouches, an entrenching tool, canteen, bread bag, and a gas mask canister. The figure is carrying two 50mm mortar ammunition cans and his hands are positioned well to hold an ammunition can carrying strap. There is a molded rifle sling as well as an ammunition can carrying strap. However, if desired, the modeler will have to scratch build the rifle sling and carrying strap for a more realistic appearance. There are no hobnails visible on the boots.

The figure comes with a small base for the right foot and is displayed in a nice action pose. In my opinion the figure should be looking more forward as opposed to looking straight down at the ground. There is what I would call a normal amount of flash present and there are seam lines which will need to be removed. The overall fit of the pieces is good, however there are gaps that will need to be filled.

The prone German with the K98 Mauser rifle:
Nineteen total pieces make up this figure. The detailing on the clothing and face is decent. The figure comes with a helmet with a cloth covering, and a great coat that has two pieces to be assembled along with a separate collar. There are gaps where the coat pieces fit together and where it comes into contact with the lower part of the legs, however these gaps are minimal and the end result is nice. The figures neck fits into the collar nicely and the helmet fits on the head well. The figure is wearing gloves has a hooded toque around his head and neck. There are no upper legs for the figure as they wouldn’t be seen anyway, so the lower legs are glued to the lower portion of the great coat.

The figure is holding a K98 Mauser rifle and comes with two K98 Mauser ammunition pouches, an entrenching tool, canteen, bread bag, and a gas mask canister. The K98 Mauser does not fit in the figures hands very well. If desired the modeler will have to scratch build a sling for the rifle. The figures arms and hands are separate and need to be assembled. After assembling the figure I see no real reason for this other than to possibly adjust the hands to hold the rifle better. There are no hobnails visible on the boots.

The figure does not lay perfectly flat to the ground when assembled due to the stomach. The box art is somewhat deceiving as it shows the figure wearing eyeglasses, however there are no eyeglasses on the figure. There is what I would call a normal amount of flash present and there are seam lines which will need to be removed. The overall fit of the pieces is good, however there are gaps that will need to be filled.

In general:
There is nice detailing on all four figures with the exception of the belt buckles. Zvezda attempted to show the raised center of the belt buckle, however it looks unrealistic as the center portion of the belt buckle sticks out too far. This can be easily corrected with a small amount of sanding.

The weapons and gear included in the kit are as follows:
• 1 German MP-40 submachine gun
• 3 German K98 Mauser 98k rifles
• 4 German canteens
• 4 German bread bags
• 4 German gas mask canisters.
• 4 German entrenching tools
• 1 pair of German binoculars
• 1 German binoculars case
• 6 German K98 Mauser ammunition pouches
• 3 German 50mm mortar ammunition cans (only two are needed).

The K98 Mausers have a small hollow indention in the butt of the stock for placing the end of a sling. This is a nice detail that other companies should follow. The box art shows the figures with mess kits and rolled shelter quarter, however there none of these supplied with the kits.

CONCLUSION

It isn't what I would call a perfect set of figures, however it is a nice product and would have no hesitation to recommend it to others. This set could be used to easily create a simple diorama, or the figures could be separated and used in different projects.

References:

• World War 2 Combat Uniforms and Insignia
Squadron/Signal Publications, #6013
Published in 1977
Martin Windrow with color illustrations by Gerry Embleton

• German Infantry in Action
Squadron/Signal Publications
Combat Troops Number 2
Created by Uwe Feist
Captions by Norman Harms
Uniform Illustration by Ron Volstadt

• Into the Cauldron, Das Reich on the Eastern Front
Robert Michulec and Dmitriy Zgonnik
Number 6534
Concord Publications Company