By Old Man Morin,
After the D-Day landings, in the winter of 1944, Allied
forces continued to push German forces back further and further towards
Germany. There was even optimistic talk
of the war ending in a matter of months if not weeks. These thoughts turned out to be a tad
premature as Allied troops were in for a rude surprise. Hitler had planned a secret counter offensive
that later became known as the Battle of the Bulge. As part of this push, one of Hitler’s
favourite SS commanders, the infamous and flamboyant Otto
Skorzeny, concocted an audacious and illegal plan to put the enemies of
the Reich on the back foot. Hitler green
lit the plan and Operation Greif was born.
Skorzeny’s plan involved elite German troops dressing up in
Allied uniforms wrecking havoc behind enemy lines through surprise attacks,
sabotage and disseminating misinformation.
This, Otto argued, could give Axis forces the extra edge they might need
to succeed in their objective of reaching and capturing the port of Antwerp.
Operation Greif, or Operation Griffin in English, was the
name of the plan hatched for the Panzer Brigade 150, Skorzeny’s unit. Their objective was to push through Allied lines to capture one or
more of the valuable bridges crossing the Meuse River that would be needed for
the drive to Antwerp. Hitler ordered
that captured US gear and vehicles be collected and given to the 150. What arrived was no where near what Skorzeny
had hoped for. He received a handful of
armoured cars, a pair of broken down Sherman tanks (that later broke down and
were not used in the operation), some half-tracks and a mismatch of uniforms
and equipment. Deciding this was nowhere
near enough Otto pulled 5 Panthers and 5 StuG assault guns and
had them “modified” with sheets of thin metal to roughly resemble their US
counterparts (more on these in a future article).
During the Battle of the Bulge however, the mere rumour of
German infiltration troops was enough to spread widespread paranoia through the
Allied ranks. Verbal passwords were
checked and rechecked. At one point, US
General Clarke was held at gunpoint by one of his own guards because he mistakenly
said the Chicago Cubs played in the wrong baseball league.
Thinking this is a fascinating footnote to a historic
battle, I decided I wanted to create a Bolt Action army to represent Skorzeny’s
forces. I already own a beautifully
painted US greatcoat Artisan army that I have been slowly adding vehicles to
over the years. With Warlord’s release
of their “newish” US winter range, I thought it was the perfect time to add
some more infantry (and tanks) to the mix AND create a whole new, historically
themed army.
First of all, can I say how impressive I think the new
Warlord metal, winter American models are?
The casting is clean and the details on the models are appropriately
sharp. I timed myself (keeping in mind
that I am slow and meticulous) and it took me less than ten minutes to clean
and prepare the ten models in the basic box, even with the heads separate. Given the casting quality of some WW2
infantry models, these guys are really impressive. I really recommend these miniatures if you are
at all on the fence!
Now, I need more US riflemen like I need a hole in my head
(given that most of my large army is riflemen already) and this box comes with
7 of them. I used this as an opportunity
to have some fun. I pulled out my
clippers, hobby knife and files and got to work. I plan on using at least one unit of
Brandenburgers in my force to represent the paranoia Skorzeny’s forces caused
and I thought adding some assault rifles (the Battle of the Bulge is the first
time the assault rifle was used en masse by German troops) would be a good way
of having those troops stand out on the table top. I have taken 4 of the riflemen from the box
and replaced their rifles with assault rifles.
I found that the easiest way of doing this was by cutting the farthest away hand and replacing it with a plastic one from various
Warlord kits. I then cut the ARs at the
butt and glued them into place. You might say that soldiers wouldn’t hold their
rifles like this. Well, it was the only
way to get the rifles to fit AND it clearly shows that each guy is carrying a
different weapon.
I also took this opportunity to add some submachine guns to
the mix. Automatic weapons were used to
great effect by German troops during this period and I felt like the 4 SMGs
that my existing army already has was just not enough. The Warlord box comes with one Thompson
carrier but I wanted more, so I cut apart one rifleman to carry an MP40 and a
panzerfaust (using bits from the German Plastic Grenadiers sprue).
I also bought a blister of the SMG winter
soldiers (but not in greatcoats) from Artisan designs to bulk out my forces.
As you can see the Artisan figures are slightly larger than
their Warlord counterparts but I don’t mind.
On the table top, once the models are based and painted, you will not be
able to tell the difference.
The box also contains
2 BAR gunners. Since my existing
American army only has 5 BAR gunners (1 per squad). I am taking the opportunity
to add these guys to the army, even though I will not be able to use them in my
German infiltration force.
I really like how the barrels of the BAR’s are thicker than
I would have otherwise expected. It will
give them added durability on the table top and as I move them in and out of my
figure case.
This is the first article in a series that I will be writing
about forces involved in Operation Griffin.
In the upcoming weeks I will be writing up a review of Warlord’s Ersatz
Panther, a painting guide for these greatcoated troops, an explanation of how I
built my army, and I will be writing up an after action report from the Battle
of the Bulge, when my army is done and ready for the tabletop. I hope you will tune in to check these
articles out.
If you would like to more closely follow my progress, please
look for the LRDG Podcast on Facebook. I
will be posting regular pictures and questions there.
Until next time,
Old Man Morin
