Kampfgruppe Nordland Part 3

KAMPFGRUPPE NORDLAND PART 3

Hi all please find the third part of Chris's excellent "Defence of Berlin" Late War German army for Bolt Action.

So my second infantry squad is a squad of 10 Kriegsmarine drafted in to fight in the dying city.

At midnight on the 24^th April 1945 Hitler gave an order for 5000 Kriegsmarine sailors to be FLOWN into Berlin to assist in the defence of the city. These would predominantly come from training regiments situated on the Baltic coast and Baltic islands. A brief account of one of the units that was to be sent into Berlin:

1 Schiffstamm-Regiment (1^st Naval Instruction Regiment) under the command of Kapitan zur See Herbert Zollenkopf and comprising three training battalions was one of the units ordered to Berlin. Orders were issued for Operation “Berlin” and the personnel were issued with food, ammunition, weapons, Panzerfaust and a few Panzerschrecks. An “alarm” battalion under the command of Kapitanleutnant Franz Kuhlman would be the first to be flown into Berlin. Flying these personnel into Berlin was given the highest clearance and a largest capacity transport squadron was to be used to fly them in. 5-6 JU-352 transports took off on the night of the 25^th intending to land at the small Berlin airport at Gatow as the main Tempelhof aerodrome was already being fought over and under Russian control. Only one aircraft successfully landed after attempting to land for two hours. At least two planes suffered damaged and returned to their home airfields and one was shot down with the crew surviving. In all perhaps no more than 80-100 Kriegsmarine of the 5000 demanded personnel made it into Berlin where they were employed in the defence of the Reichs Chancellery until the surrender of the city. Kuhlman survived the fighting and the war and would go on to write his memoirs.

The figures here are the Warlord games Kriegsmarine. They are great figures, superbly sculpted and I think posed excellently – no overly “heroic” poses. Are they accurate for Berlin though? The predominant clothing is leathers and combined with beards easily marks the majority out as a U-Boat crew. The three in dress uniform are probably acceptable but it is more than likely that the majority would have been wearing the dark navy blue working dress as in the photo below.  I do think these figures are excellent and they stand out immediately as something “different” so I will continue to use them.

Please excuse the quality of the third photo – I’m no N4L behind the camera but I wanted to show a picture of the posters I managed to find in 28mm scale.

thanks Chris, this project just gets better and better

hope you enjoy

dGG

Kampfgruppe Nordland part 2

Hi all

The next installment from Chris "Naps" Thorne and his excellent Bolt Action project.

KAMPFGRUPPE NORDLAND

For Bolt Action Rules

Well after a little taster with the 88mm Flak it's time to move onto the rest of the KG (see previous posts here and here) . I have now got ahead of where I wanted to be painting wise so we should now hopefully see a weekly update appearing in da grotto.......thank you Gobbo!

So first up the KG commander. In game terms I've taken him as a Veteran officer with one soldier  accompanying him as well as purchasing a medic as well.

He represents SS-Sturmbannfuhrer Rudolf Ternedde. Originally a Battalion Commander in SS Panzer-Grenadier Regiment 24 "Danmark". Ternedde was appointed commander of the remnants of Nordland's two infantry regiments, 23 "Norge" and 24 "Danmark" on 25th April 1945 following the death of the Regiments previous commander, Obersturmfuhrer Petersen. Both amounted too little more than battalion strength by this stage and Ternedde would lead them in the final days of fighting in Berlin. Ternedde is believed to have led the breakout attempt on the 1st May of the remains of the Nordland Division. He survived the war the breakout passing away in 1999.

During his combat service from 1940 to wars end he had been awarded the Iron Cross 1st and 2nd Class, German Cross in Gold, Honour Roll Clasp of the Army, Close Combat Clasp in Gold for 50 days of close combat, Wound Badge in Gold for 5 or more wounds and the Infantry Assault Badge.

The figure are all by Warlord games. I was able to find a company making 28mm propaganda posters, so have added one on the medics base.....blowing in the wind. It's the first time I've painted German camouflage from this period. I've attempted to recreate the autumn Oak leaf pattern on the reversible SS camouflage smocks. I used a You Tube channel, Wargames, Soldiers and strategy for guidance on this ( thank you). The pattern is actually applied with a cocktail stick rather than a brush, a new method for me and actually worked really well.....I think.....well this is what it should look like....

So before the next installment, I would be interested to know how much detail you want me to go into. Concentrate on painting or the historical side.......anyway let me know via da Grotto. Thanks to N4L for the photos and Gobbo for the time and space!!

thanks Naps!

hope you enjoy

dGG

Kampfgruppe Nordland part 1

Hi all

Chris "Naps" Thorne has kindly updated us with his progress on his Bolt Action project in building his Kampfgruppe Nordland, the intro to which you can find here.

KAMPFGRUPPE NORDLAND 

Well it's been a manic few weeks of painting and basing in my lair. The wife is still talking to me....... I think ....... So here is the first unit for the Kampfgruppe. A dreaded 88mm Flak manned by a not so impressive Volkssturm crew and led by a Luftwaffe NCO. Anyone who has seen the brilliant German film "Downfall" will remember this scene.

I wanted to try and recreate this if possible. In the end I settled for a Volkssturm crew manning the gun due to a lack of suitable miniatures. Hitler Youth had been used since 1943 as Flakhelfers with the Luftwaffe. Whether Volkssturm were crewing weapons of this calibrate/complexity in Berlin I'm unsure. There was certainly an 88 in the vicinity of Potsdamer during the fighting, photographed after the battle, and as most appeared to be employed without the characteristic gun shield, that's how I've chosen to portray it.

Figures are by Empress Miniatures Spanish Civil War range and it is a beautiful big beastie......the base is 6 inches square and I've added on a dice tray for orders, wounds and pins for Bolt Action.

Thanks to Rich for taking the photos.......really appreciated mate.

What a cracking piece, thanks Naps.

hope you enjoy
dGG

Kampfgruppe

Hi all

I'm going to hand you straight over to Chris "Naps" Thorne who has kindly penned this post and hopefully quite a few more...

BERLIN POTSDAMER PLATZ 

30th APRIL 1945 

A BOLT ACTION KAMPFGRUPPE

So before we start on the fun stuff I would just like to say a huge thanks to Da Gobbo for allowing me to document this new project of mine. Hopefully it will turn out a worthy addition to the Grotto. A true gentleman and a scholar is Da Gobbo. 

I first picked up a copy of the Bolt Action rules when it was released. I hated them. But after a couple of games I changed my opinion of them and for a couple of years I've been toying with the idea of getting something painted. 

I have a fascination and interest with the last year of the war and in particular the final horrific months on the eastern front. So I decided I would paint up a late war German formation but I didn't want to do something generic. I wanted to do some research, have a variety and mix of units and get this is accurate as possible. 

Last year I read a book on Swedish volunteers in the Waffen-SS serving in the 11th SS Panzer-Grenadier Division "Nordland". Nordland ended the war fighting in the ruins of Berlin along with various other formations. With a bit more research I found a date and a location where I could pinpoint a variety of units operating in close proximity of each other. 

So this Bolt Action platoon (I will call it a Kampfgruppe) is taken from the reinforced Platoon army list and it will represent the units desperately fighting in the vicinity of the Potsdamer Platz and Reichs Chancellory on the 29th and 30th April 1945. It will include elements of Nordland, Panzer Division Muncheberg, Kriegsmarine, Volkssturm and Hitler Youth. In game terms I think it will come in about 2500 points. 

What I hope to do is paint a unit/vehicle, describe its history, personalities (briefly as this a gaming blog) and combine with some real photos for comparison. Hopefully it will be something slightly different and of interest and I would love to hear people's thoughts and feedback. So that's enough from me for now. I have a large box of minis to sort out, four types of camouflage clothing to work out how to paint.....catch you soon and happy gaming!!!!!

thanks Chris, lots more to come on this project I'm sure and I for one am really looking forward to seeing what he comes up with.

hope you enjoy

dGG