Lead Adventure Forum
Miniatures Adventure => The Second World War => Topic started by: joekano on September 30, 2020, 01:29:11 AM
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Well, it was time to start a new Army. Since I already have a Japanese force, I thought the British could be a fun opponent in Burma. First up are some troops from the 81st (West Africa) Division.
(https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-w3Jd-P8KlV8/X3PB5MtuppI/AAAAAAAAG1o/YBMMJalud6Ef0MruF9bpyFWMkYMVSQUBQCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_0634.JPG)
https://majorthomasfoolery.blogspot.com/2020/09/81st-west-african-division-for-burma.html (https://majorthomasfoolery.blogspot.com/2020/09/81st-west-african-division-for-burma.html)
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Superb painting! :-*
If you don't have it, try to get a hold of the excellent divisional history 'War Bush' by John A. L. Hamilton, as it discusses kit quite a bit. Here's a summary:
Essentially the division went to war DEEP in the jungle of the Kaladan Valley in Nov/Dec 43 and left as much heavy kit as they could (including all their helmets) behind in depot. At that point they wore KD with trousers and anklets rather than shorts. JG was supplied by air starting in Jan 44. When the 2nd Kaladan Campaign kicked off in late 1944 the division had lightened itself further (by that point they were operating on a much lighter scale of kit and supply than even the Chindits) and a lot of the troops by then were wearing home-made JG shorts and marching in bare feet.
The 3rd West African Brigade was detached as Chindits and never fought with the division. They went over to JG before seeing action.
While the 81st WA Div was in the Kaladan Valley for the first time (Nov 43 to May 44), the 81st West African Recce Regiment was divorced from the division and was instead operating as XV Corps Recce Regiment (initially in scout cars and carriers) along the Arakan coast. They wore KD (including helmets and shorts) throughout the first half of 1944. Your photo of seated soldiers wearing KD is from 81 Recce Regt and your chaps are absolutely perfect for that Regt, with their mix of trousers, shorts, helmets and bush-hats. They were increasingly used as an amphibious recce regiment, operating alongside 3 Commando Brigade and 'Z' Force and increasingly abandoning their armoured vehicles. By late 1944 they had completely gone over to waterborne recce/raiding and had adopted JG.
I hope that's of some help. Again, your models are superb.
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They look great, Burma offers some great variation in units and is a theatre rich with gaming opportunities. Very tempted to add some Africans to my force after seeing this and reading Jemima Fawr’s informative post.
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Nice! I have always fancied doing some King's African Rifles for Burma after reading a rather moving (and funny) account by one of their officers. And I don't even game WWII these days, either.
Fun fact: Don't know if the West African division did this, but the white officers of the KAR (in the same vein as Al Jolson, Justin Trudeau and Jimmy Fallon) adopted 'blackface' in combat, as their skin colour singled them out as officers, attracting an inordinate amount of fire from the Japanese.
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Nice! I have always fancied doing some King's African Rifles for Burma after reading a rather moving (and funny) account by one of their officers. And I don't even game WWII these days, either.
Fun fact: Don't know if the West African division did this, but the white officers of the KAR (in the same vein as Al Jolson, Justin Trudeau and Jimmy Fallon) adopted 'blackface' in combat, as their skin colour singled them out as officers, attracting an inordinate amount of fire from the Japanese.
Yes, I had the enormous privilege of knowing an officer of the KAR and he said the same thing about 'blackface'. :) Not heard of it being done in 81 or 82 WA Divs though.
The KAR all served in the 11th (East African) Division (which fought at the end of the Battle of Imphal and the pursuit into Burma), the 22nd East African Independent Brigade (which fought with XV Corps in the Arakan from late 44 onward) and the 28th East African Independent Brigade (which fought right through from the Battle of Kohima to the Irrawaddy Crossings). There was also the related 11th East African Scout Battalion, which was attached to 81st (West African) Division very late in the 1st Kaladan Campaign and didn't do very well, being badly cut up during the first battle at Myohaung.
The best figures for East Africans in Burma would probably be Australians for the Pacific War, as they also wore US-style gaiters. The East Africans also don't seem to have taken their tin lids to war and instead seem to have universally worn bush-hats. The East Africans received to have received JG before going into action.
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I had thought of using Aussies. Personally I feel I'd need more than paint conversions to make them look like Africans (no disrespect to joekano's figs, which look great, it's a me thing), which would mean not only head-swapping some African heads on to the bodies, but also grafting the hats back on to the new heads. The bother of doing all that is what has held up this pipe-dream. :)
Maybe some day... it's not as if I need them for a game.
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I had thought of using Aussies. Personally I feel I'd need more than paint conversions to make them look like Africans (no disrespect to joekano's figs, which look great, it's a me thing), which would mean not only head-swapping some African heads on to the bodies, but also grafting the hats back on to the new heads. The bother of doing all that is what has held up this pipe-dream. :)
Maybe some day... it's not as if I need them for a game.
True enough if you're doing them in 28mm. Mine are all in 15mm though :)
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Thanks for the feedback everyone, and Jemima, I appreciate the book lead and all the additional details on the kit. I was stuck working off the limited information and photos I could find online and just took my best shot at it. Glad to know I didn't mess things up too badly.
On a side note, maybe you wouldn't mind advising further on the next units I have planned for the theater. I'm putting together some European squads that I'm hoping can do double duty for Burma and Malaysia. My plan was to use the Warlord plastic set again with all troops in KD shorts, with one squad in green brodie helmets (dark green as in Europe or another shade?), and the other in the pith helmets. The last 2 squads will be Indian troops, and I wasn't sure if if Sikh or Punjabi heads would be better. Again I was planning to use them in KD shorts so they show up in Malaysia as well. I've also heard the head wrappings stayed KD until very late in the war. If any of these sounds completely off, please let me know.
Thanks again!
Chris
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Oh thank God/Allah/Guru Nanak for that, as I'd hate you to think that I was criticising. Your painting and observation is superb and the blog is great as well.
Shorts are a tricky one. They were pretty standard in Malaya/Singapore/Hong Kong/Java at the start of the war (yes with dark bronze green helmet), but were deeply frowned upon by Giffard and Slim, partly due to the difficulties of dealing with prickly jungle terrain while wearing them, but mainly due to them compromising the massive efforts to reduce the incidence of malaria, scrub typhus, etc. That said, units with some 'latitude' such as the Chindis did sometimes wear them and 81 WA Div certainly went for shorts in a very big way after the 1st Kaladan Campaign (not sure about 82 WA Div though).
So I'd say KD is good right up until mid-way through 1944 (though odd bits of KD continued to be worn, especially by tank crew) and shorts (or 'Bombay Bloomers') could be worn by some units/individuals right up until the end of the 1st Arakan Campaign and 1st Chindit Expedition (Operation 'Longcloth') in early 1943. After that they were effectively banned.
Sadly Burma does tend to be one of those periods which has an 'Early' and a 'Late' style of uniform.
Re turbans: Yes, Sikh turbans were usually KD and in black & white photos often look very pale (as does sun-bleached webbing). However, they were sometimes covered with scrim netting as a camouflage measure. The other races though simply didn't wear regimental turbans in the field (apart from some oddities such as MPs). Typical headgear was simply the tin hat, usually covered in scrim. Soft headgear varied by regiment - Gurkhas had their own pattern of bush hat and the standard XIVth Army bush hat was a very popular item among KCOs and VCOs, though very rarely seen on the heads of the ordinary jawans. They were more likely to wear the khaki beret-like GS Cap (a big floppy beret, like a tam-o-shanter that appeared mid-war), cloth 'cap-comforter' (fabric tube worn as a balaclava-type item or folded as a cap) or some other regimental headgear (there were various types).
Re webbing: As mentioned above, it was often very pale, being sun-bleached to a very pale cream colour. However, it could also be dyed JG at source or by the unit (with varying degrees of success). Blanco was generally despised and not used in the field, though my mate's dad (1 SLI - 7th Indian Div) said that it was very common to simply paint webbing in green or black vehicle paint, in order to stop it from rotting.
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Oh by the way, I've been working my way through various Burma topics on my blog. The next part (254th Indian Tank Brigade at Imphal) should be up tonight: http://www.jemimafawr.co.uk/category/burma-campaign/
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Oh something else worth mentioning is that if you do an 'Early' Indian unit in KD for the 1941-43 period, you can use them as Japanese-allied Indian National Army troops for 1944-45. :)
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Joekana they are lovely. Not something I’ve seen done in miniature before which is always a bonus. Your skin tone is very well done. Interesting information from Jemima (as alway!) really looking forward to seeing what you do next.
Keep up the good work,
BALM.
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Thanks Jemima, that information is really useful and I'll have to do a deeper dice into your blog. Since I already invested in 2 boxes of figures in shorts, I'll gear those towards the early part of the war and see about picking up some chindits and Gurkhas for the later half, with some units like the 81st to straddle the two. That's also good to know the Indian National Army. At this stage I'm trying not to annoy the Mrs. by letting this army get too out of hand, so I'm hoping to build in as much flexibility into this force as I can.
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What I love about this hobby is the constant education....I never knew we had African troops fighting for us in Burma. I lived in West Africa (Cameroon) for a couple of years in my youth.
Though the majority making up the near 90,000 African troops look like they were from Nigeria and sub Sahara, I am certain a few Cameroon chaps would have been there.
Fascinating, thanks.
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What I love about this hobby is the constant education....I never knew we had African troops fighting for us in Burma. I lived in West Africa (Cameroon) for a couple of years in my youth.
Though the majority making up the near 90,000 African troops look like they were from Nigeria and sub Sahara, I am certain a few Cameroon chaps would have been there.
Fascinating, thanks.
Cameroon was a French colony, so while there might have been the odd individual volunteering to fight with the Royal West African Frontier Force, there weren't any Cameroon units in British service. Plenty of Cameroon lads fighting in De Lattre's 1st French Army though!
The RWAFF consisted basically of four regiments - the Nigeria Regt, Gold Coast Regt, Sierra Leone Regt and Gambia Regt. In Burma the 1st, 3rd and 4th WA Brigades were made up of Nigerian battalions, the 2nd and 5th WA Brigades were Gold Coast and the 6th Brigade was mixed Sierra Leonean, Gambian and Nigerian. The 3rd, 5th & 6th Brigades were in 81 WA Div (though 3rd Bde was detached as Chindits) and the 1st, 2nd and 4th Brigades arrived later with 82 WA Div. The different West African nations also provided artillery batteries, recce squadrons, engineer platoons, 'carrier' companies (i.e. lightly-armed troops that would carry supplies on their heads and who could also be used as labour to build roads, airstrips, etc) and these woould then be grouped together into larger units (e.g. 81 WA Recce Regt had a Nigerian, Gold Coast and Sierra Leone Squadron).
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Except Cameroon was both French and British (British in the north next to Nigeria)...formally German during WW1.
If Wiki is to be believed, some 3,500 fought for Britain in WW2...admittedly not many.
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Cameroon was on the other side in the Great War, by the time of the sequel there were three Cameroons (sort of). The victorious Brits and French divided German Kamerun between them. The Brits got two non-contiguous parts, Northern Cameroons and Southern Cameroons (Known collectively as British Cameroons) while the French got the bulk of the colony, it becoming the French mandate of Cameroun.
Interestingly, the Belgians, who also participated in yanking Kamerun from Germany's grasp, didn't get anything for their trouble.
Due to British Cameroons both having a border with Nigeria I suppose it is perfectly possible that Nigeria recruited from there. That is mere speculation, mind, I have no solid info on that.
When independence rolled around plebiscites were held, with Southern Cameroons opting to join the Republic of Cameroon, while the people of Northern Cameroons decided they wanted to be Nigerians, which I think they still are.
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Digits beat me to it! :)
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Only just. ;)
I lived in Edea, about 2 hours from Douala (probably less now with good roads...back then, not so good.) Firmly French speaking where I was.
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Cheers lads, I stand totally corrected (and educated)! :)
That notwithstanding, there wasn't a Cameroon Regiment. However, on reading up, lots of Cameroon lads joined up with the Nigeria Regiment. :)
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I get the impression that both British Cameroons were administered by the Nigerian colonial government, pretty much as extensions of Nigeria. Colonies of a colony, as it were. So it makes sense they would join the Nigeria Regt.
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Close enough for me. Very interesting stuff. Cheers both.
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That notwithstanding, there wasn't a Cameroon Regiment. However, on reading up, lots of Cameroon lads joined up with the Nigeria Regiment. :)
What about the Cameroon Highlanders? Not to be confused with the Cameroonians (Rifles), of course. lol
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Back with new early war troops, though some are for Singapore rather than Burma
(https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OWPbp2JJ4Uw/X6SKNRFJiZI/AAAAAAAAG5c/Kw1z2niDvDUie1fNMNBD6lkTo61HaekIwCLcBGAsYHQ/s2622/6ED42989-B8CE-4BAA-B6FA-1777BEFDB545.jpeg)
A few more pics and details are on the blog:
https://majorthomasfoolery.blogspot.com/2020/11/more-ww2-bolt-action-british-troops-for.html (https://majorthomasfoolery.blogspot.com/2020/11/more-ww2-bolt-action-british-troops-for.html)
Chris
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Fantastic!
Don't forget that they're also perfect for Hong Kong (including the Lanchester)! :)
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Thanks! Didn’t think about Hong Kong, but glad to know I have more uses for my Chinese terrain.
Chris
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Next batch is off the table: Gurkhas and Sikhs
(https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-x4nJEL5AQPc/X8Qx_C8o00I/AAAAAAAAG7g/8PT5oHZEdP08MzAgwAZxPJh4RWYOAsBSQCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/Gurkhas%2Band%2BSikhs.JPG)
More pics can befound on the blog:
https://majorthomasfoolery.blogspot.com/2020/11/gurkhas-and-sikhs-for-burma.html (https://majorthomasfoolery.blogspot.com/2020/11/gurkhas-and-sikhs-for-burma.html)
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Beautiful, once again! :-*
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Ok, I didn't think is was worth starting a new topic for this, so I'll add it here. As some of my Burma force can pull double duty in Africa games, I took a slight detour over the holidays and picked up some items specific to the Ethiopian/Abyssinian theater.
(https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_rWrNziwhYE/X_o7ICu9QvI/AAAAAAAAG-E/OeTfZKvgjUQYqB8KnIY2FbLW5viUd5pBQCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/Ethiopian%2BForce.JPG)
https://majorthomasfoolery.blogspot.com/2021/01/a-detour-through-ethiopia.html (https://majorthomasfoolery.blogspot.com/2021/01/a-detour-through-ethiopia.html)
Regularly scheduled Burma updates will begin again soon.
Thanks for looking!
Chris
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Lovely project and painting! Great to see you are putting so much thought and work into this project.
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Gorgeous! And not an army that I've ever seen produced before.
BTW I spotted an India Pattern Wheeled Carrier painted in Caunter camouflage in some film showing 7th Armoured Brigade in Burma circa 1942, so Caunter-painted vehicles can be used there as well! :D I presume it arrived with one of the units that was diverted to Burma from Africa.
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As a slight digression, is it acceptable - or even required - for camouflage schemes to be laid out in exactly the same way on each vehicle (or at least each specific type of vehicle)? Having merrily painted all my Airfix tanks (c.1960s) in a slightly different pattern (assuming that each crew had allowed itself a little leeway), I've come to understand that there was usually a set design for how the paint was applied - at least in base areas prior to a campaign (so that, for example, all the Matilda IIs in a regiment/brigade would have identical patterns). Is that correct?
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Thanks for the kind feedback everyone!
Jemima, that’s interesting that the Caunter pattern showed up in Burma. Wonder how long they saw service in such a state before being repainted. At least that gives me more options.
Baron, I’m afraid I don’t have the expertise to answer your question. But the artwork in the Bolt Action Armies of Great Britain book shows three East African Matildas with slightly different schemes together, so my uneducated guess would be that you’d have some variation.
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Thanks for the kind feedback everyone!
Jemima, that’s interesting that the Caunter pattern showed up in Burma. Wonder how long they saw service in such a state before being repainted. At least that gives me more options.
Baron, I’m afraid I don’t have the expertise to answer your question. But the artwork in the Bolt Action Armies of Great Britain book shows three East African Matildas with slightly different schemes together, so my uneducated guess would be that you’d have some variation.
Caunter was painted on a standard, specified pattern for each type of vehicle, so barring crew-incompetence, all vehicles of the same type should look the same.
Re Burma - that was only during the Retreat of 1942, so there wouldn't have been time or opportunity to re-paint if they arrived in that scheme. 7th Armoured Brigade certainly painted its tanks No.3 Green on-board ship while en route from Africa to Burma, but other units clearly didn't have the opportunity. The Carrier in question probably belonged to an Indian Infantry Battalion's Carrier Platoon. Most had Universal Carriers, but the 7/10th Baluchs for one, certainly had Wheeled Carriers (which were detached and assigned to the 1 Glosters Mechanised Group). When the War with Japan started, lot of Indian units sent hurriedly to the Far East had either come straight from Africa or were already equipped in preparation for combat in Africa, hence the Caunter.
After the Retreat everything settled down and things would have been painted No.3 Green.
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Just a small progress update
(https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3NlhO5hU0Mc/YBhWN1mkLSI/AAAAAAAAHB0/CAUIkFksUykX-71oguDtnJylcY6dBzcnwCLcBGAsYHQ/s2655/F593E9EE-1C8F-433F-AF8B-735750E772E4.jpeg)
https://majorthomasfoolery.blogspot.com/2021/02/early-war-sikhs-for-burma.html (https://majorthomasfoolery.blogspot.com/2021/02/early-war-sikhs-for-burma.html)
Thanks for looking!
Chris
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Caunter was painted on a standard, specified pattern for each type of vehicle, so barring crew-incompetence, all vehicles of the same type should look the same.
Re Burma - that was only during the Retreat of 1942, so there wouldn't have been time or opportunity to re-paint if they arrived in that scheme. 7th Armoured Brigade certainly painted its tanks No.3 Green on-board ship while en route from Africa to Burma, but other units clearly didn't have the opportunity. The Carrier in question probably belonged to an Indian Infantry Battalion's Carrier Platoon. Most had Universal Carriers, but the 7/10th Baluchs for one, certainly had Wheeled Carriers (which were detached and assigned to the 1 Glosters Mechanised Group). When the War with Japan started, lot of Indian units sent hurriedly to the Far East had either come straight from Africa or were already equipped in preparation for combat in Africa, hence the Caunter.
After the Retreat everything settled down and things would have been painted No.3 Green.
Thanks for that, Mark.
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Getting closer to done. Have now added some Chindits to the force:
(https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-dxH2yC7T56c/YDv_EBtO-7I/AAAAAAAAHEg/nKHAmndV-GY--wVo6-ENQziE7Q217RwnQCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/A353F792-5074-4B04-B1F9-165DA708B783.jpeg)
As usual, more photos are on the blog:
https://majorthomasfoolery.blogspot.com/2021/02/bolt-action-chindits.html (https://majorthomasfoolery.blogspot.com/2021/02/bolt-action-chindits.html)
Thanks!
Chris
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Fantastic :-*
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Thanks!
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Ok, The last bits and bobs have been added, and I'm considering my skirmish force to be complete:
(https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JDSXeQ5CDBQ/YIYZ2i1oc-I/AAAAAAAAHJs/9wvgzoACE9kKwpc0udxL0m9Ajlzb_pyNQCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/6BD64063-435B-4653-B688-3E93FB4F58D9.jpeg)
(https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kkOFhvQoY4A/YIYaQTLZDRI/AAAAAAAAHKU/x9ZGZeZsCW8Z0i5cMgmhoUbCCvBzJHuRQCLcBGAsYHQ/s2760/C6E4633D-5A94-4589-94BD-94FEFB95843B.jpeg)
Hope you enjoyed the project and a big thank you to Jemima and his blog for lots of helpful information.
https://majorthomasfoolery.blogspot.com/2021/04/completion-of-my-cibeast-african-force.html (https://majorthomasfoolery.blogspot.com/2021/04/completion-of-my-cibeast-african-force.html)
-Chris
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That looks good. The Chindits look like a right bunch of desperadoes!
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Thanks!
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Gorgeous stuff!
But haven't you got those vehicle markings the wrong way round...? lol
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Gorgeous stuff!
But haven't you got those vehicle markings the wrong way round...? lol
LOL I had your blog open as I was detailing, so hopefully I got it all correct. Thanks for sharing all your research!
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Ah, that was LAST year's research... ;) lol
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What a great collection you've got there. Always been interested in this theatre but not yet painted anything for it - you may have just convinced me to give it a go though with those West Africans
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What a great collection you've got there. Always been interested in this theatre but not yet painted anything for it - you may have just convinced me to give it a go though with those West Africans
Thanks! The Warlord plastics are relatively inexpensive and ripe for conversions, so you can get a decent starter force going fairly easily.
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Well, after sitting in a box for over a year, my Brits finally got to see some action. Sadly, the suffered the new army curse and lost their first battle.
(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWLh6HZ5TWvQqhAhihGHyeihOUR9xQ-HR7CiSIwgJSoJ7q2LhA3iKqz7qg60EAtD0N1VW3mKeF826PCRm_oNCbQ-IVmEIGXSymZ3uM-SNowSjOYN8l6oOFEg1SxDEVE2J0eqc_HM8flh_47xk_p6p5kKFPci1MIjFm1LMZb2eyuUyNEABvFWRpVXh4oQ/s4032/EC934DF8-B0B8-4E4B-95C3-D712CDEFD744.jpeg)
(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBV_nIJD9aoUPjxMLAW7tlMIrrYo4dQLqgX1s5ObX9KbNMdYM9Md9DaQYmjnWPU7nYX1AvzjyCpm8LUPTa0koy4jONouYP3VoDnpTgxv-fYmygCaz1IjPelpcic-wYFlD9hTiEZMXA_N25d4xv8UUpUMm1zD0s77_kiNC1NFRoFFynmLsEiwHArwraTw/s4032/C477657C-B6B1-4696-BB1B-68D65DEA1487.jpeg)
(https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi43wQagVtCkP5slePGgjMbwdGR1Eqko29w0yyH-1qcRY020pCi5hkKDUUgHrRIGvSIXnPfUfUYw0KcDUfQCnAIFJY4D7M_00lGapO_TKJ20HTArszHJ9DweTCZcQv5Ha3SRSXb_d10ejbT9-NUSzZjvTwE6JCD2DvFkgwNNIdDFcj8k3gqCVdJEIinQ/s4032/A0BA7651-B553-482A-A51B-E5B42F4F2943.jpeg)
http://majorthomasfoolery.blogspot.com/2022/11/bolt-action-burma-hq-raid.html (http://majorthomasfoolery.blogspot.com/2022/11/bolt-action-burma-hq-raid.html)
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Fantastic-looking game! :-*
Ah well, we all know it was going to happen. At least you've got the curse out of the way now. :D