French army for the Battle of France

[FreakyFenton]

Excellent work. I particularly like the touch of colour you've added with the Shell barrel. 

And I've never seen the picture about the conversion for Indochina before! Thank you for sharing! 

[Baron von Wreckedoften]

Really enjoying this project as I am planning a 1940 French platoon and supports myself, for Chain of Command.  My platoon is going to be Senegalese, but wearing helmets except for one or two senior NCOs in fez to distinguish them. 

I have a question: were the lighter (25mm) anti-tank guns integral to the infantry regiment, or were they separate as part of the artillery; and was this equally true for Colonial units - in other words, would the crew be drawn from the regiment (and therefore be black)?

Many thanks.

BvW

[tancrede]

Excellent work. I particularly like the touch of colour you've added with the Shell barrel. 

And I've never seen the picture about the conversion for Indochina before! Thank you for sharing! 

Yes, I haven't seen this myself before doing some research for this thread.
Only some versions with light machineguns (both french and german service) and with some portee AT guns.

Really enjoying this project as I am planning a 1940 French platoon and supports myself, for Chain of Command.  My platoon is going to be Senegalese, but wearing helmets except for one or two senior NCOs in fez to distinguish them. 

I have a question: were the lighter (25mm) anti-tank guns integral to the infantry regiment, or were they separate as part of the artillery; and was this equally true for Colonial units - in other words, would the crew be drawn from the regiment (and therefore be black)?

Many thanks.

BvW

I hope to see this project soon, as colonial troops from Africa were of high value during all the conflicts. And helmeted soldiers is more historical than Fez.

If you want, this seller has 3D printed african heads with adrian helmets :

https://www.jjgprint3d.com/


Do you have an idea of the regiment/division you want to build ?
I'm not an expert of colonial troops, but as far as I now (you can find some docs, but mainly in french), theorical dotation is the following (real dotation is often really worse):

- colonial infantry regiments are mainly horse-drawn : 190 horse carts, but also 60 vehicles (including 9 "chenillettes") and 40 motrobikes;
- guns are mainly rifles (Lebel) and FM (like the MAC 24/29), but some MAS 36 can be in dotation for defense (and of course for "groupes francs")
- 1x60mm mortar and 8x81mm mortars
- technically, a colonial infantry regiment may have been equiped with 25mm AT guns, but they were often short of supply with this gun and use some other AT guns (37mm, but of poor efficiency)

So some 25mm with senegalese crew seems to be historical.
Artillery companies from the division can also field some 47mm At guns, and even 75mm (some of them from WW1) used as AT guns (with AP shells).

Just remind you than during the Battle of France, it was a real mess for supply, dotation, mouvements,...

If you can read french, just take a look here, as it seems to be the most complete doc I've found upon the organisation of colonial troops I've found (from French Defense Ministry) :
http://67400.free.fr/monsiteweb/les%20troupes%20coloniales%20en%201939-1940.htm

[Baron von Wreckedoften]

Thank you very much for all that info - and for the link, which I found useful (my French is good enough for reading, but too slow for conversation!).

I'm not good with "head swaps" but I might have a look at those 3D African heads in helmets.

[tancrede]

Last update for this army (but I will certainly add more minis in the future as I want to field more vehicles or special troops in this army) :

First is the 3rd infantry squad, from Warlord Games, straight from the box :



The last infantry unit is a veteran unit coming from a Corps Franc. They are battle hardened vets, well armed, and ready for some brutal action in the frontline.
I used 3 blisters from Crusader Miniatures to represent soldiers coming from different units under the command of a junior officer, with some headswaps. 4 SMG and 2 LMG make a decent firepower, I think... 






And the last unit of the army is a Critroën T45 truck, wearing the factory camo. It's difficult to find color pics of trucks in this camo scheme, but I think I painted this camo a little too yellow. It matches the ocre color on my Somua, and I don't want to repaint it ! ^^

[Ray Rivers]

Nice minis! 

And the truck came out really well too! 

Excellent project! Well done, mate!

[Baron von Wreckedoften]

Really nice painting, Tancrede.

Just out of interest, which do you prefer (or think is more accurate) in representing French infantry - the Warlord range or the Crusader range?  I'm tending towards the latter with Warlord vehicles.

[tancrede]

Thanks guys.

@Baron W :
It's difficult to say, just basing on painting. They are very different, and I really love the Warlord ones : good sculpt, lots of personnality and full of details, just as I like.
 
But for me, Warlord Games ranges lacks some basic troops to field a typical french army for 39/40 :
- no Dragons Portés (and it's really surprising, as WG has a Lorraine carrier and a Laffly)
- no motorbikes or sidecars for motorised troops or GRDI
- no bikes
- no horse-drawn artillery
- no Corps Francs
- no Chasseurs Alpins
- you have a Citroen T45, but not the more common Citroen U23 (and both were massively used by the Germans after 1940).
- artillery crews does not wear the long coat and full package

So yes, the minis are really cool, but there are many things to add to give the players a real choice.

The Crusader range, otherwise, allows you to field Dragons Portés, motorised troops, Senegalese, standard infantry, but no artillery or special weapons such as snipers (and the Germans knows of deadly they were, ready to sacrifice themselves to kill another ennemy before dying). I loke to paint them, but some details (especially faces) are sometimes not very good. The package is less detailed, so easier to paint.

So for your army, I think it depends on what kind of army you want to field.
If you want a standard infantry regiment, Warlord is a good choice, as you can have the whole army from one manufacturer (if you can find artillery crews without the full infantry equipment).

But if you want to field a DLM (Division Légère Mécanisée), you need some Dragons Portés in vehicles to escort your B1, R35 and Somua, and so Crusader is the only choice ! ^^

[Shahbahraz]

I just went for a 'standard' infantry platoon with supports and used mainly Crusader with some warlord supports. I think they mixed ok?

http://aleadodyssey.blogspot.com/2019/02/ew-french-for-coc-in-28mm.html

[tancrede]

@Shahbahraz :
At gaming distance, they mis very well, and you have a nice army (I consider myself adding some units for CoC, but a friend of mine must make me a demo game before).
But at closer range, I think Crusader Miniatures are bulkier, and the helmet is not really accurate for WW2 :

mod 1915 :



mod 1926 :


But it's just a detail, and for me, no manufacturer has an exact model in range.
And as I always say : it's for gaming, not for the show. So this kind of details is not really important, and I agree with you, the ranges can mix well at gaming distance.
What matters really is the "feeling" of bringing an army on the table.

[Digits]

Superb read, inspirational and characterful army.  I hope you get to fill the gaps you want.

Nice project.

[tancrede]

Thanks for comments, Digits.
To fill the gaps in the ranges, there is no real solution : a manufacturer does the job, or someone must do some 3D renders to print them...
But for the moment, this army will stay like this.

No work yesterday, so I use some of my time doing some "action pics" of the army, using some generic scenery as I have not begun to work on my WW2 terrain :

[Baron von Wreckedoften]

I just went for a 'standard' infantry platoon with supports and used mainly Crusader with some warlord supports. I think they mixed ok?

Yes, they certainly did - nice force.

[commissarmoody]

That's a one great looking force on maneuvers. 

[Ray Rivers]

Super duper!