Lead Adventure Forum
Miniatures Adventure => The Great War => Topic started by: monk2002uk on September 26, 2021, 06:27:52 PM
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Here are four platoons of Peter Pig late war German infantry:
(https://www.greatwarspearhead.com/_Media/german-infantry-1st-platoon.jpeg)
(https://www.greatwarspearhead.com/_Media/german-infantry-2nd-platoon.jpeg)
(https://www.greatwarspearhead.com/_Media/german-infantry-3rd-platoon.jpeg)
(https://www.greatwarspearhead.com/_Media/german-infantry-4th-platoon.jpeg)
Robert
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Nice work on those
cheers
Matt
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Very good paint jobs
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Lovely work on these, I must say.
Thank you for sharing.
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Thank you very much. Some of the support weapons, including MG08s:
(https://www.greatwarspearhead.com/_Media/german-mg-company.jpeg)
Minenwerfer:
(https://www.greatwarspearhead.com/_Media/german-minenwerfer.jpeg)
And Granatwerfer 16s, which are actually from the Peter Pig WW2 range so the small hand-held mortars of WW2 rather than the spigot Granatwerfer. I painted some of the helmets with the WW1 camo pattern to help disguise the WW2 shape:
(https://www.greatwarspearhead.com/_Media/german-granatenwerfer-overh.jpeg)
Robert
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No German force would be complete without Flammenwerfer. The men are from Peter Pig. The flame is from Armorcast:
(https://www.greatwarspearhead.com/_Media/german-flammenwerfer.jpeg)
Robert
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Excellent
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Thank you, Driscoles.
Something to kick up a Sturm, providing close support for infantry colleagues - the Peter Pig infantry gun:
(https://www.greatwarspearhead.com/_Media/german-infantry-gun.jpeg)
(https://www.greatwarspearhead.com/_Media/german-infantry-gun-left.jpeg)
Robert
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Anti-tank weapons. First, the late war 37mm anti-tank gun from Battlefront Miniatures:
(https://www.greatwarspearhead.com/_Media/german-at-guns-overhead.jpeg)
(https://www.greatwarspearhead.com/_Media/german-at-guns-front.jpeg)
And the T-Gewehr anti-tank rifle. These are Peter Pig WW2 German anti-tank models modified to look like the WW1 T-Gewehr:
(https://www.greatwarspearhead.com/_Media/german-at-rifles.jpeg)
Robert
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Excellent work.
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Great additions
How widely used where the 37mm guns and the AT Rifles? I’ve recently added several to my 10mm German forces, but after some reading found they were both deployed very late in the war
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Thank you. The AT guns and T-Gewehr were very late to the party, as you noted. Looking at British and Dominion accounts, especially of tank late 1918 actions, the T-Gewehr is not mentioned often but mentions are more frequent than for the AT gun. Mentions of the latter are very rare. I haven't checked French sources yet; that is on the to-do list. The German sources devoted to both weapons only talk about stats and standard operating procedures, not about actual use in the field.
Robert
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Very nice!
One small point. In September 1915 the Kaiser ordered that marching boots were to be polished black. I should imagine the odd one might have escaped the order but by 1918 I would expect that most of the remaining examples would have been blackened.
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The 37mm Rheinmetall TAK (AT Gun) was very late to the party indeed . So late indeed, that one wonders how many even saw any action prior to the Armistice. The below text is identical to what I have found in Herbert Jager's book, German Artillery of World War One. In a nutshell, although 3 weapons were delivered for testing in August 1918, and OHL ordered a further 350 (increased to 1200), only twelve were delivered in September 1918. By the Armistice, 600 had been produced (with a number of these having been delivered to the frontlines).
"Very little is known of their effectiveness on the battlefield, but given the late date of development, they couldn’t have been deployed before the end of September/beginning of October 1918. We know that Army Group Rupprecht of Bavaria ordered 228 of the guns in an attempt to stem the Anglo-Belgian advance in its area of operations, however, they received only 96 on the 5th of November 1918."
https://tanks-encyclopedia.com/ww1/germany/3-7cm-tankabwehrkanone-rheinmetall/
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Thanks, great link. Does seem a very very late war piece of equipment, and even then pretty rare
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The Tankgewehr 1918 (AT rifle) was encountered more often. Produced from May 1918 to the end of the war (by which time the factory was producing about 300 per day). Total production was about 16,000 by the Armistice.
https://tanks-encyclopedia.com/ww1/Germany/AT-guns/mauser-tankgewehr-m1918/
The guns were issued at a rate of 2 or 3 per Regiment and the first ones were assigned to the areas most likely to face tanks (thanks to reconnaissance or intelligence). A special anti-tank group was created and attached to the Regimental HQ. Each gun would be crewed by two men, the gunner and the loader/spotter. Together, they would typically carry 132 rounds split between three 20 round leather bags and a 72 round box. These men were chosen for their bravery as well as their stature, to allow for more effective use of the weapon. When a tank attack was in progress, the 2 or 3 guns would then be sent to the main line of resistance and wait until the tank was within 300 metres or so to engage.
The Tankgewehr was not a one-shot kill weapon but was meant to be used in conjunction with other Tankgewehrs, as well as machine guns and riflemen using K-bullets. The Tankgewehr operators were taught to fire at the areas of the tank that contained either crew members or vital equipment like the fuel tank or engine. The German General Staff published a 3 page illustrated leaflet based upon several tests they conducted titled, “Merkblatt für Tankbekämpfung : (Kleiner englischer Tank)”. In it, it advised that the Tankgewehr guns fire at the machine gunners, drivers or fuel tank placements in order to render the tank inoperable and defenseless to grenade-wielding anti-tank teams.
However, the Tankgewehr didn’t need to penetrate in order to achieve its goal. Tanks of 1918 were built from riveted armored plates and hitting them with enough force could cause buckling, rivets to pop, as well as spalling. These things could cause damage to components and crew members alike and force the tank to stop or at least slow down, making it easier to be targeted by more powerful weapons.