First foray into the Western Front in 28mm (updated 27 08 23)

[monk2002uk]

Porter covered off the mid-1916 German approach to bombing:

"The British were not the only army evolving new low-level tactics. German forces also developed their own small-scale bombing techniques with several differences to methods employed by the British. Every German infantryman was trained in the use of all German grenades and, most, in the operation of captured grenades. A German bombing section was led by an NCO who commanded and led from the front armed with a rifle or pistol. There were no bayonet men.

To the rear of the commander, two bombers armed with 'stick' grenades threw their bombs to kill or disable the enemy bombers whilst behind them two further bombers armed with the longer range 'egg' grenade endeavoured to 'take out' British bomb carriers. Following on behind the section, like their British counter-parts, 'carriers' followed with a supply of bombs. Only when the forces met on Z Day would it be seen which tactics were superior."

The information is attributed to 'TNA SS562. Captured German document: "Weapons of combat".'

Robert

[monk2002uk]

In volume one of 'Zero Hour, Z Day, Porter quotes from Lt. Col. Essex from 10th Essex Regiment. The battalion was part of 53rd Brigade, 18th Division, which attacked in the southern-most sector of the British front:

"We were exercised in both assault and support and towards the end of our training it became clear to us that we were to be support battalion [so] we practised sending forward "mopping up" platoons with each of the assaulting battalions..."

The 2nd Battalion Royal Scots Fusiliers was also designated as a support battalion. Porter notes:

'For the task the Battalion deployed three platoons of nettoyeurs, one platoon each from B, C, and D Companies. The three nettoyeur platoons advanced in rear of the 'attacking' battalions' third wave. Once into Montauban, the assaulting battalions' orders required them to advance through the village without any unnecessary halt to Montauban Alley. If and where enemy dugouts [in the BUA of Montauban] required clearing, the nettoyeurs would bomb and enter the underground shelters to kill or capture the occupants.'

This is a good description of how a shattered BUA was to be attacked only a matter of a few weeks before the assault on Pozières. Note that the word nettoyeur is the French word for 'cleaner'. The function of nettoyeurs was quite different from the concept of 'Trench Cleaner' in 'Through the Mud and Blood'. Nettoyeurs were more commonly referred to as 'mopper-uppers', as noted in the first quote above. They carried supplies of phosphorus grenades, designed to burn out underground dugouts and cellars, as well as Mills bombs. The use of P-bombs was discouraged once it was realised they rendered the dugouts difficult to repair and re-use afterwards.

Robert

[TacticalPainter]

After a few distractions I'm back at this project. Firstly, I want to finish off a few things that I started and secondly I'm keen to start playing using the Chain of Command variant.

Having painted up a German 77mm gun it was only right I complete the 13 pounder for my British force.





While I was painting those crew I also used it as an opportunity to finish off the Great War Miniatures British trench raiders.





When I first started this project I was tempted by the Warbases MDF model of a Mk1 Male. However when it arrived I was disheartened at the lack of detail particularly the fact there are no rivets, something that is such a feature of this first generation of tank. I began building it and then lost interest. However it seemed a shame not to finish it off, what did I have to lose? I was tempted to make a few small additions just to add more detail. While it's tempting to do a lot more I decided I'd rather spend time working on other projects and let the paint job do some of the work.



I added items using plastic card and scratch built a new exhaust system using wood dowel and toothpicks. These are modest changes.





Once primed it began to look a lot better and gave me hope it can be turned into something reasonably acceptable.

[Dargonsploof]

This is a lovely thread informative and with nice painting.

[Ray Rivers]

However when it arrived I was disheartened at the lack of detail particularly the fact there are no rivets, something that is such a feature of this first generation of tank.

Did you consider pins for the rivets? Not sure how difficult it would have been but you could have put little dots where you wanted the rivets and then just pushed the pins (or drilled a very thin hole first) through the mdf. Never tried it myself on mdf, but it works well with plastic card.

[TacticalPainter]

Did you consider pins for the rivets? Not sure how difficult it would have been but you could have put little dots where you wanted the rivets and then just pushed the pins (or drilled a very thin hole first) through the mdf. Never tried it myself on mdf, but it works well with plastic card.

It crossed my mind for a millisecond to try something like that, but you do realise how many rivets these things have?  Considering I was on the verge of throwing this out the small detail I added was about as far as I was prepared to go. If I want a better one I'll buy a resin or 3D print. This project is about seeing how much of a silk purse I can make from this sow's ear without too much effort.

[Ray Rivers]

It crossed my mind for a millisecond to try something like that, but you do realise how many rivets these things have?  Considering I was on the verge of throwing this out the small detail I added was about as far as I was prepared to go. If I want a better one I'll buy a resin or 3D print. This project is about seeing how much of a silk purse I can make from this sow's ear without too much effort.

Don't worry about rivet counters...  It doesn't have to be perfect.

Having said that, I understand exactly what you mean. Even 50 or so would be a huge pain in the arse.

Carry on! Enjoying the thread.

[TacticalPainter]

The Mk1 has now had a base coat of paint and is certainly starting to look the part, I'm glad I finally persevered with this. Amazing what a lick of paint will do.

[Baron von Wreckedoften]

You could always use it as a "wooden" model used for training purposes.

[Baron von Wreckedoften]

I've now had a chance to read through the entire thread and what a veritable treasure-trove it is, thanks to your painting and Robert's encyclopaedic knowledge and ability to share it.

I have some thoughts, if I may be permitted:-

In constructing my own German forces, first off, I noticed that support weapons seemed to operate in pairs, or multiples thereof - minenwerfer, grantenwerfer, flammenwerfer, heavy MGs and "sniper/marksmen" heavy MGs (what was the difference, Robert?), and field guns. 

In terms of field gun support, I went with a pair of Russian guns from the Tsuba Russo-Japanese War range sold by Empress.  These guns were captured in droves from the Russians in 1914-15 and were parcelled out to assault units on the Western Front because the nature of the weapon (originally designed as a fortress gun with the specific role of sweeping the ditches in front of the main walls) meant that the barrel had a far superior angle of depression to most of its contemporaries, and it also had an excellent canister round.  There were weak points - the strength of the wheels being one of them - but otherwise it was highly thought of by its new owners!

Incidentally, a slightly pedantic point perhaps, but given that field guns were usually man-handled by Stosstruppen, I would suspect that any extraneous weight (such as the "riding seats" in front of the gun shield) would have been removed.

As I understand it, pamphlet SS143 which was issued to all British Empire forces, evolved from the early experiences of the Somme battle (which few people outside our coterie of Great War enthusiasts appreciate lasted 142 days, not 1).  For example, Lewis Guns expanded from one-off weapons specifically allocated "from above" by Battalion HQ, to two guns per section by mi-1917 (there is a famous photo of a ten-man Aussie section with four of them - as fine an example of "blagging" as you could hope to find!); ditto rifle-grenadiers who expanded from two to four within their specialist section (and then eventually seem to have disappeared - what was that all about?).

I had formed the impression that British Empire troops did not use field guns in close support, until I read about an Australian gun team that advanced to the edge of Pozieres and started firing at point-blank range up the main road into the village!

I would be interested in Robert's take on something that has always confused me: I started off thinking that the role of Stosstruppen was to by-pass strongpoints and leave them to the more heavily-armed "line infantry" following them up.  Then I started reading about how they were, in fact, specifically trained to crack the particularly "tough nuts" that the ordinary infantry weren't trained/equippec to deal with.  These two concepts seem to be mutually exclusive, so is this the post-war "re-writing" of the role of Stosstruppen that Robert refers to?  Or is it a different approach adopted by two different types of units, perhaps according to the unit commander's own views on trench warfare or those of the OC of the division to which it was attached?  Or does it represent a shift in philosophy within the German army generally?

Finally, as a huge fan of the GWM Great War range (to the extent that I'm attempting to negotiate a better range of late war Highlanders from the sculptors) I've added below a list of the packs you would need to set up a British Empire platoon and a German zug:-

British Platoon 1917-18

Command – 1 officer, 1 sergeant, 4 corporals, 2 runners
Lewis Gun section – 4 gunners (2 teams of 2 men each), 4 riflemen/ammunition carriers
Rifle Grenadier section – 4 gunners, 4 riflemen/ammunition carriers
Bombing section – Six bombers, 2 riflemen/ammunition carriers
Rifle & bayonet section – 8 riflemen

GWM packs - 1 x B 001 (Officers/Senior NCOs); 1 x B 005 (Lewis); 2 x B 013 [two Rifle Grenadiers and three Bombers in each]; and 2 x B 002 + 2 x B 003 (Corporals, Runners, Ammo Carriers and Rifle & Bayonet men - basically, all the guys above who are underlined).

German Zug 1917-18 (Line)

Command – 1 officer/senior NCO, 4 gefreiter (2 runners/scouts)
LMG gruppe 1 & 2 (each) - 2 gunners, 8 riflemen/ammunition carriers
Grenadier gruppe 1 & 2 (each) – 8 riflemen, 2 bombers

GWM packs - 1 x G 001 (Officers/NCOs); 1 x G 005 (MG08/15 teams); 1 x G 013 (bombers); 7 x G 009 (gefreiter/infantry in light equipment - ie no packs). 

Personally, I prefer the infantry without packs, as most late war scenarios have the Germans defending, which looks more natural; alternatively, have 1 x G 009 for the gefreiter, and 3 x G 002 + 3 x G 003 (infantry in packs I & II)

German Zug 1918 (Stosstruppen)

Command – 1 officer, 1 feldwebel, 4 gefreiter (2 runners/scouts)
LMG gruppe 1 & 2 (each) – 2 gunners, 6 riflemen/ammunition carriers
Assault gruppe 1 & 2 (each) – 6 bombers, 2 riflemen*
[* As I understand it, these guys were not ammunition carriers, but "point" men who advanced down a trench ahead of the bombers to clear out individual enem soldiers.]

1 x G 001 (Officers/Senior NCOs); 1 x G 009 (gefreiter); 1 x G 005 (MG08/15 teams*); 2 x G 013 + 2 x G 014 (Stosstruppen I & II); 1 x G010 (MP18 sub-machine guns)

The MG pack (G 005) has two MG08/15 teams and one with a captured Lewis Gun; these latter were mainly re-issued to Stosstruppen, so buying a second pack (to go with the one you bought for your "Line" zug) will allow you to give your Stosstruppen either two MG08/15 teams, or two Lewis teams.  Bergmann MP18s tended to be issued as and when available; it is tempting to assume they were given to/commandeered by NCOs, but this would not necessarily be the case in every zug; if you wish, this pack can be replaced with another of either G 009, G 013 or G 014.

And after that brief(!) hijacking, I shall now return you to your normal crew!

[monk2002uk]

Thanks, Baron. A lot to pick up on. The Maschinengewehr-Scharfschützen-Abteilungen ('Sharpshooter or Marksmen Maschine Gun Detachments') were elite MG forces that operated as Army Command level assets. They were parcelled out as needed, being attached to frontline infantry divisions/regiments and adding extra-firepower to supplement the regular MG08 companies. The gunners wore a distinctive arm patch:



The patch was often torn off by the gunners as it was perceived, with some justification, that the wearers would be shot when captured.

Robert

[TacticalPainter]

Thanks Brendan, that's extremely useful info for both order of battle and GWM figures. Excellent.

Here's the Warbases Mk1 Male tank finished. Despite all my early misgivings, with a bit of love and care it can be turned into a reasonably presentable gaming piece. It doesn't bear close inspection and as for the rivet counters, well, it won't take long for them to count the rivets, or terrible lack thereof. Nonetheless here it is.

[Driscoles]

Looks very good 👍

[Ray Rivers]

Yep!

Came out well.

[Metternich]

Herr Baron, you area bit generous with the LMGs for the German Line Zug.  Two MG 08/15s per platoon was aspirational in 1917.  While many Zug did have two, many also had only one.   Also, by 1917/18, due to a shortage of commissioned officers many Zug were led by Offizierstellvertreter (equivalent of a warrant officer), or senior NCOs (it wasn't uncommon to have a company with only two or so officers, both Leutnants with the more senior as company commander, with a battalion often commanded by a Hauptman - captain),