1945-1948 Palestine Emergency ("Israel Civil War")

[BigSean]

Hi all, first time making a thread and was wondering if you chaps could point me in the right direction for suitable miniatures to represent the different participants in this war?

Would Desert Rats be suitable for the British?

Thanks for any information!

[Arlequín]

Congratulations and welcome aboard!  

Technically Israel didn't exist until 1948 when the British withdrew from 'Palestine' and the state of Israel came into being. The period 1945-48 is usually known, in the UK at least, as the 'Palestine Emergency'. You couldn't really define it as a Civil War either as it was British versus Jews versus Palestinians.

Desert Rats will mostly do the job for the British in the Summer, European British including Paras for the Winter. Paratroops excepted though, you will need 1944 'Turtle' helmets and berets for all, as the 'battle bowler' helmet and side cap were not in use after WWII.

The Irgun, Haganah and Stern Gang etc. wore civilian clothes and mostly used 'British' weaponry (plus some MP40, MG 34, K98s, M1 Carbines, Thompsons etc.). You might get away with French resistance and some partisan figures for the colder months, but Summer will see shirts, trousers and typical 'Mediterranean' urban clothing only.

I can't think of any 'off the peg' ranges that will work for this and it will be a case of conversion for the most part for everyone but the Paras and even their Stens will need converting to the MK. V).

Out in the sticks Artizans 'Lawrence of Arabia' range might work for Arabs to a point, bearing in mind they have no automatic weapons in the range. Urban Palestinians, like the Israelis and British have nothing really suitable anywhere that I can think of.

You certainly have your work cut out for you. The 1948 War would be equally hard to do too, although 'Desert Rats' are quite a good fit for the most part for the Tzahal, but will still need some conversion in terms of weapons and headwear.

 

[carlos marighela]

If you aren't too anal about these things you can make some use of 8th Army figures with head swaps for  berets or for Scottish regiments, in Tams. Perry do spare heads wearing Tams IIRC. If you are creative with green stuff  or have some Cossack heads you could also make the Palestinian Police Force. The rifle will be wrong for the British troops, the Mk 4 variant was in universal use by 1946 save for in 6th Airborne, which was one of the major formations in Palestine. 6th Airborne had a fair number of the Mk 5 rifle, AKA the jungle carbine.

The other thing is that in most photos I've seen of the period, troops tend to be wearing trousers, usually Khaki Drill (KD) or Jungle Green (JG)  cotton or in colder weather, khaki battledress. Shorts were beginning to be seen as a little old fashioned, so tended to be worn more as barrack or walking out dress than as a combat uniform.

Perry do a few packs of troops in trousers that you could use. The helmets will be wrong, as will the rifles but with berets or other suitable head wear swapped for the battle bowler they would make OK proxies. Just remember to file off the bayonet scabbards.

If you fancy some armour, it's often forgotten that in addition to the usual andindeed some quite unusual armourd cars, Britain had a a fair number of tanks in Palestine, and they saw a certain amount of action being used in cordons as part of search operations and to help provide road security. 6RTR had Shermans in 1946 and 4 RTR were at some point equipped with Comets in the period.

The terrorists are probably an easier proposition. If you look through Artizan, Foundry and Warlord games' respective ranges of  French resistance fighters, you'll find quite a number of suitably armed figures that will work for the Irgun et al. Artizan have some particularly useful bareheaded figures with rifles. I look at their Thrilling Tales range as well.

It's a pity nobody does Brits for the period as they would also be useful for Cyprus. Who knows? One day......

[BigSean]

Thanks for the warm welcome! I appreciate your knowledge on the subject, as it's a fairly new conflict to me. I'm pleased the 8th Army would be suitable with head swaps, I was going to go for berets anyways as most of the pictures I've seen have been berets between the end of the war up until about the Cyprus Emergency and beyond. Glengarrys also look like they were worn too.

I'm not too good with green stuff so it'd have to be basic head swaps etc but it doesn't have to be an exactly historical representation! I've looked at Artizan's French resistance and they look suitable for Cyprus, which I may have to go for instead of Palestine. They have that Mediterranean look to them: flat caps, shirts, trousers etc.

Commando Miniatures do appropriate miniatures for Cyprus, which could also be used for Aden (which is what they're made for?) and Malaysia. They do a pack of (I think) 6 guys I'm glengarry or a few packs of slouch/boonie hats, but they also offer beret head swaps too.

[traveller]

Interesting, I was just starting to look for miniatures for the 1936-39 Arab revolt....I will follow your progress and steal all good ideas  

[Arlequín]

The Pre-War 'Arab Revolt' is much easier in terms of figures and vehicles. Still some compromises to made as regards figures, but far less effort involved all round. 

[carlos marighela]

Commando Miniatures do appropriate miniatures for Cyprus, which could also be used for Aden (which is what they're made for?) and Malaysia. They do a pack of (I think) 6 guys I'm glengarry or a few packs of slouch/boonie hats, but they also offer beret head swaps too.

They do? Not really. The SLR came in to service circa 1958/59, although there were some FN FALs trialled a couple of years earlier. By 1959, when the SLR was starting to be issued on a wide scale, the Cyprus conflict was basically all but over. For the the majority of the crisis you are looking at troops, identically kitted out to those in Palestine. Long trousers and shorts (usually KD) in summer. Battledress in winter. MkIV turtle helmets usually only worn for riot control, same headgear as before. The Commando Miniatures ones are all in bush hats, which makes them useful for Aden and the last year of the Mau Mau Revolt plus a host of other minor crises and potential ones in the 1960s through to early 1970s.

By the by, battledress post war isn't quite the same thing as in WW2. The most obvious change is that the jacket had an open collar, usually, if not invariably worn with shirt and tie, although the tie might be dispensed with when worn open operations outside of an urban setting. Of course that might not be noticeable in 28mm.

The easiest route if you don't want to do conversions and just want something off the peg is to do paras or marines in the colder months. Both would be wearing Denison smocks and berets so any existing WW2 paras would fit the bill. If you are a button counter you might say that they should be wearing '44 webbing not '38 pattern but it's essentially a non-issue. The best para figures, both in the sense that the sculpts haven't been bettered and that you can buy a whole sections worth in beret as one pack are the Perry sculpted Foundry ones. Lovely miniatures and the ones I intend to use for my long put off Suez Crisis project.

http://www.wargamesfoundry.com/our-ranges/worldwar2/british


I've always thought it a pity that Foundry didn't complete their Burma range, had they added rifle armed figures to their Royal Marines in berets they would have been ideal for anything from Korea to Cyprus.

[carlos marighela]

To avoid confusion the above picture is of the Foundry paras, not the Shane Hoyle sculpted marines . Whoever painted them fell into the infamous LAF 'woodwork on a .303' trap.

[Arlequín]

It's an exclusive club, which I'm told has been forced to amalgamate with the Mauser one due to declining numbers.  

I'll also note that the barrel and metalwork on all those I ever handled was enamelled matt black... that did tend to wear off on edges and ends, magazines and the bolt being very most susceptible. Service weapons were routinely re-enamelled as soon as wear began to show however, while collector's weapons seem to show the wear far more.

TL/DR - Soldiers don't have sparkly guns (or beret badges in combat for that matter).