COMPOSITION II

Composition figures are best known for their portrayal of the German Army in the years prior to World War II. The various manufacturers went much further than just producing the standard combat poses and made engineers, signals, medical and off-duty figures. Here's a selection of them. The standard size of all these figures is 65/70mm.

Three figures off-duty, the first has a spoon and is eating from a bowl, the one kneeling in the centre is cutting himself a slice of bread from a loaf and the third plays the accordian. The first two by LINEOL, the third by ELASTOLIN from the 1930's.

Here an officer holds up a mirror to shave while his batman cleans a pair of his boots, again both are ELASTOLIN.

Even toy soldiers need a bath sometime!

The first is by DUROLIN of Czechoslovakia, the second is ELASTOLIN and the third by LINEOL.

Officers of the Wehrmacht, the first by LISANLO of Spain, the second is maker unknown and the third, standing with field glasses is by GRUNDIG of Germany.

Here a doctor examins a soldiers arm, this pair by LINEOL.

An ELASTOLIN infantryman with bandaged head and arm in a sling marches with his greatcoat slung over his shoulders. The doctors attending to his seated patient is a pirated copy of an ELASTOLIN design by an unknown minor maker, you can tell quite clearly that the detail and definition are not as good as ELASTOLIN.

Two medics carry a wounded comrade who sits on a rifle held between them, all three figures cast as one piece by ELASTOLIN. The red cuffs and piping on the tunics date them to about 1920.

A pair of attack buglers by SCHUSSO and LEYLA.

I had always thought that this was a carrier pigeon with it's handler and his dog but in fact the pigeon has a camera attched to it's chest and so was being used for arial reconnasence. The pigeon basket on the ground is made of pressed tin and has a hinged lid which opens. This group are by ELASTOLIN.

This rather crude 60mm figure of a prone machine gunner is by MARS, on of the smaller German manufacturers.

One man steadies the tripod while the other fires at passing aircraft, a beautifully crafted pair of figures by LINEOL.

Two grenadiers from minor German makers, the first by GRUNDIG, the second by FF-Soldat is pulling the cord on his stick grenade to activate it.

Two more grenadiers by minor makers, kneeling by KRESGE, the one crawling is by DUROLIN

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