WWII
A Polish officer with a 9mm Radom pistol and infantryman with what looks like a Russian PPsh M1941 submachine gun. figures by an unknown Polish manufacturer.
>The Polish cavalry supposedly charged the German Panzer tanks, I think this is probably a myth but it still makes a great subject for toy soldiers. Another unknown Polish maker.
A German paratrooper (fallschirmjager) strugles to control his chute, a simple conversion just an ATLANTIC para with an AIRFIX head
A Belgian infantryman releases a carrier pigeon, made by J.S.B of Belgium
The casualties of war, a nurse made by REISLER of Denmark, the next with head and foot injuries is made in hard plastic but maker unknown. The German paratrooper with his arm in a sling is by Airfix but did not come in every box so can be hard to find. The GI with arm and head wound is again by REISLER.
Capturing the scenes for posterity, no army would be complete without a war correspondent. The kneeling cameraman is by JSB of Belgium, it is based on an earlier dimestore figure by BARCLAY. Another walking wounded figure by JSB
Two mortars made by LONE STAR, the larger one is quite common but the little 2inch mortar is very hard to find.
Both carry the full LONE STAR - HARVEY SERIES logo on their base.
German Infantry made by TROJAN, a minor UK
maker. I never noticed until I was taking this picture that the
prone figure has a magazine in one hand and is in the the process
of loading his MG34. It's nice to see a figure with a
panzerfaust, this was such a common weapon but is rarely ever
depicted in toy soldiers.
The remaining three figures from the TROJAN
German infantry set, the figure in the centre has a stick grenade
hanging from his belt and is in the process of drawing his pistol
from it's holster. The officer leading with drawn pistol is a
copy of a pose originally made as a composition figure. These
figures are a bit undersized, being only about 48mm high.
These Australians by TROJAN are a full 54mm
and could easily be mistaken for additional poses by LONE STAR,
which they blend well with. The wounded man clutching his arm
really looks like he's in pain, opposite him the figure with the
flame thrower has lost his fuel tanks (which were cast
seperately) and you can see the spiggot on his back where they
would have been attached.
The rest of the TROJAN Australian set, as you can see the same figures were made in dark green to repressent the Burma campaign and in sand colour for the Western Desert.
Some opposition for the Ausies, TROJAN Japanese, like the german infantry these are about 48mm high. The first is falling wounded, the second is an officer with a Samurai sword and the third fires a light machine gun.
The remaining three TROJAN Japanese, an officer kneeling with binoculars, standing to attention and laying firing machine gun
The figure in blue is from a set of four
anti-aircraft gunners made by POPULAR PLAYTHINGS. Field Marshal
Montgomery was made by CHERILEA. The squadie standing to
attention was by ATHENA of Greece, his arms move and are fixed
with metal pins, they made a particularly nice set of sailors in
the same style. Finally, a paratrooper by DOMPLAST of Germany.
The artillery. The first is a conversion of a BRITAINS, DEETAIL figure bassed on an ELASTOLIN composition soldier. Next a French Hollowcast by HENRI ROGER. The German soldier carrying a shell was made in Spain but maker is unknown. Finally, a gunner made in both plastic and aluminium by ACEDO of France.
The Handschar Division, converted from AIRFIX mountain troops and ESCI Afrika Korps. The heads are by HISTOREX
More of those bad guys from the Handschar divison man a MG42, converted from ESCI Afrika Korps, as above
This German infatryman falling wounded is cast in solid lead and made by J.A.M. of France.
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