Full Battalion

The full battalion all drawn up in battle array.

Engineers and horsemen.
 

Towing anti-tank guns.

Platoon command group.

Infantry platoon.  horses don't last long on the Eastern Front.

WWII German Cossacks

A unit like this fighting against the Soviet Union would do anything to avoid capture.

They know certain death is the only outcome.

So I give these troops a +1 morale bonus when fighting Soviet forces.

 These troops don't have the firepower of regular German infantry.

But I have given them machine guns and a few anti-tank rocket launchers.

 Troops morale is higher if they can see the flag.

 Flag troops are often easy to knock over, so they get a larger base.

The unit.

Full Units

I like full units when I can do them.

These troops wear a mixture of traditional and WWII German uniforms.

German helmets and stripped to the waist for heavy work.

German uniforms on the men on the horses.

The mortar crews also enjoy a quick dance to entertain the troops.

WWII German Allies

I tried to make this unit complete.

Commanders, and flag men.

Anti-tank platoon, with horses to tow the guns.

The Revell German Artillery set to tow the HaT anti-tank guns.

Crews for all the guns.

Cossacks

In WWII many oppressed peoples in the Soviet Union sided with the Germans against Communism.  These are Orthodox Christian Cossacks.

I took a variety of Cossack figures and others and made these troops.

Some of them are Cossacks by Strelets and others are various WWII figures by Ykreol, Revell and other companies.  Some of these are Imex Pioneers.

Christian clergy as part of the command group in the front row.

They also have anti-tank guns.

Infantry and heavy machine guns.

Two platoons of infantry.

Last of the Cossacks

Roco Kubelwagen, Strelets Crimean War Cossacks, and Imex Pioneers, with yurts. Notice the cross held by the figure in the lower right hand corner. My massive wargame armies are not generally painted but sometimes I will paint them so they are all the same color. It helps to tie units together, since I don't base my troops. Often I convert figures by swapping a head or adding some other bits. I like complete units with supply troops and even camp followers, as in this case.

Here is a good view of the members of the camp as they do their typical camp duties, care for the kids and sew torn clothing.

Milk maids bring milk back to the camp. They can drink the milk or make cheese out of it. Cheese stores longer than milk without refrigeration.

A young man in the background stands in the doorway of his yurt. Other members of the host fill the cargo truck with heavy items. The radio operator monitors the frequencies for important messages. The radio man is a lead figure. While the bulk of my collection is plastic, I have thousands of lead figures to fill in gaps left by the plastic manufacturers.

A good close up view of the cargo truck. The German Army had cargo trucks made from all over the world. Even captured American trucks were in the German Army. French truck factories continued to produce trucks until nearly the end of the war.

An army moves on it's stomach. Here Imex pigs spend time with Imex Pioneers. Armies and refugees herded vast herds of animals to keep them out of the hands of the Russians and so they could eat. US forces ate many canned and frozen foods but not so much in the German Army, and even less so in their allied forces. Imex and Pegasus make several sets with farm animals in them. The old Airfix Farm Animals set was good too but having been out of production for 30 years makes it pretty rare.