Winter 1944-45 Allied offensive: 11th Armoured Division and 1st Airborne vs 2nd SS

 

the church tower has been a favorite spot for MG 42 and Panzercrecht teams

 the Comets and Firefly all go up and shortly after the Stuart also brews up

 the Airborne 75mm gun battery is  doing its best to give fire support 

the Cromwells are punching above their weight by taking out several Jagpanthers

a Panther Squadron takes cover to snipe at the British tanks

 the Brummbar is providing critical fire support 

while the King Tigers are smashing the British armor

a line of German mg 42 teams are holding back the Airborne 

and the Airborne are engaged in a firefight with the Mg 42 teams

Eventually after about 2 months, the British were able to push forward to take the church and the Ridge. As such, the Germans withdrew to their next line of defense. An allied victory 

Checking on my German forces

 I realized that I have a significant lack of tanks for my Germans!

Now while my collection has some good bits of kit, I dont really have a full compliment of tanks for any of the Divisions I have put together. 

While setting up for a campaign game, I realized that my collection is suitable for the Bolt action games but not so much for the Flames of war!

In total, I can field only 1 Panzer Division worth of kit. My British army i can put at least 2 Divisions on the table and the Canadians 3!

So, i will seriously consider buying a Battlefront Miniatures German Panzer boxed ser.

At present count my Germans consist of

4 Panzer III

2 Panzer IV

2 Tigers, (one to be built)

2 Panthers

2 King Tigers

2 Wespe SP guns

2 Panzerjagers (panzer iv)

2 88mm guns

A mixed Squadron of 4 234s

A 222 Recce Squadron made up of a Radio car armed with an MG, a 20mm gun and a 28mm gun. 

4 Skz 252

A Brummbar 

What I would like to be able to do is to build up my tanks to at least give each Division 1 Squadron of what they need.

So, over the next bit, I shall be focusing on building up the Panzer arm. I'm also contemplating switching to a smaller scale to beef up my units. In the long term it's a cheaper option and I have access to a potential supply 

M8 Scout Car

 Back during the summer I was able to pick up a pair of these as die cast sets. 

Now my Canadian forces will press them into service for their Division level Recce Squadron so they will become the 12th Manitoba Dragoons as I have not been able to find Stag hound Armoured cars in this scale.

So these fellows will find themselves on the battlefields of Europe, and Asia, plus anywhere else they were found in the Cold War period 

M3 Scout Car

 I was able to stop at another hobby shop in Halifax and pick up this Zeveda kit

Its scale is 1/100 sit it fits well with my British force of the same scale. My plan is to get it painted and kitted up as the HQ element for the 7th Armoured Division.

Decals being added and it is now the HQ Observer for the 7th Armoured Division in North west Europe, Summer 1944