Thursday, 31 October 2019

Fallschirmjäger for Sicily

I've moved on to the next stage of my Operation Husky project:  opposition forces to face the Hasty Ps.  I decided to start with a Fallschirmjäger Zug (or platoon).  1st Canadian Division faced fallschirmjäger of the German 3rd Parachute Regiment in several engagements on Sicily during Operation Husky, although as my appreciation of the campaign is growing, I might have been better off collecting Panzergrenadiers.  I didn't appreciate at first that the Hermann Göring Division didn't wear fallschirmjäger uniforms.  At any rate, these troops will be excellent opponents for my Canadians.

Here they are so far.




The zug is a little under strength.  There should be 3 squads of 12 men each, with 2 MG teams, at least according to the Chain of Command army list that I found!  Don't worry, reinforcements are on the way.  These are from Perry Miniatures.  

There are some support weapon teams, including a tripod-mounted MG42.




The two "extra" crew have their role painted on their bases.

In addition, the zug has access to some other support, including an anti-tank rifle team, a 50mm mortar team and a sniper team.






Here are the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Squads.  Under-strength, as mentioned, but not for too long!








And the platoon command, including leutnant (platoon commander), feldwebel (assistant platoon commander), and Sanitäter (medic), with his nice white pinny with bold red crosses for identification.




One of the radio operators is identified as a 'FOO', or 'forward observation officer' for the artillery, in case the fallschirmjäger commander chooses an off-table artillery support.  The sniper's spotter (with the binoculars) can work with the radio man in this case, assuming that the sniper isn't being used. 



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