Movember 2021 Colonel Blimp and Special Agent Rasputin

 Movember is an annual, month long campaign occurring in November, with a focus on men's health.  It originated in Australia, with a group of young men who decided it would be fun to grow a moustache (or 'mo') for the month of November, renamed Movember.  As the idea took hold, it was decided to tie the campaign to fundraising and awareness raising for men's health.  Movember is now an international phenomenon that supports important causes like mental health and prostate cancer research.

Bob Murch of Pulp Figures has supported Movember for many years, particularly through sculpting an annual Movember figure.  These figures can only be obtained by contributing to Movember. This year, the figure is Col 'Muzzy' Blunderboch.  Muzzy closely resembles the famous British cartoon figure, Col. Blimp. I chose to trim his moustache a bit.  He may become a part of my next project, an infantry platoon for early WWII, usable for the 1940 Battle of France, or the fictitious Very British Civil War or a hypothetical Operation Sealion, which was Hitler's never-executed plan to invade Britain in the aftermath of his victory in France.

I also found some time to finish up Special Agent Rasputin, who had been neglected for far too long in my unpainted miniatures pile.  Agent R is one of Stoessi's Heroes. 

Sean Connery as Roy Urquhart

 I was sad to learn of Sean Connery's death yesterday.  He was such an iconic actor, and featured in so many of my favourite films.  Then I remembered that my lead mountain included a Stoessi's Heroes figure of Sean Connery, in his role from 'A Bridge Too Far', playing Major General Roy Urquhart, commander of the British 1st Airborne Division.  

So Sir Sean quickly climbed up to the top of the pile, and here he is.

Here is Sir Sean himself, in the scene that this figure recreates.

(although I suspect those lovely Dutch people will be a bit put out if he brought all that grass into their dining room; perhaps I should have given him an indoor base instead!)

Incidentally, and making an obscure reference back to my Operation Husky project, Roy Urquhart was the commander of 231st Brigade, aka the Malta Brigade.  During the battle for Sicily, the Malta Brigade was attached to 1st Canadian Division for part of the campaign, including the battles for Agira and Regulbuto.

Canadian War Heroes

Today is Remembrance Day, so a fitting day to remember these two Canadian soldiers from the Second World War.  Both of these figures are from Stoessi's Heroes.

First up we have Sergeant Harold Marshall, of the Calgary Highlanders Scouts and Snipers Platoon, based on this famous photo (this version is from Sgt Marshall's Wikipedia page).

This image was part of a series of photographs made when Lt Bell, a correspondent from 'Army News' stopped by the unit in October 1944 to write an article on the scouts.  More images from the shoot can be found on the website of Library and Archives Canada.

Scout Platoon commander Lt G.H. Seller

Corporal S.Kormendy

Sniper Team of Sgt Marshall and Corporal Kormendy demonstrating sniper and scouting techniques.

Here is my take on Stoessi's figure of Sgt Marshall.

Stoessi has also decided to recognise the One Man Army, Léo Major of Le Régiment de la Chaudière.  Quite an amazing man, and one whose exploits are sadly under-recognized in Canada.  He earned the Distinguished Conduct Medal (DCM) three times in two different wars, but was only awarded it twice as the first time he was nominated, he refused to accept the medal as it would have been presented by Field Marshall Montgomery.  Major thought Monty was incompetent and he wasn't going to accept an award from him!  He is the only Canadian to be awarded the DCM in two different wars (his second DCM was awarded for his actions in Korea).  

Major was wounded several times, including the injury that cost him his eye.  Where many other soldiers would be grateful for a "blighty" that allowed them to be invalided home, Major insisted on returning to his unit and carried on fighting.  I can't do as much justice to his story, but recommend following the stories at the following links.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/leo-major-montreal-zwolle-nazis-1.4660487

There's an hour-long documentary from Radio-Canada, in French here:
https://ici.tou.tv/leo-major-le-fantome-borgne/S01E01?lectureauto=1

A bit more accessible is this short animated feature (although the French pronunciation is sometimes bizarre).

Here is Stoessi's Léo Major.

And here are the three Canadian heroes, including Tommy Prince.

Tommy - updated 2019-11-09 with better photos

November 8th is National Aboriginal Veterans' Day here in Canada, so I'd like to take this opportunity to remember Tommy Prince, one of Canada's most decorated First Nations soldiers.  

This model is from Stoessi's Heroes.  I'm very pleased that Stoessi chose to recognise this extraordinary warrior in his collection, and I am thrilled to have this model in my collection.  You can read Stoessi's blog entry on Sgt Prince here.  The model shows Sgt Prince in moccasins, stealthily hunting Germans.

I apologise for the poor quality of the photos.  I try to use natural light, but with the days so much shorter now we are into November, it's harder to get good lighting, especially as I'm off to work for most of the daylight hours.  Update 2019-11-09 better photos added!

Tommy Prince was a member of the Ojibway nation, from Manitoba.  He joined the Royal Canadian Engineers in June 1940 as a sapper, but soon transferred to what would become the First Special Service Force.  I'd love to write more about Tommy, but I can't add anything to what is more eloquently described elsewhere, such as here, here or here, or in this Heritage Minute here:

Despite being one of Canada's most decorated soldiers, Tommy Prince ended up homeless, suffering from alcoholism and most likely PTSD.  Tommy Prince's story reminds me of Kipling's aptly-named "Tommy":

You talk o' better food for us, an' schools, an' fires, an' all;

We'll wait for extry rations if you treat us rational.

The Widow's Uniform is not the soldier-mans's disgrace.

Don't mess about the cook-room slops but prove it to our face.

For it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Chuck him out, the brute!"

But it's "Saviour of 'is country" when the guns begin to shoot;

An' it'sTommy this, an' Tommy that, an' anything you please;

An' Tommy ain't no bloomin' fool -- you bet that Tommy sees!

In the years since Kipling wrote about Tommy Atkins, the services provided for most veterans of both the British and Canadian Armies have improved immensely.  However, Canada's and Canadians' treatment of aboriginal veterans and First Nations people in general still has a long way to go to properly honour these brave warriors who served so nobly.

German POW Camp Guard and Commandant

Two more figures from Stoessi's Heroes.  This time we've got a somewhat clueless Luftwaffe Colonel, and a guard who will frequently proclaim "I know nuzhink!"

Soessi's heroes - Ivan Pavlovitch Sereda, Red Army Cook

For a few years, I've been following the releases from a German sculptor, Thomas "Stoessi" Stoesser.  He's been producing 28mm figures of a variety of WWII heroes and other characters and selling them through his webstore.  I'd been resisting purchasing for quite a while, but since I made the plunge into collecting WWII miniatures, I figured it was finally time to place an order with him.

First up, here is Ivan Pavlovitch Sereda, a cook from the Red Army who became a Hero of the Soviet Union.  You can read his backstory on Stoessi's website.