Here is the completed 1/16 Tamiya Machine Gunner. Gerfreiter Lensen. Here is his story:-
He was conscripted into the German Army in July, 1942. He fought in Russia and in particular Kharkov and Kiev. In spring 1943 he joined the Gross Deutschland Division. After the German 6th army was defeated at Stalingrad, Lensen and his comrades started the retreat westwards closely followed by the ever expanding Russian Army. Eventually, in late 1944 with the Russian advance finally on German soil, and fuelled by terrible stories of revenge on German civilians, the retreat turns into a panic stricken route, with everyone's eyes on the East Prussian Baltic ports, and to get a ship to the West and safety.
Lensen arrives at Gotenhafen in mid. January 1945.... He is filthy, his uniform is in tatters and on hearing a rumour that all 'Crack Division' members will be shot on sight by the closing in Russian Army, he has removed all his insignia, even scratched off the helmet one. He has only one magazine left in his MG42, but has found an MP40 with a full ammo pouch. He has lost some of his gear too. The situation at the port of is total chaos with refugees trying to get on board ships.
Eventually, Lensen, and six other soldiers are detailed to get on board a particular ship and try and keep some sort of order aboard. He can't believe his luck and literally runs up the gang plank. The ship is the Wilhelm Gustloff, when she eventually sails at 12.30pm on the 30th. Jan. for Kiel in the West, she will have 10.000 refugees on board. Built as a Nazi cruise ship, she normally carries less than 2000.
Lensen doesn't mind the stench or the humidity below, he is on his way to safety, it's also freezing up top, so he finds a space and settles down for the night......
At 9pm, three torpedoes fired from a Russian submarine slam into the Gustloff. Within the hour the overloaded ship sinks to the bottom of the Baltic Sea, taking 9,500 souls with her. Gerfreiter Lensen is one of them........
This is still the largest loss of life from one ship in maritime history.
The base is simply a small photo frame, bit of scrap polystyrene for the wall and the fence is more of gern's stirrers. I then painted it and added sweepings from the drive.
I didn't want to over complicate the base as I thought it would detract from the figure.
I hope you like this, my first attempt at 1/16 scale and all comments are more than welcome.....
Cheers,
Ron
If this is in the wrong forum, can a moderator move it please?
[ATTACH]42867.IPB[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH]42868.IPB[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH]42869.IPB[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH]42870.IPB[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH]42871.IPB[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH]42872.IPB[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH]42873.IPB[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH]42874.IPB[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH]42875.IPB[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH]42876.IPB[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH]42877.IPB[/ATTACH]
He was conscripted into the German Army in July, 1942. He fought in Russia and in particular Kharkov and Kiev. In spring 1943 he joined the Gross Deutschland Division. After the German 6th army was defeated at Stalingrad, Lensen and his comrades started the retreat westwards closely followed by the ever expanding Russian Army. Eventually, in late 1944 with the Russian advance finally on German soil, and fuelled by terrible stories of revenge on German civilians, the retreat turns into a panic stricken route, with everyone's eyes on the East Prussian Baltic ports, and to get a ship to the West and safety.
Lensen arrives at Gotenhafen in mid. January 1945.... He is filthy, his uniform is in tatters and on hearing a rumour that all 'Crack Division' members will be shot on sight by the closing in Russian Army, he has removed all his insignia, even scratched off the helmet one. He has only one magazine left in his MG42, but has found an MP40 with a full ammo pouch. He has lost some of his gear too. The situation at the port of is total chaos with refugees trying to get on board ships.
Eventually, Lensen, and six other soldiers are detailed to get on board a particular ship and try and keep some sort of order aboard. He can't believe his luck and literally runs up the gang plank. The ship is the Wilhelm Gustloff, when she eventually sails at 12.30pm on the 30th. Jan. for Kiel in the West, she will have 10.000 refugees on board. Built as a Nazi cruise ship, she normally carries less than 2000.
Lensen doesn't mind the stench or the humidity below, he is on his way to safety, it's also freezing up top, so he finds a space and settles down for the night......
At 9pm, three torpedoes fired from a Russian submarine slam into the Gustloff. Within the hour the overloaded ship sinks to the bottom of the Baltic Sea, taking 9,500 souls with her. Gerfreiter Lensen is one of them........
This is still the largest loss of life from one ship in maritime history.
The base is simply a small photo frame, bit of scrap polystyrene for the wall and the fence is more of gern's stirrers. I then painted it and added sweepings from the drive.
I didn't want to over complicate the base as I thought it would detract from the figure.
I hope you like this, my first attempt at 1/16 scale and all comments are more than welcome.....
Cheers,
Ron
If this is in the wrong forum, can a moderator move it please?
[ATTACH]42867.IPB[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH]42868.IPB[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH]42869.IPB[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH]42870.IPB[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH]42871.IPB[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH]42872.IPB[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH]42873.IPB[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH]42874.IPB[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH]42875.IPB[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH]42876.IPB[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH]42877.IPB[/ATTACH]
Comment