Hi,
This is my first thread here since I joined today. One of my projects is a scene depicting a StuG III of the Flemings of the Langemarck near Zhitomir, Ukraine during the final stages of WWII. It's a project going on and off for well over 2 years (I'm a rather slow modeller) and I tried several new things like sculpting figures and constructing a house.
View attachment 297664
First an introduction:
During WWII lots of Belgian volunteers served within German Heer and SS units. Percentage wise, of all the conquered nations, we delivered most of the volunteers for the German cause in the East. These young idealists wheren't generally speaking all nazi's or even antisemites. Most of them signed up to fight against the threat of Bolsjewism. In many villages the Catholic priest preached against communism and rallied the young men to sign up.
Also, after WWI there were some harsh feelings towards the French speaking elite in Belgium. During WWI many Flemish men, fighting in the Belgian Army were commanded by French speaking officers who didn't speak Flemish. This caused a lot of difficulties during and after the War. Separatist movements rised after the war and these movements would form a firm base for the later Flemish Volunteers during WWII.
When Germany invaded Belgium, these movements saw their chances to try to dismantle Belgium and continue with Flanders as a separate region. The Germans made good use of this making false promises.
Anywhoo, many young Flemish volunteered and were divided in the newly formed NordWest Division, a mixed division consisting out of Flemish, Dutch and Danish men. But, with so many volunteers out of these countries, the NordWest was soon split up in different Legions: the Legion Niederlände, the Freiwillen Legion Flandern etc. However, some of them served in other Waffen-SS units as well, like the Leibstandarte, Das Reich and Wiking.
Generally these men were amongst the finest and soon received lots of credit for their bravery on the Eastern Front. Many casualties were sustained. Since the Flemish were to be considered as 'Germanic' people, these Legions fell under the command of the Waffen-SS. Needless to say that many of them, if not all, faced heavy sentences after the war.
Later on during the war at the end of 1943, the Freiwilligen Legion Flandern was reformed into a fully motorized Brigade, and the name changed into the 6th. SS Sturmbrigade 'Langemarck'. And this is were the StuG III comes into play: this Brigade consisted out of 10 Companies, and the 7th Company was a Sturmgeschütz Company, consisting out of 7 or 8 StuG III's.
Now, it was very hard to find any photos or info on this, but some people on the internet helped me out, sending me a chapter of a book written by ex-Eastern Front Flemish soldiers.
The StuG III's of the Langemarck first saw action in January 1944 in Ukraine. The reformed Das Reich division was fighting near Zhitomir in the form of a Kampfgruppe (KG Lammerding). They fought well but suffered many losses and were going to be swamped by the Red Army. They were going to be trapped in a cauldron or pocket, and the first task of the Langemarck was to hold of the Russians in order to prevent the Das Reich being encircled. They did so with succes, but again with many losses.
It's in this period I want to depict my StuG III. I'll be using the Dragon early G for this purpose, together with some goodies.
The StuG in question is based on the openingsphoto, which is one of very few photos of a StuG of the Langemarck. We can see the crew of SS-Untersturmführer (2nd Lieutenant) August Heyerick (the man in white winter jacket to the left).
The StuG came together nicely and painting and weathering took the most of my time (weathering is the stage I like the most since it really starts to make your model come alive). If you are familiar with Michael Rinaldi's Tank Art series of books, you have heard of the term Oil Paint Rendering. That's the technique I used. A lot of layers of weathering added by only using oils and eventually pigments at the final stages to simulate mud.
Before I go on, photos:
View attachment 297665
View attachment 297666
View attachment 297667
View attachment 297668
View attachment 297669
View attachment 297670
View attachment 297671
View attachment 297673
View attachment 297674
View attachment 297675
I'll post some photos of the figures and scene later on.
Cheers
This is my first thread here since I joined today. One of my projects is a scene depicting a StuG III of the Flemings of the Langemarck near Zhitomir, Ukraine during the final stages of WWII. It's a project going on and off for well over 2 years (I'm a rather slow modeller) and I tried several new things like sculpting figures and constructing a house.
View attachment 297664
First an introduction:
During WWII lots of Belgian volunteers served within German Heer and SS units. Percentage wise, of all the conquered nations, we delivered most of the volunteers for the German cause in the East. These young idealists wheren't generally speaking all nazi's or even antisemites. Most of them signed up to fight against the threat of Bolsjewism. In many villages the Catholic priest preached against communism and rallied the young men to sign up.
Also, after WWI there were some harsh feelings towards the French speaking elite in Belgium. During WWI many Flemish men, fighting in the Belgian Army were commanded by French speaking officers who didn't speak Flemish. This caused a lot of difficulties during and after the War. Separatist movements rised after the war and these movements would form a firm base for the later Flemish Volunteers during WWII.
When Germany invaded Belgium, these movements saw their chances to try to dismantle Belgium and continue with Flanders as a separate region. The Germans made good use of this making false promises.
Anywhoo, many young Flemish volunteered and were divided in the newly formed NordWest Division, a mixed division consisting out of Flemish, Dutch and Danish men. But, with so many volunteers out of these countries, the NordWest was soon split up in different Legions: the Legion Niederlände, the Freiwillen Legion Flandern etc. However, some of them served in other Waffen-SS units as well, like the Leibstandarte, Das Reich and Wiking.
Generally these men were amongst the finest and soon received lots of credit for their bravery on the Eastern Front. Many casualties were sustained. Since the Flemish were to be considered as 'Germanic' people, these Legions fell under the command of the Waffen-SS. Needless to say that many of them, if not all, faced heavy sentences after the war.
Later on during the war at the end of 1943, the Freiwilligen Legion Flandern was reformed into a fully motorized Brigade, and the name changed into the 6th. SS Sturmbrigade 'Langemarck'. And this is were the StuG III comes into play: this Brigade consisted out of 10 Companies, and the 7th Company was a Sturmgeschütz Company, consisting out of 7 or 8 StuG III's.
Now, it was very hard to find any photos or info on this, but some people on the internet helped me out, sending me a chapter of a book written by ex-Eastern Front Flemish soldiers.
The StuG III's of the Langemarck first saw action in January 1944 in Ukraine. The reformed Das Reich division was fighting near Zhitomir in the form of a Kampfgruppe (KG Lammerding). They fought well but suffered many losses and were going to be swamped by the Red Army. They were going to be trapped in a cauldron or pocket, and the first task of the Langemarck was to hold of the Russians in order to prevent the Das Reich being encircled. They did so with succes, but again with many losses.
It's in this period I want to depict my StuG III. I'll be using the Dragon early G for this purpose, together with some goodies.
The StuG in question is based on the openingsphoto, which is one of very few photos of a StuG of the Langemarck. We can see the crew of SS-Untersturmführer (2nd Lieutenant) August Heyerick (the man in white winter jacket to the left).
The StuG came together nicely and painting and weathering took the most of my time (weathering is the stage I like the most since it really starts to make your model come alive). If you are familiar with Michael Rinaldi's Tank Art series of books, you have heard of the term Oil Paint Rendering. That's the technique I used. A lot of layers of weathering added by only using oils and eventually pigments at the final stages to simulate mud.
Before I go on, photos:
View attachment 297665
View attachment 297666
View attachment 297667
View attachment 297668
View attachment 297669
View attachment 297670
View attachment 297671
View attachment 297673
View attachment 297674
View attachment 297675
I'll post some photos of the figures and scene later on.
Cheers
, thanks a lot chap. Really hope I can continue this one soon again ^^
