Saturday 28 August 2010
Till The Boys Come Home trailer (an EPM Production)
Winner of an RTS Award for Best Independent Production, this is a drama documentary based on Somerset people's experiences of the First World War.
Directed by Colin Thomas and narrated by Paul McGann, this 3-part programme features the war memories of 110 year old Harry Patch. Drama re-enactment is performed by children and adults from Midsomer Norton and Radstock, with the help of the historical re-enactment group, The Great War Society.
Inspired by Somerset author Chris Howell's book: No Thankful Village, in which he recounts the tales of First World War survivors.
Produced by Every Picture Media, UK. (formerly Wild Fire Productions, Bristol)
Belgian army before 1914
I suppose the book HANDBOOK OF THE BELGIAN ARMY 1914 is pretty useful for research purposes.
August 1914
Zvezda World War One
- 41 figures in 10 different poses
- Rifles
- Machine gun
If you don't know Ukrainian 1/72 figure producer Zvezda then you won't know how exciting this will be. Zvezda are easily the best manufacturer of this medium with high quality research and execution. So far only Russian and German infantry are listed - here's the box art for the Germans - wearing the pickelhaube so that makes them doubly worth waiting for. Presumably for the Tannenberg campaign. Anyone have any more information on these sets?
Early machine-gun cars
Fraxinus reviews model Belgian armoured cars here
Friday 27 August 2010
Austrian prisoners - Russian front 1915
CRIMEAN WAR MUSEUM IN BALAKLAVA
Thursday 26 August 2010
Heritage of the Great War
The illustrated world 1859
two images for today , both engravings from original french newspapers "le Monde illustré" (the illustrated world)
Battle of Le Cateau 1914
This battle was fought today in 1914.
As it was an artillery battle primarily I thought I would use this image from Irregular miniatures 42mm British army range painted by Clive Jebbett. There's some lovely images on the site for their range of 42mm figures.
Eugene Jacques Bullard
Biography here and wiki here
While reading 'Retreat Hell! We Just got here' - the story of the AEF in the Great War I read about this man who might make a suitable subject for a biopic. The above link gives a good version of his story - my idea for a title 'All Blood Runs Red'. Roughly his story begins; Grandson of a slave, making a living as a boxer in Paris when war breaks out - joins, like many Americans, the Foreign Legion eventually serving as a pilot. When America enters the war the experienced 300 or so American pilots were needed to create an American air corps - Bullard's call never came - because he was black. Later trumped up charges of insubordination mean that he is transferred back to the infantry. Eventually Bullard is honoured as a hero. Short piece here.
From the wiki
Early life
He was born Eugene Jacques Bullard in Columbus, Georgia, United States. His father was known as "Big Chief Ox" and his mother was a Creek Indian; together, they had ten children. Bullard stowed away on a ship bound for Scotland to escape racial discrimination (he later claimed to have witnessed his father's narrow escape from lynching as a child).
While in the United Kingdom he worked as a boxer and also worked in a music hall.
Military career
On a trip to Paris he decided to stay and joined the French Foreign Legion upon the outbreak of World War I in 1914. Wounded in the 1916 battles around Verdun, and awarded the Croix de Guerre, Bullard flew as a member of the Lafayette Flying Corps in the French Aéronautique Militaire, assigned to 93 Spad Squadron on 17 August 1917 where he flew some twenty missions and is thought to have shot down two enemy aircraft.
With the entry of the United States into the war the US Army Air Service convened a medical board in August 1917 for the purpose of recruiting Americans serving in the Lafayette Flying Corps. Although he passed the medical examination, Bullard was not accepted into American service because blacks were barred from flying in U.S. service at that time. Bullard was discharged from the French Air Force after fighting with another officer while off-duty and was transferred back to the French infantry in January 1918, where he served until the Armistice.
Wargames rules WW1
Free wargames rules for the Great War. Image is of the new Airfix giftset
which seems to use their 1914-attired Germans and British with a tank and trenches...
ALBATROS GERMAN BIPLANE OF GREAT WAR
Radstock in the Great War
This is me in some borrowed British kit (photo by David Wilton) - from the 90s - I wasn't a WW1 reenactor though I nearly got into it a few times. There's actually been a lot of interest in the Great War in the area where I live - Radstock area (photo is of the Bristol artillery recruiting in the town in 1908) - several books have been written on the subject 'No Thankful Village' and 'In the Company of Heroes' are both excellent studies of the men who lost their lives around here. As a mining area lots of the men finished up fighting underground. My father's father joined the Coldstream Guards in 1914 but later volunteered for mining duties and became a 'Proto Man' rescuing expired tunnellers. Another Grandfather fought in Mesopotamia.
French soldier 1914 era
Army Uniforms of World War I (Blandford colur series)
World War One in 1/72
WW1 dioramas of Carlos Briz
These 10mm/N gauge dioramas of WW1 subjects are well worth a look. They combine N scale trains with Pendraken figures and vehicles as well as buildings etc, and the results are inspiring.
Aces High (1976)
Digital dogfight double bill
Wednesday 25 August 2010
Tuesday 24 August 2010
1914 footage
Belgian infantry of 1914
Bicycle infantry
The first known use of the bicycle in combat occurred during the Jameson Raid, in which cyclists carried messages. In the Second Boer War, military cyclists were used primarily as scouts and messengers. One unit patrolled railroad lines on specially constructed tandem bicycles that were fixed to the rails. Several raids were conducted by cycle-mounted infantry on both sides; the most famous unit was the Theron se Verkenningskorps (Theron Reconnaissance Corps) or TVK, a Boer unit led by the scout Daniel Theron, whom British commander Lord Roberts described as "the hardest thorn in the flesh of the British advance." Roberts placed a reward of £1,000 on Theron's head—dead or alive—and dispatched 4,000 soldiers to find and eliminate the TVK.[4]
Monday 23 August 2010
Cycling and the Great War
BBC article on the Khaki Chums
Peloton of Belgian cyclists August 1914
Sur cette photo, chaque militaire emporte sur son vélo un morceau d'une mitrailleuse.
See 1/72 masters for Belgian cyclist troops
See German landsturm cyclist 1914-5
The cyclist at war
I have wondered what was the first usage of the bike in war - presumably the 1914-18 war but if anyone knows any different... be a good way to celebrate the centenary in 2014 - a cycling tour of Flanders.
Image from here. Where the description is
Bicyclette pliante, 1893 Elle fut inventée par le capitaine Gérard et utilisée durant les grandes manoeuvres de 1896. Elle se repliait en 35 secondes, roue contre roue. Son poids était de 11 kilos.
Photographies de 1893
War photographs of Donald Thompson
Been looking at these exceptional images taken by American Thompson on my favourite Great War site - these capture the early weeks of fighting. There's a modern look to these images - well worth a look.
Reglement für die kaiserlich-königlichen Fuss
More from Patrick's family album
'I forgot to send you these two others photos of great uncles, the chasseur and the sailor just before the starting of the WW1
Dreyse versus Lorenz - behind the legend
Belgian troops in Mexico
Old Glory 15mms
Austro-Hungarian Land Forces 1848-1918
Austro-Prussian war
Today the Austro-Prussian war ended with the Peace of Prague. So here's a list of battles from the wikipedia. If any of you have 15mm figs for this period send in some photos. This isn't a definitive list by any means by the way but it's a start
- 24 June, Battle of Custoza: Austrian army defeats Italian army;
- 27 June, Battle of Trutnov: Austrians check Prussian advance but with heavy losses
- 27 June, Battle of Langensalza: Hanover's army defeats Prussia's;
- 27 June, Battle of Mnichovo Hradiste: Austrians fight a delaying action as they retreat into Bohemia
- 29 June, Battle of Jicin: Prussians defeat Austrians
- 3 July, Battle of Königgrätz: decisive Prussian victory against Austrians;
- 20 July, Battle of Lissa: the Austrian fleet defeats the Italian one;
- 21 July, Battle of Bezzecca: Giuseppe Garibaldi's "Hunters of the Alps" defeat an Austrian army.
- 22 July, (in last day of war), Battle of Lamac near the Bratislava: Austrians defend Bratislava against Prussian army.