Fallschirmjager low countries 1940

[razor]

Early war Fallschirmjager. A great D-Day Miniatures figure with Alpine head, drop canister and gas mask bag are from dragon. I'm not sure about his arms yet .
Any comments and advice are all ways welcommed.

 

[razor]

Settled on a nice pair of Alpine arms.

 

[razor]

Painted his head, and undercoated the rest .

 

[MCPWilk]

Interesting that Fallschirmjagers were only used as elite troops after Crete. Unlike the Allies, whose parachute drops got bigger and bigger as the war progressed, Crete was the death knell for Fallschirmjager parachute drops.

Nice figure.

Mike

 

[Martin64]

Interesting that Fallschirmjagers were only used as elite troops after Crete. Unlike the Allies, whose parachute drops got bigger and bigger as the war progressed, Crete was the death knell for Fallschirmjager parachute drops.

Nice figure.

Mike

When General Kurt Student witnessed Operation "Market Garden" from the ground he is reported to have said : "If we would have had for once these numbers of personnel and these logistical means...". Although the number of Paratrooper-Divisions grew after Crete the new recruits later in the war were no longer at the same training level than the Paras were before Crete. Still smaller scale airborne operations took place like Catania, Bulge and a last drop (literally) into the perimeter of Breslau. Crete remained the one and only successful airborne operation not combined with any kind of ground support due to the operation plan - still a costly lesson learned not just by the Germans.

About the figure:
The Figure is wearing the "second pattern" jump smock with flaps for the zippered pockets and which could be buttoned up between the legs. This model was developed 1941 before the Crete operation.
During airborne operations in Holland 1940 the Paras wore the "first pattern" jump smock - void of the useful zippered pockets with a "step-in"-design (therefore nicknamed "bone sack") or the pattern of the "Army-Fallschirmjägers" which had two zippers running down the front - see the guy to the left in the pic below.

and of course - nice figure anyway.
Cheers, Martin

 

[razor]

Thanks to all.
Ok, taking the above advice on board guess he's going to Crete then.

 

[Huw63]

I think he's looking splendid. Martin's background informaiton is also great to read.

Cheers

Huw