Review Philippe Kieffer from Mookies Miniatures

[Nap]

Hi fellow resin rumblers,

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Mookies Miniatures have been busy in the last year releasing items which depicted RM soldiers in the Falklands War

I reviewed the 1st release here:

http://www.planetfigure.com/threads/sbs-rm-1982-from-mookies-miniatures-ltd.112316/

There has also been another FI subject release which the owner of Mookies ( our very own Richard Pearce aka Maximus37 here on PF ) announced here :

http://www.planetfigure.com/threads...0th-royal-marine-45-cdo-falklands-war.115514/

We also have a set of personalised heads from the company announced here:

http://www.planetfigure.com/threads/mookies-miniatures-new-release-falklands-war-head-set.112750/

For our period on this release we are took back to the very late part of WW2 where the Free French Army was in existance and fighting hard , with leaders and personalities like the subject of this review:

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Philippe Kieffer​

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But who was the man:​

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Philippe Kieffer was 40 years old when he volunteered for active military service in French Navy after it declared war on Germany in September 1940.​

He requested authorization to create an all-French Cdo unit adopting the same model of training and structure as british units.​

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Their methods of selection typified the harshness of special forces training, and several men died as they struggled to complete the course. They become known as the ‘1st Company of Naval Rifles,’ organized into the No. 10 Inter Allied commando unit, made up of Dutch, Polish Belgian, Norwegian and Mediterranean units.​

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By 1944, Philippe Kieffer’s command had grown into two troops and had been integrated with Britain’s No.4 Commando as part of the 1st Special Service Brigade under Lord Lovat. It was this unit that came ashore on June 6, 1944 and provided the 176 men led by Kieffer himself​

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Wearing the green beret like his men, Kieffer, recently promoted to Capitaine de Corvette (Leuitenant-Commander), personally led them off landing craft at 0731 hours. This time there would be no retreat into the sea, as they waded in under shelling that seemed to increase by the minute. In the midst of this, they heard the sound of Lord Lovat’s piper Bill Millin’s bagpipes urging more of the 1st Brigade on, but not before some 40 commando's were killed or wounded as they reached the end of Sword beach.​

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Counting those lost on the beach, the commandos suffered 21 dead and 93 wounded. Kieffer himself had been hit by shrapnel at the start of action but continued on as an example to his troops. He finally visited a medical facility two days later, but checked out on June 14 to rejoin his men as they continued fighting during the Normandy breakout and the race towards Paris. Here Philippe Kieffer and two of his men made history by being the first of the Free French Forces to enter the city.​

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After the war he continued in service in headquarters , on retiring often seen at parades with the modern army of France in particular his beloved commando's​

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Philippe Kieffer passed away in 1962​

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His awards are many​

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French awards​

• Commander of the Legion of Honour
• Companion of the Order of Liberation (Award #828) by decree of 28 August 1944 *[2]
• War Cross 1939–1945 with 7 citations (6 palms , 1 bronze star)
• Volunteer combatant's cross
• Commemorative medal for voluntary service in Free France
• 1939–1945 Commemorative war medal with clasps "France", "Grande-Bretagne", "Libération", "Allemagne"
• Medal of a liberated France
• Insignia for the Military Wounded (wounded twice on 6 June 1944, evacuated on 8 June 1944)
• Honour medal for courage and devotion (in bronze)
• Honour medal for youth and sports (in silver)

Foreign awards

• Member of the Order of the British Empire (UK)
• Military Cross (UK) Received on 16 July 1944 from Field Marshal Montgomery
• 1939–45 Star (UK)
• France and Germany Star (UK)
• Defence Medal (UK)

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...a true hero of France in its darkest days in history​

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Note the badge here is of No 2 Commando​

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Books on Kieffer are available as well as ones on the army her fought in, here are a few:​

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Continued in next post​

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Nap​

 

[Nap]

Details of the release are as follows:

Title: Philippe Kieffer Free French Commander Hero

Reference: N/A

Scale: 1/12th

Material: Lt Gray/Cream Resin

No of parts: 1

Sculptor: Greg Girault

Casting: In House

Box Art: Peter Day

The resin was found well wrapped in a very large box ( obviously Richard is using those from the SBS release ...makes sense )



Prep

A one piece casting

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.....and despite looking long and hard I could find nothing to prep except a small air hole in the beret to fill and then to sort a display base out and wash the resin , then paint and prime.

The finish on the resin is really clean particularly the underside

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Lets take a look round the piece , wearing battle dress with the collar wide open with a shirt and ties underneath , the shirt collar held under the actual battle dress .

The uniform is plain , no ribbons with the 2 breast pockets having good definition and undercuts like the collar

Running under his epaulettes there is the backpack straps , pulling tightly into the arms .

The epaulettes have the rank bars on both but not the anchor device , this can be painted on as in the box artwork, the dark blue of these contrasts nicely with the uniform colour .

Facial features are good and he has a determined look , the ears , nose and eyes are well worked ...as we would expect from a sculptor of Mr Girault's standard.

He wears the beret a good size as at the time they were a lot larger than today's version , the beret is pulled over to his right , on the opposite side we have the outline of the free french badge ( cross of lorraine) , this is left palin so you will have to paint the design on .

On both upper arms we have the 3 badges of the Cdo , the "France" , the "Commando" in the middle , with the the "Combined Ops" in the middle again these are plain so a careful hand with the brush is needed , when painted they look good and again a little bit of colour

The back pack is a simple area to work on the flap folded over with the straps and at the sides the buckle....a good opportunity to add texture when painting .

And that is the resin , a simple head and shoulders sculpt .

Final thoughts

A new scale for Mookies with this release and the only 1/12th so far , detail is clean and well sculpted , virtually nothing to prep up , presentation is very smooth and when painted up you will have a nice display piece with the varying tones of kharki and flash of colour with the beret and the epaulettes/badges.

A good piece for a painter , nothing too complicated just to enjoy.

Finally lets have some more pics of the resin




And more views of PEter's distinctive artwork

ENJOY

There are contact details on the labels ( see above) but you can also contact Richard via a message here and don't forget the Facebook Page as well

E mail: [email protected]

FB: Search for Mookies Miniatures Limited

Website: Not as yet but I believe planned

Thanks to Mookie's for the review item and to you all for looking in

Happy bench time

Nap

 

[Jaybo]

My friend's (Jean-Loic Bagot) father, Andre Bagot, was an officer in this unit and was there with the 177 Free French that landed on D-Day. I was fortunate to meet him twice and visited the beach area where they landed in Ouistreham. There is a flaming grenade monument to this unit near the spot where they landed. There is also a small museum dedicated to this unit in Ouistreham. If you have seen the movie 'The Longest Day', you may recall the scene involving this event.

 

[Zastrow.cuirassier]

Another great presentation of Nap!
You know that I like to add my grain of salt that is a French subject!
Historically Nap has almost everything said.
Small addition on my part, it was not until more than fifty years for a commando riflemen Marines (they are the equivalent of the American Seal, with which they train sometimes).
So the "new commando Kieffer" is the sixth naval commando (FORFUSCO) created within the French Navy, in 2008; moreover, it belongs to special forces. It bears the name of Lieutenant Commander Kieffer, who, during the Second World War, trained and led the 1st Marine Commandos Battalion, 177 Navy Commandos of Free France who participated in the Allied landings in Normandy on June 6, 1944.
At its formation in 2008, the Kieffer commando had less than 30 men, in 2014 the supposed strength is 70 men. The Kieffer commando would have two roles: to provide command for maritime special operations (deployable SOTG structure) and to provide technological or high value-added skills. For this it has Specialized Support Sections including including handlers for the search for improvised explosives or offensive cynotechny, human intelligence specialists, experts in the implementation of drones, electronic warfare and cyber, demining or combat in NRBC environment (nuclear, radiological, bacteriological and chemical) 2. He is based in Lorient1. Unlike other units, the Kieffer commando recruits and selects some of these specialists in the French Navy or in the armies and trains them to become "Special Forces" operators.

For the record, Kieffer appears in the movie "The longest day", with the attack of the casino of Riva-Bella, in Ouistreham.
Here it is in photo (it is the civil) advising the actor Christian Marquand.

And an image of the famous movie!

 

[Nap]

Hi Guys

Jaybo

Thanks for sharing that what an honour that must have been

ZC

Your grain of salt is always welcome , didn't realise he was actually in the film ...an amazing man

Thanks for looking in

Nap

 

[Graham]

Nice looking piece Kev, very nice indeed

 

[Mookie]

Hi guys.
Very interesting hearing all the stories from you all.I admired Keiffer after seeing the Longest Day movie.Then researching the man himself was a great read.Greg the sculptor was thrilled to sculpt this bust for us.Greg told me Monsieur K was a big hero of his and many French folk.If anybody wants to purchase this product then please P.M me.We have a limited amount of castings left so get one whilst stock lasts.
Cheers guys.
Richard and Helen .(Mookies Miniatures)

 

[Jaybo]

Hi Guys

Jaybo

Thanks for sharing that what an honour that must have been

ZC

Your grain of salt is always welcome , didn't realise he was actually in the film ...an amazing man

Thanks for looking in

Nap

Indeed it was. Thank you.

 

[Wings5797]

Another super review Kevin.
I sense the good old 1/12 scale creeping back here and there.
Thanks for gathering so much great info together and sharing it Mate.
All the very best
Keith

 

[spinnerguy]

Interesting piece of history,keeping alive the name of a brave Frenchman......When Free France's leader fought his War from the UK. Rather a simple bust,with not much subject detail on the battle dress.Never realised the French mustered together such a fighting unit........