What Figure To Buy For Us 82nd Ab Or 30 Id Ardennes 1944 ?

[Johan]

Guys,

can you please give me some good advice here : after reading "Duel in the Mist" part 2 I was wondering : which good quality 1/16th scale and/or 1/35 scale figures could accurately represent GI's of the 82nd Airborne Div and/or the 30th Infantry Div ("Old Hickory"), as they were when fighting the SS troops of Kampfgruppe Peiper in the Northern part of the Bulge in December 1944 (La Gleize, Stoumont) ?

... well it's the same problem as usual - the German part of the story, the Leibstandarte AH, is covered in the best way possible - the best sculpted and cast figures I've ever seen - but as for the American part of the story ... ?

... Funny, the 82nd AB, and the 30th ID stopped the main attack of the Germans cold at La Gleize, and reduced the 1. SS Panzer Division to scrap metal for the Cockerill steelworks in Liège, but where are the miniature representations of these valiant soldiers I wonder ?

thanks

Johan

 

[Joe55]

Alpine's US BAR Gunner in 1/16 scale comes to mind. He is wearing a scarf and gloves with an M41 jacket. This guy is depicted on the box art as a 29th Inf. Div. trooper, but one could easily paint on the 30th ID shoulder patch. (Actually I've been toying with the idea of doing this one as 8th ID, my Uncle's outfit)

At the moment I can't think of a suitable one wearing winter gear for the 82nd guy. Although you could maybe use the US Infantryman, Europe 1944-45, that John Rosengrant did for Warriors if you can find one. This is the guy that is wearing the long wool overcoat. I believe this one is also 1/16.

Hope this helps.

Joe

 

[Anders Heintz]

Michael Roberts have a GI Paratrooper from the bulge. Don't remember if he is 82nd or 101st, but it's a great sculpt and the patch could easily be exchanged.

 

[montythefirst]

One thing to consider is that the troops in the Bulge wore a multitude of uniform combinations from the standard :

1941 parsons Jacket

to 1943 Jacket

Tanker jackets

worn over Standard wool uniform

Greatcoats or Mackinaws were a must have if a GI still had one to hand

gloves, scarf winter cap

Although the Airborne Units that fought there were issued with the 1943 jump uniform, due to supply constraints they were forced to used what they could lay there hands on so they to used some of the items stated above. So what you really need to focus on is finding U.S troops in winter uniforms if you want to convert plan trousers to airborne one that is not that difficult with the right reference. Don't get too bogged down with figures being listed as 101st as the only difference between them and 82nd at this point was there division patch easily changed. Also because they did not jump into the Bulge the Airborne units wore standard helmets without cup chin straps. In terms of footwear the airborne would mostly be wearing the Buckle boot, although some did manage to retain their original jump boots and some even manged to get hold of winter shoe packs.

1943 Jump Uniform

82nd Airborne

101st Airborne

M1 Helmet

Buckle Boot

Jump Boots

Winter Shoe Pack


Some soldiers also made use of bed linen, tablecloths and white cloth as winter camouflage

and some were also issued the British Winter snow suit but this was very limited

Hope this helps

Simon

 

[Ferris]

Johan, if you're interested I have the Rosengrant figure Joe mentioned. Drop me a pm if you want it. Can't post pictures now unfortunately... I'm in NL so postage should be manageable.

Adrian

 

[Johan]

Gentlemen, thank you !

I think I will go for the above mentioned Alpine Miniatures Bar Gunner (this one http://www.alpineminiatures.com/imagepages/16012.html) as I already have the superbly sculpted and cast German counterpart, this LAH panzergrenadier in the Ardennes : http://www.alpineminiatures.com/imagepages/16011.html

Just wondering - the Alpine Bar Gunner does have the M41 parsons jacket AND clearly what looks like airborne jump boots - I guess that is because the 29th ID soldier, on which this figure is based, did work with the Rangers before, who may have had access to such jump boots.
So I don't know if the 30th ID is an option for this figure ? But maybe Airborne Glider infantry (also part of 82nd AB) is maybe the best option ? Actually I haven't got a clue as to which US infantry divisions would have had easy access to para jump boots ?

cheers

Johan

 

[montythefirst]

You are very correct regards the 29th Division working with the Rangers, you could go for a glider infantry, as I said they all wore various uniforms and equipment based on what was available. Also in terms of making this figure a 30th ID figure because of the boots there are a few options model wise you could convert the boots to buckle boots which were starting to become more common across the ETO in the fall of 1944, or you could sculpt leggings on or just have that this GI managed to obtain a pair of jump boots off a paratrooper that is possible Gi's traded lots of gear with each other a big example of this was Armored troops trading their tanker jackets for goods or money it did happen.