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Fuzz is gone!

Congrats to all who guessed Indian Troops! Great looking! I'm very happy! Tho I'm pretty sure they were lead by British officers.

Re: Fuzz is gone!

Love em. Bert there were Indian officers too, No sign of machete`s ,and short trousers, so that puts these guys in the Desert or maybe, maybe 1942 in the far East, but if there is an enfield jungle carbine in there that confuses the issue. But nice and long over due,thanks Strelets.

Re: Fuzz is gone!

Maybe Italy as well, Alan? I think I've seen some footage of Indian soldiers in shorts in Italy (summer months).

Re: Fuzz is gone!

Great choice of subject, Strelets.....and great sculpting too. Can't wait!!

Re: Fuzz is gone!

Hurrah, at long last I can add some Indians to my 8th Army

Re: Fuzz is gone!

Nice sculpting, especially the faces. Love the radio operator. Not sure about the prone man with grenade, does he lie flat on the ground?

Could someone please identify the weapons? I see Bren, Sten and Thompson guns and Lee-Enfield rifles, but what is e. g. the submachine gun the standing soldier throwing a grenade is holding? Regards, Pa

Re: Fuzz is gone!

The guy standing throwing a grenade is holding a late model Sten, mid 1944 and on, the guy lying down with the grenade appears to have an enfield jungle carbine, once again last year of the war.

Re: Fuzz is gone!

Thanks for the replies.

So these figures show a rather unlikely mix of North African uniforms with 1944/45 weapons. That's unfortunate.

Hope tan plastic for them

If they are intended for Western desert

Re: Hope tan plastic for them

Well here`s the problem, the uniform and kit are right for....the western desert, but some of the weapons are late 1944 , so not the desert, in the jungle long trousers are worn, by all armies to prevent insect bites/malaria etc, the 8th armies Indian brigade landed in Italy in 43 and stayed until 45, wearing long trousers, the Sten on these figures was first issued in Aug/sept 44 (used by 1st airborne at Arnhem ) by in Italy in September it`s starting to turn cold and it`s not short weather there after...so a quandary.

Re: Hope tan plastic for them

I have seen shorts worn during the jungle fighting by Brits and I believe by Indians also. Imphal and Kohima. So with the new WW2 sets plus the Indians sure could use the Tropical Japanese! Thanks! Cappy

Re: Hope tan plastic for them

Cappy, the photo`s you refer to are probably staged behind the lines or at least most are, if you look at hundreds of photo`s of the British/Indian army in Burma, very few indeed show shorts,particularly late on in the war. Shorts were common at the fall of Singapore and there are lots of photo`s of that, but that is early war and not up the jungle.

Re: Hope tan plastic for them

Thanks Alan; You're probably right.Most pictures I have seen do show long pants worn. I was going by a book I had years ago called Great Battles of the World which featured the battle of Kohima which showed a British unit on patrol wading through a shallow stream in shorts among others.They could have been staged photos. So like other aspects to our hobby we'll just have to Make Believe! All the best! Cappy

Re: Hope tan plastic for them

Alan is right. I have seen lots of unpublished photos of the Burma campaign belonging to my father in law and they had the jungle trousers almost to a man. When on leave in India they did wear neatly pressed ( and tailored )shorts with berets or forage caps and I presume the Indian troops did the same but with their own headgear. Sadly he died in 2010 but I did ask him about other things to do with the Arakan campaign as well and his memory was outstandingly comprehensive and accurate to the smallest detail. Shorts were impractical in the jungle and unless you wanted to tan up your legs you kept them at the base. A good programme recently on the TV about the films from the troops of the 14th Army that acted like blueys(forces letters). They were just ordinary troops talking to camera and saying how much they missed wives, mothers, girlfriends, children and would be back soon. Tragically many of them didn't keep that promise. It gave a very good idea of the variety of uniforms.

The webbing is probably accurate as the WW1 type was used as well as the WW2 type also bandoliers were very much in evidence.

I suppose it is easier to convert shorts to long pants than vice versa and they do have rolled up sleeves which is a big plus. The slung helmets seem strange on fighting poses.

David