Zvezda new sets - BEF Engineers and Greatcoat Russian MG

[David O'Brien]

Zvezda has pics of two new sets in their Art of Tactic range. The addition to the BEF in the form of Engineers shows a welcome commitment to expanding the range.
British Engineers
see
http://www.zvezda.org.ru/?lng=1&nav=&cat=7&set=6219
I presume the chap is taking up a mine if the other is probing but of course he could be planting one which may be more appropriate for the BEF or the campaign in Greece (the landscape looks as if it could be Greece. The other two figures are laying out a cable or wire which was the main means of battlefield communication with the BEF not the radio as in the Recce set. The cable looks far too thick . Normally in an assault role or being deployed by two soldiers it would be about 5mm dia or less. Signals troops would often do this but artillery or infantry personnel could be found doing this task as well. The term Engineers has been used but not to be confused with the Royal Engineers.
Soviet Machine crew in Winter uniform
see
http://www.zvezda.org.ru/?lng=1&nav=&cat=7&set=6220

To me the star feature is the MG being pulled on a sledge. The minus point is the wheels on the machine guns are crude (look like Cadbury's chocolate buttons) as with the previous MG set. A big shame because the box art shows what they should look like. The Zvezda WWI Russianset has an MG with spoked wheels not sure why they couldn't do it like that with this new set The rest looks very good.
These sets take a while to reach stockists. I have just got the BEF recce troops (actually a recce section or just a patrol) and the Soviet ski troops both excellent sets though I would plea for extra weapons on the sprue rather than the game flag. Two of the prone skier's rifles disintegrated but I have some extra Preiser Russian weapons but not everybody will have those to hand.

David

[mickey mouse]

I presume the chap is taking up a mine if the other is probing but of course he could be planting one which may be more appropriate for the BEF or the campaign in Greece (the landscape looks as if it could be Greece.

David

Looks to me that, he's taking a German mine out, because the other chap is poking into the ground to search for mines. But I guess that you can see it as both. It just depends of how you look at it, I suppose...

As for the cable rollers, I reckon it's too delicate to cast the cables that thin for wargamers.

[MikeM]

As part of a mine clearing team, it would make more sense for the chaps with the assumed "cable reel" to be laying the white tape marking the cleared minefield gap, although they could also be used as a line laying team, which is something rarely depicted in this scale.

[David O'Brien]

"Looks to me that, he's taking a German mine out, because the other chap is poking into the ground to search for mines. But I guess that you can see it as both. " MM

BEF in France/Belgium planted British mines rather than dug up German mines unless they were from WWI- Nature of the campaign.

The set is called engineers and not mine clearing and generally they didn't clear up the mines they had just planted in a campaign that was mainly a retreat so not sure where the tapes would be used. Sometimes British POW s cleared up the mines they had planted but this is quite esoteric and they wouldn't have equipment or rifles. The communications cable reel is very important and they did occasionally lay armoured, thicker cables where there were likely to be artillery bombardments eg near/between pill boxes, strongpoints and these were usually subterranean ie in a shallow trench. Most cables/wires were laid on the surface occasionally in a small trench or armoured when crossing a road or track like in WWI these were instead of wireless communications ( though not entirely) in early WWII. The reels on the models could have been half played out (smarter option ) rather than chock full giving the opportunity for fine scale modellers to reproduce the cable accurately with fishing line.

David

[David O'Brien]

additional

see -Osprey Publishing - World War II Battlefield Communications

BTW the British Army after June 1943 issued pamphlets* for mine recognition, laying and clearing expecting that all arms could do the basic tasks ( eg tell the difference between an anti person or antitank mine) with the Royal Engineers doing the most skilled clearing tasks eg booby trapped minefields. There was also a trained category in between for tasks too demanding for the ordinary soldier but able to be taken by those with adequate training. This was not the case in 1940 when Signals, Engineers etc were spread thinly.

David