Thursday, July 7, 2016

11th Bavarian Infantry Regiment

As I haven’t bee posting any newly painted Canadians (or Germans, for that matter) for the Vimy Project (largely due to the arrival of THREE brigades worth of miniatures and me spending most of my hobby time getting those organized and prepped and based and primed and gooped…) I thought maybe I should get around to taking and posting pictures of some of the units I have already painted and just not gotten around to posting as complete units.

All of these are figures I modeled and cast myself . Most of these I painted over nine years ago. I think originally I made 13 figure battalions. Since then, however, I have changed to 15 figure battalions. So, somewhere along the line, I painted up a few more to bring them all up to strength.

Both of the German regiments I have done so far opposed the 4th Canadian Division and the north end of Vimy Ridge (Because that’s where I started with the Vimy Project).

(Remember: click on the pictures for a bigger version)


The 11th Bavarian Infantry Regiment was part of the 16th Bavarian Reserve Infantry Division – which was part of Gruppe Souchez and occupied the very north end of the Ridge. It’s partner regiment (14th Bavarian Infantry Regiment) occupied “The Pimple” - a heavily fortified knoll just north of Vimy Ridge – which the 10th Canadian Infantry Brigade attacked a day or two after the assault of Vimy Ridge.


I/11th Bavarian Infantry Regiment


II/11th Bavarian Infantry Regiment


III/11th Bavarian Infantry Regiment

I know machine-guns were integral to German infantry battalions, but I’m not sure how to represent them in the game – when I ran it at Mayday 2007 I just had all the machine-guns in bunkers. I may do the same this time around, but at some point I should probably pick up some MG teams.

I also have a few Trench Mortars… but I’m not sure how they fit into the organization. I know there were a few on Hill 145 – because I read somewhere one of the taskings of the Canadian Trench Mortar batteries was to drop smoke on hill 145 to keep the German Trench mortars from being able to observe the advance of the Canadians on the Ridge. It seems later in 1917 there was a Trench Mortar Company in each Division and Platoons in each Regiment…? But where did they show up in the organization earlier? For now I guess I’ll just shoot for one or two per division.


Coming soon on Tim’s Miniature Wargaming Blog:

261st Reserve Infantry Regiment

14 comments:

  1. What company are those guys from?
    Great work btw.

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    1. Thanks!

      These ones are all figures that I made myself. I modelled the masters, made the molds, and cast them.

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    2. SERIOULSY!? OMG TIM YOU'RE KILLING ME!

      This is how my hobby life goes...

      "Okay, I got this, 45 Grey Knights to paint."

      "Alright, got five done, lets look at some blog posts."

      "OH COME ON! He made his own models and painted ten times what I did!"

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    3. For what it's worth, I actually painted these alomst ten years ago - I just never posted pictures of them together as a unit. I posted them mostly because I was putting the pictures in the Great War Gallery, so I thought I'd use the pictures in a post as well.

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  2. Nice painting, are all the Germans going to be your own cast figures?
    Best Iain

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Iain!

      MOST of the Germans will be my own castings - mostly because now that I've got the molds, it's relatively inexpensive to do so. It takes time, but, I have time. I have picked up a few MG and Mortar and Artillery teams and a few staff officer and other specialist troops, but the bulk of the infantry will be my own.

      On close inspection of them, they are not the nicest figures out there - but quantity has a quality of it's own - when there are a few hundred of them scattered across a giant model of the ridge, no one will notice how wonky they are...

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  3. Great work Tim...they look outstanding. I literally just read an essay this morning on the German forces at Vimy from the book "Vimy Ridge - A Canadian Reassessment" edited by Geoffrey Hayes, Andrew Iarocci, and Mike Bechthold. In his essay 'The German Army At Vimy Ridge', Andrew Godefroy indicates that by 1917 (and certainly for Vimy Ridge) each infantry battalion were able to form a platoon of 2 light trench mortars. His footnote references "Stormtoop Tactics: Innovation in the German Army, 1914-1918" by B.I. Gudmundsson.

    A long comment, but I hope it helps.

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    Replies
    1. That does help, Stanley. Thank you very much! Perhaps I will look to coming up with 1-2 stands per regiment, rather than 1-2 per division.

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  4. Superb work. Must be a great feeling to beable to put you own (in every sense of the word) figures on the table.

    Cheers,

    Pete.

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  5. Nice work on sculpting and casting the Germans. Easter is coming!

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  6. FYI: This was the regiment in which Heinrich Himmler served as an officer candidate. He was in the reserve battalion.

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    Replies
    1. Huh. Crazy. Any idea when he served with the regiment?

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