WW2 Unit Graphics

[Tanelorn]

Ethiopian troops during the second Italo- Ethiopian war of 1935-36. Mostly infantry, it comprised of 7,000 Kebur Zabanga royal guardsmen trained by Belgian and Swedish officers, 40,000 Mehal Sefari regular soldiers, 500,000 Ras Sefari irregular tribal soldiers including a few Galla tribe horsemen. Fascist Italy used bombers and chemical weapons.
They used Belgian style uniforms, British WW1 peaked caps and P08 webbing. They carried whatever weapons passed the embargo/ blockade including Belgian Mausers, German mausers sold to them by N@zi Germany and ex-Tsarist Mosins sold by Japan. LMGs included a few FN BARs and Madsens. Some Czech Vz30 helmets were bought as well, one worn by Haile Selassie himself. They all went barefoot as per regulations.

 

[Patine]

This is awesome! Before now, all we had for Ethiopia of this period were from three different makers, and the units were of very noticeably different heights from each other.

Here's a hackjob I believe the Liberian Frontier Force and Nepali Scouts (they look AMAZINGLY like Gurkhas without khaki uniforms - imagine that!) should look like, and, like the Tibetans, are very lightly modified versions of units kicking around for a while.

 

[JPetroski]

Patine you do a really nice job with these mods - you should keep it up!

 

[Patine]

Patine you do a really nice job with these mods - you should keep it up!

Only minor touch-ups and slapping on a flag after scouring unit compilations for something most similar. Like the Liberian unit is a U.S. unit from about the Mexican Intervention (in a WW1 compilation) with skin darkened as per the Buffalo Soldier and Civil War Black Massachusetts regiment. I didn't even yet attempt my suspected recolour of the Tibetan infantry's uniform - just noted it. I'm a tweaker at best.

 

[Tanelorn]

Segregated African-American units of WW2.
The 92nd Infantry Division (Colored) "Buffalo Soldiers" 1942-1945 fought in Italy.
The 93rd Infantry Division (Colored) "Blue Helmets" 1942-1946 fought in New Guinea, the Solomons and the Bismarck archipelago.
The 51st USMC defence battalion (Colored) 1942-1946 @ Tuvalu guard duty.
The 52nd USMC defence battalion (Colored) 1943-1947 @ the Mariannas and Guam.
The 555 Parachute Infantry battalion (Colored) 1943-1947 @ did not deploy abroad.

 

[techumseh]

Segregated African-American units of WW2.
The 92nd Infantry Division (Colored) "Buffalo Soldiers" 1942-1945 fought in Italy.
The 93rd Infantry Division (Colored) "Blue Helmets" 1942-1946 fought in New Guinea, the Solomons and the Bismarck archipelago.
The 51st USMC defence battalion (Colored) 1942-1946 @ Tuvalu guard duty.
The 52nd USMC defence battalion (Colored) 1943-1947 @ the Mariannas and Guam.
The 555 Parachute Infantry battalion (Colored) 1943-1947 @ did not deploy abroad.

Bravo!

 

[Tanelorn]

Peruvian and Ecuadorian forces of the 1941 Zarumilla war. The figures on the seventh spot are parade uniforms, not actual field dress. The Ecuadorians generally wore their pants loose. Peru had 24 Czech tanks and a modern air force. They both used Czech machineguns and an assortment of mausers.
Repost, 1941 Peruvian air force:

 

[Patine]

@Tanelorn Another good one would be the Army and National Guard of the Salvadorian Armed Forces under the Far-Right Wing National Pro Fatherland Party, who, like Francoist Spain and Estado Nova Portugal, had been signatories to the Axis Military Alliance (with a really long official and formal name), but none of the three of them joined WW2, despite that. Maybe also the La Matanza Communist and Indigenous Pipli peasant rebels who revolted against them (although that event is pushing back to 1932, about the same time as the Peru-Colombian War).

 

[Tanelorn]

1932 Paulista civil war, Brazil. Planes and tanks on both sides as well.
@Patine Sure, any links to pictures?

 

[Tanelorn]

The 50,000 strong Brazilian expeditionary force, Cobras Fumantes, 1942-145. Fought in Italy, 1944-45.

 

[Patine]

1932 Paulista civil war, Brazil. Planes and tanks on both sides as well.
@Patine Sure, any links to pictures?

Well, I did a search for, "El Salvador Army La Matanza 1932," and, typical to Google, it was statistically dominated by the 1980's Civil War and very unfortunate civilian casualties of atrcicities in both conflicts, but I did manage to glean these:

This appears to be the Salvadorian Army of the National Pro Patria Fatherland Party days. They even seem to have Stahlhelms, no less.

This is the Civic Directorate, who seems to be one of those units who bring terror and atrocity to the countryside to those who are disloyal, or just alleged to be - probably like the 1980's Death Squads. They all seem to be wearing caps like they were all officers.

This appears to be the National Guard. They do not get the Stahlhelms.

And this is an image attributed to the Communist peasant rebels under Farabundo Marti's leadership (the man the later FMLN is named in honour of).

 

[Patine]

Well, I did a search for, "El Salvador Army La Matanza 1932," and, typical to Google, it was statistically dominated by the 1980's Civil War and very unfortunate civilian casualties of atrcicities in both conflicts, but I did manage to glean these:

View attachment 653518
This appears to be the Salvadorian Army of the National Pro Patria Fatherland Party days. They even seem to have Stahlhelms, no less.

View attachment 653519
This is the Civic Directorate, who seems to be one of those units who bring terror and atrocity to the countryside to those who are disloyal, or just alleged to be - probably like the 1980's Death Squads. They all seem to be wearing caps like they were all officers.

View attachment 653520
This appears to be the National Guard. They do not get the Stahlhelms.

View attachment 653521

And this is an image attributed to the Communist peasant rebels under Farabundo Marti's leadership (the man the later FMLN is named in honour of).

@Tanelorn And, it also says in Wikipedia, that many of the Communist peasant and Indigenous Pipli rebels (though possibly not all) were armed with, "machetes and poor-quality shotguns."

 

[Patine]

@Tanelorn How annoying. I had a closer look at the source of two of the pictures I linked above, and the picture I thought was the, "Salvadoran Army," is a deliberately mislabeled Nazi German Bessarabian Army regiment used by a columnist opinion piece to push the narrative of how Fascistic and Axis-oriented the National Pro Fatherland Party regime in El Salvador was. The one I labelled as, "National Guard," seems to come from the 1980s Civil War. I'll keep looking for accurate images of those two. I believe the Civic Directorate and Communist rebels are more or less accurate, though.

 

[Tanelorn]

@Patine Don't worry, there are a few lines in Osprey MA519 plate G and I found a black and white book cover photo of a parade. With a bit of salt and a speculative WW1 stahlhelm.

 

[Patine]

@Patine Don't worry, there are a few lines in Osprey MA519 plate G and I found a black and white book cover photo of a parade. With a bit of salt and a speculative WW1 stahlhelm.

Awesome! Is the guy without the flag the rebel?

 

[Tanelorn]

@Patine Yes he is, I have made this later Farabuto Marti flag though.

 

[Tanelorn]

Like Peru, both Brazil and Mexico had adopted modified French style uniforms before and used them at home during WW2. Both used a single row of exposed centered buttons (plain for Brazil, brass for Mexico) and Mexico used black webbing.

 

[Tanelorn]

On both sides of the various Italo-Ethiopian colflicts, Eritrean or north Ethiopian tribal warriors were virtually identical and saw little change since pre-moden times. These are Tigray, sporting decorated shields. The Khopesh/ Falx style sword is called a Shotel and is typical of north Ethiopia.

 

[Tanelorn]

The Oromo, also generally known as the Gallas in the past (though now it has negative connotations apparently) were fierce light horsemen that fought for Ethiopia, where most of them reside.

 

[Tanelorn]

I am slowly filling out the roster for the PLN and ROC navies, so I came across the case of the Aurora light cruiser.
The Arethusa class was essentially a twin funneled Leander class, minus a turret. Easy mod, ok.
But one, the HMS Aurora, that fought in Crete, Malta, Sicily, Tunisia and the Dodecanese campaign (!) was transferred to the ROC navy as the Chung King on 19 May 1948, then defected to the PLN on 25 February 1949!
But wait! It was sunk by ROC aircraft, March 1949! Later it was refloated by the Soviets and stripped of all useful equipment. Then it was converted into a barracks ship and was renamed to the Huang He (1959) and the Pei Ching (1965). Finally it was scrapped during the Cultural Revolution.
Τ' άκουσες, Αρετούσα μου, τα θλιβερά μαντάτα...