Thursday 2 August 2012

7e Division d'Infanterie Nord-Africaine

Al's recent post on his 1940 Morrocan infantry prompted me to dig out these veterans for a photo shoot.  Unlike industrious Al who is fiddling around with head swops and the like, I simply drafted these (metal) figures in from the old Hotspur Spanish Civil War range.  These began life in the late 1980s as (Spanish)Morrocans with either turbans or fez.  Adding a few figures from the 1990s FAA French range gave me enough to man a whole division.
The three infantry regiments.
For the divisional cavalry squadrons I used Raventhorpe Spahis.  These are lovely figures which fit in well with the infantry.
Le General is another Raventhorpe cavalryman in a proper French kepi.  He is accompanied by a Hotspur standard bearer.  It is a sad indictment of the French supply services that his tricolore has not yet been delivered...
 
The division's artillery is represented by this rather dodgy model.  It may look more 18pdr than 75mm but it was cheap (£1).  I replace the original rubber-tyred wheels with spoked items.  The crew are basically the left-over figures I had from building the infantry regiments.  It is drawn by a pair of Irregular Miniatures horses hitched to an old Airfix ACW limber.
The assembled division.  Definitely one of my more charismatic French divisions.


11 comments:

Sun of York said...

I really like these. I’ve just been going through my odds and sods box of WW2ish 1/76th scale stuff in the last hour and your post gives me some ideas or rather inspiration for what I might be able to do with them.

Paul said...

Charisma and French do not go together Tim!

Nice looking outfit.

Mojo said...

I like what I see :)
Good work!

Archduke Piccolo said...

A fine looking outfit. It's always good to have within one's army formations that are equipped with something less than the latest mechanised equipment - something a little more 'hand to mouth'. This sort of thing fills the bill.
Cheers,
Ion

Tim Gow said...

Sun of York
As I think I've said before: small load of crap=Megablitz division. Big load of crap=corps....

Tim Gow said...

Paul
Shame on you sir!

Tim Gow said...

Mojo
Thanks. Amazing what you can do with a few recycled bits.

Tim Gow said...

Archduke Piccolo
With a lorry and a radio truck, these guys think they are mechanised!

Al said...

That's an awesome unit, the figures look the part

Tim Gow said...

Al
Glad you like them. Shall I dig out more French for photos?

Al said...

Yes, please do