As the Syrian onrush rushed on, Israeli tanks took up their prepared positions (both photos by Ian Drury)
The Israeli Air Force - recipient of much of the pre-war defence budget - was expected to save the day...
...but still the MiGs and Sukhois roared in.
Israeli mechanised infantry moving up
Each Purple Line strongpoint was garrisoned by a platoon of infantry and a tank platoon. Here an additional platoon of Centurions has arrived. Cynical readers may suspect that the strongpoint is not in fact a meticulously researched and finely detailed hand crafted bespoke replica but merely an Airfix Coastal Defence fort with the guns removed. As if.
The Syrian forces amounted to two tank brigades and two mechanised brigades, with plenty of artillery support...
...and - crucially - three bridgelayers.
Soon the Syrians armour reached the anti-tank ditch and engineers were deployed.
Accompanying Shilkas saw off some of the Israeli airstrikes...
...and shot down this Skyhawk. At this point the Syrian steamroller appeared unstoppable.
Looks great Tim. Love that you got the bridge layers involved!
ReplyDeleteWonderful Tim.
ReplyDeleteThe Skyhawk is a quite literal lawn dart now.
Cheers,
Pete.
Despite all my mutterings of "this is crazy"
ReplyDeleteI am suitably impressed with the effect
Far better than my sensible modern 1/300 scale
My apologies for mistaking 1/48 for 1/35
Obviously should have went to SpecSavers
It is brilliant. I hope the anti-tank ditch can be turned into a gardening feature when all is said and done?
ReplyDeleteLooks great so far, lets see if the Israelis hold this time around.....
ReplyDeleteExcellent - I wonder how many alterations have been made, and alternative uses found, for the airfix buildings range: my Fort Sahara has doubled as a 15mm Fort Capuzzo - hugely unconvincingly; and Fort Apache has been used for a 15mm Pony Wars excapade - more convincing that time!
ReplyDeleteGoodness knows how many times the pontoon bridge set has been deployed, ditto my now "sawn off" la Haye Sainte!
happy days - very nice aircraft by the way - very effective models.
Ken
Peter Douglas
ReplyDeleteAs with the real deal, the bridgelayers were high value assets/targets.
Pete
ReplyDeleteA Skyhawk was brought down early on in the real battle, and seen by so many witnesses that heavy IAF losses were reported.
Geordie
ReplyDeleteReally, it is crazy. And yes, 1/300 (which Ian and I also have) is indeed more sensible but they do get lost easily in the grass....
Michael Peterson
ReplyDeleteThe ‘ditch’ is merely the contents of a £1.50 bag of compost. Very eco-friendly!
Don M
ReplyDeleteYou’d best have your people prepare an airlift of artillery shells and TOW rounds just in case....
Ken H
ReplyDeleteYou may even recognise the Israeli strongpoints from their recent outing at the Somme.. My own Airfix LHS (alas, long departed) was used for pretty well everything from Ancient Greece to Cold War Africa. Everything that is, except Napoleonic.....