For the past four years, the young French woman had been used to whistles and comments from the friendly German soldiers manning the check point into her village.
"Off to visit your Gran again, Frauline?" They would ask as they examined her papers. She would just nod......
Now things had changed. It was July 1944. The Allied Army had finally broken out of the Normandy Beachhead and were heading inland.
She noticed how young the soldiers were now, and how sullen and frightened they looked. And with good cause, the spearhead of the American forces was but a few kilometers away and rapidly advancing. Once through the check point, and out of sight of the soldiers, she cycled off into the woods. She was on a mission, she was a messenger for the local resistance and had an important message for the American Commander.......Granny would have to wait.
"Listen up guys, this brave young lady has brought us an important message from the head guy of the village. Most of the Krauts have shipped out east to stronger defences, leaving only a token force to form a rearguard. This little map shows just where they've set up strong points. More important than any of that is the fact that in the two old buildings by a stream there is a well hidden stash of cheese and wine! The villagers want to share it all with us after we've kick out the enemy!
So, gentlemen when we attack at first light tomorrow, just make sure we don't hit those two buildings - but blast the rest to hell and back!
Don't worry about hitting the Frogs, they will be out in the fields - heads down, kind'a pretending to work!
We move out at 04.00.........That's all."
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^
So that is the story behind this build.
I've been lucky enough to have wandered around Normandy and I just love the up, down, round and around quaint rural villages, and have long wanted to build a model one - part of one, anyway!
'Established' members might have seen this before. If so please pretend the thread's not there. Thanks.
Those that haven't, and would like to come along for the ride....Welcome!
Please excuse any wrong punctuation, misplaced apostrophes and spelling etc., I might inadvertently type along the way..:upside:.....Thanks
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
I never plan my dioramas to any detail beforehand, I just start with an idea and let things develop as I plod along. Although bought buildings are superb and make up into very nice pieces, I prefer to make my own, simply because I want my buildings to match my ideas, not the other way around. This model will be in 1/72. To make any dioramas look right in 1/35, every nail, lock, window catch, virtually everything as in the real world would have to be modelled. Way, way beyond my skills!........so 1/72 it is.
Let's start....
Here's the 18"x 14" base. It's a piece of chipboard from an old kitchen unit with pieces of polystyrene from a washing machine packaging stuck to it.
First idea that came swirling in to my noggin' was to incorporate a stream, so I shaped the poly. to suit. I placed the tank to try and get some idea just what, and where I could build stuff.
[ATTACH]305058[/ATTACH]
Then I sat back and cracked a can - and thought!
Cheers.
Ron
"Off to visit your Gran again, Frauline?" They would ask as they examined her papers. She would just nod......
Now things had changed. It was July 1944. The Allied Army had finally broken out of the Normandy Beachhead and were heading inland.
She noticed how young the soldiers were now, and how sullen and frightened they looked. And with good cause, the spearhead of the American forces was but a few kilometers away and rapidly advancing. Once through the check point, and out of sight of the soldiers, she cycled off into the woods. She was on a mission, she was a messenger for the local resistance and had an important message for the American Commander.......Granny would have to wait.
"Listen up guys, this brave young lady has brought us an important message from the head guy of the village. Most of the Krauts have shipped out east to stronger defences, leaving only a token force to form a rearguard. This little map shows just where they've set up strong points. More important than any of that is the fact that in the two old buildings by a stream there is a well hidden stash of cheese and wine! The villagers want to share it all with us after we've kick out the enemy!
So, gentlemen when we attack at first light tomorrow, just make sure we don't hit those two buildings - but blast the rest to hell and back!
Don't worry about hitting the Frogs, they will be out in the fields - heads down, kind'a pretending to work!
We move out at 04.00.........That's all."
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^
So that is the story behind this build.
I've been lucky enough to have wandered around Normandy and I just love the up, down, round and around quaint rural villages, and have long wanted to build a model one - part of one, anyway!
'Established' members might have seen this before. If so please pretend the thread's not there. Thanks.
Those that haven't, and would like to come along for the ride....Welcome!
Please excuse any wrong punctuation, misplaced apostrophes and spelling etc., I might inadvertently type along the way..:upside:.....Thanks
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
I never plan my dioramas to any detail beforehand, I just start with an idea and let things develop as I plod along. Although bought buildings are superb and make up into very nice pieces, I prefer to make my own, simply because I want my buildings to match my ideas, not the other way around. This model will be in 1/72. To make any dioramas look right in 1/35, every nail, lock, window catch, virtually everything as in the real world would have to be modelled. Way, way beyond my skills!........so 1/72 it is.
Let's start....
Here's the 18"x 14" base. It's a piece of chipboard from an old kitchen unit with pieces of polystyrene from a washing machine packaging stuck to it.
First idea that came swirling in to my noggin' was to incorporate a stream, so I shaped the poly. to suit. I placed the tank to try and get some idea just what, and where I could build stuff.
[ATTACH]305058[/ATTACH]
Then I sat back and cracked a can - and thought!
Cheers.
Ron
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