Happy New Years-1918 Style

 

  Another New Years' Celebration full of lights in the sky. But on January 1, 1918, the fire in the sky wasn't from fireworks.

Rather it was from two sets of massive warring forces the Allies vs the Central Powers. Here an Imperial German 77mm field gun.

And its opposite number the famous French Soixante-Quinze (75) mm. None of those fighting in the Great War knew that 1918 would be the last year of the terrible conflict. Yet it was and New Year's Day 1919, saw a World that while not at total peace, as least saw the guns of the Great War silent.

These are metal pieces from Old Glory that I painted for my Great War Armies back in 2010.

May 2023 be a good one for you and yours, and hopefully the current guns of war will fall silent as they did in the Great War 125 Years ago.

Tank, Cruiser, Mk VII, Cromwell (A27M)

 

What a mouthful of a title, let's just stick with "Cromwell." During the Second World War, British tank designs were designated as either "Infantry Tanks" or "Cruiser Tanks."  The former were slow AFV's (Armored Fighting Vehicle's) designed to travel with and give close support to infrantry foreces. While crusiers were fast attack tanks designed to creat breakthroughs in the front or contain enemy assualts. With only 4000 units built, Cromwell's were not the most common tank in the British Army. Yet with its high speed of 64kn/h (40 mph), good armor of 76-100mm (3 to 4 inches) and a reliable 75 mm (2.953 inch) main gun, the Cromwell was popular with its crews. Cromwell's saw heavy service from 1944 to the end of World War II in Europe, as well as action in the '48 Arab Israeli War and the Korean War. After World War II, some Cromwell's found service with the Greek, Israeli, Polish and Portuguese Armies. By the mid-1950's, they were no longer frontline units in the British Army.

This is a plastic piece that I put together and painted in July '22.