"Canada's Stalingrad", Ortona, Italy, Dec., 1943.

[uss frolick]

Few people outside Canada remember that, while the battles for Monte Cassino were just getting started on the western side of Italy, another major battle was raging on the other side of the 'boot'. The First Canadian Infantry Division was tasked with taking the strategically important port city of Ortona, Italy on the Adriatic Coast. The battle raged from December 1943 through to the new year, and it coast Canada thousands of lives. Before they could even reach the city, the Canadians had to cross the killing zones of the Moro River Valley that were viciously held by the German First Parachute Division and the 90th Panzer Grenadier Division (formerly the "90th Light Division" of Afrika Korps fame) dug into the hills above. After a month of non-stop bloodshed, the Canadians finally reached the outskirts of Ortona. Two the division's nine regiments were specifically tasked with taking the city proper, the Seaforth Highlanders of Canada, and the Loyal Edmonton Regiment, aka the "Loyal Eddies". After a week of horrendous fighting against the fallschirmjagers, the completely destroyed city finally fell, only days after Christmas. This bloody battle became known as "The Stalingrad of Italy". The Canadians were forced to fight house to house. They were issued with as many Thompson submachine guns as they could find for the purpose. They also used many captured German weapons such as MP40s and "spandaus". In order to stay out of the killing zones of the open streets, the Canadians perfected a technique known as "mouse-holing", where they would blow holes in the interior walls of buildings, knowing that the enemy was on the other side, using PIAT anti-tank weapons and captured Teller Mines. After the explosion, they would then rush though the "mouse-hole" into the confusion, throwing grenades and firing automatic weapons.

My troops are mostly Seaforth Highlanders, with one each "Loyal Eddie", and  a 22nd French-Canadian Regiment "Van Doo". Their webbing had been painted Green Ochre/ Khaki Grey, to make them more realistic, according to the Barton Blanco practicum. The color video screen-shot backgrounds of Italian rubble come from a Youtube TV news report detailing the damage done by a recent earthquake in the town of Amatrice. (It's hard to find a place in the video to freeze the picture, that doesn't have watermarks, crawlers, modern vehicles, rescuers in bright shirts, and modern items like broken satellite dishes, but there are a few.) The video I used was this one:
 

On a Moro Valley ridge, preparing to assault the City of Ortona:

 

0 by Stephen Duffy, on Flickr

 

0-2 by Stephen Duffy, on Flickr

 

0-3 by Stephen Duffy, on Flickr

 

0-4 by Stephen Duffy, on Flickr

 

0 by Stephen Duffy, on Flickr

 

0-3 by Stephen Duffy, on Flickr

 

Fighting in the wrecked city:

 

0-9 by Stephen Duffy, on Flickr

 

0-7 by Stephen Duffy, on Flickr

 

0-6 by Stephen Duffy, on Flickr

 

0-5 by Stephen Duffy, on Flickr

 

0-4 by Stephen Duffy, on Flickr

 

0-2 by Stephen Duffy, on Flickr

 

A PIAT gunner preparing to blast through a wall:

 

0-7 by Stephen Duffy, on Flickr

 

0-4 by Stephen Duffy, on Flickr

 

0-3 by Stephen Duffy, on Flickr

 

0-1 by Stephen Duffy, on Flickr

 

0 by Stephen Duffy, on Flickr

 

0-1 by Stephen Duffy, on Flickr

 

The insignia is a combination of CVI and Sixth Scale King. Lieutenant Ansgar Mackenzie's tamo-shanter is a Banjoman Custom, with Tony Barton 'Seaforth Highlanders' Insignia . Ditto the sergeants glenngary cap. Ansgar also wears a complete British Officers set, which took forever, and cost a fortune: Officers braces, binocular case, holster, officer's satchel, pistol ammo pouch, compass pouch and map case. In real life, a German sniper would have taken any officer out in five minutes who wore the set with rank insignia. I can't identify the custom headsculpts. I bought custom figures on eBay from a Canadian fellow named 'mad-dog', and I heavily reworked them. I'd like to get more of those heads. The PIAT gunners uniform was dyed a more greenish hue to better resemble the Canadian battledress. It worked slightly, but made his uniform darker. 

The PIAT gunner wears a towel wrapped around his face to protect him from the choking plaster dust knocked up by the coming explosion.
 

 

"Git Some!" Rata-Tat-Tat!

 

0 by Stephen Duffy, on Flickr

[popeye the sailor]

the use of backdrops works well........nicely done  

[thibaultron]

Great work, it took me a second to realize the first picture was a model! great face painting!