Project: "CURRAHEE" - They also served

[SteveKrieg]

G'day all,


I was on a roll today with three scenes (two of which comprise single figures) which I completed as part of the overarching "CURRAHEE" series of dioramas. Whilst doing the research on the 506th, it is hard not to go past other aspects of the 101st A/B Div, namely the other battalions and supporting units. One which struck out to me was the 377th Parachute Field Artillery Battalion (PFAB) and no other unit within the Division suffered as much that night of the 6th June.


With its full compliment of 12 x Pack 75mm howitzers, the 377th was to knocking out of a German battery and barracks at Saint Martin-de-Varreville (assisting the 502nd Battalion 506th). Each howitzer was dropped in nine breakdown loads and due to the mis-drops that impacted on the drops overall, the crews and the equipment loads were strewn all over the Contentin and only one of the 12 guns was salvaged and assembled for use with other artillerymen managing to utilise two captured pieces whilst others served as infantrymen until replacement 75's were brought in over the beaches.

 

[SteveKrieg]

Two single figures represent two oft-maligned units - the 327th Glider Infantry Regiment (GIR) and the IX Troop Carrier Command. The 'Glider riders' or 'Leg soldiers' (as those with parachute wings often called them) did not come in with the Parachute Infantry Regiments (PIRs) that night as few gliders were employed (as part of Mission "Chicago" a few hours later which was a disaster in its own right - a largely resupply mission where most gliders - due to the narrow confines of the bocage terrain - crashed) due to lack of aircraft (the bulk of which were required to drop the paratroop assault force). The 327th came in as part of the follow-up force and entered the fray via "Utah" beach, it played a key role (taking heavy casualties in the process) in the envelopment assault on Carentan where the 3/327th (as the helmet insignia on this figure represents) met up with Winters'2/506th pretty much in the centre of town.


The aircrews of the IX Troop Carrier Command (9th USAAF) responsible for the American paratroop drops have always copped flak (so to speak) in the histories of the airborne assault on D-Day and part of the reason why I want to include a pilot figure of this Command (much like the 377th PFAB and 327th GIR figures) is to give credit to the lesser known supporting players as everyone who was involved performed heroically given the horrendous circumstances which prevailed that night (and on into the glider missions that followed -- all of which suffered heavily). The aircrews of the IX TCC were a varied lot with equally varying levels of experience - most of whom were not conditioned to fly at night into the conditions that prevailed, the unexpected cloud bank once over the coast and the volume of enemy flak that unnerved many aircrews to take evasive (and erratic) action which had severe flow-on effects on the Division's operational plan. Despite the many histories, the aircrews performed as best they could given the circumstances and the faults lay more-so with what was expected of them in untested conditions by high command and the rather unrealistic view held by SHAEF staff in assuming that conditions over Normandy would be perfect for a close formation drop of such large numbers of men and equipment. Enjoy, Steve

 

[SteveKrieg]

Finally, a sneak peak at the next diorama. Though it may not look it as yet, this plastic water feature on a hollowed-out piece of hard foam will become in due-course a weapons scrape for a .30Cal LMG team. Will post the pics accordingly when completed.

 

[Squidley]

Hey, great stuff! Love the pack howitzer. Never did pick one up when they were around. You've made excellent use of it!

Thanks for keeping it going.

 

[SteveKrieg]

Thanks very much Squidley, as for DML's (CHE) Pack 75 howitzer, I'm glad that I'm able to re-use this particular item and the ammo cart that goes with it. I had previously used my two to represent the British 1st Airlanding Light Artillery Regiment in the 2014 'MARKET GARDEN' diorama series. As with pretty much all of DML/CHE larger pieces of the time, they are polystone making them somewhat fragile (my German field kitchen a true testament to the weight of some of their releases as the wheels buckled over time) and the less said about their BMW R75 motorcycle the better (I've two that will require quite a bit of work to repair though they'll do up nicely) and I sometimes wonder why they just didn't produce them out of the lighter plastics they'd used on their other larger pieces such as the kubelwagens and jeeps. But back on topic, I'm glad I purchased the ammo to go with it back then as, so stated, such are hard to get these days. Cheers, Steve

 

[Ortona]

That set up looks great. I'm sorry I missed out on that howitzer, since the Brit paras used them too. Is that a poli-stone-resin piece?

Nice job!

 

[SteveKrieg]

Cheers all,


As for the Pack 75 howitzer availability, they do come up on sites (such as 'Monkey Depot' and 'Wartoys' on occasion though a tad more costly these days which is to be expected. The models are, like all of the DML/CHE accessories of that period, polystone which is somewhat fragile and can warp (the German field kitchen and the weight of them on the wheels a classic example if displayed without support for a prolonged period) as well as the IF-8 infantry cart series. Their Pack 75 is better distributed weight-wise and hence does not have that problem. I completely repainted and detailed the howitzers for the 2014 'MARKET GARDEN' series and added the steering pole on the back (allowing the crew to man-handle the traverse of the piece into position where required). The ammo and caisson are CHE also and came as accessory kits to the howitzer. Cheers, Steve

 

[Panzercommander HOH]

Nicely done, Steve!

Fred