Flames of War: The Black Brigade 1: Command and Control

10th Motorised Brigade Colour Parties on parade in Rzeszow, 3rd May 1939

Its over! 7 months of my life from conception to completion. The Black Brigade (aka The Polish 10th Motorised Cavalry Brigade) is finished!

Anybody that wants to play Polish in Flames of War (or any other games system for that matter) will at some point cast their eyes over the Polish 10th Motorised Cavalry Brigade (aka The Black Brigade) and will realise that they would sell their own Grandmother to obtain a good looking Black Brigade force to play with.

Therein lays the rub however! As many who read my blog will by now be aware, there is a paucity of decent models out there with which to represent said 10BK, there are very few that are appropriate at all and those that are appropriate are, for the most part, absolutely appalling miniatures. Many people would quite understandably tut and let it rest there.

Sucker for punishment!

Not me however for I am a sucker for punishment on an almost biblical scale and love to grab a hold of projects that could be described as a cross that your average nondescript offspring of a creator would jump at the chance of carrying on his back! I made the decision at the start of the year that I would create my very own Black Brigade with all of their accouterments to use in my games and of course for the approval of my audience; you guys!

Now, this is such a big and involved project with SOOOOOO much research that can be done on it that I have decided that I am going to release my blogs that are related to the Black Brigade in a certain order... and of course this is an order that involves as much hair pulling, eyeball mincing and late nights as is humanly possible... oh, and a certain volume of writing I guess!

I have done a seven part biography of Stanislaw Maczeks life, the heroic and very talented commander of the Black Brigade covering his whole life. This is an historical series that is a LOT of reading, so not for the faint-hearted, and only really for those who want to know what made this man Maczek tick. I've used Evan McGilvray's book 'Man of Steel and Honour' as the core of where I pulled my info from but on top of that (and especially because the section on the Polish campaign was so threadbare) I have also used countless websites both in Polish and in English, books both in Polish and in English, archival documents (which I could only manage at gun point to get she who must be obeyed to translate for me! Sadly there are a lot less of these than I would have liked) and newspapers, including a great obituary for Maczek by the Telegraph newspaper, which will be included in part 7. I am Welsh! A native English speaker and speak next to no Polish beyond military terms so all of this translation work was problematic to say the least!

Because this all represents so much solid text I have decided to also break this biography series up with a series of blogs actually about the Black Brigade itself and potted histories of each of the constituent parts of the Brigade, with each blog having included within it the modelling and painting of the corresponding part of the Brigade. 

So to get the ball rolling I thought I would do an introduction to the Black Brigade, give a brief history and a Brigade level organisational breakdown of this formation and as its modelling element include the Command and Control element of the Flames of War force afterwards explaining how I went about doing them.

So who exactly were these titans of modern warfare that history recalls as 'The Black Brigade'

The History

A Polish 24th Uhlan in summer uniform

Well the Black Brigade is the nickname bestowed by the German Heer onto the Polish 10th Motorised Cavalry Brigade who they so labelled on account of the Black leather jackets that all of the officers, NCO's and motorcycle troops wore in the Brigade. When you combine a mid thigh length leather jacket with knee high black boots and black berets, and in the case of the Motorcycle troops oversized black gloves its easy to see where the nomenclature came from.

Poland, in the years following the First World War was not the most modern of country's and in fact there is a solid argument that over the years the military hierarchy became less capable and more entrenched in tradition. For the modernisers in the Polish army it became an uphill struggle to get the General Staff and those others whose decisions counted for something, to consider moving away from the Cavalry and Infantry based forces that Poland's military foundation was quagmired in.

A Warlord Games plate showing the Black Brigades
armoured troop uniform on the left and Officer and
 NCO issued black brigade uniform on the right.

In the face of aggressive modernisation programs in Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union the Polish hierarchy eventually gave the go ahead for wargames that would test modern Poland's capabilities. The findings were sobering to say the least. One of the most sobering of facts was that there was only enough ammunition in the country's depots to provide its forces for three months war.

A motorised brigade was assembled in order to prove the concept as unworkable across the Polish landscape. It was formed in 1937 as a cross between a normal motorised brigade and a French model Division Legere. Resistance to the idea from cavalry based officers was fierce however.

Testing of the new unit was to be done in a specially formed training ground near Kielce, as well as using the Armoured Units Training School to train the armoured elements of the brigade.

Conceived as an emergency unit in the Commander in Chief's Central Reserves it was to be thrown at any serious fire where it could plug the gaps that the enemy were able to create in the Polish lines. It was conceived that it could be tasked with screening the movement of slower moving troops and to engage enemy armoured units that were getting a bit precocious!

10th Mounted Rifles (10. PSK) barracks in Lancut

Initially, owing to financial pressures only a few elements, the mounted cavalry regiments, were to be constituent parts of the Brigade with other battalions and companies to be subordinated to the Brigade during times of war. The new brigade emerged from the transformation of the traditionally horse mounted 10th Mounted Rifle Regiment (10 pulk strzelcow konnych), from Lancut, and the 24th Uhlan Regiment (24 pulk ulanow), from Krasnik. The first commanding officer of the Brigade was nominated as Colonel Antoni Trzaska-Durska

One of the Brigades Terrain Battalions

Whilst all of the troopers of the newly reformatted regiments were still being trained according to the cavalry manuals the organisation of the regiments had been adjusted.  Each of the regiments was now divided into two Battalions with one of the battalions mounted in trucks (Polski Fiat 621L) and the other mounted in wz.34 Half Tracks. These were termed the 'wheeled' and 'terrain' battalions. Each battalion now had a command and staff unit, a communications section, two rifle squadrons and a machine gun squadron. There were also a collection of other vehicles that each of the battalions would be called to use such as the Polski Fiat 508/III Furgon pick up truck and the Sokol 1000 motorcycle.

The trucks pulling their trailers that were routinely used
before the outbreak of war in September '39

Trucks used were initially in such short supply that they had to borrow the majority of them off of other organisations and until just before the war a trailer that carried 6 men was used in great numbers.

In July 1937 the two regiments of the Brigade travelled by road to the Barycz Training Camp near Konskie. They were soon joined by the other brigade assets from other formations where they all began to undergo intensive squadron and battalion manoeuvres. In August gunnery training was conducted with exercises in cooperation at the regimental level and above.

24th Uhlan Officers showing the Brigades pre'38 uniform

In September '37 the 10th Brigade joined other brigades in Wielkopolska to conduct further exercises which led to a multi divisional field exercise in Pomerania,between the Warta and Notec rivers between September 10th-13th. The Brigade gave a satisfactory performance although the higher staff accepted that it needed to be strengthened in both men and material.

As a result of these exercises the Brigade was formally entered into the military rolls of the Polish army by the Minister of Defence, with some of the smaller units seconded to the Brigade temporarily with a view to becoming a part of the Brigade permanently. A communication unit followed by a two squadron anti-tank battalion were formed in the town of Rzeszow where the Brigades headquarters was already situated.

Renewed discussions of the formation of the Brigade took place again at the start of 1938. On April 20th 1938 the Ministry of Defence issued a proclamation delineating the formation of the Brigade and the towns where each of its assets would be stabled. This is where it would remain until war broke out in 1939

Motorcycle platoon of the Reconnaissance Battalion

In June 1938 there was a significant change in the formation of the regiments. A reconnaissance squadron consisting of the addition of a tankette platoon, an anti tank platoon and a motorcycle platoon were added to each regiment. Simultaneously the sub units of the Brigade were reorganised and classified as squadrons.

On 1st July 1938 the Brigades Reconnaissance Battalion was created and stabled in Rzeszow. It quite simply represented a combined arms formation that was like a microcosm of the Brigade as a whole. It comprised a Tankette squadron, a motorised rifle squadron of four platoons, and a platoon each of heavy machine guns, anti-tank guns, motorcycles and communications.

A further addition in 1938 was the Traffic Control platoon which was handed the responsibility of coordinating the movement between regiments and battalions. These guys would prove to be an exceptionally foresighted addition during the fighting in the Karpaty and Beskides in September '39.

The Brigades tankette squadron on manoeuvres in 1937. Note the trailer.

The 121st Light Tank Company on manoeuvres with the 10BK

In August 1938 the Brigade once again made its way to Barycz to conduct intensive training. Arriving in Barycz on 8/9th September the Brigade was transported by train to Rowne in the Wolyn voivodship. These three day manoeuvres were conducted between 15th to 18th September near the Horyn and Seret rivers. The purpose of these exercises was to test the feasibility of a motorised brigades performance across the flat and hilly countryside of Wolyn.

Theses exercises were a disappointment with General Fabrycy reporting the Brigade in his summary as a 'rather harmless doorknocker'. It should be noted here that other than inefficiency in certain logistical areas the failure of the brigade  came largely as a result of poor tactical leadership, as well as the specifics of the assignment itself which the Brigade was not yet appropriately equipped with in order to fulfill the role as an assault unit.

At Mokotow Fields displaying their pre '38 uniforms

A parade at Mokotow fields at Luck ended the manoeuvres and the Brigade was loaded back onto its trains. However instead of returning back to their depots they were deposited at Cieszyn in Silesia (Slask Cieszynski), disembarking at the town of Skoczow on 22nd September.

Reconnaissance Battalion motorcycles on their way to Zaolzie

Independent Operational Group Slask was intended as a show of force and if necessary an assault formation. It was being concentrated due to the Nazi occupation of the Sudetenland
in Czechoslovakia and to reinforce the Polish claim to the Zaolzie region. As it happened the Czech government capitulated to Jozef Becks gunboat diplomacy so the Brigade never needed to be deployed in anger. The Brigade was instead assigned the important task of occupying the important rail network junction at Bohumin before the Germans could get there.



On October 8th 1938 the Brigade departed from Skoczow and marched along the border entering Bohumin from the north, securing the border and preventing the possibility of German militia moving into Bohumin.

The 10th Motorised Brigade conduct their progress through the annexed territories with flags unfurled and on display!

Marshal Rydz-Smigly inspects 10BK in Bohumin

On 11th October an official ceremony and parade were held in Bohumin with the town covered in flags. This then led to a progression through the newly acquired region of Zaglebie Karwinskie, the Brigade marching with banners unfurled and on display.

In the middle of October the Brigade was relocated to Bielsko becoming the reserve of Independent Operational Group Slask. Training began anew this time with the troops being able to familiarise themselves with the Czech fortifications which covered the area.

The Brigade on parade in 1938

Col. A Trzaska-Durska

At this time there was also a change in commander with Colonel Antoni Trzaska-Durska being unceremoniously booted out and Colonel Stanislaw Maczek taking over. (Looks like somebody finally reminded himself what this man achieved in the three wars he had already fought in with collections of motor vehicles!). This change came as a result of a number of tactical blunders that Trzaska-Durski had apparently committed being somewhat overburdened with the task in front of him.

Colonel Stanislaw Maczek discussing map things...

Maczeks appointment however came with a caveat. The commander of Independent Operational Group Slask said that the group had performed poorly in the previous manoeuvres and if such things did not improve then the motorised experiment would be abandoned. Thankfully though, Maczek was well received by the men who knew his reputation as an outstanding officer with a perfect war record which can only have served to make his job a little easier.

In November Independent Operational Group Slask was able to secure further territories at the Slovakians expense, appropriating the small region of Czadczyzna and after this parts of Spisz and Orawa as a result of the partition of Czeckoslovakia. For the operation in the latter two area the 'Podhale' Operational Group was established with Maczek taking the helm.

The 121st Light Tank Company on the march in Czadczyzna

After nearly six weeks at Bielsko the Brigade moved on to Nowy Targ arriving on November 25th. The next day three combat groups were formed and moved into position with Colonel Cielinski's group comprising mostly 10th Mounted Rifles securing part of Pieniny, whilst the second combat group under Major Swiecicki with his Reconnaissance Battalion taking the towns in Orawa, where conflicts with Czeck army officers almost brought the troops to blows over the particulars of the division although this was avoided at the last minute. The final group of troops under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Dworak of 24th Uhlans was assigned to acquire the area of Jaworzyna Spiska. They took the town of Jaworzyna with no issue but were then confronted with Czechoslovakian units in the Zdzarska Pass. A dispute over the dividing line erupted resulting in an exchange of fire. One Polish officer became a casualty of enemy fire before the Czechoslovakian units withdrew to the town of Zdzar.

10th Motorised Cavalry positions at the Zdarska Pass

On December 1st 1938 the 10th Motorised Brigade was removed from the rolls of Independent Operational Group Slask, concentrating near Nowy Targ and Zakopane ready for transportation back to their garrison towns. Maczek recalled that "Not judging in any form, the Zaolzie operation, just the mere fact of concentrating and utilising the entire Brigade, otherwise assembled only once in a while for manoeuvres, did the Brigade good!"

Despite the fact that nearly all observations drawn by the Polish Military through the extended exercises and manoeuvres of the Brigade drew the conclusion that the Brigade needed to be strengthened. True to their professional form, in December 1938 the Army's General Headquarters authorised a new unit composition of lower strength. The Regiments were reorganised with Command Units at Battalion level being dissolved. The Regiments were now to consist of four line squadrons and a heavy machine gun squadron whilst the regimental reconnaissance squadron was also dissolved.

Maczek discusses issues with his Reconnaissance troops

These organisational changes, which consistently highlighted the fact that the troops needed to be supported with more mobilisation capability and the whole Brigade should be furnished with much wider reconnaissance capabilities, were not driven by military doctrine but rather by a serious deficiency of available equipment... and finance.

In keeping with his character Maczek put forward a counter proposition for a new form of reorganisation after consultations with his staff in January of 1939. Maczek emphasised the need for expansion of the Brigade, not so much in manpower or size but in ordnance. First in artillery and then in armour. Unfortunately only a few of his ideas were implemented before war broke out.

In March 1939 Germany finally took the step of occupying the 'rump' of Czechoslovakia, effectively dismembering the state, leading to the creation of Slovakia, Nazi Germany's first ally.

At least the suggestion of an increase in the anti-tank artillery support was agreed to, with a compliment of 27 Bofors
 37mm guns being provided to the Brigade across assets.

As a result of these political tensions the Polish government ordered an increase in the state of readiness of the Brigade with the 24th Uhlans moving from Krasnik to Rzeszow where it was concentrated in readiness.

The Brigade conducting battlefield exercises in mid 1939

Intensive training and operational coordination of the Brigades units took place. The aim of one of these exercises was to engage a column of enemy armoured vehicles in order to prevent it reaching the vicinity of Rzeszow. Amongst the observers at these exercises was the French military attache General Louis Faury, former chief of the General Staff Academy who stated "You should have a few of such brigades!" Colonel Stefan Rowecki, the future commander of the Warsaw Armoured Motorised Brigade was also present.

At the end of July Maczek ordered all Brigade elements to concentrate at Rzeszow but before this could be done a Marching Alert was issued on August 12th.

Two days later the Brigade elements all headed to Krakow to become the Army Reserve of Armii Krakow.

Which neatly dovetails into the biography of Stanislaw Maczek part IV outlining the Black Brigades struggle across Poland in September 1939. This is one serious post so if there is anybody that really wants to know what the Black Brigade went through I feel confident in being able to guarantee that you will not find ANYTHING more comprehensive about their fights in the English language, and you would do well to find additional information in German (maybe even in Polish! *cough* ) :D

The Brigades Tankette Squadron, here represented by a TKS, on the mid 1939 manoeuvres 

The Organisation

The organisational structure of the Polish 10th Motorised Brigade when war broke out was as follows:

Command
Quartermaster Squadron
Communications Squadron
Medical Platoon
Traffic Control Platoon
(Officers: 15 Soldiers: 168)

Motorised Regiments x2 (24th Uhlans and 10th Mounted Rifles)
Each comprising:
4 Line Squadrons
Heavy Machine Gun Squadron
Anti-Tank Platoon
Pioneer Platoon
Motorcycle Platoon
(Officers: 34 Soldiers: 940)

Reconnaissance Battalion
Motorised Infantry Squadron
Reconnaissance Tank Squadron
Heavy Machine Gun Platoon
Anti-Tank Platoon
Motorcycle Platoon
Communications Platoon
(Officers: 15 Soldiers: 363)

Anti-Tank Battalion
2 Anti-Tank Gun Squadrons
Communications Platoon
(Officers: 12 Soldiers: 241)

Motorised Artillery Battalion
100mm Howitzer Battery
75mm Field Gun Battery
(Officers: 21 Soldiers: 394)

Pioneer Battalion
Obstacle Company
Construction Company
(Officers: 24 Soldiers: 424)

Anti-Aircraft Battery
4 Anti-Aircraft Platoons
(Officers: 6 Soldiers: 163)

Light Tank Company (121st Light Tank Company)
Commanders Tank
3 platoons of 5 tanks each
(Officers: 4 Soldiers: 110)

Reconnaissance Tank Company (101st Reconnaissance Tank Company)
Commanders Tank
2 platoons of 6 tanks each
(Officers: 3 Soldiers: 50)

2 Transportation Columns and Petrol Column
Passenger Cars x3
Petrol Carriers x23
Cargo Trucks x43
Motorcycles x6
(Officers: 6 Soldiers: 201)

Workshop Unit
Workshop Vehicles x2
Cargo Trucks x4
Motorcycles x1
(Officers: 1 Soldiers: 29)


Modelling the Headquarters Elements for the Black Brigade

A big picture view of the entire Black Brigade for Flames of War completed! Thank God and good riddance! :D

Why choose the Black Brigade? It smacks of being a bit of a cliché to choose the only formation in Poland that was never beaten but in all fairness when you take a look at them it sticks out like a sore thumb that they do have a very unique look and sport a variety of equipment that you just wouldn't have access to with any other formation, and that my friends is reason enough to dive in... That and the fact of course that over the last two years I've covered almost every other eventuality that Poland can field in games based in 1939.

The complete Command elements for the Brigade.

The command elements for the Black Brigade in Flames of War (using Alex's 'Poland in Flames' supplement of course) give good overall representation of the different uniforms and vehicles that are available so I figured that it would be a good starting place for all of the Black Brigade modelling blog posts. I had to sculpt vehicles and parts, do figure conversions and the usual rigmarole of modelling the Poles and their weird little vehicles.

Not much in the way of infantry here, just the Brigade command, the 2iC, a couple of motorcycle and vehicle crews and a couple of bases of 82mm mortars. I had to do a little bit of conversion work here as the True North command figures has one of the officers in a Czapka and other than on official parades when dress uniforms would be worn, they were dispensed with in favour of the new style berets.

This then required some head swapping for which I pulled out some of my Peter Pig heads with Polish berets and duly converted them.

The Brigade Command and 2iC bases showing the beret headswaps.

After this was completed all mortars were built and all infantry made ready for painting along with the motorcycle and vehicle crews and primed in black.

Another view of the command elements exhibiting the leather... oh so much leather!

Where the vehicles are concerned, the staff car (Polski Fiat 508 Lazik) had to be sculpted because I wasn't happy with what few sculpts are out there in 15mm. I think the sculpt I've done is OK, it definitely has its problems but I think its probably more accurate than what else is out there at the moment. After a lot of searching around I settled on using Skytrex German vehicle crews to crew out all of my staff cars, motorised tczankas and light tractors... With a few modifications, mainly head swapping for berets, clipping off water bottles and cutting down SMG's etc but after painting and putting them into the vehicles I think they work a treat.

One of the scratch built Polski Fiat 508 Laziks with 4 occupants to indicate the Brigade Command.

So where the troops are concerned the steps in the painting that I went through is pretty consistent with all of the other Polish troops that I've painted and am likely to paint in the future.

Another view of Maczek in his staff car.

There are obviously two types of uniforms that need to be covered here. Of primary interest is the officers, NCO's and motorcycle troops leather attire which is really what attracts most people to modelling the Brigade in the first place, whilst all of the other troops are wearing their summer uniforms in the scorching heat of this hottest of hot Septembers.

The dispatch rider base showing the base sculpting and exhibiting the leather jackets worn by Motorcycle troops

All miniatures were primed using Games Workshops Chaos Black undercoat.

Painting the Leather Jackets

Leather is leather is leather, and that means its brown... even when its black! :D I undercoat the leather jackets of the Black Brigade troops with Vallejo German Camo. Black Brown. This then has three coats of black ink put over it, or at least enough so that there is only the merest hint of brown in the final appearance. Once these coats are dry, I apply a drybrush over all of the leather coat with a subtle (or not so subtle in some of my cases!) Vallejo Yellow Ochre.

Another view of the dispatch riders

At this point the jackets will look like they have nosedived. Don't worry, its intentional. The Yellow Ochre is only a supporting chroma and will be almost totally disguised by the final step whilst still adding its organic feel to the overall leather-i-ness!

The final step on the leather jackets is to use Vallejo Ivory, or Vallejo Offwhite to paint fine lines on the most pronounced areas of the jackets, with the occasional line (just two or three should be fine) wet blended into the background of the jacket.

Be VERY careful here. You need to think about where you are putting these lines as in just the right places and in just the right amount it can make the jackets look real but if their positioning is poorly thought out and you use too many, or even make them a little too thick it can look a bit crap unfortunately. Its also a nice touch to wet blend with water some of these lines as it can disperse the hard edge effect somewhat and allow the yellow ochre to provide an organic background resonance to the miniature.

Painting the Textile Uniforms

A view of the complete Mortar platoon with transport

All other uniform parts on all other miniatures, except boots and berets but including helmets then had a Vallejo Brown Violet base coat applied. This was followed by a highlight of Vallejo Green Brown for all areas of Violet Brown except for the Helmets which are highlighted with Vallejo's Khaki Grey. All of these areas that started with a Violet Brown than had a layer of AK Interactives Filter for Nato Vehicles. This was then left to dry for a few hours when, using Cotton Buds and White Spirits was washed/rubbed off of the raised areas. Once again it was left to dry completely.

The Brigades mortar section showing their textile uniforms with the NCO's wearing leather jackets.

Once this was all dry a layer of Army Painters anti shine varnish was applied. I hate this varnish with a passion. It just looks SOOO good when its on your miniatures but I have never had the problems with clogged nozzles and wasted half full cans that I've had to throw away and replace with any other varnish!!!!

Painting the Ammo Pouches, Y-Harness and Officers Map Case

The Black Brigade were still wearing cavalry uniforms and as such the ammo pouches and Y-Harness (or Yolk, depending on what terminology you use) was made of brown leather. For this I base coated them Vallejo Chocolate Brown and then highlighted with Vallejo Flat Earth

A view of the rear of one of the Mortar bases showing the leather Y straps and canvas straps on the gas mask tins.

Painting the RCS Gas Mask Tin, Radio and Mortars

A small piece of equipment but quite important as it provides a colour contrast on the miniature itself. The tin itself is basecoated with Vallejo German Camo. Dark Green and then highlighted, by painting bars on the basecoat in a 1:1 mix of Vallejo Yellow Olive and Vallejo Dark Yellow with a final glaze of Vallejo Russian Green being applied to the top. This step may seem overly detailed for such a tiny element but when you are painting 50+ troops at a time it doesn't seem so bad... and looks good so happy days!

The Radio and Mortars go through exactly the same process...

Painting the Vehicles of the Black Brigade's Command

I primed in black. Once dry I airbrushed the vehicles in Tamiya Olive Green and then applied the colour swatches of Tamiya Flat Brown and Tamiya Buff by airbrush as well. Once dry an AK Interactive Filter for Nato Vehicles was applied and left to dry.

The two Polski Fiat 621L trucks provided for the mortar section accompanying the Brigade command.

Once dry the excess filter was removed using white spirits' and cotton buds and again left to dry. Once dry a matt varnish was applied to seal the layer.

All little bits and pieces like wheels and windows were painted. Generally  in black with white flashes on the window to indicate reflectiveness.

Where the actual weathering of the vehicles is concerned I had a choice pretty much forced upon me. If you study the photos of the Brigades vehicles in '39 it is very obvious that it was a very dry summer with only a light dust over the vehicles. So I could keep a measure of uniformity across my army, and because I had been forced to be a little heavy handed with the casts I decided that making the wheels and sides of the vehicles muddier than they were in reality was probably my best option.

A look at the mud and weathering applied to the truck on its sculpted base.

With that in mind I grabbed my pot of pre mixed European Mud by Mig and used it to fill all of the areas that had noticeable holes in them followed by a light stipple of the mud over the rest of the track section. This is then left to dry. It won't look great at this point due to the size of the granules but don't worry. Migs muds are really designed for 1/35th models so even the grains in it feel too big but in our 15mm models its there to provide some heavy layering of the mud.

The next, and in my case the final step is to paint all of the areas around the wheels and treadboards that you want to affix pigments to with a pigment fixer. The pigment of your choice, in my case it was Vallejo's European Earth, is then heavily brushed into the areas you applied the fixer to and is left for about 15 minutes. Once the time is up I use a soft toothbrush to brush away any excess pigment that is left over.

Once you are satisfied with the weathering it's finally ready to base them but that's a post for another time...

So there we have it ladies! The Black Brigade is finished and the blog posts have begun. Feel free to comment as I would love to hear any thoughts and ideas from you all...

Stanislaw Maczek - Part 1 - The Early Years and World War 1 (1892-1918)

For me, one of the pleasures of historical research is the opportunity to experience things vicariously through those who were more talented, better equipped or just happened to be in the right place at the right time (depending on your point of view this can obviously also be read as witless, poorly equipped or just in the wrong place at the wrong time) and to be able to put myself into their shoes and question whether I would have made the same choices.  It’s a fascinating roleplay scenario.

History is replete with examples of individuals who go above and beyond the call of duty and sacrifice everything for the greater good and of course war also brings out diametrically opposed human traits as well. Doing research around a particular subject always opens the possibility of finding one of these individuals that history has largely forgotten.

We all know the names of people like Wellington, Nelson, Manstein, Napoleon and Alexander the Great but how much do we know of the second tier personalities such as Picton, Hardy, Guderian, Davout and Parmenio? 

We know them by the reflected glory of their superiors.  What then of the individuals on the ground such as Martin Poppel, Guy Sajer, Dick Winter, Primo Levi and Hubal?

Where Poland is concerned who are her heroes? General Juliusz Rommel? Nope, he abandoned his army in 1939 and bailed back to Warsaw. Sosabowski? You may know a little about him. He was a Regimental commander in 1939 and ended up commanding the Polish Parachute Brigade in Market Garden '44.  Hubal (Major Henryk Dabrowski)? Grot (Stefan Rowecki)?  These two are names that really will echo through the ages for those initiated into Polish history but perhaps the most well-known name of any Polish general of the Second World War, with the possible exceptions of Sikorski and Anders, absolutely must be that of General Stanislaw Maczek!

The four faces of Stanislaw Maczek

I came across this guy when I very first started to blow air onto the embers of my Polish fire about 15 years ago. I spent some time in the Sikorski Institute in London researching photographic evidence of the Polish 10th Motorised Cavalry Brigade (10BK aka ‘The Black Brigade’). I had seen a couple of very limited photographs of this guy and was able to pick him out in what few Black Brigade photographs the Sikorski Institute held, much to the surprise of a Polish family who were also in the archives sorting through photographs) and with the exception of his experiences of commanding the Black Brigade in September '39, there my interest in Maczek may have lain dormant.

Colonel Maczek with troops of the Reconnaissance Battalion in 1939

Over the years however, I found out that he died in Edinburgh at the ripe old age of 102, spending all his years after the war working in a series of low paid, dead end jobs denied a pension by the British government and robbed of any recognition that he so richly deserved (which I have to say I felt absolutely ashamed by), whilst other far less deserving Polish trouble makers (Anders being the main one, and you will understand why I reference him in this way in part VII of this biography) received very respectable dividends from the UK tax coffers.

As my signal project this year will be the Black Brigade, I thought that this would be a good time to produce a biographical blog post on the remarkable life of one of Poland’s leading military minds.

Following the end of the First World War, and the advent of armoured warfare each country had their experts in motorised combined arms operations, most of whom are much better known than Maczek. We (The British) had Captain Liddel-Hart, Germany had Heinz Guderian, the Soviet Union had Mikhail Tukhachevsky (who Stalin was retarded enough to kill off in the purges), France had Charles De Gaulle and The United States had Patton. Poland had Stanislaw Maczek and unlike all of the others he had actually learnt his skills in combined arms actually on the field of combat under the command of others who, in an era of rigid formulaic tactical doctrine, allowed him to prove his concepts on the coal face.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you  General Stanislaw Maczek, or Baca to his friends!

Stanislaw Maczek - The Early Years (1892 - 1914)

Anna Muller; Stanislaw's Mother

Maczek was born on 31st March 1892 in the Galician town of Szczerzec (thats pronounced Shhh-che-jjets), a parcel of land that hadn’t been a part of a Polish whole for almost 150 years. In 1795 Poland was dismembered and dished up between the three Central European Empires. Prussia (now called Germany since Bismarck’s ego trip), Austria (no longer called the Holy Roman Empire since Napoleon’s ego trip) and Russia (at the time in question being called the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics due to Lenin's ego trip).

To understand the strength of Polish national identity (or a serious lack thereof), it is necessary to understand how these powers dealt with anybody who thought a Polish flag was anything other than a nice option for an added extra to be waved anywhere but a properties outhouse toilet. The Russians were the worst. They controlled the largest percentage of ethnic Poles that were alive, although if anybody so much as mentioned the word Poland, savage reprisals were served up with the morning porridge (Savage is an understatement by the way).  Prussia was next. As with Russia, ethnic Poles were  suppressed. The language, religion (the Poles being staunch Catholics) and literature were also suppressed and again, any occurrence of even a whiff of secession and savage reprisals were soon to follow. Throughout the nineteenth century the ethnic Polish population had three revolutions, all of which were savagely crushed with vast swathes of participants put to death. The last of these revolutions in Europe was in 1863 against Russia. The ethnic Pole was largely a cowed race after this time.

The Austrians were the most tolerant of the Empires within which the Poles lived and dealt with this ethnic group in a somewhat different way. Because they were more tolerant of the Poles ethnicity, when the ugly spectre of revolution raised its head the Austrian thinkers were able to incite the peasantry to revolt against the Polish middle classes (who were the prime movers of these mini revolutions), by prodding the Polish peasants’ desire for the end of serfdom as opposed to fighting for an independent Poland. It turns out that the Polish ethnic peasant wasn't actually terribly interested in independence anywhere near so much as in personal freedom which the Polish middle classes wanted to restrict on gaining independence. In 1848 hundreds of Polish landowners and their families were murdered. The Austrians abolished serfdom soon after.  Smart cookies the Austrians! 

Kasimir Badeni

The Austrian Emperor, Karl Franz, even appointed a Pole, Count Kasimir Badeni, to the governorship of Galicia, an action that would have horrified the Germans and Russians, although looking back in history would have been totally in keeping with how the Romans managed to manage such a large empire so effectively and for so long. Whilst having a liberal attitude towards politics and his own ethnic group, Badeni was also considered to be very much an Austrian monarchist.

The Austrians however, had troubles of their own. Put quite simply the Empire was struggling financially and had acquired so much land that they didn't know what to do with it. At the start of the 20th Century, Europe was largely at peace (for once!) and Galicia was very much a backwater, although it did have one very significant asset; the Polish cultural hub;  Lwow.

Witold Maczek; Stanislaw's Father

 Maczek’s parents were lower gentry and small landowners of Croatian descent and he was a first cousin of Croat politician, Vladko Macek, although despite this, Maczek, being from a well to do family, would have been brought up in a fervently Polish environment, steeped in the culture, patriotism and arts that underlined the Polish psyche, all elements which the poorer serfs would have been excluded from.

Maczek did not initially anticipate a military career. He intended to study either philosophy or the newly growing science of psychology, but the First World War changed these plans significantly!

This is perhaps a good place to now introduce Josef Pilsudski into this narrative. Whilst he exists in the Polish psyche as a Titan in their history, he should be seen as a controversial figure at best who it can be argued left Poland in an extremely vulnerable state in the years following his death... but all of that is yet to come.

In the years leading up to the First World War Josef Pilsudski correctly saw the internecine conflicts of the globally peripheral countries, such as the wars in the Balkans against the Ottomans’ and the humbling of Russia by Japan, amongst others as a precursor to a larger conflict, the results of which he predicted would be the end of the Imperial hegemonies of the central powers. This, he believed, would lead to the resurrection of the Polish state.

Marshal Jozef Pilsudski

Whilst Pilsudski should not be considered the hero or democrat that many Poles believe him to be, it can be justifiably claimed without any doubt, that he was the only Pole with the charisma and drive to lead a new nation to independence and maintain it during his lifetime. He had a varied life and career. Born a Lithuanian nobleman, various twists of fate saw him enjoying life as a terrorist, a train robber, a Socialist and finally, a self-appointed military commander, or as John Coutouvidis stated in 1993; 'Jozef Pilsudski had personified independent Poland. Successively convicted terrorist, Socialist agitator, cavalry officer, Commander-In-Chief and vanquisher of Trotsky's Red Army, democratic president and dictator, he became the embodiment of Polish statehood'.

Without going too much into a potted history of Pilsudski around this time, let us just say that his criminal activities allowed the financing of the Polish Legions that helped various powers in the First World War, after his pleading the case for raising Polish armies was rebuffed by all of the Allied powers. Pilsudski, because of the difficulty he had gaining traction for his ideas in the more authoritarian areas ruling Polish lands, travelled to Galicia. He believed this was the only place that the flames of Polish independence could be stoked. This was the legacy left to Galicia owing to the Austrian liberalism with which the Empire governed it. Pilsudski was able to build an armed force that would eventually, in 1918, become the Polish army which would then become, in very real terms, the only unifying state apparatus of the newly reborn Polish state. It started as subversive 'Rifle Clubs' (Strzelcy) and it was these that were used to train the nascent Polish military. What is perhaps most interesting are the types of individuals that it was attracting such as Wladyslaw Sikorski and Kazimierz Sosnkowski (we will hear much more of these two later).

A typical Polish Strzelcy around 1916

Coming back to Maczek however, he first met Pilsudski in 1913 when he was an anonymous young student who volunteered for the Strzelcy in Lwow (Lviv or Lemburg as it has also been variously called under different owners). This was not the only time these two would meet and it is only Maczek’s call up to the Austrian army that prevented him becoming a full member of the Polish Legion, the military forces which grew out of the Strzelcy.

On 6th August 1914 Austria and Russia went to war! Pilsudski, with only three companies of riflemen, took the unilateral decision to invade Russia which he did by marching out of Krakow and straight over the border!

A futile gesture though it turned out to be, it spoke volumes about the character of the man. He wanted the Polish peasant to again fall in love with its military and the best way to achieve that was to actually show them their military. It was a gamble, but much more than that, it was the start of the future.

Maczek and the First World War (1914 - 1918)

Whilst the shadow of the First World War looms large in the collective psyche of Europe as a whole, Poland stands as the exception. Poland only became an entity on the very last day of the war, 11th November 1918.

Before this the Poles were engaged in fighting for whichever empire their lot of land was found in. Poles ended up fighting each other, in their hundreds of thousands, just as Pilsudski predicted.

Stanislaw Maczek was a reserve officer in the Austrian Army who, following his training once conscripted, was destined to fight on the Italian front from 1915 to the end of the war in 1918. It should be highlighted at this point that the Austrian army was in fact termed The Imperial Austrian and Royal Hungarian Army and comprised a polyglot of nationalities. For every 100 soldiers in 1914 there were 25 Germans (Austrians), 23 Hungarians, 13 Czechs, 9 Serbs, 8 Poles, 8 Ukrainians, 7 Romanians, 4 Slovaks, 2 Slovenes and a single Italian. Overall 10 'regimental languages' were recognised reflecting the ethnic groups whilst the regiments reflected the overall ethnicity.

Austro Hungarians in the Carpathians 1914

Unfortunately for the Austrians however, 72% of their officer corps was Austrian-German and German was the language of command although only 90 military phrases needed to be learnt. Two languages were frequently used in each regiment and it was incumbent on an incoming officer that he became fluent in the secondary language within three years of joining. Obviously under wartime stresses, casualties and such like, this system broke down quite dramatically. This became an especially pronounced problem, when after 1917 the war turned against Austria and previously subsumed national psyches started to reassert themselves.

Maczek was a cadet officer (holding an NCO's rank) and received his officer training at III Corp centre at Graz, Austria. Following this he received command of a Motorised platoon of the 3rd Regiment of Landwehr during the second half of 1915. It is assumed that about this time Maczek’s aspirations changed from a desire for academia to a life of soldiering. Clever he undoubtedly was, but most agree he was no intellectual.

The winter of 1914 - 1915 saw Maczek attending specialists courses which included 'Storm Tactics' covering the use of automatic weapons as well as skiing and mountaineering in the Alps. These courses provided the bedrock of his subsequent career and on 14th June 1915 he joined the elite 2nd Tyrol Kaiser-Jaeger Regiment, whose speciality was high altitude mountain warfare, although as a Pole, Maczek was an unlikely recruit as it generally took men from Austrian, Croatian and Slovenian stock used to mountain living.

A Postcard displaying a trooper of a Tyroler Kaiser Jager Regiment

The regiment’s function in the Austrian VIII Corp was to fight in the mountains in the south eastern theatre of the war, or as it was otherwise known, The Italian Front.

The war between Italy and Austria was essentially a question of who should rule Italy. Italy declared war on 23rd May 1915 and the fighting until the end of the war took place over a front that extended more than 500 miles. The front was 80% mountainous with several of these mountains exceeding 3000mts and in winter, heavily covered in snow and ice.

Avalanches caused by explosions were commonplace. On one day alone, on 13th December 1916, thereafter termed White Friday, 10,000 men died in avalanches. A truly terrible Friday 13th! The irony being of course, that neither Austria nor Italy were equipped to fight a war of these extremes.

On 22nd July 1915 the 2nd Kaiser-Jaeger Regiment was sent to defend the Isonzo River valley on the Italian front. Between June 1915 and September 1917 there were 11 battles here with this portion of the front descending into a stalemate and constant war of attrition. It was to see 29 months fighting, claiming the lives of 1.1 million Italians, dead and wounded and 650,000 Austrian whilst each fought ferociously for every inch of ground.

The final Italian victory in 1918 was pyrrhic at best, and was achieved only because of the political collapse of the Austrian Empire. By 1917 the military and political conditions within Austria itself had almost destroyed Austria's ability to wage war.

Just before an attack in the Isonzo campaign

It was on this static front that Maczek witnessed first-hand the misery and military impoverishment of prolonged static warfare. The battles along the Isonzo revealed the necessity of a more mobile form of warfare, highlighting in stark contrast the flaws of such plans carried out badly, as successful prosecution of this manner of warfare depended on the close cooperation between Infantry and Artillery as well as close coordination between air and ground units. The main flaw could be found in the communications networks as field telephones were still in their infancy in the First World War.

Map of the Isonzo River Valley and positions between 1915 and 1917

Austrian troops had to become inventive in the way they fended off attacks by Italian armoured cars as they had no equivalent vehicles with which to reply and as such, they became quite proficient in anti-materiel tactics. To this end the Austrians employed mines, vehicle traps, anti-materiel rifles and field guns over open sites to destroy the Italian armoured vehicles.

Destroyed Austrian Equipment

There is no doubt that this is where Maczek learnt his trade. His consequent history continually demonstrates a sharp ability to understand the tenets of mobile warfare and the necessity of combined arms with close cooperation utilising a reliable comms network. In his autobiography, Maczek  makes a salient point that his grounding in map reading which he learnt in the Austrian army, stood him in good stead for the rest of his career. In fact, he had quite a developed ability to interpret topographical relief maps which aided him in his future battles, most especially in the Carpathian Campaign of 1918-1919, Poland '39 and the Falaise Campaign of '44 where his ability to read the landscape in these maps directly led to his prescient decision to occupy Hill 262, essentially trapping the German armies inside the Falaise pocket.

Maczek was on the Italian Front on 18th June 1915 (100 years to the day after Waterloo for anybody who is interested) where he remained until 17th December 1915 until he was taken ill and subsequently sent to Military Hospital No.2 in Vienna.

The New Year of 1916 started well for Maczek as he was finally commissioned into the Austrian army as a 2nd Lieutenant following his duties as a Cadet Officer.

Austrian Ski Troops attacking in the Carpathians

On returning from hospital Maczek was sent as an instructor to the XIV Corps Officers School in Styr, Upper Austria. With his experience in mountain warfare Maczek had a lot to offer these young officers. Once he returned to his regiment on the Italian Front he was given 8th Company to command from 2nd October 1916. It was a company that specialised in ski and mountain warfare and acted as a 'storm' battalion for raiding and such like. Maczek was the only Polish officer in his battalion and from the autumn of 1916 until the start of 1918 he and 8th Company were involved in many bloody battles on the Italian Front. Finally on 31st January 1918 Maczek was wounded in the leg and was swiftly sent to recover in a Viennese hospital where he spent a number of weeks before being given three months convalescence which he took in his native Lwow.

Austrian wounded on their way to Vienna from the Ilonso valley

It was whilst convalescing in Lwow that he not only completed his studies but also took note of the numbers of Polish Legionnaires and (Polish) Austrian Army officers that were packing out the cafes contemplating the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Unfortunately, Maczek’s leave finished before the final collapse and he returned to the front where German reinforcements had been shipped in to bolster the Austrian army which was by now, creaking at the seams and to hopefully snatch a quick victory against the Italians.

Austrian troops ascending a cliff face

Maczek himself states that he did not have the time or even the opportunity to get drawn into conspiracies as by the summer of 1918 he was back in the Austrian Alps, 3000 metres above sea level as a part of a regiment that seemed hell bent on winning the war for Austria on its own.

However, other agents were at work and the situation changed overnight and dramatically. By November 1918, owing to a complete lack of faith in victory and an inability to command the mountainous battlefront in a single day the line was broken at Trento and evacuation trains to Vienna were immediately ordered. At the same time, news started to filter through the lines to Maczek about unrest in Lwow with the first armed conflicts between the Poles and Ukrainians taking place.

Hearing that securing leave from Vienna to head east was becoming increasingly difficult, he took advice and ditched the Austrian Uniform. Donning mufti he started making his way back to his home; Lwow. The sad irony here is that he had just received his promotion to 1st Lieutenant and had been awarded various campaign and gallantry medals, but for Austria, the war was over!

Lwow in 1918

Once Maczek returned to his native Poland he was quick to apply the lessons that he had learnt in order to defend Poland against Ukrainian insurgents. This would not be the last time that Maczek was forced to take such drastic action to flee hostile environments.  He would be doomed to do so twice more in his career as a professional soldier...

In part two Maczek secures the Polish borders and then beats up on the Soviets before chilling for 20 years!

So until next time.... Fix Bayonets!

Flames of War: The Black Brigade (Preview)

So its almost the end of May and I still haven't started posting blogs about my Black Brigade project yet.

Truth be told this project is a hell of a lot more involved than I ever expected it to be, all exacerbated by continual problems with the tins of Army Painter Matt Varnish I keep needing to buy and wait for and then a mass of time spent fiddling around with little bits and pieces that could just as easily be saved up and dealt with in one big batch.

Lack of discipline there!!!

Anyway in the interests of actually getting something posted I thought I would just give you guys a heads up on what it is I'm planning to do and then share a photo of where I am up to with the Black Brigade army I am waging war on!

So, I have recently spent a week in Poland and whilst I was there I was able to write a full biography of Stanislaw Maczek, the resolute and gifted leader of the Black Brigade in September '39 which I will be presenting in 7 separate blogs each dedicated to a part of his life. Each of these blogs will be accompanied by a separate blog which looks at in some detail one of the constituent formations of the Black Brigade, briefly looking at its history, combat record in September '39 and finished off with a part about the modelling of the formation being looked at. 

Finally in August I will do a post that is specifically dedicated to the uniforms of the 10th Motorised Cavalry and the Warsaw Armoured Motorised Brigades. I have long been of the opinion that the 10BK was clothed in Cavalry uniforms and with some minor modifications (such as head gear) this uniform remained barely changed by 1939, on top of which the September of 1939 was one of the driest on record and as such I find it almost ludicrous to suggest that the troops were fighting in their winter issue great coats which the majority of companies sculpt there figures in. Essentially what I am saying is that of you want to field the 10BK and absolutely insist on accuracy and variety, you are OK with a bit of modelling then you can use cavalry miniatures and use Peter Pig heads with German helmets and Polish berets. Anyway these are opinions I will prove or disprove in August when I finally receive some materials that will allow me take a close look for everyone who is interested.

In the meantime though, I just wanted to share a photo with you all.

Not a great photo, but it shows where I am up to with this gargantuan ball ache that is called the Black Brigade:

... so much still to do * Sob *

Still...

FIX BAYONETS!!!!!

Flames of War: Sculpting the TKD

Well we are at the tail end of April now and I haven't yet posted a single blog (this one notwithstanding). Unusual for me these day, so anyway I thought I would see what I've got knocking about so I can at least get one out there.

This is what I've come up with:

Anybody who has even a vague familiarity with me will know that when I get my teeth into something I bite deep. Very deep.

I have to have everything and I have to know everything!

When I started buying all of my True North Polish so many years ago I thought I would just have some Infantry based forces and be satisfied with that BUT over the last 10 years my interest in Poland has not waned at all. In fact quite the opposite. Its now more of a raging obsession that just wont quit! The more I find out, the more I find that there is to find out.

A classic view of the TKD

One of these areas that just seems to keep on giving is the area of Polish idiosyncratic vehicle test beds. You will already have seen the two TKS-D tank destroyers that accompanied the 10BK on their long (or short as the case may be) struggle across southern Poland (a small modelling project that I am very proud of by the way) but what of their older sister concept vehicles? the TKD's?

Well as these are not technically Black Brigade they took a bit of a back seat, BUT as I hadn't posted much due to my work on the Black Brigade taking up a lot of my time I decided that now would be a good opportunity to finish them.

So...here is what its all about:

In 1931 the TK-3 tankette, a development of the Carden-Lloyd tankette was accepted for integration into the Polish army (in fact by 1931 most had been upgraded BUT the Black Brigade were still mostly using the original TK-3's). The Carden-Lloyd  tankette however, was also being displayed in a Self Propelled Gun version touting a short barrelled 47mm QF Vickers gun. This was like waving a pretty necklace in front of a Magpie where the Polish staff were concerned and once the Polish military had secured the rights to produce the TK series of vehicles under licence in Poland research and development of a self propelled gun version began in earnest. It was assumed that this gun carriage could be used as an artillery support vehicles that could keep up with the cavalry brigades as well as being deployed as an infantry support weapon.

A scale plan of the TKD

In 1932 the Army Engineer Research Institutes Armoured Weapons Construction Bureau in Warsaw, under the direction of J. Lapuszewski undertook the design task calling the project TKD

A colour profile view of a TKD as it would have been in 1939

The design of the vehicle was an open crew compartment with the sides providing only partial cover. The gun with its shield was mounted on the central axis of the vehicle and protruded over the front edge. Other than this the construction of the TKD was the same as it was for the TK tankette. A driver was positioned on the left of the vehicle, since the weight of the vehicle had increased the suspension was strengthened and the tracks widened.

A study of the front of one of the TKD's

The home designed and built experimental Pocisk 47mm wz.25 Infantry Gun was chosen to be placed into the TKD as there were no other suitable guns in Poland at the time. This was the first modern gun that was actually designed and built in Poland and was built in a short production run. They never entered mass production unfortunately as it was decided not to equip Polish infantry formations with specialist weapons and the armour penetration was not considered good enough. On a plus point however the weapon was equipped to fire high explosive rounds as well as armour piercing high explosive and canister ammunition. 

A study of the rear of the TKD

The gun itself, when mounted on the TKD had a vertical angle of -12 +23 degrees and a small horizontal angle to play with. The TKD also carried ammunition stocks of 55 rounds at full capacity.

Four of the produced weapons were taken to be put into the experimental chassis of the TKD's, although it seems that the 37mm SA.18 Puteaux (found in the turrets of the wz.29 Ursus and some of the wz.34 armoured cars) and the Vickers QF 47mm were also tested on one of the chassis' (vehicle no.1159) but there is no record of the results of these further tests.

Between May and June of 1932 four test vehicles, using chassis numbers 1156-1159 were completed using mild iron in all areas except the gun shield. This essentially meant that the test vehicles, other than the gun shield, were classified as unarmoured vehicles as mild iron could not resist kinetic impact to any appreciable degree.

After tests of the vehicles were completed the TKD's were formed into an experimental platoon and sent out to complete field trials. They were assigned to the anti tank squadrons of a cavalry brigade for the 1932 and the 1933 manoeuvres which showed that they met tactical requirements well.

The experimental TKD platoon photographed in the mid '30's with the Polish interwar camouflage scheme on display

The gun however had too weak armour penetration and was not in general supply in the army. Because of these things, and having no other weapon in the Polish army that would satisfy tactical requirements for the project it ended up falling by the wayside and being forgotten.

In the years to come the TKD prototypes were still deployed in the 11th Experimental Armoured Battalion in the Armoured Weapons Training Centre in Modlin.

In 1938 interest in the TKD started to gain a foothold again and the experimental platoon was assigned to the 10th Motorised Cavalry Brigade although there is some discrepancy as to whether the entire platoon of 4 TKD's were assigned with the 2 TKS-D's to the 10BK or only 2.

They were deployed with the 10BK for the autumn manoeuvres in August and September 1938 and then soon after took part in the deployment for the reoccupation of the Zoalzie province whilst the Nazis were busy dismembering Czechoslovakia. The province was taken over by the gunboat diplomacy of Jozef Beck.

One of the TKD's can be seen centre right behind the TKS-D in the foreground whilst on manoeuvres with 10BK

Further knowledge of the deployment of the TKD's is unknown. According to some unconfirmed information they took part in the defence of Warsaw in 1939 but what is known for sure is that they were no longer deployed with 10BK but were definitely used in a combat environment in 1939 although their combat capabilities were very limited by the fact that they were not in fact armoured vehicles.

An abandoned TKD with gun dismounted photographed by the Germans sometime in September '39

A view of the same TKD viewed from the rear with a column of Germans marching past.

Building the Beast!

If anything these were even more complicated to make than the TKS-D's because they were smaller, not benefiting from an elongated hull, and had a degree of increased complexity with regards to all of the hardware that was put into it.

The two finished model TKD's, each mounted on a small flames of war base

Unlike the enlarged crew of the TKS-D's the TKD only had a crew complement of 2 so I only had to find two crew members to put into these instead of the larger crews of the TKS-D's but one thing that held up the construction of these was that I had to find a suitable cannon that could represent the 47mm Pociusk that was used on them. After finding something I felt I could nip and tuck I still had to wait for it to arrive.

A closer look at the build

Once I had possession of the cannons I then had to work out a way to fix the modified version to the vehicle chassis and then design and sculpt the gun shield with its extreme angle folded over the top of the vehicle.

A square on front view of the build. Lots and LOTS of rivets!

As you will be able to see from the photographs I have used a mixture of brass, magic sculpt and styrene sheets in the overall construction of the models, including appropriating German vehicles crews and head swapping their heads with Peter Pig Polish beret heads.

A view showing some of the interior detailing required on these open top rust buckets with spud guns

The mudguards for the vehicle were made out of sheet brass cut into strips and then hand bent to provide the rounded front ends of the fenders and then bent between two pliers to create the flat edges bend at the rear of the fender

A side view showing how the fenders were made out of brass and formed using schematic contours

As I was somewhat of a pauper where it comes to ability in sculpting my track sections I simply ripped the track sections off of an existing TKS model that I had and simply made up some instant moulds with some of that Instant Mould stuff, I cant remember what its called BUT this worked great for the TKS-D's but by the time I came around to casting up some track sections for the TKD's the mould edges were starting to degrade quite heavily so I was starting to get soft casts. 

Another view of the TKD build showing some more of the internal detailing

However I reasoned that with the weathering that I am now doing on my Polish vehicles I can disguise these flaws quite easily!

A final view of the loveliness that is a TKD made of Styrene, Brass and Magic Sculpt!

Anyway, after such a long wait for my stuff to turn up that allowed me to forge ahead with these finally all of the necessary tasks were duly achieved and I finally had two TKD's finished and ready to take their place in the hallowed ranks of the Warsaw Armoured Motorised Brigade.

The next stuff you will be seeing from me will actually be Polish 10th Motorised Cavalry Brigade stuff... the Black Brigade!

...in the meantime...

Fix Bayonets!