Flames of War: The Black Brigade 8: Modelling the bases

So I thought that to round off the mountainous volumes of modelling blogs covering Stanislaw Maczek and the Black Brigade I thought it would be good to take a closer look at how I did the bases on all of these Black Brigade miniatures to round off this series (The Black Brigade uniforms post is having all of its stuff translated from Polish sources at the moment and is coming up).

I know that by now the majority of you will either have square eyes, will have slipped into a military history related coma or else just have no interest in reading my voluminous posts so this time we are going to deal with the modelling only. The bases. A short post...

So lets crack on...

The Basing of the Brigade...

I've been modelling the Polish for a couple of years now and whilst I may have thought a couple of years ago that my stuff was good, now I am smacked in the face with the faults of the painting and modelling every time I sort through them to have a look.

Fortunately I've had more than enough items to paint in my Polish army that I've been able to adjust what I've done until I've reached a level that I'm genuinely happy with what I'm turning out now. I think I reached that point with my Polish cavalry... I just love looking at them... mostly.

The one thing that has always got my hackles up is my bases.

I've spent years searching around and buying in stupid varieties of static flock to find a shade that I'm happy with, never having succeeded. The flock that I've used on my Poles I am convinced actually glows in the dark! (obviously I've never tested this out :D )

Until this project...

Furniture and fittings to be used to dress the bases to be made



I made the decision early on that because this was going to be my signal project for 2017 that the bases needed to be done with considerably more care and attention than my usual 'just get 'em knocked out' strategy and so because of this I started looking around and as so frequently happens with my modelling I found myself reading some stuff that Ruben (Torregrosa for those of you that don't know who he is) had put out to the community as a whole on how to go about creating bases with a little more zing.

Now his stuff is intensely insane, the amount of hours that he must put into it is a terrifying prospect to some of us out there and I just quite simply am not that patient a person. I need to see things finished if I am to stay interested in them, and so I decided that I would follow him in some areas but not in others!

I knew that I wanted my 10th Mounted Rifles based as if some of them would be fighting in Lancut and so I bought some furniture items off of Peter Pig and then sent abroad for bags of 'n scale' bricks...

These were all duly painted up in a day and made ready to apply to a certain number of bases. I should say now that even though I painted up everything I ordered I had no illusion that all of them would get used because of the extra work that those types of bases would involve.

Instead I just decided to plough on with the basing itself...

Plain old MDF bases with scored tops

So the first thing I should point out is that I immediately bin ALL Battlefront plastic bases. I much prefer working with wood. Materials grip SOOOO much better on wood AND the deeper straighter cut of the sides looks more attractive when presented properly I believe.

So the first thing to do is to take your bases, ensure they are the right way up (because these MDF bases from Tony at East Riding Miniatures generally have a slightly bevelled edge) and then score the top surface prodigiously to help provide some contouring for any of the materials you are intending sticking to the surface.

Magic Sculpt and Garden twigs used to provide some contrast and contouring on the bases

So, once the bases are all cleaned of rogue wood shavings (I just use an old stiff toothbrush to do this) the next thing to do is to provide some contouring to the bases so they don't just look like those sketchy old flat Napoleonic bases that you can see in '70's photographs of the Wargames Research Group and other such dinosaurs.

I used Magic Sculpt (one of my favourite sculptors epoxy resin) to sculpt some banks along the sides of the bases and then pushed a couple of garden twigs that I had prepared into the resin before it was set.

This was all then left to set for a couple of hours...

A layer of Tile Grout is applied.

Whilst waiting for the bases that have topographical contours to set I went to town on all the others.

My weapon of choice for basing is Tile Grout because its as cheap as chips and because of the environment that Tile Grout is designed to work in I have an unexplained belief that it can withstand more punishment than other materials you may use for basing, including being damp resistant, which in my abode is of no mean importance.

A thin layer is spread  across the base being pushed into the scores as you go, once completed the edge of the bases are tidied up by just running a wet finger along each edge to clean any excess off!

These are then left to set for a short period of maybe 10 minutes, maybe less, depending on how quickly your grout sets.

Wet brush strokes are applied to the grout

The next step to complete is the approximation of dirt road surfaces which were so prevalent across Poland in 1939. As I am modelling a Motorised Brigade I decided that these types of bases were an absolute must.

So with that in mind I decided that the best way to create this kind of surface would be to use a large old flat head brush and gently brush in the same general direction across the grouts surface to create an indication of the traffics direction of travel.

It is important to be careful about timing when you do this part. If the grout is freshly layed then the wet brush will lift most of the grout off as it goes across because grout sticks to itself REALLY well. On the other hand if you leave it too long then you may as well throw your wet brush away and dig out your chisels!

If you get it just right however you can continue to work the grout until you have a series of gentle undulations that give a good indication of general direction of travel of vehicles.

Make sure that when you finish this step that there is still some working time left in the grout as there is another step still to do.

The imprints of vehicle tires is added

Now, before we plunge in with preparing these bases there is something that you should do. I took a selection of wheels from the various vehicles that my Polish motorised troops used and put an example wheel of each pushed right into the middle of a cocktail stick.

With the grout still partially soft I was able to press the wheel into the grout and roll it along the base giving the impression of old tracks that have been left.

These bases are then left to totally dry.

Once dry the parts of the base where I want to replicate undisturbed dirt have fine sand applied to them using PVA glue and are then left overnight to dry completely.

A layer of brown is painted across the whole of the bases

The base coat of paint is now added across the whole base. This colour is REALLY important because it sets the tone for the whole base and I haven't found anything better for mass use than Vallejo's German Camo Medium Brown. I use so much of this on bases that I think I'm on bottle number 6 at the moment! :D

Doesn't matter if its really dilute so long as the whole base is covered and the colour is uniform. The more dilute the more washed out the eventual look will be which, if you like the dry and dusty look may be exactly where you want to take it...

A liberal drybrushing brings out the undisturbed dirt

The next step is to start breathing a little bit of life into the bases by working on the contrasts and set the final tone as an addition to the dominant tone (i.e the German Camo Medium Brown). This is done by using a heavy drybrush across the whole base with Vallejo's Green Ochre. Make sure you aren't applying it so heavily that you end up with paint splotches but heavy enough that there is an appreciable lightening of the base overall (although this could very well depend on your personal tastes).

This lightening will enable you to pick out the areas that you want to turn into dried mud and create the textural contrasts across the base itself.

The beginnings of the muddy track ways on the bases.

So now that we are looking at a much improved base this could be a perfect place to stop the painting stages on the base and add the flock BUT as I had a particular vision in my mind for how I wanted these to turn out I decided to go the extra mile for these ones.

The next task is to start building on the impression of dried mud tracks and pathways and this is done by firstly painting a couple of layers of AK Interactive's Dried Mud straight onto the base wherever you want bare earth to show.

This is left to dry completely although there are numerous different ways of applying this dried mud wash and numerous ways to deal with it once it is applied. This is the way that I chose to employ.

After feathering the dried mud effect the bases look much more homogenous

Once the Dried Mud wash is dry I used tradesman White Spirits to feather the dried wash into its surrounding terrain. Why do I leave the wash to dry completely before doing this? and why do I use tradesman White Spirits instead of artists white spirits?

Simple really. I use tradesman White Spirits because its harsher than artists white spirits (and I KNOW there will be plenty who disagree with this but I've had projects damaged that went perfectly when I swapped to my Daler & Rowney odourless white spirits) and when combined with the non uniform effect of the feathering that I was looking for I felt that a harsher solvent applied heavily on some of the dried areas and less heavily on others would provide what I was looking for.

In fact the overall result that I attained was to tone the whole base down and provide an effect that I was actually very satisfied with and thus retained it for all of the bases that I completed.

Anyway, once the feathering was complete the bases were once again left to dry completely before a layer of anti shine varnish is applied to the bases to seal the oil based wash and allow painting over the top.

All of the stones picked out... the devil is clearly in the detail!

Something that I stumbled across when I first started to build my various collections of 15mm armies is that the devil really is in the detail. If you get the details wrong, or omit them completely then it detracts an incredible amount from your miniatures and what they serve to represent.

Where my bases are concerned because I changed the type of sand that I was using a little while ago I noticed that there were, what amounted to, little pebbles included in it. So I decided that it would provide a great opportunity to create more contrast on the overall basing scheme and as such I decided to paint as many of them as I thought I could cope with.

I would first of all paint them in Vallejo's German Grey and then go back and pick them out with Vallejo's Neutral Grey.

The very last stage to make sure you have done to polish your bases off is to make sure that you tidy up the edges of the bases to make them presentable. Paint them in whichever colours you wish, Brown, green , red, yellow, pink or blue!

Me; I use Games Workshops Chaos Black for the simple reasons that its a relatively thick paint that provides good coverage and a lack of transparency and has a somewhat satin feel to it once it is dry.

Another layer of varnish is applied to the bases in order to seal everything before the flock is applied.

The bases after the final stage of flocking

The final stage on my basing is the flocking and I have to admit that flocking has proven quite a problem to me for years.

I have never found a flock that I have been satisfied with, and by now I think I have bought in the region of 30 something different colours. The greens are always just a bit too intense with too much regularity of colour and the sun bleached colours are just tooooooooo bleached... and of course I could never find something in the middle!

Eventually something so unbelievably obvious struck me... why don't I mix my own from the widely varying shades and lengths that I have in my possession?

I mixed about 60% of my 4mm sun bleached fibres with about 40% of my spring 2mm fibres and I essentially just added different volumes until I was satisfied with the colour cast that I had achieved.

Once I had mixed up a batch large enough I found a container to store them in and then turned to the bases.

On each of the bases I applied PVA glue to the 'undisturbed' areas of dirt that I decided I wanted covered with grass and then using my static flock applicator I liberally poured the flock onto the bases.

Once I felt that there was enough on the bases I tapped the excess off and left them to one side to dry

Bosh! Job done.... and not a bayonet in sight!

Flames of War: The Black Brigade 7: 24th Uhlans Regiment (24. Pulk Uhlanie)



24th Regiment of Uhlans. Officers and NCO's in their black leather jackets

So we are finally almost at the very end of our Black Brigade odyssey. This will be the last post that I have planned on doing that looks at a constituent part of the Black Brigade with a modelling section covering what I will be talking about.


After this I only have one post left, covering the uniforms of the Black Brigade and how I went about basing them and then ladies and gentlemen I WILL be doing something non-Polish! :D


But today I would like to introduce you to the Polish 24th Regiment of Uhlans. I just cant sing enough praise when talking about these men and what they achieved so I wont. Ill just let you read about them if you are interested.


After the potted history you will find the modelling section where I give you a look at the infantry company that I've done for the 24.ul and their half track transports that were all converted for them to ride around in.


I have to say that at this point I have grave doubts as to whether or not the 10BK used terrain transports for the infantry in '39 but I've done them anyway because it was a great modelling opportunity.


When all is said and done however these really are just infantry so I thought I would add one final thing to this blog and that was the machine company that each of the motorised infantry regiments can call on, and in any case it will give you all a chance to have a glance at my motorised Tczankas that I sculpted, cast and painted.


Anyway, I will waste no more time and allow you to plough on...

The Early Days of the Regiment

The 24th Uhlan Regiment of Crown Hetman Stanislaw Zolkiewski was a cavalry regiment of the Polish Army in the Second Republic.

General Jozef Haller

The pedigree of the regiment dates back to 6th July 1920 when Colonel Tadeusz Zolkiewski was instructed by the General Inspector of the Volunteer Army, General Jozef Haller, to commence the organisation of the Malopolska Volunteer Brigade in the Lwow General District with concentration centres positioned at Lwow, Przemysl and Stanislaw

The formation of the Brigade never ultimately materialised but instead whilst Zolkiew was in Lwow with the 14th Reserve Squadron of the Jazlowiec Uhlan Regiment in August of 1920 he decided to use the squadron as a cadre for a new regiment; the 214th Uhlans Regiment.

On the 8th August 1920 the newly formed regiment was placed at the disposal of the Army High Command with directions to transport and assemble at Mlawa. Between the 9th and 10th of August, 35 Officers and NCO's, 805 enlisted men with 422 horses made their way to Mlawa.

The charge of Polish Uhlans in 1919

Polish Uhlans just before the Battle of Warsaw

However because of the fluid situation across the front lines their disembarkation point had to be relocated. The first arrivals were redirected across to Modlin whereas the remainder of the arriving troops ended up debussing in the area of  Nowy Dwor, Mazowiecki and Blonie. Further dribs and drabs of this new regiment also ended up finding themselves in Warsaw.

From these disparate locations the regiment collected its assets and participated in driving back the Bolshevik terror in battles around Zamosc, through Volhynia and finally in central Lithuania. 

The Regiment in the Interbellum

In the second part of November 1920 the regiment was relocated by rail from Grodo down to Zolkiew. On 20th February 1921 the regiment was moved again, this time to Debica followed up with a move to Staszow and Pinczow in July. Due to challenging accommodation conditions that the regiment was faced with in Pinczow the decision to move was once again taken on 4th December 1921 with the affected part of the regiment this time finding itself at Jaroslaw.

On April 4th 1922 this itinerant regiment was relocated from Jaroslaw to Krasnik where they would eventually find their home until the mobilisation order of late August 1939.

Marshal Jozef Pilsudski

On 27th May 1927 the Polish Minister of Military Affairs (Along with almost every other title of importance in the country) Marshal Jozef Pilsudski approved the establishment of 21st September as the date of the regimental holiday with the regimental feast being celebrated on the anniversary of the battle of Warsaw and a signal charge of the regiment which was remembered as a great triumph for the volunteer cavalry men.

Throughout the '30's the regiment unofficially used the name 'Hetman Stanislaw Zolkiewski' with the name only being officially approved when the regiment was eventually reformed in France June 1940.

 On 26th June 1935 the head of the Ministry of Military Affairs, Brigadier General Tadeusz Kasprzycki changed the date of the Regimental holiday from 21st September to 6th July which was of course the anniversary of Zolkiew's formation of the Regiment in the first place.

Czechoslovakian forces advance

At the end of November 1938 the 24th Uhlans found themselves participating in the reoccupation of Polish territory formerly snatched by the Czechoslovakian armed forces whilst Poland was struggling for its life against the Bolsheviks.

The majority of this work resulted in bloodless occupations of territory but at the Zdziarska Pass there was one Polish casualty in the 24th Uhlans. A major of cavalry called Stefan Rago, or 'Ciepcio' to his friends.

This guy was somewhat of an interesting character so is worth dwelling on for a moment.

Rago on the left in 1919 as a Second Lieutenant

He was born on February 2nd 1896 and during the First World War he fought as a volunteer, a volunteer in the ranks of the 1st Regiment of the Krechowiec Uhlans.

During the war against the Bolsheviks he fought in the ranks of the 7th Lubelski Uhlans regiment.

Whilst garrisoned at Minsk Mazowiecki he served with the 7th throughout the 20's and 30's, on 15th October 1929 he was appointed to a 7  month training course for junior cavalry officers at the Cavalry training centre in Grudziadz.

In 1938 he reached his last home, as commander of one of the squadrons of the 24th Uhlans in Krasnik.

So this guy sounds like he was the real deal right? Well lets see what Skibinski, 2iC of 10BK has to say about him:

Major Stefan 'Ciepcio' Rago  in 1938

Franciszek Skibinski described Rago as:

"smart, very smart. A good rider, a perfect cavalry officer. Handsome and well liked but he had one single crack. He was not an alcoholic but every few months he had 'Three Drops' and then you couldn't count on him. In the spring of this year [1938] he had one of these three days, which prevented him from attending the regiment for interdisciplinary exercises. Dworak who warmly liked and appreciated Ciepcio was furious then! He almost didn't send him for treatment but he wanted to save him at all costs. A few days before the Jaworczyna alarm Ciepcio was returning from treatment to the regiment and on his way he joined me in Bielsko with such a speech: "Franek, you have no idea how grateful I am to Dworak. This is a real commander, and a friend. I'm already a completely different person at the moment. Another man stopped the car before the first pub in Bielsko and by the end of the night he had worked out how many hours had been wasted in treatment! He did not come back to the regiment after three days this time but was only one day late. Unfortunately as drunk as a Lord. The dwarf (Skibinski is referring to Dworak who was VERY short!) was furious a second time and decided to reassign Rago to the reserve but Ciepcio didn't make it, because there was an alarm and - already sobered - Rago drove to the Zdziarska Pass where he was shot in the forehead. On 29th November there was a ceremonial export of the dead to a station on Nowy Targ, with torches, trumpeters, rifle salvos, all other military honours and a crowd of highlanders, this time really spontaneously. On 1st December in Warsaw there was another funeral, this time at the expense of the State. In the Brigade some cynics claimed that Ciepcio, as always, was lucky. Instead of a shameful departure to civilian life, he left this world almost as a national hero, whose coffin was headed by the Chief Commander himself"

The funeral of Major Stefan Rago

He was killed on 27th November 1938 leading an assault on Czechoslovakian positions at the Zdiarska Pass from the front by the village of Zdziar.

He already had a Virtuti Militari, awarded in 1922, he was awarded the Cross of Valour twice and in light of his somewhat heroic death he was also awarded the Cross of Merit for Brethren.

The September Campaign

The 24th Uhlans defence of the Wysoka Heights. 2.IX.1939

When the Nazi's piled across the borders of Poland in September 1939 the 24th Uhlans had already received their emergency mobilisation orders and were standing in a state of readiness awaiting developments.

Part IV of the blog about Stanislaw Maczek goes into some detail of what happens to the regiment in September and it demonstrates amply just what calibre of men the 24th Uhlans sought to recruit.

The regiment took part in the battles around Jordanow and the Wysoka Heights as well as several other battles such as Kasina Wielka, Leszczyna, Wisnicz, Lancut, Rzeszow, Radymno, Dobrosin near Grzybowice and of course the Zboisk hills as a part of the defence of Lwow... and all this in only 17 days before they crossed over into Hungary on the 19th September.

For their part in this campaign the entire regiment was awarded the Virtuti Militari.



Staff Organisation as of 1st September 1939

Colonel Kazimierz Dworak

Commander of the Regiment - Colonel Kazimierz Dworak
Deputy Commander of the Regiment - Major George Deskur
Adjutant - rtm. Stefan Lukowski
2nd Adjutant - see. Janusz Nowakowski
Marshal - Capt. Int. Gustaw Hopting
Purser - st. Wachm. Stanislaw Szymanski
Food Officer - see. Rey Zygmunt Kozlowski
Technical Officer - see. Br. Corps. Jan Sochacki
Commander of Comms Platoon - see. Stanislaw Michalski
Commander of Recce Platoon - see. Zbigniew Szumanski
Commander of Anti Tank Platoon - p. Regis Jerzy Telatycki
Commander of 1st Squadron - Marian Piwonski
Commander of 2nd Squadron - Wladyslaw Rakowski
Commander of 3rd Squadron - rtm. Jan Kanski
Commander of 4th Squadron - rtm. Wiktor Zarembinski
Commander of cmk Squadron - Tadeusz Maleszewski



Zurawiejka



As I believe I mentioned in my blog posts about the 19th Volhynian Uhlans, it was tradition for Polish cavalry regiments to have facetious two line couplets composed for them called a Zurawiejka.



This is the one for the 24th Uhlans regiment:

They drink jugs full of wine
Lublinian ladies love them
Lances to fight with...

They lose lances, not worth shit,
This is the twenty-fourth regiment
Lances to fight with...

Modelling the 24th Uhlans Infantry and Heavy Machine Gun platoons


So where do we begin with all this then? Well I'm not going to tread over too much old ground as by now I am sure you will all be very well aware of how it is I go about painting all of this motorised infantry.


Suffice it to say that you will find detailed instructions in Part 2 of the Flames of War Black Brigade photos where I talk about the 10th Mounted Rifles Regiment.


Instead, in this blog I will mostly be talking about vehicles as it is here where we may find something of some interest to those of you that want to take the time to read.

So above we can see the second full company of motorised infantry, this time of the 24th Uhlans, complete with their fistful of wz.34 half track trucks along with the attached HMG section that ride around in their Furgon picks ups.

A full motorised infantry platoon with transports

Here we can take a closer look at a full motorised platoon. I decided on modelling the 24.ul on the basis of a wooded-ish area because of intensity of the fighting that they participated in around the wooded hills of the Wysoka Heights outside of Jordanow. Ill go more into how I got the effects that I got in the final part of the Black Brigade posts for anybody that wants to  know.

A pair of wz.34 Half Tracked Trucks

A close up look at a pair of the wz.34 half tracked trucks that were originally supplied for each of the Terrain Battalions that each of the Regiments had. I have found no evidence whatsoever that these were still in use by September '39 and in fact I rather suspect that the conclusion was drawn that the motorised infantry were better off sticking to the roads, just for the  speed of movement.

On top of which wheeled vehicles require a lot less maintenance to keep in the field (so to speak) and require a lot less spare parts to be carted around everywhere. Owing to the traction and the torque that half tracked vehicles provide I can totally understand why they would have been kept for the artillery but speed of reaction would have been better for the infantry if simply provided with trucks. 

These wz.34's are the result of a lot of sculpting and conversion work with the models being PF 621L trucks from True North whilst the canvas backs are home sculpted and cast and the track sections all come from QRF's Citroen-Kegresse halftracks (they were good enough to sell me 20 odd pairs of tracks only). Each of the spare door wheels is actually the outside half of the read back wheel with plastic sheeting used to create the brackets and the solid windows, True North's trucks having hollow cabs which I've never been a fan of.

If you want detailed instructions of how to put these beauties together then make your way over to my Polish half tracks post where I go through all of the half tracks that the Poles had in '39 and give proper instructions on how to make them.

The Motorised Infantry Company Command Section and transport

No force of any type in Flames of War is complete without its command bases and with the Black Brigade they are a bit special because of all the leather jackets that they swan around in. As before I've explained how I went about painting these, so I wont bore you with it again but instead just point out that their PF 508/ III Lazik staff car is one of the ones that I sculpted myself. Hasn't come out too bad in the final analysis I think, the only downside is that I've had to swathe it in mud and weathering to cover up a multitude of sins!

The entire Black Brigade Machine Gun Company

...and so we finally reach the last pieces of vehicle modelling I believe that you will ever see from me for the Black Brigade. Most of the stuff for this company is pretty simple and done in the same way as for all of the other elements for the Brigade BUT the Heavy Machine Gun companies in the Brigade were known to use Motorised Tczanka's.

I had a choice of two models to choose from. The 'Falcon' with a guy that looks like hes sitting on a science lab stool and all but flying off the back of the Tczanka or the more stately pick up with the back refitted to house a heavy machine gun with some stability, with the result that it actually looks like a vehicle that could do the job!

That's obviously the one I chose...



A full Heavy Machine Gun section and Polski Fiat 621L transport truck

So a look at one of the heavy machine gun sections and we can see how it is I've taken small branches out of my garden, sawed and snapped them into shape and stuck them to the bases before getting jiggy wid it! Head swaps for berets are in evidence and for once the associated vehicle is actually unconverted, although it does still have the home sculpted canvas back. 

A single Heavy Machine Gun base

Not much to say here other than you can have a closer look at the way I've used the garden branches and used headswaps to provide more variety to the troops along with another black leather jacket in evidence.

Polski Fiat 508/518 motorised taczankas

I don't know why but of all the stuff that I did for my Black Brigade it was these that I enjoyed the most. I found them relatively simple to put together, they looked accurate, the troops fitted well inside them and when they were cast I found that they had the least problems with fenders breaking and stuff like that.

A frontal view showing crew and weathering in abundance.

The one downside to these types of taczankas is that there really is very little photographic evidence for what they looked like so apart from the very few photographs that I had to rely on, once again I had to resort to a Polish model manufacturer to draw inspiration from.



A view showing the rear compartment of the taczanka

On the whole though, I do believe that the dimensions are believable and my force now has upwards of 4 taczankas that can rip around the field dishing out hot lead when and where it pleases them...

A front view of a different one... just for a bit of variety!

I think at this point Ive run out of things to say about the Black Brigade. Whatever is left to say is either not worth mentioning OR Ive already covered it in great detail in other posts...

the full complement of four taczankas that the heavy machine gun companies were provided with.

Finally! I hear you say.

The End!

Finis!!!

... but no! Well not quite anyway. I actually thought that this might be the end but then I realised that I hadn't spent any time explaining how I went about doing my basing for this army AND of course is the perennial problem of modelling the Brigades uniforms.

There are just so many misconceptions about what these sledgehammers in human guise wore that I thought it would be worth while to have something, somewhere, in the English language that people can refer to if they wanted to tackle a project like this themselves... and so there is just one more post to go before I can leave these behind me for good!

... and thank GOD for that!!! 

Flames of War: The Black Brigade 6: Reconnaissance Battalion

The Reconnaissance Battalion of the Polish 10th Cavalry Brigade was, at the commencement of the second world war, essentially representative of a microcosm of the Brigade as a whole.

Fulfilling the ostensible function of the eyes and ears of the Brigade as a whole they were nonetheless through the fighting of September '39 signed off to operate in areas on their own whilst the remaining organic reconnaissance elements still present with the other formations such as the 24th Uhlans and 10th Mounted Rifles would fulfil the immediate reconnaissance requirements of these formations.

A composite of images showing the Brigades motorcycle troops in various circumstances

When the Brigade was reborn as a trial motorised formation in 1937 it was originally envisioned that each of the two newly motorised cavalry regiments would have its own organic reconnaissance formation at Squadron strength. Although this process was started, due to financial constraints by 1938 the Army High Command had issued a volte face and decreed that the regimental organic reconnaissance troops would now only be of platoon strength whilst an entire Battalion would designed and integrated into the overall structure of the Brigade.

A Motorcycle platoon of the 10th Cavalry Brigade

This was achieved in April 1938 where command was handed to a new commanding officer:

______________________

Major Ksawery Swiecicki.

Swiecicki was a born and bred cavalryman. Born on October 9th 1895 to a family that were landowners, growing up in an environment that behind closed doors was fanatical about Polish cultural identity.

On the outbreak of the first world war in 1914 he joined the Polish legions, serving in the 1st Lancers Regiment quickly rising to the rank of Corporal. As soon as Poland gained her independence from the Central European powers Swiecicki quickly signed up with the nascent Polish army with the 11th Lancers Regiment, as a result of which he fought in the Polish Bolshevik War and the Polish Ukrainian War rising to the rank of Lieutenant of Cavalry.

Throughout the interbellum he rose through a quick series of academic positions with a succession of different regiments eventually being rewarded with command of the 10th Cavalry Brigades Reconnaissance Battalion. Leading this hard core little force through the September Campaign saw him awarded with the Silver Cross to the Virtuti Militari, Poland's highest award for valour.

After the fall he carried on fighting for Poland and most especially alongside Maczek, the commander of the Black Brigade, escaping from Hungary to rejoin the fugitive forces in France, then fleeing to Britain when the French attempted to sell the Poles out to the Nazi's. Between December 4th, 1940 and November 8th, 1943 he served with the newly constituted Polish 10th Armoured Cavalry Brigade, serving as commander of the Reconnaissance Battalion of the 10th Dragoons.

From here he parted ways with Maczek however as he was given command of a distribution camp that was set up for former Polish prisoners of war that had been freed from German captivity where he served all through 1944 - 1945. It was at this time that he achieved the rank of Colonel.

After the war Ksawery Swiecicki opted not to return to Communist occupied Poland and decided to remain in London where he died in 1966 at the age of 71.

He is laid to rest in Streatham Park Cemetery.

Polish graves in Streatham Cemetery

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A good look at a 10BK Motorcycle and sidecar with crew

According to order 6277/ Org.Tjn.37 of the General Command Department of the Ministry of Military Affairs it seems that the 10th Mounted Rifles based in Lancut were to form the nucleus of the entire Brigades reconnaissance facilities but this was never achieved and in fact an entirely new battalion was formed and garrisoned in Rzeszow under order L. dz. 1525/ tjn. z20 of April 20th 1938.


The unit was accommodated in the barracks of the former 10th Artillery Squadron and thus became a permanent organic component of the 10th Cavalry Brigade.

On 15th August 1938 this small force was listed as being composed of 12 officers, 24 NCO's and around 150 serving men.

Rtm. Krahelski. Officer in charge
of the Mounted Rifle Squadron

From September 8th, 1938 the Reconnaissance Battalion took part in the Volhynian manoeuvres as a consistutent component of the 10th Cavalry and immediately following the military parade at Moktow Field they accompanied the rest of the Brigade in taking a part in occupying Zaolzie returning to their depots on December 8th, 1938.


The Reconnaissance Battalion was listed as being one of the Mobilisation Units according to Plan 'W' where it would continue to serve with the command of the 10th Cavalry Brigade.


...and by now of course you will be aware of just what kind of fight these boys put up before crossing the border with Hungary having lost almost half of their number in the tooth and nails fights that they had.









Reconnaissance Battalion Structure - 1st September 1939

Headquarters Platoon
Officer in Command - Mjr Ksawery Swiecicki
2nd in Command - Rtm Stanislaw Siewicz
Adjutant - cf. Stefan August Piklikiewicz
Technical Officer - kpt. Tadeusz Pobralski
Doctor - Tadeusz Przezdziecki
7 officers, 36 NCO's
8 Pistols, 1 Rkm, 34 Carbines
2 Polski Fiat 508 III Lazik, 4 motorcycles with sidecars, 4 motorcycles, 1 Polski Fiat 508 III Furgon, 1 Polski Fiat 621L Truck.


Mounted Rifle Squadron
Squadron Commander - rtm. Stanislaw Kazimierz Krahelski (murdered by the Soviets in Kharkov, 1940)
4 officers, 20 NCO's and 90 Serving Soldiers
10 pistols, 10 Rkm's, 3 AT Rifles, 89 Carbines
2 Polski Fiat 508 III Lazik, 8 Polski Fiat 621L Trucks, 3 motorcycles with sidecars, 1 motorbike, fuel bowser


Reconnaissance Tank Squadron
Squadron Commander - rtm. Lucjan Pruszynski
3 officers, 20 NCO's and 35 serving soldiers
32 Pistols, 1 Rkm, 25 Carbines
13 TKS tanks, 1 Polski Fiat 508 III Lazik, 1 Polski Fiat 508 III Furgon, 1 Polski Fiat PF618 radio van, 1 Tanker, 2 Polski Fiat 621L Truck, Field Kitchen, 2 tracked trailers (for use with the TKS' for carrying repair equipment), 1 motorcycle, 4 motorcycles and sidecars


Anti Tank Platoon
Platoon Commander - por. Jan Fedoruk
1 officer, 6 NCO's and 23 serving soldiers
1 Pistol, 29 Carbines, 4 Bofors wz.36 37mm anti tank guns
1 Polski Fiat 508 III Lazik, 4 Polski Fiat 508/518 light tractors, 2 TKS-D's


Communications Platoon
Platoon Commander - see. Maciej Nowicki
1 officer, 6 NCO's and 19 serving soldiers
1 Pistol, 25 Carbines
1 Polski Fiat 508 III Lazik, 1 Polski Fiat 508 III Furgon, 1 Polski Fiat PF618 radio van, 2 motorcycles and sidecars, 3 motorcycles


Motorcycle Reconnaissance Platoon
Platoon Commander - see. Jan Jaroszewicz
1 officer, 8 NCO's and 32 serving soldiers
2 Pistols, 6 motorcycle mounted Rkm's, 51 Carbines
1 Polski Fiat 508 III Lazik, 1 Polski Fiat 508 III Furgon, 1 Polski Fiat 621L Truck, 19 Motorcycles with sidecars, 2 motorcycles and 1 Fuel Bowser


Heavy Machine Gun Platoon
Platoon Commander - por. Otto Saxl
1 officer, 6 NCO's and 26 serving soldiers
6 Pistols, 27 Carbines and 4 Ckm heavy machine guns
4 Polski Fiat 508 III Lazik, 1 Polski Fiat 508 III Furgon, 1 Polski Fiat 621L Truck, 1 Fuel Bowser


Sapper Platoon
Platoon Commander - kpr. Bronislaw Chojnacki
5 NCO's and 7 serving soldiers
1 Pistol, 11 Carbines
3 Polski Fiat 621L Trucks


Modelling the elements of the Reconnaissance Battalion for the Black Brigade

If there is any part of the Black Brigade that truly deserves the epithet it is the reconnaissance battalion.

A TKS-D fording a river in Poland '39

All parts of this little force can be put together using elements that I have already built and will be covering as parts of other posts outlining how I put this monster together over the last 8 months.


There are two parts however that I have allocated to this post where I actually get to talk about the Reconnaissance Battalion and that is the motorcycle troops and the TKS-D's!

Now, the Motorcycle troops are quite possibly the most attractive of any of the troops of the Black Brigade, both mounted on their bikes and dismounted to skirmish, and that is because ALL of these troops wore the black leather jackets! If there is ever any reason to paint all of your Polish mounted troops in black leather jackets then this is it.

Apart from the limited numbers of photographs available of the Brigade fighting in September '39 leading to most manufacturers sculpting their miniatures in textile greatcoats the other option we get is jackets that go down to just above the knee... and these of course are the wz.36 Kurtka Skorzana (shown to good effect in the photo below).

A study of Vehicle and Uniform... see where they got the epithet now?

Finally we have a force that all of those manufacturers out there can turn around and say " See? We did sculpt and paint our miniatures correctly after all!" Ha ha

If you take a close peek at these guys all mounted on their motorcycles you may notice that there are two different manufacturers represented here.

Anybody who has been following my blog will by now know that I hold no truck with sticking square pegs through round holes where they relate to appropriate equipment for a force. I'm not total anal about accuracy and have bodged many things in my days BUT where errors are glaringly obvious I just cant bring myself to settle. I have suspected for a LONG time that the uniforms that are being sculpted for the Black Brigade troopers are inappropriate for September '39 but I didn't have proof until long after I bought all of my miniatures so I have just had to suck it up and get on with things.

I'll be posting a blog giving a detailed breakdown of the Brigades uniform items after I finish my Stanislaw Maczek series for anybody who is interested?!?!?

I bought a 10BK motorcycle from True North miniatures a while ago and realised that their motorcycles, whilst being nicer sculpts than those from Battlefronts were just totally the wrong design. This wouldn't have been a deal breaker if it was just the bike but it wasn't... and isn't! Its the sidecar and its as different as a Landrover from a Lada from the 80's!!!

Whilst Battlefront without a doubt produce the absolute worst figure sculpts for the Polish on the planet their bikes for the Polish are, however close to perfect... and this put me in a dilemma! I couldn't settle for the whole package with either of these manufacturers and as such I decided that I should just stump up the cash and get the correct numbers from both manufacturers and mix the BF bikes with the True North crews... the pillion rider notwithstanding.

A couple of headswaps for berets and the pillion riders all having German helmet heads later, and we were good to go.

It also turned out somewhat serendipitously that I had just enough rogue Black Brigade troopers from Forged in Battle and True North left over to put together a dismounted base for each of the Motorcycle bases in the force, again doing some tidy beret headswaps and providing each base with an NCO with binoculars to indicate reconnaissance troops for the game rules.

The real key to these miniatures is obviously the leather jackets that they all wear... if you remove the bases and faces from consideration that is... oh yeah, and the bikes they are all sitting on! :D

The leather jackets are such a key point that I think they require dwelling on a little.

So, just to quote a previous blog post I wrote:

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.

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 (just take a close look at the photos to see evidence of this).

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.

Other than that the bikes are all done with a Tamiya Olive Green by airbrush followed by an AK Interactives Filter for NATO camo vehicles and the usual dramas that go with painting awkward vehicles....

Now, the next and final piece of modelling news for this post is the results of painting the two TKS-D's that I modelled a while ago.

To be sure these were as awkward as hell to make due to all of the small parts and fine details that needed to be captured but I have to say that these are what I am possibly most proud of in my Black Brigade and I may even tentatively claim that these may even be unique on the planet. 15mm TKS-D's!

There isn't actually much to tell here about how I went about painting them as I used the same process as with all of my other Polish vehicles so let me just direct you to the blogpost covering the Black Brigades Command and Control elements at the start of August. Detailed instructions are in the vehicle modelling section at the bottom if you are interested! :D

However the work didn't stop there as these two little dragons needed to be crewed up. Now. the actual TKS-D's were crewed with four troopers each, I however could only find the room in the vehicle for three in each...and for these I had to quite a bit of nip and tuck to get them to fit.

As with all of the other vehicles for my Black Brigade I opted to use Skytrex's German vehicle crews reasoning that when sat in a vehicle you wouldn't be able to tell much of a difference. The Polish wz.36 kurtka was almost an identical cut to the German cotton field jacket. The German y-straps were almost identical to Polish cavalry straps. The packs and pouches on the back of the Germans could be cut off as they would be sat on anyway. Early war Germans along with all German officers through the war wore boots and with some headswaps for berets when a correctly coloured paintjob had been applied you could barely, if at all tell the difference.

Bosh! Job done!!!!

...and of course the bases will all be covered in a Blog post I'm putting together about Black Brigade uniforms as its modelling component!

So.... ummm... Fix Bayonets?