FoW: Command elements Obrona Narodowa (National Defence)

Last year I thought it would be a great idea to add a platoon of Obrona Narodowa to my Polish army as it would give me another little zingy modelling project with some differently funky uniforms as well as providing a troop type that are rarely seen on a wargames table...

.. of course me, being me, said to myself "Self'; this is an opportunity to do a whole new army..."

...and lo did a whole new army come into being.

All of the common command elements for all different National Defence formations all displayed together...

Now, the thing with the Polish National Defence forces is that there were numerous different types with different perceived tactical capabilities, based largely on the numbers of potential manpower that could be drawn, the Volhynian and Galician areas proving the areas with the greatest paucity of potential troops whilst the areas around Silesia and around the Baltic Corridor proving rich manpower areas, and arms, equipment and training facilities.

The Obrona Narodowa Battalions ranged from type I which were the weakest and least armed perceived as fulfilling security tasks behind the front line all the way up to the Type IV which were tooled up to the nines and were planned on being so well trained in the future that the Polish High Command could consider them to be of such high combat value that they could be collected together and renamed as Reserve Infantry Regiments.

By the time that the Type IV's started to come into being however it was already too late for them to achieve this state of readiness unless they were being converted from other types. When the war started the National Defence troops that were considered the best were the Silesian Type III battalions who had had a lot of attention paid to their development and the newly converted Type IV's along the Baltic Coast.

Sadly there was also a plethora of organisations that fell somewhere in the middle.

So this particular blog post outlines the different formats of the Company Commands that were found across the Obrona Narodowa organisations

A Wip for the Obrona Narodowa Headquarters Options

The Type I ON Battalions were the most poorly supplied of all of the Home Defence troops and were mostly positioned in the Carpathian and Tatra mountains to boost the manpower on the ground.

A Type I Battalion Company Commander

These battalions were only really envisaged as providing security manpower behind the frontlines freeing more qualified troops for front line service. Because of these facts these battalions were not seen as needing any provisions of specialist arms or services and as such the Company Command force for a Type I battalion is very skin and bones requiring only transport for the single command team (motorcycles) and for the medic team (a civilian car) as well as a wagon carrying supplies.

Another view of the Type I Battalion Company Commander

For the Intelligence Briefing I decided to make the Ammunition Wagon an optional alternative as there was a plethora of problems regarding the supply of suitable ammunition to the troops fighting for the National Defence.

A Type IV battalion Company Commander with all assets

For all other types of Company Command similar assets were provided to each with a variety of different functions being fulfilled such as Reconnaissance troops, the habitual medical team, ammunition wagons and such like.

Another view of the Type IV Battalion Company Commander with all attached assets...

Essentially no matter what type of National Defence Battalion you choose to field, all of the different formats can have their assets provided for by these common types:

The Company Command Rifle Team:

In keeping my Catholic nutty idea I decided to go the whole hog with the company command teams and have proper Catholic flags knocked up for them. Basically I just did some digging around to find what religious banners Polish organisations have been flapping around over the last 100 years or so and these are what I came up with. The uniforms are as per the previous post on the Obrona Narodowa platoon and the miniatures are all Peter Pig Spanish Carlist Requetes from their Spanish Civil War range with French WW1 Adrian Helmet and Polish Czapka head swaps.

The banner pole crossbar is made out of brass rod inserted into the pre existing banner pole whilst the banners are made from tin foil from butter which was cleaned and painted. Once all of the painting had been completed the flag was glued into place with the tabs and then contoured to represent movement in a breeze.

An hour or so's work to get each banner painted... but not too shabby. Admittedly they don't look very cloth-like but I'm just happy they are done and out of the way to be honest.

The Company Medic Patrol:


Medics in the Polish army is one of those things that few people will every consider but when I started digging around for information on the ON formations I found that one thing that they did seem actually well furnished with was people who could tie peoples limbs back on with string and keep them fighting. I decided that this would be one of those things that would be worth including in their Intelligence Briefing as another game gimmick.

I really enjoyed making this one because finding evidence of Polish medics uniforms in the Obrona Narodowa was a challenge in itself and once I had found images of these defenders of life I then had to find miniature analogues that could be put together convincingly.

The miniatures used were German stretcher bearers from Peter Pigs WW1 range with the habitual head swaps whilst the actual medics were one from Peter Pigs French WW2 Motorised Gun Crew and one from Peter Pigs Polish WW1 Gun Crew all with appropriate head swaps where necessary.

I haven't actually come up with  the rules for themedics for the Intelligence Briefing yet but Im digging around and I will see what I can come up with...

The Company Scout Team:

The Obrona Narodowa could never be considered a 'mobile' force, in fact despite the large distances that these formations covered in 1939 it could almost be assumed that they were no better than static forces with their lack of transport. However, no matter how static a force is (or isn't) they still need to be aware of what is going on around them, and for that reason the powers that be who were responsible for the development of the Obrona Narodowa supplied them with at least an element of reconnaissance troops so that they were not left completely blind on the battlefield.

Owing to an extreme paucity of appropriate troops to represent the Polish scout troops I opted to do two things. Firstly, as I usually do, I mounted one miniature with binoculars on each of my scout bases that I did and because the ON reconnaissance troops were usually cycle mounted I also placed at least one cycle on each base and in order to provide the extra room that this modelling would require I only mounted 4 figures on each reconnaissance base.

The majority of the miniatures are, as to be expected, from Peter Pigs SCW Carlist range whilst the miniature with the binoculars is from the Peter Pigs French WW2 Motorised 60mm Mortar pack with the top of his head cut away and replaced with an Adrian helmet.

The Motorcycle and Sidecar:

These were actually completed when I did my Cavalry Brigade troops... even though the Cavalry Brigades have no motorcycles (well, only one but you get the point!) and I realised that the uniforms are a good approximation of my chosen ON uniforms. Not much to say on this as you have probably seen them already so I'll just put the image here for the sake of completeness :)

Poland in the period of the Interbellum was a country with an extremely low level of motorisation but one thing that the Poles did actually manufacture within Poland in some numbers was motorcycles. Not only that but motorcycles were deemed as being much more suitable for the poor Polish transport infrastructure and because of this many of the Obrona Narodowa formations were supplied with motorcycles for the command elements to get around in.

The Civilian Car:


When the powers that be were attempting to come up with transport solutions they eventually arrived at the conclusion that there simply was not enough financial resources available to ensure that all troops that required transport could be supplied appropriately. To plug this shortfall they made it incumbent upon each respective formation that they should source their own transport and that the command function had the legal right to requisition civilian motorised vehicles for use during wartime.

Because the Obrona Narodowa were empowered by the government to requisition civilian motor vehicles and horse drawn vehicles for use on the field, instead of my usual casts of the Lazik command cars I opted to buy one of Peter Pigs Citroens from their WW2 French range.

Painting was a pretty simple affair with a black undercoat and basecoat and highlights applied with deep blue/ turquoise mix with an airbrush.

Job done!

The Ammunition Wagon:

The wagons were a bit of an issue for my Polish army as there was a certain model of wagon that the regular army used which of course nobody manufactures in 15mm. However the logistics tabors of the National Defence battalions requisitioned whatever they could get and because of this I opted to head over to Museum Miniatures' line of horse drawn wagons and bought 11 of them of mixed types.

The painting was a new one for me as I had bought AK Interactives two sets of paints for painting wood and this was the first time I would get to give them a field test. I'm OK with the results... from a distance! :D

The Ammunition Wagon is a high sided wagon with spoked wheels with a double baggage load (which conveniently represented the masses of ammo that they would be tasked with carrying) pulled by a tidy pair of draught horses.

Ammo wagons aren't usually a big thing in Flames of War games, however the issues with ammunition were quite a problem that the Obrona Narodowa faced in '39 so I wanted to make it a central issue for anybody fielding an ON force. Having your troops accompanied by ammo wagons is one of the ways to address ammunition running out.

Obviously if you opt not to have your troops accompanied by such wagons then it is more likely that your troops will run out of ammunition leaving troops little option but to fix their bayonets and run madly towards the enemy machine guns screaming at the top of their lungs... just as the Koronowo Battalion did in 1939!

So there we have it. All of the command elements for anybody who wants to field some of Poland's lesser known patriots.

All in all, quite a fun little modelling project with an abundance of....

...BAYONETS!!!!!

Wheres Wally? (or Waldo if you are in the States)

So... its been a while. 

A little over 5 months in fact!

In truth, I never stopped painting and in fact I've finally finished working on a big painting and modelling project that I had underway a little over a month into my blackout but I do have to admit that I think I was suffering from some sort of snow blindness where painting was concerned which slowed me down considerably towards the end of the year and through January.

...oh yeah and that's not to even mention that Christmas happened, during which I cancelled all holidays, worked through Christmas neck deep in heavy engineering works, literally turned my apartment upside down in order to fix problems that were springing up all over the place and having closed down a film and mixed media company almost a year ago decided that it was finally time to convert my office into a dyed in the wool Man Cave!!!

My 'work in progress' for the Obrona Narodowa '39 Intelligence Briefing I've been slaving over

Whilst all of this was going on, luckily I still found the time to polish off an entire Flames of War Polish Obrona Narodowa (National Defence) army for Flames of War, added a platoon of Korpus Ochrony Pogranicza (Border Protection Corps), as well as adding a few bits to my nascent Zulu army AND finish translating my first Polish military book on the 'National Defence' to help write an FOW vIII Intelligence Briefing which is now almost done... and just to add the cherry to the cream on the cake I've also just finished the first 28mm miniature that I've painted in over 15 years )and boy oh boy do I have some lost ground to make up on), completed ALL of the Slovak infantry I have planned for my FOW Slovak army and started painting my first Spanish Civil War 15mm Carlist Requetes for Spain in Flames as well! 

Well... blog posts and photos to follow... by the bucket!

So... its half way through May and I am now finally in a position to start posting again and I thought I would get the ball rolling by offering a few WIP's on the Intelligence Briefing and show you all what my Man Cave looks like now that all of the editing systems and camera systems have been retired and melted down for glue! (yeah OK, that was a bit dramatic... it was actually all sold off!).. and where it is I now spend my days slaving away!

The man cave in all of its glory!

I decided in December that I wanted to take down my giant double 30" cinema display Apple editing system that I was no longer using and replace it with some space to paint toy soldiers in. A very sensible choice I believe! So in place of my giant all space consuming technological financial black hole I decided that just a little bit of deskspace wouldn't be enough... so I emptied my entire office... which quickly spread to the rest of the apartment! Proof positive I think that I'm a bit OCD!

Anyway just a bit of deskspace wouldn't cut it so I decided I wanted some desktop organisers and after looking around for a suitable fit I ended up finding Hobby Zone, a boutique Polish company that were doing exactly what I was looking for. Not the cheapest in the world to be sure BUT they were well made and rugged and should be able to carry the weight of my ham fisted mishandling in the years to come!

Hobbyzone.pl

I replaced my old and functional Spirit Air airbrush with a new MIG Aircobra and a Harder & Steenbeck (Infinity) CR Plus because Ive decided its time my skills with the airbrush developed past the point of throwing buckets of paint onto models! I followed through on this with a new compressor and a worktop spray booth as well.

Airbrush Spray Booth, Compressor and gear with Vacuum Pump on the bottom

In the plastic container below the spray booth I have been able to store my vacuum pump which I uses for casting. Actually I bought this solely so I could cast up all of the stuff that I sculpted for use with my Black Brigade army but now I've got a hard on for other projects as well... My Slovaks will need a few bits and pieces and when I eventually reach my Dutch 1940's army they will need some stuff as well :D

Where the airbrushes are concerned my old and sturdy Spirit Air was good enough for the level of detail that I required but I decided that unless I start pushing my envelope I'll never be any better with the airbrush as a tool than I am now... and that really isn't very good to be honest.

So I palmed off my Spirit Air and Aztek compressor on one of my best friends in return for a fine bottle of Welsh Whiskey (Yup! That's right!!!) and instead bought a new compressor and two new airbrushes.

MIG Aircobra in the rear and the Harder & Steenbeck Infinity CR to the front!

...and of course there were the continual little bits and pieces that one buys to improve ones working conditions such as a bookstand and two new desktop lamps with daylight bulbs!... and actually the second one was a ball ache that took a looooooooooong time to arrive which is partly the reason that I didnt post last month when everything else was ready!

Bookstand on the right with the two new lamps taking centre stage with their daylight bulbs...

... Looks like I have plenty of paints lined up there on their racks doesn't it? Well in fact I have room for less than 1/3 of my paints with the remainder staying in the tool box under the desk. I basically chose all of the main ones that I use for racks just for convenience.

One good thing though is that with all of the drawers that I now have I was able to store almost all equipment that I use in them with the main stuff in the drawers in front of my painting space.

...and of course over in the corner of the room I store all of my solvents and effects fluids & pastes for handy access :D

Funky bottles... and stuff...

and between them both is where I store all of my brushes, superglues, pens, pencils..blah blah blah...

Windsor & Newton Series 7 brushes.... with all of the others as well...

BUT no man cave would be complete without ones coat of arms hanging on the wall! Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you; The Lions of Gwynedd!

The Lions of Gwynedd in all of their glory!

... and whilst we are the subject of all things Welsh, I like to have my poster of mythological Wales' 'Mabinogion' up on the wall next to my book case because its firstly nice to look at and secondly its a reminder of all of the 'Tales for Small Children' that we have! :D

Mabinogion - Tales for Small Children

... mind you, saying that, there is also a certain satisfaction with having a new bookcase in my office dedicated to military history and wargaming as well to top up on all other tales.

Books... BOOKS!!!!

Most of my normal, English language books are elsewhere in the house. For my own private pleasure I keep all of my wargaming books, my Classical and Archaic era books and of course anything Polish... well, I call it pleasure, others may call it torture but horses and courses and all that.

Now, for the last couple of years I have been forced to 'make do' with whatever I had in order to get the job done but as money eased off a bit recently I decided that it was time to replace a few of my tools or else buy some things that would just make my life easier.

When I started painting my Slovaks a massive cock up was conducted under my watch requiring a complete strip down and I wasn't keen on the time it would take to do it by hand so I decided to buy an ultrasonic cleaner. I got a VGT-1000 and I have to say I was REALLY pleased with the results!

VGT-1000 Ultrasonic Cleaner

The other item I decided it was long overdue for replacement was my dremel. For the last God knows how many years I had been using a cheap piece of yellow plastic that I couldn't control the speed on or even turn on and off without using the plug... I decided on taking the plunge and buying a Dremel 4000 with a workstation that turns it into a Pillar Drill as well.

Dremel 4000 with the Workstation 220 to the left

and of course where would a wargamer/blogger/modeller be without an ability to photograph all of his latest efforts?

Well, seeing as I have surrendered my usual painting location to 'she who must be obeyed' I decided I needed an alternate way of doing what I needed, so I decided to purchase a portable and collapsible studio. I already have one of course but it really is an awful piece of crap so I decided to go for broke and buy a Foldio 3 kit with turntable and extra lights.

The complete Foldio 3 kit with Halo Bars and 360 Smart Turntable

... of course nothing worthwhile comes trouble free and true to form the geeks in the Foldio lab decided that the UK would never be a good enough market to provide any version with UK plugs so I had to buy the US version and Step Down Converters to modify the UK power supply to the drip fed US supply.

However when you see the photos on the forthcoming blogs you will see that it was worth the money!

... that pretty much covers all of the tools... I guess its just about storage now:

This is where the majority of my stuff is stored at the moment and I have room for one more filing cabinet and one stack of plastic boxes side by side for expansion. At the moment I still have the majority of the end cabinet free with only three drawers being occupied. There are also plenty of the small drawers available for 6mm and 10mm Austrian and French Napoleonics and my nascent Zulu War army.

The plastic boxes are a Godsend however. At the moment they are crammed with boxes of figures from a couple of other game systems such as Prodos' AVP and Flintloque and Slaughterloo armies and such like. Ill be cramming a new pile with scenery and Photo-etching equipment at some point soon as well... just one more ridiculous project to suck up my time in the near future... but oh the possibilities!

FIX BAYONETS!!!!!!

FoW: Obrona Narodowa (National Defence) Platoon

So these guys are the somewhat unsung heroes of September '39. Along with the State Police (a.k.a The Blue Police) these guys were all over Poland fighting in almost all of the battles... but just like the Blue Police, nobody really seems to give them the credit they deserve.

For me they represent another opportunity for a funky modelling project where I get to put something together that looks a little different from the average so let me run you through a little bit of history and then I'll take you through how I put my ON (Obrona Narodowa) platoon together.

The History of the Obrona Narodowa

The Obrona Narodowa (ON) was a territorial military formation that existed between 1937 and 1939. It comprised a system of Brigades and Demi-Brigades which were each assigned to District Corp Headquarters where in times of need they would be subordinated to specific Polish army groups based on perceived local needs.

The decision to establish an organisation of National Defence units was taken in December 1936, with service in the ON units being based on the well known principles of our own Territorial Army. Initially the National Defence units service was performed exclusively by volunteers of Polish nationality, unrestricted reserve soldiers and the unemployed. The basic organisation was by the Battalion with varying levels of manpower depending upon which model of battalion you were serving in; Types I, II, III, IV and S (there was also a Cavalry ON brigade as well).

Formation of the first ON Battalions began in January 1937 with Reserve Troops populating the territorial system and initially formed on the instigation of each of the District Corps, depending upon whether or not there was a perceived need for more manpower at that time.

National Defence formations were equipped with a variety of uniforms and equipment, rarely modern at inception, although by 1939 many Battalions had been issued uniforms that were to a larger degree identical to the regular army with the exception of formation markings.

Formations of the ON were provided for the short term defensive activities of any given area whereby the ON would assist in the defence of their own homes and other short term defence tasks when under favourable field conditions, principally with the support of regular troops.

ON troops participating in the Zaolzie occupation 1938

It would seem that when the ON were deployed as envisioned they performed admirably though if, through events beyond their control, they were pulled out of their comfort zones and expected to operate in a wider tactical environment their lack of weaponry and training would start to tell very quickly, frequently precipitating a collapse in morale.

When the second world war started Poland was able to mobilise a total of about 83 battalions with a total strength of about 1500 officers and between 50-60,000 NCO's and Privates.

Sequence of Events in 1939

7th April 1939: A root and branch reorganisation of the ON started to take place with the issue of order L. 1022/Tjn which dealt with the theoretical strengths and mobilisation plans for the ON.

2nd May 1939: The start of the physical establishment of the ON Battalions followed soon after with order L.dz 1600/ Tjn. HE. and L.dz 1601/ Tjn.

New brigades were established and existing ones expanded and in place of the original organisational TO&E's 1,2,3 & 4 the following organisational TO&E's were introduced:

Brigade Headquarters (demi-brigade) ON type I
Brigade Headquarters (demi-brigade) ON type II
Battalion ON Type I
Battalion ON Type II
Battalion ON Type III
Battalion ON Type IV
Battalion ON Type 'S' (Fortress Garrisons. June '39 mobilisation of 12 such battalions was planned)
Company ON Type 'KS' (Cyclists)
Company ON Type 'K' (Cyclists)

The breakdown of a Type IV Obrona Narodowa Battalion

10th May 1939: The commander of Corps Area Command No. VII in Poznan issued order L.dz 2398/ Tjn.Org.ON outlining the creation of ON units in the Corps area.

31st May 1939: Brigadier General Kazimierz Sawicki was appointed General for Unit Affairs and Head of the National Defence Agency whilst also retaining the post of Director of the State Office of Physical Education and Military Training.

10th July 1939: The N ational Defence Department is legally separated from the M.S.Wojsk Infantry Department, and is subsequently integrated into the National Defence Agency.
Head of the Obrona Narodowa - Lieutenant Colonel Jozef Zoncyk-Bohusz
Head of Organisational Documentation - Capt Kazimierz Gustaw Czermak
Head of Budget - Captain Stanislaw Marian Bigo
Head of Department - Major Tadeusz Wiktor Rozek

27th July 1939: The Office for Units of the Army issued an order 136/ Tjn. for the formation of ON artillery platoons

28th July 1939: The Office for Units of the Army issued an order 182/ Tjn. for the formation of Gdynia ON Battalion III and the reorganisation of Gdynia ON Battalion II and Kashubian ON Battalion to the Type IV organisational structure

2nd August 1939: The Office for Units of the Army issued an order 183/ Tjn. for the formation of the Dabrowa ON demi brigade

25th August 1939: Brigadier General Bronislaw Regulski was replaced by the Minister of Military Affairs due to a combat alarm carried out by units of the ON.

29th August 1939: The Office for Units of the Army issued an order 349/ Tjn. outlining the change of command organisation for the Poznan and Podhale ON Brigades from Type I to Type II.

29th August 1939: The Office for Units of the Army issued an order 183/ Tjn. for the formation of the National Defence Brigades in Warsaw.

That brings us up to the war....

Owing to the precipitous collapse of the Polish front lines at the start of September the ON were frequently called upon to fight outside of their local environments in circumstances that were not suitable for their organisational imperatives. The most effective battles that the ON waged were when they were fighting for their 'little homeland'. 

This is labelled as an ON section launching an attack but I am almost certain that this is a Cavalry section.
The troops are all wearing cavalry boots and the soldier in the foreground still has spurs on his boots.

In the German overrunning of Army Pomerania (Armii Pomorze) to the west of Bydgoszcz on 2nd September 1939 the ON Battalion 'Koronowo' is a good example of what well led battalions could achieve when fighting for their homes.

With the Polish front line having been overrun by German armoured thrusts the Polish 'Koronowa' ON battalion was all that stood in their path. Without external support they fought off a succession of German waves holding back the entire German 3rd Infantry Division until all ammunition was exhausted. When the ammunition had run out Major Wrzesinksi took the decision to order a bayonet charge instead of a withdrawal. Nobody considered capitulation. They fought to the very end with only a few managing to escape the carnage.

ON soldiers... actually in Greatcoats!

Similar resistance was made by many other battalions throughout Poland although few will come close to the extreme valour demonstrated by the ON Battalions that fought with the Naval Rifle Brigades around Gdynia, most especially on the Oksywie Kepa where 15,000 troops dug themselves into a local hillside and forced the Germans to literally dig them out having to wage over 100 individual  battles over a 10 day period up to 19th September when the commander Colonel Stanislaw Dabek committed suicide and the remaining troops laid down their arms. Kazimierz Pindel wrote: "All Coastal Land Defence forces have been completely destroyed. There was no surrender at Oksywska. The struggle of the few Coastal Defence Troops in comparison to the German forces continued until their destruction by the enemy!" 

The troops did actually eventually surrender, but only when ammunition and food was exhausted, medical supplies were non existent, casualties had risen to over 40% and a complete organisational breakdown had been forced upon the defenders.

Despite what the world may think, Poland was no pushover!

Sadly a lot of the troops serving with the ON were murdered either on the field of battle, or most especially in prisoner of war camps where the ON's efforts to suppress German 5th Column activities drew savage reprisals from their captors. There were a number of officers of various battalions who actually suffered the indignity of being guillotined.

Uniforms

Miniatures portraying some Obrona Narodowa soldiers from 1939 in older pattern uniform items.

The outfitting of soldiers of the National Defence organisations was along the same lines as those of the regular army with the ideal kit being provided being the same as that provided to regular army soldiers.

The reality was somewhat more disparate however with the Brigades frequently, and especially at inception being issued with older pre 1936 military uniforms. As time went by and war approached however replacement of these older uniforms for the newer post 1936 model became more accelerated. Because of this I will only address the more outdated uniforms issued to the ON as, other than ON markings the modern uniforms bore no noticeable difference.

A fine artists impression of an older uniformed Obrona Narodowa soldier of 1939

There were small differences in the uniforms between the ON and the Regulars however, even with the most modern uniforms. So to detail the uniforms:

A typical ON uniform but with a wz.36 helmet

Headwear: Other than the rogatywka cap that the troops habitually wore the ON were issued with old world war 1 era French Adrian helmets. These were eventually replaced by the more modern wz.1936 helmet as war approached.

Upper Body: A standard 'kurtka sukienna' (cotton jacket) was issued. The more modern wz.1936 issue jacket would have been issued as war approached but for wargaming purposes there is practically no difference. Their cotton greatcoats or sleeping blankets would be worn rolled across the chest, over the shoulder and tied together with the other end just above the belt. 

Lower Body: The cloth trousers of the ON were typical of the era and were tight laced around the calves, ballooning out above the knee. One of the most identifiable things about the ON uniforms however was the leg wraps. As opposed to the puttees of most European armies by this time the Polish were still issuing long cotton strips of fabric that were tied around the legs, starting just above the ankle and being tied off below the knee. Even when newer uniforms had been issued many ON formations still retained the use of these wraps.

Feet: The ON were issued older black leather ankle boots. Nothing much to say here. Exactly as it says on the tin!

Equipment: The equipment issued to the ON, such as the webbing, harnesses, ammo pouches and rucksacks etc. was exactly the same as that issued to regular infantry. The older gas mask tin was issued as opposed to the newer canvas bags but other than that there is no practical difference for a wargamer to worry about.

Armament: As a militia organisation that was tasked with defending hearth and home the ON did not have access to the newest weaponry the Polish army was being equipped with. However they were not bereft of heavy weaponry and/or support weaponry that many suppose although much of it had been reallocated before the war started. Some ON Battalions were very well furnished, such as those in the Karpaty whilst others such as those up in Grodno were somewhat bereft.

Typically the personal weapons issued were old French Mannlicher rifles of World War 1 vintage with a smattering of equally unPolish lmgs, such as the French Berthier's. As time went by more BAR's were issued although they kept their French rifles. Ammunition on the field of battle was to be a perennial problem.

Insignia: The ON uniforms had no insignia on them other than the coat of arms of the Obrona Narodowa and a collar flash of white over red cut diagonally on both jackets and cloaks. The older Adrian helmets could also be found sporting the Polish Eagle, although the majority of these had been removed by the time war broke out. Ranks were carried on epaulettes just as with other arms.  

Modelling the Obrona Narodowa

Organisationally speaking the ON Type IV Battalions were a bit different from the average Polish company. Each company, as expected would contain three platoons each of three sections... but this is where the similarities end. Each section was only 15 men as opposed to the normal 19. There is questions as to how many LMG's the platoons would have access to as well although just for variety I've included a base in each section with a team.

So, I can obviously just choose to repurpose my normal piechoty for use as Obrona Narodowa should I choose but I just can't help feeling that I would be missing out on another modelling opportunity and a chance to field something  just this side of funky!

The full Obrona Narodowa platoon in all its undermanned and undergunned glory!

I decided that I would opt to model and field an ON platoon equipped with the older uniforms that were initially issued in 1937. That would mean the older Adrian helmets, leg wrap putties, rolled greatcoats/blankets and an assortment of weird and wonderful weapons (OK so practically this would just mean an alternative LMG)

A full section of 15 conscripts advancing, waved on by their NCO in the middle.

I cast my eyes about the wargames world to find some options. Generally speaking the armed forces of the world of this time period all wore similar uniforms that could be nicely done with a little nip and tuck. One option was obviously the True North National Defence troops which is a manufacturer I normally swear by but I just wanted to try something different, and in any case the True North ones have been sculpted without the leg wrap putties, in fact the only difference here would be the helmets and at the moment I am very taken with my chosen alternatives.

A closer look at one of the LMG bases

I settled on the Carlist range of Spanish Civil War miniatures by Peter Pig, whose heads I quickly removed. These were then replaced with Adrian helmet heads, again provided by Peter Pig and Czapka heads, also provided by the same. 

A closer look at the platoon command base.... complete with their very own Catholic, cross toting nutter!

It would be nice if they actually sculpted Rogatywka heads, which is what the Poles actually wore in the field as opposed to the czapkas which were actually chiefly worn with dress uniforms, parades and special functions... for a lack of an alternative I had to go ahead and use them anyway. 

An excuse to have a closer look at one of the Sergeants

The benefit of the Carlist miniatures is that with the exception of water bottles these miniatures wear the correct form of belt, harness and ammo pouches, have leg wraps, have the blanket/greatcoat rolled across the body and sling the rest of their bags in almost the same way as ON troops. They were an ideal fit once all of the heads had been replaced.

A look at the rear of the soldiers showing to good effect their rolled blankets, leg wrap putties, Adrian helmets and packs.

Given that the Poles are a bit Catholic nutty and I figured it would only have been worse in 1939, especially given the fact that they were having their own Jewish pogrom before the Germans even bounced across their borders I thought I would keep the Holy Cross touting Carlist and use him as a proxy banner bearer along with two officers. 

A decent view of one of the sections advancing straight towards the camera crew :D

Unlikely this would ever have happened in a real battle of course but I do like the idea of a hard pressed ON battalion being brought back to the fight by a lonely officer or NCO hauling a cross into the air, planting it firmly in the ground and urging his men to take not one further step backwards!

Anyway apart from that all of the painting was completed as with everything else Polish that I've done and just so with the bases!

The whole platoon viewed from the front, command in the background!

So Im left with the feeling that this particular little force went so well that I decided to go ahead and order one more platoon of Carlists, and enough weird and wonderful troops types and heads to allow me to create 2 HMG teams, 1 mortar team, 1 anti tank gun team and three horse drawn wagons of typically rural types... I just cant help adding these little projects!

Its no wonder I never seem to finish anything! :D

FIX BAYONETS!!!!!!!!!