A Few More 10mm Additions and Some Inspirational Reading

 I finished off the Roman Auxiliary slingers pretty quickly - one unit in red, the other in green - which matched the archers that are already part of my EIR force.

Also finished is a British command stand, this one being a druid and one of his acolytes, to help inspire the Celtic warriors!

Red slingers, front and rear

And the same for the green uniformed group

Druid summoning the ancient Celtic Gods to help defeat the invading Romans

His tattooed assistant holds up a recently decapitated Roman head.

On the reading front, I have borrowed this from the library recently, in addition to another couple of Simon Scarrow novels. I am hoping to find some material to inspire skirmish level games involving some of the 28mm female Soviet figures I painted a few years ago! 

In the meantime, here is one incredible story of female soldiers holding off the 16th Panzer Division at the start of the Battle of Stalingrad 

Like the rest of the Soviet Union's defenses, Stalingrad was unprepared for the Germans. When the Wehrmacht's Army Group Center approached the city from the north, it threatened to bypass all of the city's prepared defenses. In the northern area, the Red Army had only green volunteers from the 1077th Anti-Aircraft Regiment.

The 1077th was a poorly trained, undersupplied unit with no infantry to support them. Their only weapons were M1939 37mm and M1939 (52-K) 85mm flak guns, with which they were to defend Gumrak Airport from aerial bombardment. The unit was also fully manned by female teenagers, fresh from their high school graduation.

On Aug. 23, 1942, the German Blitzkrieg hit Stalingrad in full force, leveling much of the city from the air. When the 16th Panzer Division began to move in on the city from the north, it came face to face with the girls of the 1077th -- and their flak rounds.

The teenage defenders of Stalingrad had lowered the elevation of their anti-aircraft guns and pointed them right into the oncoming German offensive. It was the first resistance the Germans encountered in what would become a failed five-month fight for control of Stalingrad.

For two days, the 1077th fought shot for shot against hundreds of enemy tanks, thousands of enemy troops and aerial attacks from the German air force, the Luftwaffe. According to official Soviet records, (which are probably exaggerated), the young women of the regiment destroyed or damaged 83 tanks, 15 armored personnel carriers, dispersed three battalions of infantry and shot down 14 enemy planes.

The Germans didn't discover who was manning the flak guns until they wiped them out, destroying 37 positions. After defeating the young gunners, the 16th Panzer Division referred in their official war diary to the 1077th's "tenacious fighting women," which is as close to a compliment one might find from an enemy during the Battle of Stalingrad.

There are a couple of YouTube files covering the tale, too.

Thanks for you visit and for leaving a comment so I know you have dropped by!