A Horsey Tale!

Something a bit different tonight that I came across on the BBC News website a week or two ago - interesting to me because Montrose is my hometown - hope you enjoy this horse tale as well!

How two families were linked by a Scottish war horse

Cpt Alexander Wallace MC and Vic were together for more than four years

Two families linked by a heroic Scottish horse that served in some of the bloodiest battles of World War One have met for the first time.

When the conflict started in 1914, Vic was a farm horse owned by the McGregor family near Montrose.

She was specially chosen to serve with Cpt Alexander Wallace in France – and was the only horse from the area to return from the war.

Vic was later briefly reunited with Cpt Wallace, who arranged for her to return to Angus and live out the rest of her life at the McGregor's' farm.

More than 100 years later, the soldier's descendants have travelled from the US to meet the McGregor's and hand over Cpt Wallace's war diaries to the Montrose Air Station Museum.

The Wallace and McGregor families have met for the first time

Cpt Wallace's grandson John said it was "totally amazing" to connect with David and Jean McGregor, the great-grandson and granddaughter of Vic's original owner William McGregor.

He said: "I can't really describe how fun and grateful and heartfelt it was that another family grew up with the story of Vic, unaware of us for 100 years.

"I just get chills telling the story.

"It's amazing, this story about Vic being carried along by two different families, completely unaware of each other."

Captain Wallace pictured in 1918 with Vic (left) and war horse Tich

Cpt Wallace's father, who was the vet for Arbroath, had specifically obtained Vic for the young officer in August 1914, only days after the war began.

Vic was attached to Cpt Wallace's unit, the Forfarshire Battery of the Royal Field Artillery (RFA).

She arrived in France after 10 months of training and a bout of pneumonia.

A 1919 article in the Dundee Courier, listed the pair's "exciting adventures and miraculous escapes".

It said: "At Festubert in 1915, when the territorial battalions whacked the Prussian Guards, Vic was in the fray.

"On the Somme in 1916 she again distinguished herself.

"At the taking of Passchendaele in 1917 she was again with the Battery, and in the spring of last year when the Germans by a great drive threatened Amiens, Vic with her battery, put up a gallant fight."

Cpt Wallace's war diaries and other memorabilia have been donated to the museum

The pair were parted at the end of the war. Vic was sent back to Britain, avoiding the fate of the many war horses who were shot following their service.

Cpt Wallace discovered Vic was to be auctioned in London, so he wired his brother from France, asking him to buy her back so she could be returned to the McGregor's at her home farm in Angus.

Despite fierce competition, he secured Vic with a winning bid of 45 guineas, almost £1,400 in today's money.

In an amazing coincidence, Cpt Wallace was able to see Vic again before he emigrated to the US.

He had arrived at King's Cross station on short leave and spotted her as she was being readied to board the train to Arbroath, en route to her home farm.

The Dundee Courier reported: "At the greeting "Hullo, Vic, old girl!" the mare pricked up her ears and seemed as delighted at meeting her old friend as he was at securing his faithful companion and making sure that she would have a good home for the rest of her days."

Cpt Wallace received the Military Cross, which is now displayed in the museum

Cpt Wallace received the Military Cross in the 1919 New Year Honours list for his bravery during the conflict, before emigrating to America. He died in 1977.

Vic returned to the McGregor's and her home farm, where she went on to have a number of foals and won competitions.

David McGregor said his family had discovered pictures of Vic and correspondence between William McGregor and Cpt Wallace in his late aunt's house.

He added: "There was an article in the Courier in 2021 looking for information on the horse and that's where we read about it.

"We thought, this has to be the same horse."

Cpt Wallace etched the battles he fought in onto his cigarette case

Cpt Wallace's family had previously donated his army tunic and medals, including his Military Cross, to the Montrose Museum.

John Wallace said he could remember pictures of Vic with his grandfather, and pictures of her at Rossie of Main's farm with a foal.

"It was a favourite story for my parents to repeat to us, but also for my grandfather to tell us about," he said.

"We would go up to his closet and try on his jacket, which is also here at the museum, so it's been part of my family and my life forever."

Museum trustee Sian Brewis said that Cpt Wallace and Vic's story was 'incredible'

Museum trustee Sian Brewis said it was an incredible story.

"Not only has the story survived, the two families involved were aware of it.

"They had the diaries, the tunic, the letters, and it is just incredible over the past couple years that all of this has come together, and we have such a complete and incredible story now.

"It's just nice to have a World War One story that's a happy one as well.

"It's so amazing, of 131 horses from this area Vic was the only one to come back."

Cpt Wallace and Vic's story is told at the Montrose Air Station Museum

There you go - just like the film "Warhorse" - it's got a happy ending!

Танковый парад Красной Армии - Tankovyy parad Krasnoy Armii

 And as you may have guessed - in English - Red Army Tank Parade!

From the North...

..... East .....

.... South.... and...

....the West!

And as bit of a bonus, my ruined buildings for Berlin/Stalingrad are more or less completed

And the earlier war tanks are shown passing through a liberated Russian village.

I also finished off the three dismounted tank crewmen that came in the box set

And one last riflewoman 

I believe she is armed with an SVT 40 semi-automatic rifle

Last night, I came across this movie on YouTube

In Transit (originally titled In Tranzit) is a 2008 Russian-British drama film based on the true story of German prisoners of war in a Soviet work camp after World War II. The film was directed by Tom Roberts, and stars Thomas Kretschmann, Daniel Brühl, Vera Farmiga, and John Malkovich.

In the winter of 1946, in Leningrad, a group of German prisoners of war are sent to a female transit camp by the Russian NKVD Colonel Pavlov (John Malkovich). When they arrive, the Russian female soldiers show hostility to the prisoners on the grounds that have killed their families and friends; only Dr. Natalia (Vera Farmiga) and the cook Zina treat the prisoners with dignity.

You will understand the appeal, I am sure :)

The Russian guards are all women .....

Thanks for your visit - look forward to reading your comments on my latest efforts!

Last Red Army Tank..... For Now!

 As advertised, here is the last of five Soviet tanks I came by, by of way of the Warlord "Achtung Panzer" tank box set - the mighty Joseph Stalin II.

This one is decaled up to represent the IS-2 model 1944, “Combat Girlfriend” 7th Independent Guards Heavy Tank Battalion, Berlin, April 1945, as per the Warlord assembly instructions!

Given the name, it will come as no surprise to anyone that I added two female crew members!

Both very minor conversions, they are standard male bodies with a couple of female heads I have had knocking around since my RCW expansions 2-3 years ago. 

Once again, the white recognition stripe is deliberately pretty rough, as that's how they generally appear to be in period images.

And finally, a couple of shots with the traditional addition of the tank rider figures!

Perhaps for this one, in particular, I should splash out and get some of the Bad Squiddo female figures - they do three different tank rider sets, I think!

I have finally finished this book too, having ground my way through Vasily Grossmans "Life and Fate" over a period of about ten weeks from May to early July!

And finally, at Barrys place on Sunday I discovered his Flames of War Stalingrad book and asked if I could borrow it, primarily for the inspiration of the two images below - can I recreate them in 28mm AND have room to store them.....hmmm, we will see!

 

Thanks for your visit and please do leave a comment to let me know what you think about the latest tank addition - if you are good and leave lots of feedback, you might be lucky and get a parade next time!

PS - regular readers will have seen Steve J's link to a possible scenario for my KV tank in the post before last - for those who did not follow up on the link, here is the story

A single KV-1 or KV-2 tank (accounts vary) advanced far behind the German lines after attacking a column of German supply trucks. The tank stopped on a road across soft ground and was engaged by four 50 mm anti-tank guns of the 6th Panzer Division's anti-tank battalion. The tank was hit several times but fired back and destroyed all four enemy AT guns. An 8.8 cm FlaK of the divisional anti-aircraft battalion was moved about 730 m (800 yd) behind the lone Soviet tank but was knocked out by the tank before it could manage to score a hit. During the night, German combat engineers tried to destroy the tank with satchel charges but failed despite possibly damaging the vehicle's tracks. Early on the morning of 25 June, German tanks fired on the KV from the nearby woodland while another 8.8 cm FlaK fired at the tank from its rear. Of several shots fired, only two managed to penetrate the tank. German infantry then advanced towards the KV tank and it responded with machine-gun fire against them. Eventually, the tank was knocked out by grenades thrown into the hatches. According to some accounts, the dead crew was recovered and buried by the approaching German soldiers with full military honors, while in other accounts, the crew escaped from their crippled tank during the night.

The 6th Panzer Division Kampfgruppe commander, General Erhard Raus, described it as a KV-1, which was damaged by several shots from an 8.8 cm FlaK being used in an anti-tank role fired from behind the vehicle, while it was distracted by light Panzer 35(t) tanks from Panzer Battalion 65. The KV-1 crew were killed by a pioneer engineer unit who pushed grenades through two holes made by the AT gun while the turret began moving again, with the other five or six shots having not fully penetrated. Apparently, the KV-1 crew had only been stunned by the shots which had entered the turret and were buried nearby with military honors by the German unit.

In 1965, the remains of the crew were exhumed and reburied at the Soviet military cemetery in Raseiniai. According to research by Russian military historian Maksim Kolomiets, the tank may have been from the 3rd Company of the 1st Battalion of the 4th Tank Regiment, itself a part of the 2nd Tank Division. It is impossible to identify the crew because their personal documents were lost after being buried in the woods north of Raseiniai during the retreat, possibly by German troops.

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Sunday Game - ACW 1865

This game, put on by our buddy Mark, was loosely based on the last major action of the ACW in April 1865, as outlined below thanks to the ever-useful Wikipedia!

The Battle of Sailor's Creek was fought on April 6, 1865, near Farmville, Virginia, as part of the Appomattox Campaign, near the end of the American Civil War. It was the last major engagement between the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, commanded by General Robert E. Lee, and the Army of the Potomac, under the overall direction of Union General-in-Chief Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant.

After abandoning Petersburg, the exhausted and starving Confederates headed west, hoping to re-supply at Danville or Lynchburg, before joining General Joseph E. Johnston in North Carolina. But the stronger Union army kept pace with them, exploiting the rough terrain full of creeks and high bluffs, where the Confederates' long wagon trains were highly vulnerable. The two small bridges over Sailor's Creek and Little Sailor's Creek caused a bottleneck that further delayed the Confederates' attempt to escape. After some desperate hand-to-hand fighting, about a quarter of the remaining effective soldiers of the Confederate force were lost, including several generals. Witnessing the surrender from a nearby bluff, Lee made his famous despairing remark to Major General William Mahone, "My God, has the army dissolved?", to which Mahone replied, "No, General, here are troops ready to do their duty."

The battle is sometimes referenced under its old spelling as Sayler's Creek.

In our version, the Confederate Army was encamped along the road to the bridges at Sailors Creek, when the Union Army began arriving from the table end nearest the camera in the above picture. Nick, Julian, Rick and I commanded the Union forces, opposed by Chris, John, Barry and Paul.

Many of the Confederate units were classified as "tiny" in the scenario, made up of 2 -3 bases and only firing with a single dice. As soon as they received one unsaved hit, they went straight to a 3-casualty marker, making them very brittle.

The Rebs had their own victory conditions which we were unaware of but presumably included getting all their supply wagons across the river and off the other end of the table. They had to roll each turn and seemed to have quite a number of problems keeping the wagons moving!

The Union start arriving - I had three brigades of about 6-8 regiments each, nearest the camera, Julian had an artillery division of 8 standard sized batteries in the centre, Nick had roughly the same number of infantry as me on the far side, and Rick commanded 11 units of cavalry, that could come on any of the roads om the far side table edge.

The Rebels start to move to counter the Union threat

"There's Rebs in them woods, boys!"

Nick on our left advances against the main blocking force, commanded by Chris.

John commanded the Rebs opposing my command and had quickly occupied the woods, which are a very hard prospect under Marks rules .....sigh!

Meanwhile, the other two Confederate commanders got their troops moving towards the escape route in columns of march.

The head of the wagon train reaches Sailors Creek Bridge

View from behind Chris's lines as his large number of small units deploy to slow down Nicks full strength Union Brigades

The leading regiments of my first brigade enter the woods to try to dislodge the Rebs. In a recent change to his rules, Mark has made fighting in woods very hard. Each side rolls dice depending on the size of the units - in this case I had two standard units (3 D6) and one small unit (2 D6) against the three Rebs who were all small units. The combat works like this; each side rolls, needing 5 or 6 for a hit. A draw means neither side takes a hit, a win by one, means the loser takes a hit, a win by 2 means the loser is driven out of the woods and a win by 3 or more means the loser routs out of the woods - but rolling 3 dice to 2, it can take a long time to get any result at all and if you have to go all the way to breaking a units morale, they have to accumulate six hits.

To the rear of the woods, John deployed the remainder of his troops, many of whom were raw.

On our left flank, Nicks leading regiments were getting stuck into Chris, supported by Julians massed guns.

But the Rebs had some artillery of their own!

View from the Union starting end, showing the "traffic jam" of Union units on our right (my command) This was caused by the space required for Julian to deploy 8 batteries of artillery between Nick and me, and meant I had very little room to deploy my brigades (in fact, I worked out afterwards, all the fighting was basically done by one of the three brigades - and Nick didn't even bother bringing on one of his brigades as there was no room for them to do anything!) On the centre left of the image, you can see the Union cavalry harassing Barrys Rebs.

 

Success! After a relatively brief tussle (two or three rounds of melee) I managed to beat one of Johns units by two and pushed them out of the wood...

But they were immediately replaced by a fourth unit in the next Confederate phase- see why fighting in woods is so difficult?!

General Custers boys - yes, it was HIM! - rampaging through the Confederate lines

To the west, the wagon train continues to make (slow) progress towards the escape route, as Reb infantry columns attempt to march to salvation as well.

My traffic jam again, as three regiments fight in the wood and the remainder of their brigade waits to exploit any success, the other two brigades try to squeeze around between the woods and the Union gun line.

The fight in the woods continues but I was slowly gaining the upper hand....

Chris was still putting up a good fight against Nicks superior numbers - helped significantly by some amazing saving rolls, particularly against hits from the Union artillery!

Custers men still cutting swathes through the Rebs 

A couple of views looking east and showing the Union cavalry rampaging around the Confederates rear, threatening to cut off their line of retreat!

Some of the cavalry units took up a central position to the rear of Chris and dismounted to act as a block against which Nick could hammer them!

Chris was quick to put several infantry units against the dismounted cavalrymen!

The Union cavalry almost got to the slowly moving Rebel wagon train!

They dispatched the Confederate unit but then had to fall back to reform!

The Rebs are in disarray as Union cavalry spreads panic in their rear!

I finally managed to break another Reb unit and make a flank attack on the adjacent Rebel line - 7 dice to 2 - and I managed a 2 all draw with John ....grrrrr!

The rest of my command still waiting for a gap to exploit

Rebs being pushed back from their defensive positions, finally!

A second charge by the Union produced a better result!

John captured the winning roll!

The Union cavalry in the farm remounted and ready to continue the fight, although by now they were carrying quite a few casualty markers.....

"They are breakin' boys, they are breakin'!" Ok, wrong side, that quote should be a Reb general!

Mounted cavalry extract some revenge on Chris's command.

Some of the Rebs have made it into the farmyard as the cavalry head off.

Leaving a couple of forlorn units as a rear guard, most of Johns Rebs start heading for the exit!

Although quite vociferous in his complaints about lack of support from the infantry, General Custers command has taken a very heavy toll on the Reb infantry - Rick virtually wiped out Barrys entire command and caught a couple of Pauls units too.

A couple of final views as the action wound down around 4pm

Upon seeing the survivors streaming along the road, Lee exclaimed in front of Major General William Mahone, "My God, has the army dissolved?"

 General Mahone replied, "No, General, here are troops ready to do their duty." Touched by the faithful duty of his men, Lee told Mahone, "Yes, there are still some true men left ... Will you please keep those people back?"

Mahone's division remained on the opposite bank covering the escape of the fugitives but was not engaged in more combat

Captain Tom Custer, brother of Brigadier General (Brevet Major General) George Armstrong Custer, received a second Medal of Honor in four days for his actions in this battle. This followed his first medal for actions at the Battle of Namozine Church on April 3, 1865.

General Philip Sheridan declared that the battle had been so overshadowed by Lee's surrender three days later that it was never accorded the prominence it deserved.

Mark had kept track of Reb loses throughout the day and upon toting up the figures, he declared the game a marginal Union victory - by one point! It certainly felt marginal to me - I think I destroyed three or four of Johns units, but the bulk of them got away. Nick had destroyed a lot of Chris's force, however, and as mentioned, Custers cavalry (Rick) decimated Barrys Rebs. Unfortunately for Paul, and much against his aggressive character, his command was the one closest to the exit point, so he was mostly confined to activating the wagon train and marching his command off in the direction of Lynchburg