9 May - Victory Day Parade.

 Victory Day is a holiday that commemorates the victory of the Soviet Union over Nazi Germany in 1945. It was first inaugurated in the 15 republics of the Soviet Union following the signing of the German Instrument of Surrender late in the evening on 8 May 1945 (9 May Moscow Time). The Soviet government announced the victory early on 9 May after the signing ceremony in Berlin

So, as promised, here is a quick parade of my 28mm Red Army armour 

In the front rank from L to R KV 1, 3 x early T34/76 and a T70

Row Two - a T34/85, 3 x mid war T34/76 and another KV 1

Row Three - 3 x resin T34/85, the resin SU100 Assault Gun and a Bolt Action plastic T34/85

Row Four - five plastic kits - 4 x IS 2 late war tanks and a T34/85

And the few supports ......

Gaz truck, BA10 (I think) armoured car and a Komsolets tractor

M30 122mm howitzer

2 x 45mm anti tank guns

85mm AA gun used in a ground support role (like the German 88!)

The B4 203mm howitzer

I did consider pulling out the 15mm collection too - but there are boxes and boxes of them and I couldn't face it!

Next is a quick report on our WW2 game at Julians place on Friday evening. Our host is keen on Crete, so that was where the fictional action was based. German FSJ and Kiwi infantry started on the table, with Gebirgsjaeger and Greek reinforcements respectively coming on when the appropriate card was turned.  I had the FSJ, Andrew would command the mountain troops and Julian was the Allies.

Julians nicely painted Perry metal WW2 Brits-as -Kiwis

Mixture of my 1st Corps and Julians Perry Fallschirmjaegers

A rather poor-quality image of the table. The Gebirgsjaegers would arrive on the top edge, the Greeks on the left edge. The small BUA/HQ was the focus of attackers and defenders alike.

The FSJ had a plus 1 for elite (thanks Jules!) so I got stuck into the Kiwis asap.

For the first few turns, the bulk of my force stayed in the woods, engaging in a firefight with the NZ infantry. 

We Germans certainly had all the luck with the cards - we had two Stuka attacks early on - this was a good one!

The FSJ put in another assault on the NZ infantry.

FSJ lurking in the woods, waiting for the right moment to attack....

On about turn 8 or 10, the Gebirgsjaegers turned up in the perfect position to sandwich the already depleted Kiwis

The situation when German reinforcements turned up in the top left corner - top centre - FSJ in the woods, having driven back two units of Kiwi infantry - adjacent woods, Kiwi infantry carrying quite a few hit markers.

The action in the woods - I think the FSJ might have lost one close combat in the whole game!

Top right - the Kiwis being driven from the woods by the FSJ also have Gebirgsjaegers in the woods to their rear. In the centre, the woods adjacent to the Kiwi HQ are full of Germans and in the woods to the top left, two of the NZ units are on 4 hits and retiring to the table edge - where is Zorba and his mates?!

You have to give it to the New Zealanders; they kept coming back for more!

Things are getting decidedly sticky for NZ infantry by the tents

And not a lot better for their HQ "bods"

Julian threw some very low dice while I did pretty well - Andrew I think was the only one probably rolling the statistical average - which was still way better than Jules was managing!

After just over an hour, the Germans captured the HQ and there was still no sign of any Greek reinforcements!

The few remaining Kiwis were hemmed into one wood with Germans on all sides - we decided to call it at this point, had dinner, a bit of a chat and an early trip home! Julian did check the card deck, but the Greek reinforcement were hours away from arriving, so we were right to stop when we did.

Good fun for Andrew and I but somewhat frustrating for Julian - he was, as ever, a jolly good sport about it!