Thanks to the fantastic wargaming resin kits from Warlord Games, we have easy access to some of the vehicles used by the French during this war. With a little detailing work and some nice painting they can bring variations to your French Indochina War games...
So I have started working on a M24 Chaffee light tank and a LVT4 amphibious tracked vehicle.
The versatile M24 was used in many situation in Indochina in support of infantry action.
Most notably, 10 of them were dismantled and transported to Dien Bien Phu were they were reassembled by a special team from the Legion. They were then used intensively by the « Escadron de Marche du 1er Régiment de Chasseurs à Cheval » in counter-attack to recover lost ground or opening road between fortified positions until the end of this epic struggle, firing some 15.000 rounds.
Each of the 10 vehicles bear the name of a famous French battle or French officer :
Conti from Captain Hervouet (Commanding officer)
1er Peloton
Mulhouse, Bazeilles, Douaumont
2e Peloton
Smolensk, Posen, Ettlingen
3e Peloton
Ratisbonne, Neumach, Auerstadt
Some of this tanks can still be seen at Dien Bien Phu today, sad relics of forgotten times
Very interesting, thank you.
ReplyDeleteWere these just green or did they have any camo markings !
ReplyDeleteSome of them have camo in mud. I will cover the painting and markings in a following post.
DeleteAwesome resource - thanks for providing this.
ReplyDeletenice photos for dioramas
ReplyDelete