Members asked me to show my mannequins. Here are the pics I have. I have 5 or 6 mannequins more (An US medic, an US WAAC, A French 1940 doctor officer, a French commando de chasse in Algeria etc.) I'll show you others items (helmets, knives etc.) as soon as I'll have enough time to make pics A Desert Rat officer His helmet A Canadian 3rd Infantry Division La Chaudière Regiment. DDAY A French Commando Kieffer (Free French DDAY) Ivan A Free French Goumier Monte Casino A British SAS end of word wearing Windproof 42 smock and trousers A Th SAS French French An Iron Men Of Metz september-November 44 (US 95th ID) [/quote] An US MARINE 42-43 An US armored division DDAY A Jap An Bulgarian officer (King Ferdinand division) An Italian Officer In Greece (a Maggiore Venezia Division) A German under_officer (Pz Grenadier) An US 82th AB With the history of its M42 uniform __________________________________________________________ Sgt Frederick L LANNING, 2nd Platoon - Company A - 504th PIR, [/color]gauche accroupi) : Brothers in Arms: The men of A Company, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment during WWII A French F.F.I ___________________________________________________________ I forgot this one !
Post WW2 Red Beret, a Lizard in ALgeria, a Bigeard's boy. A French Para on RC4 Road in Indochina Number 2 Commando In Indochina Very very very rare, impossible to find in fact...
Superb stuff. But a question on the British mannequins: you have the mess tins in the water-bottle carrier. I have never seen that before?
Superb stuff. But a question on the British mannequins: you have the mess tins in the water-bottle carrier. I have never seen that before? Yes, GB soldiers often used a second waterbottle cradle to carry a 24 hours ration into mess tins. NB: these mannequins are a Canadian soldier and a Free French, not British mannequins; of course battle dresses, equipments were the sames...
Some very interesting choices there GS59. Did you fit the mannequins with uniforms/equipment you had or did you search for the equipment specially? Mike
Yes, GB soldiers often used a second waterbottle cradle to carry a 24 hours ration into mess tins. NB: these mannequins are a Canadian soldier and a Free French, not British mannequins; of course battle dresses, equipments were the sames... Thanks for that - just never seen it in any wartime photographs. Sorry - by British I meant British/Commonwealth/attached French Commandos etc B)
Thanks for that - just never seen it in any wartime photographs. I did and I had pics but I changed my PC and I wasn't be able to extract all files, unfortunatly... Sorry - by British I meant British/Commonwealth/attached French Commandos etc B) Not any problem of course, all the more Free Forces or Canadian soldiers had more or less same BD and equipments . Only 177 Free Frenches landed in Normandy (Number 10 Commando) They allready landed on Dieppe beaches in 1942. 177 men seems ridiculous but it was very important as symbol. Of course, in 1940 France was annihilated in some weeks (Do not forget that it had 100 000 deaths in 47 days, victims' same rate as during the hardest days of Verdun) of course a lot of people collaborated but Free Frenches and Resistance did a real job. General Eisenhower said FFI did the job of 6 infantry divisions (sometimes we hear 15 divisions, that seems a lot and it is probably something between both) + 53000 FFL in 1943 (260 000 soldiers in 08.44 in 1st French Army of De Lattre)
GS59 I can see that you've devoted a lot of time, and cash, to building up this impressive collection. Where do you store everything and do you move it around your country to show at exhibitions ? Like Owen, I was at first thrown by your replacement for a water-bottle holder but I am sure that you have received confirmation of this use of a mess-tin. Thanks for sharing and many congratulations. Ron
Fantastic collection GS. And its nice to see displays such as the Italian and Bulgarian uniforms. well done!
GS59 I can see that you've devoted a lot of time, and cash, to building up this impressive collection. Where do you store everything and do you move it around your country to show at exhibitions ? Like Owen, I was at first thrown by your replacement for a water-bottle holder but I am sure that you have received confirmation of this use of a mess-tin. Thanks for sharing and many congratulations. Ron Hi, Thanks for your congratulations. No, I don't show my collection in any exhibitions. These mannequins are in my parents house (which is bigger than mine) I'd like to buy a blockhaus near where I live.
Fantastic collection GS. And its nice to see displays such as the Italian and Bulgarian uniforms. well done! Thanks. The Italian mannequin was very difficult to be ended
Some very interesting choices there GS59. Did you fit the mannequins with uniforms/equipment you had or did you search for the equipment specially? Mike I'm looking for WW2 items on flea markets, I ask around me if some have something in his celler etc. than I complete an uniform I found. By example during my holidays this summer, I met a women on a flea market. She told me she have her father uniform at home; he was a doctor in French army in 1940 battle, than he was a Resistant. Her uncle was in Indochina (Infanterie Coloniale) and he joined London and General de Gaulle. In fact, she had 4 jackets, a complete uniform, a GB battle dress, an US jacket etc. I bought all these items and now I'm going to complete these uniforms, looking for on the Net etc. For my only German mannequin (I don(t want more, question of philosophy) I found a Pz Gren. cap on a flea market and I decided to look for uniform and equipment to build a complete mannequin... Here are items I found during these holidays (I have not always the same chance of course !!!)
This is brilliant!! Ron, so GS59 doesn't go to exhibitions, but if he did I suppose he would take a minivan and all the guys in the back would just walk off and follow him to their places by themselves
GS59, Miguel used the right word. Brilliant. I too like the Italian uniform. Regards Tom Thanks, 8 years of and work...and...a couple of euros...
