WWII French Resistance Fighters
All English speaking WWII wargamer must have seen their fair share of 'Allo 'Allo. And besides faking foreign accents during games, nothing is quite as fun as pulling out obscure quotes about the period. So with all that in mind, every WWII wargamer should have at least a few French Resistance fighters.
The French Resistance can be said to begin after the signing of the armitice and General de Gaulle's declaration that the war was not over. It is actually made out of numerous groups carrying out various degrees of resistance. They included militant youths, socialists and communists escaping the Nazis, Dutch and Belgian refugees and former French military personnel.
In the later part of the war, the French Resistance worked often with British Commandoes to path the way for the Normandy D-Day landings.
These metal figures are from SHQ. They are probably the most decent French Resistance fighter figures in 1:72 scale. They carry a mixture of British Sten and Lee Enfield rifles as well as captured German MP40 and Kar98k rifles. The details of the weapons make their models visibly identifiable. One of the figure also carries a double barreled shotgun. Some of the men are wearing the French army field cap. Some also have the tri-coloured armbands with FFI symbols on them.
Here we see the Bren gunner and his assistant with a Lee Enfield. The commander fires a pistol and carries a firebomb in his other hand. What I love about these figures are the stereotyped French berets they wear.
I wanted to motorise the force, but not many 1:72 scale civilian vehicles are available. The only exceptions are the German VW Beetle and the Czech Tatra.
After a long search, I found the right vehicles. The car is a HotWheels car that underwent a bit of a face lift. First of all, I ripped off this funky plastic exhaust system it had, then I stripped the gaudy gold paintjob and sprayed it a dignified black. I also changed the "hot" wheels with a set that I cannibalised from one of my old kits.
The result is this suitably 1930s looking commerical van. The size is luckily quite accurate.
The motorcycle and rider is from the Airfix Forward Command Post set. I painted the motorcycle in a suitably non-military colour and painted the figure in civilian clothes. I did add the Kar98k rifle under the rider's arm though.
Here are two British Airmen for our French Resistance fighters to rescue. These chaps are from the Airfix RAF pilot and crew set.
© 2004-2006 Michael Sng Woei Shyong. All Rights Reserved.