"Cuirassier at the Retreat from Moscow" Topic

Added a new cuirassier to my collection recently. It's a small diorama of the retreat from Moscow and if I say so myself, it looks fantastic.

You can see some pictures here.

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Is that the plastic figure from a European firm? I tried to order it last year but they said it was no longer in production.

mbltd.info/3207.htm

Is this where you ordered it?

Conrad that's an excellent piece looks great on the bookshelf
Good luck with the book too
My money is on the uniformed little monster advancing on the snoozing cat 😂😂
Peter

Dave,

No, but that is the manufacturer I believe. I tried to order the figure from my local hobby shop where I did the other figures they have. And he told me that didn't have it any longer.

Sincerely,
Kevin

If you really want it right now…

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Are these les memes folk qui did the Chevauleger Lancier de la Garde Imperiale, avec the bonny lass, offering him a verre du vin?

I have to say, wonderful modelling…but this must have been early in the retreat…first day or two basically.

If you have ever spent a couple of days, in an open field, in the early 70s, listening to bands… all now dead…you did not look like this for long. That was summer, in England, after a few days…

I have three times now visited Russia in Jan/Feb. That is different

My USMC boots both cracked transversely in Red Square within 20 minutes, last time we went. It was only minus 23C….and we dashed into GUM, just to survive.

It is hard to imagine……. It was blowing a blizzard. The Muscovites did not go out at all.

Seriously. You do not look like these two. You die very quickly and that was only minus 23C for us. We were not starving, we were far better wrapped up, we knew we had safety within a few yards and a very smart hotel nearby

in case it is cold – supposedly it was – I would opt to wear for sure a headdress

Yeah…exactly! That was what I meant…..gloves too….

You will die within minutes.

The horse even quicker!

Wojciech Kossak, Wounded Cuirassier with a Girl, 1908

I was always under the impression, not sure why, that the subject was supposed to be a *Polish* curassier of the Polish 14th Cavalry (demi-)regiment who had found shelter with a Polish-Lithuanian family after being wounded, and was now setting out to rejoin the army.

Very nice piece!

Lass that looked like that…I would have hung on a bit longer. Let the fuss die down….

Feet under the table, nice billet…let's wait for the Spring

Would you wear a metal cuirass in the winter, if you didn't have to? Any part of it exposed to cold air would immediately put all parts of it at the same temperature. A sure way to die.

Lass that looked like that…I would have hung on a bit longer. Let the fuss die down….

To be fair, he seems to have waited until 1908 – doesn't he look well given his age!

I'll be honest…even at my age…she has the edge…more my choice, to keep me company through a long Eastern European Winter. The challenge would be the explanation when I do finally get home to 'er indoors.

Now here is a funny thing. Exactly the same title, indeed, the same model appeared on the Gallery

TMP link

Did the gardening today in that same first pair of Altama USMC boots….a warm day in N Yorkshire. They are still…wearable…..but I can never put them on without thinking how they both cracked in Red Square in February in minus 23C, when we could run into the store GUM to survive, after about only 25 minutes. The French and their successors, the German invaders experienced minus 40…all night long and not dressed in modern kit as we were…….

I love the idea that this guy needs this cute blonde to point which way is west….."oh…that way? I seeee"

He'd have eaten the horse by then, nice bird though, could definitely overwinter with her.

I think the "retreat from Moscow" tag line is leading us astray.

The houses are east Polish or (modern) north-west Ukraine.

The horse is a shaggy local mount, not a cheval de selle as used by the heavy cavalry (which would be taller, have a proportionately smaller head, longer neck and extremely defined top-line) :
cuirassier horse :
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Having essentially dissolved as a (demi-)regiment east of Smoelnsk in November 1812, the remnants of the Polish 14th Cavary regiment (cuirassiers) marched on foot with the survivors of the Ve corps (polonais) through the Beresina crossing. The Poles were then split off from the remainder of the the retreating army and directed through Alytus in Lithuania and thence into Poland near modern Augustów. Poniatowski and his headquarters arrived in Warsaw on 12 December.

As I understand what Kossak meant to depict ….

Our wounded cuirassier made it to the safety of a countryman's farm in east Poland where he convalesced. In January, the cuirassier (demi-)regiment was ordered to reform at Nowy Korczyn, about 250 km south of Wasaw and 50 km north-east of Kraków. Taking a good local horse, probably donated by a member of the local genty, the un-defeated cuirassier sets out to rejoin his regiment. The young countrywoman is providing him directions to avoid the increasing number of Russian Cossack and "flying" detachments that herald the arrival of their hereditary enemies into east Poland.

Kossak was usually *very* nationalistic in his themes.

This UK firm looks as though they may have a damaged box kit available, although it does not say how damaged the box is.

They also appear to be offering the Hussar and Red Lancer kits, which look good.

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