"1/72 Peiper Vignette" Topic

Hi guys

A model I have been wanting to do for a while as a command piece is Peiper seated in his schwimmwagen, the missing-lynx braille scale board is running a bottletop challenge (basically to build a model that fits in a milk bottle lid) so I thought I would finally do this little piece. The figs will need to be converted to fit the scene.
It wont have much use in a Chain of command platoon, but I'm thinking of turning it into a patrol marker.

It is a brilliant and famous photo.

Like the Flag raising On Iwo Jimo, the angles, the composition is just perfect….either a great photographer or a lucky one.

There at least two others of these officers. Google Jochen Peiper on line, images, and you will find them seconds apart. In one the "Peiper" officer is looking towards the sign and the standing officer is out of shot. In the other the two the officers are strolling past half tracks

A great modelling subject. Only snag is the general consensus is that it is not Peiper, but members of the 1st SS Panzer Reconnaissance Battalion from Kampfgrüppe Knittel. I'd do it anyway.

Hi Mr D.

Spot on observations.

These pictures were taken by teams of SS-Kriegberiter at a crossroads called Kaiserbaracke

The two chaps by the half track were apparently SS-Oberscharfuhrer Persin and SS-Unterscharfuhrer Oschmet.

There is a super section in the book, The Battle of the Bulge Then and now, whereby Piper with his famous chin dimple is compared to the chap in the Schwimmwagen who has alas not got one.

Happy modelling,

Chris

Now that does impress. I had no idea these two were ever identified, but I have known for years they were not Peiper et al (or so the experts say, My field is 1815 and even then only about 72 hours of the entire conflict)

The snag here is that this trio look so "cool" (a phrase that my generation used 50 years ago, but is now so back again). But be honest, like most Waffen SS they do look just that, even to the most heterosexual of us. The fact that they were murdering thugs, who happened to have far better kit (and better Hugo Boss outfits) than their compatriots and were, I admit, fanatically brave…oh forget it. These days you get in the Dawghouse for this kind of thing.

Yeah, I like the photo, but doesn't need to be Peiper, will just be a cool looking patrol marker.

It will be splendid I am sure.

Best wishes,

Chris

Very cool, An old friend used to claim that his father was a tank crewman in Pieper's unit at the Battle of the Bulge

Do we get to see the finished model?

Never mind, found the updates.

Looking good.