"German Volkssturm Defenders Review" Topic

"In the late summer of 1944 Germany was in serious trouble. The Red Army was approaching from the east while the Western Allies were doing the same through France and Italy. Clearly Germany could not win as things stood, but there was hope. Either the much trumpeted wonder-weapons might tip the military balance, or else Stalin's Russia might fall out with his allies and they might start fighting each other. Perhaps all that Germany needed to do was hold on until things changed for the better, but to do that required more men, so on 18th October 1944 Himmler announced the creation of the Volkssturm, whereby any able man aged 16 to 60 might be liable to fight. In theory it created millions more soldiers for the Reich, but in practice German industry could not even adequately supply the Army with the weapons they needed, never mind all these new ‘troops', and the Volkssturm would soon find it also lacked many uniforms and much training. Some did fight and die, but the widespread scepticism of the general population proved to be accurate and creation of the Volkssturm was no more than a desperate measure that delivered no significant military advantage.

In view of the chronic weapons shortage, the Volkssturm were always going to be at the back of the queue for supplies, and many who were activated were given foreign weapons (often Italian) for which very little ammunition was available or could be procured. Others got old weapons brought out of store, and while some did get the standard 98k rifle, these had to be passed to the Army when their need became greater. Propaganda photos with modern, new weapons were often faked, and the weapons were handed back once the photograph was taken. A couple of the poses in this small set have rifles (one quite possibly the VG-2), one is lucky enough to have an MP40 submachine gun, and another is holding a Gustloff Volkssturmgewehr or similar, one of several simplified weapons made for the Volkssturm to try and fill the weapons gap. One man is even carrying an obsolete Lewis gun, but the most recognisable weapon associated with the Volkssturm is the Panzerfaust, of which there are several here. Because this weapon was cheap to produce and easy to use, it was used in huge numbers, so good to see it in this set…"

Full Review here
link

Amicalement
Armand

Amazingly that's a MARS set.

Who'd have ever thought it?

Glad you like them my friend! (smile)

Amicalement
Armand