The PT-76 immortalised: Pippa

I was browsing through Amazon Prime the other day looking for a film to watch when I came across this little gem: “Pippa”.

To quote the IMDB description: PIPPA tells the story of Captain Balram Singh Mehta of India's 45 Cavalry regiment who, along with his siblings, fought on the eastern front during the Indo-Pakistani war of 1971. Named after the Russian amphibious war tank "PT-76", which floats on water like an empty 'pippa' (tin) of ghee, the film traces Mehta's coming-of-age as he steps up to prove himself in a war to liberate Bangladesh.

The main storyline is fairly standard stuff - youthful impetuous officer rebels against authority during training then comes good and saves the day when the action starts - but it is very well acted and there are a couple of decent sub-plots along the way.

Inciudentally, please don’t be put off by the Bollywood song and dance number very near the beginning of the film (I think it’s supposed to be the post-opening sequence theme music). This is the only one and, quite frankly, I can see how many famous war movies would have been improved by something similar!

For us wargamers, obviously, the real stars of the show are the PT-76 tanks. There are a lot of them to look at, and there are several excellent sequences showing them on both land and in amphibeous mode, including the preparations that need to be made to move between the two.

There’s plenty of time spent on them as well, so you can properly see them in action. The cinematography is good - there’s one scene in particular where the company is crossing a wide river that is quite beautiful: it looks more like a travelogue than a war movie - and the action sequences that take up the last third of the movie are excellent too: think Fury but with a company of tanks rather than just three.

So if you are in the mood for a decent war movie and fancy seeing how a PT-76 looks and operates, I’d recommend watching Pippa. It certainly had me reaching for the Flames of War catalogue, wallet in hand!

Allan Mallinson's "The Shape of Battle"

I’m reading a rather good book at the moment: Allan Mallinson’s The Shape of Battle: Hastings to Helmand.

Mallinson was a British army officer for many years, and is also the author of the popular Matthew Hervey series of books about a British Napoleonic/early 19thC cavalry officer. In addition, he’s written several books of military history, of which this is one.

The book looks at six campaigns, each culminating in a decisive battle: Hastings, Towton, Waterloo, Sword Beach, Imjin River and Helmand. Each of the six sections describes the background events that led to the campaign, the broad-brushstrokes events of the campaign itself, and then what happened at the battle. There are some nicely designed maps to make everything clear: very useful when dealing with, for example, Towton, when keeping track of who is for York and who is for Lancaster is difficult enough at the best of times.

Mallinson’s writing style makes this a very easy book to read, and the chapters are liberally peppered with quotes from either historical or historical fiction sources. To look at the chapter on Towton again, I loved the quotes from Shakespeare’s plays that accompany the text: makes the facts spring off the page with colourful delight!

This is an excellent book for the wargamer who knows a bit, or who used to know a lot, about the different campaigns covered. I know, for example, quite a bit about Hastings and the way that the Anglo-Saxons and Normans made war, but I last looked at it in any detail several years ago, so it was a really nice, and inspiring, way of refreshing both my knowledge and interest in the action.

Recommended as an Christmas present to yourself!

Viva Juarez!

When I used to play a lot of 19th Century gaming, one of the campaigns that really interested me was the French Intervention in Mexico in the 1860s.

Without going into too much detail, in 1861 Britain, Spain and France decided to persuade Mexico to pay their extensive debts by sending troops to Veracruz. It soon became obvious that the French had actually decided to not just get their money, but invade Mexico properly with the intention of turning it into some kind of client-state. Although some Mexicans sympathised with the French, others, under President Benito Juarez didn’t, leading to a combination of all-out French invasion and Mexican civil war. As is so often the way, the invading French were initially very successful, taking Mexico City and installing the puppet Emperor Maximilian on the throne, but eventually they were worn down by the constant guerilla warfare and withdrew, leaving Maximilian to his fate.

It’s a fascinating campaign full of colourful personalities and even more colourful uniforms. The only thing that has really been lacking is a single source of information that puts everything easily in one place for the wargamer.

Until now!

Those fine chaps at the Virtual Armchair General (aka TVAG: with whom, I might add, I have no connection) have published not one but two books on the campaign: Viva Juarez Volume 1, The Armies; and Viva Juarez Volume 2, The Battles.

These were initially available on a pre-subscribe print on demand basis: a service which is quite extraordinarily incredible. I ordered both books via e-mail, paying via PayPal, and got them in the post the next day!

These are proper wargaming books written, it seems, by wargamers for wargamers. They are full of the detail that normal historians tend to ignore but that are vital for those recreating the conflict. There’s a lot of chrome as well: information to add colour to your games.

The Armies book has easy to decipher OBs backed up by vast numbers of uniform plates that provide a great guide for the painter. The Battles book effectively gives you a large number of wargaming scenarios that you could almost play straight from the book.

I include all TVAG’s blurb below, but would highly recommend both volumes to anyone who has any sort of interest in the period. Excellent work TVAG!

Click here to go the the TVAG page where you can buy these.

TVAG’s Blurb

Over two years in development, Viva Juarez! is now the most complete single source for all matters military pertaining to the French Intervention in Mexico, Napoleons III's mad scheme to create a puppet Empire of France ruled by an Austrian prince.

Though a number of good English language books have been available, none have detailed accounts of any of the key battles and sieges, only generic references, and little or no Order of Battle information. Uniform data is out there, but a thorough collection of all that is available--and a number of uniforms that are not--previously took a major effort to find.

The Los Supremos Podres, figures from my collection

The Los Supremos Podres, figures from my collection

Well, that is all ended now. Viva Juarez! has it all, and then some, in two unique volumes. "Volume One--The Armies," has 62 pages of full color uniform plates, many contemporary to the events, and a good number of new ones specifically made for this project by former Disney illustrator, Nick Stern. But more than just the plates, there is full organizational information for all combatants: Mexican Republicans, Franco-Mexican and Imperialists, Belgians, Austrians, Egyptians, and, of course, Second Empire French. Color plates of weapons and their operating stats for all armies, and more, make this the single most complete source on the armies engaged. "Volume Two--The Battles" contains in its 204 pages full details of 31 actions, each with OB's and at least one period battlefield map. These maps have been reproduced in full color and printed full page size in order for the terrain and troop movements to be easily studied. Further, there is a section on Key Personages, brief biographies of some of the most influential players which can help the reader keep track of who-is-who and their affiliation(s) during the war. Twenty appendices are include for thoroughness, including a full chronology of the war, Regional OB's for different stages of the war, and organizational information on the Imperial Gendarmerie and the disposition of captured Republican Officers sent to France. Attention to Mexican topography has been taken, as well, to help illustrate it effects on campaigns and logistics with descriptions and pages of special maps.

The 2nd Battalion of Mexican Infantry (they can fight on either side!)

The 2nd Battalion of Mexican Infantry (they can fight on either side!)

Even current devotees of The French Intervention will learn more than has ever been available to them before. This Editor was able via the Internet to source Spanish, French, and German language books, contemporary magazines and periodicals, memoirs, and reports not previously translated to English. Besides the actual events of many battles not previously accessible, the sheer volume of contemporary photos, illustrations and maps is without precedent. Of particular value was Mexico's Mapoteca Orozco y Berra whose generous staff made available maps previously thought non-existent.

While Viva Juarez! can be read by any history buff, it is truly aimed at the wargaming possibilities. With the actual battlefield maps and detailed OB's, it is definitely possible to re-fight any of these historical actions with great authenticity using whatever rules are preferred. But of particular interest is the fact that most of the battles fought in Mexico can be represented on the table top with no more than 100 figures. The great sieges of Puebla, Oaxaca, and even Queretaro are possible, especially if only key actions are played, but so many were affairs were of only a few thousand to a few hundred combatants. No massive Napoleonic or American Civil War collections required here! And yet the variety of troops by nationality, uniforms, weaponry, terrain (jungles, not just desert!), quality and numbers on the table is best likened to the most exotic Colonial Wargames. There are even amphibious operations along both coasts of Mexico recounted in detail. Viva Juarez! is now the "go to" source on the subject.

Viva Juarez! is available in two volumes, each is a stand alone devoted to its topic. Volume One--The Armies Retails for $30.00, plus postage. Volume Two--The Battles Retails for $40.00, plus postage.

Click here to go the the TVAG page where you can buy these.

Film: Podolskiye Kursanty

I was browsing Amazon last night, looking for something to watch, and came across the Russian film The Last Stand aka The Last Frontier aka Podolskiye Kursanty.

To quote the summary on IMDB, the film tells the story of the Podolsk cadets' heroic stand outside Moscow in October 1941. Cadets from the Podolsk infantry and artillery schools were sent to the Ilyinsky line of defense, fighting alongside units from the Soviet 43rd Army to hold back the German advance until reinforcements arrived. Hopelessly outnumbered, young men in their teens laid down their lives in a battle lasting almost two weeks to obstruct the far superior German forces advancing towards Moscow.

The film itself is a fairly standard WW2 fact-ion piece on a particular battle (the fiction part of the faction being a love triangle involving a rather attractive nurse - incredible eyes!) but what caught my eye, and the reason why I am recommending it here, was the look and feel of things.

First up, the kit is spectacular. When they first showed a German tank I thought “here we go, another faked up panzer something” but then I realised I was looking at a Panzer 35(t) i.e. not a German tank so much as a Czech tank in German service. There were a few of them, then some Panzer IIs, some SdKfz 251s (well, they might have been 250s) and, finally, some Panzer IVs and a cracking StuG.

Most of the heroes of the film man Soviet L-46 45mm anti-tank guns, towed by trucks and also equipped with anti-personnel rounds, and watching how they use them is fascinating. Add in the T-34s and, I think, T-60s, all the support vehicles (including some katyushas), the uniforms, small arms and the like and you have a feast of good-looking kit to look at.

God knows where they got it all from. Perhaps they just decided to re-manufacture it all. I mean, if you can make 1,800 hobbit feet for the LOTR, knocking up a few tanks and a company’s worth of uniforms shouldn’t take you long.

Watching the film (which cost me 99p to rent btw) was well worth it just for all that, but the sets are outstanding as well. The main set-piece is the defensive works on the ‘frontier’. This comprises a Soviet village split by a river…and looks just like it does on the tabletop!

I know that’s the wrong way round, but you spend a bit of time setting up for a game without really knowing how much your table actually looks like the terrain in question, so it’s nice to see that the tabletop isn’t too far from what a village might actually look like…although I do think that the set looked a bit clean and tidy.

Anyway, well worth a look, and I recommend watching it in VO with subtitles.

To Hell With Tanks!

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Last weekend I picked up one of Ken Tout’s books from a charity shop: only a couple of quid for what proved to be an excellent read.

To Hell with Tanks is the third in the series of Ken Tout’s memoirs, and covers the Northants Yeomanry as they take their Shermans and, later, Buffaloes then Shermans again, through Holland and into Germany in 1944-5.

Tout was a gunner, so the story is told from an OR point of view: there’s little about strategy and operations and lots about the harsh reality of serving in tanks in WW2.

There are really two books in one here. The first is the biography of the regiment as it makes its way though the war, and this part is written as if it were being read to a room full of people. It gallops along at a pace that renders it almost impossible to put down until the end of the chapter. It’s often almost stream of consciousness stuff: James Joyce eat your heart out! Take this passage describing one tank’s attempts to manoeuvre through a village under fire:

Bobby McColl switched to intercom. ‘Steady forward, driver. See if you can get through. Everybody, eyes peeled. Bloody smoke!’

Don Foxley muttered another prayer. Automatically. All mind, eyes, hands, feet concentrated on the road, the ruins, the burning tanks, the Sherman upset in the ditch, the lowering smoke clouds. Carefully he controlled sticks and pedals. Sherman steady on the road. Heavy on the road. Tracks reacting to brakes. Drive wheels responding to pedals. Until a sensation of crumbling, and slipping, and falling, neutralised the brakes, rendered pedals impotent. And Don clung to the brake handles for balance as that tank, too, toppled into the vast ditch.

It can be pretty grim too. The descriptions of death are a strange combination: visceral imagery combined with a matter-of-fact style delivered at the pace described above. Here’s a mild example: a tank commander is caught by mortar fire when outside his tank trying to fix a tow rope. He’s about to signal his driver by waving his arm:

His arm still raised Sergeant Huitson performed a classic gymnastic backward roll.

He did not get up. The pure snow around his body was spattered with even purer red blood and then sullied by the fall of smoking splinters, carbonized shards, and charred rags of clothing.

No-one reading these passages can be in any doubt that war is a terrible thing.

The second part of the book takes the form of a separate but substantial piece at the end of each chapter written in the first person. Each one takes the role of a different member of a tank crew, or ARV man, or accompanying PBI. It describes their “job” in a diary-like form and gives real insight into the role and what it entails. There are real nuggets of information here that make the rest of the text come, if possible, even more alive. Take this excerpt from the wireless operator:

But they didn’t tell you what it would be like in action, in a Sherman turret. There is only one escape hatch, where the commander perches behind the gunner’s seat. Between them and me…more importantly between the hatch and me is this almighty gun, blocking the way out. Even in normal times it takes a deal of squeezing and squirming to get under the gun and into my seat - a fairly roomy seat once you get here.

That’s in normal times. In the instant of time, the flash of reality, when a tank blazes into multiple explosions - engine, petrol tank, donkey engine, ammunition all going off like ten volcanoes and a thousand firework displays - there are obstructions beyond the normal. Under the gun hangs a huge bag which catches the empty cases as the big gun fires. There is a heap of battle rubbish and thrown-off personal clothes or boots. Any maybe a fourteen stone corpse mixed up among it. And I will have to crawl and tunnel through that lot - while the tank goes BIG BANG and bang again, BEFORE I can even begin to leap towards the light.

Just reading it again makes me feel claustrophobic !

Re-reading all the above, don’t let me give you the impression that the book is all about the action. In both parts of the book, there’s also plenty of descriptions of non-battle activity, mostly to do with being either on the move or in laager. This is equally descriptive. Take this passage about the daily task of “netting”:

‘Come on, you lazy scamps. You dozy operators. Netting in ten minutes. Open netting today on my call sign. Rouse ye! Rouse ye!’

The inevitable chorus of ‘Ferk off! Up yours!’ was an idle protest. Operators rolled out of their blankets and climbed into turrets. At the appointed time Ken Squires would send out a signal on the appropriate frequencies, and operators would tune in precisely to the two frequencies which their set enabled them to lock on to. In battle it was theoretically possible to switch from one frequency to the other on the pronouncement of a codeword. This was in case Jerry was listening. In fact this danger was so disregarded that the squadron had never used the switching drill in actual battle, just as they had never used the Morse so assiduously practised at training regiments.

In all the book is an invaluable guide to what being a Sherman tanker was really like. It keeps mentioning, for example, the high profile of the Sherman; the fear of the dreaded ‘88’; the danger of being in the recon Stuart or Dingo; the stifling heat and choking stench within a closed up tank; the constant knocks and bruises from being rattled around inside a big metal box with sharp bits everywhere; the risk a commander took if he went into action with his head sticking out of the turret; the lack of visibility of the road, the enemy, of anything except a small patch of light through the periscope and much, much more.

Interestingly, it does deal with the “Ronsen” effect, although in the context of the Germans describing the Shermans as “Tommy-cookers”. That doesn’t seem to be Tout’s opinion: his view seems to be that in any tank sometimes a hit does result in an immediate column of fire out of the turret, and sometimes it doesn’t.

Highly recommended, and I will be keeping my eyes out for the other two in the series.

Crusaders by Dan Jones

The good news about lockdown easing is that our local bookshop has re-opened. Yes, I know that you can buy any book you want online, and probably cheaper, but there is nothing better than a good browse amongst real books on real shelves.

I popped in last week for nothing more than a quick browse and, whilst idly wandering around, noticed the book Crusaders by Dan Jones. As I’m thinking about adding a Crusader army to my TTS collection, I thought I’d buy it and give it a try. It’s been a long time since I studied anything to do with the Crusades, and even then it was a very cursory affair.

This book is excellent. Firstly, it’s written in a very accessible way. The action (the 1060’s through to the end of the 15th century) is detailed chronologically, with each set of Crusades detailed one by one. Everything is explained very clearly, so you quickly absorb the main timeline: 1st Crusade, huge success; 2nd Crusade, huge failure; 3rd Crusade, the one with Richard 1st etc.

On top of that basic information, the book is full of the sort of detail and quotes that brings the story to life: The twelfth Fatimid caliph of Egypt, al-Zafir, was murdered by his lover in a house near the sword-makers market in Cairo when he was twenty-five years old.”

Finally, I also liked the way it is written. When you start a chapter with the line When Najm al-Din Ilghazi ibn Artuq, co-ruler of Jerusalem, was sober he was a force to be reckoned with you really have to read on to find out what he was like when he was drunk! There are also plenty of maps, and some good lists in the appendices that allow you to easily check who a historical personage is in the unlikely event that you get a bit lost.

As a paperback, the book is about an inch and half thick: I read it in under a week.

Highly recommended.

Book Review: "Sand & Steel: A New History of D-Day"

One of my favourite Christmas presents was Peter Caddick-Adams’ new book Sand & Steel: A New History of D-Day.

As the title suggests, the book covers everything Overlord from the background to the invasion, the training and preparation for the day, and then the action on the day itself and after.

I very much enjoyed PCA’s previous book about the Bulge (Snow & Steel) and am pleased to say that this work is as good if not better. It’s very, very detailed, and a well-balanced mix of military history fact and personal accounts: one often complementing the other.

It’s also huge: over 230 pages or, in the hardback edition I have, 2½ inches thick! Some military history books of that size would be a nightmare to wade through, but Sand & Steel reads almost like a novel in terms of the way each section draws you into the next. In some places, particularly when dealing with the beach assaults, it is un-put-down-able.

The other problem one can encounter with detailed military histories is the difficulty in identifying how what you are currently reading about fits into the action as a whole: it’s easy to get lost or confused. Again, not a problem here: everything is ordered and laid out very clearly indeed. The beach landings, as above, are dealt with very logically: I actually found that once I’d seen them once, I didn’t have to refer to the maps scattered throughout the book a second time to work out what was going on…very unusual for me and the late war period!

So a “highly recommended” for this book. The price is fairly hefty (ratecard is £35) but you can get it new on Prime at the moment for about £23. Well worth it.

Poland 1939: Book Recommendation

I picked up an excellent book on the September War the other day: Roger Moorhouse’s “First to Fight”.

It’s a very readable summary of the campaign that concentrates more on the day-to-day events of the campaign than on the politics that inspired them i.e. very much a wargamer’s book!

I’ve just started reading it, and what’s especially pleasing is that the first few actions described coincide almost exactly with the first few scenarios in the first September War scenario pack for IABSM. We’re talking Chojnice, Mokra, Wegierska Gorka and many more. I haven’t found any contradictions between the two publications yet either.

Here’s the official blurb:

'This deeply researched, very well-written and penetrating book will be the standard work on the subject for many years to come' - Andrew Roberts, author of Churchill: Walking with Destiny

The Second World War began on 1 September 1939, when German tanks, trucks and infantry crossed the Polish border, and the Luftwaffe began bombing Poland’s cities. The Polish army fought bravely but could not withstand an attacker superior in numbers and technology; and when the Red Army invaded from the east – as agreed in the pact Hitler had concluded with Stalin – the country’s fate was sealed. Poland was the first to fight the German aggressor; it would be the first to suffer the full murderous force of Nazi persecution. By the end of the Second World War, one in five of its people had perished.

The Polish campaign is the forgotten story of the Second World War. Despite prefacing many of that conflict's later horrors – the wanton targeting of civilians, indiscriminate bombing and ethnic cleansing – it is little understood, and most of what we think we know about it is Nazi propaganda, such as the myth of Polish cavalry charging German tanks with their lances. In truth, Polish forces put up a spirited defence, in the expectation that they would be assisted by their British and French allies. That assistance never came.

First to Fight is the first history of the Polish war for almost half a century. Drawing on letters, memoirs and diaries by generals and politicians, soldiers and civilians from all sides, Roger Moorhouse’s dramatic account of the military events is entwined with a tragic human story of courage and suffering, and a dark tale of diplomatic betrayal.

Highly recommended:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/First-Fight-Polish-War-1939/dp/1847924603/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=first+to+fight&qid=1569252539&sr=8-1




Great Movie Scenes #004

It's not often you get much reaction from the audience in a UK cinema. Okay, so you might get the odd laugh at something funny, or the odd squeak at a sudden surprise...but rarely do you get a full-on, in-the-moment reaction. There is one film, however, that I clearly remember breaking that rule: Aliens.

Aliens is the sequel to the sci-fi shocker Alien. In that first film, the crew of a spaceship respond to a distress signal and go down onto a planet to the site of a crashed spaceship. Without giving too much away, one of the crew gets...infected, shall we say, with an alien being that rapidly wipes everyone out except for Ripley, played by Sigourney Weavers. The film ends with Ripley defeating the xenomorph and putting herself into cold sleep whilst her ship sails on to its destination.

Aliens begins with Ripley's ship being found drifting in space, way off course. Ripley is revived to find that she has slept for an entire generation (in the extended edition, there's a sub-plot about her now-grown-up daughter). No-one will believe her story of a lethal, crew-killing alien, so she is forced to spend her days as a lowly, exo-skeleton-wearing cargo loader.

Then she receives a visitor - the slimy company man, Burke. A distant colony reported finding something similar to what Ripley and her crew discovered, but has now dropped out of all communication. A team of Marines (hence the strapline Aliens: this time it's war!) is being sent to investigate, would Ripley like to go along too as an advisor.

Ripley would not, but eventually agrees to go, and the film now turns into an absolutely cracking "elite force into danger" movie. 

The Marines are introduced (they are v. cool), they go down onto the planet, they investigate, and then all hell breaks loose as hordes of aliens attack.

To cut a long story short, during the investigation, Ripley and the Marines find a young girl, Newt, sole survivor of the colonists. Ripley and her bond. All sorts of action takes place (just watch the movie: it's cracking) and eventually just Ripley and Newt return to the Marines' ship in orbit.

Unbeknownst to them, however, the alien Queen has also got on board and, to put it mildly, she is not a happy bunny.

Newt flees under the deck plating, Ripley disappears off screen.

The alien Queen starts ripping up the deck plating, she corners Newt and reaches out for her when...

When I saw this in one of the big Leicester Square cinemas, almost the entire audience literally leapt to their feet to cheer Ripley on. That's why this is Great Movie Scenes #004.

Great Movie Scenes #003

"I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched c-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate. All those moments will be lost in time...like tears in rain. Time to die."

No list of great movie scenes could ignore Roy Batty's final soliloquy in 1982's Blade Runner. The final version of the speech was apparently written by Rutger Hauer (who played Batty) himself.

For those of you who don't know the context, Batty is a replicant, an artificial human with a limited life span used for jobs deemed too dangerous or unpleasant for people to do, who has escaped his bonds and fled to Earth to find his maker and ask for more life. Deckard, played by Harrison Ford, is a Blade Runner, a sort of policeman who specialises in hunting replicants. In this final sequence, the hunter becomes the hunted as Batty chases an unarmed Deckard across the rooftops. Deckard attempts to jump to another building, but misses the jump, and is about to fall to his death when Batty saves him. As Deckard lies on the roof gasping for breath, Batty feels his death upon him...

Great Movie Scenes #002

Just to show that the last one wasn't a one off, and to commemorate the sad death of Lois Lane actress Margot Kidder last week, here's Great Movie Scenes #002.

It's 1978, I was twelve year's old, and one of THE film's to see that year was Superman, with Christopher Reeve in the leading role.

So far you've seen Superman as a child, as a young man and, very briefly and unspectacularly, as adult Superman in costume. Clark Kent has come to New York, awkwardly met Lois Lane...who now climbs into a helicopter to take her to a news event somewhere.

Excuse the 70's fashions, but you will believe a man can fly:

Great Movie Scenes #001

At lunch today a friend and I were discussing not our favourite movies of all time but our favourite movie scenes of all time.

So, as I've got nothing particularly Lardy or wargame-y to post today, I thought I'd start an occasional series of my favourite movie clips of all time.

These won't be in order (i.e. today's isn't my number one movie scene of all time) but numbered just so I can keep track of them.

Today's clip, number one, is from the classic film Casablanca. If you haven't seen it, see it. It is a timeless masterpiece of a film with so many quotable lines that to list them all would almost be to list the dialogue as a whole.

In keeping with a military theme, the film is set in Casablanca some time after the fall of France. The Germans have occupied the territory, and some of them are in Rick's, a nightclub...

Recommendation: "The Attackers" aka "Istrebiteli"

Those of you who have Amazon Prime and are looking for something to watch could do worse than try "The Attackers": a Russian TV series of 12 episodes centering on the adventures (both in the air and on the ground) of a squadron of Soviet pilots in 1943.

Yes, the series is full of stereotypes (the nasty political officer, the ex-nobleman, the cold-hearted female pilot, the innocent novice etc) but it's also well written, exciting and, as far as I can see, reasonably historically accurate.

The aerial sequences are well shot, even if the CGI are sometimes a little clunky, and I love the way everything from the uniforms to the 'planes themselves just look so battered. A good proportion of the main cast is female, and they seem to spend half the time fighting the Germans and half the time fighting off the unwelcome attentions of their male colleagues.

I also like listening to the Russian (it's sub-titled) and am rapidly learning how to say the equivalent of "sir, yes, sir" in that language.

I've certainly been interested enough to get to episode 10, and will have finished the series before the end of the bank holiday.

Here's the title sequence to whet your collective whistles:

The Darkest Hour: A Must-See Film

A lot of my time at the moment is being spent on the Battle for France: the period between 10th May and mid-June 1940.

Being a wargamer, I've obviously been concentrating on the military side of things but, as ever, you really also need to know what was happening with the governments of the day in order to fully comprehend what was going on. As Clausewitz said: warfare is an extension of politics...and you only have to look at Calais, or the tragedy of the 51st (Highland) Division, to understand how true that statement was in May 1940.

Given all of the above, it was with great interest that I took myself off to the cinema this weekend to see The Darkest Hour: Joe Wright's biopic of Churchill covering that very same period, with Gary Oldman in the lead role. 

I'd heard good things about the film, very good things, including audiences actually standing up and applauding at the end, so was looking forward to it, whilst wondering, however, whether it would be as good as Dunkirk, another film that I thought was very good.

So, is The Darkest Hour any good?

Well, I'll tell you:  it's brilliant.

Now whilst the audience didn't stand up and applaud at my local (I don't think we do that sort of thing in the Home Counties), there was definitely a straightening of backs and a few "dust in eye" dabbings going on throughout the cinema as Oldman-as-Churchill delivers the final "We shall fight them..." speech. Some of that is down to Churchill's words, some of that is down to Oldman's delivery:  honours even as to which, but it's powerful stuff.

For those who don't know, the film covers the period 9th May to 29th May, focussing on how Churchill became PM in the wake of the disastrous Norway campaign and what then happened behind the scenes in government over that time. It looks at how Halifax, Chamberlain and others faltered in their commitment to war (somewhat understandable when you consider that the First World War had only ended 22 years before, leaving the field of Flanders "stained in the blood of a whole generation") and especially when the Italians offered to mediate a peace between Britain and Germany, and all against a background of terrible news from the front. I won't tell you what happens (!) but suffice to say that Churchill stayed true to his convictions that Hitler had to be stopped.

So why is the film so good? First up, hat's off to the cast.

Oldman is sensational as Churchill, portraying him warts and all. This is not some House of Cards used car salesman, but a hard-drinking, often rude and intolerant, often warm-hearted, often insecure man who knows what needs to happen but is regularly faced with nothing but mountains in his path. Oldman manages to portray Churchill's humanity more than anything else, which makes the fact of his greatness even greater. Yes, I know he was a man wedded to past times, some of whose views could now be considered racist or politically incorrect, but he was the man to take us through our darkest hour...and Oldman shows us that. He's won awards for the performance already: he deserves the Oscar as well.

The supporting cast is terrific as well. Halifax and Chamberlain (Stephen Delaine and Ronald Pickup respectively) are the bad guys without being bad guys: you can understand why they wanted peace even if you disagree with them. Kristen Scott Thomas excels as Clemmie, and Lily James does so also as Churchill's somewhat anachronistic secretary, and Ben Mendelson as King George VI. There's not a duff performance out there.

The film gets the atmosphere right as well. It's all very dark and gloomy. The War Rooms are positively claustrophobic, even on the big screen. The House of Commons looks tiny when packed with MPs. It's all good stuff. 

The music also helps: soaring chords to match Churchill's oratory, tenser passages to match the stress of what you are watching on screen...and stressful it is. Perhaps not quite as stressful in places as Dunkirk, but still very tense.

So go see this movie before all the Oscars hype. You won't be disappointed.

 

 

The Sharp End of War

Those of you who listened to the first Lardy Oddcast will have heard Nick Skinner mention that one of the key influences on "I Ain't Been Shot, Mum" was the book "The Sharp End of War" by John Ellis. Inspired by Nick's words, I quickly Googled the book and managed to buy an 'as new' hardback copy for just 1p, plus £2.80 p&p.

I'm now three quarters of the way through it, and can understand exactly where Nick is coming from:  it's an excellent examination of the experience of the fighting man in World War II. It's not about strategy, tactics or weapons but only about what the soldiers had to go through, what they had to endure.

The chapter headings give you the book's contents:  the physical setting; combat/infantry; combat/artillery and armour; casualties; discipline & morale; relaxation; and attitudes. 

I've just finished the section on the rations that the troops had to put up with and, having enjoyed a day of fine wines and dining, can only sympathise absolutely. I don't think I've ever eaten 'bully beef' and I don't think I ever want to:

Such was the case in Eritrea, where bully beef was the staple item. During the day the tins often became too hot to handle and when opened they spewed out their contents, a revolting oily liquid containing a few strings of gut-like meat.

This book is thoroughly recommended. My only real criticism is that it only covers the Allied troops' war experience, saying nothing about troops from the Axis forces or Soviet Union. Information on them would have been nice as a comparison, but then the book would have had to be three times the size!

I'd advise anyone interested in WW2 history to get a copy as soon as possible.

Go And See Dunkirk: go and see it now!

If there’s a must-see film for wargamers this year, then that film has to be Christopher Nolan’s latest epic, Dunkirk. I’ve seen it twice now, and am seriously considering a third viewing this weekend!

Let’s start by getting the elephant in the room out of the way. The film covers only the events around the evacuation from the beaches: it makes only passing reference to the ‘collapsing the pocket’ campaign that allowed Operation Dynamo to take place. Now whilst this is disappointing, it is what it is, and shouldn’t stop anyone going to see the film just because they are a bit piqued that their favourite bit of WW2 military history isn’t covered!

What the film does do is look at the events between 26th May and 4th June from three different perspectives and on three different time lines. Yes: three different timelines. As with his previous works Inception and Interstellar, Nolan twists and loops the threads of his story around the fourth dimension, only bringing it all together in the final reel.

So what does that mean? It means that you watch the same events from three points of view (land, sea and air) on three different timelines (a week, a day, an hour respectively). So early on in Tom Hardy’s fighter pilot’s hour-long timeline and therefore the film you see him flying over the Moonstone, Mark Rylance’s ‘small boat’…but much later in the film, at the equivalent point in Rylance’s day-long timeline, you see Rylance watching Hardy’s Spitfire flying over his boat.

Confused? You won’t be. Believe it or not, it all makes perfect sense as you’re watching the film and works brilliantly as a dramatic device: what you think you’re seeing in the first view of an event, for example, might not match what is actually happening, with what is actually happening only becoming obvious at the later, different perspective, viewing.

The second “big tick” of the film is its cinematography. See it on the biggest screen possible. The sheer vista and scope of what you’re watching is incredible. The various palettes used for the land, sea and air elements are beautiful. In particular, the soaring yet somehow shakily claustrophobic aerial battle scenes are worth the price of the ticket alone.

Although the storyline is simple, the elements above make the film incredibly tense to watch, particularly as, on first watching, you don’t know who is going to make it and who isn’t. This is war, after all, and lots of people die. Add to this Hans Zimmer’s “ticking clock” score (apparently based on the sound of the director’s watch) and you will be on the edge of your seat throughout. I’m glad the film is Nolan’s shortest yet: much more and I would have needed evacuation myself!

One quick note for parents: this isn’t a gore fest, quite the opposite. I took my ten year old daughter to see it (she was the youngest in the, packed, cinema by far…and absolutely loved it) without worrying that she might be traumatised by Private Ryan-like shots of intestines and brains everywhere. Yes, as I said, lots of people die, but the director doesn’t need to use buckets of Kensington Gore to dial up the tension.

One quick note for the rivet-counters: there’s nothing too upsetting for you lot either. I know some of the ships are modern rather than contemporary; I know Tom Hardy’s Spitfire seems to have more than sixteen seconds of ammo (I didn’t time it, but it seemed like more); I even spotted a soldier in boots without hobnails…but overall it’s a pretty good effort to recreate the event. Could the beach have had a lot more detritus on it to match the contemporary photographs? Yes, of course it could…but I was happy to sacrifice a few burnt out lorries for the sense of isolation and desolation engendered by their absence.

Finally, let’s talk about the acting. One word:  superb. Fionn Whitehead and Damien Bonnard are great as the principal protagonists of the land segment, ably supported by Kenneth Branagh’s pseudo-Ramsey and an unexpectedly good Harry Stiles. Mark Rylance lives up to each and every one of his many, many awards for theatre-work as Mr. Dawson, the master of the small-boat Moonstone, ably supported by Cillian Murphy named only as “Shivering Soldier”. Last, and absolutely by no means least, Tom Hardy and Jack Lowden excel as the fighter pilots: Tom Hardy doing some superb acting with only his eyes and eyebrows as he wears a pilot’s mask for most of his scenes.

In conclusion, go and see Dunkirk now, and go and see it on the big screen rather than waiting for the DVD. It is a truly brilliant work from a director at the top of his game.

Film Review: Battle for Moscow aka Panfilov's 28

Flicking through Amazon Prime last night looking for something to watch, I came across the film Battle for Moscow aka Panfilov's 28. Worth a look, I thought, so clicked to spend my £4.99 and settled down to see what was what.

Well it's a cracking bit of military movie making. Here's the summary:

USSR, Late November, 1941. Based on the account by reporter Vasiliy Koroteev that appeared in the Red Army's newspaper, Krasnaya Zvezda, shortly after the battle, this is the story of Panifilov's Twenty-Eight, a group of twenty-eight soldiers of the Red Army's 316th Rifle Division, under the command of General Ivan Panfilov, that stopped the advance on Moscow of a column of fifty-four Nazi tanks of the 11th Panzer Division for several days. Though armed only with standard issue Mosin-Nagant infantry rifles and DP and PM-M1910 machine guns, all useless against tanks, and with wholly inadequate RPG-40 anti-tank grenades and PTRD-41 anti-tank rifles, they fought tirelessly and defiantly, with uncommon bravery and unwavering dedication, to protect Moscow and their Motherland.

The film begins with some infantry in a small village, gathered around some tables in the snow being taught how to disable German tanks. There's lots of chat about duty and the Motherland, a bit of banter as we start to identify the different soldiers, and a general sense of teeth being gritted as they prepare for battle. 

There's some interesting uniforms on display, as this is a Kasakh regiment (loving the huge and bright purple collar flashes!) and, as they start to dig in, a sense that they have a tough time ahead of them. There's some more banter about Thermopylae and the Seven Samurai, and then we're straight into the trenches to await the Nazi attack.

Not a still from the film, but a group shot of the main actors

The Germans get a pre-game stonk, and then come forward with tanks and infantry...but this first assault is beaten back fairly easily as the Soviets are under hidden Blinds and inflict double Shock when firing from ambush.

There's then a bit of a pause for more chat, and then we're on to the climactic battle as the Germans first pound the Russian trenches with off-table artillery, and then come forward again with an overwhelming number of tanks and infantry committed to the assault. I won't tell you what happens, but think Rourke's Drift!

It's stirring stuff, and the German tanks (Panzer IIIs and IVCs) look amazing , especially the shots from inside the tanks. The Russians have 45mm anti-tank guns, anti-tank rifles, and anti-tank grenades...and, presumably, balls of steel!

The cinematography is excellent, the sound very good (no mumbling actors here) and, as above, the special effects are cracking too. 

For those worried about the gore factor, it's not shot in the modern grossly graphic style (the first episode of the new season of Preacher was ten times worse!) but more akin to movies such as The Longest Day or Battle of the Bulge.

In all, it's a really good, old-fashioned war movie.

Highly recommended.

Here come the Germans!