The extreme climate with which the German troops were confronted in Russia, the lack of detergents or repair facilities and the difficulties in transporting spare clothing to the front, led to a clear and rapid deterioration in the appearance of the German soldier on the Eastern Front. Officers were equally affected and went to wear standard uniforms and leave their tailor-made field blouses, gray trousers and high boots in their luggage.
The first winter was a catastrophe which hit the German soldiers in open terrain at temperatures of up to -31°F below freezing, with little more than their existing standard field uniforms. No winter clothing were spent, and the soldiers were compelled to stuff newspapers under their blouses and fill their boots with straw.
A winter equipment was designed in time for the second winter in Russia and was then a masterpiece, both in its rapid development and in its mass production. With its special underwear, weather-resistant features and two different camouflage colors on the top and bottom (one side was always white for the winter, the other one in two possible camouflage patterns or field gray), this uniform became the first modern combat suit, which is today worldwide standard. Its only disadvantage was the weight, which would not be acceptable according to today’s standards. And for an inexplicable reason the soldiers of the Waffen-SS only received their own model of the combat suit with the SS camouflage pattern in the last winter of the war.
[Source: WW-2 Weapons.]
The Figures
From MiniArt comes this fantastic German Tank Crew with Winter Uniforms in 1/35 scale. Rather than moulded-on accessories, this kit come with pistols, revolvers, holsters, ammo boxes, machine guns, knifes, binoculars, ammo pouches, knifes and more. The mold is very good with some visible yet easy to clean flash on the figure’s arms and legs. Nothing that a subtle scraping and Tamiya Ultra Thin Cement wouldn’t take care of. The detail on the faces are very crisp and molded separate for easy painting if you wish.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
MSRP is $15.99 with a Street Price of approximate $12.99 in the USA.
Our sincere thanks to MiniArt for the review sample.
