Shortly before Operation Market Garden, the Guards Armoured Division reorganised to form four Regimental Groups, each of an armoured battalion and an infantry battalion from the same Guards Regiment.  They were flexible in how they operated, but normally 5 Guards Brigade commanded the Grenadier Guards Group (1 Motor Battalion Grenadier Guards and 2 Armoured Battalion Grenadier Guards) plus the Irish Guards Group (2 Armoured Battalion Irish Guards and 3 Infantry Battalion Irish Guards).  32 Guards Brigade similarly commanded the Coldstream and Welsh Guards Groups.

The XXX Corps advance was initially led by the Irish Guards Group, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Joe Vandeleur, who was the Commanding Officer of 3 Irish Guards.  I wanted to make a model of him in his scout car, looking a bit like Michael Caine who played him in “A Bridge too Far”.

The Rapid Fire XXX Corps Breakout scenario shows him as part of a three figure group with a M3 Scout Car.  There was no M3 Scout Car on the Infantry Battalion HQ establishment, but there was one normal scout car on that establishment.  In the film “A Bridge too Far” Michael Caine is shown on a Humber Scout Car and since Joe Vandeleur acted as an advisor on that set, it seems more likely that he was in a Humber Scout Car, but I couldn’t find a card model of one of those anywhere. 

I did however find a model of a similar Daimler Dingo Scout Car and, since some battalions used Humbers and some used Dingos, I was happy to use that.  It is a fairly basic model produced by the Polish Company JSC, which I bought from the German company Fentens and here it is.

It was 1:72 but I reduced it to 83% of its original size so that it was compatible with my other 1:87 (20mm) vehicles.  It was also a rather bright green colour, but I electronically adjusted that to the same shade as my other British vehicles.  The model Dingo is entirely closed up but Dingos had a folding top hatch which could be half open or completely open.  I coloured the front half of the top hatch black to simulate it being open and made a folded top hatch cover for the rear section.  I also added an open hatch for the driver to see through plus a cut off piece of black hairpin to represent a Bren Gun barrel.  The original had Polish Army Tac Signs, but I removed those electronically and replaced them with ones from the Paperboys Shermans.   Its unit Tac Sign is now a White 62 on a Green Square which is correct for 3 Irish Guards and it also has the Guards Armoured Division “eye” badge plus the Allied Star in Circle badges.

I made a figure to represent Lt Col Joe Vandeleur.  It is an electronic composite of the top half of a body of a Paperboys 3” Mortar Crewman from the Normandy British Infantry 2 page (picked because he is not carrying a weapon and not wearing a pack) plus a tank commander’s head from the Tank Riders page.  It is a bit blurred here due to enlarging it, but the actual model is fine.

Here is the completed model.  I filled the body of the scout car with air drying modelling clay and left it open for 24 hours to harden.  It gives the scout car a reasonable weight.

This is the modelling clay which I used.  I will use it to fill empty spaces inside other small AFVs and soft skinned vehicles to give them weight.

I showed a picture of my first Paperboys infantry company (No 1 Company 3 Irish Guards) in a previous post and here it is again. 

However, I was not very happy with the standard Paperboys base colour since it was too much of a contrast to my wargame terrain.  I have a lot of terrain with fields and hills all painted in the same green colour and I don’t intend changing that. I therefore looked for alternatives for the infantry bases. 

I had made up a couple of sheets of base material by copying and pasting grassed areas from the Usborne Medieval Village and Cathedral.  Here they are here.  The background is one of my terrain boards.

I decided that the darker green of the Usborne Cathedral base looked better against my terrain boards. I also decided that the infantry figures would be better on a wargame table if the bases were weighted. 

Each of my 2 figure bases is 20mm square and I had a lot of 20mm diameter metal washers, so I glued one of those to a square of 300 gsm thin card then glued and wrapped a 25mm square of my new base material around it.

Here is a rebased Company, which I think looks better and the bases have a more practical weight for the wargames table.  I have used the same eight figures for each of the four companies in the Battalion, but mixed them up so that the same two figures only appear on one stand.  The officer, waving his left arm above his head and the Bren gunner are always on different stands.  Rapid Fire does not have separate stats for Bren guns (or other nations LMGs) but subsumes these into the total company firepower.

The Rapid Fire Market Garden scenario “XXX Corps Breakout” has a stand for Lt Col Joe Vandeleur as commander of the Irish Guards Group (2 Armoured Battalion Irish Guards and 3 Infantry Battalion Irish Guards) and a separate stand for the HQ of 3 Irish Guards.  I agree with this, since I think that Joe Vandeleur would have handed over command of 3 Irish Guards to his 2iC (Second in Command) who was Maj Fitzgerald, thereby allowing him to concentrate on the overall operational co-ordination of both battalions, without getting distracted by tactical, administrative and logistical matters affecting only 3 Irish Guards.  My only variation is to show Joe Vandeleur purely as a figure on top of his scout car and not to have a 3 figure dismounted base for him. 

I selected three Paperboys figures as the Battalion HQ of 3 Irish Guards, representing Maj Fitzgerald, his signaller and his RSM.  The officer figure is a composite one, modified so he was not holding a gun, since the Commanding Officer’s main role is to direct the various elements of his battalion by talking to them through the radio carried by his signaller.  The signaller and RSM figures are standard Paperboys ones.

I mounted them on a 25mm square base.  I did consider mounting them on a circular base to indicate their command role, but decided to keep that distinction for Brigade and Divisional Commanders, both of whom appear in other Rapid Fire Market Garden scenarios.

Rapid Fire shows this battalion command group with a Universal Carrier.  I agree with this since Gary Kennedy’s excellent “Organisation of the British Infantry Battalion 1938-1945” says that from 1941 a Universal Carrier was added to the Battalion HQ for use by the Commanding Officer in forward areas, although oddly this is not shown in Niehorster on the 1944 Infantry Battalion Establishment.  Since both Rapid Fire Reloaded and their latest Market Garden supplements show a Universal Carrier in Infantry Battalion HQs, I have modelled this for 3 Irish Guards.

The only card model I could find was a 1:25 one by the Polish company GPM which I bought from the German company Fentens.   The problem was that it was massively overdetailed and originally had six pages of images to cut out (including two pages of tiny individual pieces for the tracks), one page of instructions (in Polish, which I don’t speak) and five pages of diagrams, which were difficult to follow, but with much trial and error (more error than trial), I eventually succeeded.  I reduced the images to 29% of the original to convert them from  1:25 to 1:87.  This also put all of the images onto one A4 page.  I only used the larger pieces and discarded all of the now miniscule parts.

Here is the finished version of the Universal Carrier with the 3 Irish Guards Battalion HQ in it.  The figures are converted from Paperboys Tank Riders.  The GPM seats were too complicated, so I used ones from R & P Models Jeeps, which were already 1:87.  I also used an R & P Models Bren Gun (2 pieces), rather than the GPM one (30 pieces) and an R & P Models steering wheel (one piece), rather than the GPM multi piece one.

I gave the carrier the Allied Star in Circle badges on the sides and rear, a Bridge Classification sign on the front, the Guards Armoured Division badge and the green infantry Tac Sign with 62 on it and the callsign 9, for the Commanding Officer.

The GMP tracks were also far too complicated, with over 100 separate pieces covered in two pages of images.  I made a much simpler version by taking a screenshot of a side view of a real carrier, cropping it down to just the tracks and reducing that to the 1:87 size I wanted (by comparing it to a track backplate from the GMP model).

I then used the Paint app to create a track box similar to those used by Paperboys and R & P Models.  That means the tracks are two pieces, not 100 over pieces.  I weighted the track boxes and the underside of the carrier with a strips of heavy magnetic tape, then covered up the underside with a piece of carrier bottom plate.  This made the underside of the carrier closer to the ground than it should be, but you don’t notice that when the model is standing on the wargames table.

The figures seated in the carrier were converted from Paperboys Tank Riders.  They have all had their back packs electronically removed and some have had weapons electronically removed. 

From the left are the Driver, Acting Commanding Officer, Signaller and RSM.  I scored all of the figures across their waist, knees and lower ankle then bent them to make it look as though they were sitting.  The driver is glued into the carrier seat (Rapid Fire does not remove drivers from vehicles) and I cut his arms free from the sides of his body up to his elbows, so that his arms could be bent forward to hold the steering wheel.  The other three figures are removable, so that they can be exchanged for a dismounted Battalion HQ stand.

I have assumed that callsigns starting with 1 to 4 were used by the four Rifle Companies although these are each portrayed in Rapid Fire as eight infantry figures, with no integral vehicles.  I have assumed that HQ Company would use callsigns starting in 5.  At some future date I am planning to model one Radio truck (callsign 51) to represent the Signal Platoon and two 3 ton trucks (callsigns 52A and 52B) to represent the Admin Platoon. 

The first platoon of the Support Company was the Mortar Platoon, which in Rapid Fire is portrayed by three figures.  I have created three alternative versions, advancing carrying their 3” Mortar and ammunition, deployed, and in their carrier.  The carrier driver is fixed but the other two figures in the carrier are removable.

I have assumed that the various Platoons of the Support Company would use callsigns starting with 6, so I have given the Mortar Platoon callsign 61.

I normally agree with the unit organisations shown in Rapid Fire, although occasionally I do not.  Rapid Fire shows an Infantry Battalion HQ as 3 figures, which I agree with since the real Battalion HQ had 49 personnel which at the Rapid Fire 1:15 figure ratio is correct.  However Rapid Fire also has a two figure 2” Mortar team and a two figure PIAT team attached to the Battalion HQ.  In real life the Battalion HQ had neither of those weapons.  By 1944 the HQ Company comprised only the Signals Platoon and the Admin Platoon.  They did have a few PIATs, but no 2” Mortars, however they would have been far too busy with their primary roles of communication and supply to provide such 2” Mortar and PIAT teams. 

The sub-unit that did have both 2” Mortars and PIATs was the Carrier Platoon, which was part of Support Company.  They had four 2” Mortars and four PIATs, so it is reasonable to portray them with one 2 figure team of each.  They had 62 men in the Carrier Platoon, so a total of four figures fits the Rapid Fire 1:15 figure ratio. The Carrier Platoon had 13 carriers (one in the HQ and four sections of three) and Rapid Fire uses a 1:5 ratio for vehicles, so I have given each of my teams their own carrier.  Rapid Fire shows the Carrier Platoon as a single carrier, with a PIAT team plus one extra figure, but I prefer my interpretation.

Here is my Carrier Platoon 2” Mortar Section portrayed as two figures.  I have created three alternative versions, advancing carrying their 2” Mortar and ammunition, deployed, and in their carrier.  The carrier driver is fixed but the other two figures in the carrier are removable.

I similarly modelled three sets of alternative figures for the Carrier Platoon PIAT Section, advancing, deployed and in their carrier.  I have given the two carriers all of the normal badges plus callsigns 62A and 62B.

The next Support Company Platoon which I modelled was the 6 pounder Anti-Tank Platoon.  Rapid Fire shows this as a single 6 pounder towed by a Loyd Carrier. 

I couldn’t find a card model of a Loyd Carrier, but it was very similar to a Universal Carrier, just 2 feet longer (it had one extra running wheel on each side) and a different top layout.  I therefore electronically modified my card Universal Carrier to create a Loyd Carrier and here are the two side by side. 

The perspective makes the Loyd Carrier (in the front) look larger all round, but it is actually the same width and height, just longer.  

Here is the Loyd Carrier towing its 6 pounder Anti-Tank gun.  The gun is the Paperboys one, modified so that the trails can be open or closed and with a thin wire ring on the end of one trail, so that it can be attached to the thicker wire hook on the back of the Loyd Carrier.  The driver is fixed, but the three crew, all seated in the back, are removable and are converted from Paperboys tank riders, with their bodies bent at the waist and knees to form a sitting position.

Here is the deployed gun with its Paperboys crew.  I modified the crew poses slightly, compared to those in the original Paperboys Anti-Tank guns sheets. 

The last Platoon of the Support Company shown on the Infantry Battalion Establishment is the Assault Pioneer Platoon.  This is not shown in Rapid Fire Reloaded or the new Market Garden scenarios.  However the 2005 Rapid Fire rules had an option on Page 9 which said “Battalions may have a pioneer platoon (two figures with a flamethrower)”, so I decided to have one.   The two figure size is reasonable since they really were a small platoon of only 23 personnel.  They did have roles other than just using flamethrowers, so I decided to have five bases of alternate figures for their different roles.  Here they are, from the left, firstly as normal infantry.  Next as a demolition team carrying boxes of explosives.  Next as a minelaying team with the front man digging a hole with a shovel and the kneeling man behind him holding an anti-tank mine.  Next as a minefield breaching team with the front man operating a mine detector and the kneeling man behind him about to place a canvas pyramid mine marker on a wire frame over the mine (we used exactly the same mine markers in the 1960s).   Finally as a two man flamethrower team.   I would have a local rule to only let them change roles if they were adjacent to their truck, which carried all of their tools and other stores.

Here is the 15cwt truck which they used (in real life they had three 15cwt trucks and one 3 ton truck for the platoon).  The British Army used several different makes of 15cwt trucks, but the most common was the Chevrolet CMP (Canadian Military Pattern) truck shown here.  It had an unusual raked forward windscreen to prevent glare attracting enemy aircraft. 

This is a model which comes as an online download from the French company BestR Atelier.  It was originally 1:48 but I reduced it to 1:87 to fit my other models.  My first attempt with a reduction to 55% produced a model which was too small so, with a bit of experimentation, I changed that to a reduction to 75% which gave it the correct length and height.   I also weighted the chassis and cab.  

The original model truck had a closed back, but I modified that to have an open back so that I could show tools, stores and personnel in the truck.  I also made a mirror image copy of the truck sides and canvas cover and glued that onto the back of the original image, plus an internal floor, copied from an R & P Models Bedford truck.  I made the tailboard so it could be dropped. 

Here is the rear of the truck showing boxes of stores (perhaps mines and explosives) plus smaller boxes of tools.  The boxes came from the R & P Models Bedford truck set.  I left some space behind the boxes for my two figure Assault Pioneer Platoon to be seated at the back of their truck.

For the seated Pioneers, I modified two of the Paperboys Tank Riders, bending them at the waist, knee and ankle, then gluing them to a strip to represent the truck floor and sides.

Here they are in the back of their truck with the tailboard raised.   

Next I will model the platoons attached to 3 Irish Guards, a Northumberland Fusiliers Vickers Machine Gun Platoon and a RASC Platoon with Troop Carrying Vehicles (TCVs) for the Rifle Companies.  I will also model alternate Rifle Company figures as tank riders.