Stalingrad Redux Part 2 - The Workers United Will Never Be Defeated!

This has turned into a bit of a Covid19 Project. I already have some German Pioneers so I decided to try and do some opposition. The obvious option would be Soviet infantry but there are already plenty of those. Second choice was Naval Infantry, but in a moment of confusion \ inspiration I decided to do Workers Militia.

(The History Bit)
Depending on how you look at it the period before the battle of Stalingrad was either a skillful Soviet retreat or a sort of coordinated rout. Either by skill, luck or judgement the Soviet troops facing the 1942 German summer offensive (Fall Blau \ Case Blue) didn't get caught by the repeated encirclement attempts as they had the year before. Rather, they fell back in a series of local retreats that left the Germans clutching at thin air. This really stumped the Germans as their strategic plan, in fact the whole concept of Blitzkrieg, was to encircle opponents armies in the field. It could be argued that the Red Army was just doing the traditional "trade ground for time" thing that had worked time and time again (I'm looking at you Napoleon). The problem was this was rapidly turning into a habit and the Soviet people were starting to get a bit worried. By the summer of 1942 the Germans were in control of a rather large portion of the Soviet Union - sure, there was plenty of it out East, but the main population centres were all either under German control or under threat. If the Red Army kept falling back as it was in Summer 1942 there was a very real risk that there would be nothing left worth defending. Enter Stalin and his infamous Order 277 "Not One Step Back" . Order 277 is probably one of the most misunderstood orders of the war and has been used repeatedly to paint the Soviet Union and the Red Army in negative terms. There isn't enough time to fully discuss this here, but the overall effect was to make it clear that it was no longer acceptable to keep falling back. From 28th July 1942, it was time for the Soviets to stand and fight.

Back to the Militia. The withdrawals of the summer were almost instinctive rather than planned. That meant the Red Army in the area of Stalingrad were in no shape to hold the city. They needed time to reorganise. Luckily there was a pool of manpower available - the Workers Militia Battalions, mainly based around the factories. These local forces formed the first line of defence at Stalingrad, along with the AA batteries, and they suffered heavily when the Germans arrived, being almost wiped out. What they achieved however was to give the Stalingrad Front the time it needed. The rest is history.

As a gaming force the Workers Militia is interesting. There is an official Bolt Action army list, but nothing for Chain of Command. The Bolt Action list is pretty basic - in fact the platoon has no SMGs or LMGs - just rifles - and has the option for unarmed squad members - "the one with the rifle shoots" etc. How realistic or historical this is overall I don't know. Maybe for the winter of 1941? but by the summer of 1942 the Soviets had recovered and their armaments industry was churning weapons out in impressive quantities. The photographic and documentary record is clear that at least in Stalingrad the Militia were equipped with both SMGs and LMGs. After that the support weapons available are probably going to be the same as line infantry, and once the regular army arrives will be regulars too. In Chain of Command there is no "Official" list, however there is a Partisan list that fits the bill for the main body well enough, and I can write a reasonable support list.

So here we are - Workers and Peasants united against the Fascist invader

I wasn't too keen on the Bolt Action Soviet Partizans -partly due to the lockdown making availability questionable at the time, so I went a bit "off the reservation"and mixed and matched, which I think is perfectly acceptable given the subject matter. Most of the rifle armed figures are Bolshevik Militia from the Copplestones Castings "Back of Beyond" range. Ok they're a couple of decades out on date but are otherwise fine as armed Soviet civilian types, and I'm sure Grandpa Ivan would be out manning the barricades anyway. The SMG and LMG armed figures are from Artizan Designs. As I was casting around the net for more suitable figures I stumbled across the Eureka 28mm Workers Militia. This is a very small range and a bit more expensive than the Copplestones, but are spot on for the job in boiler suits. If I had known about these at the start I would probably have just used them. My Commissar is Warlord plastic, as are the ATR and some of the support weapon crews. The support weapons are mixed, with PSC providing the 45mm ATG and crews, and a 3d print of the 76mm M1927 and Ampulomets. The PSC 45mm ATG set is fantastic value and although still available it looks like the link is not working if you try and find it through the website menu - but if you search for it directly you can order it. You get 2 guns and crews and you can assemble the guns as either of the 45mm ATG variants or as a 76mm Infantry Gun - sadly this is the version that entered service in 1943 so isn't available at Stalingrad. The medics are PSC and 3d prints. Lastly the Commander is none other than Warlord's Johnny "Red" Redburn who is taking a couple of days off from commanding Falcon Squadron to do some fighting on the ground. He probably had to ditch due to engine failure and decided to help out.

Eureka Workers Militia Squad

Support weapons

Commissar, Johnny Red (out of focus) and the nurses

All the militia were painted with this new fangled Citadel Contrast paints - and I have to say it works quite well.

I need to add a sniper or two - these just arrived from Bad Squiddo Games and the pose and details are stunning. I also have some tank hunter teams to paint, a couple of guys with Molotov Cocktails or AT grenades. After that all I will need are a tank, and some barricades. And Jump Off Points, and Patrol Markers, and...............