Crush Communism in Bolt Action With The Sturmbataillon
April 27, 2014 by dracs
Warlord Games have come out with something that might come as a bit of a surprise to all my fellow non-history buffs; the SS-Sturmbataillon Charlemagne, the force of French volunteers fighting on the side of Nazism.
The Charlemagne Division were a grenadier division that fought in Poland and Russia, even managing to break back into Berlin in order to defend the Fuhrer from the advancing Communist forces. These French SS were an elite force who, according to Warlord, often gave more than they got in the most dangerous of battles.
These models might actually be some of the most characterful that I have seen come out of the Bolt Action range. They are armed to the teeth and ready for anything, while their grizzled faces make them look as tough as they reportedly were.
These models are now up for pre-order and could be an interesting addition to a German army, whether as the French volunteers or even as regular SS.
Can any of you tell us anything else about the Charlemagne Division?
Not quite sure why these are needed, as far as I am aware they wore apart from the unit patch identical uniforms to the regular German SS unts of the time
Because it is good story to get out and a even better reason for some new toys – doing some hard nosed SS minis
Nicked this off of the internet –
‘Towards the end of fighting in May 1945, General Philip Leclerc, the French divisional commander who had served under the Americans, was presented with a defiant group of 11-12 captured Charlemagne Division men. The Free French General immediately asked them why they wore a German uniform, to which one of them replied by asking the General why he wore an American one’ (the Free French wore modified US army uniforms)
That’s a pretty cool answer, it could be from a ‘die hard’ movie!
If I would play BA it would be the germans, as my friend is a tank builder who prefers the allies, but I’m not sure if I would take SS, as they have a bad reputation during the war.
Would these be usable as Heer?
They would be ok for any Elite Panzer Grenadiers such as Panzer Lehr
Members of Panzer Lehr wore a distinctive double breasted jacket (the same one as tank crews and assault gun units) instead of the combat smock that most other Army units were issued with. No reason why they couldn’t be used to represent other Heer units such as Grossdeutchland.
Never too old to learn something new 🙂
Ok, thanks for the reply.
I’ll keep it in mind.
I recently got the Dad’s Army box set and I am in the process of putting together a Home Guard force for Bolt Action. Maybe we can twist history a bit and have Captain Mainwaring up against the SS
Troops of the SS Charlemagne Division (33rd Waffen SS Grenadier Division) were among the last troops defending the Reichstag during the Battle of Berlin. They reinforced gutted remnants of Norwegian, Danish, and Flemish Waffen SS units, and actually held out after most German units had surrendered, scattered, or been wiped out. They managed to hold the Reichstag until May 2, by then there were something like 30-40 of them left. I make no attempt to interpret or justify their motivation, but I’ve read that they realized they could never go home to their liberated homelands and so saw resistance to… Read more »