2025

[Smiley Miley 66]

More adapted rather than converted. PP has a few radio figures in the AK range ? Yes some are converted. Green stuff to make or adapt a "back pack" and Brass Rod for an Ariel?
Miles

[Sean Clark]

Well, I didn't get the solo Vietnam game played, but I have managed to paint up my Plains Indians and nearly finished my US Cavalry, all for the Western rules.

Hopefully I'll get the Cavalry finished tomorrow. I need to buy some wounded/dead which I'm missing for some reason  but happy with the overall progress.

[Colonel Kilgore]

That is most excellent progress, Sean, and they're looking great. I love the blue of the US Cavalry.

I bet you're popular using the kitchen trays for spray painting, though 

Simon

[Leman (Andy)]

Its just slapped me in the face like a wet lettuce that this year marks the 80th anniversary of the end of WWII. Consequently there are likely to be some big celebrations in the Netherlands as most of the country was not liberated until 1945, including my current home town, which had to wait until April for the Canadians and British to do their thing. As I find out more I'll keep people posted.

[Sean Clark]

That would be interesting Andy. I expect lots of information coming out regarding the approach to VE Day and VJ Day.

[martin goddard]

There was an interesting interview on LBC as part of their holocaust day.
The chap was a child in Holland when the Germans invaded.
He made the point, that immediately after the invasion the Dutch all went back to work as normal. He said this was because the invasion was so quick that not much could change.  The difference/change was that there was a lot of "reporting" of Jews and gypsies et al from that time on.


martin

[Leman (Andy)]

There was also a lot of hiding of Jews by Dutch families, particularly out on the more remote farms. As the war progressed the Dutch resistance increased, especially after large numbers of Dutch men were rounded up and taken off to work in German factories. Then there was the Hunger Winter of 1944-45, owing to the failure of Arnhem and the continued Allied blockade, which resulted in many deaths from starvation. As a child, Audrey Hepburn used to ride out into the countryside on her bike to find food which she then helped to distribute to families in her area.

Of course there was a fairly large Nazi party in the Netherlands prior to the war, known as the NSB. It expected to run the Netherlands for the Germans, but was relatively quickly sidelined by the Germans who installed their own Austrian governor of the Netherlands, who was a nasty piece of work. Nevertheless there were still some Dutch who joined the SS. The recent film on the Battle of the Schelde in Zeeland illustrates some of these odd contradictions in the Netherlands during the war.

I think there is a certain view of the war in Britain owing to its position as an island and not having experienced occupation by the Germans (other than the Channel Islands).