Inspirations (2)

Today I return to the theme "inspirations" always with a soldier of our beloved King & Country. In this case we are dealing with one of the first issues of the Fields of Battle series which dealt with the events of the 1940 French Campaign and the Retreat of the B.E.F. from Dunkirk. This operation, called "Dynamo" and successfully carried out by the British Forces thanks to the help of the "Little Ships" manned by civilians, managed to evacuate 300,000 soldiers from the beaches of the French town. Andy Neilson back in 2005 chose to portray this prodigious retreat through the production of a series of toy soldiers, including this one, a Navy officer who oversaw the landing operations with megaphone and gun. Andy Neilson's library is very well stocked, evidently, because he chooses a drawing (taken, judging by the style and other illustrations) from an original photo, which however, although it portrays a Royal Navy officer, refers to  another period, 1941, Indeed, the illustration reproduced in the book "The Armed Forces of WWII" by Andrew Mollo (easily available in the second-hand market) makes a name: Lieutenant Commander Kimmins, returning from a mission in Norway. Andy Neilson has added a megaphone and a Webley pistol to his toy soldier, useful for gaining respect from the probably unruly crowd of soldiers on the beach. It also included naval pilot's "wings", a very special element.

The book i own is the Italian version, here is the translation: 

“Lieutenant Commander Kimmins, returning from a combined operation in Norway, wears his naval service uniform under a leather vest and an army steel helmet. The model 37 equipment is made of cloth. The binoculars are marked with a large white arrow to indicate that they are owned by the military administration. The white cord carries a switchblade knife attached to it. Above the chevrons on the left wrist you can see the "wings" of a Naval Aviation pilot.”

Apparently this soldier has ever been retired, but it is very rare, although not impossible to find.

Inspirations (1)

 Nothing new is really created in any area, everything is inspired by something and is reworked in a certain way. It also happens in the world of Toy Soldiers. In this post, the first of a long series, I will show you the inspirations for the most beautiful toy soldiers in my collection. I want to start with a Great War British stretcher bearer from the great Andy Neilson's King & Country house. The code is FW161 and was produced in November 2014 and not yet withdrawn. Often the inspirations are taken from photos, but much more often it's an artistic source or an illustration. In this case we are looking at the best of the best when it comes to illustrating the British Army through the ages, the recently deceased Mike Chappell.

The volume that contains the inspiration for our toy soldier is "British Battle Insignia 1914-1918 (1)" published back in 1986. This book has another  companion volume, which deals with the British Army Insignia in World War II. Our soldier portrayed by Mike Chappell and reproduced by K&C is a stretcher bearer on the first day of the Battle of the Somme (1 July 1916), a battle that cost the British forces 60,000 losses on the first day alone with 20,000 deaths. Our soldier, who has less insignia than the illustration, is part of the 2nd Seaforth Highlanders Battalion of the 4th Division that attacked the Heidenkopf and the Redan ridge. The "C" identified the Seaforth battalion, while our soldier does not have, compared to the illustration, the badges for at least 20 years of Good Conduct and the ribbons of the Queen's and King's South Africa Medal and the Medal of Good Conduct. We are facing a veteran, even if Andy Neilson and King & Country have lightened his load of honors and medals! It must be said that in 2014, King & Country's First War series produced a whole series of "non-combatant" figures that mainly testify to the tragicity of that first day on the Somme, with many sets of wounded and auxiliary figures (nurses, military chaplains etc. ) which inspired the many photos of the time. We will soon analyze other figures from that and other series. See you next time for more "inspirations"!