Fallschirmjäger Support

By Jonas

While the desert forces on both sides expanded last year, there were still some pockets in the chain of command support lists that remained missing. An enjoyable part of collecting a force for CoC is to gradually paint up different support options as you go. So while play time has been restricted, I took the opportunity to jump in on one of Shirty's orders from the Perrys, and get me some more Fallschirmjäger support options.

I wanted to add something that would be specific for the Fallschirmjägers. In North Africa they fought without almost any heavy support, and suffered for it. Even though they didn't fight using air drops in the desert they lacked heavy support, as they were meant as a light but well trained infantry force. This uncluded using the 7.5 cm Leichtgeschütz 40 instead of the much heavier le. IG 18 gun (145 vs 400 kg).  While using similar ammunition to simplify production, this recoilless gun was both possible to airdrop and lighter to drag along when trucks and cars were unreliable. Since Perry makes this kit I decided to include it in my force, even though rules-wise it's treated the same as the IG 18. At least it's not just characteristic enough, but also allows us to double up on anti-infantry guns in a multi-platoon battle.

Then come two much needed weapons: a light mortar and an anti-tank rifle. These two options were an almost critical failure of my FJ collection, as I've included them in the mandatory platoon structure they kept during the North Africa campaign. While in practical terms, especially the Panzerbüchse 39 were at times ditched by the troops for practical reasons, it felt wrong to have to use the DAK versions of these weapons. ​

I painted up enough aiming troopers to be able to field a FJ sniper team, but a proper sniper team was included in the set with the mortar and AT rifle:

A long time ago I found out that Shirty had a heavy anti-tank rifle (2.8 cm schwere Panzerbüchse 41) sitting around from a FJ project that never, well, took flight. I got it from him to paint up, but it has been sitting unpainted for a very long time. This small FJ batch was the right time to finish a second copy of this kit, though I'm not sure we'll ever need two on the table at the same time.

Finally, Zach had heard my complaints about the lack of ammo crew for our DAK LMGs. He kitbashed some for me. I also found a random unpainted FJ with a semi-automatic rifle. Anyway, they got a lick of paint as well:

That's it! A short painting project over the Holidays, where I managed to paint up most of my remaining Germans for the desert. Now everything is ready for some FJ vs Allied action in 2021. Cheers!