Some armor reinforcement for the French - part 5

And finally the pictures of the LVT from Warlord. I hope that you like them as much as I do ;-)

Some armor reinforcement for the French -Part 4

Finally some pictures of the finished M-24 Chaffee from Warlord

The LVT pictures will follow very soon.

Some armor reinforcement for the French - Part 3

Starting in 1950, the French will deploy LVT4 for the transport of troops and LVT(A)4 in the support role.

Nicknamed « Alligator » the LVTs proved to be ideally suited to operations in Indochina, particularly in delta regions. They provided waterborne transport in deep water and good mobility on the murky soil of rice-paddies and riverbanks. They were formed into amphibious units comprised of machine-gun armed Crabs (M29 Weasel), LVT4 Alligator armed of machine-guns, recoilless gun, mortar and even 40mm Bofor gun and LVT(A)4 armed with a 75mm howitzer in open turret. Most of the vehicles also received add-on armor and shields as the basic armoring was very light. Nevertheless the protection from the flanks and rear remained poor.

A LVT troop was normally constitued, under the command of a Captain, of 10 vehicles, with 1 for the command, 6 for transport, 2 LVT(A)4 with howitzer and 1 for recovery equipped with towing material. Each of the 6 transport vehicles was able to carry half a platoon, namely 15 men in addition to his crew of  6.

Below some LVT(A)4 with 75mm howitzer

and some with 40mm Bofor gun

I have made few additions to the very nice Warlord model, mostly giving it more firepower and adapting some figures to give life to the vehicle.

And now on to the painting...

Some armor reinforcement for the French - Part 2

The M24 from Warlord is now build and detailed. No major problem with this easy kit, but the mount for the .30 machine-gun must be self-made as none is furnished contrary to the illustration on the box. I also made the mount for the aerial. I have also done some figures conversions to bring life to the subject.

Now to the LVT4 and then the painting.

Some armor reinforcement for the French - Part 1

Thanks to the fantastic wargaming resin kits from Warlord Games, we have easy access to some of the vehicles used by the French during this war. With a little detailing work and some nice painting they can bring variations to your French Indochina War games...

So I have started working on a M24 Chaffee light tank  and a LVT4 amphibious tracked vehicle.

The versatile M24 was used in many situation in Indochina in support of infantry action.

Most notably, 10 of them were dismantled and transported to Dien Bien Phu were they were reassembled by a special team from the Legion. They were then used intensively by the « Escadron de Marche du 1er Régiment de Chasseurs à Cheval » in counter-attack to recover lost ground or opening road between fortified positions until the end of this epic struggle, firing some 15.000 rounds.

Each of the 10 vehicles bear the name of a famous French battle or French officer :

Conti from Captain Hervouet (Commanding officer)

1er Peloton
Mulhouse, Bazeilles, Douaumont

2e Peloton
Smolensk, Posen, Ettlingen

3e Peloton
Ratisbonne, Neumach, Auerstadt

Some of this tanks can still be seen at Dien Bien Phu today, sad relics of forgotten times