Some Military Horology!

From time to time (heh) on this blog I digress into different subjects unrelated (or only tangentially related) to wargaming. One of my many non-wargaming hobbies is horology... the study (and in my case, collecting) of watches. Combining this interest with another of my interests obsessions, military history, makes for an fascinating intersection.

This is a lovely piece isn't it! It's a Heuer "Bundeswehr" 1550 SG flyback chronograph. These were issued to the Bundeswehr (German Armed Forces) in the Cold War - particularly in the 1960s and 70s.

The case is stainless steel of course, you can see the four fixing screws right next to the lugs. The Bundeswehr item number is stamped on the caseback, note that this isn't the serial number... that is stamped on the side of the case between the lugs.

On the other side of the case is the manufacturer's model designation - 1550 SG.

The watch came from the seller on a very nice grey leather strap but I immediately ordered an NOS Bundeswehr strap from Jurgen's in Germany.

The strap design is now commonly known as "Bundeswehr" due to its association with this watch. It's a three-piece leather item - a two-piece buckled 20mm strap attaching to the watch between the lugs as usual, and the third piece being a flat oval leather pad fitting underneath the watch case. Supposedly this is due to the watch being used by pilots in the Bundesluftwaffe (air force) where the temperatures in the cockpit could vary from freezing to very hot, and the leather pad was supposed to insulate the pilot's wrist from the hot or cold stainless caseback.

  

Accession number stamped on the strap as well.

Here's a better view of the full strap.

I really like the dial design of this watch. The bezel rotates of course, to keep track of elapsed time. The subdial at the left runs the seconds, the subdial at right keeps track of chrono elapsed time up to 30 minutes, and the chronograph second hand (seen at one o'clock here) is started and stopped by the top pusher, while the bottom pusher resets the chrono second hand from being stopped. HOWEVER... if you push the bottom button while the chronograph is running, the chrono second hand flies back to 12 and restarts automatically. Hence "flyback".

The "3H" in circle is typical of the Bundeswehr issued watches, it signifies that the markers and hands are coated in tritium, which glows in the dark ("3H" is the chemical symbol for tritium, 3 is the mass number and H is for hydrogen of course). Just so there's no mistaking this there is also a tiny "T" over the 6.

Of course there's prominent "Heuer" branding here as this watch predates the 1985 acquisition of the company by the TAG Group, the watches thereafter being branded TAG Heuer.

The Bundeswehr strap makes the watch wear even larger than it is and my wrist isn't huge, so I've been wearing the watch on a one-piece nylon NATO strap.

I was really happy to pick up this watch as I've wanted a Heuer Bundeswehr flyback chrono for years, it was one of my grail watches. They're not that rare but there is a really weird variation of the piece called the "Sternzeit Reguliert" (regulated star-time) that was used by the artillery and was set to "sidereal time" (based on earth's motion relative to distant stars rather than the Sun). A sidereal day is 23 hours, 56 minutes and 4.1 seconds. Try that as your excuse next time you're a few minutes late for a meeting ;-)

I find this stuff fascinating, but if you want a deep dive into the Heuer Bundeswehr watch you can have a look at this site.

Next up is the watch I wear when doing Great War living history. It's a "Queen Anne" hand-winder from West End Watch Company. This is also a fully original piece.

The strap is great, it's from vintagewatchstraps.com and this guy is a real artisan. I sprung for the hallmarked sterling silver buckle and it is just lovely.

Some honest wear on the dial here but the watch winds well and keeps reasonable time at events. The Great War was the real origin of the men's wristwatch and the start of a fashion that survives to this day. Strangely enough, for a time after the war, some veterans resented civilian non-veterans wearing wristwatches - stolen valour! Pretty wild stuff.

Moving forward about 25 years, here's a Swiss watch issued to the German army in the Second World War. The Germans made use of a lot of Swiss watches for their armed forces, including this example by ARSA (A. Reymond SA). It's a handwinder too, as all of these watches are, and is marked "Watertight", "Shock-resistant", and "Anti-magnetic" on the face. All of these properties are important in a military watch, as magnetic fields can affect the running of the watch.

What marks this watch as military issue is the stamp on the case - "DH" stands for Deutsches Heer, the German army. The serial number is stamped between the letters.

Here's a pocket watch from the same maker. My wife got this for me as a wedding present. 

Also "DH" marked, naturally. Nice watch but not many people wear pocket watches anymore do they!
 

Lastly here's a cool RCAF (Royal Canadian Air Force) service watch by Waltham. Like the ARSA wristwatch it's pretty petit by today's standards but it's in very nice condition with what I believe is an original nylon strap.

Military accession number on this one as well (I think the /42 indicates wartime issue) but it's the paperwork that came with it that's really remarkable...

Check this out, original Air Force paperwork! "Requires overhaul"

Here's the evidence it was overhauled... in 1965! Who says the military is wasteful... this watch may have been in service for over 20 years.

Tested and accurate to within 30sec/day... it's no quartz watch or iPhone but not bad for an old hand-winder - keep in mind that the "COSC standard" for accuracy of mechanical watches established by the Controle Officielle Suisse des Chronometres is -4s/+6s per day. I only have one chronometer in my collection (a Tissot Janeiro chronograph) so I'm not super-fussed. These watches are of interest for their intricate mechanical function and aesthetic appeal, not their super-accurate timekeeping.  

Anyway I hope you enjoyed this digression and if you are worried about spending money on awesome watches, you should really stay far away from chrono24.ca!

AHPC XV Submission #2 - First World War Canadian Infantry

 

My second submission for AHPC XV was a group of 28mm First World War Canadian infantry from Renegade Miniatures that I bought at The Sentry Box on a Christmas visit to my family in Calgary at least fifteen years ago. It consists of two Vickers machine gun teams ready to lay down suppressive fire, plus four sections of six soldiers. Each section contains four men armed with rifle and bayonet, a Lewis gunner, and his No, 2, the last heavily laden with extra drum magazines. The sculpts are a bit on the chunky side compared to other First World War miniatures, but the faces have real character. They look like they were inspired by Captain Bruce Bairnsfather's cartoons of 'Old Bill' from the pages of 'Fragments from France'. Alas, they now seem to be out of production.

After cleaning up the mold lines, etc. the figures were glued to 1 inch fender washers, and then sand was glued down with PVA. I primed them using a rattle can of Army Painter Fur Brown primer. The figures were then painted using Vallejo Acrylics as follows: skin - Flat Flesh, uniform - English Uniform, boots - German Camo Black Brown, helmet chin strap and pistol holster - Flat Earth, P08 webbing - Iraqi Sand, SBR pouch and helmet cover - Tan Yellow, helmet and rain cape - Camo Olive Green, rifle stock and entrenching tool handle - Beige Brown, metal rifle parts - German Grey, bayonet - Steel, buttons, buckles, and snaps - Brass.

Once all the painting was completed, the figures got my usual treatment with Army Painter Strong Tone Quick Shade. This worked very well on these figures as the detail is quite pronounced, so the quick shade flows readily into any grooves or corners.

 

Shock Troops of the British Empire

Vickers Machine Gun Teams

No. 1 Section

No. 2 Section

No. 3 Section

No. 4 Section

 Thanks for stopping by.

Dieppe at 80 - Green Beach - Petit Appeville Bridges

 As Conscript Dallas hinted at the end of his Dieppe- White Beach post, the Petit Appeville scenario was connected to the results of that game. If the Calgary Tanks had been able to penetrate into Dieppe, there was a chance for them to meet up with the Cameron Highlanders. The details of the game were taken from a book titled 'This Is War - Raid On Dieppe!' by Tim Waybright that was published in 2010. The composition of some of the elements listed in the book, as well as their morale ratings, were tweaked to fit the Bolt Action rules.

Members of the Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders of Canada advanced inland towards their objective, having pushed through Pourville after landing 30 minutes late. They were harassed by enemy fire from the heights to the east of the River Scie, and so moved to their right to proceed under cover of trees to a position looking down on the bridge of Petit Appeville. Unaware that the tanks which were landing on Red and White Beaches were unable to get through Dieppe, their orders were to take and hold the vital road junctions until the armour could advance. Unfortunately for them, the German commander had already dispatched troops to do the same thing.

 

Petit Appeville bridges, looking East

Petit Appeville bridges, looking South

 

According to the scenario outline, the Germans could deploy anywhere up to 26" from the southern board edge. They would also have 5 hastily dug slit trenches that could accommodate two men each and provide light cover. All the woods were considered light woods that did not impede movement on foot, but troops in the woods could not be given a RUN order. The hedges were low and provided no cover. The buildings and woods both provided light cover, while the  wheat field and stone piles blocked line of sight to any prone figures. The River Scie, running down the center of the board had steep banks that gave heavy cover to models adjacent to the river's edge, while the ditches were an obstacle to wheeled vehicles only. The Canadian entry points were anywhere along the northern and western edge of the table outside the German deployment zone. The game would run a minimum of six turns, with a 50% chance of a seventh.

The Canadians are elements of 'B' and 'C' Companies of the Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders of Canada under the command of Major A.T. Law. They consisted of a headquarters section of Major Law (+4 morale bonus, 4 extra order dice, 12" command radius) plus three soldiers, three infantry sections of ten men (1 SMG, 1 Bren gun and loader, 7 rifles), a 2" mortar light team, and a 3" medium mortar team. All the Canadians were rated as Regulars, and given the 'Up an' at 'em' national characteristic option, which meant any assault orders were considered to be automatically passed.

 

Cameron Highlanders under Major Andy Law

 

The Germans are elements of the 1st Battalion, 571st Infantry Regiment, 302nd Division under the command of Oberleutnant K. Fischer. They consisted of a headquarters of Oberleutnant Fischer (+2 morale bonus, 3 extra command dice, 6" command radius) plus two soldiers, two infantry sections of ten men (2 SMGs, 1 LMG and loader, 6 rifles), a 50mm light mortar, and a 75mm light howitzer towed by a truck. They also had a Kübelwagen with a Leutnant (+1 morale bonus, 2 extra command dice, 6" command radius) and three riflemen that could enter along one of the roads from the East starting on Turn 3 on a D6 score of the Turn Number or less. The Germans also had the army characteristics of 'Blitzkrieg' (officers draw an extra order dice) 'Hitler's Buzzsaw' (MGs get an extra fire dice), and 'Initiative Training' (on the loss of a section leader, roll a D6, on a score of 2-6, the second in command takes over with no morale loss).

 

German forces under Leutnant Karl Fischer

 

Unlike many of our earlier Bolt Action games that featured anti-tank gun and medium machine gun teams as the support weapons, this time we had a lot of indirect fire from the mortars and the light howitzer with the use of smoke rounds to mask troops from enemy fire.

Initial German deployment

 

The Germans set up with one section in slit trenches along the southern ditch, one section in the wooden building just west of the River Scie, the mortar team behind a stone pile near the southern crossroad, and the light howitizer in the wheat field. On Turn 1, the Canadians began entering from the northern and western board edges, using the woods for cover. 

 

German slit trenches

 

German light howitzer and tow

Major Law with two infantry sections

The Canadians advance in force

3" mortar team moves into position

A Canadian section moves up in the western wood

2" mortar ready to provide HE or smoke

At first, there was little the Germans could do as the Canadians were either out of range or obscured by intervening terrain. Meanwhile the Canadians used Major Law's command ability to activate a significant number of their elements with the 'You men, snap to action!' rule. As the Canadians worked their way forward from the north, the third section moved in from the west to engage the German mortar with small arms fire and followed up with an assault. The German mortar team reacted quickly enough to shoot two of the Canadians before being overwhelmed.

Canadians moving to the west of the village

 

German mortar team assaulted by Canadians

The Germans reacted by pulling one of their sections out of the building they occupied and bringing concentrated fire onto the Canadian attackers. Undeterred by casualties, the Canadians pressed their attack and came to close quarters with the German infantry. More men fell to German defensive fire before those remaining were put out of action in the ensuing melee.

Canadian section regrouping

 

Germans respond to the flank attack

A gallant but futile assault by the Canadians

The German section wins the fight

Meanwhile the Canadians advancing from the north came within range of the German section manning the slit trenches. The mortars were able to provide some cover by dropping smoke rounds to obscure the German fire as one Canadian section moved out of the woods to advance along the river bank. With the threat from the West eliminated, the Germans abandoned their trenches to drive the Canadians away from the northern bridge. The Canadians responded by pushing further south to get into a blocking position. It was very 'touch and go' at this point with success going to which ever side drew the first order die. 

Luck went to the Germans who were able to assault the lead Canadian section from close range.  The Canadians went down to defeat, either killed or captured. The supporting Canadian section counterattacked with supporting fire from Major Law's HQ section, but they were in turn counterattacked by the German platoon command that has arrived in the Kübelwagen. The Germans then ordered a general advance with all their personnel. The infantry section that had previously been successful in fending off the Canadian bayonet charge now fell prey to some accurate 3" mortar fire, an accurate HE impact taking out the section commander, the LMG, and a rifleman. Despite the losses, the survivors successfully passed their morale check. The action went down to the wire in the seventh turn, but in the end the bridge was still contested, which was a victory for the Germans. The tanks never arrived.

Canadians close on the northern bridge

Germans move to counterattack

Canadian section advances along riverbank

Canadians advancing through a smoke screen

Germans outflank the lead Canadian section

Canadians pinned against the riverbank

Canadians are defeated in the melee

Oberleutnant Fischer orders a general advance

Germans west of the river are hit by 3" mortar HE fire

Germans regroup to await a counterattack

Canadian counterattack is hit by fresh troops

German commander surveys the battlefield

This was an interesting game, one which I have wanted to run ever since I read the scenario in the campaign book. As mentioned earlier, the support weapons were primarily indirect fire. It's very hard to get a first round on target. In fact, only one round of HE fire hit its mark, but with devastating effect, killing 3 of 4 that were caught in the blast. The smoke was also an aspect of the game that we have never played before. Even misses still land on the table, placed by the opposing side with 12" of the aiming point. Plus smoke has the possibility to dissipate, drift, or persist, depending of a dice roll at the beginning of any turn where there is smoke on the board.

The victory conditions were difficult for the Canadians to achieve. All the Germans had to do was get an element within 6" of a bridge to contest control to prevent the Canadians from winning. Still, it was a near run thing. Had the first die out of the cup at the beginning of Turn 6 been a Canadian one, it might have gone the other way.

On a historical note, during the fighting at Petit Appeville, the Camerons received a radio order from brigade headquarters to withdraw back to Green Beach to re-embark. Major Law was one of those who made it back to England. In January 1943 he was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and commanded the Camerons until February of the following year. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Order, and was also 'mentioned in dispatches'. The regiment eventually returned to France in July 1944.

 Thanks for reading. Be sure to comment.