Russo-Finnish war: Italian composition soldiers ❄️ 🥶

Confalonieri Chialu (Milan, Italy) produced Russian and Finnish composition soldiers in white snow-suits. These Winter War soldiers were produced in 30s/50s. Some of the figures were reissued by Chialu in 50s. These photos were published in Confalonieri Chialu : Soldatini Giocattolo in Cartapesta 1934 - 1967 written by Franco Paoletti and Giuseppe Roveri.

 

22 June 1941 - German invasion of the Soviet Union

Operation Barbarossa, which started on Sunday, 22 June 1941, put into action Nazi Germany's ideological goal of conquering the western Soviet Union. The German offensive was launched by three army groups. Red Army soldiers (Durso, Belgium) defending the Soviet border against German Wehrmacht pioneers (Pioniere) troops riding an inflatable boat (Elastolin,Germany).

African rebel figurine with AK47 from Alibaba

This interesting toy soldier figurine with movable joints (Scale 1/6) was found on Alibaba.

 

An unknown German soldier ...

About two years ago I acquired this German Wehrmacht soldier with a Karabiner 98k. This is quite small soft metal (pewter? zinc?) figurine about 4cm high. Does anybody know the maker of this soldier by any chance?

Myles Walter Keogh - the only Irish officer to fight in the Battle of the Little Bighorn

Myles Walter Keogh (25 March 1840 – 25 June 1876) was an Irish soldier. Serving the armies of the Papal States during the war for Italian unification in 1860, he was recruited into the Union Army during the American Civil War, serving as a cavalry officer, particularly under Brig. Gen. John Buford during the Gettysburg Campaign and the three-day Battle of Gettysburg. After the war, Keogh remained in the regular United States Army as commander of I Troop of the 7th US Cavalry Regiment under George Armstrong Custer during the Indian Wars, until he was killed along with Custer and all of his men at the Battle of the Little Bighorn in 1876.Photos from the County Carlow Military Museum exhibition.

"Unknown" German panzerwaffe tank

This wooden tank was produced by an unknown maker is 30s. I found it in Austria. Looking at the turret, it seems that the maker was inspired by the Panzerkampfwagen III (Panzer III). Some Durso 1/24 soldiers are added for scale.

Elastolin motorcycle infantry soldier with BMW motorcycle and sidecar with LMG

In the 1930s BMW were producing a number of popular and highly effective motorcycles for German Army. In 1938 development of the R75 model started in response to a request from the German Army. During the military campaigns that spread across Europe and into the Soviet Union, German motorcycle troopers served a variety of functions including chauffeuring officers, delivering dispatches and even hot meals, and scouting on patrol. Motorcycles also were point vehicles taking the brunt of battle, sometimes as specially equipped tank destroyers. As with all motorcyclists, there was a kinship among these soldiers who called themselves “kradfahrer.” They rode exposed without the armor plating of the Panzers, without the safety of hundreds of foot soldiers beside them—moving targets, as it were, or sniper magnets. And then there were minefields, artillery fire, and strafing aircraft to contend with. To follow this growing use of military motorcycles, Elastolin started its own production of tinplate BMW motocycles models for its composition soldiers (Scale 1/24) (Catalog models 591/4 and 591/1).