King & Country Toy Soldiers June's Releases - 2023

King & Country's Toy Soldiers latest batch of offerings: 1.The Blues And Royals 2. Queen Elizabeth II in State Attire 3.Animal Farm 4.Winston S. Churchill 5.Hitlerjugend Reinforcements

Elastolin WW2 French marines

In 30s, Elastolin produced two basic sets of 70 mm marching French marines wearing the blue winter uniform and the other wears the summer uniform. The both sets are wearing bachi - the bonnet of marine topped with a red pom-pom.

Durso : Battle of Waterloo 1815 series 🇫🇷🇫🇷🇫🇷💥💥💥💣💣💣

As plastic soldiers entered the toy industry in the 1950's Durso composition figures, which were relatively expensive, fell on hard times. To improve on this difficult business situation Michel Klimov (1905 - 2004) resorted to specialized products such as the Waterloo series. The Waterloo 10 centimeter composition figures were made for souvenir shop(s) at the site of the Battle of Waterloo (June 18,1815) a few miles south of Brussels and depict the uniforms of the various troops involved.

Elastolin Gebirgsjäger mountain troops

During World War II the Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS raised a number of mountain infantry units, identified by the edelweiss insignia worn on their sleeves and caps. These divisions were lightly equipped, with much of the transport provided by mules. They were equipped with fewer automatic weapons than regular infantry, however the MG 34 or MG 42 machine gunners were provided with more ammunition than their regular infantry counterparts. Special equipment was made for them including the G33/40 mauser rifle based on the VZ.33 rifle. Elastolin produced three types of composition 70mm Gebirgsjäger mountain troops figures from 1934 to 1941.

Confalonieri Chialu WW2 Bersaglieri motorcyclist

Composition Italian Bersaglieri 7.5cm motorcyclist produced by Confalonieri Chialu (Milan, 30s). When Italy entered WWII, each of the twelve Bersaglieri regiments had one motorcycle mounted battalion. Members of these battalions primarily rode 500cc Moto Guzzi Alces, the Alce tricycle or 350cc Bennellis.

Nazaire Beeusaert (NB) composition navy officers

The production of the composition soldiers of Nazaire Beeusaert (NB) dates from the end of 30s. Every figure was produced manually. The raw material consisted of a composition mixture made from crushed paper and cardboard waste, water, flour glue and chalk. For each type of soldier there was a separate mold in which the mixture was pushed. Through openings in the mold, the figure was reinforced with galvanized iron wire. When the soldier was taken out of the mold, it was still very fragile. After twenty-four hours of drying, the paintwork could begin. The NB figures are collector items. The Nazaire Beeusaert company stopped its production in 1965. Belgian composition 7cm navy officers produced by Nazaire Beeusaert (NB) Belgium.

NVA soldiers from VEB Lineol-Plastik Dresden (DDR)

The Lineol company was founded in 1904 by Oskar Wiederholz in Brandenburg, and in 1907 it was registered in the commercial register as "Toy factory Wiederholz, Fohrderstraße 10, Brandenburg". In 1914 the company grew from originally 2 to 150 employees. In 1923 the company was incorporated into the "Lineol-Aktien-Gesellschaft Brandenburg/Havel". After the war, in 1948 the Lineol company was expropriated and merged with the also expropriated company Ernst Paul Lehmann getting its new name "VEB Lineol-Patent Brandenburg". In 1956 the company moved to Dresden and produced NVA army composition soldiers under the name "VEB Lineol-Plastik Dresden". The Dresden production of composition soldiers ended in 1960.Then Haufe company from Kamenz took over the Lineol brand and its production equipment and continued to produce Lineol figures until 1962/63.

Leyla Bundeswehr Bundeswehr plastic soldiers

These plastic soldiers were produced by the Leyla company on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the founding of the Bundeswehr.

WW1 French Army soldiers and "Pascha" cannon

Well sculptured Kienel composition soldiers representing French army at the beginning of WWI. The tinplate "Pascha" cannon, which frequently appears in numerous variants, should be mentioned as a gun from another German manufacturer, which Hausser apparently wanted to integrate into its own product range.

Victory in Europe Day

Victory in Europe Day is the day celebrating the formal acceptance by the Allies of World War II of Germany's unconditional surrender of its armed forces on Tuesday, 8 May 1945, marking the official end of World War II in Europe in the Eastern Front, with the last shots fired on the 11th. WW2 Red Army Lineol (Umbau) composition soldiers designed by Reiner Krock (Germany).

German soldiers marching along forest road

Some composition German infantry soldiers (mainly Kienel) are marching along a forest road. Camouflage helmets are DIYs based on the camouflage set of accessories from Elastolin.

   

Lineol light field howitzer with operating crew

In the novelty addendum of 1938, Lineol published six new 7.5 cm figures for the light field howitzer (Leichte Feldhaubitze - 10.5 cm leFH 18) as operating personnel and a stack of grenades. Due to the short production period, these figures belong to the relatively rare and collector's market within the 7.5 cm series highly rated characters.

Lineol anti-aircraft gun (Flugabwehrkanone)

Lineol tinplate anti-aircraft gun (Flugabwehrkanone) with windage and elevation adjustment with protective shield 10/303 Sch (1933-40). The composition artillery crew (Leichte Feldhaubitze) for a light field howitzer is also produced by Lineol in the end of 30s.

Playing with Leyla Bundeswehr Bundeswehr plastic soldiers 🇺🇸🇩🇪

These Leyla Bundeswehr and the US army figurines shown are made of plastic. They were produced by the Leyla company on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the founding of the Bundeswehr.The selling price at that time was 4 DM.