The model I have is the Warlord Games Vickers Light Tank Mk IVC. That supplied by the British British to the Greek Army was the Vickers Light Tank IIIB “Dutchman
The Hellenic Army, as far as I have been able to ascertain, only possessed some out of date French FT17’s tanks when Italy attacked in October of 1939. Greece had ordered ordered fourteen British Vickers 6-ton light tanks, however these would not be delivered before the War broke out, but at least some did arrive in Greece just before the fighting in Epirus and Albania.
A surprise for tomorrow which is code for “I am not sure what I will paint next!”.
Great work on the vehicle Dave, was the snow on the wheels a happy accident or intentional ?
Thanks again Dave. I have chosen to build the army for Spring of 1941 when the German invasion began. As a result it is not snow but the barren and rocky Spring terrain. So not snow but sand and dust! It was not by accident but the exact effect was indeed a happy accident!
Nice mate
I collect and play 1940/41 Greeks as well. I’m a proper history nerd(I’m Scottish)and even have a translation of the Greek army’s official history of the campaign. The total amount of Greek armour on the day Italy invaded was….three tanks bought from Britain. One,a Vickers “tankette” seems to not even be mentioned in the war,the other two(that I somehow got 28mms models of!)were both Vickers 6 gunners export tanks,one with a single anti tank gun in a turret and one with two MG turrets,these appear to still have been active during ww2 but there is no confirmation they saw combat. The other buy from Britain was about 10(some dispute on exact number)Peerless armoured cars(well lorries),these had no turrets(as can be seen in Greek footage from about 1930,there is also Greek film of the aforementioned tanks from about 1937/38)and were probably scrapped by 1940.
As for the FT17s,a lot of nonsense is said of them. But Greece never had any period. Sometimes the number of 11 is floated,but it’s 0! Not one! No they never used any in the post ww1 Turkish war.
The tanks the British gave them before the Germans pitched in….did not exist. The 4th Hussars were sent to Greece with around 44 Vickers light tanks(mostly of a type with short production run)and they used them themselves,they,and Britain as a whole did not give Greece a single tank in the 40/41 campaign. They did give them Universal(or “Bren”)carriers though.
So the whole of Greeks armour force in the war from the Italian invasion to the surrender to the German led attack was possibly one Vickers tankette, possibly but very unlikely a few old Peerless armoured lorries. Two export type Vickers 6 tonners(it’s not known if they fought) at the start of the Italian invasion. Later over forty Italian tankettes were captured and used by the Greeks. A few heavier Italian tanks were captured but probably not used by Greece in battle. Then from Britain zero tanks but a fair amount of armoured carriers.
Beware of certain photos online,these show British light tanks in Egypt and Palestine mostly.