The Skoda 7.5 cm Gebirgskanone M.15 was a mountain gun used by Austria-Hungary in World War I and many fell into Italian hands during and after the First World War.
It was a well proven mountain gun and could be broken down into seven loads for pack transport. It equipped mountain artillery regiments and saw action in Spain, Greece and Russia.
In German service, it was known as the 7.5 cm GebK 15. The Italians designated them as the Obice da 75/13 and the Wehrmacht would designate captured guns as 7.5 cm GebK 259(i) after the surrender of Italy in 1943.
It was utilised by the Greeks in the 1940-41 war during which they also used captured Italian pieces.
Calibre
75 mm
Weight of Gun (emplaced)
613.4 kg
Max. Range
7 km
Muzzle Velocity
350 m/sec
Min./Max. Elevation
-9°/+50°
Shell Weight
5.5 – 6.5 kg
How to model this gun
Tomorrow I hope to finish the artilleries pack mule team.
Many of the readers will have many more similar stories to this one. The United States and Australia was extremely lucky in both wars in that the fighting did not occur in our homelands, although both Hawaii and Darwin were both bombed and protectorates of both countries were invaded. This story is significant to us because we had so few tales of tragedy like it.
On Tuesday 3 March, 1942 Broome experienced the first of four Japanese air raids it would face during the Second World War. During the raid 24 aircraft were targeted and destroyed, including 15 flying boats that were sitting in the bay having stopped in Broome to refuel.
Today Broome is a thriving tourist town on the North west coast of Western Australia. During WW2 it was a remote pearling town that was used as a re-fuelling base for the evacuees from the Dutch East Indies.
The Japanese attack on Broome is the second most deadly air raid on Australia soil in our history and yet it’s almost entirely overlooked.
I have only recently been made aware of the attacks on Broome and sourced the”Ghosts of Roebuck” via Amazon as a result.
The book tells the story of a tragedy, “shining a light on a story that has slipped through the cracks of history”. I found it a captivating read that covered the lives of many of the “actors”, before, during and after the attack. These vignettes are enthralling.
On 3 March 1942, nine Japanese Zero planes strafed the small town planning to destroy the aerodrome and the Dutch, RAAF and US planes based there.
This image was taken from a Japanese ‘Babs’ reconnaissance aircraft, which accompanied the fighters and gave instructions regarding targets.
With no notice, the townsfolk could only put up minimal opposition and in an attack that lasted only ten minutes, almost one hundred men, women and children lost their lives. Not a single operational aircraft remained in Broome, but the shocking loss of human life can never be truly calculated.
Today during extremely low tides, the wrecks of six flying boats can still be seen in the sands of Roebuck Bay. These sites are protected under the Australian heritage act.
As I indicated above many of the flying boats attacked in Roebuck Bay on 3 March 1942 were carrying Dutch refugees who had fled the Dutch East Indies ahead of the Japanese invasion. The aircraft were being refuelled in Broome before flying on to southern towns and cities.
It is not known how many refugees were in the flying boats which had left Java in haste, but many were women and children who thought they had finally reached the safe haven of Australia.
Ironically this toy soldier, corroded by sea water, was collected from the wrecks.
After the raid about thirty bodies were retrieved from the bay, and were buried in the cemetery near Town Beach; many others were never found.
In 1950, the bodies were exhumed and moved to the Karrakatta war cemetery in Perth or repatriated back to Holland or the Dutch East Indies
I really liked this book and would suggest that any Australian should read it, if only to be educated on the impacts of war on human lives. Those from other countries would have countless stories of their own to read.
The fourth squad of infantry consists of eleven men and includes an NCO, Light Machine gun Team, a VB Launcher and seven riflemen for a total of 161 Bolt Action points.
NCO urging his squad forward
Light Machine Gun
VB Launcher
In Australia when we are talking about a “VB Launcher” we are probably referring to an inebriated sports fan tossing his “empty” onto the field of play. Kiddies you should not do this because your father is likely to be in deep “do do” for allowing you to both drink and throwing the cans. I know this is extremely unlikely because what person in their right mind would waste their precious VB on their kids!
The term VB got its name from the French inventors; Messrs. Vivien and Bessières, who designed a system that could launch a grenade from a cup discharger using live ammunition, while arming the grenade at the same time it was fired.
Squad riflemen
Next up for the Greeks will be some mountain artillery support and some mules to drag them up the mountains!
More mummies to add to the collection. I have four more, including a Mummy Lord from Black Tree Design and some resin ones from Mantic games. I will finish these in due course (code for maybe some day!).
My my, how can I resist you!
Mummy mia, does it show again
My, my, just how much I’ve missed you?
Now I need to say up front I am not a big fan of ABBA, to me they are just OK. Black Sabbath, Man-O-War, AC /DC and Scorpion are more to my liking. Anyway SWMBO begged me to go to their Melbourne Concert and of course I replied with a “Yes Dear”. We went to the first of their 1977 concerts in Melbourne at the Myer Music Bowl. Fortunately we went to the first concert which had about 15,000 people which was then the venues full capacity. The following day the crowd exceeded 28,000 with people clambering on the fences and listening from outside the outdoor arena.
As I said the music was OK but the atmosphere was electric as ABBA Mania was sweeping across Australia. For me however, the best part of the concert was the train trip home! Fortunately SWMBO doesn’t read these posts!
The “Mummy Mias” are from Black Tree Design (EOE Orbis). They arrived last week after being on order for over eighteen months and then only after many emails, each becoming more grumpier than the last one. The figures are great, the service ???????
There are two packs of two with outstretched hands and one pack of three with fist pointed forward.
I especially like the dangling bits of cloth on the models.
I put together and undercoated some more of the Deadzone Marauders today
Two more Goblin Snipers
A Marauder Commando that somehow was overlooked
Two more Ripper Rainmakers
Two Ripper Maulers
I spent quite some time trying to find the last three boxes which I know are somewhere in “the cave”!
A gruntbot gaffer (either a leader or a bot)
A goblin stunt bot
The support booster box has a Sergeant, a Hulk with big gun and a goblin gun truk.
I hope to dig them out in the next few days and put them together. When I have completed that I will work out what I want to paint. There is more than enough for a Deadzone Marauder army and I want to paint only what I need and dispose of the rest.
I needed a support option for Xenos Rampant so I again raided the Deadzone bits and pieces to see what I had. Two extra “mini Terratons” and a Forge Fathers Thunder Cannon (I think) would fit in well.
Using the “spotter rule” these can be very effective firing from the rear where they are less vulnerable.
The last of the “mini Terratons” tomorrow.
October Green thing count:
1 Terraton + 4 Ghouls + 5 Mini Terratons + Gun and t crew = 13 Total!
