“DISPATCHES”
MAY 2015
WELCOME to one of the biggest, and I hope best, month of releases in the history of “DISPATCHES”...this year!
As you will see there are a few “holdovers” from April that appear in
here as well as plenty of new ones. So, let’s get this show on the road...
1.
BEING
RELEASED THIS MONTH...
A. “Streets
of Old
HK235(G/M) “The
New Bride & Groom”
As the new 20th Century began fashions
and styles also began to change...even in
HK239(G/M) “A
Small Pack of Dogs”
Four little hounds that help make any scene come alive!
AVAILABLE: Early May
B. SOMEWHERE
ON THE WESTERN FRONT...
We return to...
FW158 “A
Soldier’s Prayer”
A British Army Padre reads a simple prayer over the dead body of a fallen “Tommy”.
The design of the dead soldier was inspired
by a similar figure which can be seen on the powerful Royal Artillery Memorial
near
During the Great War, three Army chaplains
won the Victoria Cross,
FW163 “Hold
On Son, We’re Almost There!”
A British Army medical orderly is assisted by a soldier to carry a badly wounded “Tom” back to the nearest Aid Station situated in or close behind the actual front line position.
FW173 “Nursing
Sister”
Between
1914 and 1918 over 10,000 regular and
reserve members of Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Military Nursing Service were at
work in
FW186 “German
Casualties of War”
For these three fallen “Soldaten” their war and suffering is over...
FW200 “Rescue
Under Fire”
Even though the battle still rages above their heads one “Tommy” has crawled into “No Man’s Land” to try and pull a wounded mate to safety...
FW201 “Spoils
Of War”
Two
abandoned “Maschinengewehr
Their
nominal range was 2,000 meters
although they could be deadly up to 3,500
meters!
Allied
troops hated them with a vengeance because of the huge casualties they
inflicted. If and when these guns were
overrun attacking soldiers would often, without hesitation, kill the gun crews,
even if they tried to surrender!
These
two guns fit perfectly with set FW186.
AVAILABLE: Early/Mid
May
C. “AWAY
ALL BOATS”
From the mud and blood of the Western Front in 1916/17 we journey back to another campaign on the Middle Eastern Front in April 1915...”GALLIPOLI” and the ANZAC landings.
On the morning of April 25, 1915, British,
French, Australian and
Their
purpose was to capture the Peninsula and force
Alas, like many “best laid plans” it later came unstuck but on that first morning all seemed to be going well...
GA008 “The Gallipoli Whale Boat”
ANZAC (Australian & New Zealand Army Corps) troops were ferried ashore from the transport ships by a fleet of wooden life boats and whale boats manned by Royal Navy personnel. Some were towed behind steam launches*others were rowed ashore by “Matelots” (sailors).
Our K&C waterline “Whale Boat” comes complete with a Naval cox’n at the tiller and can accommodate up to 24 seated soldiers.
*SPECIAL
NOTE: A
Royal Navy Steam Launch will be released later this year as well as sailors to
“man” the oars.
GA009 “Sitting
ANZAC single”
A
single seated Australian soldier with full fighting order, backpack and Lee
Enfield Rifle. Available with a choice of New South Wales...Queensland and South
Australia Shoulder patches representing the 13th., 14th.,
and 16th. Infantry Btns. Respectively.
GA010 “Sitting
ANZACS set #
A pair of seated Australian soldiers kitted out as above. With a choice of the same Battalion shoulder patches as above.
GA011 “Sitting
ANZACS Set #
A pair of seated Australian soldiers kitted out as above. One wearing the slouch hat. The other field service cap. With a choice of the Battalion shoulder patches.
SPECIAL
NOTE: When ordering any of
these sitting ANZACS be sure to put after the code number your battalion
preference i.e. “GA009-NSW equals “A sitting ANZAC soldier with the 13th
AVAILABLE: Mid
May
D. “FROM
GALLIPOLI TO DOWNING ST.
By a strange coincidence the man who in
1915 was largely responsible for promoting the Gallipoli expedition was none
other than Winston Churchill!
By May 1940, the once disgraced Churchill
had now become
DD271 “BLITZ”
CHURCHILL
During even the heaviest German bombing of
Here he is stepping out with his “tin bowler” (steel
helmet) on and his gasmask haversack over one shoulder...the famous cigar in
his mouth.
AVAILALBLE: Mid
May
E. ‘HITLER’S
FINAL DAYS”
From
Hitler’s “Thousand-Year” Reich has barely lasted just 12...British, American
and Russian armies are already thrusting deep into the German heartland. In the West, hundreds of thousands of
Wehrmacht soldiers are surrendering...In the East the Soviets are already
battling their way into
In the “Führerbunker” in the bomb-damaged Reich Chancellery, Adolf Hitler prepares for the worst...
WS294 “Dead
German Soldaten”
Four fallen Wehrmacht infantrymen who will fight no more...
WS312 “Hitler’s
Last Parade”
A special 5-figure set based on actual
newsreel and photo images of a little ceremony that took place on Hitler’s 56th birthday on 20th April
Slowly and deliberately he goes down the line talking to each boy in turn. By his side is Arthur Axmann, the HJ leader. Completing the set are 3 of the young fighters.
WS313 “Hitler’s
Bunker”
Not the entire complex of the “Führerbunker” you understand...Most of it was deep underground...But here you see part of the upper entranceway from where Hitler emerged for the last time on his birthday to greet the Hitlerjugend boys.
The triangular shaped structure has already suffered from both Allied bombing and Soviet Shelling...its pockmarked reinforced concrete surface is testament to that.
On one side is another entrance way and an iron ladder leading to the roof.
WS314 “
This cylindrical concrete tower provided fresh air to the underground complex and like the Führerbunker itself has suffered from both bombing and shelling.
WS315 “Bunker Bodyguards”
To protect Hitler and the other Nazi Leaders in the bunker a small
detachment of SS was provided. Our 2-man set shows a pair of SS men armed and on guard duty with MP40 “Schmeisser”
Machine Pistols.
WS318 “Extra Hitlerjugend”
To
add to the HJ group meeting the
Fuhrer for the last time here are two more young fighters.
The
young lad wearing the greenish uniform jacket belongs to the Auxiliary
Fire Service which recruited volunteers from the Hitlerjugend. In the battle for
The other young boy is wearing the standard HJ uniform and belongs to the “Special Patrol Service” group who were already trained in small arms even before the desperate days of April and May 1945.
AVAILABLE: Mid May
F. “AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT!”
Moving several thousand miles away from
bomb-shattered Berlin in 1945 to San Antonio. Texas in 1836 is no mean feat...but we’ve made it anyway.
RTA092 “The New Alamo Façade”
This, I think, is the 4th or maybe 5th version K&C has made of this legendary façade. But as our KINGS X store is located just a stone’s throw from that historic landmark we have to remember it...and upgrade it from time to time. This, I think, is the best yet...and the biggest measuring by (W)15 1/2” x (D) 1” x (H)9”. It’s a great backdrop for any “Alamo” collection and every “Alamo” collector. See for yourself!
AVAILALBLE: Mid
May
G. “And
You Thought Berlin Was Finished...
The Third Reich may have collapsed in
well-deserved defeat and ruin in May 1945 but back in the Berlin of the 1930’s
it was a whole different story...Back then the Nazis really did believe they
were creating a “Thousand-Year Reich”
that would live on long after them...How wrong they were!
For the moment the
parade marches on...
LAH141 “The
Blood Flag Bearer”
The Blood Flag or “Blutfahne” was supposedly carried during Hitler’s failed attempt to overthrow the Bavarian Government in Munich in 1923. It was said to have been stained with the blood of those killed and wounded during a skirmish with the Munich police. Thereafter it was treated like a “Holy Relic” and appeared at all major Nazi functions, parades and events.
For almost 20 years it was only carried by one SS man...Jakob Grimminger who rose from the ranks of the SS to eventually become an SS Standartenführer or the army equivalent of a full Colonel.
Our
figure shows Grimminger presenting the flag.
LAH180 SS Obergruppenfuhrer Von Ribbentrop”
Joachim von Ribbentrop was Nazi Germany’s infamous
Foreign Minister from 1938-1945. Before that he was a successful businessman
and appointed German Ambassador to London in 1936.
Many senior Nazi Party Leaders were given an “Honorary”
rank in the SS by Reichsfuhrer Himmler himself.
Foreign Minister von Ribbentrop was one such individual.
It is said he took great pride in wearing the black uniform alongwith
the medals he had won during the First World War and those awarded to him by
the Nazi Party itself.
He was one of the principal defendants at the Nuremburg
War Crimes Tribunal in 1946...found guilty and subsequently hanged.
LAH181 “The
Black Heydrich”
SS-Obergruppenfuhrer Reinhard Heydrich was one of the most feared men in the Nazi Empire and one of the main architects of The Holocaust.
Even
Adolf Hitler described him as “The man with the iron heart”. In the SS he was number two to Reichsfuhrer Heinrich Himmler and the founding head
of the SD (Sicherheitsdienst) the
intelligence gathering organization set up to seek out and destroy any kind of
opposition to the Nazi Party...both at
home and abroad.
In September 1941 he was appointed Reichsprotektor of Bohemia and Moravia, the former Czechoslovakia.
On 27 May 1942 he was attacked and wounded by Czech parachutists sent by the Government in exile in London. He died from his wounds on 4 June 1942. A bloody retribution followed.
This figure shows Heydrich in his prewar black SS uniform.
LAH182 “Reichsminister Albert Speer”
The last time K&C produced Hitler’s favorite architect he was on an inspection tour of the “Atlantic Wall” defenseworks complete with a Citroen Staff Car and other figures.
So, we thought, let’s do a single figure of the Nazi Minister of Armaments and Chief of Organization TODT, the Civil and Military Engineering Group of the Third Reich.
Speer is here dressed in his winter greatcoat.
After the war he was sentenced at Nuremburg to 20 years in prison for his role in the Nazi regime. Released in 1966 he published two best-selling autobiographical works and died in London while on a visit in 1981.
LAH183 “SA Chief Ernst Rohm”
Another of the infamous Nazi “Rogues Gallery” and the leader of the SA (the Surmabteilung) or “brownshirts”. Formerly a career Army Officer he served throughout WW1 and won the Iron Cross First Class for bravery.
He continued to serve in the post war Reichswehr (German Army) until joining the Nazi Party...A heavy drinker and a notorious homosexual he helped co-found and lead the SA.
Eventually Hitler began to realize that
Rohm was becoming too dangerous and too powerful. In 1934. Rohm alongwith
many of his top SA leaders were arrested and shot in what became known as “The
Night of The Long Knives”.
AVAILABLE: All
of the above figures will be available MID MAY.
LAH184 “SS
Sentry”
A typical “Algemeine SS” (General Duties) man on sentry duty in the standard black uniform with brown shirt and carrying his K98 Mauser Rifle with fixed bayonet.
LAH185 “SS
NCO”
This “standing-at-ease” SS “Scharfuhrer” is in charge of the sentries and armed with P.08 “Luger” pistol.
LAH186 “Marching
SS Men”
Introducing our new “multiple parade sets” of figures is this 3-man marching detachment that allows collectors to build up bigger parade displays and dioramas with more modestly-priced sets of 2 and 3 figures.
LAH187 “Marching
SS Officer”
A single “Algemeine SS” officer marching with
sword...complements LAH186.
LAH188 “SS
Men Present Arms”
A 3-man set following the inexpensive pricing
of LAH186.
LAH189 “SS
Officer At Attention”
The
officer, with sword drawn, that accompanies LAH188.
AVAILABLE: This
second batch of “LAH” release will be available LATE MAY/possibly EARLY JUNE.
2.
BEING RETIRED
In addition to all of the new releases we
are retiring all of these “American
Revolutionary War” figures...Take a
look and see what you don’t have!
|
AR072 |
General
George Washington |
|
AR073 |
Guardsman
Corporal |
|
AR074 |
Guardsman
Presenting Arms |
|
AR075 |
Guardsman
Marching |
|
BR083 |
Marching
Drummer |
|
BR084 |
Marching
Fifer |
|
BR085 |
Marching
Officer |
|
BR086 |
Marching
Fusileer |
|
BR087 |
Marching
Fusileer |
|
BR088 |
Marching
Fusileer |
|
BR089 |
Fusileer Charging |
|
BR090 |
Mtd. Fusilier
Officer |
And that is that for yet another month. In almost 3 weeks I will be in San Antonio for the 9th Annual TEXAS TOY SOLDIER SHOW...It’s going to be a great one and I hope to see quite a few of you there...In the meantime very best wishes to one and all!
Andy
C. Neilson
Co-founder
& Creative Director
King & Country