British Command Figures.

Thought it was time to get a base of the British Command done , here we have General Sir George Brown (left) and General William Barnard (right) as portrayed by Strelets and Roger Fenton's photographs in the Crimea - not a bad likeness ! .

Russian Hussars.

Have got some opposition for the Highlanders done in the shape of  the 12th Ingermanland Laandski Hussars. One of the regiments making up the 6th Light Cavalry Division

They are a bit too animated for my liking , but accurately portrayed in greatcoats and waterproof shako covers , with the officer and trumpeter in full dress . The blue facing cover is maybe a bit brighter than it should be .

There is even a horse leaping over a shell explosion ! . The Russian cavalry regiments were large (over a 1,000 men) and the above unit would be a squadron . So I will be painting up another unit in the same uniform to bring them up to strength  .  

Mr Kipling Under Fire.

It is a little known fact that the author and poet Rudyard Kipling was a war correspondent and  wrote dispatches for The Times Illustrated during 'The Great Patio War' . Unfortunately his book on the subject - 'Despatches from the Patio' was NOT well received by the establishment or the public as he was very critical at times of 'Army Red' with whom he was attached and is almost impossible to find a copy now , in fact he almost gave up being a writer and was going to join the family run cake manufacturing business. Recently I was lucky enough to come across several photos of Kipling with  a 'Red Army' gun and crew whilst I was visiting a local postcard fair. These were taken I think using a 'Box Brownie' camera and are remarkable as they show  the course of the action which followed . I consulted the diary of Lt. Mackison* . (which of course is a well know book on the artillery in the war) and he recounts " today whilst at gun drill a correspondent of the yellow press arrived to watch us at practise"  He then recounts how they came under fire from a masked 'Black Army' gun !.

He continues - " a shell burst just above our gun and wounded Gunner Wilson" The second photo shows this happening (I believer this photo to have been 'improved' in the printing process ie. the addition of the word 'BANG' by the explosion)

Lt. Mackison then recounts - " without any hesitation the correspondent took the position of the wounded No.2 and manned the gun with great bravery!" They returned fire and a direct hit knocked out the hidden 'Black Army' gun ! . The third photo shows Kipling manning the gun as a stretcher party carries the wounded gunner away . Again it seem that the photo has been altered , with KABOOM added during the printing . So what credence can be given to these photos ? without the evidence of the diary of Lt. Mackison I would have said they were fake - the identity of 'the correspondent' has always been a mystery but I think we can now link it with Rudyard Kipling . There remains the possibility that the photos were later 'staged' to portray the incident , but Lt Mackison makes no mention of this - so we are left with the possibility of a rare sequence of 'action' photographs , I believe the photos were destined for Kipling's book but were not included due to a limited print run . I have presented my findings to Prof. Dobson an authority on the conflict and of course in his usual blustering way he has poo poohed them ! (I think jealousy of my find may colour his judgement!) . I leave it for the reader to use his own mind up  ! .

* With The Guns To The Patio The Diary Of Lt. Mackison  published by Almark 1972

The Thin Red Line .

Russell's quote in his dispatch to The Times was actually - "a thin red streak tipped with a line of steel". I enjoyed painting the 93rd  Regiment (Sutherland Highlanders) and as Conrad sent me some more Highlanders I will be able to to the Highland Brigade in the future.

I was impressed by the Stretlets figures which are remarkably accurately modelled and with only a few 'odd' pose . Painting the moulded on flag took a bit of thought , but I'm pleased with the result.

I now need some Russian Hussars to charge them and these are being cleaned up ready for spraying . Another unit per side and I have enough for a small game . I am going to use 'Black Powder' with suitable adjustments for the period.

1st Battalion Dnieper Regiment

I've got my Highlander finish but haven't been able to photograph them as the weather is rather wet . But luckily I'd got the next Russian unit already photographed , they are the 1st Battalion of the Dnieper Regiment.

As you can see they are in the Russian summer/full dress uniform without the more usual greatcoat .

I rather like this uniform , but don't think it was seen or used much in the Crimea as most of the action was in the Autumn and Winter of 1854 .

However the original purpose of the Crimean expedition was to help the Turks in Bulgaria , the Allies landed at Varna on the Bulgarian coast only to find that the Russian threat had diminished due to the Turks beating then at the siege of Silistra and diplomatic pressure from Austria .

However ! if I was to squint at history a little bit I could base a campaign in this area - so the Russians could wear their rather pretty Summer uniforms .

And the British Guards could wear their Summer uniform which had white trousers I think - how cute would that be !? . The Light (Cavalry) Brigade did a disastrous recce inland from Varna which resulted in a heavy loss of horses due to the hot weather and incompetence and of course that's were the Allies first contacted Cholera .  So I'm not stretching history to much and it gets me away from a lot of the clichés associated with the actual Crimean campaign .

Reinforcements For The Crimea .

The postman delivered this impressive parcel this morning , a kind gift from fellow blogger Conrad Kinch (http://joyandforgetfulness.blogspot.co.uk/) full of very useful Stretlets figures which he has donated to my Crimean project . Lots of British infantry (which I didn't have any of) and Russian and British cavalry , so I'm going to spend the afternoon sorting it all out ! . Cheers Conrad !

Brae Heelan Lads (Work In Progress).

Just a quick glimpse of my next unit for the Crimean project the 93rd (Highland) Regiment .