Dien Bien Phu (2 Viewers)

[Rudi Starnberg]

...Hell in a very small place...

With the interest in the Vietnam range, it would be great to see figures of the French para's made one day. The range of USMC camo clothing mixed with British Denison smocks and camo windproofs would be interesting to see tackled by K & C... and not forgetting some of the officers, such as Pierre Langlais, and Marcel Bigeard.

I don't recall seeing a range of these troops yet released, so hopefully one day (soon) ?

 

[Panzer ace]

...Hell in a very small place...

With the interest in the Vietnam range, it would be great to see figures of the French para's made one day. The range of USMC camo clothing mixed with British Denison smocks and camo windproofs would be interesting to see tackled by K & C... and not forgetting some of the officers, such as Pierre Langlais, and Marcel Bigeard.

I don't recall seeing a range of these troops yet released, so hopefully one day (soon) ?

K&C did a club figure for Dien Bien Phu.

 

[King & Country]

...Hell in a very small place...

With the interest in the Vietnam range, it would be great to see figures of the French para's made one day. The range of USMC camo clothing mixed with British Denison smocks and camo windproofs would be interesting to see tackled by K & C... and not forgetting some of the officers, such as Pierre Langlais, and Marcel Bigeard.

I don't recall seeing a range of these troops yet released, so hopefully one day (soon) ?

Hi Rudi,
Many thanks for the suggestion about the 'first' IndoChina War...I've pondered this one for a while...However when it came down to the 'nitty-gritty' of choosing between the French and American experiences in Vietnam...I decided the U.S. Had the greater potential...Both historically and, very importantly, commercially!

Now, that's not to say K&C won't ever venture into those particular uncharted waters...As my friend Panzer Ace (Jason) says K&C have designed some L'Armee Francaise in IndoChina in the dim'n'distant past for both Del Prado and Hachette in Europe...and our own Collectors' Club.

But at this juncture in time I guess we'll stick with the Marines in Hue in 1968.
All the best and happy collecting,
Andy.

 

[Panzer ace]

Hi Rudi,
Many thanks for the suggestion about the 'first' IndoChina War...I've pondered this one for a while...However when it came down to the 'nitty-gritty' of choosing between the French and American experiences in Vietnam...I decided the U.S. Had the greater potential...Both historically and, very importantly, commercially!
Now, that's not to say K&C won't ever venture into those particular uncharted waters...As my friend Panzer Ace (Jason) says K&C have designed some L'Armee Francaise en IndoChine

Andy:

As you are aware, that figure remains my all-time favorite. Couple that with the manner in-which it was given to me and it transcends toy soldier collecting and remains a constant reminder of true friendship.

Best,
Jason

 

[Raider]

I had never heard of or seen this figure before.Did a search and found pictures of it.What a fantastic looking figure

 

[marco55]

Could somebody put up a picture of this figure?
Mark

 

[Go for Broke]

I always wanted one, but very pricey. I thought there was one on the consignment section awhile ago.

 

[Obee]

K&C have designed some L'Armee Francaise in IndoChina in the dim'n'distant past for both Del Prado and Hachette in Europe...and our own Collectors' Club.

Andy.

Here is the Del Prado Legionnaire with a repainted Panhard, Vietnam 1954 K&C WS125 I did a few years back for Chris in USA.




John

 

[MCKENNA77]

Yeah if someone doesnt make the line of soldiers you want then you have to modify, adapt and overcome.

It becomes fun and stupid at the same time to create. Big thanks to Obee for hooking me up like a tow truck on the panhard revision. He did an excellent job. Am hoping all my friends way down South are doing better than their Ozzie cricket team is.

Keep it silly

 

[Rudi Starnberg]

Hi Rudi,
Many thanks for the suggestion about the 'first' IndoChina War...I've pondered this one for a while...However when it came down to the 'nitty-gritty' of choosing between the French and American experiences in Vietnam...I decided the U.S. Had the greater potential...Both historically and, very importantly, commercially!

Now, that's not to say K&C won't ever venture into those particular uncharted waters...As my friend Panzer Ace (Jason) says K&C have designed some L'Armee Francaise in IndoChina in the dim'n'distant past for both Del Prado and Hachette in Europe...and our own Collectors' Club.

But at this juncture in time I guess we'll stick with the Marines in Hue in 1968.
All the best and happy collecting,
Andy.

Hi Andy, and many thanks for the reply to the query. Is it ever possible to even make just one figure or two or three, or is that not really commercially or logistically possible ? It seems there could be interest for such "rare beasts" without a full blown 10 or 12 figure range ?

 

[cantinetozzo]

Here are the K&C club figure and the one produced for hachette..

 

[King & Country]

...Hell in a very small place...

With the interest in the Vietnam range, it would be great to see figures of the French para's made one day. The range of USMC camo clothing mixed with British Denison smocks and camo windproofs would be interesting to see tackled by K & C... and not forgetting some of the officers, such as Pierre Langlais, and Marcel Bigeard.

I don't recall seeing a range of these troops yet released, so hopefully one day (soon) ?

Hi Rudi,
Much as I am personally interested in the First War in IndoChina...I do believe the 'American' War in Vietnam has much more general appeal to collectors not only in the U.S... but all over the world too.

However...Never say never!
Best wishes and happy collecting,
Andy.

 

[Warrior]

Hi Rudi,
Much as I am personally interested in the First War in IndoChina...I do believe the 'American' War in Vietnam has much more general appeal to collectors not only in the U.S... but all over the world too.

However...Never say never!
Best wishes and happy collecting,
Andy.

I don't want to take you away from you focus on the Vietnam range, but I agree that a Dien Bien Phu offshoot would be great. You had the French fighting off the Vietnamese, throw in their legionnaires and you'd be on to something. The French strongpoints fell one by one, there were aspects of the battle that resembled WWI trench warfare. The myth of the FFL being made up of a number of former German SS troops is just that, a myth, though I am sure there were some former German soldiers in the legion.

Anyway, never say never as Andy likes to say..................

 

[jazzeum]

Bernard Fell, who wrote Hell in a Very Small Place: The Siege Of Dien Bien Phu and his conclusion was there were more Legionnaires from Eastern European countries than Germany. He believes there were some Germans but they were small in number.

 

[Rudi Starnberg]

Bernard Fell, who wrote Hell in a Very Small Place: The Siege Of Dien Bien Phu and his conclusion was there were more Legionnaires from Eastern European countries than Germany. He believes there were some Germans but they were small in number.

Indeed, and the majority far too young to have been ww2 veterans anyway.

 

[Rudi Starnberg]

There does seem to have been a fair bit of use of German weaponry though, such as MP40's , and Captain Bernard Cabiro of 1st BEP had a Luger as his sidearm, a souvenir from his own wartime days !

 

[jules118]

There does seem to have been a fair bit of use of German weaponry though, such as MP40's , and Captain Bernard Cabiro of 1st BEP had a Luger as his sidearm, a souvenir from his own wartime days !

In the early years of the war the French forces used a combination of British, US and German weapons. The 3rd Colonial Para-Commando Battalion (3 BCCP) deployed to Indochina with stocks of MP40's that had been kept by France as part of the war reparations. These were disposed of as soon as stocks of the Mat 49 SMG were delivered to the CEFEO in 1950 but no doubt several continued to be used by other units. There are pictures of them still being used by Civil Defense guards in South Vietnam in 1962.

Would love to see a Dien Bien Phu range released. French Indochina is of particular interest to me. I collect French Indochina period Airborne and Commando insignia and have visited Vietnam over a dozen times to explore the various battlefields. Unfortunately I have only been to Dien Bien Phu once, but am planning another visit there next year. A French Indochina range would definitely get me back into collecting K&C once more.

jules

http://www.juleswings.wordpress.com

 

[Jedburgh]

Would like to see K&C produce a French in Indochina range. I saw the Collectors Club figure go for over £120 on Ebay recently. Empress Miniatures(FNG) have a range in 28mm that show the possibility of the troop types

http://www.empressminiatures.com/userimages/procart62.htm

 

[Rudi Starnberg]

In the excellent book by Simon Murray "Legionnaire", in which he has diarised his time with the Legion, albeit from 1960 and covering his time in Algeria, he does mention that one of his sergeants when he did his para training, at Sully, was an ex fallschirmjager, called Krueger, who fought at Monte Cassino..."he is unquestionably as dangerous as hell " is his first impression.

A very good book if you haven't already read it.

 

[King & Country]

In the excellent book by Simon Murray "Legionnaire", in which he has diarised his time with the Legion, albeit from 1960 and covering his time in Algeria, he does mention that one of his sergeants when he did his para training, at Sully, was an ex fallschirmjager, called Krueger, who fought at Monte Cassino..."he is unquestionably as dangerous as hell " is his first impression.

A very good book if you haven't already read it.

Hi Rudi,
Simon Murray was one of K&C's very first customer/collectors in Hong Kong!
At the time, 1986, Simon was the 'Tai Pan' of Hutchison, one of Hong Kong's leading companies and happened to come into our first K&C shop and see some of our earliest French Foreign Legion figures that were dressed in the parade uniforms of the late 1950's and early '60's...The approximate time he himself served in the Legion.

He bought a whole bunch there and then and subsequently returned a few weeks later to buy more and some other items.

Because of his work and many business commitments around the world we only see each other rarely however just last week he came into our Pacific Place store in HK and left a friendly little note saying he had visited and was happy to see business was going well!

He's a terrific guy and a great story-teller with plenty of wonderful adventures both in and out of the Legion...

For a special Birthday a few years back his wife, without him knowing, invited his former Regimental Colonel plus three of his old mates from the Legion to journey over from France to his home in England for the celebrations!!! They had not met up for more than 30 years.

As I said he's a great guy and great to know.
All the best, Andy.