Italian WW2 Campaign..... (1 Viewer)

[Desertkiwi]

Just reading all the comments about the FJ's or lack of them for the future.

With all the talk around D'day they also featured heavily during the allies push through Italy, especially around Cassino. This nasty campaign seems to be largely forgotten by most manufacturers and yet it tied up a whole range of allied troops plus German and Italian units.

What say all

 

[Rob]

The thing is I imagine is that yes FJ's are always sought after by many collectors, perhaps K&C just want to give them a break for a while.We had the excellent Crete versions which have only just been retired and we now have the more recent line still being sold.I guess there comes a point when any producer may just want to do something different for a while before returning to the the tried and tested stuff.Its the same with the US Paras,we had loads of them which was cool,but now they are on 'leave' as it were.I'm sure one day K&C will make more FJ's,but next year its British Paras that are back!.

Rob

 

[Desertkiwi]

I hear what you're saying Rob and I appreciate the feedback cheers mate!

I'm looking forward to the new lot of para's too I managed to pick up a few of the last lot and they are every bit as good as they look. I particularly like how you can buy singles. For someone like me with shallow pockets its a fantastic way to gradually build up numbers. I think K&C are on the button with that concept and thank Andy and the team heaps for doing it.

 

[wayne556517]

Check out Tomm Gunns site has some awesome FJ,s

 

[cantinetozzo]

I agree with you Desertkiwi, Cassino was one of the battles in which your countrymen were most distinguished, i think at the battle for the station ..by the way i think that in a few years we'll have the italian campaign with commonwealth troops,ghurkas ,sikh and may more..after all we have plenty of sets to buy!

 

[Rob]

I hear what you're saying Rob and I appreciate the feedback cheers mate!

I'm looking forward to the new lot of para's too I managed to pick up a few of the last lot and they are every bit as good as they look. I particularly like how you can buy singles. For someone like me with shallow pockets its a fantastic way to gradually build up numbers. I think K&C are on the button with that concept and thank Andy and the team heaps for doing it.

Couldn't agree more mate,it does make it easy to pick up seperate figures as and when I can afford it,also its very good if some figures are suitable for multiples.Glad you got some of the Crete FJ's,they are so cool and my favourite K&C FJ'S.

Rob

 

[Rob]

I agree with you Desertkiwi, Cassino was one of the battles in which your countrymen were most distinguished, i think at the battle for the station ..by the way i think that in a few years we'll have the italian campaign with commonwealth troops,ghurkas ,sikh and may more..after all we have plenty of sets to buy!

That is what is very attractive about Cassino (not only the famous Battle)the wide range of figures that could be made for it.

Rob

 

[old tank]

I really agree with you guys i would like to see CASSINO and ITALIAN CAMPAIGNE i had a few uncles that served north afrika and Italy 1 in tank corp 1 in inf. and brought back 1 italian aunty

 

[cantinetozzo]

Hi Old Tank!My father exchanged his collection of Signal (the german italian propaganda magazine) for food with a british tankman in Cassino area..it's a funny thing but i think one day i'll find this tankman or his name!

 

[Rob]

Hi Old Tank!My father exchanged his collection of Signal (the german italian propaganda magazine) for food with a british tankman in Cassino area..it's a funny thing but i think one day i'll find this tankman or his name!

I really hope you do.

Rob

 

[Desertkiwi]

I'm sure you could use some past and present K&C figures and vehicles to cover some aspects and the Italian campaign period, but it would be nice to see some figures etc taylored specificly for that purpose.:rolleyes : Just a thought anyway .

 

[cantinetozzo]

Yes it's possible but i think for instance at Commonweath troops with Battle Dress trousers and shirt, or the long list of commanders for this theatre , Mark Clark, Bernard Freyberg, Wladislaw Anders, Kesselring,a Monty in shorts...and the americans!My father always told me of the first americans he saw with those beautiful shoulder patches..the 3rd inf.division, the 36th, the 34th ...and why not?Some refugees too..some italian boy or girl asking for food , or shoeshining a G.I...i always think at the beautiful stories my father told me of the Liberation..the fear of the "Chaindogs" the German Gendarmerie..or when he encountered the first U.S. platoon with an italian american at its head that asked "where are the jerryes?" and after a little he heard the fighting ahead of the german with that very platoon..or the first british officer with such a phlegm that you can see an Alec Guinness when my father described him!really a range that will hit at my heart.

 

[Desertkiwi]

I totally agree mate, when you consider the battle for your country covered nearly two years and the variety of allied forces that fought there, you'd think there would be a little more interest in developing a range of figures and vehicles to suit

As a Kiwi, I know I may seem I'm just being a little bias here, but there was a lot more to winning the war in Europe than D'day & the Russian front.

Churchill refered to it as the 'soft underbelly' of Europe.....which as history shows it was anything but.

For all involved, it was a nasty slow grind, fought through the blistering heat and summer and the icy cold of the winter.

Italy's rugged landscape and beautiful buildings lend itself to allsorts of scenario's for collector's to build on....here's hoping at some stage in the future we may see some figures to suit?? Cheers

 

[cantinetozzo]

Yes , i think by the way that if the allied stategy concentrated more on the Italian Front as Churchill thought was right to do the East Europe could have benefited of more freedom in the years 1945-1990..but we're in the field of the IFs here.I grow up visiting the cemeteries of the Allied (Caserta's british war cemetery is a little gem and is near where are buried my gradparents)and the German too, that is a poignant testimony to the struggle for Italy.Cheers mate!

 

[Desertkiwi]

My neighbour is a kiwi veteran from the Italian campaign.....a lovely bloke, whose married and still lives in the house he built after returning from the war.

When we chat, it's often about his time in Italy. His wife came up to me one day and said, "ya know he's never told me anything about the war, he never speaks of it in front of me." She then added, "you've probably got more out of him in 10 minutes than I've got in 60 years" she then gave me a big smile

Despite all our knowledge and interest in the hobbie, I thinks it's sometime easy to forget that real people fought the war and that impact is still alive today.

Incidently he's really impressed with the few K&C figures of shown him and surprised at the extent of the hobbie. and thinks it's fantastic that there is so much interest. Cheers for now