Vietnam? (1 Viewer)

[Manila soldier]

I'd like to see too French at DBP, after all one of the first Club Figures was a french para legionnaire..and another similar is the hachette figure (nearly identical) made for the Legionnaires series. Also i like the indochinese Para for Del Prado and the 173rd Airborne figure. A little gem taken by an illustration of Ronald Volstad, you must see it in person to appreciate the particular of the wet trousers. If i'd choose after the first ideal batch of figures (marines at hue, vietcong, regular nva) i'd go for the ARVN. I like their style even if they were not so loved by the ordinary u.s. soldier i believe.

I have these Hachette and Del Prado figures also, and would be interested in French Indo China range , .....I also have the individual hachette and Del Prado pieces from circa 1900 ( French legionnaires in white cork helmets) and am building a small dio with villager figures I picked up in Burma........so pretty much anything from that geography interests me. Got to say though that I agree with other comments in the thread that only US Forces are a sure fire seller. French forces would be more of a long shot like the Arab-Israeli range.

 

[Manila soldier]

Hi Andrew,
Seek...And ye may find!
All the best and happy collecting!
Andy.

Now I'm super excited.......building cash reserves as we speak.......

 

[King & Country]

The ironic part is there were FFL at Dien Bien Phu, a lot of them were former WWII German veterans..............have read accounts that NCO's were shouting out orders in German...............so, there were Germans there too as an FYI...................

Hi George,
Great meeting up recently in 'Chicago' and very happy you had such a fantastic show!
Re 'WW2 Germans in the Legion'...Several years back, one of our Hong Kong collectors, Simon Murray, himself a former Foreign Legionnaire, told me that when he served in the early 1960's in Algeria, there were quite a few former Wehrmacht and Waffen SS serving as NCO's in his regiment which I think was the 2nd. Legion Parachute Regt. Nearly all had fought in Indochina and a couple at Dien Bien Phu.
According to Simon, they were as hard as nails...strict on discipline...and great soldiers!
Fascinating campaign and very different from the War that followed on from it...
Andy.

 

[Poppo]

Hi George,
Great meeting up recently in 'Chicago' and very happy you had such a fantastic show!
Re 'WW2 Germans in the Legion'...Several years back, one of our Hong Kong collectors, Simon Murray, himself a former Foreign Legionnaire, told me that when he served in the early 1960's in Algeria, there were quite a few former Wehrmacht and Waffen SS serving as NCO's in his regiment which I think was the 2nd. Legion Parachute Regt. Nearly all had fought in Indochina and a couple at Dien Bien Phu.
According to Simon, they were as hard as nails...strict on discipline...and great soldiers!
Fascinating campaign and very different from the War that followed on from it...
Andy.

Anyway, in Dien Bien Phu they were were paralyzed and humiliated by General Giap.For example,the french commander of the artillery of Dien Bien Phu committed suicide in the first days of the battle for the shame of not being able to inflict any significant losses on the ranks of Viet Minh as he promised to sweep them away from the hills in a few hours...

 

[jazzeum]

In fights for national independence or wars for liberation, being hard as nails or what have you doesn’t count as much when people are determined to throw out a colonial power, sadly a lesson we didn’t learn from the French.

The French didn’t learn it either in Algeria.

 

[bridport]

Hi George,
Great meeting up recently in 'Chicago' and very happy you had such a fantastic show!
Re 'WW2 Germans in the Legion'...Several years back, one of our Hong Kong collectors, Simon Murray, himself a former Foreign Legionnaire, told me that when he served in the early 1960's in Algeria, there were quite a few former Wehrmacht and Waffen SS serving as NCO's in his regiment which I think was the 2nd. Legion Parachute Regt. Nearly all had fought in Indochina and a couple at Dien Bien Phu.
According to Simon, they were as hard as nails...strict on discipline...and great soldiers!
Fascinating campaign and very different from the War that followed on from it...
Andy.

Indeed a fascinating campaign which could be interpreted with some fascinating toy soldiers!

I would certainly be in the market for French colonial Vietnam troops.

I first explored this period whilst reading Grahame Greene's 'Quiet American'. An interesting background to the eventual US involvement.

 

[Horus]

Indeed a fascinating campaign which could be interpreted with some fascinating toy soldiers!

I would certainly be in the market for French colonial Vietnam troops.

I first explored this period whilst reading Grahame Greene's 'Quiet American'. An interesting background to the eventual US involvement.

Yep, a reissue of M24 Chaffee's, French Para's with mostly US equipment, Viet Minh all sounds like a good if lost cause !

Steve

 

[bridport]

Yes, perhaps market pressures mean it will never be. Pity....