ColinRF

I recently acquired this movie script signed by the screenplay author - Carl Szokoll - a man heavily involved in the July 20 plot in Vienna and in the later surrender of the city to the Red Army, sans catastrophic damage. From Szokoll's obit published in The Guardian: "Colonel Claus Count von Stauffenberg, who was on the staff of the German reserve army, led the coup attempt, carrying the bomb intended to kill Hitler in his briefcase into the war room in the Führer's headquarters at Rastenburg, east Prussia - the "Wolf's Lair". The conspirators, mainly from the German upper class and officer-corps, planned to hijack Operation Valkyrie - the Wehrmacht plan for dealing with civil insurrection - for their own purposes, enabling them openly to deploy troops as if to restore order. Szokoll was an officer in an Austrian infantry regiment, absorbed like the rest of the national army into the Wehrmacht after the Nazi annexation of Austria in 1938. His colonel issued the order to implement Valkyrie in Vienna, not knowing he was acting on orders from the plotters in Berlin. Szokoll, then a captain, proceeded with a will to execute the plan, rounding up Nazi officials until the report that Hitler had survived and the coup had failed. His commander was sent to a concentration camp in the savage post-coup round-up. Szokoll's disingenuous plea that he had only obeying orders was accepted and he escaped punishment, even though he was one of the last to talk to Stauffenberg on the telephone before the count's arrest. He had placed his call to an untapped extension in a supply office at headquarters, a precautionary number given to Szokoll when they met early in 1944. Less than two weeks after the coup failed, Szokoll was promoted to his final rank of major. Szokoll was born in Vienna, the son of a corporal in the Austro-Hungarian imperial army, also called Carl, who spent a period as a prisoner of war in Siberia and stayed in the service after the first world war. Carl junior therefore grew up in Viennese barracks. His father wanted him to do better than himself and sent the boy to a grammar school, where he excelled in class and on the sports field before enlisting in his father's regiment in 1934 as an officer-cadet. Two years later he met his future wife, Christl Kukula, daughter of an industrialist and his Jewish wife. After the Anschluss, Carl senior urged his son to give up the friendship, which threatened to ruin his army career under the Nazis. His punishment was mild: his transfer to a panzer unit was reversed and he was sent back to the infantry. He fought in Poland and France before a wound put him behind a desk in Vienna. His father's advice caused a longstanding rift. But the romance survived and the couple married in 1946. By then Szokoll had earned the informal title of "saviour of Vienna". After escaping the fate of so many fellow conspirators and the penalty for his relationship with a "half-Jewish" girl, he took his life in his hands once more by putting out feelers from army headquarters to the Soviet military commanders as they closed in on Vienna. His objective was to get them to treat Vienna as an open city, to prevent it being destroyed as Berlin was in 1945. The Wehrmacht commander of the city, a general of Austrian origin, helped by withdrawing his troops. A conservative postwar Austrian politician also claimed credit for the successful outcome of the negotiations. But diehard Nazis discovered the plan and three of Szokoll's associates were executed while a reward was put on his head. Once again he eluded punishment. On reaching the Russian lines he was suspected of being an American spy, but was able to convince his captors otherwise. He even went on to organise resistance to SS units planning to carry out Hitler's order to fight to the last man. Szokoll emerged unscathed. So, in the main, did his city. He conducted talks with the Soviet city commandant, and briefly acted as unofficial mayor. But the Russians again became suspicious of Szokoll, accusing him of spying for Germany. As usual by now, he talked his way out of trouble." On July 20 Szokoll worked closely with Heinrich Kodre and Rudolph Graf von Marogna-Redwitz in implementing the Valkyrie orders in Vienna. Similar to Paris, the three relatively junior officers managed to bloodlessly arrest all SS and Gestapo members in the city, only releasing them when failure of the plot became apparent.

I didn't sculpt it, I just painted it Frank. More gore to come :-0 Colin

Looking forwardr to seeing them Larry. The quality of today's wargame casting, plastic and metal, is extraordinary. Colin

As a change of pace I decided to do a little diorama of 28mm wargame figures illustrating one of Marshal Ney's famous cavalry charges on the afternoon of Waterloo. The cuirassier regiment is one of Donop's, the 2ieme Regiment. The figures are by Perry. The final piece will have about 15 riders. Colin

Thanks gents. It was a challenging one as I have never sculpted armour before. Happy with the result though. Colin

That's a tough one. Probably my 1944 staff officer evaluation document signed by Oberst I.G. Henning von Tresckow. Not too many Tresckows in collections as far as I can tell. After posting it on another site I was contacted by the officer's relative and found he was a close friend of Beck. Recently I was contacted by a relative of Oberstleutnant Werner Schrader (another July 20 officer) and I was able to provide him with copies of about 40 documents of great interest to his family. Love it when that happens. Colin

Almost done. Colin

There is some amazing work in the 1/6 hobby. This is a real nice custom piece. Colin

Thanks Kris. Here's a shot with my big head for scale. Colin

Sculpt finished. Colin

Thank you Boris. You are correct that I am not a pro. I am 100% self-taught. I have never had an eat lesson outside of high school. Lots of practice and passion though. Thanks all for the kind words. I will have a look at the gallery and see if that is a good place to post these models. Colin

That's funny Frank as he is one of my larger ones.....a bit larger than a Ken doll would be. Thanks Colin

Head finished and undercoated....time to start his chest. Included a shot of my hand for scale. Colin

Thanks gents. Spasm....you can see the WIP shots of it progressing here http://www.planetfigure.com/threads/general-of-division-dhautpoul.62361/ As this isn't a modelling site, I post fewer SBS shots here. Cheers Colin

The new 1/5 scale bust started. D'Hautpoul was a very famous general of cuirassiers, mortally wounded by a cannon ball at Eylau in 1807. Colin

Thanks Frank - next up a bust of French Napoleonic cuirassier general D'Hautpoul. In armour and wearing his helmet. Colin

Better pics. Colin

Here he is done except the base....crappy iPad photos. I will post better ones later. Thanks Frank. Colin

Thanks Frank....here's my progress so far. I am researching his bar. Poor quality iPad photos. Colin

Painting starts. Colin

Sculpt done, painting begins soon. Colin

I have Oster on my to do list Chris :-) Colin

Thanks Frank - appreciate it. He looks a little like Malachy Doyle from CBC's "Republic of Doyle."

A new project. A 1/6 scale sculpted bust of anti- Hitler conspirator Henning Von Tresckow. Next up, Sir Arthur Currie. Colin

Thanks Bill. Welcome aboard this excellent and well managed collector's site. Cheers Colin