ACW Artillery

Cannons were set up and the horses and limbers are moved to the rear.

Far enough to avoid being a direct target.

But close enough to support or withdraw the guns if needed.

Massive siege or fortress artillery.

Some fired cannon balls 200 pounds or more.

Great care had to be taken when making these guns to avoid having them explode when fired.

Here they come!

ACW

Troops in reserve to plug a gap, stop a rout or counter-attack.

Music to relay commands.

Musicians were considered non-combatants.

So they wore fancy uniforms to stand out.

So maybe no one would shoot at them, that's why they were often boys.

Troops

A row of Giant of Hong Kong troops!

In the confusion of war, it's hard to see the big picture.

In the ACW the armies seldom closed to contact.

Usually one or the other side would break and fall back before that happened.

The Union defenses make use of natural features.

More men wait in reserve.

Johnny Reb

Sons of Succession advance on the forces of Union.

Short on men and artillery, but not on bravery.

Ammo waits to be unloaded.

Artillery fires!

The cavalry charges forward to victory or death!

ACW

I was sorting out some troops and decided it was time to break out the American Civil War troops.

A line of Union men firing.  Note the flag bearer has had his base extended to prevent the flag from falling.

The Union are on the defense.

Without much artillery the Confederates are going to have a rough time.

Union forces have heavy and field artillery.

There are even a few Giant of Hong Kong troops in the center.

T44 and Other Tanks

The Russian tanks of WWII were kept in service all through the war.

Even old tanks were used in the Battle of Berlin.

The BT series was obsolete prior to the beginning of the war.

My collection is primarily late WWII.

But that requires a few early war vehicles too.

I like to filed units with all kinds of tanks.

Russian T44 Tanks

The T44 was fielded in late 1944.

Three tank corps were issued the tank.

They were scheduled to take part in the Battle of Berlin.

Those units were re-issued T34 tanks prior to the attack.

There was a concern the units would not be properly supported with repair parts since the T44 was relatively new.

T44 Soviet Tank

Soviet tanks were usually deployed in platoons of three tanks.

In Mortar Rifle divisions they were often in platoons of four tanks.

Three platoons and one or two HQ tanks make up a company of tanks.

 Experimental versions of the T44 had side skirts.

The T44 had the same gun as the 85mm T34 but later it was upgraded

T44

Very late in WWII the Soviet Union fielded the T44 tank.

In the crucible of war, nations field every tank they can to keep the battle going.

The T44 was not very successful.

It did lead to the T54 which was in use for 60 years and continues in service all over the world.

Still this is an interesting late war and early Cold War tank.