Steven’s Kiwi Armour in Italy

I’ve been planning my Kiwis in Italy – Steven’s Wargaming Project for years, since I wrote up a piece on Kiwi Vehicle Camouflage during WW2 in 2006. Well, finally, the plan is coming to fruition. I’ve got my armour for 2 (NZ) Division in Italy. Shermans (III, IB, VC), Stuarts (V), Stuart Recces, Staghound Armoured Cars (I, II), M10 Tank Destroyers, and universal carriers. Most in the unique Mud-grey with Blue-black disruptive pattern but some in plain dark green. Yay!!

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Acknowledgements

Now, I confess, I’ve asked other people to paint for me so the Kiwis in Italy Project actually gets finished. In this case Simon Field has painted my Kiwi armour for Italy. Simon is a delight to work with. He really gets into my projects, and goes the extra mile to give me what I’m looking for. In this case I love what he has done with the Stuart Recce and carriers.

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Mud-grey with Blue-black disruptive pattern

The New Zealanders used a really cool camouflage pattern in Italy: Mud-grey with Blue-black disruptive pattern. It was universal in 1943 and early 1944 but got replaced on most vehicles in late 1945. Some vehicles retained this paint scheme until the end of the war. And a particular unit might have both the early and late schemes at the same time.

Sherman IIIs, 2 and 3 Troop, A Squadron, 20 Armoured Regiment

This project needed a lot of Sherman IIIs. I used BR119 Sherman III. Six of them are in the Mud-grey with Blue-black disruptive pattern. These vehicles carry the tac signs of 2 and 3 Troop, A Squadron, 20 Armoured Regiment.

Stuarts, Reconnaissance Troop, Regimental HQ, 20 Armoured Regiment

Turretless tanks. Must be Kangaroos, right? Wrong. Kangaroos were turretless Shermans. The Kiwis removed the turrets of most of their Stuarts, making the Stuart Recce. I think they are so cool. I have a preference for resin and metal so initially opted to use BR009 Stuart V, but this model is no longer in production and I only managed to find two. I needed six. So I ended up going for BBX58 Stuart Recce Armoured Troop (Plastic). The “Recce” in the title is slightly misleading in this context as all of these models have turrets. Simon converted three to Stuart Recce. These models could have been painted in Dark Green, but I much prefer the earlier mud-grey with blue-black disruptive pattern.

3 Troop, C Squadron, Divisional Cavalry

The New Zealand Divisional Cavalry used Staghound armoured cars in Italy. Both Staghound Is and the Staghound II. The Staghound II was a New Zealand conversion and substituted the 37mm gun of the Staghound I for a 3-inch howitzer. The Divisional Cavalry stayed in mud-grey with blue-black disruptive pattern until turned into infantry in Sep/Oct 1944.

Destroyed Sherman

I like the idea of using destroyed vehicles as objectives. I like the idea so much that I collect a lot of destroyed vehicles. Including a destroyed Sherman (Flames of War XX502 Destroyed Sherman III). My chosen vehicle is that of Major Parkinson, the OC of C Squadron, 18 Armoured Regiment. This Sherman was disabled in December 1943. Admittedly Parkinson’s tank did not have the turret knocked off, but I thought it was cute to have a specific vehicle in mind.

Carriers of 23 NZ Battalion plus extras

In my Planning my New Zealand Carriers In Italy for Crossfire I identified nine carriers to collect. Actually, more accurately, I selected the pack which had nine vehicles of a variety of types, and then had to figure out how to use them all. The kit was: “Plastic Soldier Company: 15mm British Universal Carrier with variants (WW2V15032). Nine generic carriers with options for 2 inch mortar, 3 inch mortar, Vickers, Browning 50 cal, AOP and 2 Wasp flamethrower”. The Kiwis added as many machine guns as they could to their carriers and I really like the heavily armed look that Simon managed to achieve with these models. Many universal carriers stayed in the 1943/1944 camouflage colours, and since I like the colour scheme so much, that is what we did.

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Dark Green

The dark green vehicles are for late 1944 and 1945 so have a wider range of vehicle types. Sherman IBs, Sherman VCs, and M10 Tank Destroyers all appeared. For the Shermans I’ve just completed A Squadron of 20 Armoured Regiment by adding the HQ and 1 Troop. The Squadron HQ has two Sherman IBs, a Sherman VC (Firefly), a Sherman III, and a Daimler Dingo (standing in for a Canadian Built Ford Lynx Scout Car). 1 Trop has two Sherman IIIs and a Sherman VC (Firefly). The M10s were only used in A Troop, 31st Battery, 7 Anti-Tank Regiment. The models are BR119 Sherman III, BR121 Sherman Firefly VC, US052 M4A3 (105) Sherman (Flames of War don’t do the M4/105 so use this instead), BR310 Daimler Dingo (x3) (as the Lynx Scout Car), and BR151 M10 3″ SP (includes 17pdr). The M10s were really hard to find as no longer produced.

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Order of Battle

And this is what all of that gives me …