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Category: North African CampaignThe North African Campaign of World War II was fought from 10 June 1940 to 13 May 1943. It included campaigns fought in the Libyan and Egyptian deserts (“Western Desert Campaign”, also known as the “Desert War”) and in Morocco and Algeria (“Operation Torch”) and Tunisia (“Tunisia Campaign”). 
I’ve posted on Kiwi Vehicle Camouflage during WW2 but didn’t spend any time researching specific vehicles. Some of the Kiwi vehicles during World War 2 were named e.g. “Discord” and “Katipo”. I thought I’d have a look at my books and see what came up. This is inspiration for my Kiwis in Italy – Steven’s Wargaming Project. 
The Crossfire supplement Hit-the-Dirt introduces Boulder Fields and Rock Fields as Crossfire Terrain for scenarios in the Italian Campaign. My post Types of Terrain Features in Crossfire explains how they are used in the game. In this post I explain how I made mine. Simple but excessive is the summary. Simple because I start with actual rocks. Excessive because I base, paint, and flock. 
Over the years Antonio Fajardo has kindly sent me information on Spaniards in British Service during WW2. As a culmination of over 25 years research, Antonio has managed to find the name of every Spaniard in the 50 Middle East Commando unit. He has kindly let me publish the list. In addition to the list itself, I have paraphrased various of Antonio’s comments to give some context. 
Brett Simpson has been busy building up terrain and troops for North Africa using Crossfire. He is also experimenting with my ideas on Crossfire in the Western Desert. Brett has been sharing photos with me as he went along so I thought I’d share them more widely. 
This WW2 Painting Guide shows how to paint the 2 New Zealand Division, and other Commonwealth/British, who fought in the Mediterranean. It solely uses Vallejo Model Colour range of paints. I have used four sources: Battle Front, SHQ, Artizan Designs, and Crac des Chevaliers. 
Too many of my Crossfire Scenarios are draft and not play tested. This is because this website started as my wargaming notes and everything went on it, including unfinished work no matter how vague. With the move to WordPress I don’t do that any more; I now only post finished pieces. But I still have a lot of unfinished work on the site. Time to go back, tidy them up and most importantly play test them. And I could use some help. 
Stephen Phenow sent through a picture of his Anti-Tank Ditch. I think it is fiendishly clever in it’s simplicity. Major R. A. Bagnold, Royal Corps of Signals instigated the Long Range Desert Group (LRDG) on 10 Jul 1940. It’s main purpose was long range reconnaissance in the Libyan desert. The men quickly gained a reputation as the best navigators in the desert during WW2. The LRDG operated from Sep 1940 until Mar 1943. Technically it was part of the British Army but initially at least the LRDG was staffed by Kiwis of the 2 New Zealand Division. A Megablitz order of battle based on the Historical Order of Battle of 2 NZ Division for Italy 1943. Some Spaniards were in British service during WW2. An annotated bibliography for Kiwi involvement in WW2. The primary source for this subject is the The Official History of New Zealand in the Second World War 1939–1945 (NZETC, 2005). It is very comprehensive extending to 50 volumes when I last counted – although many are general NZ history rather than WW2. It is available on-line, and if you search around you can find hard copies. Most Kiwis fighting during World War II fought as part of 2 New Zealand Division. For the moment I’ve just written aspects of their time in Italy 1943-45. So far I’ve just roughed out a skeleton on which to hang the detail of the Kiwi involvement in WW2. 
During WW2 the 2 New Zealand Division adopted British camouflage patterns on their vehicles. This is one of my WW2 Painting Guides. I focus on the Italian Campaign because this is my particular interest. The illustrations are a small selection from Jeffrey Plowman and Malcolm Thomas’s books of the Kiwi Armour series. These are great resources with many more illustrations. I recommend them. This WW2 timeline picks up 2 New Zealand Division as they enter the line in Italy and goes through to the fighting around Orsogna. |
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